Product Survey: Video Projectors : Sanyo PLV-Z700
11. Sanyo PLV-Z700
Our Recommended Settings
These are the settings we used to achieve a neutral color temperature of 6500 K, but if you prefer a warmer or cooler image, you can of course adjust them to your liking.
We started in Contrast mode, with the bulb running in Eco mode--it's always a good idea to get as much use as you can as this is an expensive element to replace.
Leave brightness and contrast as they are, as the factory settings are fine. It's the default color temperature that is more worrying--it's very cold to start with and you'll get a better results if you move to Temperature Level 1.
After that, go for the following options: gamma -1, red +6, green -1, blue -9 and the iris in mode 2 to help improve the depth of the blacks.
Sanyo has three 1080p video projectors: the PLV-Z2000, the PLV-Z3000 and the one we're looking at here, the PLV-Z700. It's the most basic model in the range.
Hardware
Sanyo's video projectors are always great examples of design that some other manufacturers could learn a lot from. Nothing is left out, with two HDMI ports and two component video links providing all the connectivity you'll need.
What's more, the PVZ700 is incredibly quiet, and we found that it ran at only 24 dB on average. The downside, though, is that's fairly sizable: at 400 x 154 x 346 mm and 7.5 kg on the scales, this isn't a projector that will go unnoticed in your sitting room. This weight and size also rules out the PVZ700 for use on the road as a mobile projector.
The focus follows the zoom, which is a nice detail that we're always glad to see. Power consumption is around 1.1 watts in standby, increasing to 201 watts during normal use; in Eco mode, it's 161 watts.
The remote control is back-lit and has a number of useful shortcut buttons. It's the same as the one that ships with the PLV-Z2000, but we've got nothing to complain about there.
Despite how big this projector is, there's no built-in speaker.
Image Quality
In dynamic mode, moving from a very bright scene to a very dark scene causes the projector's iris to contract sharply, producing a very slight--but still noticeable--jump.
Nevertheless, we recommend keeping the projector in dynamic mode as this gives darker blacks, improving contrast. In our tests, we found that black averaged a brightness of around 0.23 cd/m², which is a reasonably good score.
Despite this, though, black bars above and below the image took on a blue tinge and stood out against the projection screen in dark rooms. The result is that movies with a lot of dark interior scenes end up looking a little washed out.
When it comes to upscaling Standard Definition sources, Sanyo's algorithms are applied quite rigidly to produce a sharp image, which sometimes looks a little pixelated.
Sanyo PLV-Z700 or Epson EMPTW980?
Sanyo's video projector definitely has the better-quality hardware, with more HDMI inputs, less noise and lower power consumption. The zoom and lens shift both work very well, too.
That leaves the quality of the images--and the main battle ground here is the upscaling of SD sources. Each manufacturer takes a different approach, with Sanyo going for a sharp, very geometric image, while Epson blurs out some of the detail.
Epson holds the advantage when it comes to portability, as its EMPTW800 is much smaller and much lighter than this PLV-Z700, and it has more realistic blacks.
| Sanyo PLV-Z700 |
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"...For example, when these mirrors rapidly reflect red and yellow, you will see green..."
This mirrors reflect white light. The color wheel is the device which lets the right color component pass in synch with the DMD.
For example: the DMD is reflecting the blue channel of the image but this is white light coming from the lamp, so the color wheel is letting only the blue part of the spectrum. The same with red and blue.
There are also DLP projectors that use three dmd's with three colored light sources( red green and blue) so no need for a color wheel. A frame being displayed with all color information on the screen at once. This means you can obtain 3 times the frame rate at a broader color depth with no rainbow effect.
Besides being technically wrong as pointed out by bboysil, don't you mean red and green will create yellow? Red and yellow (which isn't a primary color of additive light) makes orange!
http:\\diyprojectorkits.com
I am a member there, and am going to build my own 1080P projector this summer. 40 *THOUSAND* hours of life per bulb. Commercial projectors are for amateurs...
COMPARISON CHARTS PLEASE
Either use standard Or metric but don't mix them both. Inches and ounces in one place, meters in another. Seeing how this is tomsguide/us I would assume standard US measurements, but at least be consistant. Even better, translate the articles or make a simple conversion program.
Wow, this article is a mess. Seems like it was written by half a dozen people and connected in random order. No format consistancy between products. Some mention power consumpsion, some price, some show screen shots, size, weight, etc.
COMPARISON CHARTS PLEASE
I'm guessing that's why no charts, no product has the same info.
OK, I swear this is my last comment:
I couldn't figure out why they were using a condom for size comparison. Turns out it is a Euro coin! How about using something recognizable by the majority it of people reading this article.
Why is this site generating such poor quality articles these days (look at the equally useless webcam article)? What is this Digital Versus? Some copy and paste bot?
I read the Panasonic review then gave up. Doesn't anyone bother proof-reading:
"The fans this shape can relax"
"I ended up forcing the it manually"
"The image below" - it's not below
"When uscaling"
And how useless is the zoom option to see the two(!) Star Ratings?
LOL!@! At first I thought that coin was a condom!!
A very wordy review. This needs metrics to compare each model if this is going to prove of any use.
Nic topic coverage. Bit weird as I have just persuaded the wife that our front room would make a great home entertainment room.
First purchase required.... Projector. Think I'll pop down to my local Sony shop and see for myself just what they are like. The reviews here have done nothing more than give me a starting point. Nothing that allows me to proactively compare the products.
I have the same prob, Firmware update doesn't help me use AC charger while projecting..HELP PLS!!
now my aiptek pocket cinema is dead.i've upgraded the firmware, now it won't turn on...pls help...