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Definitive’s Mythos STS System is

O
f all the outstanding products reviewed by
Sound & Vision in 2008, only one was
selected as “Audio Product of the Year,”
not merely “Speaker of the Year” but “Audio
Product of the Year.” And that product is the
Definitive Technology Mythos STS SuperTower
multichannel speaker system.

Where’s the Subwoofer?

Built right in!
The Mythos STS's
Each STS features a built-in 300 Watt built-in powered
SuperCube™ powered subwoofer for soul-stirring subwoofers, advanced
bass impact, earth-shaking dynamics along with technologies and
tight, detailed musicality. You’ll enjoy double the superior materials
bass while saving floor space and enhancing the bring you sonic
beauty of your room. perfection.

“…prepare to be amazed. The Mythos

STS is one of the most exciting products
that I have come across in a long
time…unrivaled at its price point.”
— Roger Kanno, SoundStage.com
More Praise
The Mythos STS SuperTowers earned
SoundStage.com’s 2008 Reviewer’s Choice Award
for Aesthetics and Sound. Home Theater Magazine
called the STS system “Crisp, Lush, Focused” and
tagged it with a Top Pick award. The STS also won
two Innovations Design and Engineering awards at
CES 2009, one for High Performance Audio and
the other for Home Theater Speakers. One industry
award is an honor, five is a sweep. Yes, this system
is that good.
“…in a class by themselves – rich fine
detail, full-bodied mid-tones, and
adjustable self-powered bass, in fact
considering what you get, these are value-
priced speakers. " — Piero Gabucci,
Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity.com
Get the Whole Story
There’s not enough room on this page to tell the
whole story of this magnificent system. For all
the details, including where to get a demonstration,
visit the web address below today.

www.DefinitiveTech.com/ht
“one of the best values going in
high-end speakers”
— Al Griffin, Sound & Vision

“…the Definitive
Technology Mythos STS
SuperTower just might be
the best loudspeaker I've
heard for $3000/pair.”
—Wes Phillips, Stereophile

Mythos STS
SuperTowers,
Mythos Nine
and Mythos Gem
system: MSRP $4355.

The Mythos STS system is

Sound & Vision Magazine’s
2009 Audio Product of the Year. TEL 800. 228.7148
March 2010 Volume 17 No. 3

ON THE COVER Special projector issue. Our projector buyer’s guide, how LOG ON TO HomeTheaterMag.com and sign up to receive our
to choose a screen, new reviews, and more. Gear from Epson, Marantz, on the new, free eNewsletter for first-rate, up-to-the-minute reporting
Mitsubishi, and Sony. Screen image courtesy of 20th Century Fox. web of everything that’s hot in the world of home theater.

24 32 49

36
Three for the Show

COLUMNS FEATURES
Ask Home Theater
Your how-to and technical home theater
questions answered. by Scott Wilkinson 22 Video Projectors
Bringing the theater home. 24
Curtain Call Calibrate? Good Times!
(Home Theater) by Michael J. Nelson 90
Set and Match
Choosing the right projector and the right screen. 32
49
Three for the Show
Projectors go Main Street. 36
Home Theater Design The Savant Experience
Center lets you see the latest technologies first-
hand. Plus, Part II of our Going Retro feature. 49
 TS
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Systems is a division of Milestone. Sanus Systems is a registered

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©2009 Milestone AV Technologies. All Rights Reserved. Sanus

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trademark, and the Sanus logo is a trademark of Milestone.

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With Sanus Systems, you’ll always get smart design, high quality and
patented technology. Our new, innovative products are easy to install
Make room for life and easy to use, giving you more time to enjoy cherished moments
with friends and family. Learn more at www.SANUS.com.
PREVIEW
FROM THE

14 20
DEPARTMENTS HIGH END P58-61
Prologue Front Projection is the New Rear
Projection by Shane Buettner 8 Denon AVR-4810CI A/V Receiver
Need supersizing? P58

Letters
The makings of an A/V receiver review. 12 MIDRANGE P62-77
AV News Comcast and NBC in historic merger, Atlantic Technology FS-7.0 Soundbar
and Lord of the Rings makes a bittersweet
debut on Blu-ray. 14 and SB-800 Sub Seven channels plus.

Pioneer Elite SC-27 A/V Receiver

P62

What? No 8-track? P66

Premiere Design Digital Cinema Comes Home:
Wolf Cinema DCX-1000i 20 Sharp LC-60E77UN LCD HDTV
A worthy contender. P70
Cinema Scope The Hurt Locker, Paranormal
Activity, Jennifer’s Body, and more of the hottest
new titles on Blu-ray. 78 Marantz SR6004 A/V Receiver
Restraint and simplicity. P74

Top Picks Not sure what to buy? Check out

this exclusive listing of our reviewers’ recom-
mended gear. 84
Dealer Locator Before you run out to buy a prod-
uct we’ve reviewed, find a quality dealer near you. 86 62

70

78
VISIT THE “HOW WE TEST” link on our Website for a detailed explanation of
hometheatermag.com on the
web our testing regimen and a list of our reference gear. HomeTheaterMag.com
picture simulated To join our community, go to livinginhd.com
BY SHANE BUETTNER, EDITOR MARCH 2010

Front Projection Is the

New Rear Projection
Move over, multiplex.

O
ne of the home theater market’s unequivocal triumphs in the last several years
is the ascendance of the front projector. Once upon a time, rear-projection big-
screen TVs were a force in our corner of this industry. Specialty stores catered to
this crowd, marketing, selling, and financing these beasts. These RPTVs drove a
ton of sales in electronics for people who wanted sound that was of proper scale
to match that big-screen TV. Front projection was based on three-gun CRT behemoths that
were inaccessible to most enthusiasts in every way. They were prohibitively expensive,
physically imposing to install and live with, challenged in light output, and very finicky to set
up and maintain over time. In our quest for really big screens, we proud few did live with and
maintain these things, but not one of us who is standing here today looks back on that era as
the good old days.
Today, it’s a whole new ball game. Digital front projectors are bright, increasingly less
expensive, and often only a little more difficult to point and shoot than a digital camera. I’m
exaggerating somewhat, but the point is valid. Front projection is more accessible than ever, in
every way. Although control over room light is a necessity for front projection, brighter
projectors and screens that reject ambient light offer flexibility that we didn’t have in the past.
Digital projectors are much easier to mount or place in a
room. With the generous zoom range and lens shift of
today’s projectors, you aren’t locked into a single location.
Perhaps best of all, the real big-screen experience today,
with full 1080p resolution, costs less than what a pre-
mium rear-projection TV cost ten years ago. And as the
projector reviews and articles in this issue make clear,
we’re not talking about stripped-down loss leaders hit-
ting a price point. These days, $3,000 to $4,000 buys
you a fully loaded name-brand projector that’s capable
of excellent performance. A 50-inch-diagonal flat screen
is awesome for certain. A projector with a 100-inch-
diagonal screen offers an image that’s a full four times
the screen area of that 50-inch flat screen. That’s the
difference between a compelling image and complete
immersion in the experience.

“
Digital front projectors
are bright, increasing-
ly less expensive, and
often only a little more
difficult to point and
shoot than a digital
camera.
While we most often review projectors, don’t forget
that the projector and the screen form a system. The most
critical choice you’ll make in setting up your front-
projection system is choosing a screen that’s the right
size, material, and gain for your projector, your system,
and the room you’re using them in. Senior editor Tom
Norton’s article on choosing a projector and screen (page
32) is essential reading. When you’re done and the lights
drop, movie night at your house will leave the local
multiplex in the dust!

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We destroy them so
you can enjoy them.
Plug them in and sound comes out! That’s what a loudspeaker is, simple as that. But did
you know that building a loudspeaker to deliver a lifetime of high performance sound is
anything but simple?
At Polk Audio, our professional Quality Assurance teams are involved in the development of
our loudspeakers from the beginning. At every stage in the development of our loudspeakers,
there’s a Quality Assurance team member to poke it and prod it (often, to smash it, soak it,
mangle it or drop-kick it). Do the parts fit securely? Will our adhesives adhere for years?
Does “all-weather” really mean all weather?
We test every speaker for its ability to withstand the most extreme conditions, in high
moisture areas like bathrooms, or during the rough handling of shipping. Not to mention
car and boat installations, where loudspeakers face extremes of heat and cold, moisture
and salt. If our loudspeakers don’t live up to our rigorous Quality Assurance tests, they
won’t live up to the performance you demand.
Extreme testing results in superior products. By mastering the elements from the start,
we design and build loudspeakers that stand up to almost any environment and to the
roughest treatment imaginable. All this, so that you can simply plug them in and enjoy
years of dynamic Polk Audio sound.
If It Makes Sound, We Make It Sound Better
For almost forty years, Polk Audio has surfed the edge of innovation to bring you excellent
sound at a reasonable price. Our award-winning products are designed to fit both your life
and your style: play your iPod by your bedside, frag zombies in your den, revel in the warmth
of vinyl recordings in your living room or enjoy the cinema impact of digital technology in
your home theater. We’re Polk Audio, The Speaker Specialists.
This is just the beginning of the Polk Audio story. Find out more! Join us on
our Facebook page, see us on YouTube, or at www.polkaudio.com/greataudio.

Polk Audio is a DEI Holdings, Inc. Company. Polk Audio, Polk & The Speaker Specialists are registered trademarks of Polk Audio, Inc.
Neumann is a registered trademark of the Georg Neumann GmbH in certain countries.

Polk Audio uses Skip, the Neumann

binaural head, to formulate and test
speaker materials & designs. If it sounds
good to Skip, it’ll sound even better to you.
 Televisions Have
Evolved.
Has Your Furniture?
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You know the scenario; you are switching channels or the program changes to
commercial and then, BAM! the volume changes like a knife in your ears. Drastic
volume spikes or dips can ruin any audio experience. Introducing SRS TruVolumeTM,
the most consistent and effective audio leveling technology. This advanced, patented
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Volume Spikes. We Make Them Go Away.

©2010 SRS Labs, Inc. All rights reserved.

HOME THEATER
WE WELCOME QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS. E-mail them to htletters@sorc.com. Please note: Be sure to check the FAQ page on
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directed to a dealer who knows all the details of your system, your preferences, and your personal habits. All submissions are consid-
ered the exclusive property of Home Theater magazine and Source Interlink Media. Due to the volume of mail that we receive, we regret
that we cannot respond to every letter.
It Was Something We Said
I have enjoyed your magazine for several years
with only the most minor nits to be picked,
usually silently. However, Mark Fleischmann’s
review of the “entry level” Yamaha RX-V1065
A/V receiver (HT, January 2010) compels
me to write. For several issues, I have noticed
that Mr. Fleischmann seems to evaluate new
equipment in a curious sort of vacuum
occupying his Manhattan apartment, one in
which considerations of retail price, value, and
common-sense purchasing decisions all take a
backseat to the joys of writing, watching
movies, and listening to music with new gear.
While your HDTV reviews almost always
offer the reader comparisons to other models,
both in terms of price and feature perfor-
mance (thank you, Thomas Norton), your
AVR reviews of late are bereft of this.
The Yamaha RX-V1065 AVR is just the
latest egregious example. Mr. Fleischmann
reports that the unit eschews “licensed
goodies” that other AVR manufacturers
employ, which would seem to save Yamaha
money. OK, fine. Maybe those savings are
incorporated in performance elsewhere? But
wait, there’s more: This model doesn’t allow
the use of DSP modes on DTS-HD Master
Audio or Dolby TrueHD lossless surround
tracks, the kind found on most Blu-ray Discs.
But wait, there’s even more: Mr. Fleischmann
couldn’t hear any height channel output from
his seating position, forcing him to park his
ears next to a speaker he knew was in proper
working order to determine if there was any
height output.
Yamaha RX-V1065 A/V Receiver
12 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
And all this for $1,000. “The Yamaha
RX-V1065 is notable for its originality,” he
writes. Uh, yeah. Why not substitute the word
“audacity” for originality? If Mr. Fleischmann
was aiming to damn this product with faint
praise, his subtlety eluded me. A casual read-
ing of the review suggests that the RX-V1065
is a relatively decent performer, with not a
word about its price or the fact that so much
more can be had in the AVR space for the
same amount. I’m also 99.9999 percent cer-
tain that he wouldn’t spend $1,000 (nearly a
month’s rent) of his own money for this thing.
It’s further notable that not a single Yamaha
AVR resides in HT’s current Top Picks lists,
either in print or online. Given that most of us
are living through a terrible recession, one in
which nearly everyone must keep closer guard
of income and spending, it would be a tremen-
dous reader service if your AVR reviews would
at least follow the HDTV reviews’ example
and alert readers when a product clearly
doesn’t pass the value smell test.
Justin Bachman
Brooklyn, NY
A/V receivers are challenging to our word
counts in ways that other products aren’t by the
simple virtue that they do so darned many
things. Today’s A/V receivers do everything that
yesterday’s AVRs did, all that our most advanced
outboard video scalers and switchers used to do,
and now they offer networking and streaming
features, sophisticated setup and room
correction, and more advanced surround
processing than ever before. In the past year and
change, we’ve seen the introduction of several
significant new surround processing enhance-
ment algorithms—height from Audyssey and
Dolby, width from Audyssey, and low-volume
listening/leveling compensation from Audyssey,
Dolby, and THX. That’s a lot of ground to
cover. We’ve been doing our best to cover the
old-school bases and also offer meaningful
reports on what these new wrinkles bring to the
home theater party. But I agree that we need to
make sure we’re offering strong comparative
analysis. We get to experience all the different
components out there, and you readers don’t.
We need to maintain focus on offering that
critical perspective, and we will.
With that said, I don’t think Mark gave the
Yamaha a pass in the areas you discuss. As
noted, we didn’t call out the Yamaha as a Top
Pick. On height, Mark said that in his previous
experiences its benefits were subtle and that the
Yamaha “presence” version was not only subtle
but also not usable with Dolby TrueHD and
DTS-HD Master Audio lossless audio signals.
He reiterated that criticism in the conclusion,
noting that Yamaha needed to rectify that for its
proprietary DSP modes to remain relevant in
today’s market. That’s strong commentary that
doesn’t require reading between any lines. I
think there’s something else important here for
you to consider, something I wrestled with
when I reviewed the Denon DVD-A1UDCI
Blu-ray player. There are products that perform
very well and don’t do anything poorly but still
aren’t quite good enough to get over the hump
to being a Top Pick. That doesn’t mean the
reviewer has soft-pedaled the product or that
we need to issue a consumer alert that the
component under review is some kind of fraud.
I think Mark’s back-to-back December and
January reviews of the Onkyo TX-NR807 and
this Yamaha, and his respective ratings of five
stars versus four stars for Value pretty much says
it all. The Yamaha was good, but the Onkyo was
a little better in Mark’s opinion—and a better
value. And that’s the one that grabbed the Top
Pick.—SCB
From His Cold Dead Fingers
It seems your readers usually start off with a
qualification statement such as, “I have been
a reader for many years”; well, I have. Your
magazine has been an extremely good
investment for me. I’ve learned more about
our art, if I may, through Home Theater than I
could possibly obtain from any other source.
I’ve saved hundreds of times the cost of the
magazine in building my modest home theater
and outfitting it with the best stuff within my
means. You have changed your format from
time to time, you don’t always editorialize to
please all, but who can? Some readers retaliate
with cancellations. I feel little empathy for
them. They are the ones that keep junk dealers
in business. If you ever receive a cancellation
to my subscription, it’s because I’m dead!
As you might expect, I have a purpose for
writing. In the December 2009 issue, you had
a comparison chart of Blu-ray players. For the
last couple of years, you’ve compared players
under review to the Sony PlayStation 3. It is a
valid Blu-ray player, so why wasn’t it included
in the chart?
Jim
Mooresville, IN
Nice catch, Jim. The mighty PS3 was in our Top
Picks, but not the charts. This was unequivocally
a mistake. The PS3 is not only valid, it’s still
one of the best choices you can make in a BD
player. Our April issue will feature a review of
the most recent “slim” version of the PS3, which
runs quieter and adds bitstream output for Dolby
TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Manu-
facturers fill out their respective charts, and I’m
guessing that Sony’s home electronics folks didn’t
pencil in the PS3 since it’s a gaming division
product. Snafu! I appreciate your dedication
to HT. If I hear from the sub department that
your subscription has lapsed, we’ll fly our flags
at half-mast. You are feeling well, aren’t
you?—SCB
1080p Projectors and 32 Flavors
of Ice Cream
I’ve been enjoying your latest issue of HT. I
noticed that you stated that the JVC DLA-
HD750 D-ILA projector, which received Top
Pick of the Year, has improved since it was
reviewed. Have there been additional changes
since it was reviewed?
Also, I’ve read the reviews of the Marantz
VP-11S2 and VP-15S1 DLP projectors and was
interested in your preferences since you really
like these systems as well. What do you find to
be the single most important aspect of a great
image—detail, blacks, or something else? (I love
the blacks in my Pioneer KURO flat screen, so
I do appreciate that quality.) I realize the two
systems are different technologies, but if it came
down to one system, which one would be your
first choice?
M. Kayser
When I reviewed the JVC DLA-HD750, I noted
that its color management system didn’t offer
quite enough range in adjustment to dial in
saturation, hue, and brightness values for all
six primary and secondary colors to perfection.
It was close, but not quite there. A subsequent
firmware update solved that. You can now dial
in the DLA-HD750’s colors so tightly that the
JVC DLA-HD750 D-ILA Projector
measured results are below widely accepted
FREE
thresholds of visibility. I don’t know of any other
improvements, but to me that was the only area
where I thought the JVC could really be improved
with software.
I understand your desire in wanting a single
1080p projector champion, but it’s really not that
simple. A number of these projectors are good
enough that even a nitpicky editor like myself
A /V catalog
could live with them—blissfully, and without
looking back. Comparing the JVC DLA-HD750 Over 600 products inside, over 8,000 at
crutchfield.com
to the Marantz projectors and some other DLP
projectors I’ve seen (Samsung’s SP-A900B and 35 years of helping people choose, use, and
enjoy electronics
1-800-555-8211 Winter/Spring 2009
Planar’s PD8150 come to mind) illustrates this. In Free,
fast shipping
On most orders
for details.
addition to essentially perfect color, the JVC has
— see page 81
Bill Crutchfield puts the
focus back on sound, pg. 3
more top-end light output than the Marantz
projectors, and yet it has much deeper blacks for Four ways
contrast that’s vastly superior to any DLP I’ve to add great
sound to
your TV, pg. 28
seen. For many people, perhaps KURO owners
most of all, impenetrably deep blacks and the
sequential or on/off contrast that results from
great blacks can be the single most important
aspect of a great image, provided all else is equal.
But all else is seldom equal. The Marantz
projectors’ colors don’t measure as accurate,
but they never look unnatural. And being Bring your favorite
single-chip DLPs with excellent lenses, the
Marantz models and some other top performer music to life
DLPs offer a slightly but noticeably sharper image
than the three-chip, LCOS-based DLA-HD750.
■ Huge selection from top
With Blu-ray especially, that level of resolution brands like Thiel, Klipsch,
can be mesmerizing once you see it. While I Mirage, Yamaha, Denon,
wouldn’t begrudge anyone who found that nth Marantz, Wadia, Peachtree
degree of sharpness to be their particular trump
card for image quality, single-chip DLPs also Audio and more
show color separation or rainbow artifacts. That
bothers some viewers more than others. While ■ Count on our experts for
the Samsung and Planar projectors I mentioned shopping solutions, tailored
have some of the same advantages in sharpness as to your needs
the Marantz projectors, and they also offer color
accuracy that’s right in there with the JVC, they ■ Comprehensive & caring
can’t dethrone the JVC for blacks and contrast
even with their dynamic iris systems engaged.
tech support, free on most
Even the best dynamic iris system isn’t entirely orders
free of artifacts.
At that level, it’s really a matter of deciding
what your favorite flavor of ice cream is. In the
parlance of our times, it’s all good. Ridiculously
good, in fact. Our job is to accurately report on
the particular combination of strengths and
weaknesses, which arms you with the informa-
tion to find the blend of flavors that works best
for you and your tastes.—SCB
Putting the focus
back on sound »
Call for your free catalog today
1-800-555-8347
or visit
www.crutchfield.com/hmt
FRONT PAGE
TOP STORY: CEA FEARS NEW ENERGY LAWS
California TV Efficiency
Specs Lead Nation
D
espite strenuous
objections from the
Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA),
California has become
Comcast and NBC in Historic Merger
The merger of Comcast
and NBC Universal
brings together the nation’s larg-
est cable operator, a major TV
network, a heavy-duty motion
picture studio, dozens of cable
channels, and some heavily
trafficked Websites. All of this
has consumer watchdogs bark-
ing. They predict everything
from exclusive cable or ISP
program deals, to rising cable
rates, to the death of free
streaming video.
14 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
the first state to adopt stiff energy
efficiency requirements for
television sets.
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) voted 5 to 0
Comcast paid $6.5 billion in
cash and $7.25 billion in pro-
gramming for a 51-percent stake.
That left outgoing owner General
Electric as a minority stakeholder,
after it paid Vivendi $2 billion for
the latter’s 38-percent stake.
How might the merger change
the media landscape? One
possible loser may be ESPN,
which could lose content to
Comcast’s Versus channel.
Viewers who are used to getting
free online content might find it
BY MARK FLEISCHMANN, AUDIO EDITOR
for regulations that would apply
to TVs up to 58 inches. They
would have to use no more than
183 watts by 2011, which is an
average reduction of 33 percent.
By 2013, the requirement would
drop to 116 watts, which would be
a reduction of 49 percent. The
CEC said the new rules would
save a typical household $18 to
$30 per year.
TVs and other video gear
consume 10 percent of
power in a typical California
household and 2 percent in the
state as a whole. Interestingly,
the state’s power consumption
has been flat for the past three
decades—versus a 40-percent
rise in the nation as a whole—
thanks to its requirements for
other household appliances
such as refrigerators, air
conditioners, and washing
machines. Presumably, the
new rules will help the state
maintain that enviable record
despite the relatively recent
popularity of large-screen
flat-panel sets.
moved behind a paywall or
even restricted to Comcast
ISP subscribers. But so far, all
of this is speculation.
And what about the
Federal Communications
Commission (FCC)?
Incoming chair Julius
Genachowski kept his cool,
saying: “The FCC will
carefully examine the
proposed merger and will
be thorough, fair, and
fact-based in its review.”
The CEA greeted the new rules
with a scowl, calling them
“dangerous for the California
economy, dangerous for
technology innovation, and
dangerous for consumer
freedom.” It predicted that the
rules will result in “higher prices
for consumers, job losses for
Californians, and lost tax revenue
for the state.” CEA also asserted
that the rules were based on an
“outdated and inaccurate” analysis
by a major power utility.
Despite predictions that the
new regulations would kill sales of
plasma sets in California, the rules
don’t specifically mention
plasmas. However, many existing
plasma models would not meet
the stricter standards.
One thing both sides agree on
is that other states are likely to
adopt California’s TV energy
requirements, eventually
becoming a de facto national
standard.
The state says that more than
1,000 models already meet the
stiffened requirements. Find out
more about the sets that meet the
federal government’s voluntary
TV energy efficiency require-
ments at energystar.gov.
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AV NEWS

UNIVERSAL AND WARNER This Just In ... reported. “Virtually no users have
contested the accuracy of the
MAKE HIP BLU MOVES Loud TV Ads
notices,” says NBC Universal...
Is your Blu-ray player outnumbered by the DVD players in your bedroom, car, are being targeted by the Fancast Xfinity
and laptop? Two studios have interesting propositions. Universal is offering Advanced Television Systems is a subscriber-only Internet video
a flipper disc that has high-def BD goodness on one side and standard-def Committee (ATSC), which has service from Comcast, the nation’s
DVD compatibility on the other. Initial titles include a Matt Damon trifecta: The issued voluntary guidelines
Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum at $30 to broadcasters. Meanwhile,
each. This is a great idea for consumers who want to cover all bases as well as legislation that would regulate largest cable operator—and recent
studios that are looking for a way to boost Blu-ray sales. them has passed the U.S. House of purchaser of NBC Universal. Will it
Warner is employing a few other approaches. All new titles will be released Representatives and is moving on become a gated online community
as combo packs, including both BDs and DVDs. Older titles will be released as to the Senate... for the content colossus?...
Blu-ray Double Features, with pairs of movies such as Dirty Harry and Magnum
Force sold together for less than $25. Finally, Warner is offering to swap new Managed Copy Greenpeace
BDs for old DVDs at just $8 per disc. Get your order up to $25, and shipping became mandatory on Blu-ray has released version 14 of its
is free. The 50 initial titles include Body of Lies, Training Day, and Michael Discs as of December 4, 2009.
Clayton. See DVD2Blu.com for details. Hardware lags but we expect that
to change this year...

Rental Kiosks Are Being

Fruitful
and multiplying, with Redbox now
counting 22,210 units in operation

Guide to Greener Electronics. It

ranks manufacturers based on
their policies on toxic chemicals,
recycling, and climate change...

Westinghouse Digital
meets all conceivable energy
efficiency requirements throughout
its TV line. All models are
Lord of the Rings BD according to owner Coinstar.
DVDPlay, recently acquired by NCR,
compliant with California’s new
regulations and with the voluntary
Debut Is Bittersweet expects to add 1,300 kiosks... ENERGY STAR 4.0 specifications...
We’ve got some good to one and a half stars (at press
news and some bad time). Is the studio just biding its
3-D for Blu-ray HDTV Ruled
is on the way thanks to a spec in 53 percent of U.S. homes last
news. The good news is that the time while it prepares new special
finalized by the Blu-ray Disc year, up from 35 percent in
Blu-ray version of the Lord of the features? The extras on the DVD
Association. Existing Blu-ray players 2008. And 69 percent got HDTV
Rings trilogy is hitting the streets set would be hard to beat—but
will be able to play 3-D discs service, versus 56 percent the
on April 6th. The bad news is that unlike DVD, BD is an interactive
in 2-D but you’ll need both 3-D year before. Let’s celebrate
this initial BD release will include medium. Amazon is also listing
hardware and 3-D software to get with a movie or two...
only the theatrical an “extended
the full effect...
cuts—so don’t edition,” but no The World’s Thinnest
discard your DVD release date is given, 3-D Fans LCD
special editions just so it can’t be would rather get their three- has been announced by LG.
yet. Amazon user pre-ordered let alone dimensional video fix from cable The 42-inch prototype is
reviewers responded bought. In the or satellite than from Blu-ray, 2.6mm thick and weighs less
with a couple meantime, if you according to Quixel Research. In than 9 pounds. This should
thousand one-star want to see Peter fact, says a researcher, “They make wall mounting even
reviews, which Jackson’s master- are willing to pay more for a 3-D easier than it is now...
dragged the set’s piece on Blu-ray, you movie channel”...
overall rating down can always rent it. Best Buy
Blu-ray Players is lobbying A/V
outsold DVD on Amazon late last manufacturers to adopt
year, accounting for 8 out of the its Rocketboost wireless
top 10 players sold, as well multizone technology
as 5 of 10 movie titles... in A/V receivers,
TVs, BD players,
Verizon and other products.
has agreed to forward copyright It’s currently used
violation warnings from NBC in Rocketfish, a
Universal and other studios, CNET BB store brand...

16 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

 Definitive’s ProCinemas deliver
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Definitive’s ProCinema systems have always delivered
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1-877-943-4041 - 1-952-943-4041
 PREMIERE

DIGITAL CINEMA
COMES HOME
BY Shane Buettner
Are you ready for the
Hollywood screening room
experience at home? Wolf
Cinema is bringing digital
projectors into the home that can
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visual impact of large-screen theatrical
D-Cinema. Wolf’s projectors are built
on three-chip 1080p DLP D-Cinema
platforms and refined for home theater
use. At the movies, there are many
flavors of widescreen aspect ratios. At
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Wolf’s projectors do constant-height
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a variety of program material and
lighting conditions. You can program
separate memories that open up the iris
and up the power for sports during
cocktail hour and then throttle it back
down for movie watching at night, at
the push of a button. consistent image quality regardless of
In December of last year, I spent a source. Even with the lamp intensity
couple of weeks with the DCX-1000i in and iris throttled back for my smallish
my home. My 16:9, 92-inch, 1.3-gain screen, the DCX-1000i delivered blacks
Stewart Studiotek 130 screen is much and contrast that were consistent with
smaller than what the big, bad Wolf today’s DLPs. On the 11-to-15-foot-
begs to drive, and it isn’t constant wide screens this projector is spec’d to • Wolf Cinema’s separate scaler
height capable. But I saw more than be paired with, the blacks would be upconverts DVD and processes
enough to imagine the grandeur that richer still, and the horsepower in light 1080i to 1080p.
the Wolf could bring to a big screen output that the Wolf has in reserve
with constant height. The panel would result in at least the same level
alignment was superbly crisp, which of pop I saw, only much bigger.
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•

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20 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

 WOLF CINEMA DCX-1000i

• The sleek lines of Wolf Cinema’s

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•
•

• The DCX-1000i’s lens can be

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hometheatermag.com 21
 BY Scott Wilkinson

Seeing Spots Which is the better setting for it to be

WE WELCOME QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 20 years as a home theater journalist, it’s that people
have questions—lots of questions. This is no big surprise, since using the average home theater is far more complicated than TV watch- calibrated to?
ing used to be, and it’s been getting more and more frustrating ever since VCRs started blinking “12:00.” To address this ongoing need, If this control is set to receive 0 to 255, I
I’ll be answering readers’ how-to and technically oriented questions in this column. Questions regarding the magazine’s content will can see below black in test patterns and
continue to be addressed in “HT Letters” and should still be sent to HTLetters@sorc.com. But if you have a how-to or technical adjust my brightness accordingly. If it’s set to
home theater question, please send it to me at scott.wilkinson@sorc.com.
16 to 235, I have to crank it back up, as the
black level drops considerably and below
black disappears from the test patterns. I’ve
What Black Dots? others say to run it through the receiver. The heard arguments both ways and want to
I enjoy your segments with Leo Laporte on SC-05 AVR simply passes HDMI with no know what the experts are using.
The Tech Guy radio show and podcast, but I picture upconversion. If I run directly to the Al Vucic
really must disagree with your comments on plasma, I will need to run audio from the
plasma versus LCD. I agree that plasma Blu-ray player to the AVR, which will I always set a TV to display 0 to 255 so I can
blacks are blacker and that colors are more require extra wires. As it is now, I have a see below black and set brightness precisely.
vivid. I just can’t stand the matrix of black 4-foot Monster Cable M1000 HDMI cable This is also important so the TV can display
dots on plasma screens. I also dislike the from the Blu-ray player to the AVR and an above white, which exists in some content,
reflective screen—the reflections are very 8-foot M1000 cable from the AVR to the even though video content is theoretically
distracting. plasma. Is my current method the best limited to 16 to 235. You should also set the
I live in a bright house with lots of quality? source to output 0 to 255 so it will send
windows, so plasma is at a disadvan- Xavier Alvarez below-black and above-white information.
tage from the start. But I’d like to hear I should note that, in some cases, a TV
your comments on plasma’s black dot You’ve got the HDMI connections exactly will stretch the video range of 16 to 235 to
matrix. That alone was the tipping point right. I wouldn’t run HDMI directly from the encompass 0 to 255 in one of these settings.
for me. Blu-ray player to the plasma because that The most important thing is to select the
Bill Jackson would prevent you from hearing the new setting that displays below black and above
high-resolution audio formats. Actually, you white from your source device.
I don’t recall saying that plasma colors are could run six or eight analog cables from the By the way, this setting shouldn’t affect color
more vivid than LCD—both can be plenty player’s multichannel output to the AVR’s banding, which depends on the bit depth with
vivid. As for plasma’s “matrix of black dots,” multichannel input and hear the high- which color levels are represented.
I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. Each resolution formats that way, but as you point
pixel in a plasma screen consists of three tiny out, that would mean more cables and not Please Pass the HDMI
cells—one each for red, green, and blue. These necessarily improved performance. I’m planning to use an Onkyo TX-SR606
cells, sometimes called subpixels, are separated Running HDMI from the Blu-ray player to A/V receiver in my home theater room. Like
by thin walls, so I suppose the intersections the AVR and then from the AVR to the many other AVRs, this one has HDMI
of horizontal and vertical walls might look plasma is the best way to go, as long as the passthrough. My understanding is that I can
like black dots. But I’ve never seen anything AVR doesn’t degrade image quality with its hook up all the video sources to the AVR’s
like this at a normal viewing distance. Also, HDMI passthrough (our tests show that the inputs and run a single HDMI cable from
LCDs have the same type of pixel structure Pioneer does not). The fact that the AVR the AVR’s output to the input on the pro-
with boundaries between the red, green, and simply passes HDMI signals without jector without any loss of video quality.
blue subpixels. If this is what you’re talking processing is no problem in my book since the This seems like a good way to hook up
about, you should see it on LCD screens as KURO PRO-141FD deinterlaces 1080i very the components, because it would save the
well. well. expense of buying multiple 30-foot HDMI
Bottom line—if you see something that cables to run across the room. It would
bothers you in a plasma TV, get an LCD, Black Is Black also be simpler for my family to operate the
which is better in a bright house anyway. My Samsung HL61A750 HDTV has an system because they’d only need to select the
HDMI Black Level setting. The two choices input source on the AVR to change from,
Pioneer All the Way are Normal and Low. Normal tells the TV say, the cable box to the Blu-ray player. Do I
I recently purchased a Pioneer Elite A/V to expect an RGB range of 0 to 255, and understand passthrough correctly?
system: a KURO PRO-141FD monitor, Low tells it to expect a range of 16 to 235. Alan Hurley
an SC-05 A/V receiver, and a BDP-05FD Does this setting have to match the RGB
Blu-ray player. My question is, what’s the output range setting of my source? How By Jove, I think you’ve got it! However, the
best HDMI connection scheme? Some say does this affect the display of below black, term passthrough isn’t really accurate in this
to run HDMI directly to the plasma, and above white, and color banding in general? case. What you’re describing is more correctly

22 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

called HDMI switching. Some A/V receivers
do pass the HDMI signal through the AVR
without processing it in any way, which is the
real definition of passthrough, but others apply
various processing to it.
In any event, connecting all of your sources
to the AVR and connecting one HDMI cable
from the AVR to the projector is exactly how
modern AVRs are designed to work. In fact,
you can connect not only HDMI sources, but
analog sources to the AVR’s inputs, and the
AVR will convert them to HDMI for output to
the display. Be aware that not all receivers will
do this conversion or do it well; some will
degrade the image quality. If the source in
question isn’t critical, that might not be a
problem. But if it is, I would compare a direct
component feed to the set against the com-
ponent source converted to HDMI by the
receiver and choose the option you like best.
One point of caution—30 feet is probably
too long to run a cheap HDMI cable without
a booster of some sort. I use a 10-meter sound, he didn’t hear it. You are correct that Living Legacy
Ultralink HDMI cable that works fine, but this seems to be a problem for a few people Why is it that most A/V receivers still have
long, cheap cables can cause sparklies, who write about it online. Still, many more two-channel RCA inputs? Why doesn’t
dropouts, and other picture problems. people write about how great the Pioneer a company make an AVR that has only
is and have no complaints, so I have a hard HDMI, maybe with a few component video
Buzz Buzz time believing it’s systemic. Same with the and digital audio ins and outs? Why do they
I just purchased a Panasonic VIERA TC- Panasonic. need to include legacy stuff ?
P50S1 plasma, and I’m extremely pleased Possible factors could be quality-control Bob Aldridge
with its performance except for the high- issues in some panels, extreme sensitivity in
pitched CRT-like buzz during bright scenes. some people, and using the plasma at high Because lots of people still have legacy
I can’t hear it when I watch TV at normal elevations. My best advice is to exchange the products, and an AVR is intended to be the
volume levels, but I can when the volume is TV for another sample and see if the problem central switching station in a home enter-
low. Is this a defect? Should I purchase a line persists. If you live at a high elevation (say, tainment system. It’s the same for HDTVs,
conditioner? Should I even worry about this? Denver or Santa Fe), the buzz might be un- which still have composite video and S-video
Quentin Lucas avoidable, but it’s nothing to worry about. inputs.

