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Before you all rush out to buy the latest LCD or plasma TV that's taken your HD obsessed fancy, spare a thought for video projectors. Great though some LCD and plasma TVs are, can any of them deliver an HD picture up to 200in across? Nope, they can't. And can any of them deliver even, say, a 70in picture without requiring you to remortgage your house? Again, no they can't.
For the sort of true big-screen, home cinema thrills just described, video projectors are the only affordable option. In fact, they're now more affordable than ever, with many HD Ready projectors finding their way comfortably under the $5000 price mark.
To prove this point, over the following pages we've rounded three HD Ready PJs that range in price from $5000 to just $3300. These big-screen superstars include DLP as well as LCD models.
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Hitachi PJ-TX200¦ $3299¦
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www.hitachi.com.auIt's the cheapest projector in this grouptest, it claims a remarkable contrast ratio of 7000:1, and it's beautifully designed to boot. But is the award-winning Hitachi's LCD-based PJ-TX200 still a top performer?
Design and connections
We're always suckers for well-placed curves here at Smarthouse – especially when those curves are accessorised, as they are on Hitachi's PJ-TX200, by an opulent high-gloss finish, extravagant grilles and an elegant colour scheme.
The projector's connections are solid enough, featuring the de rigeur HDMI and component jacks for high-definition duties, plus a PC jack, the usual S video/ composite video stuff, and a 12V trigger jack.
Distinguishing features
The TX200's LCD panels deliver a 1280 x 720 native resolution and, according to Hitachi's specifications, a contrast ratio of 7000:1. This is achieved via a dynamic iris system, whereby the projector continually assesses the content of the source image, and adjusts how much light the iris lets out accordingly. Note that while it's not exactly a ‘cheat' method, this system means you'll only get even close to the 7000:1 contrast ratio maximum by sacrificing quite a bit of brightness during dark scenes.
The lens arrangement Hitachi has used for the TX200 is a so-called Super ED array, consisting of four ultra-low dispersion and aspherical lenses. This system allegedly delivers exceptional colour toning and fine detail, as well as, hopefully, reducing the appearance of the grid-like ‘chicken wire effect' witnessed on many lesser LCD projectors.
Also worth a mention is an impressive selection of gamma and iris adjustments, together with 10-bit digital image processing delivering a claimed 1.07 billion colours. Who's counting, though?
Performance
For us the TX200 is the finest affordable HD Ready LCD projector available. For starters, by LCD standards its black level really is outstanding. With the auto iris function active, dark scenes suffer far less with the greying over, flatness and lack of detail common to LCD projectors.
Colours, meanwhile, also outstrip practically every other LCD projector we've seen. They combine the extreme vibrancy and brightness common to LCD with a naturalism and subtlety of tone that's anything but common to LCD.
LCD can usually be depended on for providing plenty of sharpness and fine detailing, and the TX200 certainly doesn't disappoint. The clarity and texture evident in a HD broadcast, for example, is done exceptional justice by the TX200, as every last detail is resolved without serious accompanying dot crawl or grain. The TX200's sharpness makes it arguably the finest PC machine here, too.
What's more, the TX200's sharpness is achieved even while its lens arrangement does a mostly excellent job of suppressing LCD's pixel grid structure.
The downsides to the TX200 only become apparent in the company of the excellent DLP model, as it enjoys deeper, richer black level than even this Hitachi, as well as slightly more expansive, natural colour ranges.
The only other general concern about the TX200 is that using the projector's ‘Auto2' iris mode can cause the picture's brightness to leap about quite distractingly. So avoid it!
Conclusion
There's no doubt that the TX200 is one of the finest LCD HD Ready projectors, and well worth considering if you want a machine that's as accomplished with PCs as it is movies. Nice one Hitachi.
