Just about all of the new and exciting home theater projectors have already hit the shelves here at ProjectorPeople.com. In fact, unlike distributors of Eggo Waffles, we should be well stocked for the holiday season for the most popular projectors. However, the $999 1080p home theater projectors have kept buyers in waiting, as some models shipped more quickly and in greater supply than others.

So, naturally, one question we keep hearing is, “Which of the new $999 1080p projectors is the best?” So, we thought we’d talk about some of the differences between our top three $999 1080p models (BenQ W1000, Optoma HD20, and Vivitek H1080FD) to help folks sort out which might be the best choice for them.

Similar, But Not the Same

We should probably start by mentioning that these are all very similar projectors. The same basic technology (DLP chip) is used in each of the three. If you saw an image each of them individually for a half hour, then were sent out of the room, came back in and saw all three together (with the chassis covered), I’d bet a dollar that you wouldn’t able to tell which image belonged to which. And you’d probably think they all looked pretty darn good. However, there are some differences in features. And although all of these entry-level projectors are light on features, some of the differences may matter to you. Check out our quick comparison chart below.

Comparison Chart : New $999 1080p Home Theater Projectors

Projector	BenQ W1000	Optoma HD20	Vivitek H1080FD
Resolution	HD (1920 x 1080)	HD (1920 x 1080)	HD (1920 x 1080)
Panel/Chip	DLP	DLP	DLP
Brightness	1800 lumens	1700 lumens	1800 lumens
Contrast	2700:1	4000:1	5000:1
Video Inputs	HDMI (x2), Component (RCAx1), Composite (RCAx1), S-Video (x1), VGA (x1), USB Type B (x1), RS-232 (x1), Analog Audio (x1), Stereo Mini-Jack (x1 in and 1 out)	HDMI (x2), Component (RCAx1), Composite (RCAx1), 12v Screen Trigger (x1), VGA (x1)	HDMI (x2), Component (RCAx1), Composite (RCAx1), S-Video (x1), 12v Screen Trigger (x1), VGA (x1), RS-232 (x1)
120 Hz	No	No	No
Throw Distance	1.59 – 1.9	1.5 – 1.8	2 – 2.4
Weight	7.5 lbs.	6.4 lbs.	5.7 lbs.
Built-in Speakers	3W mono	n/a	5W mono
Warranty	1 yr. pj, 90-days lamp	2 yr. pj, 90-days lamp	1 yr. pj, 90-days lamp
Street Price	$999*	$999*	$999*
In Stock?	Week of Thanksgiving	In stock at time of publication*	In stock at time of publication*
Full specs	BenQ W1000	Optoma HD20	Vivitek H1080FD
We Have Video	Not yet	High-end comparison video	Official Vivitek guy talks video

* For current prices and availability please check the ProjectorPeople.com website.

And Now a Break Down…

So, now you see some of the key specs. And if you want more, you can see a complete comparison chart here. But let’s discuss the potential differences between these very similar projectors.

Brightness

1800 or 1700 lumens. What’s the difference? Not much! But at least you can tell your friends who bought the Optoma HD20 that you have 100 more lumens in your living room. And if you bought the Optoma HD20, you can tell your friends that bought the BenQ W1000 or Vivitek H1080FD that Optoma is just more careful and conservative. And if you haven’t bought any of them yet, then don’t worry about the brightness. It’s not a significant differentiator here.

Contrast

Contrast might actually be visibly different between these units, but having not seen them all in person head-to-head, we can only really say, they all actually look almost better than they spec. DLP, the technology used in each of the three projectors, has always had nice contrasty look. The blacks look very deep, and the colors are full and rich, even on a 2700:1 DLP projector.

Now if you’re comparing a projector with a 200,000:1 contrast ratio to a 5000:1 model, what you’d see is a difference in detail. The beauty is in the gradients, grays and color accuracy. And make no mistake, there is a significant difference between the two. But from 2700:1 to 5000:1 in two projectors the same technology, any difference you see initially can probably be ‘tweaked’ away. So mark this one as another spec not to worry too much about.

Speaker

Built-in speakers are not terribly common on home theater projectors, but it is an admittedly handy feature to have. There’s nothing like just plugging in a DVD player to your projector and having a 100-inch screen pop up in front of you. Add to that the instant gratification of sound to go with it. This is likely to be a popular feature for traveling presenters, who want to have an instant movie theater on the road. Of course, most home theater enthusiasts will hook up some speakers. Unless they are insane.

