I've read the reviews and looked at the screen shots and to me the Benq W5000 looks hard to beat for $2500. I've also read the reviews on the W10000 and it looks good as well. Now that the W10000 is near the end of it's life it's almost the same price as the W5000. I could not find any threads comparing the two. I'm guessing that they are very similar. What would be the major difference? If they are more-or-less equal I like the idea of the 3 year warranty on the W1000 as well as some of the motorized lens functions. The scaler is not important since I have a DVDO and will only be feeding 1080p signals. Thanks.

Given the reports on this forum I would choose the 10k, given equal prices. The 5000 is reported to have high image noise, especially with Brilliant Color turned on. Also 1080p24 does not work properly with the original firmware, and the new firmware does not allow overscan to be set to zero. Firmware updates must be done at a service facility, not by the user. Most importantly, the w5000 is reported to have very poor native contrast (without the use of Dynamic Black), while the W10000 has quite good contrast (but no Dynamic Black).

See the "w5000 Little Test" thread for numbers and do a search for other threads.

If you can find a 10000 for the price of the 5000,
here they are sold out or much higher priced.

One advantange of the 10000 is a somewhat longer throw too
vs the HQV processing in the 5000,
which does upscale 720p and 1080i nicely maybe better than your DVDO.

I have a 5000 and it cant fill my screen,
noise/posterization with BC on is an issue,
but not with it off.

For me if I could find a new 10000 for the same price as a 5000 Id get the 10000 just so I could fill my screen and the longer warranty would be nice too.

Another to consider is the Sony SXRD units.

Great forum, hope more join in and contribute
before we all have to sell our projectors to pay for a tank of gas :)

Great forum, hope more join in and contribute
before we all have to sell our projectors to pay for a tank of gas :)

Ain't that the truth! But just think of all the money you can save by staying home and enjoying your home theater instead of driving to the movie theater :rolleyes:

I think I'm sold on the W10000 but I need to double check the room dimensions one more time to see if I can do CIH with a 2.35 screen. Thanks for all the feedback.

Hope this might help
The W10000 has digital zoom and focus; The W5000 has a manual zoom and focus
W10000 used Faroudja DCDi Processing; W5000 uses HQV
W10000 uses DarkChip3 while W5000 is DarkChip2
On BenQ's official estore W5000 is sold at $2,499 and W10000 is $3,999
However W10000 is approaching end of life and just adding another $1000 you can get a W20000 which is $4,999 only.

You forgot that the W5000 adds Dynamic Black (Dynamic Iris) and the new Philips Vidi lamp.

I saw both for about the same price... I ended up getting the W5000. Just set it up tonight... I don't have a bat cave so the contrast differences probably wouldn't affect me anyway... I figure every year there is a new model and there is always improvements... why get last years model?

I will jump in here and post my thoughts. I have had the W20000 and W10000 in my room. In its current state, I would not take a W20000 over the W10000. The W10000 is a refined machine and does not have any bugs or firmware issues at all. The new crop is still being refined and there are issues currently. Second, the native contrast on the W10000 is much higher than the W20000 so I would think that would translate even more to the W5000. There is something going on with the lamp technology in the W20000 that causes the absolute black to be very high. Its still higher than the W10000 with Dynamic Black on and the iris completely shut down. The W20000 (and W5000) is considerably brighter though so some may be willing to make this trade. Also the W20000 has more noise in the picture than the W10000 which is very smooth and has virtually no banding for a DLP. Some have said that the noise issue may be fixed with a firmware upgrade and I am hoping this is the case. Ultimately I have my doubts about this though. The W20000 is sharper and this will also translate to the W5000 as they use the same lense. The W20000 does use HQV and this is nice but the DCDi in the W10000 does a fine job with HDTV from cable or DTV. The picture will be a bit softer due to it using the BOB deinterlacing for 1080i sources but in most cases that works to your advantage with the compressed signals from cable and DTV. Hopefully you will be using a native 1080p signal for a BluRay or HDDVD so the HQV will not factor in at this point.

I will admit, I am pretty sure I had a defective unit on my W20000 because I had some significant dimming in the lower left corner and another issue. On a completely black screen if you has a superimposed image on the bottom of the screen (menu and such) I had a reflected (ghosted) image of the same thing on the top of the screen. This never could be seen in brighter images but was always a problem on black screens.

