Benq w6000 - Page 52

Originally Posted by hehateme

Is it possible to remove the feet of the Benq W6000.
I am using chief RPAU mount. If I use to small screws install the arms that hold the projector one of the feet of benq comes in the way.

Let me know if anyone has safely removed the feet. My other option is to use the longer screws that are also provided with the mount.

Originally Posted by chardur

visualapex has new in the box w6000's for 1499 with free shipping right now

Just a heads up

(not affiliated)

Originally Posted by blee0120

That's a deal

Originally Posted by pottscb

Agreed. Sales are either very stagnant on this unit or they're getting ready to announce at CEDIA (which they said they weren't), it'll be interesting.

Originally Posted by Electric_Haggis

Well, I finally pulled the trigger on a W6000.
I had some prior concerns before buying, such as the sound & visibility of the DI, rainbows, possible crap black level, flimsy joystick etc.
Happily, all these concerns have been put to rest.

Originally Posted by Electric_Haggis

Well, I finally pulled the trigger on a W6000.
I had some prior concerns before buying, such as the sound & visibility of the DI, rainbows, possible crap black level, flimsy joystick etc.
Happily, all these concerns have been put to rest.

Throw distance is 3.7 metres. Screen is matte white.
I zoom all the way out to 230cm wide for scope films, and usually around 180cm wide for 16x9. This is pretty much constant height.

The unit I bought had just under 500 hours on the lamp, which was really a good thing as I didn't need to wait for the lamp to settle down.
Firmware is the latest (1.01)

I haven't got my EyeOne colorimeter back yet, so everything was done by eye.
Testing out with a bunch of Blu-rays, a dose of DVD, a tonne of test patterns, and a mountain of material I've worked on myself (I'm in post production), here are my findings thus far...

* This bugger is bright, as many have proclaimed!
I was a bit worried it would be too intense for my room, but no problem at all. Taming the settings down, and tweaking the Dynamic Black settings, it's perfect!
An intense, industrial image that destroys any LCD or LCOS, and a good many DLPs.

Settings (Economy lamp mode):
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 46
Color: 50
Sharpness: 3
Gamma: 2.2
ISF: On

Clarity Control: All three set to 0

Dynamic Black: On
Brilliant Color: Off
Black Level: 0 IRE


* The black level is slightly deeper than the W5000. Turning on and tweaking the DI improves it a little further still. More experimenting to do here.
As the peak white level is a good deal brighter than the W5000, you get a noticeable boost in contrast.
This concurs with Spexman's findings here.


Ideally, the black level could be a tad deeper, but I'll be trying a hi-contrast grey screen paint mix that should sort that out.

* Although some pjs like the higher JVC models offer noticeably deeper black level, this point is WAY overrated & overhyped.
The black level of even an X9 is still not B-L-A-C-K.... just a slightly darker grey than this.
On the other hand, this just kills them for brightness, contrast, sharpness and motion refresh.

It's a seldom-raised point that your eye exposes for overall picture level and highlights, and that black level will often seem deeper when there's also bright content onscreen. This is why the W6000's searing brightness really gives it an edge.

DLP still reigns supreme!!! There's a reason why nearly all professional cinema projectors are DLP...


* The DI ( Dynamic Black ) is a huge step up from the W5000.
It's very quick to respond, and the best thing is that you can tweak it.
As others have noted, setting +66 for Aperture Max eliminates clipping on peak whites, along with associated colour fluctuations.
This was often pretty horrible on the W5000. Here it's terrific.

I'm a bit confused about a few things though...
?* DB Aperture Position is a wierd one. This effectively acts as a global iris.
However, on a few occasions the iris won't budge until you hold the button down for a few seconds. (You'll hear it trying, though)
One other time, lowering the number actually brightened the picture! Hmmm...

?* Anyone know what DB Strength does?
I remember reading somewhere that changing the default of +2 to +1 or +3 actually deactivates it. That seems weird.

?* DB Aperture Min obviously sets the lowest limit for the black level.
Any reason why 11 or 13 is recommended? I tried dropping it all the way down to 1 for deeper black level, and didn't observe any crushing of shadow detail.
That said, I still preferred the extra punch up around 10, although for some films it's a nice option to have.

