Projector Buyers Guide to Color Brightness by Model

2012

Projector buyers should proceed with caution.

Derived when presentations consisted of a black font on a white background, the old lumens metric only measures white light. Lumens, or brightness, tells the projector buyer little about the brightness of colors in photos, videos or graphics. Fortunately, a newer metric gives projector buyers a measurement for the brightness of colors. Color Light Output, or more simply Color Brightness, quantifies the brightness of Red, Green and Blue; the primary colors of light. The photograph below shows two projectors setup side-by-side, set in their brightest mode. Both offer similar resolution, price and white brightness levels. The projector on the left exhibits low Color Brightness; only a fraction of its white brightness. The one on the right shows equal amounts of Color and White Brightness. Colors on the right are much brighter, providing more impact. This document starts with a listing of projectors where the manufacturer specifies both White and Color Brightness. Second is a table containing projectors measured for their Color Brightness level by a 3rd party laboratory because the manufacturer did not specify the color brightness. Insist on brighter colors. When selecting a projector, consider both the brightness of White as well as the brightness of Color.

Low Color Brightness

High Color Brightness

Actual photograph of side by side projected images from an identical signal source. Both projectors are set to their brightest mode. Testing and photography conducted by Lumita Inc.

Table 1: Models with Manufacturer specification for Color Brightness

Epson BrightLink 425Wi / EB-425W BrightLink 430i / EB-430 BrightLink 435Wi / EB-435W BrightLink 455Wi / EB-455Wi EX3200 / EB-S10 EX3210 / EB-S12 EX5200 / EB-X10 EX5210 / EB-X12 EX7200 / EB-W10 EX7210 / EB-W12 MegaPlex MG-50 MegaPlex MG-850HD / MG-850C MovieMate62 MovieMate85HD PowerLite 1220 / EB-X10 PowerLite 1221 / EB-X12 PowerLite 1261W / EB-W12 PowerLite 1750 / EB-1750 PowerLite 1760W / EB-1760W PowerLite 1770W / EB-1770W PowerLite 1775W / EB-1775W PowerLite 1835 / EB-925 PowerLite 1850W / EB-1850W PowerLite 1880 / EB-1880 PowerLite 1915 / EB-1915 PowerLite 1925W / EB-1925W PowerLite 4100 / EB-G5500 PowerLite 410W / EB-410W PowerLite 420 / EB-420 PowerLite 4200W PowerLite 425W / EB-425W PowerLite 430 / EB-430 PowerLite 4300 / EB-G5800 PowerLite 435W / EB-435W PowerLite 450W / EB-450W PowerLite 460 / EB-460 PowerLite 470 / EB-470 PowerLite 475W / EB-475W PowerLite 480 / EB-480 PowerLite 485W / EB-485W PowerLite 905 / EB-905 PowerLite 915W / EB-915W PowerLite 92 / EB-92 PowerLite 93 / EB-93 PowerLite 93+ / EB-93H PowerLite 95 / EB-95 PowerLite 96W / EB-96W PowerLite D6150 / EB-D6150 PowerLite D6155W / EB-D6155W PowerLite D6250 / EB-D6250 PL Home Cinema3010 / EH-TW6000 PL Home Cinema 3010e / EH-TW6000W PL Home Cinema 5010 / EH-TW8000 PL Home Cinema 5010e / EH-TW8000W PL Home Cinema705HD / EH-TW450 PL Home Cinema 8350 / EH-TW3600 PL Home Cinema 8700 UB PL Presenter / EB-W8D PL Pro Cinema6010 / EH-TW9000 PL Pro Cinema9350 PL Pro Cinema9700UB PL Pro G5450WU / EB-G5450WU PL Pro G5450WUNL / EB-G5450WUNL PL Pro G5550 / EB-G5550 PL Pro G5550NL / EB-G5550NL PL Pro G5650W / EB-G5650W PL Pro G5650WNL / EB-G5650WNL
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White Color Lumens Lumens 2500 2500 3000 3000 3000 3000 2500 2500 2600 2600 2800 2800 2600 2600 2800 2800 2600 2600 2800 2800 2200 2200 2800 2800 2000 2000 2500 2500 2600 2600 2800 2800 2800 2800 2600 2600 2600 2600 3000 3000 3000 3000 3500 3500 3700 3700 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4500 4500 2000 2000 2500 2500 4500 4500 2500 2500 3000 3000 5200 5200 3000 3000 2500 2500 3000 3000 2600 2600 2600 2600 3000 3000 3100 3100 3000 3000 3200 3200 2400 2400 2400 2400 2600 2600 2600 2600 2700 2700 3500 3500 3500 3500 4000 4000 2200 2200 2200 2200 2400 2400 2400 2400 2500 2500 2000 2000 1600 1600 2500 2500 2400 2400 2000 2000 1600 1600 4000 4000 4000 4000 4500 4500 4500 4500 4500 4500 4500 4500