I jumped into the deep end and bought my

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first HDTV, a Pioneer Elite KURO PRO-
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Welcome Home,
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seem to generate a higher frequency than
darker ones. ®
There are online threads about this issue,
and others have given accounts of Pioneer’s
response: everything from, “Replace the
panel because it shouldn’t be audible sitting
at normal distance,” to, “This is normal for
plasma.”
Have you or your colleagues ever come
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design issue? An abnormal fluke?
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PROJECTORS BUYER’S GUIDE

Projectors
Bringing the theater home. BY Thomas J. Norton

• JVC DLA-HD750 D-ILA Projector • Sony VPL-HW15 SXRD Projector

• Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 9500 UB LCD Projector

A
flat-panel HDTV can be great, but when you get down to All digital projectors employ a light source
(usually a projection lamp), a lens, and one or
it, only a video projector and a big screen can come close more fixed-pixel imaging chips that respond
to the source when driven by appropriate
electronics. Three different types of imaging
to duplicating the experience of seeing a great movie in a chips are currently in use: Liquid Crystal
Diode (LCD), Liquid Crystal on Silicon,
great theater. The good news is that you can buy a digital projector today (LCOS), and Digital Light Projection (DLP).
Manufacturers usually market LCOS under
that in every respect (apart from absolute black level) will exceed the more proprietary names, such as JVC’s D-ILA
or Sony’s SXRD.
Most DLP projectors in the home and
performance, usability, and reliability of all but the very best CRT business markets employ a single DLP chip
(also known as a DMD, for Digital Micromir-
projectors of the past. And at a fraction of the size and price. ror Device). This is used in conjunction with a

24 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com


synchronized color wheel, which includes red,
green, blue, and sometimes other segments to
produce a full range of colors. LCOS and LCD
designs dispense with the moving color wheel
and instead use three imaging chips, one for
each primary color (red, green, and blue).
At the current state of the art, none of these
different technologies has a lock on the best
video performance. The quality depends
on other aspects of their design and often
the price. We’ve seen and reviewed superb
examples of each. You should focus your
search on designs made for home theater use,
such as those shown in our charts. Business
projectors can be less expensive, but they’re
usually optimized for showing spreadsheets,
not movies.
You should expect to pay between $2,000
and $8,000 for a digital projector, although you
can spend less—or a lot more. Even at the low
end of this range, you’ll find full 1920-by-1080
models. There’s no longer any reason to settle
for a 720p projector, except in the most
budget-conscious designs.
You’ll also need a good screen, which can
cost $1,000 (for a fixed, non-retractable
model) or more, depending on its size and
features. How big should your screen be? It
depends. The quality of the projector’s optics
and its peak brightness level become increas-
ingly important as screen size increases. A
good $3,000 projector of average light output
can produce a striking picture on a 7-foot-
wide (not diagonal), 1.3-gain screen. If you
substitute a 10-foot-wide, 1.0-gain screen
with the same projector, you’ll be a lot less
impressed. All else being equal, the image
becomes dimmer as the screen size increases
and/or the gain decreases. For most home
applications, we recommend a white 16:9
screen between 7 and 9 feet wide, with a gain
of no more than 1.3.
Do you need a completely darkened
environment to get the best from a video
projector? Generally, yes. There are new types
of screens that claim to improve projection in
a room without full light control, and they do
work up to a point. But if you want the best
image quality your projector can produce,
nothing equals a good, conventional screen in
a fully darkened room. When was the last time
you went to a movie in a theater where they
left the house lights on throughout the show?
Even when you can find one, an in-store
projector demo can range from (sometimes)
awesome to (more often) dismal. It will likely
tell you less about the projector’s true quality
than a good review. But if the demo is con-
ducted in a dedicated, light-controlled room,
it could give you a feel for the projector’s color
quality, contrast, black level, and resolution.
Bring along some of your own discs, partic-
ularly material with very dark scenes, such
as the first few minutes of Master and Com-
mander: The Far Side of the World or the
night scenes in The Dark Knight. Watch both
high-definition and standard-definition
PROJECTORS BUYER’S GUIDE
material. Ask about the size and gain of the most obvious when you move your eyes, even
demo screen, which hopefully will be similar a little, on a dark scene with a few bright high-
to what you plan on using, and whether or lights such as street lamps. Not all viewers are
not the projector has been calibrated. If the sensitive to this artifact, and DLP projectors
salesperson doesn’t know these details, find have now been improved to minimize it. But
out or go somewhere else. Ditto if you call up none, for us, have completely squelched it.
You’ll also want to make sure that this won’t
bother other family members who will likely
Even when you can be frequent viewers.
Look closely for white-field uniformity,
find one, an in-store which can be a problem on LCD and LCOS
projector demo can displays but not with DLP. To check for it,
watch scenes from a black-and-white film and
range from (some- look for patchy, subtle hints of color (like
magenta) on various parts of the screen. Also
times) awesome to check a white-on-black crosshatch pattern to
see how well the three primary colors overlap
(more often) dismal. to form a uniformly white-on-black grid, par-
ticularly in the center. Errors here can result
It will likely tell you from misaligned color panels (on multi-chip
models), lens imperfections (called chromatic
less about the projec- aberration, and likely to some extent on any
projector), or both. Few projectors will align
tor’s true quality than the three colors perfectly across the entire
screen, but more than a pixel-width of error, if
a good review. non-correctable, should be a red flag. (A few
projectors provide controls that can improve
the picture menu and it’s set to Vivid or color convergence.)
Dynamic. Projection lamps will begin to dim with
With a single-chip DLP projector, you age long before they reach their rated useful
should check for rainbows, which is an artifact life (generally around 2,000 hours). Replace-
of the multi-segment color wheel. This effect, ment lamps average around $300, with a few
sometimes called color fringing, looks just like notable exceptions that cost more. Check the
it sounds: It’s a fleeting flash of red, green, and lamp replacement cost before you purchase
sometimes blue in some program material. It’s the projector.
PROJECTORS Entry Level
▲ ▲
Sanyo PLV-Z3000 LCD Epson PowerLite Home Cinema
Projector, $2,795 6500 UB LCD Projector, $2,999
Why We Like It: Why We Like It:
The Sanyo produced a very impressive picture. The Epson’s performance is truly remarkable
Two years ago, you wouldn’t get this sort of for the price. It’s not as bright as JVC’s more
performance for even twice the price. If you expensive projectors, but it isn’t a night-and-
have the space, you might consider this as an day difference. No projector we’ve yet tested
alternative to a one-piece, flat-panel HDTV for exceeds the Epson’s color quality and accuracy.
your home theater. Reviewed August 2009
Reviewed June 2009 Replaced with PowerLite Pro Cinema 8500 UB LCD Projector, $2,499
Specs/Features:
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI 1.3 inputs (2)
» HDMI 1.3 inputs (2)
» Component video input (1)
» Component video inputs (2)
» Manual horizontal/vertical lens shift
» Horizontal/vertical lens shift
» Dynamic iris
» Dynamic iris
hometheatermag.com 25
 PROJECTORS BUYER’S GUIDE
PROJECTORS Midrange
▲ ▲
Sony VPL-HW15 SXRD
Projector, $3,000
Why We Like It:
The VPL-HW15
offers a useful lineup
of features and a picture
that we didn’t expect at
this price. It has exceptional
color, impressive (barely
short of state-of-the-art)
blacks, and vivid, almost 3-D
images on the best program
material. The Sony kept us
glued to our seats when it
was 1:00 a.m. and long past
time to shut things down
and go to bed. We’re sure it
will do the same to you.
Reviewed March 2010
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI 1.3 inputs (2)
» Component video input (1)
» Manual horizontal/vertical
lens shift
» Dynamic iris
PROJECTORS High End
▲ ▲
JVC DLA-HD750 D-ILA
Projector, $7,500
Why We Like It:
The JVC DLA-HD750
is equipped like a
flagship ought to be. You’ll
be digging through your catalog
of new and old favorites to
watch on this rig, enjoying mov-
ies more for being able to watch
them on the DLA-HD750.
Reviewed April 2009
Replaced with DLA-HD950, $8,000
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI 1.3 inputs (2)
» Component video input (1)
» Horizontal/vertical lens shift
26 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
Mitsubishi HC7000 LCD
Projector, $3,495
Why We Like It:
Mitsubishi really
impressed us with the
HC7000. Its design delivered a
razor-sharp image with excep-
tional video processing capabili-
ties. The ultra-quiet design and
great features make it one to
add to your short list in this price
range.
Reviewed March 2009
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI 1.3 inputs (2)
» Component video input (1)
» Powered horizontal/vertical
lens shift
» Dynamic iris
Planar PD8150 DLP
Projector, $8,000
Why We Like It:
The PD8150 has
one of the best contrast
ratios of any DLP and image
accuracy that you rarely see
in the front-projector market.
This is also one of the only DLP
projectors that offers both high
light output and dark blacks for
high contrast.
Reviewed July 2008
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI inputs (2)
» Component video inputs (2)
» Manual horizontal/vertical
lens shift
» Dynamic Iris
▲ ▲
Panasonic PT-AE30000U LCD
Projector, $3,499
Why We Like It:
This is an amazing
value and a tweaker’s
delight. The image didn’t
quite topple the Mitsubishi
HC7000, but it held its own. If
you’re looking for cutting-
edge features and solid video
performance, you should give
this one a spin.
Reviewed March 2009
Replaced with PT-AE4000U, $2,499
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI 1.3 inputs (3)
» Component video inputs
(2)
» Horizontal/vertical lens
shift
» Dynamic iris
▲ ▲
Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW85 SXRD
Projector, $8,000
Why We Like It:
Sony has continued
to refine its SXRD pro-
jectors while chipping away at the
price. The result is a great projec-
tor that, while not inexpensive,
should be on your shopping list
even if you’re willing and able
to pay much more.
Reviewed November 2009
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI 1.3 inputs (2)
» Component video input (1)
» Horizontal/vertical lens shift
» Dynamic iris
▲
Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema JVC DLA-HD350 D-ILA
9500 UB LCD Projector, $3,699 Projector, $4,500
Why We Like It: Why We Like It:
It’s hard to Out of the gate, the
imagine anyone JVC was priced at $5,500,
being disappointed with but at its current price of
this projector. It handles $4,500, it’s a knockout. Things
everything beautifully, are getting very interesting
whether the material is dark in the projector market, and JVC
and foreboding or mostly is in the thick of it. Highly
bright. With excellent video recommended.
processing, superior adjust- Reviewed June 2009
ability, and blacks to die for,
the Epson is definitely a Top Specs/Features:
Pick. » 1920 by 1080 resolution
Reviewed March 2010 » HDMI 1.3 inputs (2)
» Component video input (1)
Specs/Features: » Vertical lens shift
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI 1.3a inputs (2)
» Component video input (1)
» Manual horizontal/vertical
lens shift
» Dynamic iris
Marantz VP-15S1 DLP
Projector, $9,000
Why We Like It:
Although this Marantz
is less than half the price
of its big brother—the VP-11S2—
it’s still $1,000 or more above
its competition. The VP-15S1
deserves a strong look from
anyone in the market for a
superior projector.
Shane Buettner reviewed this
model for UltimateAVmag.com
Specs/Features:
» 1920 by 1080 resolution
» HDMI inputs (2)
» Component video inputs (2)
» Vertical lens shift
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 Projectors

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Anthem LTX 300 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3a 1 1 1 • • Both
LTX 500 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3a 1 1 1 1 • • • Both

Avielo helios DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 2 • • • • Both

optix DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 2 • • • Both
radiance DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 2 • • •
quantum DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 2 • • • V
kroma DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 2 • • • Both
prisma DLP 1280x720 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • V
spectra DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 2 • • •

BenQ SP830 DLP 1280x768 1 1 1 1

SP831 DLP 1280x768 1 1 1 1
W20000 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.2 1 1 1 1 • V
W500 LCD 1280x720 1/1.2 1 1 1 1 Both
W5000 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.2 1 1 1 1 • V
W6000 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
W1000 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 •
W600 DLP 1280x720 2/1.3 1 1 1 1

Digital Projection International dVision 30-1080p XB DLP 1080p 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both

dVision 30-1080p XC DLP 1080p 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
dVision 30-1080p XL DLP 1080p 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
dVision 30-WUXGA XC DLP 1200p 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
iVision 20HDL-XC DLP 720 1 1 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 20HDW-XC DLP 720 1 1 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 20HD-XC DLP 720 1 1 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 30-1080p XB DLP 1080p 1 2 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 30-1080p-C DLP 1080p 1 2 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 30-1080p-W-C DLP 1080p 1 2 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 30-1080p-W-XB DLP 1080p 1 2 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 30-1080p-W-XL DLP 1080p 1 2 1 1 1 • • • V
iVision 30-1080p-XL DLP 1080p 1 2 1 1 1 • • • V
LIGHTNING 40-1080p 3D DLP 1080 2 2 2 2 1 • • • • Both
LIGHTNING Reference 1080p-30 DLP 1080 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
LIGHTNING Reference 1080p-40 DLP 1080 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
TITAN 1080p-3D DLP 1080 2 2 2 2 1 • • • • Both
TITAN 1080p-250 DLP 1080 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
TITAN 1080p-500 DLP 1080 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
TITAN 1080p-700 DLP 1080 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
TITAN HD-250 DLP 720 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
TITAN HD-500 DLP 720 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
TITAN HD-600 DLP 720 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
TITAN Reference 1080p DLP 1080 1 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
M-Vision 1080p-260 with 1.56-1.86 lens DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
M-Vision 1080p-260 with 1.85-2.40 lens DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
M-Vision 1080p-260 with .73 lens DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • Both

Epson MovieMate 55 LCD 854x480 1 1 1 Both

MovieMate 72 LCD 1280x720 1/1.2a 1 1 1 1 Both
Home Cinema 700 LCD 1280x800 1/1.3 1 1 1 1
Home Cinema 6100 LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3a 1 1 1 1 • • • Both
Home Cinema 8500 UB LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3a 1 1 1 1 • • • • • • Both
Pro Cinema 7100 LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3a 1 1 1 1 • • • • Both
Pro Cinema 9500 UB LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3a 1 1 1 1 • • • • • • • Both

JVC DLA-HD350 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 • • • Both

DLA-HD750 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • Both
DLA-HD990 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • • Both
DLA-HD950 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • • Both
DLA-HD550 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • Both
DLA-RS15 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • Both
DLA-RS25 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • • Both
DLA-RS35 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • • Both

Marantz VP-11S2 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3b 2 1 1 1 • • V

VP-15S1 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3b 2 1 1 1 • • V

KEY: L = Learning; S = Standard; U = Universal; V = Vertical

28 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

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12 V
• 2,000 30,000:1 • • S 14.4x6.6x18.8 24 $5,299 Gamma correction
• 2,000 50,000:1 • • S 14.4x6.6x18.8 24 $7,999 Color mgmt sys, gamma correction

• 6,500 ANSI >10,000:1 2.5k • • S 19.7x9.8x23.6 57.3 $65,000 Three chip/selectable colorspace
• 2,500 ANSI >7,500:1 2.5k • • S 20.7x8.7x14.8 27.7 $25,995
• 1,700 ANSI >5,000:1 2.5k • • S 11.8x4.1x10.5 7.7 $13,995
• 900 ANSI >5,000:1 3k • • S 10.9x3.7x9.2 7.5 $9,995
• 600 ANSI >7,500:1 50k • • S 20.7x8.7x14.8 27.7 $32,500 ReaLED light source
• 1,000 ANSI >4,000:1 3k • • S 10.9x3.7x9.2 6.6 $7,495
• 1,000 ANSI >5,000:1 3k • • S 10.9x3.7x9.2 7.5 $10,995

• 3,500 ANSI 2,000:1 4k • S 14.7x4.6x11.1 10 $2,399 HQV, split screen

• 4,000 ANSI 2,000:1 4k • S 14.7x4.6x11.1 10 $2,999 HQV, split screen
• 1,200 ANSI 20,000:1 3k • • S 16.5x7.1x16.5 21 $7,999 HQV and Senseye
• 1,100 ANSI 5,000:1 3k • S 13.7x4.7x10.9 8.6 $999 HQV
• 1,200 ANSI 10,000:1 3k • • S 16.5x7.1x16.5 21 $4,499 HQV and Senseye
• 2,500 ANSI 50,000:1 3k • • S 16.8x6.1x13.6 15 $3,499
• 1,800 ANSI 2,700:1 4k • S 13.8x3.7x10 8 $1,299
• 2,000 ANSI 3,000:1 4k • S 12x3.7x8.5 6 $999

• 5,100 lumens 7,500:1 1.7k • • S 14.8x20x8.8 27.8 $29,995

• 4,100 lumens 7,500:1 1.7k • • S 14.8x20x8.8 27.8 $28,995
• 6,000 lumens 7,500:1 1.7k • • S 14.8x20x8.8 27.8 $29,995
• 4,300 lumens 7,500:1 1.7k • • S 14.8x20x8.8 27.8 $32,995
• 1,400 lumens 4,000:1 2k • • S 9.2x10.9x3.7 6 $14,495
• 1,400 lumens 4,000:1 2k • • S 9.2x10.9x3.7 6 $14,495
• 1,400 lumens 4,000:1 2k • • S 9.2x10.9x3.7 6 $7,995
• 2,800 lumens 2,500:1 1.7k • • S 10.9x10.9x4.4 7.5 $15,495
• 1,200 lumens 5,000:1 1.7k • • S 10.9x10.9x4.4 7.5 $11,995
• 1,200 lumens 5,000:1 1.7k • • S 10.9x10.9x4.4 7.5 $17,495
• 2,800 lumens 2,500:1 1.7k • • S 10.9x10.9x4.4 7.5 $20,495
• 3,400 lumens 2,500:1 1.7k • • S 10.9x10.9x4.4 7.5 $20,495
• 3,500 lumens 2,500:1 1.7k • • S 10.9x10.9x4.4 7.5 $15,495
• • S $144,995
• 6k-10k lumens 5,000:1 750 • S 40.5x28.5x19.5 249 $119,995
• 8k-14k lumens 5,000:1 500 • S 40.5x28.5x19.5 249 $129,995
• 4,500 lumens 2,000:1 2k • S 25.4x21.4x10 68 $84,995
• 2,000 lumens 5,000:1 • S $45,995
• 6,000 lumens 2,000:1 3k • S 22.1x20.7x10 59.5 $52,995
• 1,000 lumens 2,000:1 4k • S 25.4x21.4x10 59.5 $67,995
• 1,600 lumens 4,500:1 1.5k • S 22.1x20.7x10 53 $22,995
• 4,500 lumens 1,800:1 4k • S 22.1x20.7x10 60 $27,995
• 8,000 lumens 1,800:1 4k • S 26x21.5x10 60 $37,995
• 4k-6k lumens 5,000:1 4k • S 26x21.5x10 68 $69,995
• 3,500 lumens 2,000:1 2k • S 17x7.2 20 $8,995
• 3,500 lumens 2,000:1 2k • S 17x7.2 20 $8,495
• 3,500 lumens 2,000:1 2k • S 17x7.2 20 $8,995

1,200 lumens 300:1 3k S 12.6x5x9.1 8.3 $700 Built in DVD player

1,200 lumens 1,200:1 3k S 12.9x6.9x10.2 15.2 $1,100 Built in DVD player
2,000 lumens 2,000:1 4k S 12.9x3.6x9.6 6.2 $800 Built in speaker
1,800 lumens 18,000:1 4k • • S 17.7x5.4x14.2 16.1 $2,000
1,600 lumens 200,000:1 4k • • S 17.7x5.4x15.5 16.5 $2,499 HQV Reon-VX
1,800 lumens 18,000:1 4k • • S 17.7x5.7x15.4 16.1 $2,999
• 1,600 lumens 200,000:1 4k • • S 17.7x5.4x14.2 16.5 $3,699 HQV Reon-VX

• 1,000 lumens 30,000:1 2k • S 14x7x19 24 $4,500 HQV Reon-VX

• 900 lumens 50,000:1 2k • • S 14x7x19 24 $7,500 HQV Reon-VX
70,000:1 2k • S 14x7x19 24 $10,000 HQV Reon-VX
50,000:1 2k • S 14x7x19 24 $8,000 HQV Reon-VX
30,000:1 2k • S 14x7x19 24 $5,000 HQV Reon-VX
32,000:1 2k • S 14x7x19 24 $5,500 HQV Reon-VX
50,000:1 2k • S 14x7x19 24 $8,000 HQV Reon-VX
70,000:1 2k • S 14x7x19 24 $10,000 HQV Reon-VX

• 850 ANSI lumens 15,000:1 2k • • S 15.9x6.2x19.3 28.6 $14,999 VP-11S2L (long throw): $17,999
• 1,000 ANSI lumens 10,000:1 2k • • S 15.9x6.2x19.3 28.6 $8,999 VP-15S1L (long throw): $11,999

KEY: L = Learning; S = Standard; U = Universal; V = Vertical

hometheatermag.com 29
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Meridian 810 Ref Video D-ILA 4096x2400 1 • • • Both
MF-10 D-ILA 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 2 1 2 • • • Both

Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America HC3800 DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • •

HC6800 LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both
HC7000 LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both

Runco LightStyle Series LS-3 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both

LightStyle Series LS-5 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both
LightStyle Series LS-7 DLP 1280x720 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both
QuantumColor Series Q-750i DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3 2 1 1 1 • • • Both
Reflection Series RS-440/440LT DLP 720 2/1.3 1 1 1 • • • Both
Reflection Series RS-900 DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 • • • • Both
Reflection Series RS-1100/1100 Utlra DLP 1080 2/1.3 2 1 1 • • • • Both
Video Xtreme VX-6000D DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 2 1 1 • • • • • • Both
Video Xtreme VX-8d DLP 720 2/1.3 1 2 1 1 • • • • • • Both
Video Xtreme VX-22i DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 • • • • • • Both
Video Xtreme VX-22D DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 2 1 1 • • • • • • Both
Video Xtreme VX-44D DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 2 1 1 • • • • • • Both
Video Xtreme VX-55D DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 2 1 1 • • • • • • Both
Signature Series SC-1 DLP 1080 2/1.3 1 2 1 1 • • • • • Both

Sanyo PDG-DWT50L DLP 1280x768 2 1 1 1 • • Both

PLC-WXU30 LCD 1280x800 1 1 1 2 • •
PLV-80L LCD 1366x768 2 1 1 2 • • V
PLV-WF20 LCD 1366x800 1 1 1 1 • • Both
PLV-Z3000 LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3b 2 1 1 1 • • • • Both
PLV-Z60 LCD 1280x720 2 2 1 1 1 • • Both
PLV-Z700 LCD 1920x1080 2/1.3b 2 1 1 1 • • • Both
PLV-HD2000 LCD 2048x1080 1 • • • Both
PDG-DHT100L DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3b 1 1 1 • • • Both
PLC-WTC500L LCD 1280x800 1 2 1 2 1 • • Both
PLC-WXU700 LCD 1280x800 1 1 1 1 1 • •
PLC-WXE45 LCD 1280x800 1 1 1 1 • •
PLC-WXU300 LCD 1280x800 1 1 1 1 2 • •

Sharp Electronics XV-Z15000 DLP 1080p 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • •

SIM2 C3X 1080 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • V

C3X LUMIS HOST DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 4 2 2 2 • • • • • V
C3X-E DLP 1280x720 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • V
Domino D60 DLP 1920x1080 2/1.1 2 1 1 1 • • • V
Domino D80E DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • V
HT3000 HOST DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 4 2 2 2 • • • • V
HT3000E DLP 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • V
HT380 DLP 1920x1080 1/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • V
HT5000E DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 2 2 2 1 • • • • Both
PRO C3 DLP 1280x720 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • V

Sony BRAVIA VPL-HW15 SXRD 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • Both

BRAVIA VPL-VW85 SXRD 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • •
BRAVIA VPL-VW200 SXRD 1920x1080 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both

Vivitek H1080 DLP 1080p 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • •

H1082 DLP 1080p 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • •
H1085 DLP 1080p 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • •
H5080 DLP 1080p 3/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • Both
H5082 DLP 1080p 3/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both
H5085 DLP 1080p 3/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • • Both
H9080FD DLP 1080p 2/1.3 1 1 1 1 • • • • Both

Wolf Cinema DCX-500i DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 2 1 1 1 • • • Both

DCX-500FD DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 2 1 1 1 • • • Both
DCX-1000i DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 2 1 1 1 • • • Both
DCX-1000FD DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 2 1 1 1 • • • Both
DCX-1500i DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 2 1 1 1 • • • Both
DCX-1500FD DLP 1920x1080 6/1.3 2 1 1 1 • • • Both

KEY: L = Learning; S = Standard; U = Universal; V = Vertical

30 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

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12 V
• 3,500 ANSI lumens 10,000:1 1.5k • • L 31.6x12.5x26.1 135 $185,000 Includes scaler, lens, 2.35 lens
• 600 ANSI lumens 30,000:1 2k • • S 17.9x6.8x16.5 25.6 $14,995

• 1,200 3,300:1 5k • U 13x5x10 7.9 $1,495

• 1,500 30,000:1 4k • • U 17x17x6 16.5 $2,295 Diamond series
• 1,000 72,000:1 5k • • U 17x17x6 16.5 $3,495 Diamond series

• 1,000 ANSI 10,000:1 4k • • S 17.9x7.8x20.8 24.3 $4,995 Starting price, CineWide

• 1,000 ANSI 15,000:1 4k • • S 17.9x7.8x20.8 24.3 $6,995 Starting price, CineWide
• 2,000 ANSI 10,000:1 2.5k • • S 20.4x8.9x25.3 41 $15,495 Starting price, CineWide
• 700 ANSI lumens 10,000:1 NA • • S 20.8x9.1x22.5 49.4 $14,995 LED, starting price, CineWide A/S
457 ANSI 2,800:1 2k • • S 14x6x16 37 $4,995 Starting price, CineWide AutoScope
13.9-19.8 ft-L 3,000:1 2.5k • • S 20x9x18 34 $8,995 Starting price, CineWide AutoScope
14.5-21.6 ft-L 1,500-3,100:1 2k • • S 20x9x18 34 $11,995 Starting price, CineWide AutoScope
17.3-29.8 ft-L 4,450-5,000:1 2k • • S 21x9x28 73 $34,995 Starting price, CineWide AutoScope
110 ft-L 10,000:1 2.5k • • S 21x8x25 55 $19,995 Starting price, seven lenses, CineWide
58.7 ft-L 4,000:1 2k • • S 21x10x29 99 $34,995 Starting price, CineWide AutoScope
58.7 ft-L 4,000:1 2k • • S 21x10x29 99 $44,995 Starting price, DHD3, CineWide
87 ft-L 1,500-2,000:1 1.5k • • S 29x12x28 120 $79,995 Starting price, DHD3, CineWide
107 ft-L 1,500-2,000:1 1k • • S 29x12x28 130 $99,995 Starting price, DHD3, CineWide
6,887 ANSI 1,500-2,800:1 1k • • S 26x17x57 342 $299,995 Starting price, DHD3, CineWide A/S

4,500 ANSI lumens 2,100:1 • • S 19.9x8x15.2 36.3 $6,995 DVI-D, dual lamp, lens options
3,700 ANSI lumens 500:1 S 13.1x3.1x10.1 7.9 $2,995 DVI-I
3,000 ANSI lumens 1,000:1 S 12.6x6.6x16.9 19.2 $9,995 DVI-D, lens options
6,000 ANSI lumens 2,000:1 • S 20.9x10.5x29.8 60.8 $14,995 DVI-D, dual lamp, lens options
1,200 ANSI lumens 65,000:1 • S 15.7x5.7x13.6 16 $2,795
1,200 ANSI lumens 10,000:1 • S 15x5x12 11 $1,295 Optical lens shift
1,200 ANSI lumens 10,000:1 • S 15.7x5.7x13.6 16.5 $1,995
7,000 ANSI lumens 1,000:1 • S 22.9x9.9x30.8 82 $64,995 SDI input x2, DVI-I, four lamp
6,500 ANSI lumens 7,500:1 • S 15.7x8.5x20.6 43.6 $21,995 DVI input x2, DVI-D
5,000 ANSI lumens 3,000:1 6k • S 17,8x6.9x21.7 32.4 $6,995 Dual lamp, auto lamp selection
3,800 ANSI lumens 500:1 • S 13.2x3.1x10.1 7.9 $2,995 P in P and P by P
2,000 ANSI lumens 500:1 • S 12.6x5.7x11.8 7.5 $1,795 Short focal length, RJ45
2,500 ANSI lumens 500:1 • S 12.8x3.3x9.1 6.2 $1,495 1.6x zoom, RJ45

• 1,600 30,000:1 3k • S 15.75 x 3.9 x 13.2 12.8 $2,499

• 2,100 ANSI 10,000:1 2k • • S 17.2x7.5x16.9 24.3 $32,495 Other lenses available

• 3,500 ANSI 35,000:1 1.5k • • S 17.1x7.5x16.9 24.3 $39,995 Other lenses available
• 2,500 ANSI 6,800:1 2k • • S 17.2x7.5x16.9 24.3 $19,995 Other lenses available
900 ANSI 10,000:1 2k • • S 19.4x7.1x16.5 21.2 $4,999
• 1,000 ANSI 4,500:1 2k • • S 13.9x6.85x12.5 12.8 $9,499 Live color management
• 1,200 ANSI 6,500:1 2k • • S 17.2x7.5x16.9 24.2 $21,495 Other lenses available
• 1,200 ANSI 6,500:1 1.5k • • S 17.2x7.5x16.9 25 $17,495 Other lenses available
• 1,000 ANSI 5,000:1 2k • • S 13.8x6.8x12.5 12.8 $11,995 Other lenses available
• 5,500 ANSI 8,000:1 2k • • S 22.4x10.24x28.7 99.2 $68,000 Six optional lenses available
• 4,000 ANSI 2,800:1 2k • • S 17.2x7.5x16.9 24.3 $19,995 Other lenses available