Throw Distance

There isn’t a huge difference between the three projectors, but the Vivitek H1080FD does specify a longer throw distance, which might be handy in some cases. Essentially that just means you can mount/place the projector a little bit further back and make a smaller image. There isn’t much zoom on these and if you have a specific place you need to place the projector, call a Projector Expert to make sure that you can get the screen size you want from the location you want to place the projector.

Connectivity

All three units have two (2) HDMI inputs, which is what most folks will want to use. But there are connections that are available on some and not others. S-video, VGA, and 12v screen trigger are all included on the BenQ W1000, as well as a specified support for 1900×1200 computer signals (the others may do this also, since they have a VGA connection, but it is not quoted on their spec sheets). The Optoma seems to have the sparsest connectivity options, but it has what most will need. So, if you want to hook up something that’s not HDMI, make sure your $999 projector choice has that function.

Other Stuff?

Our customers are very good at letting us know if we missed something in a review. Please leave a comment below if you have something to add! And we will make updates if there are surprises – or stuff we didn’t think about – with any of the models here.

What’s the latest in 1080p HD home theater projectors? The biggest news to date has been the introduction of the $999 true HD home theater projectors. But recently big players like Epson and Panasonic have announced new, upgraded products coming out soon. The new products have higher-than-ever contrast ratios, some improvements on cool features, and very aggressive pricing.

New $999 Entry Level Projectors

We have already done some comparison of new entry level $999 1080p projectors (here and here). We haven’t had a chance to put together any hands on comparison of the projectors because there is limited availability on most of the popular models. We have had some inventory of the Optoma HD20 projector recently, but they sell very quickly. The Vivitek H1080FD and BenQ W1000 models have not come into stock yet, so we have only seen the pre-production models in person as of the date of this story. So, for now, let’s focus on the more recent news from the higher-end of the home theater projector spectrum.

New Higher End Home Theater Projectors

To start, we will compare the initial specifications of what we think will be the most popular new high end 1080p projectors; the BenQ W6000, Panasonic PT-AE4000U and Epson Home Cinema 8500 UB. I say initial specifications because there are sometimes technical tweaks made before their final releases and those changes can alter the specifications. So, here’s a chart of the initial specs for what we suspect will be the big players in high end home theater.

Comparison Chart : New 1080p Home Theater Projectors

Projector	Panasonic PT-AE4000U	Epson Home Cinema 8500UB	BenQ W6000
Resolution	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080
Panel/Chip	3LCD D7	3LCD D7	DLP
Brightness	1600 lumens	1600 lumens	2500 lumens
Contrast	100000:1	200000:1	50000:1
HDMI Inputs	3	2	2
120 Hz	Yes	Yes	No
Lens	Powered zoom (2x)/Powered focus	Optical zoom 2.1:1	1.5:1 Manual Zoom, Manual Focus
Lens shift	H 40% & V 100%, manual	H 47% & V 96%, manual	Manual Lens Shift (see here)
Noise	22 dB (economy mode)	22 dB (economy mode)	32 dB
Warranty	1 yr. pj, 90-days lamp (2 yr. after rebate if applicable)	2 yr. pj, 90-days lamp	1 yr. pj, 90-days lamp
Street Price	$1,999 MAP	$2999 MSRP	$2,799 MSRP
Expected Release Dates	Late October	Late October/Early November	Available now
Full specs	Panasonic PT-AE4000U full specs	Coming Soon	BenQ W6000 full specs

As you can see, much like last year (and the year before that) we are seeing dramatically higher contrast ratios, lower introductory prices, and more high performance features.

Lower Projector Prices: More Hollar for Your Dollar

Every year we write a sentence like this; “Last year you would have paid $$$ for a projector of this quality,” and this year is no different. The Panasonic PT-AE3000U and Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB came in at an aggressive (at the time) $2999 price point last year. This year, you’ll pay $1000 less than last year for a projector with higher contrast, better video processing, and some cool new features.

However, with this aggressive introductory pricing, we don’t expect to see these prices dropping again anytime soon. The fact that these came in this cheaply initially is probably due in part to pressure from the release of the $999 1080p DLP projectors.