The settings I'm very happy with for now are...

DB Aperture Position: Around +46 (although setting this lower/darker can help some material)
DB Aperture Max: +66
DB Aperture Min: From +1 to +13 (around 10 seems to be the sweet spot)
DB Strength: +2

With these settings, the visibility of the DI is almost completely invisible, no crushed shadows, clipped highlights or wonky coloured peak whites. You can get through a whole film without noticing it.
The cut to black and end-credit roll in Casino Royale is a good demonstration of the difference, as is the Batman Begins prison scene (Chapter 2).
With a bit of help from the DI, this thing is very close to a DarkChip3. It'd be interesting to shoot it out alongside the W1200 !

Even with the latest firmware, I was shocked at the audible noise from the Iris pumping, but these settings fix that too.

* The only real downer with this unit is the fan noise if you're sitting nearby.
But at 1.5 metres in front of it, and with even a quiet scene, I quickly came to ignore it.

* The ventilation is superb! This thing never runs hot & cools down quickly - even after a marathon session.

* Zooming the picture out for scope, I really rely on the lens shift, and was concerned about the apparently flimsy joystick.
Again, no problem. It's very robust and not too sensitive.

* Sharpness! Despite using a smaller chip than the W5000, it's every bit as sharp. The extra brightness & contrast pushes this a good notch further.
It's slightly sharper (and punchier) than the far more expensive Optoma HD8600 / HD87, and miles ahead of LCOS projectors like the JVCs.
Gotta love those Benq optics...

* Rainbows... No problem at all.
I could barely see them on the W5000, which I think was a 5X wheel. This is supposed to be a 4X, and that rings true, as I spot them a little more easily (if I try).

* Colour balance out of the box. Not as bad as I expected.
Again, using a bunch of test patterns, and HD material I've created myself at work, I was surprised how little tweaking I needed to do to get it roughly in the ballpark.

I left CCA alone for now, and just settled on this...

Colour Temp: ISF1

White Balance: (with Color Temp in the Factory menu left on Cool)
Red Gain: +491
Green Gain: +474
Blue Gain: +520

Red Offset: +507
Green Offset: +487
Blue Offset: +512

Still quite a bit of room for improvement, but not bad.
I'd be interested to get the settings from anyone with a similar setup to mine !?


Honestly, I'm very, very damn happy with this thing.
Its' punchy, razor-sharp picture pulls out every detail, and I like to know I'm seeing everything!

All things considered, I'd pick this puppy over any comparable projector out there.

Originally Posted by mbw23air

I'm glad to see you like it so much. I am going to wait to see what is announced at Cedia as I need a bright 1080p DLP projector and I don't need 3d(cant fully see the effect as I only see 20/20 with 1 eye).

Originally Posted by mbw23air

Right now the only 1080p DLPs I was considering is the W6000 and the Infocus SP8602 but I can't justify about twice the price of the SP8602 vs. the W6000.

Originally Posted by mbw23air

I think about the only thing that could be announced at Cedia that could be better than the W6000 at its cost would be a new Benq model with a DC3 or DC4 chip with an further improved iris but still having lens shift and bright bulb. I've heard them say that Benq won't have any new projectors at Cedia and I'm sure all of the other companies are focusing on 3d as an added feature for their projectors and thats what you will be paying for.

Mike

Originally Posted by Electric_Haggis

Thanks for the correction... Good to know.

Originally Posted by Joesyah

I did more research, your 8600/87 should have been as bright as the w6000, if not brighter in best mode. It is quite capable of being a torch from what info I could find on it. Operating in a certain cinema modes could change lumen output drastically.

Originally Posted by Electric_Haggis

That's what I expected based on what I'd read.... Yet even with the 87's brand new lamp and various iris levels tried, the W6000 easily beats it.

There's just a hard-to-define, ballsy quality to the image which is just a pleasure to watch. Maybe it's the Benq optics, maybe it's having so many the lumens to spare... probably a combination of many factors.