$3,500
$8,000
U 19.5x6.9x22.6 44.1 $15,000 Xenon lamp, Motionflow 120 Hz

1,600 lumens 4,000:1 4k • • S 11x8x3.5 5.7 $999

1,800 lumens 4,000:1 4k • • S 11x8x3.5 5.7 $1,299
2,000 lumens 5,000:1 4k • • S 11x8x3.5 5.7 $1,499
1,200 lumens 25,000:1 4k • • S 18x13x6 27 $3,599
1,200 lumens 30,000:1 4k • • S 18x13x6 27 $3,999
1,500 lumens 35,000:1 4k • • S 18x13x6 27 $4,999
800 lumens 100,000:1 20k • • S 20x21.6x8.8 36 $14,999 LED-based technology

• 2,500 2.5k-50k:1 4k • S 29x12x22 $65,000 500W Xenon Integrater version

• 2,500 2.5k-50k:1 4k • S 30x13x42 $72,000 500W Xenon Cosmetic version
• 5,500 2.5k-50k:1 4k • S 29x12x22 $85,000 1000W Xenon Integrater version
• 5,500 2.5k-50k:1 4k • S 30x13x42 $92,000 1000W Xenon Cosmetic version
• 7,250 2.5k-50k:1 4k • S 29x12x22 $110,000 1500W Xenon Integrater version
• 7,250 2.5k-50k:1 4k • S 30x13x42 $117,000 1500W Xenon Cosmetic version

KEY: L = Learning; S = Standard; U = Universal; V = Vertical

hometheatermag.com 31

Set and Match
Choosing the Right Projector and the Right Screen
I
vividly recall those freeway signs that once
littered the sides of the clogged Los Angeles
freeways. “If You Lived in Nutty Oaks, You
Could Be Home by Now,” they trumpeted.
This could apply to your home theater as well. With
a big screen in the house, you’re always just a door-
way removed from the theatrical experience. And
with rare exceptions, getting that experience means
getting a video projector and screen.
But where do you start? A custom installer is usually
involved in such setups. But a reasonably well-informed
enthusiast can get just as great of a picture (and sound),
even if it’s accompanied by the humble trappings of a
family room rather than a miniature movie palace.
32 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
BY Thomas J. Norton
The Room and Screen
The size of the screen, both its
width and height, will be limited
by the dimensions of the wall you
plan to install it on. That location
should also allow enough space
on either side of the screen to
keep the speakers close to the
screen and at least a couple of feet
away from the corners of the
room. The room should be deep
enough to let you sit a reasonable
distance from the screen and at
least a few feet from the back wall.
Just how far from the screen
should you sit? Recommenda-
tions for the optimum viewing
ANGLE SEATING DISTANCE (W=WIDTH OF THE SCREEN)
30 Degrees
35 Degrees
40 Degrees
Stewart Filmscreen Director’s Choice Screen
angles for a home theater range
from about 30 to 40 degrees. The
viewing angle is the angle the
screen subtends in the viewer’s
front vision from the far left of the
screen to the far right. At larger
angles, the image will be more
awesome and immersive but also
dimmer (all else being equal). It
will also be more likely to reveal
picture flaws and artifacts—a
particular problem with standard-
definition sources. The formula
below will help you calculate the
seating distance relative to screen
width for three different angles
of view:
1.86 X W
1.58 X W
1.36 X W
The best projection setup
requires a completely dark
environment to maintain the
performance you paid for.
Room light washes out the
image on a home theater
screen in the same way that it
would at your local multiplex.
If you only have the diagonal
measurement (for a 16:9 screen),
you can calculate the width by
multiplying it by 0.87.
I recommend that you choose
the seating distance based on
room size limitations and on your
desired distance from the front
speakers. (It’s assumed that the
front face of the speakers is
located in the same plane as the
screen.) For example, if the
listening distance is 12 feet and
the desired viewing angle is 40
degrees, the screen should be 8.82
feet (106 inches) wide.
Keep in mind that projection
lamps dim with age. Replace-
ments are expensive (generally
$300 to $400 each), so it’s best to
be a little conservative on size
when you choose a screen. 84 to
96 inches wide is probably the
best option for most affordable
projectors.
The Room: How Dark
The best projection setup requires
a completely dark environment to
maintain the performance you
paid for. Room light washes out
the image on a home theater
screen in the same way that it
would at your local multiplex.
A bright projector will produce
a watchable picture with some
room light, although it will be a
little dim, with poor blacks and
shadow detail. This may be
tolerable for brightly lit sports,
but it’s a mess for movies. Some
screens are specifically designed
for use with at least some room
lights on—as long as the light
doesn’t fall directly on the screen.
These screens provide some
benefit, but there’s no magic
feather here. You’ll get peak
performance from any projector
only with a good, conventional
screen in a fully darkened room.
It’s also a good idea to paint
your home theater room a reason-
ably dark, neutral color. Gray is
best, but that may meet with
resistance from the decorator of
the house. In any event, try to
avoid white, particularly on a low
ceiling. Light reflected back on the
screen can reduce image contrast.
Gain, Perfs, and Other Stuff
There’s more to choosing a screen
than size and room lighting.
Space won’t allow for a detailed
discussion of all the factors here,
but screen manufacturers’ Web-
sites have plenty of information
on the various options and
features. Some of the main
considerations are:
Gain
Screens are passive devices, so
they don’t have gain per se. How-
ever, they do have different reflec-
tive characteristics. A screen with
a gain of 1.0 is equally reflective
Sony VPL-VW85 DLP Projector
in all directions; you’ll lose very
little image brightness as you
move off center. Higher-gain
screens tend to focus more
of their reflected light toward
the middle. This increases the
brightness for viewers seated there
but reduces it for those on the
sides. But high gain can result
in hot-spotting and other non-
uniform characteristics, and it’s
best reserved for a very large
screen where image brightness is
all important.
A screen that has a gain of
about 1.3, which offers about 30
percent more brightness in a
center seat than a 1.0-gain screen,
is a safe and widely accepted
Runco LightStyle LS-5 DLP Projector
option. It will provide reasonable
brightness for the average home
theater projector. Lower gains
may offer superior performance
in subtle ways, but they require
careful projector selection if you
want a pleasing image brightness,
particularly in larger screen sizes.
To Perf or Not to Perf
Some screens are acoustically
transparent—more or less. They
use a woven material or a material
with scores of tiny microperfora-
tions. You can position your
center-channel speaker (or all of
your front speakers) behind them.
While it’s certainly an advantage
for dialogue to come directly from
the center of the picture, such
screens have visual limitations.
Because some light passes
through them, they lose
brightness. They can also affect
resolution or even cause moiré
patterns. If you insist on using an
acoustically transparent screen, it
may be best to use an experienced
custom installer who has
experience dealing with these
issues.
Configuration
There are fixed screens, retract-
able screens (both manual and
motorized), and screens that let
you mask for various aspect
ratios. There are even flat and
curved screens that have an aspect
ratio of 2.35:1 that you can use
with an anamorphic lens (a
specialized application not
discussed here). Many of these
options are expensive.
Our recommendation for most
budgets is to choose your screen
size and then, depending on your
budget, select either a fixed or
retractable (preferably motor-
ized), nonperforated, 1.3-gain
16:9 screen. If the screen is
retractable and will be ceiling
mounted, make sure the drop (the
black material above the screen) is
sufficient to bring the screen
down to your desired height.
The Projector
The options in home theater
projectors come in three
technologies and four flavors:
LCD, LCOS (Sony’s SXRD is an
LCOS variant), single-chip DLP,
and three-chip DLP. All of these
can produce a stunning image. In
our experience, a single-chip DLP
often produces a slightly crisper
picture, but no one will complain
about the resolution of a good
LCD or LCOS design.
Single-chip DLPs (which are
much less expensive and less
bulky than the three-chip alter-
native) use a spinning color wheel
to generate color. This can pro-
duce an artifact called rainbows,
or color fringing, which can
appear as random flashes of color.
This problem has been greatly
reduced since the early days of
DLP, but it’s still occasionally
visible to viewers who are
sensitive to it (not everyone is).
Three-chip DLP, LCD, and LCOS
designs all use three imaging
panels rather than color wheels
and do not have this problem.
Manufacturers often argue
passionately for their design
hometheatermag.com 33
 choices, but in our view, none of
these technologies is inherently
better than the others. We’ve seen
superb examples of each. Your
projector decisions should be
based on other factors.
Basic Features
Home projectors usually have
zoom lenses to accommodate a
variety of projector-to-screen
Elite Screens StarBright 7 and Raptor Series Screens
distances (thrown distance). Be
sure to check and see if a projec-
tor’s throw distance is compatible
with your screen size and the setup
distance available in your room.
34 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
Lens shift controls are also
common, although a few
projectors still lack them. They
move the image up and down and
(often) left to right as well, to
compensate for the position of the
projector.
Some lenses have powered
adjustments. Others use manual
control. Powered functions make
it easy to stand next to the screen
and check the focus, but
manual controls are often
easier to fine-tune.
A dynamic iris is a widely
available feature that can
significantly improve both
contrast ratio and deep
blacks. It closes down on
dark scenes and opens up
on brighter ones. While
not everyone likes them, a well-
designed dynamic iris can darken
blacks without obvious side effects.
You can usually switch it off, if
desired.
Most manufacturers have made
great strides in reducing the noise
that their projectors’ cooling fans
produce. Some of them are eerily
quiet, but not all. It’s worth
checking for this. (We check for
this in our reviews.)
Other useful features to look for
include multiple lamp brightness
modes and, if you plan to use an
anamorphic lens setup, an ana-
morphic aspect ratio setting.
Most projectors use a conven-
tional projection lamp, but a few
new projectors employ LED light-
ing. These offer reduced energy
consumption, almost unlimited
LED life with no age-related
dimming, and other advantages.
The main limitation is the price
(and sometimes brightness).
Current models sell for $15,000
and up.
Brightness
A larger screen (of the same gain)
than those used in our reviews
will have reduced measured
brightness in roughly direct
proportion to the increase in
screen area. A projector that can
generate 20 foot-lamberts on our
reference 78-inch-wide screen
should provide at least 12 ft-L on
a screen up to about 100 inches
wide. 12 ft-L is a comfortable
brightness level for most viewers,
even if some viewers demand
more.
Color
If the projector deviates from the
standard color temperature and
color gamut, the result won’t be an
accurate reproduction of what the
director intended. Even the best
projectors often come out of the
box with poorly calibrated
color temperature. At a
minimum, you’ll want both
high and low controls for
red, green, and blue to get
this right. You should also be
prepared to pay an experienced
and fully equipped calibrator to
do the job (it’s not a DIY
operation for most of us). A
properly implemented color
management system (CMS) can
also help you get the color points
right, although it’s best if the
gamut is correct on arrival. Unlike
color temperature, color gamut
sometimes is.
Contrast
There are a number of ways
to measure contrast, or more
precisely, contrast ratio. But
there’s some disagreement among
experts as to which is more
significant. The type we measure
is peak contrast ratio, or full-on/
full-off contrast ratio. This is
the spread between the bright-
ness of a peak-white window
(100 IRE) and a full-screen black
test pattern (0 IRE). The higher
this number—assuming it’s
measured with the projector set
up for the best and most accurate
picture quality it can produce—
the better.
Above: Screen Innovations Black Diamond Screen;
Below: Mitsubishi HC6800 LCD Projector
Black Level
The full-on/full-off contrast ratio
alone isn’t enough to characterize
the effective contrast. You also
need the black level. Without
deep blacks, the image may look
pale, two-dimensional, and
washed out. At the current state of
the art in projectors, a black level
that’s much above 0.01 ft-L (under
our measurement conditions) is
mediocre at best. At or below
0.005 ft-L is good, and 0.002 ft-L
or less is superb. You won’t get this
number from any published
specs; check out our reviews.
Gamma
Gamma indicates the brightness
of the image at all points along the
full brightness range between
pure black and peak white. Per-
haps the most important aspect of
gamma is how quickly a projector
comes out of pure black as the
image becomes brighter. If it does
this too fast, it can undo the
positive effects of even the darkest
blacks. If it does this too slow, the
blacks will look muddy and
crushed. The only way you can
find out if a projector’s bottom-
end gamma is appropriate is
through a well set-up demo or the
comments in a good review.
Resolution
Apart from the cheapest models,
there’s little reason today to choose
anything less than a 1080p
projector. 720p models still exist,
and they can produce a fine
picture, but you shouldn’t pay a
premium price for them.
Resolution is more than just
pixel count. The entire optical
path, from light source to lens,
is involved. None of the projectors
we’ve reviewed in the recent past
suffer from poor resolution.
They all produce sharp, crisp
images, particularly on HD
sources. Are some sharper than
others? Yes, but the differences
tend to be elusive.
Video Processing
Most projectors incorporate
respectable deinterlacing and
upscaling. We check video-
processing quality in our
reviews, but I can’t recall the last
time a projector’s video
processing has affected a
recommendation.
Different projectors handle
1080p/24 sources differently.
You should look for one that
displays such material as a direct
multiple of 24 fps. Most do. A
few projectors even offer frame
interpolation features that pro-
vide smoother motion. Some
viewers don’t like how this
feature changes the look of
film-based sources, but others
consider the added smoothness
a bonus and a fair trade-off.
Above: Da-Light Screen; Right: JVC DLA-HD550 D-ILA Projector
The Demo
Many in-store projector demos
are notoriously poor. If you’ve
never seen a good home
projector, a competent demo
should blow you away. More than
likely, you’ll get the best demo at
the home of a friend with a
competent front projection setup.
Failing that, a good review will
almost always tell you more about
a projector than you’ll see in any
but the best-equipped indepen-
dent retailers. Don’t necessarily be
put off by a well-reviewed
projector in a bad store demo;
they’re far more common than
good ones.
Wrapping It Up
It should be obvious that getting
a good projection setup is a bit
more complex than simply buying
a flat panel and plunking it
down on a convenient stand
or mounting it on a vacant wall.
But it isn’t that difficult if you
approach it in an organized
fashion. Choose the right room,
select your screen size and type,
and then find the best projector to
match your setup and budget.
Once you do, you’ll wonder how
you ever did without it, and you’ll
never look at home theater in
quite the same way.
Vutec Dyna-Curve Screen
hometheatermag.com 35
 Three for the Show
Projectors go Main Street.
W
hile few consumers
realize it, a quiet revo-
lution is happening in
the home theater market. Although
they aren’t yet mass-market items,
video projectors are becoming rela-
tively affordable. For less than $2,000
plus a decent screen, you can have the
big-screen experience at home.
36 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
BY Thomas J. Norton
Move up a notch from that, and you can
have a projection setup at home that will
challenge anything you’ll see in your local
multiplex, apart from sheer image size and,
for now, 3-D. The projectors we’ll check out
here, at $2,300 to $4,000, aren’t exactly
impulse purchases for most of us in today’s
economy. But the best models in this price
range provide image quality you’d have to
spend three or four times that amount to
acquire just a few short years ago.
These models, from Sony, Mitsubishi,
and Epson, are at the cutting edge of this
revolution. All have three imaging chips (a
common factor in all LCD/SXRD/LCOS
projectors—there is no color wheel and no
rainbow artifacts). All are respectably quiet
(in some cases eerily so), and all have a tiny
but inconsequential amount of light

leakage from their fan exhaust vents. Each also has some
form of dynamic iris for darker blacks. I ran all of them in
for over 100 hours, to let their new lamps settle in before I
did any tests or serious viewing. And I reviewed all of them
on a 78-inch-wide, 1.3-gain Stewart StudioTek 130 screen
(an original StudioTek 130, not the more recent StudioTek
130 G3 design).
THREE FOR THE SHOW
All of the referenced program material in the reviews was
from Blu-ray Disc, played back via HDMI from either a
Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD or OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player. I
also took a brief look at SD material and had no particular
complaints—apart from the usual withdrawal symptoms of
going from extended HD viewing to SD. The differences
become more striking as the screen gets larger.
Photos by Cordero Studios
THREE FOR THE SHOW

Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 9500 UB LCD Projector

PRICE: $3,699 AT A GLANCE: Excellent video processing •
Superior adjustability Blacks to die for•

E
pson’s broad lineup of Enhancement plus us Vertical and you make
m your own custom
EPSON POWERLITE PRO CINEMA 9500
PowerLite home theater UB LCD PROJECTOR Horizontal Line Enhancement
Enhancement. adjustment
adjust from an onscreen
projectors can be a bit PERFORMANCE While impressive, I found little graph or an actual source image. I
confusing, but the im- FEATURES use for this. The zero position found that a setting of 2.2 or 2.3
portant point is that it ERGONOMICS (centered) of the Standard setting was generally best, depending on
splits into two parallel lines. At the VALUE produced the most accurate result the source material.
top are the Pro Cinema models, with good program sources. There are two different lamp
and just below them are the Home and sources entering the projector Three types of digital noise modes, ECO and Normal, under
Cinema designs. They track each with high-definition resolutions reduction are provided: Conven- the Power Consumption menu
other closely in performance, but (1080i, 1080p, and 720p). tional, Mosquito, and Block. I option. The ECO setting pro-
the Pro Cinema versions offer a There are also ten user mem- didn’t need them in my testing or duced more than enough bright-
few extra features. These include ories where you can save differ- viewing, but they might be useful ness on my relatively small screen.
an aspect-ratio setting for ana- ent settings. You can set up each with poor source material. The RGB menu provides red,
morphic projection on a 2.35:1 of them separately for each input. The Setup Level and Epson green, and blue calibration
screen (the anamorphic lens My measurements indicated that Super White features are only adjustments at the top (Gain) and
required to use this is not in- the most accurate mode after available with component, bottom (Offset) of the brightness
cluded, and I didn’t test this fea- calibration (but not before) is S-video, or composite inputs. range. A separate Absolute Color
ture). They also include ISFccc THX. Super White is best left off. Temperature control is adjustable
Day and Night modes, a spare The Epson offers the widest I tried the Contrast Enhance- in 500K increments from 5,000K
lamp, a longer warranty, and a range of controls of the three ment control and was sometimes to 10,000K, except in THX mode,
black case (the Home Cinema projectors under review here, drawn to the added punch it gave where it is locked out. But THX
versions are white). At the top of although (as is usual in consumer the image (but only in the lowest still lets you access the RGB
the line, and our subject here, is video) some of them fall into the of its three settings). However, I calibration controls. A color
the Pro Cinema 9500 UB. bells-and-whistles category. The found the picture more natural management system, RGBCMY,
Skin Tone setting, when avail- looking, overall, with the Contrast provides Hue, Saturation, and
Description able, is best left off. The Sharp- Enhancement off. Brightness controls for all primary
In appearance, the PowerLite Pro ness menu offers Standard and Other controls were more and secondary colors (red, green,
Cinema 9500 UB—one of the few Advanced settings, and the latter useful. A Gamma control offers blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow).
projectors that is currently THX provides four separate controls: five fixed settings from 2.0 to 2.4, The motorized, dual-layered
certified—closely resembles last Thick and Thin Line plus a Customized option that lets Auto Iris system is the heart of
year’s Epson flagship, the Pro
Cinema 7500 UB. Its Fujinon
zoom lens has a throw-distance
range of 9.8 to 20.9 feet for a
100-inch (diagonal) 16:9 screen.
The horizontal and vertical
lens-shift controls, located at
the top front of the case, have
convenient mid-setting detents
that make it easy to find the
neutral settings. Lens shift,
zoom, and focus are all manual.
The inputs are located in
back. Epson claims up to 4,000
hours of life (presumably to
half brightness and in the low,
ECO setting) for the projector’s
200-watt lamp.
The 9500 UB also employs
the most recent version of
Epson’s D7 LCD imaging chips.
The projector has seven
preset picture modes, which
Epson calls Color Modes. Most
of the controls for these modes
(including a THX mode) are user
adjustable. Moreover, they are
adjustable for each input and
separately adjustable for standard-
definition sources (480i and 480p)

38 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com


Features
EPSON POWERLITE PRO CINEMA 9500
UB LCD PROJECTOR
TYPE: LCD
NATIVE RESOLUTION: 1920 by 1080
RATED LAMP LIFE: 4,000 hours
DYNAMIC IRIS: Yes
LENS SHIFT: Horizontal/Vertical (manual)
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
17.7 x 5.9 x 15.3
WEIGHT (POUNDS): 16.5
PRICE: $3,699 (replacement lamp: $300)
Epson’s UltraBlack Technology. It’s
said to offer superior light
attenuation compared with earlier
designs in either of its active
settings: Normal and High Speed.
I did most of my testing and
viewing in the Normal setting.
The 9500 UB’s Super-Resolution
control sounds like the sort of
adjustment that’s best left off. But
I found that the lowest setting
provided a very subtle enhance-
ment that you might enjoy
without suffering video-purist
guilt. In my system, the middle
setting didn’t look much differ-
ent than the lowest, but the
highest added ugly white
edge-enhancement halos.
You can also select inputs,
blank the screen, or call up the
projector’s built-in test patterns
from the backlit remote. The test
patterns include a centering image
and the ability to isolate the red,
green, or blue images. This
provides a more accurate way to
set the Color and Tint controls
than color filters.
Refresh, Rinse, Repeat
With its 4:4 pulldown control
engaged, the 9500 UB will play
back native 1080p/24 film-origi-
nated material at a frame refresh
rate of 96 hertz by adding three
repeated frames between each
pair of real frames. Optionally,
you can select Epson’s new
motion-smoothing feature—
FineFrame—which adds three
interpolated frames, instead of
simply repeating them.
With a 60-Hz video-based
source, the Epson adds only one
repeated or interpolated frame,
for a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
If both frame interpolation and
4:4 pulldown are left off, then the
60-Hz film-originated source
retains its 3:2 pulldown and is
displayed with a single repeated
frame at a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
If 4:4 is turned on for such a
source, the 60-Hz signal is
reconstructed to 24 Hz and
displayed at a 96-Hz refresh rate
using 4:4 pulldown.
If you select interpolation for
material with 3:2 pulldown, the
Epson first converts the material
• The Epson’s Fujinon zoom lens
has a range of 9.8 to 20.9 feet.
to 24 fps by eliminating the 3:2
pulldown. Then it adds four
interpolated frames to each real
frame and displays the source at
120 Hz. These sources generally
include all film-originated
broadcast sources, both standard
and high definition, and all
movies on DVD.
I’m not a fan of frame inter-
polation for film-based sources,
as it gives them a video-like look.
Apart from checking out this
feature (it did what it was design-
ed to do), I didn’t use it on most of
the program material I watched.
Performance
We tested two samples of the 9500
UB. The first worked well, but it
had slightly misaligned imaging
panels. The red was off by roughly
a full pixel, and the green was off
by about half as much—in
opposite directions and at the
center of the screen. This was
mainly visible on a near-screen
inspection. The second sample
was virtually perfect in the center
and off by just a hair at the edges
(the latter is very common in
consumer projectors). I used the
second sample for all calibrations
and subsequent viewing. It
appears to have been a test sample
used in the THX-certification
process. Apart from panel
alignment, both samples appeared
to have identical performance.
The Epson incorporates the
highly regarded HQV Reon-VX
video processing technology,
supplemented by additional video
processors from Pixelworks. With
two exceptions, it sailed through
all of my usual deinterlacing and
scaling tests (see the Video Test
Bench chart).
THREE FOR THE SHOW
•
It failed a 2:2 SD cadence test
in Auto, but passed it with the
Progressive control set to Film.
We require proper performance
in Auto mode for a passing grade.
With the HDMI Video Range
control set to Auto or Normal, the
projector goes above white, but it
cuts off just slightly above black.
In Expanded mode, it extends
well below black, but I felt that the
subjective dark-scene contrast was
very slightly better in Auto mode,
so that’s where I left it for the test-
ing and viewing. The projector
went near enough to black in
Auto mode that I could set the
correct black level without
difficulty.
The Epson didn’t seem to like
Pioneer Blu-ray players. I tried it
with two of them, the BDP-09FD
and the BDP-23FD. On both of
them, the images often had a
curious intermittent seam from
left to right, about one-third of the
way down from the top. It was
primarily visible when there was
vertical motion in the picture. An
OPPO and a Marantz player
didn’t have this problem, and the
Pioneers worked fine with the
Mitsubishi and Sony projectors
reviewed here. It’s a puzzle, and it
may be related to our test sample
of the Epson (the first sample
went back before I discovered the
problem). If you plan to use the
projector with a Pioneer player, I’d
recommend that you check them
together before you write the
check.
With no audio on, I often heard
a mechanical chuffing noise from
the auto iris, but it was very low in
level and totally inaudible with the
sound running. But I never saw
the auto iris operating; the image
hometheatermag.com 39
THREE FOR THE SHOW

HT Labs white and 0.0015 ft-L black).

The Color Tracking charts below

Measures show how well a display adheres to

EPSON POWERLITE PRO CINEMA
9500 UB LCD PROJECTOR
0.0014 19
FULL-ON/FULL-OFF
CONTRAST RATIO: 13,367:1 perfect, while some hold to a slightly
For the picture settings used
explanation of our
in this review, go to
HomeTheaterMag.com.
All the measurements here,
unless noted otherwise, were
taken with the projector in its
THX Color mode, calibrated and
adjusted for the most accurate
image. The Power Consumption
(lamp mode) was on ECO, the
Gamma at 2.2, and the Auto Iris set
to Normal (on).
the D65 standard white point; the
tighter the overlap of the three
primary colors, the nearer the result is
to D65. The best Before Calibration
gray scale, was obtained in the HD
Color mode, not THX. But the Connections INPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3a (2), component video
(1), S-video (1), composite video (1), PC (D-sub 15-pin) (1) ADDITIONAL: RS-232C
calibrated result, shown in the After (1), 12-volt trigger (1)
Calibration chart, was performed in
the THX mode, as the latter had the
most accurate color gamut. The After didn’t pump in any looking of the three
Calibration color is excellent, showing visible way. projectors, but in no
only small deviations at the top and While the black bars way did it have any
bottom of the brightness range. The on 2.35:1 and 4:3 obvious softness.
Delta-E is less than 1.8 from 30 IRE to material are clearly visi- The color is also
90 IRE, increasing to a maximum of ble on the Epson—true beyond criticism. Yes,
just under 4 at 20 IRE (very dark gray). of any projector we’ve some discs have a bit
Delta-E indicates how closely the tested—the Epson’s of a brownish, sepia
display adheres to the D65 white black level, shadow look, but this always
point of the HDTV standard. Most detail, and overall appeared to be in the
experts agree that a Delta-E below 4 contrast were excellent. source or transfer.
is visibly indistinguishable from My favorite test scenes With naturally shot
for these qualities are material, the colors
Visit our Website
stricter standard (a Delta-E of 3 in Spider-Man. The looked right, including
for a detailed or less). establishing shot of fleshtones and bright
testing regimen, The CIE chart above shows OsCorp at the begin- green foliage—two
plus a list of our
reference gear.
the Epson’s color gamut in the ning of chapter 3, the sure giveaways of poor
THX mode out of the box with night rooftop and street color.
the white triangle. It’s nearly scenes early in chap-
on the an exact overlay of the ter 13, and the bridge Conclusions
web (Rec.709) HDTV color standard and cable car sequences It’s hard to imagine
(the black triangle). The brightness in chapter 27 looked anyone being
of the three primary colors (red, velvety rich and dark. disappointed with
green, and blue) was slightly off; Only the warehouse this projector. It
brightness or intensity is the third scene at the end of handles everything
dimension of color and is not visible in chapter 13 came across beautifully, whether
a CIE chart. This could not be corrected as a little grayed out. the material is dark

T
he Epson’s full-on/full-off
contrast ratio (also called the altering the color decoding, which
peak contrast ratio, the
sequential contrast ratio, or
the dynamic range) is exceptional
with its auto iris in Normal (engaged). minor differences in the brightness of
Its black level is only marginally
higher than the best we’ve yet
measured. With the auto iris off, the
contrast ratio drops to a respectable
3,245:1, with a black level of 0.005.
With the auto iris set to Normal
and power consumption on Normal
(high lamp setting), the full-on/
full-off contrast ratio measured
13,721:1 (28.3 foot-lamberts peak
BEFORE CALIBRATION
(using the RGBCMY controls) without
was excellent out of the box. This was
easy to spot with the projector’s color
isolation controls. I’ve found that
the individual colors are one of the
least significant details to get spot on
(within reason) for visibly good color
reproduction. But this result does
suggest that the Epson’s RGBCMY
color management system functions
by altering the parameters of the
color decoder—a very common color
management implementation, but
not a desirable one.—TJN
AFTER CALIBRATION
The relentless darkness The Epson’s remote and foreboding (Harry
lets you select inputs,
of Harry Potter and the blank the screen, or call
Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince was up built-in test patterns. Half-Blood Prince) or
astonishingly well mostly bright (Seven
handled. Despite the gloom, I Years in Tibet, Baraka, Up). The
never missed any detail. Sony did give it a run for the
Overall detailing is another money (more on this in the Sony
strength. Seven Years in Tibet report), but the Epson didn’t miss
may be an early Blu-ray release, a step in any respect. Definitely a
but it remains reference quality. Top Pick.
Everything in this spectacular
transfer is naturally sharp, with- Epson •
out a hint of softness. Facial (562) 290-5174 • epson.com
details that you might not want Dealer Locator Code EPS
to see (bad makeup in one or two
scenes and Brad Pitt’s
acne scars) pop out
clearly—even with the
Super-Resolution
feature turned off. But
the detail always looks
real, never artificial. The
Epson wasn’t the crispest

VIDEO LUMA CHROMA

3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD SCALING
CLIPPING RESOLUTION RESOLUTION

PASS FAIL PASS PASS PASS PASS GOOD

Color-tracking charts were generated in Datacolor ColorFacts.

