Background

Two technologies are in the running, represented by three projectors. The only representative of the LCD school is the Sony VPLHS51. We chose this model because it has by far the best performance in the price category. The other two models are based on the latest generation of Texas Instruments DLP imagers - the Mitsubishi HC 2000 and the Optoma H79.

We hooked up the projectors to the best sources currently available. The Denon 3910 is a DVD player in a class by itself, capable of reproducing the slightest visual or acoustic nuance with incredible ease. Its price is also the stuff of dreams for many of us - at close to $1,000, it's reserved for an elite who are ready to pay the price for visual and sonic perfection. But we needed a source worthy of these top-of-the-line video projectors, because - as we can't repeat often enough - the source and the projector are an integral pair. The budget for your installation has to be calculated so that your video projector is accompanied by a DVD player capable of getting the most out of it.

During our testing, we used the usual test patterns for checking contrast, brightness and also black depth, the quality of the whites, image sharpness and color saturation and calibration. Then, we screened excerpts from several movies with different visual characteristics.