Still, overall if you can find a W10000 for around the same price as the W5000 I say go for the W10000. You will not be disappointed. I would even say you should be willing to pay a $500-$600 premium for the unit. I think there is a very well respected forum member that has a brand new unit (W10000) for sale right now so you may want to look for that.

W10000 is not better than w20000. I have tried both side by side in 3 days. W20000 have better blacks and contrast, no question about it.
W20000 is also sharper. I agree that w20000 have more noise at HD.

W10000 is not better than w20000. I have tried both side by side in 3 days. W20000 have better blacks and contrast, no question about it.
W20000 is also sharper. I agree that w20000 have more noise at HD.

Do you have the actual measurements to prove this??? I do and it is not close. I got nearly 1200:1 more on the W10000 with its iris closed down versus the W20000 with Dynamic Black on and its iris closed down. Also, with Dynamic Black off and the iris closed down it was even worse. Absolute black measures at .79 lumens on the W20000 with DB on and iris closed to 0. It measured .51 on the W10000 with its iris closed. Both measurements are with the lamp on low.

Once again I have to mention my unit may have been defective but my instruments do not lie. Many people are perceiving better blacks on the W20000 because it is brighter.

I am a BenQ dealer, fan and believer in the company. I know they will get things corrected on these units eventually with firmware updates. Still, right now, the W10000 is not a bad way to go.

Seems nigh impossible to find a W10000 anymore.

Moby, I'd be interested to see your numbers if you have them.

I agree with Eric. I have had the W10000 since last summer and it is a fantastic performer. Play HD material in 24p on this and you will swear you are in one of the best cinemas. The blacks pop and the whites are truly white. In whisper mode it is Q U I E T.

Thanks, already ordered a 5000 though :)

Eric, how much brighter is 100% IRE on the W20000 versus the W10000 when you measure .79 lumens on the 20k versus the .51 lumens on the 10k?

You say considerably brighter, does that mean several times? Like 500 lumens versus 200?

Thanks, already ordered a 5000 though :)

Have you set up your W5000 yet? If so, how do you like it?

Thanks

I saw a very reasonable price on a refurbished BenQ W10000. Any negatives to getting a refurb? Also, is this projector at all close to the performance of an RS1 keeping in mind that I would have to pay almost a $1000 more to get the RS1?

Have you set up your W5000 yet? If so, how do you like it?

Thanks

Hold on to your shorts, I just ordered it Sunday night and with the trouble my credit card company was giving them about my address (and the "ships in 1-2 days").....

But, it's here anyway, I'll play with it tonight for sure.

So....is the consensus that the 10000 is better than the 5000?

I saw a very reasonable price on a refurbished BenQ W10000. Any negatives to getting a refurb? Also, is this projector at all close to the performance of an RS1 keeping in mind that I would have to pay almost a $1000 more to get the RS1?
The two are very different, so it depends on what you are looking for in a PJ. For me, ansi contrast and sharpness are most important, so to me, the W10000 outperforms the RS1.

So....is the consensus that the 10000 is better than the 5000?

I don't think so, I don't remember any posts from people who've seen both.

awtryau89 said the liked the W10000 over the W20000 so I figured it was a given that it would be better than the W5000. Also, Miashen gave some interesting figures
"The W10000 has digital zoom and focus; The W5000 has a manual zoom and focus
W10000 used Faroudja DCDi Processing; W5000 uses HQV
W10000 uses DarkChip3 while W5000 is DarkChip2".
With the issues with 24fps and the noise with BC on I would think the W10000 would be a no-brainer versus the W5000. If you can find one that is.

awtryau89 said the liked the W10000 over the W20000 so I figured it was a given that it would be better than the W5000.

He also sent it back thinking it was defective, it may well have been with the issues he reported that I haven't seen on a W5000.

With the issues with 24fps and the noise with BC on I would think the W10000 would be a no-brainer versus the W5000. If you can find one that is.

I would say most people don't run with BC on, the W10000 didn't even have it (probably called White Peaking or something). And my W5000 accepts 1080p24 just fine, though I can't say with certainty whether it converts it to 60Hz internally or not.

Well, I still have a couple of months before I'm buying anyway. So, hopefully there will be a direct comparison sometime soon. Either way I think they're all pretty similar and we're talking very small differences on either side whether it be the 9, 10, or 5 thousand(all on my list, reading and researching like a bandit).

