BenQ W1070 : DLP Full HD, 3D Ready with lens-shift for 1000$ - Page 52

Accordex, I received the same thing. I used Amazon Payments, so I'm not sure if that adds a whole other layer of complexity to the transaction.

Ron Jones, so are you implying that it would just be best not to use a ND filter on the W1070?

Mishari84, good point about losing shadow detail with a filter. It wouldn't be worth it to me to lose that in order to gain black level.

Thanks all. (can't wait)

Edit:
All filter thoughts (at least mine) are for 2D only.

My impressions after some 3D Half-SBS testing (side-by-side with 720p ACER H5360BD)

Player: MEDE8ER MED600x3D (Realtek 1186 inside)

Looks like the W1070 likes to merge itself two parts of 3D SBS image - of course only when video output in the player is set to 1080i/50 i /60. Firmware glitch or HDMI limitation ??
If it's set to HDMI Auto or you try to switch 3D on in the player menu (so if the player merges two parts of 3D SBS image) the W1070 doesn't recognize video signal as SBS but as .. Frame Packing ! 3D glasses don't work.

Really strange. The H5360BD doesn't do that.

It's a shame as new SIGMA or RTL1186 palyers allow for L/R eye swap, 3D depth control and brightness / contrast tuning
When turning on 3D in the player's menu the H5360BD can automatically switch itself to 3D and SBS format.
Acer isn't so picky. The player's output can be set to HDMI AUTO...

With W1070 it's a lot of clicking on 2 remotes

1. one needs to change video resolution in the player's menu (from 1080p or HDMI AUTO to 1080i/50 or /60)
2. the player must be set to 2D playback so w/o 3D added features ....
3. BENQ does the conversion job (image merge)
4. one needs to MANUALLY turn the 3D SBS in BENQ's menu

After 3D watching you have to revert these settings in the player's menu...

Does anyone have any idea when Best Buy and similar stores will start carrying the W1070?

The 5360 is only a 720p player. That is possibly the reason why the Auto mode will not work for Side by Side. The good news is that nearly all Blu-Ray disks are frame packed disks that do not need the switching. That being said, I wonder if Benq could find a better solution with a firmware upgrade to bypass this four step process.

So this pj won't play 1080p SBS mkv?

I own a H9500BD and have a W1070 on order but will not play with it till March maybe. What size screen do you plan to have? Light controlled room?
( edited to add. Didn't notice the 80" screen size. Also read in the H9500BD thread and looks like you choose the H9500BD. I think you will be very happy with the H9500BD. The W1070 will likely be too bright at 80" and need a ND filter to tone it down. )

I was very pleased with my H9500BD brightness wise in a semi light controlled room, had some light coming from halls etc on a 100" screen around .9 gain. I ordered the projector Dec 2011 and had no issue with it. Had the firm ware with the SBS tearing and non 1:1 pixel mapping. The 1:1 pixel mapping wasn't a issue for me (not visible from seated position) And SBS tearing wasn't a issue as I didn't use it. I did send the projector in for the update a bit ago and it came back not working. Acer paid shipping both ways, I guess they are sending me a new projector as parts are taking a long time to come in. Anyway all that said I wouldn't hesitate buying a H9500BD as it worked great for me and am sure the new one will work great as well.
I am looking forward to viewing the W1070, won't be doing a A/B test as one will be in the states and other in the Antarctic.
Edited by man4mopar - 1/23/13 at 11:18am

Like others have said I think it is your glasses, even though you just got them a week ago.

Xbox will send a signal of 720P frame packed 60hz, this means your glasses work at 120hz.

3D Bluray will send a 1080P 24hz, this means the projector will go into 144hz mode and if the glasses do not do 144hz you will get blur or a messed up image anyway.

I would contact the company that made your glasses as they will likely remedy the issue.

Here is a link to the manual that has all supported input signals, starting page 56. ftp://downloads.benq.net/user_manuals/projectors/english/projector_um_user_manual_20120830_133334w1070_w1080st_en.pdf

1080p SBS is not supported at any frequency per the manual. It will do 1080 50i SBS and 1080 60i SBS. It will also do 1080P 24hz Top Bottom and Frame Packing.

I see benq store has this $100 off...but backordered... Awesome... who knows when I'll see it

Also, still not available on Amazon.

I ordered mine on sunday and it was shipped yesterday.