Originally Posted by Electric_Haggis

White Balance: (with Color Temp in the Factory menu left on Cool)
Red Gain: +491
Green Gain: +474
Blue Gain: +520

Red Offset: +507
Green Offset: +487
Blue Offset: +512

Originally Posted by coderguy

FYI: Remember the Benq's IRIS can be tweaked in the service menu.

As far as I know, no-one has properly compared these two projectors in this Forum (Mits 4000 vs Benq w6000).

We do know the w6000 is a little sharper than the Mits hc4000, but the Mits is sharp in its own right even if the Benq has better focus uniformity. The Benq w6000 is much brighter than the hc4000 in best mode (about 30% to 50% brighter depending on just how you calibrate it).

I really wanted to do the comparison, but Benq only offered me a w1200 to review and said they no longer have any w6000's for review. So I would have had to buy the projector, and unfortunately I am waiting to review the newer units maybe sometime after December.

For movies, the hc4000 will look about as sharp as the Benq (or close), but for gaming or reading text in HTPC there should be a noticeable advantage to the Benq. Even then though it's not going to be huge.

The Mits hc4000 does not have the black-level calibration range that the Benq has, but the Mits probably has slightly better contrast in brighter scenes due to having a very unusually and extremely high contrast in bright scenes. It is more important to match the Mits with the proper screen size and gain than it is with the Benq, since the Benq has a much larger range in how you can calibrate the lumens (whether too dark or too bright, you can adjust the IRIS). The Mits does not have any type of IRIS at all (manual or automatic).

If you are not bothered by a dynamic IRIS, and the noise of the Benq also does not bother you, then I would think the Benq will be a little better for movies in dark scenes, but not better in MOST bright scenes.

Even though I haven't compared them, I am betting pretty high that the Mits will have a noticeable, but fairly small advantage in medium-brightness to brighter scenes for movies when the sharpness difference isn't apparent, so maybe +1 or + 1/2 notch advantage in bright scenes ONLY when the scene favors DC 3 intrascene contrast over the Benq's sharpness, but the Benq having a +3 in dark scenes. Pick your poison. That said, since the Benq is sharper, some bright scenes are likely to still favor the Benq overall.

If you sit really close to the screen or prefer really large screen sizes (like 120"+ from 12 feet away), then the Benq's sharpness advantage would be more apparent as compared if you prefer a smaller screen or sit farther back.

That is why reviewers often do not properly compare sharpness, because it depends how close you sit and what you are watching to just how much difference you see.

Originally Posted by jamieuk147

Can the HC4000 compete with this projector, especially with sharpness ?

Originally Posted by BiGBADDABOOM

I believe DB Aperture Position just shows you the current position of the iris, it isn't something that actually is adjusted.

At least that was my understanding back when I looked at it, do we know if it actually does something now?

Originally Posted by jamieuk147

Thanks so much Did you except there offer for a test with a W1200 ? I have read I think that its sharper than the HC4000 ?

I currently own the HC3800 but got the upgrade bug and sharpness is important for me and wondering what would be worth upgrading to, just wish I could afford the samsung A900B

Originally Posted by Joesyah

I have to give it to Benq, their optics are REALLY good! I also do not understand why there is such a variation in projector lumen output spec's or why ratings seem so different between manufactures, with what you get at home. I owned a little Optoma HD65 at one time. It was said to do 625 lumens in cinema mode calibrated. My Benq w1000 was supposedly measured at 565 lumens in cinema mode calibrated.

The Benq destroyed the HD65 in brightness! Too my eyes it looked twice as bright! I had visitors that commented the HD65 was too dim. The unit had less than 100 hours on the lamp. My Benq with 1200 hours is still brighter by far than the HD65 brand new out of the box. Go figure

Originally Posted by rjyap

Based on my calibration experience with W6000 with i1Pro, you should not exceed the value +512. Somehow, pushing the value more than 512 doesn't really increase the output of the color anymore. I would set the blue gain at 512 and adjust red and green gain down.

Originally Posted by jamieuk147

Can the HC4000 compete with this projector, especially with sharpness ?