BenQ W10000 DLP Projector Review

BenQ’s new W10000 DLP projector is BenQs first full 1080p HD home cinema projector. It shares many features with higher specification models such as the BenQ MP770 DLP.

BenQ W10000 DLP Projector

Quick Summary:

Native 1080p high definition (1920 x 1080 resolution),
Latest Texas Instruments DarkChip3 DMD microdisplay chipset,
BenQ’s proprietary Senseye color enhancement technology,
High contrast ratio of 10000:1,
Whisper quiet (23dB) design,
1,100 ANSI lumens brightness.

Texas Instruments DarkChip 3 DMD Microdisplay Chipset

The BenQ W10000 digital projector is based on microdisplay technology with a single Texas Instruments DarkChip 3 DLP chip. The chip has millions of tiny mirrors that switch on and off some 15,000 times per second to create the video output required. This sort of speed is required for delivering sharp pictures for sport and other fast movement video.

One of the features obtained with using the DarkChip 3 DMD is BrilliantColor which is a Texas Instruments trademarked technology for delivering improved brightness and a wider range of colors. Traditionally, most display devices render images using a combination of the three primary colors red, green and blue. The full gamut of colors visible to the human eye cannot be reproduced using this approach, with the color space subset covered not including vivid colors such as yellow and cyan commonly seen in nature. By processing up to six color channels BrilliantColor allows vendors, such as Benq, to create multi-primary color systems by adding colors such as yellow, cyan and magenta colors for color rendering. As well as increasing the color space which can be rendered with the added color filters the system also utilizes the light source more efficiently with a 50% increase of 50% brightness. In the case of the W10000, BenQ is using an 8-segment NDG color wheel specifically designed to reduce green noise that commonly occurs in dark scenes.

Another benefit of BrilliantColor technology derives from its use of floating point arithmetic for more accurate rendering calculations. According to Texas Instruments, this results in less noise and more accurate colors at the display with over 200 trillion color shades being possible.

Native High Definition 1080p Resolution

BenQ have announced the W10000 as having native 1080p resolution implying that it is the 0.95 DarkChip3 DMD being used.

Application Mode Selection

BenQ provides a number of application modes (cinema mode, home theater mode, family room mode, photo mode and gaming mode,) providing instant settings for various applications.. This facility allows you to customize the picture mode for each video source, for four different lighting environments or other preferences.

Senseye Color Enhancement

BenQ’s Senseye color enhancement technology is marketed as being able to accurately render the subtlest of tints such as natural pastels and skin tones, correct hue and saturation levels and color intensity. A specialized color wheel coating delivers better color saturation for red and blue.

Quiet Projector

With 23dB in economic mode quoted, the BenQ W10000 produces a noise level associated with a whisper.

Brightness

With a brightness of 1,100 ANSI lumens, the BenQ W10000 is suited for the ambient light levels expected of a home cinema installation. However, projected image brightness is affected by a number of factors and individual situations need to be considered before making a purchase.

Long Lamp Life

BenQ W10000 features a lamp life of 4000 hours, which is almost 2 years with 8 hours use each workday.

Contrast Ratio

The quoted contrast ratio is 10,000:1 however, the testing method was not stated. Full On/ Full Off tests deliver higher test results than the ANSI test. However, the figure is satisfyingly high for either test method and should give excellent contrast definition in a home theatre situation.

Faroudja deintlerlacing with DCDi

The BenQ W10000 specification identifies that it has Faroudja deinterlacing with DCDi (short for Directional Correlational Deinterlacing). Faroudja, a subsidiary of Genesis Microchip Inc. (Nasdaq:GNSS), originally developed DCDiÂ® technology to eliminate the jaggedness that conventional upconverters introduced to diagonal edges in video. The Faroudja DCDi technology is included in the single chip image processing system provided by Genesis for producing a superior picture quality in flat-panel televisions.

Genisis Technology Features

LCD Response Time Compensation

LCD displays can introduce motion blur when pixels cannot switch fast enough from one video frame to the next. Digital response time compensation (RTC) technology overcomes this by overdriving the display for faster transitions.

Advanced Color Management

Most video content available was created for the higher brightness and contrast rations of CRT televisions compared to LCD sets. Therefore, content played on an LCD display can look dimmer and less colorful. Genesis Microchip‘s Advanced Color Management suite of algorithms includes Adaptive Color and Contrast (ACC) and Active Color Management (ACM-II) technologies for color and contrast levels enhancement.

Directional Correlational Deinterlacing (DCDi)

DCDi‘s unique algorithm identifies all the moving edges in a scene and makes adjustments to eliminate common staircasing or jagged edge artifacts.

Film Mode Detection Technology

Eliminates image motion artifacts termed “combs” resulting from video format conversions.

Motion Adaptive Noise Reduction

Noise on an image is typically eliminated or reduced by filtering which if done incorrectly , results in smearing or ghosting of moving objects in the image. Genesis uses Motion Adaptive processing to reduce noise without introducing smearing.

Cross Color Suppression

Cross color is an artifact produced by the imperfect decoding of composite video. Genesis‘s Faroudja-based Cross Color Suppression detects and suppresses these artifacts.

Aspect Ratio Conversion

The Genesis chip provides Aspect Ratio Conversion to fit images on displays with different aspect ratios while best preserving the correct aspect ratio of the image.

Inputs

The BenQ W1000 has a range of input connections including importantly an HDMI terminal and S-Video Mini DIN 4 pin, Composite-Video RCA jack, RCA jack and 3 BNC (x 5) x 1 (shared).