PL Pro G5750WU / EB-G5750WU PL Pro G5950 / EB-G5950 PL Pro Z8000WUNL / EB-Z8000WUNL PL Pro Z8050WNL / EB-Z8050WNL PL Pro Z8250NL / EB-Z10000 PL Pro Z8255NL / EB-Z10005 PL Pro Z8350WNL / EB-Z8350WNL PL Pro Z8450WUNL / EB-Z8450WUNL PL Pro Z8455WUNL / EB-Z8455WUNL PowerLite S11 / EB-S11 PowerLite S9 / EB-S9 PowerLite X12 / EB-X12 PowerLite X9 / EB-X9 VS200 / EB-S92 VS210 / EB-S02 VS310 / EB-X02 VS315W / EB-W02 VS350W / EB-1840W VS400 / EB-1900 VS410 / EB-1860 Company A A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 A-5 A-6 A-7 A-8 A-9 A-10 A-11 A-12 A-13 A-14 A-15 A-16 A-17 A-18 A-19 A-20 A-21 A-22 A-23 A-24 A-25 A-26 A-27 A-28 A-29 Company B B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4 B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8 B-9 B-10 B-11 B-12 B-13 B-14 B-15

White Lumens 4500 5200 6000 7000 10000 10000 8500 7000 7000 2600 2500 2800 2500 2300 2600 2600 2600 3700 4000 4000 2500 2500 2200 3000 3000 3000 2500 2500 2200 2600 2600 4200 3000 4000 5500 2200 2200 2700 2700 3200 3200 4000 5000 6000 2600 3200 2700 3200 2200 3000 3000 3000 2300 2600 3100 3600 4300 5200 7000 4200 5000 7000 2500 2500

Color Lumens 4500 5200 6000 7000 10000 10000 8500 7000 7000 2600 2500 2800 2500 2300 2600 2600 2600 3700 4000 4000 2500 2500 2200 3000 3000 3000 2500 2500 2200 2600 2600 4200 3000 4000 5500 2200 2200 2700 2700 3200 3200 4000 5000 6000 2600 3200 2700 3200 2200 3000 3000 3000 2300 2600 3100 3600 4300 5200 7000 4200 5000 7000 2500 2500
2012

Table 2: 1-Chip Projectors tested by 3rd party laboratory for Color Brightness
Tested Color Brightness Tested Color Brightness

Company C C-1 Company D D-1 D-2 D-3 D-4 D-5 D-6 D-7 D-8 D-9 D-10 D-11 D-12 D-13 D-14 D-15 D-16 Company E E-1 E-2 E-3 E-4 Company F F-1 F-2 F-3 F-4 Company G G-1 G-2 G-3 G-4 G-5 G-6 G-7 G-8 G-9 G-10 G-11 G-12 G-13 G-14 G-15 G-16 G-17 G-18 Company H H-1 H-2 H-3 H-4 H-5 H-6 H-7 H-8 H-9 H-10
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Lumen Spec.