40 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

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THREE FOR THE SHOW

Mitsubishi HC6800 LCD Projector

PRICE: $2,295 AT A GLANCE: Excellent video processing Stunning resolution
Poor shadow detail
• •

W
hile Mitsubishi
might have a
larger footprint
in your memory
with its big-
screen TVs and flat panels, the
company is focused on front pro-
jection. In fact, its Website shows
26 projector models, including
four home theater designs.
Mitsubishi projectors are not
your father’s Mitsubishi, and by
that I mean video displays, not
cars. Its projectors are marketed
by the company’s Presentation
Products division, which is
separate from the division that
sells flat-panel and rear-projection
TVs.
The company’s $4,000 HC7000
projector garnered a lot of praise
in our March 2009 issue. The new
HC6800 looks like its kissing
cousin, but one that will leave
your bank balance about $1,700
richer. Has Mitsubishi skimped to
bring the price down? On the
surface, it doesn’t appear so. The
features are remarkably similar,
and the performance… well, that’s
what we’re here to check out.
MITSUBISHI HC6800 LCD PROJECTOR
PERFORMANCE
FEATURES
ERGONOMICS
VALUE
this is not specified, to half
brightness).
Like the Epson, the HC6800
employs three D7 LCD imaging
chips (presumably these are made
by Epson as well, since D7 is
Epson chip-generation coding).
In addition to the usual aspect
ratios, the Mitsubishi offers two
anamorphic modes for viewing
images on a 2.35:1 screen with an
anamorphic lens (available from
several manufacturers). One mode
is for video sources, and the other
is for computer sources. The latter
is a first in our experience. I didn’t
test the anamorphic feature here.
When it receives a 1080p/24
input, the projector doubles the
frame rate by repeating each
frame once and displays at a
frame refresh rate of 48 Hz. It
displays all other inputs at a
refresh rate of 60 Hz. There’s no
motion compensation feature that
uses frame interpolation.
Mitsubishi calls its six preset
picture modes Gamma modes.
The two User Gamma modes
offer manual adjustment of the
gamma, separately for the low,
middle, and high portions of the
gamma curve. That’s not just for
the overall gamma, but for the
red, green, and blue gamma as
well.
The Color Temperature control
has five options, including a User
mode that offers red, green, and
blue adjustments at both the
bottom and top of the brightness
range. It doesn’t have a color
management system that offers
control over the color gamut, and
there’s no fixed color gamut
control with multiple options. It
also doesn’t have individual color
isolation controls (red, green, or
blue, or just blue only) to assist in
setting the Color and Tint
controls without having to use
those imprecise color filters.
There are three types of noise
reduction: temporal recursive
(TRNR)—a ten-dollar phrase
for random noise reduction—
mosquito (MNR), and block
artifact removal (BAR). They are
not functional with 720p, 1080i,
or 1080p inputs. I didn’t use them.
Mitsubishi’s Diamond Black
Iris offers five different automatic
operating modes, plus Off (fully
open). For me, Auto 5 produced
the best results.
You can set up each input
differently. The Mitsubishi also
has three A/V memories in which
you can save different settings.
The memories are independent of
the inputs; that is, you may save
three different A/V memory
setups for each source.
I didn’t expect much from the
CTI control, which is designed to
increase the crispness of color
boundaries. The effect was clearly
visible on a color test pattern, with
no obvious negative side effects
(at least when I used its lowest

Description
The HC6800’s slightly curvy case
sports the usual set of rear-
mounted video inputs. They are
deeply recessed, and if you mount
the projector upright and ver-
tically, the HDMI ports would be
a little hard to reach. The control
panel is located on top.
The Mitsubishi is the only
projector in this group with
motorized lens shift (horizontal
and vertical), focus, and zoom.
The motorized functions offer
both Fast and Step (slow) oper-
ation, which makes them the
most precise motorized projector
controls I’ve yet experienced. The
zoom lens offers a projection
range of 11.25 to 18.1 feet on a
96-inch-wide screen.
The HC6800’s 170-watt lamp
(in Standard mode; 136 watts
in Low mode) is rated for an
estimated life of 4,000 hours in
Low mode and 2,000 hours in
Standard (presumably, though

42 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com


Features
MITSUBISHI HC6800 LCD PROJECTOR
TYPE: LCD
NATIVE RESOLUTION: 1920 by 1080
RATED LAMP LIFE:
4,000 hours (Low Lamp mode)
DYNAMIC IRIS: Yes
LENS SHIFT: Yes
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
16.8 x 17.3 x 6.3
WEIGHT (POUNDS): 16.5
PRICE: $2,295 (replacement lamp: $459)
setting). I left it on, but I was
never convinced it did much on
real program material.
The Mitsubishi offers a
Keystone control to correct for
distorted (trapezoid-shaped)
images. It’s always best to avoid
keystone controls if possible. They
can generate artifacts and reduce
resolution. Similar corrections are
better made with a combination
of proper placement and the lens
shift controls.
Mitsubishi’s remote is backlit,
with direct access to the video
inputs and the most often used
controls.
Performance
The Mitsubishi employs the
increasingly popular HQV
Reon-VX for its video proces-
sing. For the most part (see the
Video Test Bench chart), the
processing was excellent. As
with the Epson, which also
uses the Reon, it had problems
with our 2:2 tests in the Auto
setting of the Cinema mode
(in this case with both SD
and HD). It marginally passed
the HD 2:2 test: It locked on to
the cadence but broke lock and
then reestablished lock with
each pass of this cyclical test.
But it failed the 2:2 SD test in
Auto. (It passed both 2:2 tests
in Film mode, but our pass/fail
criteria requires a passing score
in the Auto mode.)
The projector also failed the
clipping test. It would not go
below black. But it did go
above white. Above white is
the most important part of this
test, since the black level
(brightness control) is always
set so it won’t go below black.
However, the white level
(contrast control) should
always be set to allow visible
headroom above white. Still,
when a display fails to go
below black, it makes it harder
to set the black level correctly.
While the Mitsubishi’s black
level isn’t a major picture issue,
its failure to go below black
requires a failing grade on the
clipping test.
• The Mitsubishi’s slightly curvy
exterior makes it stand out in a room.
The projector was respectably
quiet in its Low Lamp mode,
which was more than sufficiently
bright on my modestly sized
screen. The Standard mode was
clearly louder, more so than the
high settings on the other pro-
jectors. However, it’s unlikely to
be audible with sound playing
except at a very low level in a
small room.
I could sometimes hear the
auto iris operating (a clicking
sound), but only with the sound
off. On a couple of occasions, I
thought I saw the auto iris pump
as it adjusted to a rapid change in
source brightness, but it wasn’t
frequent enough to make me
want to switch to manual iris
operation. That was a good thing,
because the projector’s blacks—or
more precisely, the deep shadow
detail—were an issue even with
the iris operating in its best auto
setting. While the iris in Auto 5
produced a strikingly good result
for absolute black level (see HT
Labs Measures), the visible result
was—there’s no other way to put
this—poor. Dark, low-contrast
scenes, such as the night scene
aboard the tramp steamer in
chapter 3 of Stargate: Continuum
and the night scene in the Indian
town in chapter 4 of Seven Years
in Tibet, had a milky gray haze
over them that is typical of LCD
displays with poor shadow detail.
There was no comparison here
with the other projectors in this
group.
How could the projector
produce such an impressive
black-level measurement and still
falter badly when it came to
reproducing very dark,
THREE FOR THE SHOW
•
low-contrast scenes? I believe the
answer is that the iris comes out
of black far too fast. The Auto Iris
transitions quickly to a mode in
which it has significantly reduced
effect and therefore begins to
reveal the HC6800’s very low
native full-on/full-off contrast
ratio and high native black level
(see HT Labs Measures). You get
impressively deep blacks when the
screen is fully dark, but even a
small increase in light level on the
screen triggers the iris to begin
opening, which grays out dark,
low-contrast images and impairs
shadow detail.
Things picked up considerably
at brighter levels. But it wasn’t
easy to get there. The Mitsubishi
was the most difficult of the
projectors to calibrate, and I spent
more than twice as much time
calibrating it as I did the others.
The color tracking before cali-
bration was so poor that there was
barely enough control to get it
right. I had to use the red, green,
and blue gamma controls to assist
in this. I also had to adjust the
overall gamma at the low end to
eliminate a muddiness in the
pre-calibrated image.
However, with that done, the
Mitsubishi produced a generally
pleasing picture on everything
but the darkest scenes. By far,
its greatest strength is its reso-
lution. It is superbly detailed from
corner to corner. My acid test
for resolution is Baraka, which
was gorgeously transferred from
its original 70mm to Blu-ray.
There’s so much detail here that
it’s impossible to pick a prime
example, but the Mitsubishi didn’t
disappoint me in any way. The
hometheatermag.com 43
THREE FOR THE SHOW

HT Labs black level of 0.0012, for a full-on/full-

off contrast ratio of 23,638:1—again, a

Measures number that is much more impressive

than the projector’s visible contrast
performance. Turning off the auto iris,
in the Low Lamp mode, increased
the black level enormously, to 0.036
ft-L, and reduced the full-on/full-off
contrast ratio to 548:1.
The Color Tracking charts below
Connections INPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3 (2), S-video (1),
composite video (1) component video (1), PC (mini D-sub 15-pin) ADDITIONAL:
show how well a display adheres to the RS-232C (D-sub 9-pin), 12-volt trigger
D65 standard; the tighter the overlap of
the three primary colors, the nearer the combination of dark, low-contrast
result is to D65. The Before Calibration apparently superb scenes are hazy
result is poor, with severe slopes from optics with nearly enough to be
low to high. While it wasn’t possible flawless panel distracting. In a direct
to completely flatten them, the After alignment would comparison with the
Calibration curves are better, apart be hard to beat even Epson, the latter’s
MITSUBISHI HC6800 LCD from some issues at the darkest and at much higher superiority in shadow
PROJECTOR brightest ends of the spectrum. The prices. detail was painfully
Delta-E (a numerical measure of how While the obvious.
0.0009 20.2 closely a display comes to the desired HC6800’s color came But things aren’t
D65 color temperature, with values up short of quite that simple.
FULL-ON/FULL-OFF under 4 considered good) was about the subjective and Even at roughly
CONTRAST RATIO: 22,444:1 4 or less from 20 IRE (dark) to 90 IRE measured perfor- half the price,
For the picture settings Visit our Website (near peak white), except for a mance of the other the Mitsubishi’s
for a detailed
used in this review, go to explanation of our
reading just above 5 at 20 IRE two projectors, it resolution of detail
HomeTheaterMag.com. testing regimen, and 50 IRE (mid brightness). But was completely was noticeably crisper
plus a list of our
All the measurements here, reference gear. it degraded to approximately 16 watchable. I suspect than the Epson’s.
unless noted otherwise, were at 100 IRE (peak white). Oddly, that most viewers will Resolution alone isn’t
taken in the User1 Gamma
on the however, the Delta-E fluctuated be perfectly happy quite enough for me
mode, the Auto Iris in Auto 5, web wildly at the projector’s max- with it. I still to push it over the top.
the Contrast on –10, Brightness imum brightness (100 IRE), recommend a Dark scene perfor-
on +3, and the Lamp mode on Low. sometimes dropping to under 5. This calibration, and mance and contrast
variation wasn’t a problem at other the complications are too important

T
he full-on/full-off contrast brightness levels. I mentioned above to me. But with its
ratio above is objectively The color gamut shown in the mean that a good very attractive pric-
spectacular. But it’s rendered pie-shaped CIE chart above shows the calibration is likely ing (apart from a
significantly less impressive by Mitsubishi’s excessively wide color to be pricey. But after rather high lamp-re-
the subjective results in the review. gamut. Without a color management adjustments, my only placement cost),
With its auto iris engaged, the system, or even a selection of fixed color criticism was respectable perfor-
Mitsubishi is, by a small margin, the color gamuts to choose from, this a hint of phosphor- mance on most
brightest of the projectors in its Low cannot be improved. Overly wide color escent bright greens, The HC6800’s program material, and
remote is backlit,
Lamp mode. It beat out the Sony for gamuts are common in the consumer and that’s so common and it features direct striking detail on the
brightness honors in the Standard video industry, but they are often less on digital projectors that access to video inputs best sources, the
and several other
Lamp mode as well (auto iris still obvious to the eye on most source it’s getting tiresome to common controls. Mitsubishi just might
engaged) by a marginal degree, where material than the measured deviations have to keep mention- work for you.
it produced 28.8 foot-lamberts at a might suggest.—TJN ing it (but I do).
Mitsubishi •
BEFORE CALIBRATION AFTER CALIBRATION Conclusions (888) 307-0349 •
Overall, the Mitsubishi produces a mitsubishi-presentations.com
pleasing picture on most sources. Dealer Locator Code MSU
Even with the auto iris engaged,

Color-tracking charts were generated in Datacolor ColorFacts.

VIDEO LUMA CHROMA

3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD SCALING
CLIPPING RESOLUTION RESOLUTION

PASS PASS PASS FAIL PASS PASS GOOD

44 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

Soul moving.
DISCOVER THE NEW TRIBE IN-WALL/IN-CEILING. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT www.totemacoustic.com
THREE FOR THE SHOW

Sony BRAVIA VPL-HW15 SXRD Projector

PRICE: $3,000 AT A GLANCE: Deep blacks Accurate color
Superb image depth
• •

S
ony’s new BRAVIA
VPL-HW15 is a
reworking of last year’s
VPL-HW10. At a
modest $3,000 (modest
as projectors go, that is), the
VPL-HW15 offers a useful lineup
of features and a picture that I
didn’t expect at this price. With
exceptional color, barely short of
state-of-the-art blacks, and vivid,
almost 3-D images on the best
program material, it…. OK, I’m in
danger of giving away the store up
front. Read more to get the details.
Description
The VPL-HW15’s gently curved
top echoes the look of Sony’s
higher-end VPL-VW85, while the
lens that recesses into a sculpted
front panel does not. The controls
and inputs are located on the side.
Sony’s SXRD technology is at
the heart of all of Sony’s premier
home theater projectors. Silicon
X-tal Reflective Display (SXRD) is
Sony’s proprietary version of
Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS),
a reflective version of LCD
different enough to earn it a
unique name. In a conventional
LCD, the light passes through the
liquid crystal imaging elements
once on its way to the lens. But
that means the control circuits
that drive each pixel must pass
through the gaps between the
pixels. In an SXRD or LCOS,
the light passes through a thin-
ner liquid crystal imaging panel,
is reflected back through it a
second time, and then proceeds
down the optical path to the lens.
Therefore, the circuits that control
each pixel can be located behind
the liquid crystal panel and the
reflective surface. This allows
the SXRD pixels to be posi-
tioned closer together than in
a transmissive LCD, which
maximizes the amount of chip
area that’s devoted to the picture
rather than to the spaces between
the pixels.
To ensure that the three chips
that produce the red, green, and
blue elements of the picture are in
precise alignment, the Sony
provides controls that let you
SONY BRAVIA VPL-HW15
SXRD PROJECTOR
PERFORMANCE
FEATURES
ERGONOMICS
VALUE
electronically tweak the position
of the three separate images
within a small fraction of a pixel
(small convergence errors aren’t
uncommon in multi-imaging-
chip projectors). To my knowl-
edge, this is a unique feature for a
projector in this price class. You
can only use this feature with an
internal crosshatch test pattern,
which doesn’t always match the
alignment visible from external
sources. This required some trial
and error to get things right, but
in a few minutes, I converged the
center of the screen almost
perfectly, with insignificant
deviations elsewhere. (The more
expensive VPL-VW85 offers full
screen and zone alignment.)
The projector’s zoom lens will
fill a 100-inch-diagonal (87-inch-
wide) 16:9 screen at distances that
range from 10.7 to 15.9 feet. All of
the lens functions (zoom, focus,
and horizontal and vertical
shift) are manual.
There are six different
picture modes. You can
adjust all of them manually, but
some of the controls are locked
out for certain types of inputs.
You can select a different picture
mode for each input (including
three user modes), but you cannot
set up each mode separately for
each input.
Sony’s Cinema Black Pro menu
includes the Advanced (auto) Iris
feature. It offers two active settings
plus the option of Fast, Slow, or
Recommended sensitivity. I used
the Advanced Iris in the Recom-
mended setting, Auto 1, for all of
my testing and viewing, unless
otherwise noted.
The projector offers six gamma
correction settings, including off
(Gamma 2). Gamma determines
how the light output varies in the
mid-brightness region in response
to the source input. Gamma 4, at
approximately 2.0 (but dropping
to about 1.8 at 80 IRE), produced
a lower gamma number than the
2.2 to 2.4 usually recommended,
but it worked well for me in all
types of scenes, including very
d
darkk ones. (The llower the
h gamma
number, the higher the mid-tone
brightness.)
There are seven color-tempera-
ture selections, four of them
Custom. The High, Middle, and
Low settings cannot be changed
by the user, but each of the
Custom settings offers both high
(Gain) and low (Bias) settings for
red, green, and blue.
Sony’s Real Color Processing
(RCP) feature provides Color and
Hue adjustments for each of the
primary and secondary colors. I
have always found RCP to be
ergonomically confusing, but this
time around, I used it to make the
color points slightly more
accurate. However, that resulted
in another problem that couldn’t
be satisfactorily corrected—
slightly excessive brightness for
each color, in different degrees, for
which there were no corrective
controls. Ultimately, I accepted
the small color gamut errors in

46 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com


the Normal Color Space setting
and left RCP off.
There are no individual color
isolation controls (red, green, or
blue, or just blue only) to assist in
setting the Color and Tint
controls without having to use
color filters, which are often
imprecise.
While the Sony has the usual
aspect ratio selections, it doesn’t
have an anamorphic stretch mode
for using an optional anamorphic
lens with a 2.35:1 screen.
The Sony also offers a Black
Level Adjust control (I left this
off ), Noise Reduction (didn’t need
it), Film mode (left it in Auto),
x.v.Color (suitable sources are
rare), and Color Space (Normal is
very close to accurate; Wide is
not).
The remote control is good,
with direct selection of many
video adjustments—but not of
inputs—and full backlighting. A
lens control calls up a geometric
pattern that’s helpful for adjusting
the zoom and lens shift controls.
Performance
As shown in the Video Test Bench
chart, the Sony’s video processing
was good, apart from a not
uncommon failing score on the
SD 2:2 test. Like other SXRD (and
LCOS) displays we’ve tested, the
Sony produced a pink discolor-
ation on all single-pixel (maxi-
mum resolution) HD luma test
patterns, as well as a 1:1 pixel-to-
pixel test pattern (which was
otherwise perfect, provided the
overscan and/or keystone controls
are turned off ). However, the
discoloration was only visible on
test patterns. As was our past
experience, this pink shift didn’t
affect normal program material in
any visible way.
By a small margin over the
Epson, the Sony was the quietest
of these three quiet projectors,
in both of its lamp settings. The
Low setting provided more than
sufficient brightness on my
screen. As with all of these pro-
jectors, the Sony has enough
light output in reserve for a
comfortably large screen—or
enough spare output to help
compensate for reasonable lamp
aging.
Sony has been refining the auto
irises in its projectors for many
years now—longer than anyone,
to my knowledge. I never saw it
operating (pumping) on program
material, heard any sign of it
operating, or noticed anything
unnatural in its performance.
The auto iris is just one piece of
the whole that contributes to the
Sony’s superb performance. For
example, Spider-Man looked
• Sony’s VPL-HW15 has a gently
curved top and high-end looks.
like a better transfer than it
usually does. The image was crisp
and detailed—and this is not an
exceptionally sharp HD transfer.
An appealing punch and
dimensionality drew me in.
If the Sony could bring out
the best in Spider-Man’s just
slightly above-average Blu-ray
transfer, it looked striking on
Pirates of the Caribbean: The
Curse of the Black Pearl. The
image in the opening shipboard
scene had a pop that the other
projectors missed. And if that
difference was subtle, its subtlety
clearly brought out the shades
and shadows in the scene’s
overcast lighting. The detail left
nothing to be desired, the colors
were impossible to criticize, and
the believable sense of depth
made me feel as though I could
jump into the picture and join in
the fun. But my lack of skill with
a sword would demand that I
time my leap very carefully.
While the blacks were just a
shade short of state-of-the-art
projector blacks (and decidedly
not up to Pioneer KURO–level
blacks), they were still very
impressive. The dark rooftop
Features
SONY BRAVIA VPL-HW15 SXRD
PROJECTOR
TYPE: SXRD
NATIVE RESOLUTION: 1920 by 1080
RATED LAMP LIFE: Not specified
DYNAMIC IRIS: Yes
LENS SHIFT: Horizontal/Vertical
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
16.2 x 7.2 x 18.4
WEIGHT (POUNDS): 22.1
PRICE: $3,000; replacement lamp: N/A
THREE FOR THE SHOW
•
scene in chapter 13 of Spider-Man
was realistically dark, but there
was a clarity within that darkness
that brought out shadow details
and avoided that grayish look.
Even the dark warehouse scene at
the end of chapter 13—a scene
that gives many projectors
problems—was convincing on the
Sony.
But it’s Stargate: Continuum
that I keep coming back to when
it comes to evaluating black level,
and the Sony didn’t disappoint. In
the star field that opens the film,
the stars are clearly visible. Many
of them are dim, but you can still
make them out clearly, even when
the film’s bright white titles pop
up. The nighttime ship scene in
chapter 3 and the Russian instal-
lation scene in chapter 21 are both
killer black and shadow-detail
tests, and both looked totally right
on the Sony.
Still, I consider the quality
of dark scenes so important that
the Sony pushed all of my buttons,
including the value factor. This is
a wow-inducing Top Pick at a
shocking price point.
Sony • (877) 865-SONY •
sonystyle.com
Dealer Locator Code SNY
Comparisons and Conclusions
Setting up a direct AB compari-
son of two projectors is much
more complicated than you might
imagine. Very minor changes in
the picture settings can have a
profound impact when you switch
directly from one to the other.
The only way to do it is to use the
settings that we judged best in the
individual evaluations.
hometheatermag.com 47
 THREE FOR THE SHOW
HT Labs
Measures
SONY BRAVIA VPL-HW15 SXRD
PROJECTOR
0.002 17.8
FULL-ON/FULL-OFF
CONTRAST RATIO: 8,942:1
For the picture settings
used in this review, go to
HomeTheaterMag.com.
Except as noted, all of the
measurements here were
explanation of our
taken with the projector in
User mode, adjusted for the
most accurate image, with
the lamp power on Low, the
Gamma Correction on Gamma
4, and the Advanced Iris set to
Auto 1.
BEFORE CALIBRATION
Color-tracking charts were generated in Datacolor ColorFacts.
VIDEO
3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD
CLIPPING
PASS PASS PASS PASS
I focused my comparisons on
the Sony and the Epson. The
Mitsubishi’s shadow detail would
have put it at a clear disadvantage
compared with the others.
Viewed in the settings that I
chose as the best (and most accu-
48 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
T
he Sony’s full-on/full-off
contrast ratio is excellent,
and its black level equally
impressive—and not just for
a modestly priced projector. With the
lamp on High, the projector’s contrast
was 9,350:1, with a peak white level of
28.3 foot-lamberts and a black level of
0.003 ft-L. With the Advanced Iris off,
and the lamp on Low, the full-on/full-
off contrast ratio was 2,511:1 at a black
Connections INPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3 (2), component
video (1), S-video (1), composite video (1), PC (HD D-sub 15-pin) (1)
level of 0.008 ft-L. The Sony is ready for ADDITIONAL: RS-232C (D-sub 9-pin) (1)
any reasonably sized screen.
The Color Tracking charts below show
how well a display adheres to the D65 But on most very dark zoomed the images up
standard white point; the tighter the scenes, the Epson looked to simulate a much
overlap of the three primary colors, a little grayer and flatter larger screen—more
the nearer the result is to D65. The than the Sony. The latter than 110 inches dia-
Before Calibration result is for the Low had more pop and gonal. Of course, I
Color Temperature setting. The After dimensionality on such was then viewing only
Calibration result is exceptional, apart material. However, if I the center of the image
from a small dip in the blue level in the
mid-brightness region. The Delta-E (a
turned on the low
setting of the Epson’s
on my screen, with
the rest of the picture
numeric measurement of how closely Contrast Enhancement spilling over the edges.
a display comes to the desired D6500 control, these differences When I did this, the
color temperature, with values under 4 largely disappeared. In black level differences
considered good) was under 1.7 from fact, the Epson then had remained. But the
the darkest point at which our color a little more dark-scene slightly sharper image
instruments are reasonably accurate pop than the Sony. But I on the Epson just barely
(20 IRE) to peak white (100 IRE). didn’t like what the became more visible.
The CIE chart above shows Contrast Enhancement Even on this “large” of
Visit our Website
for a detailed the Sony’s color gamut in the control did to brighter a screen, the images
testing regimen,
Normal Color Space setting. scenes. It made them remained sharp and
plus a list of our It’s very good, if just slightly unnaturally contrasty, more than ade-
reference gear.
undersaturated in the red-green even in its lowest setting. quately bright—with
axis. As noted in the review, The Epson’s colors the lamps in both
on the attempts to tweak this in were a little more projectors still in their
web Sony’s RCP feature could move saturated and, accord- low settings.
the points outward, but not without ing to the color gamut Both of these are
small but undesirable side effects.—TJN measurements, a bit superb projectors. The
more accurate. Both Epson 9500 UB was
AFTER CALIBRATION had an interesting always a pleasure to
divergence in the dark- watch, and it was
est blacks; the Sony slightly more accu-
was warmer, while the rate according to
Epson was cooler. This the measurements,
is consistent with the Sony’s fully backlit although this is splitting
color tracking charts, but remote provides direct some fine hairs. I could
selection for many
I wouldn’t criticize either video adjustments, but watch either projector all
projector much on this not for any inputs. day, and on several occas-
account. ions, I almost did. But it
The Epson won out slightly was the Sony that best kept me
in terms of resolution, although glued to my seat when it was 1:00
the differences were very small a.m. and long past time to shut
on my 78-inch-wide screen. I things down and go to bed.
LUMA CHROMA
SCALING
RESOLUTION RESOLUTION
PASS PASS EXCELLENT
rate) for both the Sony and Epson,
there were some noticeable
differences. The Epson went
slightly deeper in absolute black,
excelling the Sony by a small
margin on the star field at the
beginning of Stargate: Continuum.
BRINGING THEATER INSPIRATION INTO YOUR HOME

THE SAVANT EXPERIENCE CENTER pg.50 GOING RETRO pg.54

The ultimate shopping destination. Part II: Run, wires, run.
INSTALL

The Savant Experience Center

THE ULTIMATE SHOPPING DESTINATION.

50 Home Theater Design March 2010 / hometheaterdesignmag.com

 DESIGN
BY Kim Wilson
PHOTOS Joe Tabacca

L
ocated in the SoHo district of lower Manhattan, the Savant Experience
Center is an actual living space complete with a media/living room,
home office, master bedroom, kitchen, dining room, and a dedicated
800-square-foot theater. Close to the Apple Store, the Experience Center
showcases the latest technologies in home entertainment and control to
dealers, architects, designers, industry associations, and prospective clients.
Developers of the only Apple-based home control automation and enter-
tainment system, Savant showcases the marriage of design and technology
in this 3,000-square-foot facility. (Another 5,000 square feet will be built to
demonstrate commercial applications.) The Experience Center lets Savant
showcase a product line that you can’t fully appreciate in a catalog or through
a Website. Some of the highlights include TrueImage Control, ROSIE Surface
coffee tables, the company’s proprietary On Screen Display (OSD) technol- AWESOME AUTOMATION
Through interactive
ogy, Touch TV, and a functional 4-by-40-inch LCD display in the home office elements, like ROSIE
that displays digital art and signage. Savant’s iPhone and iPod touch home Surface coffee tables
automation application (recently featured in the Winter 2009 issue of Home and Savant’s On Screen
Display technology, the
Theater Design) can control the entire space, both locally and remotely.
Experience Center truly
The entire space functions like a single system due to Savant’s automation brings technology to
platform, which allows full control of any audio or video source from every your fingertips.
room. For instance, with Savant’s TrueImage
Control, you can dim the lights in any room or
turn them on or off by touching an image of
that room. The OSD lets you answer the front
doorbell, view any security camera, change the
temperature in any zone, and search and play
media content without leaving your seat or
interrupting the movie you’re watching.
While the Experience Center was Savant’s
brainchild, it took a long and impressive list
of partners to create this world-class facility. It

Home Theater Design March 2010 / hometheaterdesignmag.com 51

INSTALL

DESIGN

includes gear from Thiel, NuVision, Runco, Chief, Lutron, Stewart Filmscreen,
Continental Seating, Bay Audio, McIntosh Labs, Panamax/Furman, Snell, Mid-
dle Atlantic Products, Steinway Lyngdorf, and Steinway Piano. The key design
features include a Theo Kalomirakis theater, an impeccable interior design by
Thom Filicia, a kitchen by Dalia Kitchen Design, and lighting by ISP Design.
As if the project wasn’t monumental enough, the Center was built within
the Singer Building. Since it is designated as a historical landmark, it was
necessary to maintain the building’s features and characteristics. Moreover,
running wires through an old building created its own set of challenges.
The space was gutted, but the structure remained intact. Savant handled
the installation internally with its professional services team of about 30 em-
ployees, who served as support for Savant’s authorized dealers. “I think we
all learned a lot about how to integrate technology into a living space while
also making sure everything was aesthetically pleasing,” said Craig Spinner,
Savant’s director of marketing.
One of the highlights of the Theo Kalomirakis theater is the use of all Thiel
speakers and subwoofers, including the stunning Les Paul Sunburst CS3.7
loudspeakers finished by Gibson for Thiel and signed by both Jim Thiel and KIM WILSON, HTD EDITOR
A FAMILY AFFAIR Les Paul. The media/living room features a McIntosh/Snell audio system Home Theater Design is dedicated to helping you
navigate the specialty A/V waters, including working
Some of the most with a NuVision 65-inch LCD HDTV. The room is also equipped with a retract- with custom installers, retailers, designers, builders,
influential and familiar and more. We go beyond the dedicated theater, and
able Runco projector and Stewart projection screen.
brands in home theater show you how to integrate the newest technology
technology are featured “The authentic lifestyle setting of the Experience Center fully demonstrates into your entire home.

in the Experience all that is possible in custom installation today and is sure to become one of READERS, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Center, including Runco, the industry’s most important and vital design centers,” concludes Spinner. Are you a do-it-yourselfer or custom installer with a
Steinway Lyngdorf, great theater to share with our readers? We’d love to hear from you. Please send
Stewart Filmscreen, your stories and photos to kim.wilson@sorc.com.
and Thiel. CONTACT Savant, (508) 683-2500, savantav.com

52 Home Theater Design March 2010 / hometheaterdesignmag.com

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RETROFITTING
Flatwire Speaker Wire
Going Retro
PART II: RUN, WIRES, RUN
BY Darryl Wilkinson
In Part I (Home Theater January 2010), Darryl reviewed some of the best
current options in wireless audio systems. This month, he shows you how
to pull off a seamless install—yourself!
I
n years past, putting together and installing a multizone audio system
meant running lots of wires for the speakers, keypads, and IR repeater
system. Things are different today. On the most basic level, a surprising
number of relatively affordable AVRs, such as Onkyo’s TX-SR507, include
powered Zone 2 outputs. All you need to turn that $399 AVR into a multi-
room control center is speaker wire, speakers, and some gumption. A simple
speaker selector will expand the system to even more rooms.
Many wired multiroom audio systems are extremely retro-friendly. Aton’s
four-source/four-zone DH44 digital audio router with DIGI-5 technology
($799, plus $199 for the keypad) only requires a single Cat-5 cable run to
each amplified keypad plus speaker wire to run directly from the keypad to
that zone’s speakers. The system is so simple to set up that the quick-guide
54 Home Theater Design March 2010 / hometheaterdesignmag.com
instructions fit on a 17-by-30-inch poster (with nice large illustrations). Other
systems, such as Russound’s CA4 four-source/four-zone system ($1,999),
require a Cat-5 cable to each keypad and a separate wire from the CA4’s
amplifiers to each of the speakers. Video products that can distribute HD using
single or dual Cat-5 runs are available from Gefen, Xantech, Aton, and others.
I’ve tried to convince my wife that Cat-5 and speaker wires draped across
the room from nails in the wood trim and running down the hallway are an
up-and-coming décor trend, but she doesn’t buy it. Here are some ways you
can hide your wires until it does become chic to leave them out in the open.
1. Stop, Hammer Time
If all you need to do is get a speaker wire out of the way, perhaps to keep
from tripping over it or getting it caught in the vacuum cleaner, one of the
most cost-effective ways to do this is to tack the wire to the wall along
the baseboards or around the door trim with wire clips—little plastic hooks
that hold the wire snug when nailed down. RadioShack and virtually every
hardware store in the northern hemisphere carry wire clips of one sort or
another. Most clips are designed to hold one or two wires in place. They’re
often available in white or black and cost pennies per clip. When all else failed
and time was short, I used wire clips (a lot of them) to secure a Cat-5 cable
that needed to run up a flight of stairs. It was functional, but like other long
runs and/or large bundles of wires secured with wire clips, it was unsightly.
As my wife continually reminds me, “Beauty isn’t cheap.” So instead of
run-of-the-mill, low-cost round wire, you can use Acoustic Research’s PR360
flat speaker wire or Monster Cable’s SuperFlat Mini speaker wire to pretty

things up. Expect to pay at least 60 cents per foot. However, it’s not the easiest
stuff to work with when it comes to making right-angle turns at the corners of
doors and windows. Acoustic Research calls its PR390 ($79 for 50 feet) speaker
wire “MicroFlat,” and at 0.5 mm thick, it is pretty darn flat. It also includes an
adhesive backing, so no wire clips are necessary.
2. Hide It in Plain Sight
Baseboards, crown molding, as well as door and window trim were invented to
cover gaps and other imperfections in a building’s structure. There’s no reason
why you can’t use them to hide a few wires, too. In the older sections of my
home, there’s plenty of space behind most of the baseboards. It’s simply a
matter of gently prying the baseboard away from the wall, tucking in the wire,
and hammering the baseboard back in place.
In newer homes, you’ll need to do a little drywall modification. Carefully
pry the baseboards away from the walls. If there’s caulk, paint, or wallpaper,
you may need to use a utility knife to separate the top of the baseboard from
the wall. Once you’ve removed the baseboards, cut through the drywall and
remove a strip along the bottom that’s wide enough to contain the number of
wires you need to conceal. (Make sure, of course, that the width of the drywall
you remove is less than that of the baseboard you’ll be covering it with.) A
drywall saw works well, but a Dremel tool with a drywall bit is much faster.
At this point, since you already have the bottom of the wall open, you can
take the opportunity to run wires through the wall up to an in-wall or on-wall
speaker. Consider buying fish tape or a push rod from the hardware store first.
If there isn’t any attic space—when there’s a second floor above the room, for
example—this may be the best way to invisibly get wires to an in-wall speaker.
3. Cut a Rug
You can also use carpet to conceal wires. It’s helpful to use a special install
tool called under-carpet tape—essentially a long strip of stainless steel—to
snake the flattest wire you can afford between the carpet and the pad. It
can be easy to get the tape caught on the pad and twist the wire as it goes
through, so you’ll need to take your time. Try to avoid running the wire under
high-traffic areas for the obvious reason of excessive wear and tear.
4. Your Insurance Doesn’t Cover Molding?
So you’re not handy with a drywall saw, and you removed all the carpets
in your house after the cats kept peeing on them. Surface raceways or
C D
OUT OF SIGHT To conceal wires in a baseboard, Darryl used a Dremel tool to remove a strip of drywall (A and B). He then inserted the wires (C) and replaced the base-
board (D). The finished job is shown in the image on the left.
RETROFITTING
wire molding might be your answer. These are essentially paintable
channels with removable covers that mount on the surface of the wall.
They come in sizes for single or multiple wires. Some are designed to be
used vertically in corners; others are horizontal, so you can use them along
the ceiling like crown molding or along the floor like a baseboard. There’s
even a chair rail version. It’s more aesthetically appealing than using wire
clips and often easier to install, especially if you use the kind with an
adhesive strip on the back. Since the channel covers are removable, you
can add additional wires in the future if your system changes—something
that’s much more painful to do with other methods. Raceways are an
especially helpful and painless way of hiding the wires for wall-mounted
flat-panel TVs and on-wall speakers. Wiremold, CableOrganizer, and
Panduit offer a variety of raceways and accessories, such as corners,
T-junctions, and even matching surface-mount outlet boxes that you
can use to mount wall plates and keypads. Unfortunately, the channels
themselves typically start at more than $1 per foot—and that’s not
counting the additional parts and pieces you may need—so wiring a large
room (or house) can be pricey.
5. Does My Wire Look Flat to You?
If you want a truly invisible install and can’t or don’t want to put wires in
your walls, Flatwire makes incredibly flat speaker wire (0.1 mm thick) that
can be glued to any wall, plastered, and then painted or wallpapered over.
When done properly, the stuff is virtually invisible. Flatwire also makes flat
component video cables and Ethernet cables, and ultra-flat HDMI cables are
in the works. Spools of 18-gauge speaker wire sell for around $2 per foot.
Flatwire also makes 14- and 12-gauge wire at $2.50 per foot and $3 per
foot, respectively.
Seeing Is Unbelieving
Hopefully the information in this two-part story has helped you come to
the conclusion that it’s possible to retrofit your old home with plenty of
A/V technology without totally destroying its original looks or spending
big bucks on remodeling or installation. Sure, it’s something you’d wish
the previous owners would have done, but then if they had, they might
not have wanted to move out of the house. After it’s all done, even though
you’ve increased the value of your home, you probably won’t ever want to
leave, either.
A B
Home Theater Design March 2010 / hometheaterdesignmag.com 55
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 on the
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VISIT THE “HOW WE TEST”
link on our Website for a detailed
explanation of our testing regimen
and a list of our reference gear.
www.hometheatermag.com

OUR GEAR... HIGH END P58-61

• Home Theater’s test bench uses state-of-the-art
instruments, and our testing regimen is the most
rigorous in the industry. Our strict methodology
ensures that the gear we review can meet the highest
Denon AVR-4810CI A/V Receiver
Need supersizing? P58
standards of performance, a must for a component to
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LinearX loudspeaker measurement system
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What? No 8-track?