Contrast Ratios: Say “Hello” to Six Figure Contrast Ratios

How is a 60,000:1 contrast ratio different from a 100,000:1 contrast ratio? Not quite as dramatic as it sounds, but there is a visible (palatable) difference in the picture quality. A higher contrast image actually feels crisper than a lower contrast image. But in reality, both a 60,000:1 and 100,000:1 contrast ratios look very good. In three years we will compare the new 1,000,000:1 projector the 100,000:1 projector and see how dramatic the difference is.

For now, these high contrast ratios really separate the business “crossover” projectors from true home theater models. Unless you are a serious videophile, or visually particular, you’d most likely be happy with anything over 10,000:1 contrast in your home theater.

New Features: Panasonic PT-AE4000U

We’ve had the introduction from Panasonic on their new product, so we are more familiar with the new features of the PT-AE4000U than the new Epson’s. So we should have more information on the new Epson features coming soon.

Projector Central did a comprehensive review of all the new features on the PT-AE4000U (read here). We also took some video of our tech session with Panasonic and are including it below. Two interesting new features for videophiles are the automatic lens memory and new video adjustments.

[

Panasonic PT-AE4000U : A Technical Introduction from Projector People on Vimeo.

This was recorded with a mini HD camera and without a tripod. There are shaky bits throughout. To save yourself time, click here for a breakdown of content by minute for this video.

The Unsung Midrange 1080p Projectors

While the new high-end projectors attract most of the press these days, there are also some interesting options available in the ‘mid-range.’ What keeps us from calling these high-end projectors? Essentially its lower contrast ratios, less advanced video processing (like no 120hz), and some missing features. So if you don’t have the funds for a $2k projector, but you want a little more than the $1k projectors have to offer, a mid-range projector might just have all you need and will save you a little cash.

Two new mid-range projectors coming soon are the Epson Home Cinema 8100 and the Mitsubishi HC3800. The HC3800 is getting rave reviews from Projector Reviews and Projector Central. And though we have yet to see the Epson Home Cinema 8100 in action, it’s likely to benefit from Epson’s technological strides in home theater and be a very nice low price alternative in 1080p. It’s also 3LCD which is preferred by some buyers – and most of the other low cost alternatives utilize DLP technology.

What’s Left in 720p Projectors?

Not a heck of a lot. And the price points are not really dropping because there just isn’t any more room to do so. Our Panasonic PT-AX200U started out at $999 when it was introduced, and has stayed consistently around that price. With features like lens shift and unique gaming mode – if it remains in production – it’s still a great projector. Its brightness and native 720p (much of broadcast HD’s native resolution) make it a great match for the football season and sports all year round. And it’s a great projector for gaming too. Epson also has a new “karaoke” projector in their MovieMate line with built-in DVD and speakers with native 720p resolution. Also available in 720p is the underdog Sanyo PLV-Z60.

That’s All for Now, But More to Come!

That’s about all we have to cover today, but there will be more to come on the Epson Home Cinema projectors, and on the Panasonic PT-AE4000U as well. We will keep you posted on any more projector related news, as always.

Kick back and enjoy your long Memorial Day weekend with extra savings on our most popular home theater projectors. This weekend only, we are serving up these deals:

Deeper Discounts, More Free Stuff

• Sanyo home theater projectors have new lower prices. Get an email quote for your instant coupon savings.
• Epson Home Cinema 6100 – Free 25 ft. HDMI cable
• Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB – Free replacement lamp warranty
• Panasonic PT-AE3000U – Free replacement lamp warranty

Our Memorial Day lamp warranty deal is in addition to our current special of a FREE 25 foot HDMI 1.3 cable, FREE universal projector ceiling mount, and FREE AVIA II video calibration DVD. All but lamp warranty offer good now through 5/31/09, or while supplies last. Lamp warranty offer ends 05/25/09. Shipping charges apply to promotional items.

Deal of the Day Inside Scoop!

We will also be offering a sweet Deal of the Day from Saturday to Monday at midnight. It’s a newly constructed Panasonic PT-AX200U package deal for a great price! This is also in addition to the free AVIA disc.

• Mega-Deal of the Day with a Panasonic PT-AX200U package for just $999! (Deal begins Saturday 12:00am and ends Monday 12:00pm.)

Memorial Day Weekend Only! Deals end May 25th, 2009!

Recently Reduced Sanyo Home Theater!

We have recently improved our already competitive coupon discounts on the three Sanyo models below. But due to manufacturer restrictions, we cannot display our lowest price until our coupon code (SANYOSAVE) is added to your cart. So, click and add these projectors to see the Projector People discount for each of these fine Sanyo home theater models.

