BenQ recently announced the introduction of their BenQ W9000 HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) home theater DLP projector. The BenQ W9000 features BenQ’s proprietary Senseye technology and Advanced Continuous Electronic IRIS. All important to home theater satisfaction, projector noise is not something to worry about in ths case as BenQ have produced a whisper quiet design that reduces the fan noise to 23dB.

Texas Instruments DLP DarkChip3

According to its specification the BenQ W9000 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.

The W9000 is advertised as having a 0.8” 1080p DMD Chip from Texas Instruments with a native 1080p resolution which means it has a micromirror on the DMD chip for each pixel of the 1920 x 1080 pixel display. Texas Instruments have a technology they call SmoothPicture (sometimes referred to as wobulation) which is used to double the horozontal image resolution from any video source. Each frame is actually produced by the projection of two subframes slightly offset (by the wobbling back and forth of the DLP chip micromirrors) in extremely rapid succession. The human eye interprets the result as a single seamless image of higher definition. SmoothPicture is a technology for manufacturers to reduce the cost of high resolution displays.

BrilliantColor

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 in brightness.

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.

Senseye Colour Enhancement

BenQ’s Senseye colour 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 colour intensity. A specialized colour wheel coating delivers better color saturation for red and blue.

Advanced Continuous Electronic IRIS

The Advanced Continuous Electronic IRIS incorporated into the W9000 is responsible for boosting the contrast ratio to the admirable level of 8500:1. The Advanced Continuous Electronic IRIS operates continuously mimicking the human eye’s iris by varying the lens aperture and filtering the scene’s lighting, to achieve the best optimized light intensity in for all scenes. Other manufacturers have similar technologies such as Panasonic’s “dynamic iris” as included in their Panasonic PT-AX100 and Sony’s “advanced iris” in their VPL-VW100 SXRD.

Contrast Ratio

The quoted contrast ratio is 8500:1 however, the testing method is Full On/ Full Off which delivers higher test results than the ANSI test. However, the satisfyingly high enough that the contrast ratio will be suitable even for higher ambient light home theatre environments.

Brightness

With a brightness of 1200 ANSI lumens, the BenQ W9000 is suitable for the home theatre environment with subdued ambient lighting. The projector may even be suitable for some higher ambient lighting environments eg. conference rooms. However, projected image brightness is affected by a number of factors, such as distance from the screen, and individual situations need to be considered before making a purchase.

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.

ISFccc

The BenQ W9000 supports ISFccc (Imaging Science Foundation Certified Calibration Configuration) Modes. ISFccc allows professional calibration technicians to store their settings and details and enable ISF day and night modes, for best image quality in different lighting conditions. The settings are configured and locked during installation and require activation by an ISF certified dealer.

Panamorph Lens

The W9000 is compatible with the Panamorph lens which converts 16:9 projectors to a full 2.35:1 aspect ratio and increases resolution and brightness by 33% and 20% respectively. The Panamorph lens eliminates letterbox bars and works with over 70% of all major motion pictures.

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 DCDi® 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.

Other Useful Features

• Vertical Lens Shift providing installation flexibility with positioning of the projector in relation to the centerline of the projection screen
• Extra-fine dust filter that prevent microscopic debris from entering the projector and foreshortening its life
• Picture-In-Picture for simultaneous displaying two different input sources
• Professional Digital Input (HDMI)

Further Reading

Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080 Home Theater Projector Review

Epson High End Home Theater Projectors PowerLite Pro Cinema 810 and 810 HQV

Epson PowerLite 6100i Multimedia Projector Review

JVC’s DLA-RS1 1080p HD Home Theatre Projector Review

Projection Screen Selection Guide

Tips for Extending Projector Lamp Life

Guide to Replacement Projector Lamps and Bulbs

Home Theater Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools (Hacks)

Home Theater For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Practical Home Theater: A Guide to Video and Audio Systems (2007 Edition)

Home Theaters and Electronic Houses

User Reviews and Price Comparisons

BenQ 1080p Projector- W9000

Projector-Gear Projector Ceiling Mount fits BENQ W9000 Projector

Specification