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RATINGS
REFERENCE
EXCELLENT
GOOD
POOR
FAIR

HT’s product ratings are specific to the

product category and the price range of the Marantz SR6004 A/V Receiver
PERFORMANCE component under review. Each component’s
FEATURES ratings are specific only to its price range: Restraint and simplicity. P74
ERGONOMICS Entry Level, Midrange, or High End. For
VALUE guidance, each product’s price range is
BUILD QUALITY designated in the Preview, on this page,
and at the top of its review.

70 74

62
www.hometheatermag.com 57
HIGH END

BY Mark Fleischmann

Denon AVR-4810CI A/V Receiver

PRICE: $2,999 AT A GLANCE: First Denon A/V receiver with nine channels of amplification •
Networked audio features include Wi-Fi Strong audio fundamentals•

Need Supersizing?
H
as the concept of seven-channel AVR can add only MultEQ XT auto setup up and room
supersizing peaked? one of those three items to sur- correction, plus the one-two DENON AVR-4810CI A/V RECEIVER
PERFORMANCE
The McMansion- round sound’s standard 5.1- punch of Audyssey Dynamic FEATURES
driven housing channel array. A single mono Volume and Dynamic EQ for ERGONOMICS
boom is a bust. Some subwoofer channel also supports greater flexibility in low-volume VALUE
SUV owners are trading in their up to three subwoofers. listening.
gas-guzzlers for more efficient On the right side of the AVR’s many features will have you
hybrids of the same size, while Two More Channels, Ten More AVR-4810CI’s front panel is a using it often. Denon provides
others are opting for more Watts volume knob, and below it are two remotes, including one with a
efficient hybrid sedans. Fast food At 44 pounds and $2,999, the three tiny Quick Select buttons touchscreen and a few simplified
addicts are counting the calories nine-channel AVR-4810CI is 9 that combine source selection buttons, plus a more conventional
in their Happy Meals. pounds heavier and $1,000 more with a default volume setting. The one with no touchscreen and
In video for home theater, the expensive than the seven-channel left side features a source select more buttons.
trend is more ambiguous. Con- AVR-4310CI. At a rated 140 watts knob and four buttons that select The touchscreen remote is a
sumers are still upsizing their per channel, it’s also nominally 10 up to four zones (among other little perplexing at first (and
displays, but manufacturers watts per channel more powerful. things). Below the white fluor- Denon’s cryptic surround-mode
are compensating with energy- However, as always, our measure- escent display in the center is a nomenclature doesn’t help). It
efficiency gains. Moreover, state ments should be your ultimate flip-down door that conceals a took me a while to realize that the
regulations—notably in Califor- guide, and it might be instructive fairly comprehensive selection of source-input labels at the top of
nia—may trigger further to compare the charts for both controls, including navigation the touchscreen only affect the
efficiencies. models. (Check your November buttons. So for many functions, command menu at the bottom of
In audio for home theater, the issue or HomeTheaterMag.com). you won’t be limited to the the touchscreen. You can only
trend is downsizing. The slim- Otherwise, their feature sets are remote. The full-color graphic select source inputs with the hard
ming of displays has pushed a similar and quite enviable. Besides user interface (GUI) is attractive. buttons on the bottom of the
complementary response in DSX, they feature Audyssey’s This is a good thing, because the remote or with the left knob on
surround systems. Soundbar
speakers are rushing to market
like logs speeding down a tumul-
tuous river, with sat/sub sets
bobbing alongside them. While
energy-efficient amplifier topol-
ogies (Class D, Class G, Class H)
haven’t toppled conventional
Class AB, they’re certainly nib-
bling around the edges. So this
seems like an odd moment to
supersize a Class AB A/V receiver.
In November 2009, I reviewed
the Denon AVR-4310CI, the first
A/V receiver to feature Audyssey’s
DSX height and width enhance-
ment. It also boasted Dolby’s Pro
Logic IIz height enhancement,
which has spread through
Denon’s entire line. With two
extra amp channels, the new
AVR-4810CI kicks it up another
notch by running two of the
following three surround
enhancement options simultane-
ously: front height, front width,
and back surround. A regular

58 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com


the front panel. I felt pretty silly
when, after a week of mystifi-
cation, my technical contact
explained how it worked. Once
you get the hang of it, you may
prefer it to the sea-of-buttons
approach.
The front panel also has a
couple of welcome rarities behind
its flip-down panel: HDMI and
USB inputs. The USB input can
accept an iPod directly without
the need for an extra-cost dock. It
has a mate on the back panel, but
you can’t use them simultane-
ously, and you must select the
operative one in the GUI. iPods
can function in either GUI Mode
(operating with remote and
onscreen display) or Remote
•
• The flip-down panel con-
ceals a set of controls, includ-
ing navigation buttons.
Mode (operating directly with
iPod controls). The manual says
the AVR is compatible with iPods
5G and later, nano, classic, and
touch. In addition, Denon told me
that only 5G nanos work. The
manual adds that Remote Mode is
not supported on 5G iPods or
nanos. For non-compatible iPods,
you’ll need the optional dock.
On the back panel are five
more HDMI inputs and two
outputs, plus enough component
video jacks to bump the AVR’s
HDTV-friendliness to a grand
total of nine inputs and four out-
puts. I’d love to see snapshots of a
system that uses all of them. There
are three subwoofer outputs, but I
didn’t explore this feature. Other
connectivity goodies include
phono, Sirius, XM—and even
more interesting, an Ethernet jack
and a WLAN antenna input. The
latter is also present one model
down (in the AVR-4308CI,
$2,699) but not two models down
(in the AVR-4310CI, $1,999).
Thus the receiver can perform a
variety of networked audio tricks
DENON
3:2 HD 2:2 HD
AVR-4810CI
DIGITAL PASS PASS
ANALOG PASS PASS
VIDEO TEST BENCH The Denon passed most of the Digital
tests easily (HDMI in to HDMI out). But it failed to lock solidly
onto SD 3:2 pulldown, either analog or digital. The analog
chroma horizontal resolution was also gone by the highest
burst frequency. The Digital Video Clipping and Resolution
DENON AVR-4810CI A/V RECEIVER
through either a wired or wireless
connection.
Adventures with Wi-Fi
It took me about 20 minutes to set
up the Wi-Fi connection, but it
was worth it. I screwed the sup-
plied rod antenna onto the AVR’s
WLAN port. Like many net-
worked devices, this one can
connect automatically or man-
ually. I picked the automatic
option, found my router’s security
scheme among the three choices
given, and the AVR recognized
my router. Then I keyed in the
router’s password with the remote,
OK’d media sharing on the PC,
and stepped into networked
nirvana.
The AVR-4810CI’s coolest trick
is operation through the Web
browser (Internet Explorer,
Firefox, Safari) of a network-
connected computer (Windows
or Mac). This was easy. I looked
up the AVR’s numeric Web
address in its Network Info menu,
typed the number into the Web
browser’s address bar, and bingo.
The AVR’s main Web menu has
four big colored buttons for
MainZone, Zone2, Zone3, and
Zone4 Control, plus Setup Menu,
PDA Menu, and Web Controller
Configuration. Although the
interface is slightly different in
structure from the GUI, it was
easier to use because it put more
options on the screen. For
instance, it listed all of the inputs
as icons on a single screen. I loved
grabbing the volume bar with the
mouse and dragging it from soft
to loud. The only hard part was
getting back to the AVR’s home
page—the Denon logo in the
upper-left-hand corner didn’t
function as a home-page link.
Streaming works with the
Windows Media Player 11 in XP
MA HD 3:2 SD 2:2 SD MA SD
PASS FAIL PASS PASS
PASS FAIL PASS PASS
Visit our Website
for a detailed
explanation of
these video tests.
on the
web
Features
DENON AVR-4810CI A/V RECEIVER
AUDIO DECODING:
DOLBY: TrueHD, Digital 5.1, EX, Pro Logic
IIx/IIz
DTS: DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD High Resolution
Audio, DTS, ES, 96/24, Neo:6, Neural
AUDYSSEY: DSX, Dynamic Volume, Dynamic
EQ
OTHER: HDCD, 10 DSP modes
THX CERTIFICATION: No
NUMBER OF AMP CHANNELS: 9
RATED POWER (WATTS PER CHANNEL):
140 into 8 ohms
SPECIFIED FREQUENCY RESPONSE:
10 Hz to 100 kHz (+1/–3 dB)
VIDEO PROCESSING: Anchor Bay
AUTO SETUP/ROOM EQ: Audyssey MultEQ XT
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
17.09 x 7.67 x 16.69
WEIGHT (POUNDS): 44.13
PRICE: $2,999
and Vista, WMP 12 in Windows
7, or iTunes via TwonkyMedia
Server on PC or Mac. Both
networked and USB-connected
functions are grouped under the
input name NET/USB.
Networked audio menu options
include Favorites, Internet Radio,
Media Server, Napster, and
Rhapsody. USB will also appear
if a compatible device is plugged
into a USB input. In the Internet
Radio menu, I found a useful list
of my local stations and several
search options, including Search
Podcast. I picked a buoyant Latin
station, then looked in the Media
Server menu, where the single
listed item was my Lenovo
ThinkCentre A61e Windows XP
desktop PC. Options under the
PC were Music, Pictures, and
Playlists.
As the Internet station
continued to play, I tried the
Pictures function. Like other
networked devices I’ve tried, this
one didn’t detect my Pictures
VIDEO LUMA CHROMA
SCALING
CLIPPING RESOLUTION RESOLUTION
PASS PASS PASS EXCELLENT
PASS PASS FAIL GOOD
tests were run at 1080p in (HDMI) and 1080p out (HDMI).
The Analog Video Clipping and Resolution tests were run at
Photos by Cordero Studios
1080i in (component) and 1080p out (HDMI)—there are no
consumer component 1080p sources.—TJN
hometheatermag.com 59
HIGH END DENON AVR-4810CI A/V RECEIVER
drives (formatted NTFS and against back surrounds, I didn’t

HT Labs driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1

percent distortion at 168.2 watts and
FAT), although it could recognize
a FAT-formatted thumb drive,
feel duty-bound to use that
option.

Measures 1 percent distortion at 187.7 watts.

Into 4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1
which showed both an album
folder and a few loose tracks
Since I A/B’d my brains out in
my last DSX-enriched review, I
percent distortion at 277.8 watts and outside the folder. resolved to leave the height and
DENON AVR-4810CI A/V RECEIVER 1 percent distortion at 303.5 watts. In general, it took me longer to width channels on the whole time
Response from the multichannel master the AVR-4810CI than and experience them in a less
Five channels driven continuously into input to the speaker output measures most AVRs I’ve used, and I analytical (and long-winded)
8-ohm loads: –0.16 decibels at 10 hertz, –0.04 dB at needed some hand-holding fashion.
0.1 percent distortion at 123.5 20 Hz, –0.04 dB at 20 kilohertz, and during the process. This was
watts –2.74 dB at 50 kHz. THD+N from the partly a function of the ambitious Paranoid Ears
1 percent distortion at 148.2 watts CD input to the speaker output was feature roster—there is usually a This resolve lasted all of five
less than 0.003 percent at 1 kHz when trade-off between the number of minutes. That’s how far I got into
Seven channels driven continuously driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. features and ease of operation. It’s Paranoid Park (BD, DTS-HD
into 8-ohm loads: Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts also partly because I am, like Master Audio) before curiosity
0.1 percent distortion at 30.9 watts into an 8-ohm load was –74.77 dB left many consumers, sometimes a got the better of me. This Gus Van
1 percent distortion at 36.0 watts to right and –74.39 dB right to left. doofus. Sant film follows a skateboarding
(Protection Engages) The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83 teen through rites of passage
Visit our Website
volts driving an 8-ohm load Prelude to Disc fraught with guilt
Analog frequency response in for a detailed from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with “A” Spinning feelings. The movie
explanation of our
Pure Direct mode: testing regimen, weighting was –112.63 dBrA. Associated gear for has an unusually rich
–0.18 dB at 10 Hz plus a list of our
reference gear.
From the Dolby Digital input the disc-driven movie soundtrack that’s
–0.05 dB at 20 Hz to the loudspeaker output, the and music demos designed to convey
–0.02 dB at 20 kHz left channel measures –0.14 dB included five psychological depth
–2.73 dB at 50 kHz on the at 20 Hz and –0.19 dB at 20 Paradigm Reference and complexity. It
web kHz. The center channel Studio 20 v4 speakers features many kinds
Analog frequency response with measures –0.14 dB at 20 Hz and driven full range, four of music and
stereo signal processing: –0.18 dB at 20 kHz, and the left Paradigm Cinema 70 effects—including a
–1.30 dB at 10 Hz surround channel measures –0.15 dB v3 speakers, Panasonic whole lot of phasey,
–0.36 dB at 20 Hz at 20 Hz and –0.18 dB at 20 kHz. From DMP-BD35 Blu-ray reverb-heavy
–0.20 dB at 20 kHz the Dolby Digital input to the player, Integra information. The
–29.01 dB at 50 kHz line-level output, the LFE channel is DPS-10.5 universal DSX processing
–0.07 dB at 20 Hz when referenced to player, Luxman picked up on that. It

T
his graph shows that the the level at 40 Hz and reaches the PD-189 turntable, frequently imparted a
AVR-4810Ci’s left channel, upper 3-dB down point at 118 Hz and Shure V97xE cartridge, hollow, disembodied
from CD input to speaker the upper 6-dB down point at 121 and Bellari VP530 tube feel to the kid’s
output with two channels Hz.—MJP phono preamp. I tried monotone voiceover
the phono input on the and many other
DENON AVR-4810CI A/V RECEIVER last Denon AVR I elements. At one point,
reviewed and found it a as he pulls up a chair to
little crude, so I be interviewed by a
preferred the Bellari police detective, the
preamp. chair scraping the floor
Since Audyssey DSX had the same
won’t work with a defocused sound.
manual setup, I ran the The more I A/B’d,
Audyssey MultEQ XT the more I realized that
auto setup and room much of the hollowness
correction program. was encoded directly
That didn’t bother me; into the original
The included
MultEQ XT is one of touchscreen remote 5.1-channel sound-
the few auto setups I has a learning curve, track. Still, DSX
trust. It correctly but you may prefer it exaggerated it slightly.
over Denon’s included
identified the five larger conventional remote. And it did so more
speakers as full range than the Dolby Pro
folder, but it found the PC’s into the Aspect Ratio submenu and the four smaller ones as Logic IIz mode, which has only
official My Pictures folder. With fixed that. having limited bass response. It height channels and no width.
an official limit of 3,000 by 2,000 As the last picture remained on even pointed out that the right Vocals mixed solely into the
pixels, the AVR handily loaded the screen, I navigated to Media width speaker was operating out center channel weren’t affected;
pictures shot with a 5-megapixel Server/Music, which readily of phase. I corrected the problem. only those that leaked into the
camera and left unedited. It took found the music stored in the PC’s This is the second time I’ve front left and right channels. They
10 seconds due to the file size; Music folder. This pleased me used Audyssey DSX. However, were then picked up by the DSX
smaller files would likely have because I prefer that folder to the thanks to the AVR’s nine amp height/width processor. I
moved faster. Initially the 4:3 Windows-approved My Music channels, this is the first time I’ve wondered if the problem was
images were horizontally folder. Through its front USB used width and height enhance- coloration induced by the smaller,
stretched to 16:9. I couldn’t adjust port, the AVR couldn’t recognize ment simultaneously. Having plastic-clad Cinema 70 in the
them from the TV, but a dive two well-stuffed external hard spent much of my career railing width and height channels.

60 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

 DENON AVR-4810CI A/V RECEIVER

pieces, Guglielmo’s solo violin charm of this quintessential New

parts had plenty of wood tone (I York band. The album’s showcase
could sense the body of the of electric guitar textures took on
instrument), and tiny details of added variety and vividness via
the violinist’s touch came through Denon’s squeaky-clean amplifica-
with abundant detail and reso- tion. Smoothed a little by my tube
lution at every turn. However, this phono preamp, the AVR sup-
high-frequency virtuosity didn’t ported high-volume listening,
come at the expense of listening and that’s the most natural way to
comfort. Fed with this best-case hear the Ramones. I loved what
source material, the Denon MultEQ XT did for Marky and
Connections INPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3a (6), component
video (3), S-video (7), composite video (6) AUDIO: Coaxial digital (3), optical
wowed me. Dee Dee’s driving beat. A good
Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert sub could have done better, but
digital (3), 7.1-channel analog (1), stereo analog (7), phono (2) ADDITIONAL: is the best of his improvised piano with EQ, the Paradigms’ slightly
iPod dock, Sirius (1), XM Radio (1), Ethernet (1), USB (2), remote control (1), records as well as a superb reticent metal-coned woofers
12-volt trigger (1), WLAN antenna (1), Denon Link (1), AM (1), FM (1), RS-232C recording. The vinyl is were musically
(1) OUTPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3a (2), component video (2), S-video (3), composite an old friend. After sufficient.
video (3) AUDIO: Optical digital (2), stereo analog (4), 11.3-channel preamp (1) brief and uneventful I finished the audio
ADDITIONAL: 12-volt trigger (1), remote control (1)
experimentation with demos by replaying “I
various modes, I Wanna Be Sedated” in
As it turned out, the speakers “least adjustment to loudest and chose the Pure mode. Pure, the Dolby Pro
weren’t the problem. In Away We softest sounds”; Evening, with This presented source Logic II Music 5.1
Go (DVD, Dolby Digital 5.1), “medium adjustment”; and material without mode, and DSX (which
none of these problems recurred. Midnight, with the “most enhancement, in its will work only in the
There was clearly something adjustment.” (This seems to be original number of presence of a 5.1-
about the Van Sant movie and its Denon nomenclature. Marantz, channels, and it shut channel signal like
unusual soundtrack that triggered its sister brand, uses the terms down the GUI and DPLII—not with a
problems in DSX. In the first Light, Medium, and Heavy.) I front-panel display to stereo signal). Since the
movie, surf sounded unnatural in compromised and went with reduce nonessential Ramones work best
nine channels. In the second Evening. It felt just right. The circuit-induced noise. with some density, the
movie, it sounded perfectly loudest moments were dramatic The piano sound was Pure mode triumphed,
natural, and the difference but not overbearing, and I didn’t limpid and involving. DPLII was merely
between five and nine channels miss a word of dialogue. I also As a listener who’s adequate, and the final
was surprisingly subtle. So the liked MultEQ XT’s effect on the accustomed to overlay of DSX was just
problem was source dependent, Paradigm Studio 20s. It got some surround expansion, way too diffuse.
and I stopped worrying about it. extra low-frequency oomph out I found the original The Denon
By the way, Maya Rudolph shines of them, which benefited both stereo a little AVR-4810CI has the
in this brilliant comedy as a music and effects. Top-drawer speaker-bound. But most complete feature
pregnant woman who accompa- amplification surely helped. my brain soon set I’ve ever encoun-
nies her partner on a freak-filled rewired itself to tered in an A/V
cross-country journey that defines Violin, Piano, Guitar compensate—in receiver, with a learning
their love and commitment. The Overtures & Concerti Vol. 1 of much the same way it curve to match—but it’s
Musical interludes by singer/ Francesco Maria Veracini comes rewires itself to worth the effort. Its
songwriter Alexi Murdoch are in the form of a freshly recorded accommodate the performance is up there
reminiscent of Nick Drake, with a multichannel SACD on the CPO idiosyncrasies of with the best. This AVR
sonorous, velvety vocal texture label. I played the 5.1-channel stereo-to-surround isn’t just for the com-
that the Denon mined for beauty mix without enhancement. Like rechanneling. I know pletist who wants all
and sensuality. Vivaldi, Veracini was an 18th- every note of this of the latest listening
In Ghost Rider (BD, Dolby century composer/violinist, so it’s double-LP set by Denon also modes. It’s for anyone
TrueHD), the hollowness showed fitting that these pieces are per- heart, and this demo provides a more who wants a great-
up again in yet another opening formed by a conductor/violinist, was among the best conventional remote sounding system,
voiceover, this time by a resonant Federico Guglielmo, with the I’ve heard. It reminded with no touchscreen and
more buttons. whether 5.1, 7.1, or 9.1.
baritone. But the effect was L’Arte dell’Arco, an original- me that without That kind of supersiz-
minimal and didn’t distract me. instruments ensemble. Surprises competence in the fundamentals ing will never go out of style. For
Nicolas Cage stars as a motorcycle ensued immediately. The “Over- of audio performance—clarity, the dedicated surround buff who
stunt rider who tries to get out of ture VI in G minor” added reeds low noise, dynamic distinctions wants it all, here it is.
a deal he makes with the devil. to the string orchestra, giving large and small—an A/V receiver
Effects include lots of motor noise them a leading melodic role, and would be useless to music lovers. * Audio editor Mark Fleis-
and all the supernatural effects the recording gave them pride of Road to Ruin is the fourth chmann is also the author of
you’d expect in a movie where place in the center channel. This album by the Ramones and the the annually updated book
Peter Fonda plays Mephistoph- was an unusual mix for an first to feature my namesake, Practical Home Theater
eles. Naturally, I spared myself the unusual piece. The oboe and bass- Marky Ramone, on drums. Few (quietriverpress.com).
worst onslaughts by invoking oon had the kind of luminous, of their thousands of imitators
Audyssey Dynamic Volume and sensuous, palpably real feel that’s have ever approached Johnny’s Denon • (201) 762-6500 •
Dynamic EQ. Dynamic Volume difficult to achieve on CD but metal virtuosity, Joey’s sly self- usa.denon.com
has three settings: Day, with the much easier on SACD. In later deprecating wit, and the native Dealer Locator Code DEN

hometheatermag.com 61
MIDRANGE
Atlantic Technology FS-7.0 Soundbar and SB-800 Sub
PRICE: $1,100 AT A GLANCE: Built-in keyhole brackets Triple-voice-coil side-firing surround
•
drivers World’s first seven-channel soundbar
Seven Channels Plus
W
hen you hear
that we can now
add a seven-
channel
soundbar to the
list of the many technological
wonders in the world today, your
first inclination might be to ask,
“Dude, it’s a flippin’ soundbar.
What’s the point?” And I might
respond, “Uh, marketing?” So you
can imagine that when the new
Atlantic Technology FS-7.0—the
world’s first seven-channel
soundbar—arrived, I wasn’t
terribly enthusiastic to set it up.
After all, I would need to remove
my current in-wall center-channel
speaker, replace it with a blank
panel on which to mount the new
all-in-one system, and then run
seven speaker wires across the
floor. I don’t know whether it was
the titillation that comes with
undressing a new piece of gear or
the surreptitious sniffing of
Styrofoam packaging, but for
some reason, I began to warm up
to the idea of a seven-channel
soundbar. After all, I’ve never
known Atlantic Technology to be
the kind of company that would
do something simply because it
would make good copy in an ad,
so the thing just might sound
good. If nothing else, it certainly
would have plenty of cool drivers
scattered all over the cabinet and
lots of settings to fiddle with.
Of course, if I’d read the cover
letter that came with the system,
I’d have known not to expect a
complicated setup or a complex
array of drivers. Simplicity was
one of the design criteria for the
FS-7.0. Although it’s the first
soundbar that can reproduce
seven discrete channels of home
theater audio, it does it without
extensive signal processing or
built-in amplifiers. It achieves this
acoustic sleight of ear—the trick
62 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
of making your brain believe it’s
hearing sound from different
parts of the room—by virtue of
good old-fashioned clever speaker
engineering and utilization of
well-known psychoacoustic
principles. If that wasn’t enough,
Atlantic Technology wanted the
new soundbar to be simple to set
up, usable with A/V receivers that
have two to seven channels, sound
like it’s a much larger speaker
system, be less room dependent
than most other soundbars, and
look good hanging on the wall.
(And you thought soundbars
were boring.)
1 + 2 + 3 = Faux
With its Gloss Black finish,
sloping top and bottom, and
relatively small wall-print of 40
inches wide by 4.75 inches tall,
the FS-7.0 looks good. Across the
back of the cabinet are recessed
speaker terminals for the LCR
and the four surround speaker
channels in a 7.1-channel system.
If you use an AVR, you simply
run speaker wire from its speaker-
level outputs to the corresponding
speaker terminals on the FS-7.0
like you would if you were using
discrete speakers. At first glance,
this row of connectors might be
daunting, but each set of ter-
minals is clearly marked, and the
instruction manual includes an
easy-to-follow wiring diagram.
Atlantic Technology also provides
a mounting template that shows
the locations of the built-in key-
hole brackets as well as the
speaker terminals. The template
makes it easy to drill holes in
the wall for the speaker wire in
the right spots. It also makes a
great guide so you can see which
terminals to connect the speaker
wire to when you bend over
the soundbar from the front—
something you’re going to do
BY Darryl Wilkinson
•
unless you’ve run 10 extra feet of
ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY FS-7.0
wire. The spring-loaded speaker SOUNDBAR AND SB-800 SUB
terminals are recessed into the PERFORMANCE
cabinet (which is a necessity in VALUE
order to mount the soundbar flat BUILD QUALITY
against the wall). So they’re a little
harder to get to than the terminals Score one for clever speaker
on many speakers. The holes in engineering.
the connectors for the speaker The four surround channels
wire are smaller than I’d like, but in this 7.1 system are handled
as long as you don’t use trans- by two 3.25-inch surround
Atlantic telephone cables for speakers, one mounted on each
speaker wires, you’ll be OK. side of the FS-7.0’s cabinet
If you decide to take off the and angled back toward the
front grille to admire what you’ll wall. Although you’d think the
expect to be a multitude of drivers soundbar is missing a couple of
hidden behind it, you’ll be in for a drivers here too, it’s not. These
letdown. All you’ll find across the ordinary-looking side-firing
soundbar’s front baffle are a trio of drivers incorporate triple voice
1-inch soft-dome tweeters coils. One voice coil is dedicated
separated by a pair of 4-by-6-inch to the side surround, while the
drivers. (Atlantic chose oval second reproduces the back
midbass drivers because they surround channel. Because of the
provide approximately the same angle of the speakers, the sound
radiating surface area as 5.25-inch bounces off the front wall, to the
drivers, yet they allow the cabinet side walls, to your ears. The third
height to be an inch shorter.) voice coil reproduces part of
As you’d expect, there’s
one tweeter each for the
LCR channels—but it
appears that some
now-unemployed •
engineer forgot to spec
a midbass driver for the
center channel.Actually,
this isn’t the case,
because each of the
4-by-6-inch drivers
incorporates a dual voice coil. So
the left driver, for example,
handles the mid and low
frequencies of the left front
channel, while it also reproduces
half of the output of the center
channel. Likewise for the driver
on the right. Atlantic Technology
says this arrangement lets the
FS-7.0 create a tightly focused
• The trio of 1-inch tweeters
cover the front left, center,
LCR image while keeping the and right channels, while the
overall size small. And it costs less two oval midbass drivers fill
to make because it uses only two in the lower frequencies.
midbass drivers instead of three.

Features
SPEAKER:
TYPE:
TWEETER (SIZE IN INCHES, TYPE):
MIDBASS (SIZE IN INCHES, TYPE):
SURROUND (SIZE IN INCHES, TYPE):
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE (OHMS):
RECOMMENDED AMP POWER (WATTS):
AVAILABLE FINISHES:
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
WEIGHT (POUNDS):
PRICE:
the corresponding front channel,
which Atlantic Technology says
helps create a larger sense of
spaciousness than you’d expect
from a 40-inch-wide soundbar.
The multi-voice-coil design
means that each driver (except for
the center-channel tweeter) is
active to some degree whether
you’re listening to two, five, or
seven channels.
ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY FS-7.0 SOUNDBAR AND SB-800 SUB
FS-7.0
Seven-channel soundbar
1, soft dome (3)
4 x 6, dual voice coil (2)
3.25, triple voice coil (2)
8
10–125
Gloss Black
40 x 4.75 x 5.25
37
$800
A Basic Accessory
Since a pair of 4-by-6-inch drivers
won’t give you the kind of bass
most people want in a home
theater setup, Atlantic Technology
sent along an SB-800 subwoofer.
It’s a compact (11-by-13-by-13-
inch), 100-watt powered unit with
a forward-firing port and an ultra-
long-excursion 8-inch woofer. If
•
you don’t want or can’t use a
subwoofer (maybe because
you’re a communist, a serial killer,
or someone who hates puppies),
the instruction manual suggests
that you use your AVR’s “small”
speaker setting with the front-
channel crossover at 60 hertz
and the surround channels at
100 Hz. While this won’t rattle
your display of collectible Hum-
mel figurines off the shelves, the
FS-7.0 will still sound astound-
ingly better than using the
speakers that are built into
your TV.
Don’t Get Testy
The hardest part of setting up
the system is connecting all the
speaker wires. However, since the
FS-7.0 doesn’t involve lugging
speakers and wire all around the
room, it’s pretty much a breeze.
The keyhole brackets are already
installed on the back of the
soundbar. All it takes is two
screws in the wall, and you’re
done. Now it’s time to get your
decibel meter out and start lis-
tening to some test tones, right?
Keep your meter in your pants,
buddy, because Atlantic Technol-
ogy has done most of the hard
work. The company recommends
that you set the LCR levels to –3
dB each and all the surround
channels to 0 dB (unless you have
a really big room or like a lot of
surround effect, in which case you
can goose them to +1 or +2 dB).
Setting the proper distance/delay
settings is almost as easy. The LCR
setting is the actual distance from
the listening position to the
soundbar. To calculate the side
surround and back surround
speaker settings, measure the
distance from the edge of the
FS-7.0 to the side wall, add 2 feet,
and then add the number of feet
you entered for the LCR setting.
This makes sense because you’re
accounting for the distance the
sound travels once it leaves the
side of the soundbar, hits the front
wall, bounces off the side wall,
and then finds its way to your
ears. Of course, you can play with
the settings if you want, but I
found the suggested calculations
to be spot on in my room. They
worked whether the FS-7.0 was

mounted on the wall or on a TV a

couple of feet out. If you have an
AVR with built-in setup calibra-
tion, don’t bother using it. It will
take longer, and the system will
sound like you put your head in a
giant tin can. (Unless you like that
sort of thing.)