• Sanyo PLV-60*
• Sanyo PLV-Z700*
• Sanyo PLV-Z3000*

*Add to cart and use coupon code “SANYOSAVE” to view your discount!

We have already blogged about our 1080p projector shootout and showed some of the photos from the day. Now we are ready with the corresponding video. The video is located on YouTube (and embedded below) and on Vimeo. The Vimeo video may be a little higher quality.

As we already discussed in our blog post a couple weeks ago, each of our six projectors displayed good video. Unlike shootouts three years ago or so, all of the projectors we demoed are bright enough, have good color, and display video with limited artifacts. And all but one of our tested models were designed specifically for the home theater market. We threw in the Optoma TX1080 because it’s a good crossover option for those who want a widescreen business projector that does good video.

So, without further ado, please feel free to check out the video. It’s not fancy, by any stretch, but it does give you a chance to see the models side-by-side. Below are some of the things that the camera may not show exactly as we saw them.

What the Camera Couldn’t See

We wanted to film all five (technically six) projectors at once, playing the same content, since that is one of the most frequent requests. But like with any comparison like this – there are some limitations to our professional video camera. that means some of the most noticeable differences between the units we saw in person are not apparent in the images you see.

Black Levels

The black levels were far superior on the Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, the Sanyo PLV-Z3000, and the Panasonic PT-AE3000U – with the overall ‘blackest blacks” nod going to Epson. The Sanyo PLV-Z700 showed the worst blacks in our test with out of the box settings.

120hz Superiority

The projectors with 120hz processing (again the Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, the Sanyo PLV-Z3000, and the Panasonic PT-AE3000U) looked incredible in person. They look good in the video, but even in scenes with just a little movement – like people walking through the metro station – the difference was remarkable and obvious. We hope to get some HD video that can capture the difference soon.

Brightness

The camera tends to adjust for brightness, finding a happy medium that makes all the images look their best. The good news here is that there was not much to report. All of the projectors looked about the same in terms of brightness although there are a few hundred lumens difference between some of them. In fairness to the brighter projectors, the images were relatively small since we had to get them all on the wall. If we made the images bigger, the brightness difference would have likely been more apparent.

Help Us Help You!

This is our first attempt at a shootout video, and we are still learning how to best provide you with the most useful content. One lesson we learned this time is that we need to use an HD camera. Yes, it does seem like the obvious choice. Yes we will do it next time. However, even with an HD camera we still have limited bandwidth on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. So, I think next time we will offer a higher resolution HD video feed for you to download at your leisure. We have also had requests to do some reviews with calibration settings. We are still considering this. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas! You can do so by replying to the newsletter email, or send your thoughts to webmaster@projectorpeople.com

  Vimeo Version
1080p Projector Shootout : Sanyo, Panasonic, Epson from Projector People on Vimeo.

[ some artifacts are visible from the Vimeo compression. Click here for larger version.

YouTube Version

Quick Reference Video Log

Projector order in video : Sanyo PLV-Z700, Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Panasonic PT-AE3000U, Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, Epson Home Cinema 6100, and Optoma TX1080.

• 0:00 – 3:05
  Product introductions. Our product manager mentions ‘black bars’ visible in person, but do not show up on the camera. Example of DLP “flicker” at 02:12 – 02:28 is visible on camera, but not visible to the naked eye for most viewers.


• 03:06 – 04:11
  Discussion of black levels in each product (sales person obscures view of the Sanyo PLV-Z3000)


• 04:12 – 04:59
  Example of 2X zoom on the Panasonic PT-AE3000U.


• 05:01 – 06:15
  Lights on brightness check and brightness discussion.


• 06:16 – 6:55
  Brief discussion of 120hz. Unfortunately the differences are not very visible here.


• 07:00 – 07:37
  Color contrast mentioned


• 07:42 – 8:30
  Nice action comparison. 120 hz mentioned again.


• 08:33 – 08:55
  Close up of 120hz projector (Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB). You may notice the improved quality. In person, this image looked almost 3-D.


• 09:00 – 10:00
  Final round up.

We finally got a chance to do a shootout with our best selling 1080p projectors, including one we had yet to see in person, the Sanyo PLV-Z3000. The shootout was also filmed, and we will have that video for you soon available now. But, as a preview, we thought we’d also post some of the photos we took to get your gears greased.