Just watched "The Bee Movie" looked great on the w5000.
With brilliant color on, nice noise free image start to finish.

The w5000 is a good value, and its HQV scaling I think tops the last models processing.
Other 1080P DLPs with vertical lens shift cost a fair amount more.

I think all the Benqs are similar.
If you really want the next level up of DLP projector you'd have to look at a Sharp 20000 or Marantz 15s1 at 2-3x the cost.

Can you guys give me a verdict on RBE? I just bought a cheap PB6200 BenQ which is XGA and has a 2X color wheel. I see RBE constantly in movies, it seems like even more in BR. Does the speed of the color wheel really have that much effect or am I screwed with DLP not matter what. I don't see it on games and if I have lights on if that helps. I only see it when all the lights are out basically.

I've been looking around and try to replace my SP5000 for several months. As I wait the price of the projector keep dropping and dropping. My final 2 choices is W5000 and W10000 and I am still not sure which 1 is a better projector. However I saw an on an demo unit with an unbelievable price on auction house with full warranty and an new bulb. I bought it and I will report back.

Hi,

my understanding is that with the original fw, the settings for overscan were not available in the user settings.

Is this still the case, or has this now changed to allow the user to set to zero overscan ?

Also, could someone please confirm that the W10000 can display 1080p24 properly at 48Hz ?

Thank you.

Hi,

my understanding is that with the original fw, the settings for overscan were not available in the user settings.

Is this still the case, or has this now changed to allow the user to set to zero overscan ?

Also, could someone please confirm that the W10000 can display 1080p24 properly at 48Hz ?

Thank you.

Earlier models didn't allow access to changing overscan, but later models did. As for displaying 1080p24 properly, I can assure you my W10000 does.

Earlier models didn't allow access to changing overscan, but later models did. As for displaying 1080p24 properly, I can assure you my W10000 does.

Thank you Georgeb.

I have another question about the lens shift, 2 actually :

I will need the throw distance to be 17ft, to a white wall for 16:9 image. The PJ lens will be 2.5 ft from the floor.

qu1: will I be able make the lower edge of the image appear at least 9 inches above the lens (presumably lens shift would be needed to do this) ?

qu2: would I need to use keystoning to correct the image as a result of using the lens shift ?

I have been to the calculator:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W10000-projection-calculator-pro.htm
With no zoom, at a throw of 17': height is 55", diag is 113", width is 98".
With 1.15x zoom,at 17' throw: height is 64", diag is 130", width is 113".

Personally, I would prefer to use no zoom at all, as the width of the image is easier on my eye to watch.

So to summarise, with the PJ lens 2.5 ft from the floor, a throw of 17' AND with ZERO zoom, would I be able to make the lower edge of the image appear at least 9 inches above the lens ? And would I need to use keystone correction also ?

I have tried reading the manual, but I am not confident in my interpretation of it !

Thank you.

The manual states that the W10000 has a +/-100% vertical lens shift.

Does this mean the PJ can be placed up to 50% of a vertical screen height either above or below the screen ?

Please if anyone knows, I'd be most grateful for confirmation.

The manual states that the W10000 has a +/-100% vertical lens shift.

Does this mean the PJ can be placed up to 50% of a vertical screen height either above or below the screen ?

Please if anyone knows, I'd be most grateful for confirmation.

That's my interpretation of it. I use a bit of lens shift, but there is certianly plenty there to work with.

I believe 100% means the lens can be anywhere within the screen. 100% offset typically means the lens is at the edge of the screen.

^^^^ Sorry but that's incorrect. I have mine mounted above the top of the screen by about 10" and have plenty of leeway.
I'll grant you the 100% thing is misleading.
In case no one is aware, BENQ US is clearing out W10000 refurbs w\1 year warranty for $2,699. Get a Mack warranty and no worries.
Not bad.

I bought 1 demo with hdmi cable, upconvert dvd player, ceiling mount for less than 2 grand and that's with shipping include. Hopefully I will receive it by wekend.

set up right the w10000 is a much better projector then w5000
I have seen a w5000 twice in one week and been impressed with it but felt it lacked something even though the picture looks perfect. then I saw a W10000tonight and it just instantly showed me what was missing from the w5000.
it had depth and blacks and clarity and presense to it that the w5000 dont have.