Wide Open Space

• The SB-800’s compact, vented
cabinet houses an 8-inch woofer
powered by 100 watts.
If anyone tries to convince you
that a particular soundbar or
faux-surround system sounds just
as good as a system with discrete
speakers, that person is either
lying or has suffered severe hear-
ing damage from the burst of the
housing bubble. Physics is
physics, and unless you have the
aid of illicit drugs (for medicinal
purposes), there’s no way you’ll
consistently experience the same
kind of surround sound perfor-
mance from a soundbar that you
will from a traditional speaker
system. That being said, there are
plenty of rooms and situations
where a soundbar is the ideal
system to have, especially when

hometheatermag.com 63
MIDRANGE ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY FS-7.0 SOUNDBAR AND SB-800 SUB

HT Labs vertical responses) measures

+3.12/–6.23 decibels from 200
Connections
SB-800 SUBWOOFER: ENCLOSURE TYPE: Vented
Measures hertz to 10 kilohertz. The –3-dB
point is at 83 Hz, and the –6-dB
WOOFER (SIZE IN INCHES, TYPE): 8, composite
cellulose pulp cone RATED POWER (WATTS): 100,
RMS CONNECTIONS: Line-level RCA CROSSOVER
point is at 76 Hz. Impedance
reaches a minimum of 17.02 ohms BYPASS: Switchable AVAILABLE FINISHES: Black
ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY FS-7.0 DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES): 11 x 13 x 13
SOUNDBAR AND SB-800 SUB at 4.9 kHz and a phase angle of
WEIGHT (POUNDS): 28 PRICE: $300
Visit our Website
–17.94 degrees at 3.4 kHz.
L/R Sensitivity: for a detailed The center channel’s
explanation of our
83.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz testing regimen, listening-window response impressive. It does an excellent lossless audio really matter? As a
plus a list of our measures +4.63/–8.55 dB job of creating the effect of a matter of fact, it does, because
reference gear.
Center Sensitivity: from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. An surround field. However, instead that’s when the FS-7.0 really began
84.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz average of axial and of putting you in the middle of the to shine. When I popped in the
on the +/–15-degree horizontal action, the soundbar creates the Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray Disc, the
web responses measures

T
his graph shows the
quasi-anechoic (employing
close-miking of all woofers)
frequency response of the
FS-7.0 left channel (purple trace),
SB-800 subwoofer (blue trace), and
FS-7.0 center channel (green trace).
The passive loudspeaker was
measured with the grille at a distance
of 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input and
scaled for display purposes.
The left channel’s listening-window
response (a five-point average of axial
and +/–15-degree horizontal and
ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY FS-7.0 SOUNDBAR AND SB-800 SUB
there’s no easy way to run wires or
otherwise install a pair of sur-
round speakers (not to mention
an additional back surround pair).
Another benefit to a soundbar is
the much-reduced installation
time. It’s a big bonus, whether
you’re doing it yourself or paying
someone else to do it.
So, assuming that a true
surround system isn’t an option, is
it worth it to shell out $800 for the
FS-7.0 (plus $300 for the SB-800
subwoofer)? Absolutely—and not
just for surround sound listening.
The FS-7.0 and SB-800 sub sound
great—even when you’re playing
two-channel music. Thanks to
those angled triple-voice-coil
+4.64/–8.54 dB from 200 Hz to
10 kHz. The –3-dB point is at 83 Hz,
and the –6-dB point is at 73 Hz.
Impedance reaches a minimum of
5.94 ohms at 3.7 kHz and a phase
angle of –60.05 degrees at 2.2 kHz.
The SB-800’s close-miked
response, normalized to the level at
80 Hz, indicates that the lower –3-dB
point is at 42 Hz and the –6-dB point
is at 36 Hz. The upper –3-dB point is
at 131 Hz with the Low-Pass control
set to maximum.—MJP
side-firing speakers, it generates
a soundstage that’s much wider
than you’d expect. For example,
the two-channel audio track of
the multiple pianos on The 5
Browns CD/DVD had a natural
and open feel that surprised me.
The 1-inch soft-dome tweeters in
the FS-7.0 are very smooth. The
upper register of the piano in
“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was
delicate and airy—something I
wouldn’t have expected from a
soundbar.
7 Out of 7
Of course, surround sound is a
soundbar’s primary task, and the
FS-7.0’s performance is extremely
sensation that you’re sitting along
at the back edge of a large bubble
of sound. While the soundfield
never quite engulfs you, you can
definitely hear surround effects
going on in front of you. The
surround placement is also
consistent and rational, even
though it all happens in front
of you rather than around you.
For example, after the rats are
discovered in Ratatouille, the
exodus of rodents sounds like it
starts at your nose and heads to
the river. You can clearly hear the
rain falling in front of you. After
Remy loses track of his family, the
echoes of his voice and the water
are extremely convincing. And as
he furiously swirls around under
the rushing water, there are a few
brief moments when the sound-
field engulfs your head.
From the opening credits to the
first big race in Cars, the FS-7.0
created an impressively wide
soundfield. The SB-800 did a fine
job handling the low rumble as
the cars swept by, too. The system
also handled smaller sonic details
just as well. For instance, in The
Others, where much of the fright
depends upon subtle, low-volume
sounds followed by much louder
events, the FS-7.0 reproduced the
smallest details of tense breathing
and creaking floors fabulously.
There were no problems with
dialogue intelligibility. Voices
were strong and clean—I could
hear and understand the voices of
the others in the upstairs junk
room more clearly than I could
with many other systems.
You might think it’s silly to talk
about the performance of a
soundbar with 5.1-channel Dolby
TrueHD material. I mean, we’re
talking about a soundbar
here—does bit-for-bit,
sound-field became even more
full and robust. When the New
Goblin first flies in, he seems to
materialize above your head as he
zooms in to attack. Punches and
crashes have a full, strong impact,
and the swirling sound of the
column of sand around Flint
Marko as he is atomized is
remarkably real.
As you’d guess from the FS-7.0’s
two-channel performance, its
performance with multichannel
music was also wonderful. Here,
the effect is as if you were sitting
behind most of the crowd, except
the music is as clear as if you were
sitting in the front row. As long as
we’re talking about music, the
FS-7.0 also did a fantastic job
re-creating a thoroughly believ-
able soundfield of the roaring
crowd when my kids played Rock
Band in our PS3’s Dolby Digital
mode.
Conclusion
Nothing can replace a multi-
discrete-speaker, multi-thousand-
dollar home theater system, and
Atlantic doesn’t tout the FS-7.0/
SB-800 system as being able to
do so. On the other hand, it’s a
great alternative to a traditional
home theater setup or built-in
TV speakers. When you take into
account the system’s surround and
music performance, its simplicity
and ability to automatically adapt
to any AVR from two to seven
channels, and its reasonable price,
the FS-7.0 is an outstanding value
in a soundbar speaker.
Atlantic Technology •
(781) 762-6300 •
atlantictechnology.com
Dealer Locator Code ATL

64 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

MIDRANGE

BY Fred Manteghian

Pioneer Elite SC-27 A/V Receiver

PRICE: $2,200 AT A GLANCE: MCACC room EQ makes it all good ICEpower amplification is sweet, •
•
powerful, and dynamic PQLS isn’t a gimmick; it really works

What? No 8-Track?
I
’m convinced that at a anything but a quasi-anechoic to Plasma after you used the
subatomic level, my DNA chamber, and the speaker needed projector last night, there’s no PIONEER ELITE SC-27 A/V RECEIVER
PERFORMANCE
has begun mutating me into a 7.5-dB boost at 250 Hz and a picture on the flat panel, and now FEATURES
homo gadgetus. My dad was 9-dB cut at 50 Hz to bring it in the world is going to end if the ERGONOMICS
an electrical engineer, so line with the Salon2 speakers. I Sunday-night Cake Boss VALUE
naturally, hooking up a two- was far more impressed with the marathon doesn’t magically
channel stereo was instinctual, results from Pioneer’s MCACC appear. (I mean, come on, even if only available for analog source
hereditary, and manifest from the than the Audyssey room-correc- you weren’t good at Simon as a material, with the KURO Link
moment my little fingers could tion system in my Marantz kid, you should still be able to feature either on or off (more on
grasp an RCA connector. But SR8002 AVR, which I mostly left master a simple eight-press button that shortly); I couldn’t access the
setting up a multichannel, disengaged for my Revel review. sequence, right?) video parameter settings for my
HDMI-equipped, Internet- The SC-27 is the first AVR I’ve The SC-27 also has a complete HDMI sources. Fortunately,
connected AVR was a challenge used that has two HDMI outputs set of video parameters for devices anything I wanted to do in this
until recently. I don’t think that can be active simultaneously. connected to the DVD, TV/SAT, regard is available on both of my
manufacturers have gotten that This makes it much easier to DVR, VIDEO1, and VIDEO2 display devices. That’s exactly
much better at their hardware and operate a theater that has both a inputs. There are controls for where any video adjustments
software design. I just think that projector and a flat panel. There’s sharpness, contrast, brightness, should be made, especially if you
as a subspecies (male), we’ve nothing worse than one of your hue, and chroma, along with have two different display devices.
become more adept at new forms theater users calling you in a adjustments for output resolution
of hunting and gathering. panic while you’re at work on a and aspect ratio. While the Mind Your PQLS!
The Pioneer Elite SC-27 is the busy Monday morning because manual doesn’t state as much, I I listen to a lot of music. In fact, I
most refined AVR I’ve played you forgot to set the system back suspect that these controls are do more music listening than
with. It has every feature I could
possibly want, implemented in
ways that make them mostly easy
to use. For instance, I simply
plugged in the supplied micro-
phone, and the SC-27 immedi-
ately brought up the Multichannel
Acoustic Channel Calibration
(MCACC) setup GUI. It did its
job in just a few minutes. All I had
to do was yell, “Hurry! Fire!” a
few times to clear the house of the
noisemakers and then press the
Enter button on the remote a few
times. Et voilà!
You can display and fuss with
the MCACC’s nine-band room
EQ curves, which show how well
your speakers are response-
matched in your listening
environment. This is critical for
achieving seamless surround
sound in your theater room. Mark
Peterson’s measurements of my
Revel Voice2 center-channel
speaker (which I reviewed for
HT’s July 2009 issue and later
bought) indicated a variance of
less than 2 decibels from 200 hertz
to 10 kilohertz. Still, my room is

66 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

 PIONEER ELITE SC-27 A/V RECEIVER

Blu-ray player, and it should turn

on the SC-27 AVR and my Features
Pioneer Elite KURO 60-inch
plasma, and I can begin watching PIONEER ELITE SC-27 A/V RECEIVER
a movie. The best I got, from a AUDIO DECODING:
total standstill, was that the AVR DOLBY: TrueHD, Digital Plus, Digital 5.1, EX,
switched from dead-off to standby Pro Logic IIx
after I pressed Play on the Pioneer DTS: DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High
BD player. The KURO plasma Resolution Audio, DTS, ES, 96/24, 5.1, Neo:6,
never came on at all, even though Express

movie watching these days, so
what the Pioneer can do for music
is very important to me. For this
review, I used a Pioneer BDP-320
Blu-ray player. It can synchronize
its clock over HDMI with the one
in the SC-27 for what Pioneer
claims is jitter-free digital audio
utilizing Pioneer’s Precision
Quartz Lock System (PQLS). I
conducted a few poor man’s
A-B-X tests (you keep switching
modes until you get confused and
then pick which one you think
sounds better). I correctly
•
• The SC-27 has a 140-watt-
per-channel ICEpower Class D
amplifier section.
identified the PQLS system as
superior, albeit slightly, in three
out of three cases. I guess it works.
On “Let’s Do the Things We
Normally Do” from the Safe Trip
Home CD, Dido’s voice became
more focused, with more
lower-frequency energy in her
crooning. Bass was also more
authoritative—but non-obviously
so—with PQLS switched on.
However, to use PQLS, you
have to enable KURO Link on
both the AVR and the Blu-ray
player. This rebadged HDMI
Consumer Electronics Control
(CEC) scheme lets you use a
single remote to control multiple
devices in the music and movie
reproduction chain. Unlike
universal remotes that use a host
of proprietary control codes,
HDMI CEC is a standard
language that all HDMI CEC
components speak over HDMI.
In theory, I should be able to
turn on the Pioneer BDP-320
KURO Link was enabled on it
too. I tried it with the TV already
on, and (amusingly) the video
passed through to the plasma so I
could see what musical tracks
were playing, although I couldn’t
hear them! So this needs work.
On the other hand, if everything
was already on and I was listening
to music on another source and
then inserted a Blu-ray Disc into
the Pioneer BDP-320, the AVR
sensed it and switched to the BD
input. It automatically did
everything short of asking me
what I thought of the new Dido
CD while the movie spun up.
KURO means “dark” in
Japanese, and there’s definitely a
dark side in the way KURO Link
is implemented in the SC-27. For
instance, if you want to use PQLS
(and believe me, you will want to
if your player is PQLS equipped),
then you need to enable KURO
Link on both the AVR and the BD
player. However, when you do
this, you lose control over the
HDMI input assignments in the
SC-27’s setup screens. That
renders the remote buttons
labeled DVD, DVR, and TV
useless as direct source buttons;
for instance, you can’t assign a
high-def TiVo box to the DVR
input. With KURO Link enabled,
the only way you can get to the
DVR is to press another remote
button marked HDMI multiple
OTHER: PQLS, SACD over HDMI, DSP modes,
Auto Level Control
THX CERTIFICATION: THX Ultra2 Plus
NUMBER OF AMP CHANNELS: 7
RATED POWER (WATTS PER CHANNEL):
140 watts @ 8 ohms, 180 watts @ 6 ohms
SPECIFIED FREQUENCY RESPONSE:
20 Hz to 20 kHz
VIDEO PROCESSING: Proprietary
AUTO SETUP/ROOM EQ: MCACC
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
16.6 x 7.9 x 18.1
WEIGHT (POUNDS): 40.8
PRICE: $2,200
times until, round robin, that
HDMI input comes up. Granted,
this is a bit of a kludge, but the
improvements that PQLS brings
to two-channel listening more
than make up for what you lose in
convenience. Of course, if you
don’t have a PQLS player, then
turn the damn thing off. It’s
annoying!
ICE, ICE, Very Nice!
If you’re worried about power,
you should know that the
ICEpower Class D amplifier
had no problems at all driving
the Revel Salon2 loudspeakers—
and they aren’t easy speakers to
drive. In fact, partnered with
the remarkable MCACC room
equalization, this 140-watt-
per-channel AVR supplied tight,
extended bass and palpable
midrange to two-channel music
even at extremely loud levels.
Breakup and compression were

PIONEER ELITE VIDEO LUMA CHROMA

3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD 3:2 SD 2:2 SD MA SD SCALING
SC-27 CLIPPING RESOLUTION RESOLUTION

DIGITAL N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A PASS PASS PASS N/A

ANALOG N/A N/A N/A PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS FAIL GOOD

VIDEO TEST BENCH The Pioneer Elite SC-27’s video circuits, Visit our Website except for Chroma Resolution. The Analog Resolution and
for a detailed
as with last year’s SC-07, performs no video processing explanation of Video Clipping tests were run with component 1080i in
on HDMI inputs. The Pioneer can convert 720p or 1080i these video tests. (there are no consumer 1080p component sources) and
Photos by Cordero Studios

component inputs to HDMI out, but it leaves their input 1080i HDMI out. The Digital Resolution and Video Clipping
resolutions unchanged and will not upconvert them to on the tests were run with a 1080p HDMI input passed-through to
1080p. It will, however, convert 480i or 480p component web a 1080p HDMI output.—TJN
to 1080p HDMI. All of the applicable Analog tests passed
MIDRANGE
HT Labs
Measures
PIONEER ELITE SC-27 A/V RECEIVER
Five channels driven continuously into –0.04 decibels at 10 hertz, +0.00 dB at
8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 111.3 watts
1% distortion at 131.4 watts
Seven channels driven continuously
into 8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 107.4 watts
1% distortion at 124.2 watts
Analog frequency response in Pure
Direct mode:
–0.04 dB at 10 Hz
explanation of our
+0.00 dB at 20 Hz
+0.60 dB at 20 kHz
–1.45 dB at 50 kHz
Analog frequency response
with stereo signal processing:
–1.34 dB at 10 Hz
–0.39 dB at 20 Hz
+0.36 dB at 20 kHz
–2.31 dB at 50 kHz
T
his graph shows that the
SC-27’s left channel, from CD the level at 40 Hz and reaches the
input to speaker output with upper 3-dB down point at 117 Hz and
two channels driving 8-ohm
loads, reaches 0.1 percent distortion
PIONEER ELITE SC-27 A/V RECEIVER
never evident with music. Over-
all, the SC-27’s amplifiers are
slightly, and preferably to me,
warmer than those of the ATI
1505 it replaced. Pioneer’s
ICEpower easily provides sound
quality that stirs up my mem-
ories of the tube amplifiers I
lusted after a decade ago. That’s
no small praise.
Naturally, like any top-end
AVR, the SC-27 includes built-in
68 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
at 151.6 watts and 1 percent
distortion at 185.5 watts. Into 4 ohms,
the amplifier reaches 0.1 percent
distortion at 224.1 watts and 1
percent distortion at 270.6 watts.
Response from the multichannel
input to the speaker output measures
20 Hz, +0.54 dB at 20 kilohertz, and
–1.54 dB at 50 kHz. THD+N from the
CD input to the speaker output was
less than 0.007 percent at 1 kHz when Connections INPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3a (5), component video
(3), S-video (5), composite video (5) AUDIO: Coaxial digital (3), optical digital (4),
driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load.
Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts 7.1-channel analog (1), stereo analog (7), phono (1) ADDITIONAL: iPod dock,
Sirius (1), XM Radio (1), Ethernet (1), USB (1) OUTPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI (2), compo-
into an 8-ohm load was –94.50 dB left nent video (2), S-video (1), composite video (3) AUDIO: Optical digital (2), stereo
to right and –93.91 dB right to left. analog (4), 7.1-channel preamp (1) ADDITIONAL: RS-232 (2), 12-volt trigger (2)
The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83
volts driving an 8-ohm load from 10
Visit our Website
Hz to 24 kHz with “A” mix. The Wide mode is Dialogue intelligibility
for a detailed weighting was –105.16 dBrA. so named not because was also impressively
testing regimen, From the Dolby Digital input the image is wider improved when I
plus a list of our
reference gear.
to the loudspeaker output, the (although it is), but switched from Dolby
left channel measures –0.01 dB because it claims to Digital 5.1 to Dolby
at 20 Hz and +0.48 dB at 20 provide a wider sweet TrueHD. The sound-
on the kHz. The center channel spot from which you stage smear I heard
web measures –0.01 dB at 20 Hz can enjoy music. I in Dolby Digital 5.1
and +0.50 dB at 20 kHz, and the found that at casual, was replaced by a
left surround channel measures –0.01 lower listening levels, spaciousness that
dB at 20 Hz and +0.49 dB at 20 kHz. these modes offer a rivaled the best
From the Dolby Digital input to the more enjoyable and Cineplex. It was
line-level output, the LFE channel is rewarding experience impossible to tell if
+0.02 dB at 20 Hz when referenced to than even PQLS. the very slight bit of
The SC-27 is solid compression and
and beautiful in ways brittleness I heard
the upper 6-dB down point at 120 any geek will appreci- even on the Dolby
Hz.—MJP ate. Only the lame TrueHD Matrix
amplifier terminals soundtrack was
on the back (bare wire intrinsic to the source
or banana, no spades) or caused by the load
mar an otherwise the five Revels
near-perfect design. presented. But in
The remote is simple either case, it was as
and practical. Only good as the best I’ve
about half the buttons ever heard in my
are backlit, but your room, hence my
fingers will quickly five-star Performance
memorize the locations rating.
of the buttons you use Say you want to
most often. watch the amazingly
beautiful Curse of the
Popcorn Paradise Golden Flower late at
There’s no doubt, the night. You don’t want
SC-27 is as much AVR Pioneer’s simple and to disturb others at
as almost anyone will practical remote features home, but you still
ever need. The direct source buttons for want to be able to hear
DVD, TV, DVR, and BD,
Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD ICEpower amplification but you can’t use them if the dialogue track
Master Audio decoding. It also had no problems you enable KURO Link. clearly. (Notice I didn’t
offers some very interesting keeping up with the say understand it—the
two-channel source processing, opening of The Matrix (Blu-ray). best-sounding track is uncom-
besides PQLS: Direct (for two- It also didn’t have any trouble pressed PCM 5.1 Chinese.) Try
channel analog sources) and the revealing the difference between Pioneer’s ALC, which stands
family of multichannel DTS standard lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 for Auto Level Control—not
Neo:6 and Dolby IIx surround and Dolby TrueHD. The hardness Automatic Language Converter.
modes. Front Stage Surround I heard in the former’s rendition Or try the Optimum Surround
Focus and Front Stage Surround of the roof chase scene in chapter mode. Both of these modes level
Wide seem to add a little bass and two was significantly ameliorated out the sound with real finesse.
a lot more width to a two-channel when I engaged Dolby TrueHD. The owner’s manual mentions a
 PIONEER ELITE SC-27 A/V RECEIVER
Midnight setting, but it doesn’t comes to a convincingly holistic Conclusion situations; they greatly enhanced
appear when you cycle through soundstage. I was constantly If you’re looking for high-resolu- my enjoyment.
the Audio Parameters menu. aware of (but not distracted by) tion audio that conveys all the If you go large and pick up the
As with most AVRs, you might how effectively it brought out subtlety available in today’s BDP-320 Blu-ray player with
have to squint at the front panel to subtle details, behind me and uncompressed multichannel PQLS, you’ll actually get that
see the changes you make in the around me. And it did all of this soundtracks, you don’t need to subtle sonic improvement to
surround modes. The Pioneer’s with just 5.1 channels of audio. look any further than the Pioneer two-channel music you used to
amber lettering is large enough The math should be the same Elite SC-27. It’s the first AVR or imagine you got when you spent
that I could recognize what was when it comes to decoding Dolby surround processor I’ve used with big bucks on speaker cable. At
happening from 14 feet away if I TrueHD, so I have to lay the room equalization that I found $2,200, the Pioneer Elite SC-27 is
knew what to expect. But if your difference down to the quality of good enough to keep engaged in the kind of AVR bargain you
distance vision is even slightly the components and the all modes. It can run two-channel richly deserve.
better than mine, you’ll be able to performance of the ICEpower music directly, with no processing
read the front panel just fine. amplification section and if you prefer. However, the various Pioneer • (800) 421-1404 •
Mary Chapin Carpenter’s MCACC room equalization, proprietary Stage processing pioneerelectronics.com
“10,000 Miles” on the Fly Away which—shazam—really works! modes are preferable in most Dealer Locator Code PIO
Home Blu-ray was even more
melancholy in Dolby TrueHD
when decoded by the SC-27 than
it was when I first heard it years
ago on DVD. When Jeff Daniels
awakens in his daughter’s hospital
room, every father’s nightmare,
the hospital sounds cascade into
the scene. The subsequent rain
storm that greets father and
daughter when they arrive at his
farmhouse in Canada are
completely immersive—and
addicting, for lack of a better
term. The SC-27 outdoes my
reference AVR—and not by a
small margin, either—when it
 MIDRANGE

BY Scott Wilkinson

Sharp LC-60E77UN LCD HDTV

•
PRICE: $3,000 AT A GLANCE: Great color and detail Excellent video processing Mild-mannered •
•
frame interpolation Mediocre blacks and shadow detail

A Worthy Contender
M
any companies
have gotten into
the LCD HDTV
game over the
last few years,
hoping to capitalize on the high
demand for flat panels. But most
are newcomers compared with
Sharp, which was one of the first
companies to offer LCD TVs in
Japan back in 1988. Since then,
Sharp has remained ahead of the
curve in terms of manufacturing
and environmental concerns. It
has invested billions of dollars in
new plants and processes.
Among the company’s current
lines is the E77 series, which
comes in several sizes, includ-
ing the 60-inch LC-60E77UN
reviewed here. This series offers
basic LCD HDTVs at attractive
prices for their sizes.
might intrude. However, the
LC-60E77UN’s Fine Motion
Enhanced control has only two
settings—On and Off.
As I mentioned earlier, Sharp
has been making LCD TVs for a
long time. That includes the LCD
panels themselves, which, in the
case of the E77 series, use 10 bits
to represent each primary color
(red, green, blue). This results in
smoother color gradations and
less solarization (banding in areas
of subtle gradations) than the
8-bit panels used in lesser sets can
manage.
One upscale feature found in
the LC-60E77UN is a color
management system (CMS).
Unlike last year’s implementation,
this one lets you tweak the hue,
saturation, and brightness of each
primary (red, green, blue) and
secondary (yellow, magenta, cyan)
color, moving the color points as
needed. (Last year’s models didn’t
have a brightness control for each
color.) This is a potentially great
feature, but you shouldn’t attempt
to use it without the requisite
tools and training.
I’m at a loss to understand this
TV’s Monochrome mode, which
disables all color and produces a
black-and-white picture. What’s
the point? More importantly, why
not make this a blue-only mode,
which would be a tremendous
help in setting the color and tint
controls? Without this mode, you
must set these controls by looking
at skintones, since blue filters
don’t work reliably with LCD
HDTVs.
Like many modern HDTVs,
the LC-60E77UN includes several
dynamic enhancements, such as
automatic backlight and contrast
adjustments that respond to the
picture’s overall brightness (tech-
nically called average picture level
or APL). These functions are
intended to increase the contrast
ratio and deepen the perceived
black level. I normally find them
to be more distracting than help-
ful, so I left them off.

Features
The most obvious feature of the
LC-60E77UN is 120-hertz
operation—frames flash on the
screen at a rate of 120 frames per
second, which is twice the normal
video rate of 60 fps and five times
the film frame rate of 24 fps. In
conjunction with a setting called
Fine Motion Enhanced—Sharp’s
frame-interpolation algorithm—
this is intended to reduce the
motion blur that has plagued
LCD TVs since their introduc-
tion.
Frame interpolation creates
new frames to insert between the
Photos by Cordero Studios/Screen image courtesy of Fox

actual frames in a video signal,

calculating where moving objects
should be in those new frames
to smooth out the motion and
sharpen the image. But this
process can introduce artifacts
of its own. Most 120-Hz and
240-Hz LCD HDTVs offer sev-
eral degrees of interpolation, so
you can balance the increased
sharpness with any artifacts that

70 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com


SHARP LC-60E77UN LCD HDTV
PERFORMANCE
FEATURES
ERGONOMICS
VALUE
The backlight can also
dynamically respond to the
amount of light in the room,
which can be more beneficial
than adjustments based on APL.
In particular, the best backlight
setting for a brightly lit room is
higher than the best setting for a
darkened room. Also, if you
engage this function, which is
called Optical Picture Control
(OPC) in Sharp TVs, it can save
some HD camcorders use them,
so the TV can display your own
content from such a camcorder in
its full glory.
On the other hand, CEC can be
useful. This function sends con-
trol codes via HDMI to any com-
patible devices. It turns them on
and off and sets their inputs or
outputs automatically as required.
User Interface
The remote is a universal model
that can control up to four devices
in addition to the TV. It has a
backlight that only illuminates a
few of the function buttons. This
is very odd, since all the buttons
SHARP LC-60E77UN LCD HDTV
unreliable with LCD TVs, and
this one has no blue-only mode,
so I had to set these controls
looking at skintones. I used a
pre-release version of the new
HQV test disc, which includes a
photo of seven people with
different skintones—three
African-Americans, two Asians,
and two Caucasians (including
one ginger). Tint was fine at its
default value, but the color
saturation was too high, so I
toned it down a bit.
Starting with the Spears &
Munsil High Definition Bench-
mark Blu-ray Edition test disc, the
LC-60E77UN’s video processing

substantial amounts of energy.
Enabling the dynamic APL
response can save even more
energy, but I don’t like the way it
looks, so I’ll take a slight energy
hit for the sake of a better picture.
The LC-60E77UN includes
four HDMI 1.3 inputs that
support Deep Color (increased
color bit depth), xvYCC (expand-
ed color gamut, sometimes called
x.v.Color), and Consumer Elec-
tronics Control (CEC), which is
a standard feature of HDMI that
Sharp calls AQUOS Link. No
commercial video content created
using Deep Color or xvYCC, but
look translucent and could easily
be illuminated. Not only that, the
labels for the backlit buttons are
printed on the body of the remote,
so you can’t see them in the dark.
The buttons are well separated
but rather small. The layout is
mostly good, but the AV Mode
button, which selects the picture
mode, is hidden under a flip-
down cover at the bottom of
the remote. As usual with TV
remotes, there are no dedicated
input-selection buttons, but a
Source button brings up a list of
inputs on the screen.
I’ve always liked the organiza-
tion of Sharp’s menu system, and
the picture controls are visible
as soon as you enter the menu.
However, I’ve always hated that
the menu remains on the screen
as you adjust a picture control,
obscuring the image you’re trying
to tweak.
Another thing I don’t like about
the picture controls is that they
link to the preset picture modes,
not the inputs. For example, if you
adjust the controls in the Movie
mode, the same settings will apply
to all inputs to which the Movie
mode is assigned. The only
exception is the User mode, which
you can set independently for
each input.
Setup and Testing
The Brightness, Contrast, and
Sharpness controls were fairly
close to correct in Movie mode. I
brought Contrast down a couple
of clicks and Brightness up one
click. Sharpness was fine at its
default setting, but if I increased it
by even one click, it induced ring-
ing (white halos around black
lines on a gray background).
As I mentioned earlier, using a
blue filter to set Color and Tint is
proved to be excellent all around,
including 2:2 and 3:2 as well as
edge-adaptive deinterlacing. Even
better, turning on the set’s frame
interpolation didn’t cause any
artifacts in the jaggies test ring
that consists of alternating hor-
izontal lines of white and black.
Most LCDs with frame interpola-
tion cause all sorts of ugly artifacts
in this ring.
I turned to the unpublished
FPD Benchmark Blu-ray test disc
to evaluate the Sharp’s frame
interpolation, and I saw virtually
no difference between setting Fine
Motion Enhanced on or off for
most of the tests. In only one test,
the clarity of scrolling letters was
improved slightly by turning it on,
but either way, motion blur wasn’t
bad at all. Clearly, the Sharp’s
frame interpolation is very gentle,
and it introduced no visible arti-
facts, apart from the interpolation
effect itself. I generally like frame
interpolation, and I used it for
most of the viewing discussed in
the comments to follow. Some
videophiles object to what it does
to the look of films, but here the
effect was relatively subtle.
Some clips on FPD Benchmark
are fairly dark, which gives you a
good opportunity to check an
LCD TV’s off-axis performance.
As with all such TVs, the Sharp’s
apparent black level rose and
colors shifted as I moved away
from the center, but not as much
as some I’ve seen. Still, I wouldn’t
want to watch this set more than
20 degrees or so off axis.
Real-World Performance
Chapter 8 of Mission: Impossible
III on Blu-ray opens with a pan
across a long staircase, which is a
great test of a TV’s 1080i deinter-
lacing capabilities. Sending this
•
• Sharp’s LC-60E77UN shines,
with an elegant black finish and
champagne gold accents.
image to the Sharp at 1080i, the
stairs were almost moiré-free,
which was among the best I’ve
seen. The color still seemed a little
oversaturated, so I turned it down
a bit more, and the shadow detail
in the catacombs was OK, but not
great.
The detail and color in The
Dark Knight were both excel-
lent. The contrast in nighttime
cityscapes was quite good, but
shadow detail was only medi-
ocre. This was also the case
with the overall black level—the
letterbox bars were clearly visible,
especially in such dark scenes.
However, bright scenes looked
gorgeous.
Image-wise, the new Star Trek
told much the same story. Detail
in the Enterprise construction
zone as Kirk arrives to enlist
was exquisite, and colors were
Features
SHARP LC-60E77UN LCD HDTV
TYPE: LCD
SCREEN SIZE (DIAGONAL, INCHES): 60
NATIVE RESOLUTION: 1920 by 1080
HD TUNER(S): OTA, QAM
BACKLIGHT: CCFL
RATED HALF LIFE: N/A
WALL MOUNT OR STAND INCLUDED?: Stand
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
56.6 x 35.2 x 4.7 (without stand);
56.6 x 37.5 x 17.6 (with stand)
WEIGHT (POUNDS):
81.6 (without stand); 92.6 (with stand)
PRICE: $3,000