Here are the products we included in the shootout :

• Sanyo PLV-Z700 (1200 lumens, 10000:1 contrast)
• Sanyo PLV-Z3000 (1200 lumens, 65000:1 contrast)
• Panasonic PT-AE3000U (1600 lumens, 60000:1 contrast)
• Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB (1600 lumens, 75000:1 contrast)
• Epson Home Cinema 6100 (1800 lumens, 18000:1 contrast)
• Optoma TX1080 (no photos of this one, but we will have it on video)

Note : These are all 1080p native projectors. Brightness and contrast differ, and only three of them have the 120Hz processor (the Epson HC 6500 UB, Panasonic PT-AE3000U, and the Sanyo PLV-Z3000). Check our projector comparison charts for head-to-head details of projector specs.

Big Dif?

While each of the images below may appear to favor one projector over another, in the actual shootout there was a consensus that there wasn’t a ‘bad’ projector in the bunch. Some – like the Epson 6500UB – had really nice black levels. Other projectors excelled in their processing ability. Still others featured particularly dynamic colors. Below we have some images and some of my personal commentary on what I saw. Others in the demo may have seen differently. I will share any of the other commentary I heard in my notes below the images.

1080p Projector Shootout

One of the limitations of this shootout is the image size. In order to fit them all on our wall at once, we kept the image a little smaller than most aim for in their home theater. We used 2 different HDMI distribution amplifiers to create our image, since our 1:8 HDMI couldn’t power all five on the main wall. We used one BluRay player showing the BluRay version of the movie Fifth Element. We used out-of-the-box settings for each projector, since few customers report taking the time to calibrate their image.

Comparing the (left to right) Sanyo PLV-Z700, Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Panasonic PT-AE3000U, Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, and Epson Home Cinema 6100.

[ click image for higher res photo on our Flickr page ]

The Sanyo PLV-Z700 (far left) and the Epson Home Cinema 6100 (far right) have lower contrast ratios than the three center home theater projectors. Notice how visible the “black bars” above and below the images are as a guide to determining the projectors ability to produce deep, rich blacks and colors.

[ click image for higher res photo on our Flickr page ]

The three center projectors all feature 120Hz rates. The Panasonic PT-AE3000U, Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, and the Sanyo PLV-Z3000 absolutely blew away the lower priced projectors in high action scenes. Even in scenes with people walking in the movie Fifth Element the image looked almost 3-D on the center three projectors. The image was truly beautiful. Personally I never would have thought it made such a big difference, but after seeing them head-to-head, I am converted. Hopefully this will be visible on the video – which is coming soon.

Comparing the (left to right) Sanyo PLV-Z700, Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Panasonic PT-AE3000U, Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, and Epson Home Cinema 6100.

[ click image for higher res photo on our Flickr page ]

A good color comparison shot. All the projectors were set up using out of the box settings. There is still plenty of tweaking that could be done to improve color. But in our out of the box shootout there were some who preferred the color of the Sanyo, some the Panasonic, and some Epson. Viewers also sometimes reported liking the color better in one scene on one projector, and another on a different model. Personally, the color on the Sanyo PLV-Z3000 looks good to me in this photo, but in other scenes both the Panasonic and Epson shined.

[ click image for higher res photo on our Flickr page ]

Here’s another good shot for color comparison. I like the Epson 6500 (second from right) in this image, but all of them look good. Other viewers liked the Panasonic AE3000. The two end projectors (Sanyo PLV-700 -left and Epson HC 6100 – right) both produced very good color too, even though they are a few hundred dollars less.

[ click image for higher res photo on our Flickr page ]

With the lights on, they all look about the same. In fairness to the brighter models, however, these are fairly small images. If we blew up the image a few feet there would probably be a greater difference. In a dark room, the difference wouldn’t be particularly noticable.

Shootout, Round Up

So, in conclusion, all the projectors looked very good. If you bought one of them without seeing another directly next to it, the vast majority of viewers would be completely happy with the image on any of these models. However, if you are picky about your video, then you should invest in one of the 120Hz products. The difference is very noticeable in side by side comparison, and although you may not realize what’s making it happen, the image is going to look much crisper, and nearly three dimensional. It’s worth the extra cash if you have it.

[ see more images at Flickr ]

Video of our Shootout Now Online!

There are some artifacts are visible from the Vimeo embedding compression. But you can Click here for larger/less compressed version.

1080p Projector Shootout : Sanyo, Panasonic, Epson from Projector People on Vimeo.

[ some artifacts are visible from the Vimeo compression. Click here for larger version.