Scottyroo,

How thick (tall) are the rubber corks you bought at Home Depot? I will be placing my W1070 upside down on a rear shelf, and will need to find something good to place the unit on. I had a demo BenQ to test, and I used 4 hockey pucks to place the projector on (worked great), but they aren't think enough to get my hands (fingers) into the recessed area to do focus / zoom. Any thoughs? Also, what dept. at Home Depot sells "rubber corks"? What are these things normally used for . . . I hope to swing by Home Depot later today.

Thanks!

Ian

Just received mine about an hour ago. My VERY initial reaction to the image quality is simply WOW! Very very sharp. Nice colors. Ok..gonna go play with it a little more!

Great ! I ordered mine yesterday. Let me know what 3D glasses you are using.

I have two pair of the MonsterVision Max 3D glasses that I bought for my RS40 but haven't used them because of not wanting to challenge the bulb on the JVC. Will these glasses work on the W1070?

Hi Ian - the rubber corks I used were approx. 1.5" tall. It is barely enough to get your fingers under and adjust the zoom and focus. What I did is manually zoomed in all the way since I needed to anwyay. The focusing can actually be done on the edge of the lens from the front as well so that is pretty much a non issue. I moved to a ceiling mount shortly after but am thinking of going back to rubber corks because when people walk or kids run around upstairs the projector jiggles. I don't know what the rubber corks are used for but they can be found where all the screw drawers are for custom hardware. Look like this:



On a side note I did some testing on the light leaking halo on the ceiling. It is actually not coming from the gaps around the lens. It is coming from inside the lens itself. There are mirrors behind the lens that are causing it. The only thing I can think of doing to help out with this is getting a lens hood or something similar. No biggie as it doesn't distract when anything is on-screen.

True Depth 3D glasses work: Note that I obtained the latest (Version 3?) of the True Depth DLP Link rechargeable 3D glasses and they work fine with this projector.

Hi. Thanks for the report. Can you clarify exactly what you tested? For other brands of glasses, people are reporting that things are, for example, working OK at 120hz (1080p60) but not 144hz (1080p24). It would be helpful for you to clarify exactly what device (blu-ray?) and content you are testing against when you observe that they "work fine."

Thanks Scottyroo for the quick info. Those rubber cork "things" might actually be a bit better for the BenQ than the hockey pucks I used. The contour of the projector's casing is a bit uneven for the wider hockey pucks (although they work). The pucks are perfect for the Epson 5010 - it's a little more "user friendly" for upside-down use on a shelf. I can now go off to Home Depot with confidence. Thanks for the pic and description. The 1.5" height of these helps when trying to get to the controls.

I found the lens cap is a bit of a pain, if you don't place it on the projector VERY CAREFULLY you end up turning the lens - and defocusing what you've worked hard to get right! With the Epson 3020 Epson was smart to make the lens cap cover the lens area without it touching the lens itself. This made it easier to take on and off without turning the lens slightly.

Looking forward to hearing more about your impressions of the new W1070.

Enjoy!

Ian

Having owned the HD70 prior to the 1070 the 1070 was a major upgrade from the HD70. The brightness of the Benq is astounding and will let you watch sports or whatever you want with some ambient light. The contrast and blacks seem somewhat better than the HD70 but in the same ballpark. It would be hard for me to imagine paying twice as much for the Epson over the 1070. You will be able to either sit much closer to the same sized screen or go with a much larger screen size than you had before. I sit 9 feet back from a 110 inch screen and see zero pixel structure, with excellent sharpness from good source materials. I could never have done that with the HD70. The extra brightness gives you more screen options in my opinion.

[quote name="Amgclk65" I'm stuck on what projector to get. I'm throwing up the idea of getting a epson 5010 from avs for 1999$
Vs the benq w1070 for 899$. I figured I could apply the 600$ to getting a better quality projector in the epson 5010. I don't plan to buy another projector for another 6 yr or so. I had the optoma for 6years. I figured I might as well pay a little extra for a better projector. I use my ht setup for Sunday football with some lighting in the room and the late night moving watching with the family as well. At night it's pretty dark. So my question would be should I spend the extra money and get the 5010 over the benq ? Or the benq is pretty close to the 5010 in blacks and lumens ..[/quote]

I posted some comments today about my impressions of the new W1070 vs. my Epson 5010. I played with a demo W1070 for several hrs. last night, and I now have one on order. It should arrive early next week. If I had to part with one of the two projectors, I would definitely keep the W1070 over the 5010. The blacks of the BenQ don't get as deep . . . BUT . . . the picture from the BenQ to my eye is in every other way superior. The BenQ has all the sharpness you should expect from a good 1080p projector - to me the Epson just does not. If you have some lighting on in the room for football (and that's how you usually watch a projector) I bet the BenQ would blow you away . . . with any lights on the blacks are going to suffer - doesn't matter if you own a $10,000.00 projector or the little BenQ. If, however, you are watching in a dark home theater, and you are a stickler for the blackest blacks - then I'd go with a projector with deep blacks. But I don't think that the Epson 5010 is as ground-breaking as the BenQ. If you pay $1,000.00 more for the 5010, I truly don't think that there is $1,000.00 more you'll see on the screen. To me, it's the opposite. Other than looking carefully at the black level performance, if someone set up both projectors to do an A / B comparison - I KNOW I would pick the BenQ as the more expensive unit (even though it isn't). The picture coming from the W1070 looks more refined to my eye.