hometheatermag.com 71
MIDRANGE SHARP LC-60E77UN LCD HDTV
HT Labs
Measures
SHARP LC-60E77UN LCD HDTV
0.010 29.6
FULL-ON/FULL-OFF
CONTRAST RATIO: 2,960:1
For the picture settings used in this
review, go to HomeTheaterMag.com. improve things with the set’s color
All the measurements here were
taken through an HDMI input with the yellow much closer to its target, but
set adjusted for the most accurate
picture in a darkened room.
A
explanation of our
s usual with LCD
HDTVs, the default
backlight setting,
even in Movie
mode, resulted in a peak
-white measurement that was
way too high for comfortable
viewing in a dark room, so I
decreased the backlight level until
peak white was within the THX
guidelines. Then I measured the black wasn’t that different from the
level, which was quite respectable
BEFORE CALIBRATION
Color-tracking charts were generated in Datacolor ColorFacts.
3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD
PASS PASS PASS
generally bright and vibrant,
including the red Corvette. Ski-
tones also looked natural. As
72 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
and slightly less than half of the result
I obtained with the Sharp LC-52D85U I
reviewed last year.
The Mid-Low color-temperature
preset proved to be the closest to
correct. It was a bit biased toward
blue, but the Low setting was
distinctly red. The LC-60E77UN
provides two sets of RGB calibration
controls in the user menu (last year’s
D85 series provided only one set),
and the calibration process was quite
easy and stable. I calibrated 80 IRE,
then 30, then I checked 80 again, and
it was right on the money. However,
as you can see in the color-tracking
charts below, blue wandered over and
under where it should be at other
brightness levels. It was too high at
20 IRE, too low at 40, too high at 70,
and too low at 100.
As you can see in the CIE chart
above, most of the color points were
fairly close to where they’re supposed
to be, though the red-green axis was
slightly undersaturated, and the
yellow point was way off. I tried to
management system (CMS), and I got
there was nothing I could do about
Visit our Website
green. After I watched some
for a detailed real-world content with and
testing regimen, without my CMS settings, I
plus a list of our decided that I preferred the
reference gear.
picture with the CMS at its
default settings. It looked more
on the natural.
web Just for grins, I checked the
gray scale after I tweaked the CMS,
and I found that blue wandered
around even more than before in the
midrange (40 to 70 IRE), but overall, it
pre-CMS result.—SW
AFTER CALIBRATION
LUMA CHROMA
VIDEO CLIPPING
RESOLUTION RESOLUTION
SCALING
PASS PASS PASS GOOD
before, the black of space wasn’t
all that deep, and shadow detail
was only so-so.
I thought the “Deserts” episode
of Planet Earth on Blu-ray might
be revealing, since there are many
shades of brown and orange.
These colors looked surprisingly
good considering that the TV’s
measured yellow point was so far
off (see HT Labs Measures). There
was no banding as the sun
emerges from behind the planet
in the opening sequence, probably
due in part to the 10-bit panel. Connections INPUTS:
VIDEO: HDMI 1.3 (4), component video (2),
Again, detail in things like animal S-video (1, shared), composite video (2, 1
hair and scrub brush was superb, shared), PC VGA (D-sub), RF AUDIO: Stereo
and mountains in the distance analog (3) OUTPUTS: AUDIO: Stereo analog,
were razor sharp. The black of digital (optical), headphone ADDITIONAL:
space was deeper than I’ve seen in RS-232 (1), USB (1, service only)
previous clips, but this was likely
due to the fact that the bright compared the SD and HD
Earth occupied a large portion of versions of several channels, and
the image, making space look the SD version looked signifi-
blacker than it otherwise would. cantly softer than HD—a much
On The Fifth Element Superbit greater difference than between
DVD (sent to the TV at 480i), Blu-ray and DVD, which I
detail was as good as standard def attributed to the satellite receiver’s
can be. It was certainly not BD upconversion.
quality, but the complex cityscape
seen before Leeloo Conclusion
jumps into Korben’s There’s much to like
cab was fairly sharp. about the Sharp
The color of things like LC-60E77UN, and
skintones and Korben’s there’s nothing glaringly
orange T-shirt was fine. wrong. Its color and
I believe the black of detail are excellent, as is
space in the movie’s its video processing. The
opening shot is higher controls have been
than normal on the disc, improved over the last
so I can’t fault the TV for Sharp LCD HDTV I
this. In fact, the black reviewed, although I
bars looked blacker than really wish the menu
space in those shots. would disappear when
Before I wrapped up adjusting a picture
my evaluation, I watched control. Also, the
a bit of HD and SD black-level is half the
television from DISH value I saw in that
Network. I happened to previous model. It
see some night scenes showed in the improved
from 10,000 BC on HBO contrast in scenes with
HD, which looked rather very dark and very bright
flat. On another HBO areas. Still, blacks didn’t
HD channel, I caught appear that deep in
the end of A.I.: Artificial normal viewing, and
Intelligence, when the shadow detail was medi-
aliens bring back David’s ocre.
mother for a day. Shadow A list price of $3,000
detail in the dark scenes for a 60-inch flat panel is
wasn’t great, but brighter Sharp’s remote quite good, and I’ve seen
features select
daytime scenes were very backlighting, which this model for less online.
detailed, with great illuminates a few If money is tight—a
colors. function buttons. seemingly foregone
When I looked at some conclusion these
SD channels, I discovered that the days—but you still want a big flat
LC-60E77UN doesn’t have a 4:3 panel, the LC-60E77UN is a
aspect ratio setting, at least via worthy contender.
HDMI. Fortunately, the DISH
Network receiver has such a Sharp Electronics •
setting, so I could see SD channels (800) BE-SHARP • sharpusa.com
in their intended aspect ratio. I Dealer Locator Code SHA
 POWERED BY INNOVATION.

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MIDRANGE
Marantz SR6004 A/V Receiver
PRICE: $1,250 AT A GLANCE: Bluetooth adapter is supplied, not merely optional Connect
compatible iPod models without a dock Audyssey MultEQ, Dynamic Volume/EQ
Restraint and Simplicity
M
arantz was
founded in 1952
by Saul B.
Marantz, who
designed and
built his first products at his home
in Kew Gardens, New York. By
the time I envied a college friend
for owning a beautiful 1975-
vintage Marantz stereo receiver,
the company was owned by
Superscope. The brand’s North
American operations passed into
the hands of Philips before it
finally merged with Denon to
form D&M Holdings in 2002.
Today, Marantz is in the odd
position of competing with a
stablemate. The differences
between the two are interesting:
Denon is a hard-charging pioneer
that packs as many features as
possible into its A/V receivers.
Marantz, on the other hand,
74 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
•
adopts licensed features (some of
them fads) at a more deliberate
pace, and it still stakes much of its
identity on high-end two-channel
products. I’m not suggesting that
Denon lags in performance, or
that Marantz fails to be au
courant, but their differences in
emphasis point to their differ-
ences in temperament and values.
That brings us to the Marantz
SR6004 A/V receiver. It embraces
height-enhanced surround with
Dolby Pro Logic IIz but skips the
Audyssey DSX height- and
width-enhanced listening modes.
Wisely, Marantz has licensed
Audyssey’s superb MultEQ auto
setup and room correction system
as well as its Dynamic Volume
and Dynamic EQ modes for
low-volume listening flexibility.
The SR6004 doesn’t have an
Ethernet connection to support
PC file access, Internet radio, or
other network-delivered audio
features. However, it does connect
iPods and other USB devices
directly without a dock. In a
surprise move, it comes with
the RX101 Bluetooth adapter. I
regret not having a Bluetooth-
compatible mobile device to make
use of the capability.
Ending in 004
While the SR6004 isn’t Marantz’s
top-of-the-line A/V receiver, it is
the most complete of the newer
models—the ones with model
numbers that end in 004. It
replaces the SR6003. At the time
of this writing, Marantz’s Website
still listed a couple of older models
with numbers that end in 003 or
002. The SR6004’s rated power is
110 watts per channel, with two
channels driven, which is up 10
BY Mark Fleischmann
•
MARANTZ SR6004 A/V RECEIVER
PERFORMANCE
FEATURES
ERGONOMICS
VALUE
percent from the preceding
model. Marantz prides itself on
providing 70 percent of rated
power when five channels are
driven. In this respect, the com-
pany sets a tougher standard for
itself than many of its competitors
set for themselves.
The front panel has the familiar
curved shape that Marantz uses in
its other products, both surround
and stereo. A spare front-panel
layout includes a volume knob at
the right, a source-select knob at
the left, a power on/standby
button, and no other visible
buttons. Beneath a flip-down
door are navigation and other
 MARANTZ SR6004 A/V RECEIVER

the GUI, the remote is not intim-

idating. One senses this as part
of the Marantz sensibility: Don’t
Features
frighten the consumer. MARANTZ SR6004 A/V RECEIVER
Associated equipment included

controls. It also has a front-panel
USB input. One minor surprise is
the front S-video input—there are
no additional S-video jacks on the
back panel.
Speaking of the back panel, I
love its neatness. A lot of A/V
receivers have the HDMI inputs
and outputs—in this case, four in
and two out—in a row across the
top, and the speaker terminals at
the bottom. But Marantz groups
the component and composite
video inputs in an island at the
right. One of the HD-capable
component outputs can operate
in a second zone. Analog preouts
are in a separate island adjacent to
the speaker terminals. This leaves
the analog multichannel inputs
•
• The SR6004’s clean front
panel matches its simplified,
well-organized back panel.
next to the analog stereo jacks.
Everything is easy to find at a
glance. The SR6004 also supports
Sirius and XM satellite radio.
Marantz uses a mixture of
styles for the graphic user
interface (GUI). When you
choose a new input, a very
utilitarian and old-fashioned-
looking white-on-blue status
display flashes briefly on the
screen. The rest of the control
menus use the same color scheme,
but with a more attractive font. As
you delve deeper into the
menus—for instance, speaker
setup—there are some full-color
diagrams. It’s not the fanciest GUI
around, but it’s one of the least
intimidating and most efficient
ones. I could always find what I
needed and adjust it quickly.
The remote is a fully backlit
unit with a small LCD mode-
status display at top. Control
layout is just OK, and Marantz
predictably gives special pro-
minence to the volume, channel,
and menu navigation keys. Like
five Paradigm Reference Studio 20
v4 speakers run full range, Pana-
sonic DMP-BD35 Blu-ray player,
Integra DPS-10.5 universal player,
Luxman PD-289 turntable, Shure
V97xE cartridge, and Bellari
VP530 tube phono preamp. All
movie selections were on Blu-ray
Disc, but regrettably, only one had
a lossless soundtrack. All of the
music selections were on SACD
and vinyl.
Kickin’ It Old School
Sahara, in old-school lossy DTS,
sends Matthew McConaughey
and Penélope Cruz on a treasure
hunt in the deserts of Nigeria as
they look for a Civil War battle-
ship that went notably astray in an
ancient river. The baddies are very
bad, treating our heroes to a boat-
borne shootout and other loud
misfortunes. I turned on Audyssey
Dynamic Volume and EQ, and I
noted that they can only be in-
voked together in this AVR (as
Audyssey recommends). With
three Dynamic Volume settings
to choose from in addition to Off,
I picked Medium. As always, it
didn’t disappoint. I got a just about
perfect compromise between
aggressive effects, intelligible
dialogue, and listening comfort.
The score’s songs alternate Boomer
classics like Dr. John’s “Right Place
Wrong Time” and the Faces’ “Stay
with Me” with African worldbeat.
Even in lossy surround, the songs
sounded great—Marantz AVRs
have always been dependable in
their musicality.
AUDIO DECODING:
DOLBY: TrueHD, Digital 5.1, EX, Pro Logic
II/IIx/IIz, Virtual Speaker
DTS: DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD High Reso-
lution Audio, DTS 5.1, ES, 96/24,
Neo:6, Neural
AUDYSSEY: Dynamic Volume, Dynamic
EQ
OTHER: SRS Circle Surround II, HDCD
THX CERTIFICATION: No
NUMBER OF AMP CHANNELS: 7
RATED POWER (WATTS PER CHANNEL):
110 into 8 ohms, 2 channels driven
SPECIFIED FREQUENCY RESPONSE:
8 Hz to 100 kHz, +/–3 dB
VIDEO PROCESSING: iChips
AUTO SETUP/ROOM EQ: Audyssey MultEQ
DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES):
17.38 x 6.38 x 15.38
WEIGHT (POUNDS): 28
PRICE: $1,250
Black Rain is also in old-school
DTS. This was not an unreason-
able move given the movie’s 1989
vintage, the soundtrack’s original
Dolby SR analog source material,
and the limitations of its dynamic
envelope and panning patterns.
Michael Douglas is a hot-tempered
cop who escorts a Japanese gang
member back to Tokyo. Naturally,
the prisoner breaks loose, and
cross-cultural havoc ensues. I
had no need for the low-volume
listening modes. This is fairly
gentle material, despite all the
action.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck &
Larry brought my movie sessions
up to date with a DTS-HD Master
Audio soundtrack. Adam Sandler
and Kevin James are New York
firemen who enter into a phony
domestic-partner relationship to
secure pension benefits for the

MARANTZ VIDEO CLIP- LUMA CHROMA

3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD 3:2 SD 2:2 SD MA SD SCALING
SR6004 PING RESOLUTION RESOLUTION

DIGITAL N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A PASS PASS PASS N/A

ANALOG FAIL FAIL FAIL PASS FAIL PASS PASS FAIL FAIL GOOD

VIDEO TEST BENCH The Marantz provides only a direct Visit our Website
passthrough for HDMI-in to HDMI-out. Therefore, many of for a detailed
explanation of
our standard Digital tests are inapplicable. The Digital Video these video tests.
Clipping and Resolution tests were run at 1080p in and 1080p
and 1080p output (HDMI). On the Analog Luma Resolution
test, the highest vertical resolution pattern (alternating
horizontal black and white single pixel lines) was a
flickering gray mass instead of individually visible lines.
Photos by Cordero Studios

out, HDMI to HDMI. The Marantz’s analog performance is
marginal and best avoided for converting a high-quality on the
component source to an HDMI output. The Analog Video
web
Clipping and Resolution tests were run at 1080i in (component)
That normally indicates deinterlacing that uses bobbing,
a rudimentary (and generally inferior) deinterlacing
technique.—TJN

hometheatermag.com 75
MIDRANGE
HT Labs
Measures
MARANTZ SR6004 A/V RECEIVER
Five channels driven continuously into –0.52 decibels at 10 hertz, –0.16 dB at
8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 73.4 watts
1% distortion at 86.4 watts
Seven channels driven continuously
into 8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 70.8 watts
1% distortion at 81.9 watts
Analog frequency response in Pure
Direct mode:
–0.53 dB at 10 Hz
explanation of our
–0.16 dB at 20 Hz
+0.02 dB at 20 kHz
–2.75 dB at 50 kHz
Analog frequency response
with stereo signal processing:
–0.62 dB at 10 Hz
–0.19 dB at 20 Hz
–0.44 dB at 20 kHz
–36.02 dB at 50 kHz
T
his graph shows that the
SR6004’s left channel, from
CD input to speaker output
with two channels driving
8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1 percent
MARANTZ SR6004 A/V RECEIVER
first guy’s kids. The comedy is
crude but effective, and the sen-
timents are heartwarming. Sev-
eral fire-scene action episodes
were loud enough to bring back
Audyssey Dynamic Volume/EQ.
Since I conducted this demo
unusually late in the evening, I
used the Heavy setting to spare
my neighbors. Even maxed,
Dynamic Volume/EQ still
produced a surprisingly natural
result. I was rarely aware of the
76 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
distortion at 111.6 watts and 1
percent distortion at 126.6 watts. Into
4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1
percent distortion at 160.5 watts and
1 percent distortion at 187.8 watts.
Response from the multichannel
input to the speaker output measures
20 Hz, –0.02 dB at 20 kilohertz, and
–2.81 dB at 50 kHz. THD+N from the
CD input to the speaker output was Connections INPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3 (4), component video (3),
S-video (1), composite video (5) AUDIO: Coaxial digital (2), optical digital (4), 7.1-channel
less than 0.027 percent at 1 kHz when
driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. analog (1), stereo analog (7) ADDITIONAL: USB (1), Sirius (1), XM (1), AM (1), FM (1),
iPod dock, remote control (1) OUTPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.3 (2), component video (1),
Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts composite video (2) AUDIO: Optical digital (1), stereo analog (3), 7.1-channel preamp (1),
into an 8-ohm load was –78.96 dB left 1/4-inch headphone (1) ADDITIONAL: RS-232 (1), 12-volt trigger (4), remote control (1),
to right and –80.67 dB right to left. M-XPort for Bluetooth (1)
The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83
volts driving an 8-ohm load from 10
Visit our Website
Hz to 24 kHz with “A” atmosphere and charm. To Our Children’s
for a detailed weighting was –103.11 dBrA. It would be hard to Children’s Children is
testing regimen, From the Dolby Digital input overstate the purity my favorite Moody
plus a list of our
reference gear.
to the loudspeaker output, the and clarity of this Blues LP. A celebra-
left channel measures –0.13 dB combination of tion of the 1969 moon
at 20 Hz and –0.31 dB at 20 well-recorded source landing, it starts with a
on the kHz. The center channel material, high-resolu- rocket-like roar, which
web measures –0.12 dB at 20 Hz tion surround delivery sets the soundstage for
and –0.30 dB at 20 kHz, and the medium, and clean attacks of raga guitar
left surround channel measures –0.12 amplification. This and bad psychedelic
dB at 20 Hz and –0.28 dB at 20 kHz. no-barriers transpar- poetry. The band’s
From the Dolby Digital input to the ency abetted the highly melodic songs
line-level output, the LFE channel is performer’s refine- augmented rock
+0.01 dB at 20 Hz when referenced to ment, sonorities, and instrumentation with
the level at 40 Hz and reaches the dynamic subtleties. Mellotron, flutes, harp,
upper 3-dB down point at 159 Hz and Surround was used and celesta—all
the upper 6-dB down point at 199 conservatively, just for drenched in echo,
Hz.—MJP ambience, which which gave DPLII a lot
allowed the piano to to work with. Again,
lift slightly forward of Audyssey MultEQ got
the speakers, produc- the most out of the
ing greater depth than swooping bass lines.
stereo would allow. This is a fine album for
Miles & Monk at children as well as
Newport, on vinyl, adults with a sense of
dates from 1963. It’s humor or fond mem-
memorable for the ories of the progressive
inclusion of John rock era.
Coltrane in the Miles
Davis Sextet and iPod Play
a guest appearance iPods supported by the
by clarinetist Pee USB input include the
Wee Russell in the iPod with video, clas-
Thelonious Monk sic, touch (1G and
Quartet. The outdoor Marantz’s remote 2G), and nano (1G to
recording venue had is fully backlit and 4G), as well as the
algorithm’s careful and surgical virtually no reverb. Still, sensibly laid out. A small iPhone original and
LCD mode status display
alterations to the soundtrack. the Dolby Pro Logic II is located at the top of 3G. As the owner of
Music mode opened the unit. first- and second-gen-
Kinder/Children the soundfield a little, eration nanos, I was
Claudio Arrau’s performances which made it more spaciously delighted, especially since the last
of Schumann’s Kinderszenen and outdoorsy, while giving me the Denon receiver I reviewed didn’t
Brahms’ Paganini Variations impression of being closer to recognize my players. Mar-
are available on a single Penta- the stage. A bass solo in the Davis antz has managed to get a digital
Tone SACD. The original 1974 set (accompanied by finger snap- signal out of the iThings for use
recording was made in quad, so ping) highlighted the benefit with the AVR’s own high-quality
the center channel was silent. of Audyssey MultEQ, which digital-to-analog converters. It
Arrau mined the Brahms for sculpted the bass beautifully in can even operate the iPod in
brilliance and the Schumann for my subless system. either of two modes: Direct mode,
 MARANTZ SR6004 A/V RECEIVER

which uses the iPod’s controls, or
Remote mode, which uses the
AVR’s controls. You have to hand
it to the folks at Marantz—when
they adopt a feature, they do it
thoroughly.
I set the SR6004 to the USB
source input and plugged in my
first-generation iPod nano. The
poor old thing wheezed to life, its
rheumy eyes staring out from its
tiny LCD. It displayed the Artists,
Albums, Settings, and Now Play-
ing options—I keep my iPod
main menus simple. I started
some music using the iPod’s
clickwheel. The iPod, the GUI,
and the Marantz’s front panel
displayed the metadata, but there
was no sound. The GUI prompted
me to press the Mode button. This
took some squinting because the
remote’s Setup/Mode key is label-
ed in two colors, with the Mode
part in a nearly invisible dark
blue-gray against a black back-
ground. I hit the magic key, so the
GUI now accepted commands.
Then I made a selection with the
GUI, and music came out of the
speakers. The 1G nano apparently
preferred to operate in Remote
mode, with the SR6004’s controls.
I powered down the Marantz,
powered it back up again, and
plugged in my second-generation
iPod nano. The GUI flashed
repeatedly, as though its life were
passing before its eyes, including
its general status display and the
now-familiar iPod menu. But at
length, when I made a selection
using the iPod’s clickwheel, music
began to play over a blank TV
screen. I hit the remote’s Setup/
Mode button, and the GUI
returned to the iPod menu—but
with no music. Instead there was
an “Initializing” message. Marantz
later commented that this prob-
lem stemmed from an outdated
firmware in the nano itself. The
receiver was not to blame.
Even so, after I powered down
everything and started again, the
receiver and the nano eventually
got onto speaking terms. The 2G
nano could still operate only in
Direct mode, with its own
controls, not the AVR’s.
Still, both iPods worked reliably
in at least one mode. The manual
warns that outdated iPod software
may trip up the process. That
seems likely, since I’m a scofflaw
when it comes to updating iPod
software. I was satisfied with the
Marantz’s iPod functionality. Look
ma, no dock.
The Marantz SR6004 has a
relatively restrained feature set,
which may put it at a disadvan-
tage to more fully featured AVRs
that sell for the same. I don’t con-
sider Audyssey DSX much of a
loss, but I would have liked to see
PC access and Internet radio via
Ethernet. There’s still a lot to like,
including its Audyssey setup and
low-volume modes, Dolby Pro
Logic IIz height-enhanced listen-
ing mode, USB input, direct iPod
connections that really work, and
the free Bluetooth adapter. Per-
formance is musically trustwor-
thy. Marantz also gets a high rat-
ing for ease of use. If you want
an AVR that won’t give you a
headache, this one is well worth
your consideration.
* Audio editor Mark Fleis-
chmann is also the author of
the annually updated book
Practical Home Theater
(quietriverpress.com).
Marantz • (201) 762-6500 •
us.marantz.com
Dealer Locator Code MAR

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MARCH 2010

GS
RATINGS
SCOPE

Reference
Excellent
Good
Poor
Fair
PICTURE ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
SOUND ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Reviews in High Definition EXTRAS
INTERACTIVITY
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
sand. Colors and fleshtones are
reasonably natural and a good
portrayal of the source material, if
the theatrical print I saw is an
indicator. The HD image here is
more contrasty than the film print
I saw, with more pronounced
blacks. The few nighttime
sequences are noisy and a little
softer than the rest of the movie,
but this is a terrific presentation.
The DTS-HD Master Audio
soundtrack is two-plus hours of
demo material. The pulverizing
deep bass will expose every
resonant mode in your room. You
(and your neighbors) are going to
think your place is being
demolished by Humvees and
tanks (with choppers providing

Summit
air support). The gunshots,
The Hurt Locker explosions, and other transients
have more dynamic crack than

A Box Full of Stuff That Almost Killed Me just about anything I’ve heard,
especially in the surround
channels. Each of the many
different weapons fired and
The Hurt Locker is a war movie of unrelenting suspense surviving to get home. For the ordnance detonated has its own
and pressure. It’s shot in a raw but not obnoxious doc- recklessly brilliant Sgt. James distinct sonic signature, and
umentary style that puts the audience squarely into the (Jeremy Renner), going home dialogue is mostly clear. This is
field of battle. While its action set pieces are rendered with extraordi- means leaving an adrenaline- about as good as movie sound
nary skill and clarity, The Hurt Locker’s real gifts are its insights into charged war zone in which he’s an gets, and it’s a shockingly big step
its characters and how they come to grips with their jobs and the unerring and unflappable expert up from the compressed track I
conflict they’re in. The movie follows Bravo for a world he’s far less certain heard in the theater. A-plus.
Company—a three-man EOD (explosive about. The film’s strangely The few extras are a gallery, a
ordnance disposal) team—during the last poignant closing scenes show commentary by director Kathryn
month-plus of its rotation defusing bombs James stateside, confronted by Bigelow and writer Mark Boal,
in Iraq. This movie doesn’t take a political overwhelming choices in the and a 12-minute behind-the-
stand on the war; instead, it treats it as cereal aisle at the supermarket. scenes feature, which is good if
matter-of-fact crisis management. These Such choices are empty after the brief. Bigelow is intelligent and
specialists are doing the most unnerving hair-trigger, life-and-death insightful, and the commentary is
and dangerous jobs imaginable while choices he made every second in well worth the time.
surrounded by an indigenous population combat. You feel at once the The Hurt Locker is a great
they can’t communicate with and who inevitability of the decision he’s movie, the best movie I saw in
might be simply observing the spectacle BLU-RAY about to make, but more than 2009, with two of the best acting
STUDIO: Summit, 2009
or waiting for the right moment to use a ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1
that, you understand it. This is performances (Jeremy Renner’s
cell phone to detonate the bomb they’re AUDIO FORMAT: who Sgt. Will James is. Sgt. James and Anthony Mackie’s
defusing. The days left in rotation that DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 The Hurt Locker was shot on Sanborn). With a first-rate
flash on the screen are a countdown for LENGTH: 130 mins. HD video and 16mm cameras. presentation on Blu-ray, this is a
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow
Bravo Company. For Eldridge and STARRING: Jeremy Renner, Anthony
The image is sharp, clear, and must-have. ● Shane Buettner
Sanborn, it’s waiting out the clock and Mackie, Brian Geraghty gritty down to the last grain of

PICTURE
SOUND QUOTE: “The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal
hometheatermag.com EXTRAS addiction, for war is a drug.”
INTERACTIVITY

78 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

 MOON 8½
Sony Pictures Criterion Collection
I THINK PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST
WE’RE ALONE AS A MIDDLE-AGED MAN

M T
oon is a trip back to when science-fiction movies were
smart, challenging stories about ideas and people,
and not just vehicles for special effects. Like many of
the sci-fi greats, Moon asks more questions than it
answers, but that enhances its appeal to those who
miss movies like this. The film’s marketing and reviews compare it to
2001: A Space Odyssey, but it reminded me more of Silent Running,
which isn’t faint praise. Moon is more overtly referential of the former,
but at its heart, it’s much more evocative of the latter’s emotional
isolation. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, a lonely man at the end of a
three-year posting as the sole caretaker of a mining facility on the
moon. His only companions are recorded messages from his wife
on Earth and his computer companion GERTY. (An acknowledge-
ment of HAL’s cinematic stature is that a genuine star like Kevin Spacey
voices the computer co-star of this movie.) Sam starts to come apart
mentally, has an accident, and is joined by an unexpected visitor at the
station. Himself. To tell more would be a spoiler. Suffice to say, the first
hooks that this movie drops in the water aren’t quite what you think
they are.
The film’s environments are built more on models and sets than CGI,
and that approach creates a unique, vintage sci-fi look. Rockwell is the
film’s center as star and co-star, and it’s a superlative performance in
two complicated roles. Duncan Jones, the son of rock legend David
Bowie, turns in a remarkably focused debut as a feature film director.
The image quality is excellent, with very sharp but natural detail, a
film-like layer of fine grain, and realistic colors. It’s not as showy as
special-effects vehicles often are, but it’s got a great look and feel that’s
beautifully portrayed here.
The DTS-HD Master Audio track is
a dramatic upgrade from the compressed
digital audio I heard theatrically. The bass
has far more impact, the surrounds are
more palpable, the dynamics are superior,
and low-level detail is improved. How-
ever, the sonic star for me is Clint Mansell’s
moody score, which also sounds superb
here.
Highlights of the extras include two
commentaries, two making-of featurettes, BLU-RAY
STUDIO: Sony Pictures, 2009
two Q&A pieces that give away too ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1
many of the movie’s mysteries, and a AUDIO FORMAT:
28-minute short film by Jones. Moon is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
thought-provoking science fiction, a LENGTH: 97 mins.
DIRECTOR: Duncan Jones
throwback in the very best sense of the STARRING: Sam Rockwell, Sam
term. ● Shane Buettner Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
his is Federico Fellini’s acknowledged masterpiece, an auto-
biographical stream of consciousness about a film direc-
tor who’s juggling a wife, mistress, agent, producer, critic,
screenwriter, and actors, who are all pressing him to make a
decision about his next step. The very title is self-referential:
Fellini had made, by his count, seven features and one short, so this
would be film number 8 ½. Like its hero, Guido Anselmi (played by his
favorite lead actor, Marcello Mastroianni), Fellini had been suffering a
creative block. We realize at the end that the film that Guido ends up
making is the film that we’ve been watching all along. It isn’t merely a
film about a film; it’s a film that is the film that it’s about.
As a stylist, Fellini had already departed from his neo-realist roots
and embraced a jaunty, even bawdy, surrealism. (His previous film,
La Dolce Vita, incited fury from traditional critics yearning for another
I Vitteloni or White Sheikh.) But 8 ½ stretched his indulges to a new
dimension. The camera is constantly moving, almost dancing, and the
settings move abruptly from past to present and from reality to dream
to sheer fantasy. All of it is animated by the giddy but precisely into-
nated music of Nino Rota. It’s a head-spinning spectacle. But it’s more
than mere spectacle. Probably no greater film has been made about the
creative process, the claustrophobia of life’s pressure, or the wistfulness
of nostalgia. It’s also a wildly comical film, frequently imitated but never
remotely matched.
The Blu-ray transfer—created from a 35mm fine-grain master
positive, which was struck in turn from the original master—is another
black-and-white beauty from the Criterion Collection. Blacks are
very black, contrasts are very wide, skintones are luscious or pasty
or sometimes both (depending on the
desired effect), and depth and detail are
striking. As far as I could see, there are
no digital artifacts. The uncompressed
soundtrack is mono, but it still seemed
to fill the room; dialogue is crisp. The
orchestral soundtrack is dynamic, a bit
bright but not too bright.
Extras include a very interesting featur-
ette on Fellini’s original but discarded final
scene (with photographs and participants’
BLU-RAY recollections) and a fascinating documen-
STUDIO: Criterion Collection, 1963
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
tary about Rota. The commentary track
AUDIO FORMAT: doesn’t go far beyond the special features
Uncompressed PCM mono (Italian) or the essays in the booklet, and it’s a bit
LENGTH: 138 mins. dull to boot. ● Fred Kaplan
DIRECTOR: Federico Fellini
STARRING: Marcello Mastroianni,
Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee

PICTURE PICTURE
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hometheatermag.com 79
CINEMA SCOPE