2100 2000 2200 2500 2000 2000 2500 2700 2200 2500 2700 2700 2500 2800 2700 2700 2000 2000 2500 2500 2500 2500 3000 2200 3200 2500 2700 2700 2500 2500 3000 3000 3000 3000 3500 2500 3000 2700 2400 2400 2000 2500 3000 1600 1500 2000 2200 2300 2000 2700 2600 3000 2200

720 550 610 750 540 590 840 1090 1010 600 730 700 710 670 830 700 1500 540 1440 1290 1160 820 710 480 840 740 640 660 760 650 750 760 730 840 1010 840 970 730 720 640 940 670 870 720 1090 690 660 810 650 1050 850 780 640

Company I I-1 I-2 I-3 I-4 I-5 I-6 I-7 I-8 I-9 Company J J-1 J-2 J-3 J-4 J-5 J-6 J-7 J-8 J-9 J-10 J-11 J-12 J-13 J-14 J-15 J-16 J-17 J-18 J-19 J-20 J-21 J-22 Company K K-1 Company L L-1 L-2 L-3 Company M M-1 Company N N-1 Company O O-1 O-2 O-3 O-4 O-5 O-6 O-7 Company P P-1 P-2

Lumen Spec.

2200 2100 2200 4500 2600 3000 3000 2600 2600 2500 1800 2000 2200 2200 2700 3000 2800 2500 2600 2800 1700 2500 1800 1600 2800 3000 2800 3000 2800 2800 2800 5000 2300 2300 2500 2600 2000 2500 2000 2700 2700 2700 2700 2300 3000 3200 4300

640 480 830 1640 740 790 700 620 640 820 510 600 550 590 810 930 660 650 570 650 1020 680 890 650 810 810 740 770 710 670 680 3050 860 740 750 660 730 670 630 730 700 690 620 640 940 780 930

2012

Whats behind this new Color Brightness metric? Color Light Output, or simply Color Brightness, measures the illuminance of the color primaries Red, Green and Blue. The technical details of this measurement methodology are defined in the newly available Information Display Measurements Standard published by the Society of Information displays. The authors of this important standards document were volunteers from all corners of the display industry. These experts carefully examined each of the nearly 200 display metrics in the document to make sure each was relevant, scientifically valid, and worth including in the document. The Society of Information Displays (SID) is a globally recognized organization working to help educate technical members of the display industry. SID was founded as a Professional Society back in 1962. SID is made up today of about 5,000 display professionals. More information about this document can be found at: http://www.icdm-sid.org/ Why does the metric only measure Red, Green and Blue? What about all the other colors? Computers and media players define colors as relative levels of Red, Green and Blue. For example, yellow is stored inside the computer as bright red, bright green and no blue. Regardless of how the projector may create its image, the standard input signal is based on Red, Green and Blue and therefore its important to measure these standard color primaries. What does the Brightness metric weve used for years represent? Brightness, or technically Light Output, is only a measurement of white light. To measure brightness, projector makers will take nine brightness readings. The nine readings are made across the entire image. The average of the nine measurements is then multiplied by the screen area in square meters to determine the projectors lumen output. How is Color Brightness measured? Color Light Output is measured almost exactly the same way as Brightness or white light outputbut instead of measuring white light, the primary colors are measured. Instead of just nine measurements, there are total of 27 measurements taken, with the three sample images below. The brightness of Red, Green and Blue are averaged, summed and multiplied by the screen area to determine the total amount of Color Brightness.

1. Actual photographs of images produced by two competing projectors set to the brightest mode. Price and resolution are the same for both projectors. Projector on the left is a 1-Chip projector rated by the manufacturer at 2700 lumens of White Brightness; it measured 700 lumens of Color Brightness. The projector on the right is a 3LCD projector rated at 2600 lumens (Color Brightness) and 2600 lumens (White Brightness). 2. The data in Table 1 was obtained from Projector Central based on information available from these manufacturers. 3. The White Brightness data in Table 2 was obtained through Projector Central, as specified by the manufacturers. These manufacturers do not provide Color Brightness (Color Light Output) data. Color Brightness was determined in compliance with IDMS 15.4 by 3rd party laboratory testing of a single unit of each model. Serial numbers available on request at Tim.Anderson@3LCD.com. Page 4 2012