On the Bench

In the Natural mode, contrast (Full On/Off) was 793:1, and light output was 200 Lumens. In the Vivid mode, contrast was 1411:1, and light output was 460 Lumens. In the Natural mode, the iris is stopped down significantly.

The following three graphs were taken in the Natural mode, without any correction.

The Temperature Histogram shows that the color temperature runs hot (bluish) at all IRE levels.

The RGB Histogram indicates that blue is too strong, while red is too weak, and green is just about right.

The Luminance Histogram indicates that, without correction, the Natural mode has a curve described by a gamma of 2.58.

The next three graphs show the Natural mode after I applied correction. Note that the Advanced menu was not used for this. I only used simple contrast, brightness, gamma, and red, green, blue changes in the Image Adj. menu (see Page 2 of this review). Because projector menus are becoming so complex, I wanted to see how close I could come to good gray tracking without getting into the deep controls that most consumers will probably avoid (and they should avoid them, letting a professional calibrate their projector with these controls).

So, now the Temperature Histogram shows a near 6500K color temperature throughout the IRE range, except at 20 IRE and below.

Red and blue are closer to where they should be as well. The red being too low at 20 IRE, and blue being too high at 90 and 100 IRE can be corrected using the Advanced Menu, but again, either use a colorimeter yourself or have a professional calibrator do it for you. The high blue from 30 IRE to 10 IRE is correctable, but the high blue at 10 IRE and below is due to leakage, and cannot be corrected.

The Luminance Histogram shows the curve is now described by a gamma of 2.01.

Accessing the Advanced Menu, I adjusted the Gain (upper end), Offset (lower end), and Gamma (middle) for Red, Green, and Blue to produce the following graphs.

The Temperature Histogram is now flatter.

The RGB Histogram is also flatter, with the red attenuation below 20 IRE now reduced, and the blue rise between 30 and 10 IRE now gone. Certainly the curves are not perfect, but they are overall flatter than with just using simple brightness, contrast, and gamma controls.

The Luminance Histogram is now described by a gamma of 2.16.

Conclusions

The Sanyo PLV-Z4 is a winner at less than $2k (street price). The lens on this projector in particular is superb. Although you might think the Natural mode is the one to always use, you might find, as I did, that some of the other modes, with higher brightness, contrast, and color, are more exciting.

 

- John E. Johnson, Jr. -