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY SURROGATES

Paramount Disney
THE WITCHBOARD A DECENT IDEA GONE HORRIBLY,
DEMON PROJECT BUT MOSTLY BORINGLY, WRONG

P B
aranormal Activity is an uncommonly effective and scary
psychological horror film. It’s another found-footage
camcorder movie, which is centered on the haunting of a
young couple (Micah and Katie). Micah has bought a
high-tech (and presumably high-def ) video camera to
document the disturbances, and things escalate from there. This movie
ratchets up the intensity with each disturbance, right up to the final
shocking frames. If you’re wondering whether you should have your
Dramamine ready, the camera is mostly tripod-mounted, so the shaky
cam is at a bare minimum.
Paranormal Activity wears its influences on its sleeve. There are
pieces of a lot of different movies here, from The Blair Witch Project to
Witchboard (really) and, going farther back, Poltergeist. Even with the
familiar building blocks, it coalesces into something that feels fresh. It
works on a very elemental, visceral level. And it’s very convincingly
acted. Seeing this movie theatrically, the audience reactions in the
theater were over the top. But watching it at home was even more
excruciating. The sound effects are very effective, and this isn’t one you
want to watch with the lights off if you’re alone in the house one
weekend. You’ll be looking for a hotel by the time the credits roll.
The image quality is what you’d expect. There’s noise and other
artifacts that are likely intended to make this high-def video look more
like it was shot DIY by an amateur. The resolution is respectable; it’s
obviously high def but not demo material. Still, it serves the story in
every respect. The deep bass and dynamics during the disturbances are
appropriately dread- and jump-inducing in DTS-HD Master Audio,
and the dialogue is clear and intelligible. More importantly, the sounds
you hear sound like they could be coming
from your house while you’re watching this.
Serious heebie-jeebies.
Other than an alternate ending, which
can be watched separately or woven into
the film, a Digital Copy and trailer for a
different movie (Shutter Island) are the only
extras. About that alternate ending. I didn’t
care for it. The theatrical version hit the
right note in being more mysterious and for
my money, much more disconcerting. This
is a must-have for people who like horror BLU-RAY
STUDIO: Paramount, 2009
movies but don’t like the torture porn that ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1
passes for horror today (Saw series, I’m AUDIO FORMAT:
talking to you). This is a wicked smart scary DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
movie that relies on crushing psychological LENGTH: 86 mins.
DIRECTOR: Oren Peli
suspense instead of relentless violence and STARRING: Katie Featherston, Micah
gore. Highly recommended. Sloat, Mark Fredrichs
● Shane Buettner
PICTURE
SOUND
EXTRAS
INTERACTIVITY
ruce Willis has long excelled at playing a certain type of
flawed and weary hero, one with a strong moral center who
finds it difficult to set aside a few minutes to shower and
manages to look as though he has recently received a light
but thorough beating. He reprises his signature character
in Surrogates, but with a bonus: He also plays his younger, cleaner, and
more hirsute robot surrogate, a version of himself if he were, say, the
host of a small-market infotainment show, perhaps Good Morning
Indianapolis.
Surrogates sets up its interesting premise quickly: It’s a near future in
which almost every person on the planet lives the life of a bathrobe-
wearing shut-in, experiencing the outside world exclusively through the
eyes and ears of their sexy, anthropomorphically perfect robot selves. As
with all imagined utopias, some spoilsport has to come along and ruin
it for everybody. This time it’s someone who’s got a hold of a beam that
destroys the surrogates and kills their owners at the same time. (In this
way, it’s not unlike Windows Vista.) Willis is an FBI agent who must
track down the killer and at the same time try to salvage his crumbling
marriage, deal with the recent death of his son, and keep his robot self
charged, updated with the latest firmware, and properly lubed.
The premise makes for intriguing social commentary, but the devil is
in the details. What may have worked well for its comic book source
looks flat and, well, robotic on the screen. It also raises a lot of questions,
those that probably went unnoticed between the panels of the comic
book. It’s 14 years in the future, and they claim that 98 percent of the
world uses surrogates. Really? In Libya? Djibouti? Vatican City? And
since the surrogates go to work for you, is anybody really going to be
content to guide these perfect beings
through a 12-hour shift mucking out hog
troughs? Also, which genius designed the
system that allows every surrogate in the
world to be controlled by one doughnut-
munching computer nerd in a room by
himself?
Regarding the video, as with all of
Disney’s releases, this one looks and sounds
fantastic. It’s sharp as a tack, with vibrant
colors, terrific blacks, and no noticeable
BLU-RAY noise; it’s demo quality. The DTS-HD
STUDIO: Disney, 2009
ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1
Master Audio soundtrack is terrific, making
AUDIO FORMAT: good use of all channels, including plenty of
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 deep bass. It includes a director commen-
LENGTH: 88 mins. tary track as well as a couple of interesting
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Mostow
STARRING: Bruce Willis, Radha
making-of extras and a music video.
Mitchell, Ving Rhames ● Michael J Nelson
PICTURE
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INTERACTIVITY

80 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

 HARRY POTTER AND THE HANGOVER UNRATED
THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE IT MIGHT GET LOUD EDITION
Warner Brothers Sony Pictures Warner Brothers
ALL IS NOT WELL BOYZ MAKING THREE MEN AND A BABY
IN THE WIZARDING WORLD. NOIZE WITH TOYZ! AND A TIGER

W Y
hile not as strong as some of the ou’re thrilled to be in Jimmy Page’s record
previous films in the series, Harry library. He thumbs through a stack of
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince still picture-sleeve 45s, passing Snooks Eaglin,
effectively balances the awkwardness Rick Nelson, and Buddy Holly in favor of
of the teenage years amid the ever-present danger an original UK London pressing of Link Wray’s
that waits around every turn. This film is definitely classic “Rumble.”
the Empire Strikes Back of the franchise and plays The gray-haired, ponytailed rock legend places
more like a prologue to the grand finale(s) to come it on the platter of his Technics turntable (he needs
in Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2. something better!), lowers the stylus into the
The HD picture is consistently sharp and vivid lead-in groove, and a 14-year-old’s impish smile
and has only the minutest amount of film grain. erupts on his face as three of the most menacing
It’s fun to notice all the rich background details guitar strums in rock history blast from unseen
and architecture of Hogwarts. The Dolby TrueHD speakers.
soundtrack is spectacular and truly enveloping. There’s a cutaway to a vintage black-and-white
Extras include additional scenes, vignettes, and Wray live performance of “Rumble” synched to
numerous featurettes. A segment called “One- Page’s 45. With a quick uptick of his wrist, Page
Minute Drills” challenges the young actors to sum air-guitars it, breaking out in delighted giggles,
up their characters’ story arc in sixty seconds or although he’s probably heard the song hundreds
less, and there’s a “think fast” Q&A with the cast. of times.
A fascinating section chronicles a year in the life Davis Guggenheim’s intricate documentary
of author J.K. Rowling as she finishes the seventh bios three very different guitar heroes from three
and final novel in the series. Maximum Movie adjacent eras: Page, the elegant, white-haired,
Mode is an interactive PiP feature hosted by ponytailed English war baby; the effects-pedal-
Daniel Radcliffe, and BD-Live offers even more obsessed, emotionally reserved technocrat, U2’s
exclusive bonus content. A third disc contains a The Edge; and the young, Detroit-born retro-tech,
standard-def version of the film, and it comes with distortion specialist/minimalist, the White Stripes’
a certificate with a special code that you can Jack White, who almost single-handedly resur-
redeem for a Digital rected rock in the era
Copy online. of hard-core hip-hop.
If you’ve been Though anticipa-
collecting the Potter tion might lead
films on Blu-ray, viewers to think the
acquiring this one will film could end with a
be a no-brainer. But concert or an edgy
you should be aware guitar cutting session,
that the first two films neither happens.
have been re-released No matter, It Might
in impressive Deluxe Get Loud is a riveting,
BLU-RAY Ultimate Editions BLU-RAY immensely entertain-
STUDIO: Warner Brothers, 2009 STUDIO: Sony Pictures, 2009
ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1
with even more bonus ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1
ing, and enjoyable
AUDIO FORMAT: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, material, and more AUDIO FORMAT: must-see for anyone
Dolby Digital 5.1 films will follow. DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 who loves rock guitar
LENGTH: 153 mins. ● Corey Gunnestad LENGTH: 98 mins. and those who play it,
DIRECTOR: David Yates DIRECTOR: Davis Guggenheim
volume knob at 11.
STARRING: Daniel Radcliffe, Alan STARRING: Jimmy Page, The Edge,
Rickman, Michael Gambon Jack White ● Michael Fremer
T
odd Phillips, director of Old School, returns
with another tale of male bonding and
delayed adolescence. Three buddies throw
a wild Las Vegas bachelor party. Things
don’t go well. Or perhaps things went really, really
well. Either way, the guys can’t remember a damn
thing the next morning. All they know is that their
hotel room is trashed, one of them has lost a tooth,
and a couple of unexpected guests are staying with
them. Oh, and the groom-to-be is missing.
Over the next two days, the boys sort through
the aftermath of their crazy night and follow a trail
of clues on a scavenger hunt for their friend. The
situation quickly escalates to absurdity. The movie
plays like Bachelor Party crossed with Very Bad
Things, only with fewer dead hookers. The Hang-
over isn’t a great movie, but it has some great
laughs.
The Blu-ray offers the film in its theatrical cut
and an Unrated cut. The 2.40:1 high-def transfer is
bright and sharp. Contrasts sometimes seem a
little blown out in the daytime scenes. Black levels
are nice and inky during nighttime scenes. All
the Vegas neon colors pop beautifully. The Dolby
TrueHD soundtrack is a standard comedy mix. It’s
all dialogue with a few licensed songs.
A few minutes of deleted scenes, a gag reel, and
a couple of other
mildly amusing bits
are barely worth a
single watch. The PiP
commentary is only
available on the
theatrical cut. It’s also
kind of dull. You can
jump to BD-Live to
stream a trailer and a
profanity montage
BLU-RAY that should have been
STUDIO: Warner Brothers, 2009
ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1
on the disc in the first
AUDIO FORMAT: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 place. Disc two is a
LENGTH: 108 mins. Digital Copy for
DIRECTOR: Todd Phillips WMV and iTunes.
STARRING: Bradley Cooper, Ed
● Joshua Zyber
Helms, Zach Galifianakis

PICTURE PICTURE PICTURE

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hometheatermag.com 81
CINEMA SCOPE

500 DAYS OF SUMMER 9 JENNIFER’S BODY

20th Century Fox Universal 20th Century Fox
NOT A SPENDING THE FREAK-TARDED,
LOVE STORY APOCALYPSE IN A BURLAP SACK FOR SHIZZ

T 9 W
om writes greeting cards for a living and is a post-apocalyptic tale that follows the ell, if the Oscar-winning screen-
has a somewhat idealized view of love. travails of a gang of numbered burlap writer of Jennifer’s Body accom-
Summer is an attractive, intelligent, and sacks with a bunch of gears inside. plished nothing else with this
independent young woman with eclectic They’re being hunted by and fighting a sophomore effort (Juno was Diablo
tastes. The day they meet is day one of 500 Days mean robot who has a mean robot dog and makes Cody’s sparkling debut), she probably made a few
of Summer. This film plays like leafing through its own mean robots to wreak even more havoc. Internet millionaires on the traffic generated by
someone’s diary, looking at random passages of In some respects, I’m making this movie sound the Google hits on “Megan Fox lesbian kiss.”
interest. Specific scenes in the 500-day journey are worse than it is. At times, this hip meld of John Hughes and
arranged deliberately out of order, and it’s an Visually, this computer-animated tale is com- Sam Raimi is bracingly funny and ruthlessly on
inspired choice. pelling over the entirety of its 80-minute run time. target. But the Codyspeak dialogue that made
The script is intelligent, witty, and achingly There’s real imagination on the screen here, and Juno so fetching is too often forced and annoying.
profound. It’s co-written by Scott Neustadter and the action sequences are unpredictable and Too many of the bits are in plain poor taste. I’m
Michael Weber and directed by the sure and superbly well staged. The choices and perform- not a hater; I loved Juno and wanted to love this.
steady hand of Marc Webb. Joseph Gordon-Levitt ances in the voice talent are inspired (hearing It shouldn’t be a spoiler by now, but Jennifer is a
and Zooey Deschanel are pitch-perfect as Tom Martin Landau’s voice reminded me of how much cannibal, and instead of making her a teenage
and Summer, and the evolvement of their I miss seeing him onscreen as an actor). But as a Dahmer, which might have been interesting, this
romance and the depth of his feelings for her are story, 9 never quite turns the corner to become movie cops out with a lame supernatural angle
completely believable. something resonant. The theme is how mankind’s involving a band and a botched virgin sacrifice.
The HD picture is superlative. Shot on film, this reliance on technology will eventually bite us in (The writer apparently has a knife to grind with
little indie film wears the suit of mainstream the ass and kill us all. But it’s ironic that the vehicle rockers and unrequited groupie love.) Still, Cody
cinema well. Color and lighting choices give the to tell that story is computer animation, which is has a distinct voice. No offense to the director, but
film a stylized nuance. It looks and sounds great. an entirely technological way of making movies this is a Diablo joint all the way. And it turns out
An excellent array of music dominates the using computers instead of cameras and actors. Megan Fox has more to offer than looking hot
soundtrack, and the subtle background ambience 9 looks amazing on Blu-ray. There’s a ton of while being chased by robots. Jennifer’s Body has
is crisp and clear. textural detail and the dimensionality of the its moments and is worth a rental, for shizz.
The extras include an audio commentary, a environments is very convincing. The soundtrack The image quality is rich and film-like, with
making-of featurette, and a look at the film’s holds up its end too, with wide-range dynamics, nice depth. It’s not the last word in detail and
triumph at the aggressive activity in clarity, but I like the
Sundance Film all channels, crystal- way it looks. The
Festival. It also clear dialogue, and a lossless soundtrack is
includes deleted very complex sound- only decent. I thought
scenes, audition tapes, scape. There’s a the hard rock could
storyboards, a music U-Control PiP, have thumped more.
video, vignettes, and deleted scenes, and This disc arrived
trailers. Two fantasy- the original 11- too late on deadline to
like sequences are minute short that was dive into the extras.
presented here in the basis for the Other than a gag reel
their entirety, and movie. 9 has enough that I did watch and
BLU-RAY they are a hoot. A BLU-RAY going on that fans of BLU-RAY isn’t funny, extras
STUDIO: 20th Century Fox, 2009 STUDIO: Universal, 2009 STUDIO: 20th Century Fox, 2009
ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1
second disc contains ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
computer animation ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
include a commen-
AUDIO FORMAT: a Digital Copy. AUDIO FORMAT: will find it worth a AUDIO FORMAT: tary with Cody and
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 ● Corey Gunnestad DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 rental for the picture DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 director Karyn
LENGTH: 95 mins. LENGTH: 80 mins. and sound. LENGTH: 102 mins. Kusama, deleted
DIRECTOR: Marc Webb DIRECTOR: Shane Acker DIRECTOR: Karyn Kusama
● Shane Buettner scenes, featurettes, etc.
STARRING: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, STARRING: Elijah Wood, John C. STARRING: Megan Fox, Amanda
Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend Reilly, Jennifer Connelly Seyfried, Johnny Simmons ● Shane Buettner

PICTURE PICTURE PICTURE

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82 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com

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NOT SURE
WHAT
TO BUY?
Check out this
exclusive listing SOURCE COMPONENTS • LG BD390 Blu-ray Player
of our reviewers’ ENTRY LEVEL JBL ES20 Speaker System, $1,746 as
recommended gear. Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Player, $200 reviewed
Reviewed July 2009 Reviewed September 2008
HDTVS PROJECTORS
Sony PlayStation 3 Game Console/ JBL Control NOW AW Speaker System,
ENTRY LEVEL ENTRY LEVEL Blu-ray Player, $299 $2,124 as reviewed
Sony BRAVIA KDL-40V5100 LCD HDTV, Sanyo PLV-Z3000 LCD Projector, $2,795 Reviewed May 2008 Reviewed February 2009
$1,100 Reviewed June 2009
Reviewed September 2009 MIDRANGE Paradigm Special Edition SE 1 Speaker
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6500 UB Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-ray Player, $300 System, $2,344 as reviewed
Panasonic VIERA TC-P42G10 Plasma HDTV, LCD Projector, $2,999 Reviewed July 2009 Reviewed February 2010
$1,200 Reviewed August 2009
Reviewed September 2009 Replaced with PowerLite Home Cinema LG BD390 Blu-ray Player, $350 Paradigm Reference Studio 20 v.4 Speaker
8500 UB LCD Projector, $2,499* Reviewed December 2009 System, $2,495 as reviewed
MIDRANGE Reviewed March 2007
Panasonic TC-P46G10 Plasma HDTV, $1,500 MIDRANGE Panasonic DMP-BD55 Blu-ray Player, $399 Replaced with Reference Studio 20 v.5
Reviewed July 2009 Sony BRAVIA VPL-HW15 SXRD Projector, Reviewed December 2008 Speaker System, $2,495*
$3,000 Replaced with DMP-BD80 Blu-ray Player,
Panasonic TH-50PZ85 Plasma HDTV, $2,200 Reviewed March 2010 $250* MIDRANGE
Reviewed October 2008 Focal Dôme Speaker System, $2,595 as
Replaced with TC-P50G10 Plasma HDTV, Mitsubishi HC7000 LCD Projector, $3,495 ARRIS Moxi HD DVR, $499 reviewed
$1,600* Reviewed March 2009 Reviewed June 2009 Reviewed January 2010

Toshiba REGZA 46SV670U LCD HDTV, $2,300 Panasonic PT-AE3000U LCD Projector, OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, $499
Reviewed November 2009 $3,499 Reviewed September 2009
Reviewed March 2009
Panasonic VIERA TC-P58V10 Plasma HDTV, Replaced with PT-AE4000U LCD Projector, HIGH END
$2,700 $2,499* Meridian Sooloos Control 10 Media Server
Reviewed January 2010 and Twinstore Storage System, $8,250
Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 9500 UB LCD Reviewed October 2009 • Sonus faber Toy/REL T1 Speaker System
Samsung UN55B7000 LCD HDTV, $3,500 Projector, $3,699
Reviewed March 2010
Reviewed August 2009 SPEAKERS Boston Acoustics Reflection RS 260
Speaker System, $2,900 as reviewed
Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR8 LCD HDTV, $3,700 ENTRY LEVEL Reviewed February 2010
Reviewed January 2009 DCM Cinema2 Speaker System, $500
Reviewed November 2007 Atlantic Technology System 4400 Speaker
HIGH END System, $3,350 as reviewed
Samsung UN55B8500 LCD HDTV, $4,500 HSU Research HB-1 Speaker System, Reviewed December 2009
Reviewed January 2010 • Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 9500 $1,124 as reviewed
LCD Projector
Reviewed March 2007 Boston Acoustics VS 240 Speaker System,
Sony BRAVIA KDL-55XBR8 LCD HDTV, $5,000 JVC DLA-HD350 D-ILA Projector, $4,500 Replaced with HB-1 Mk 2 Speaker System,
$3,700 as reviewed
Reviewed February 2009 Reviewed June 2009 $1,124*
Reviewed January 2009

Panasonic Premiere TH-65VX100U Plasma HIGH END Mordaunt-Short Alumni Speaker System,
Acoustic Energy Radiance 1 Speaker
HD Monitor, $7,500 JVC DLA-HD750 D-ILA Projector, $7,500 $1,470 as reviewed
System, $4,200 as reviewed
Reviewed April 2009 Reviewed April 2009 Reviewed March 2008
Reviewed September 2009
Replaced with DLA-HD950 D-ILA Projector,
$8,000*
Definitive Technology Mythos STS
Planar PD8150 DLP Projector, $8,000
SuperTower Speaker System,
Reviewed July 2008
• Paradigm Reference Studio 20 v.4 $4,355 as reviewed
Speaker System Reviewed March 2009
Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW85 SXRD Projector,
$8,000
Reviewed November 2009

Marantz VP-15S1 DLP Projector, $9,000

Shane Buettner reviewed this model for
www.UltimateAVmag.com
(Available while supplies last)
• Toshiba REGZA 46SV670U LCD HDTV

* This replacement product has not yet been reviewed in HT. Although we suggest it is worth a close look, this is not a specific recommendation.

• VIZIO VSB210WS High Definition
Sound Bar Speaker System
Infinity Classia C336 Speaker System,
$4,494 as reviewed
Reviewed April 2009
PSB G-Design Speaker System,
$4,696 as reviewed
Reviewed October 2007
PSB Imagine T Speaker System,
$4,749 as reviewed
Reviewed May 2009
Dynaudio Focus 110 Speaker System,
$5,000 as reviewed
Reviewed September 2007
Canton Ergo 620 Speaker System,
$5,550 as reviewed
Reviewed January 2010
Sonus faber Toy/REL T1 Speaker System,
$6,044 as reviewed
Reviewed May 2009
Usher Be-718 Speaker System,
$6,988 as reviewed
Reviewed May 2008
HIGH END
Atlantic Technology 8200e Speaker
System, $7,530 as reviewed
Reviewed July 2007
Thiel SCS4 Speaker System,
$8,350 as reviewed
Reviewed April 2008
Sonics Amerigo Speaker System, $10,095
as reviewed
Reviewed February 2010
PSB Synchrony One Speaker System,
$10,700 as reviewed
Reviewed December 2007
• BG Radia BGX-4850 In-Wall
Subwoofer System
Paradigm Reference Signature S8 Speaker
System, $15,195 as reviewed
Reviewed January 2009
Monitor Audio Platinum PL300 Speaker
System, $25,650 as reviewed
Reviewed October 2009
Revel Ultima2 Salon2 Speaker System,
$45,993 as reviewed
Reviewed July 2009
IN-WALL/ON-WALL
Atlantic Technology IWCB-626 In-Wall
Speakers, $875/each
Reviewed September 2007
Sonance VP89 In-Wall Speakers,
$2,850/pair
Reviewed September 2008
Paradigm Millenia 20 Hybrid Speaker
System, $5,281 as reviewed
Reviewed January 2010
BG Radia BGX-4850 In-Wall Subwoofer
System, $7,000 as reviewed
Reviewed January 2010
Pioneer Elite EX Series S-IW691L In-Wall
Speaker System, $10,197 as reviewed
Reviewed June 2009
SOUNDBAR SPEAKERS
VIZIO VSB210WS High Definition Sound Bar
Speaker System, $350
Reviewed July 2009
ZVOX Z-Base 550 Single-Cabinet Surround
System, $400
Reviewed April 2009
ZVOX 425 Soundbar, $600
Reviewed July 2008
Definitive Technology Mythos SSA-50
Soundbar, $1,099
Reviewed August 2008
Atlantic Technology FS-7.0 Soundbar and
SB-800 Sub, $1,100
Reviewed March 2010
Denon DHT-FS3 Soundbar, $1,199
Reviewed April 2008
• Onkyo HT-S9100THX Integrated System
Polk SurroundBar 360 DVD Theater
Soundbar, $1,200
Reviewed January 2009
Phase Technology Teatro PC-3.0 Speaker
System, $2,400 as reviewed
Reviewed May 2009
HTIBS
ENTRY LEVEL
Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX500 HTIB, $499
Reviewed at
www.HomeTheaterMag.com
Replaced with DAV-HDX587WC HTIB, $430*
Onkyo HT-SR800 HTIB, $599
Reviewed at
www.HomeTheaterMag.com
Replaced with HT-S5200 HTIB, $599*
MIDRANGE
Panasonic SC-BT100 HTIB, $1,000
Reviewed October 2008
Onkyo HT-S9100THX Integrated System,
$1,099
Reviewed April 2009
A/V RECEIVERS
ENTRY LEVEL
Pioneer VSX-1019AH A/V Receiver, $499
Reviewed October 2009
Onkyo TX-SR607 A/V Receiver, $599
Reviewed August 2009
MIDRANGE
Onkyo TX-NR807 A/V Receiver, $1,099
Reviewed December 2009
Marantz SR6004 A/V Receiver, $1,250
Reviewed March 2010
• Marantz SR6004 A/V Receiver
Denon AVR-4310CI A/V Receiver, $1,999
Reviewed November 2009
Rotel RSX-1550 A/V Receiver, $1,999
Reviewed June 2009
• Rotel RMB-1085 Amplifier
Marantz SR8002 A/V Receiver, $2,000
Reviewed May 2008
Pioneer Elite SC-27 A/V Receiver, $2,200
Reviewed March 2010
HIGH END
Rotel RSX-1560 A/V Receiver, $2,599
Reviewed August 2009
Integra DTR-9.9 A/V Receiver, $2,600
Reviewed April 2009
Replaced with DTR-80.1 A/V Receiver,
$2,800
Denon AVR-4810CI A/V Receiver, $2,999
Reviewed March 2010
Arcam AVR600 A/V Receiver, $4,999
Reviewed August 2009
Denon AVR-5308CI A/V Receiver, $5,500
Reviewed August 2008
Pioneer Elite SC-09TX A/V Receiver, $7,000
Reviewed November 2008
PROCESSORS
Integra DHC-9.9 Processor, $2,000
Reviewed July 2009
Replaced with DHC-80.1 Processor, $2,300
• Denon AVP-A1HDCI Processor
Marantz AV8003 Processor, $2,600
Reviewed October 2008
Anthem Statement D2 Processor, $7,499
Reviewed September 2008
Replaced with Statement D2v Processor with
ARC, $7,499,* review upcoming
Denon AVP-A1HDCI Processor, $7,500
Reviewed September 2009
AMPLIFIERS
Rotel RMB-1085 Amplifier, $1,199
Reviewed October 2008
Replaced with RMB-1565 Amplifier, $1,299*
Denon POA-A1HDCI Amplifier, $7,500
Reviewed September 2009
hometheatermag.com 85
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MARYLAND NORTH CAROLINA

INTELLIGENT ELECTRONICS
Check Out
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The DC Metro Area’s source for quality Home Theater
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CT4, DEN, SAM, BOS, PLK, PIO, PAN, TOS, RUS, JBL, ONQ, BOS www.DefinitiveTech.com/ht
NEW ENGLAND HOME THEATER
166 Daniel Webster Highway
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Tel: (603) 888-9777, Fax: (603) 888-9555
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(972) 516-1849
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270F Duffy Avenue, Hicksville, New York 11801
Tel: (800) 822-4993
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Sony, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Crestron, Martin
Logan, Meridian, Niles ICS, Triad, Sim2
* Indicates Certified Home THX Dealer
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Everything you always
Since 1993, providing high end custom installation and
integration in the Tri-State New York area. wanted from a speaker
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4032 Sunrise Hwy, Seaford, NY 11783
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Sights-N-Sounds
784 West Jericho Tpke., Huntington, NY 11743 – Find a Dealer.
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www.hometheater.biz • info@hometheater.biz
– Read the Reviews.
A/V EXPERIENCE
Providing over 25 years experience in personalized
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www.DefinitiveTech.com/ht
 Instant Information for Our Readers...
PAGE# MANUFACTURERS PAGE# MANUFACTURERS
88. . . . . Advanced Home Theater C4 . . . . . Mitsubishi Electric
System Phone (888) 307-0359
Phone (800) 414-1849 www.mitsubishi-presentations.com
www.advancedhometheater.com
89. . . . . New Egg
Show off your theater with a profession- 27. . . . . American Power Conversion www.newegg.com
ally produced customized introduction Phone (888) 289-APCC
DVD. Complete with your theater’s www.apc.com 69 . . . . Oppo Digital, Inc.
name on the marquee, visually stun- Phone (650) 961-1118
ning graphics, entertaining trivia and
65. . . . . Audioengine www.oppodigital.com
www.audioengineusa.com
a dazzling Dolby® digital sound track.
A CustomHT.com introduction DVD is
7. . . . . . Panasonic Consumer
18-19 . . BodySound www.panasonic.com/viera
the ultimate home theater accessory! Phone (877) 943-4041
www.bodysoundtheater.com 9. . . . . . Polk Audio
ase Intro
NEW! Space Ch Phone (410) 764-5275
8. . . . . . CinemaShop.com www.polkaudio.com
Phone (866) 243-1001
www.cinemashop.com 5. . . . . . Sanus Systems
Phone (800) 359-5520
Flying Dvd Intro 13. . . . . Crutchfield www.sanus.com
Phone (800) 555-8347
www.crutchfield.com 23. . . . . Schneider Optics
Phone (800) 228-1254
77. . . . . CSA Audio Design www.schneideroptics.com
Phone (973) 744-0600
www.csaaudiodesign.com 11. . . . . SRS Labs
e Intro
Live Footag Phone (800) 243-2733
88. . . . . CustomHT www.srslabs.com
Phone (800) 246-5006, ext.00
www.customHT.com C3 . . . . . Stewart Film Screen
www.stewartfilmscreen.com
Red Carpet
C2–3 . . . Definitive Technology
Intro
15,17 Phone (410) 363-7148 73. . . . . Sunfire Corp.
87 www.definitivetech.com www.sunfire.com

10. . . . . Diamond Case Designs 45. . . . . Totem Acoustic

Phone (800) 616-5354 Phone (514) 259-1062
www.diamondcase.com www.totemacoustic.com

R!
" 
% 83. . . . . Harbor Freight Tools 56. . . . . Vutec
 "
2
`
 Phone (800) 657-8001 www.vutec.com
www.harborfreightusa.com/
JST3

 % hometheater 53. . . . . ZVOX Audio
#& 
Phone (866) FOR-ZVOX
! 0
 41. . . . . Intech Corp. www.zvoxaudio.com
#©#1!IgJ!
1 Phone (888) 429-HDTV
www.thehighdefinitionstore.com
I
" 

 , 1
, %
Home Theater (ISSN 1096-3065) March 2010, Vol. 17, No. 3. Copyright 2010 by Source Interlink Magazines, LLC. All rights reserved. Published monthly by Source Interlink Media,
!

#2#ef0
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Information listed in this index is done so as a courtesy. Publisher is not liable for incorrect information or excluded listings.
Advertisers should contact their sales representative to correct or update listing.
 HOME THEATER
Curtain Call
BY Michael J. Nelson
Michael J. Nelson is the former host and head writer of Mysteryy
Science Theater 3000 and the proprietor of www.rifftrax.com,
which offers his commentaries on A-list films, including Star Wars: Episode
e I,I
The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Matrix.
Calibrate? Good Times! (Home Theater)
W
hen it comes to their equipment, there are two
kinds of people. There are those who want to
squeeze every last bit of performance out of it
by modifying, tweaking, and “working under
the hood,” so to speak. Then there are those
whose attitude is, “Hey, I took it out of the box.
What the hell else do you want from me? Now
I’m gonna go lie down.” These are the kind of people represented in a
recent poll, an alarmingly huge number of whom have HDTVs but
don’t have any HD sources to play on them. I can only imagine that
more than a few of these people also own Lamborghini Gallardos,
which they use exclusively to tow their lawn mulchers. (There was also
a sizable slice of the populace who had never even heard of high def!
Do we have a vastly larger number of cave-dwelling cloistered monks
in our country than I have been led to believe?)
No doubt you’ve been to these people’s houses and seen their TVs.
Every setting is cranked to maximum. A corresponding rectangle of
paint on the opposite wall is singed and peeling, caused by the beam
of excessive heat and radiation. The colors are completely out of whack,
fleshtones are bright red, and the greens are horrid and unearthly to
the point that it makes you nauseous. In addition, a toddler or some
equally incompetent person has fiddled with the remote, as the aspect
ratio is on the wrong setting so that only 20 percent of the source is
actually visible on the screen. As you’re about to cry out, “What in the
name of hell happened to that?!” your host stops you short by saying,
“Just picked that baby up from the store. She’s a beaut, ain’t she? Some-
day I may even get some sort of HD to show on it. Now come ride
shotgun with me while I mulch my lawn.”
Since you’re reading this, chances are good that you aren’t one of
these people. However, if you are, may I—with humility, good will, and
only the purest of intentions—offer this gentle rebuke: Get your damn
TV calibrated, you jackass! (Sorry, sorry! It’s just my passion coming
through. I’m sure you’re barely a jackass at all.) You could hire a pro-
fessional, which I certainly wouldn’t discourage you from doing. But
as I’ve just been through the process of dialing in two new sets at my
own home, perhaps I can walk you through the do-it-yourself process,
provided you’re not still mad at me.
First, you’ll need some test patterns, on Blu-ray, of course. You do
have a Blu-ray player, don’t you, dumbass? (Sorry! There’s that pas-
sion again. I promise I’ll try to tame it down.) There are a couple of
options, the obvious choice being the estimable Digital Video Essen-
tials: HD Basics, available for about $16 online. Amazon.com also
sells the equally highly regarded Spears & Munsil High Definition
90 MARCH 2010 hometheatermag.com
Benchmark Blu-ray Edition for a little more. Or you could go on the
cheap and use the super-secret test patterns that are on every Disney
Blu-ray. You can access these from the main menu by entering the
numbers 7-6-6-9 from the remote. (Having given away the secret,
I’m relatively sure that one or more of the many black-ops kill squads
that Disney keeps on call 24 hours a day is now silently speeding to
my home.)
You’ll immediately want to crank down, hard, on the brightness
setting. If you haven’t changed it from its default setting, your set is
probably putting out more lumens than the Great Lighthouse at
Alexandria. Find yourself a PLUGE pattern. (This stands for Picture
Line-Up Generation Equipment, and, as I’ve never heard it spoken
out loud, I can only assume it’s pronounced “pluggie,” or “ploohey,”
or “ploojah,” or preferably just not spoken out loud.) Then, you’ll need
to dial in the shadow detail. I’m certain you’ll be far happier with
blacks that are black and not an eye-burning shade of bright gray.
Sony’s super-secret PLUGE pattern is located on the bottom right of
the color bars, according to technical director Scrooge McDuck IV.
The contrast setting, or white level, which will probably also be cranked,
is relatively easy to optimize. You may need to find yourself a blue fil-
ter to properly set the color—some calibration discs even include one.
If yours doesn’t, it may take a little digging on the Internet, as there
are very few blue filter stores in most people’s immediate neighbor-
hoods.
If you get all that done, you’ll likely be a good deal better off than you
were when you started, but if you really want to fine-tune it, you’ll want
to calibrate your set’s gray-scale tracking. “Wow!” I can hear you saying.
“That sounds fun! Tell me more!” I know. Settle down. It actually is kind
of fun, if you don’t have a whole lot else going on in your life. To do it,
you’ll need the right gray test patterns and something to measure the
color with. A number of different colorimeters are available at prices
that range from $120 to thousands of dollars. If, like me, you have set
aside almost no money for a colorimeter, you can go the cheap—but no
less accurate—route of building an optical comparometer. All you do is
knock together a small box to house a flashlight with a 6500K bulb (the
correct color temperature) shining on a photographic gray card and a
white card with holes cut into them. Put up your gray test patterns, then
peer through your comparometer and use your TV’s white-balance
controls to match the screen to the gray of your comparometer. Voilà!
Of course, the downside is that if anyone sees you doing it, you’ll have
to sell your house and move to avoid the shame.
In short, dear friends, if I could leave you with anything, it would be
this: Get your damn TV calibrated, you jackass!
All Rights Reserved © Stewart Filmscreen 2010

Systems Integrator: Erskine-Group

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