By Philip Wong, CNET Asia
30/03/2007
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/projectors/0,39037571,40101860p,00.htm

Early last year, we had an up close and personal encounter with BenQ's ex-flagship home theater projector, the PE8720. Not only was it the most affordable 720p DLP back then, the pretty beamer also garnered an Editors' Choice for putting on a stellar performance.

This competent light cannon has since been superseded by the Computex 2006-announced W10000. The initial enthusiasm of this step-up 1080p model may have died down after long months of shipping delay. Nonetheless, we are glad it's finally heading our way at a hard-to-resist price tag. Looks like the long wait was worth it afterall.

Design
The W10000 once again bears the signature hallmarks of the Taiwanese company's home theater projectors. Decked out in glossy white and augmented with matt-silver trimming, it is easily one of the prettiest 1080p models out in the market. The subtle hues should also blend seamlessly with most home decor, especially for users planning a space-saving ceiling mount. That said, we would definitely suggest the services of a professional installer for this matter, taking into consideration the enormous 492 x 393 x 195mm bulk and a back-breaking 9.5kg weight.

Taking center stage on the front is an oversized zoom lens, flanked by exhaust vents on both sides. The top is where you will find all the non-lit buttons for the motorized adjustments, video input and miscellaneous controls, while the right houses a removable perforated panel concealing the user-replaceable dust filter. To facilitate a tabletop setup, there are also not two but four height-adjustable feet to balance out uneven ground and carpeting. Last but not least, a bundled cable panel cover can be deployed on the rear to keep the messy cords and cables out of sight.

	A matching remote with lots of handy dedicated controls. (Click for larger image)

The iPod-inspired styling is also obviously extended to its matching remote controller. This lights up in contrasting red and comes loaded with just about every imaginable dedicated keys for hassle-free one-touch operation. Most notable among the lot are the six video inputs and ISF day- and night-calibrated picture modes. Taking everything into consideration, including its excellent ergonomics, this is an almost perfect implementation that is lacking only in one area--a backlighting system that requires manual activation.

The now-familiar BenQ display menu has also made a comeback for this new model. Well-structured and intuitive, it puts almost full control of the electronics at the users' finger tips with a balanced selection of basic and advanced configurations. Here, we counted no less than 50 controls nested within five submenus plus two built-in test patterns. Most notable is the Color Gain and Offset that allows indepth video calibration using our new SpyderTV Pro. That's besides a manual iris adjustment to customize light output for enhanced contrast.

Features
This single-chip DLP projector is powered by the latest Texas Instrument DarkChip 3 optical engine, capable of delivering a future-proofed 1,920 x 1,080 native resolution. This high pixel count is appropriately matched by an equally impressive 10,000:1 dynamic contrast and high 1,200 ANSI lumen brightness. The latter should come in handy for countering mild ambient lighting such as spillage from curtained windows panes, etc. You can also expect relatively rainbow effect-free visuals with its five-speed eight-segment color wheel, depending on individual sensitivity, of course.

	A generous bundle for more value adding. (Click for larger image)

Though light on pricing, this BenQ is no pushover when it comes to value-added features. For starters, it's outfitted with a renowned videophile-grade Farouja DCDi and its proprietary Senseye video processors. It also sports a suite of motorized adjustments for on-the-fly focusing, zooming and vertical projection alignment (via lens shift) with the touch of the remote's button. Those with shallow entertainment rooms, however, may like to take note of the beamer's mid-to-long throw distance. This is rated at a minimum of 4m for a 100-inch image.

Another new software addition is the enthusiast-oriented Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) 3C video-calibration support. This enables optional onsite calibration by ISF-trained professionals, zeroing in on a set of customized video settings. One of each is tailored for bright daytime and evening viewings, taking into consideration the varying lighting conditions in your home entertainment room. Unfortunately, there are no concrete plans from BenQ to roll out such services and the shortage of local talents does limit its overall attractiveness.

We have mixed feelings for this flagship model which is shipped with a rather modest connectivity option. There's only one HDMI terminal to go with the next-gen DVD players and gaming consoles. Of course, there are the dual component-video inputs--one of which is also PC and Mac-compatible--but these are not High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection-ready. Looking on the brighter side, these are all 1080p-ready, capable of supporting all flavors of this highly sought-after signal including the film-centric 24Hz version.

Performance
In line with our drive for accuracy, the W10000 is the first projector to be computer calibrated using the new DataColor SpyderTV Pro. The choices of video playback equipment employed in this evaluation range from the native 1080i-enabled Toshiba HD-E1 to an Xbox 360 and our reference Pioneer DV-S969AVi DVD workhouse. The initial impressions we garnered were generally positive. Light spill was non-existent and the operating noise was a near whisper as advertised, even at full 250W lamp power.

	Viewable pictures even with light ambient lighting. (Click for larger image)

The screen door, on the other hand, was barely visible at 1.5m away from a 100-inch projection, though rainbows were spotted on numerous occasions. The projected images exhibited consistent geometry and convergence across the board with very minimal distortion at the four corners even at the maximum 1.15x zoom and extreme lens shift. Brightness uniformity on the whole was also excellent and light intensity variation was pretty negligible at full zoom. The latter could probably be attributed to the limited zoom capability of the W10000.

Moving on, we fired up a series of synthetic Avia test patterns which showed up some minor flaws. The projector had problems resolving the deepest black which was only differentiable up front while slight green accentuation was registered during our color decoder critique. It was a quick turnaround after we switched over to our reference-quality DVD movie clips. Not only were the pictures bright and clean, shadow details were also adequate as evident in Blade 2's dark warehouse fighting scene. The sharpness of the upscaled visuals could be better, though.

It was the native HD materials that really brought out the best of this 1080p DLP. Playing the HD-DVD rendition of The Phantom of the Opera was a visual feast with its rich colors and intricate costumes. Footages of The Chronicles of Riddicks were also reproduced with solid depth and accurate skin tones. There were even times we could make out sweat droplets on Vin Diesel's battered face during many of the movie close-up shots. Fast motion was not a show-stopper. This was reaffirmed after numerous rounds of Xbox 360's Ridge Racer 7, rendered in solid fidelity.

The BenQ W10000 is seriously a no-brainer for 1080p wannabes who have the luxury of a relatively deep entertainment room and existing HDMI switching equipment. Take an up-to-date A/V receiver. At S$7,999, you will be hard-pressed for an alternative DLP offering equipped with similar capabilities and features. Nonetheless, if you are willing to consider other technologies such as LCD and SXRD, there are always the dual HDMI Panasonic PT-AE1000 and 15,000:1 contrast Sony Pearl VPL-VW50 going for the same asking price.