I never thought that bright, good-looking 1080p projectors, offering 3D performance, would come down to a price point that cost less than many mid-sized LED or plasma TV's. Amazing.

Since I have both units, I can only say, from seeing them in my home, what I would do . . . I would prefer to watch using the BenQ over the 5010! It's that good. I'd keep the grand left over by getting the W1070 for more replacement lamps - this way I get to watch more on the big screen!

Ian

I've been struggling to understand how the Benq compares with other last-gen projectors.
Where i am struggling is that the Benq only has a contrast of 10000:1, yet many of the older projectors were 50000:1 or 100000:1 or more yet everyone is stating this has a better picture with only minor black depth issues....
I must admit - i keep looking at the images from Art between the Benq and the Acer H9500BD, and keep thinking the Acer looks FAR more punchier, which does not go with what most people here are saying.
Is the issue that the Benq does not have dynamic iris, instead has a dynamic bulb?

Wonderful review Ian...I can't wait to order my PJ on Friday! I'm with you. If a PJ is going to cost a $1000 more then, you should SEE the difference and I believe you should be floored and not just "meh".

Those numbers that the manufacturers put out are no where close to the actual numbers

I too paid through Amazon payments last Friday evening. My box of accessories showed up today, FedEx called to arrange drop off of my screen but I hadn't seen confirmation on the W1070. I emailed Vapex and they responded in less than 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the projector didn't ship until today so it will be Monday before it and the screen show up. I had hoped they would get here this Friday so I could have an extra weekend to set up for a Super Bowl party. Sure is going to be a downer to the party if there are any additional delays.

This pj is dlp link only. Are those glasses dlp link compatible? I have them too also with an rs40.

The W1070 does NOT have a VESA 3D output port, nor IR emitter. The MonsterVision glasses or any other "Universal" RF glasses that use emitter dongles require either IR emitter or VESA 3D output port on the projector to work. The only 3D sync method that this W1070 supports is DLP-link.

Couple questions for anyone. Im new to the world of projectors and would like to replace my 46" 3DTV, which i use as my big screen computer monitor from 1 meter away, with a decent projector viewed from 1.5 meters away. Keep in mind, i have little idea how projectors work.

1. Is the SBS or 720p image scaled to 1080p, or is it pure 720 or 960x1080?

2. Do projectors show pixelation or is it different?

3. Is the input lag in 3D ok?

4. Does the lens shift function allow the projector to work at a 35 - 45 degree angle without scaling?

5. Anyone know if the brightness is as high an Nvidia lightboost monitor?

Thanks, and sorry for all the novice questions.

I have been watching various content for the last 2 hours on this thing. I am absolutely amazed at the quality of image you get for under $1000. I have tried and returned a few projectors in the last few months, but this one just has the most amazing WOW factor and pop, and the sharpness is out of this world. Colors are great out of the box (I just changed to cinema and put the pj into Smarteco mode) I can honestly say, that since I have sold my calibrated 60" Panasonic 3D Plasma, this is the first time I am not missing it.

here's a few pics of some random hdtv content. Projected onto a cheap $200 Mustang 106" screen:

The Benq 1070 requires 144Kz DLP Link on-DlLP glasses such as MonsterVision or even non 144K DLP glasses will not work with Blu-Ray Frame Packing format.
Several brands of glasses will work.

1. The new Benq glasses (Expensive)
2. The SanSonic 144K glasses about $25 each (Be sure you use the 144K versions) (Inexpensive about $25.00) rechargeable
3. The new True Depth glasses.
4. OKBA inexpensive DLP glasses (Even though the specs state 120K) I have tried them. (Inexpensive less than $25.00) rechargeable
5. Active 3D DLP glasses will not work with the current models (New ones are coming soon that support 144K) I tried a pair and they seem the most comfortable. Looking forward to trying the new ones.

I hope this helps to clear things up since it seems some users are having difficulty with 3D without the 144k DLP glasses required.