BHPhoto was recently forced to collect sales tax from my state, possibly all states. They have a store card one can use that will pay back the sales tax.

If you have both of these then why not post some side by side shots of some 4K content or even a 4K test pattern to substantiate some of these comments you’re making. Like how you think the Epson is sharper?

No offense Oz, but I’d take your opinions far more seriously if you weren’t in every DLP thread trashing DLP and promoting the Epson. The Epson is a fantastic projector but I’m growing a little sick and tired of people simply glossing over it’s weaknesses. Not saying those weaknesses are deal breakers— plenty of people will take the resolution hit and plenty more are not bothered by LCD blur enough to count it out in light of the things the Epson does really well: like it’s contrast/blacks and slick motorized lens. But to simply disregard these things is disingenuous. Every product has it’s pros and cons.

Not entirely what I was hoping for, but thanks. At least understanding what is and isn't available allows me to evaluate all my options and use cases.

I don't know if you can answer this or would be willing to find out, but is the firmware supporting Anamorphic modes available and shipping in the US - obviously you have it in your region.

For sure ... knowledge is power.

As for local firmware, I am fairly confident the firmware is global...but...

In Australia we launched this product in April this year to massive fanfare (which has continued to today and shows no signs of slowing) and as I look after the entire country plus New Zealand, right down to end user level, I have a really good feel for what the market wants.

Within a week of launch I had a request into our team to have the anamorphic mode added in along with some other changes like the mode settings on the dynamic iris.

Like all good things this took some time to develop, test and roll out but the response has been great.

Locally, your model is the HT5550, in our region this model is known as a W5700.

The applied firmware is written for the W5700 and as such I could not recommend loading it onto a HT5550.

If you like though, I am happy to ask the question of our engineers and will come back to you in a bit?

Cheers,

Matt

If we're not critical of these things, manufacturers have no reason to try and improve them. Trashing is a harsh word to use, critical yes, honest yes, trashing no. I consider myself pretty fussy and the epson ticks lots of the boxes, more than other brands of similar or less prices. If it were the other way around I'd say that too. The amount of pixels matters far less compared to a decent lens with good contrast and good image processing. Not in every dlp thread either, I barely post here.

It would be greatly appreciated. This has been a confusing issue to say the least with two separate models, and I believe many others would also like to know the status and features of the HT5550 implemenation.

Hi Matt,

My unit is from Taiwan n its W5700. While you are talking to your engineer, do you mind to ask him if your Australian Firmware can be applied on an Taiwan unit ??? Many thanks 🙏🏻

Benqdirect and B&H are showing 3 year limited warranty on the projector, while Projectorpeple is showing 1 year warranty. Who is right?

The HT5550 has a 3 year warranty AFAIK.

- Jason

Fair enough.

In my limited time with the BenQ I was quite impressed with it’s lens. It’s certainly the best lens affixed to any of these .47” DLPs and, IMO, really showed off what the chip is capable of more so than BenQ’s own HT3550. I was also impressed by the image processing specifically the HDR Pro tone mapping. As for contrast, the Ht5550 is certainly one of the better 4K DLPs in this regard but it’s not going to be able to compete with any of the UB Epsons when it comes to contrast/blacks. A far closer competitor for the HT5550 here would be the Epson 4010. In fact, I consider the 4010 to be the HT5550’s toughest competitor.

The difficult part for me with the Epson’s is the image persistence / blur. I haven’t seen the 5050 yet but I’ve seen the models leading up to it (5040ub / 4010) and it’s a problem. Ironically, the biggest advantage of the Epson’s pixel shifting (IMO) is the way it helps combat the blur as well as reduce the rather egregious pixel gap when operating in 1080p. Personally, I don’t find the Epson’s all that sharp even with the pixel shifting is on but I’d run it anyways just to get the other benefits. Your opinion is the extra resolution of the BenQ isn’t worth the reduction to contrast/blacks. My opinion is the extra sharpness and motion clarity of the BenQ is well worth the cost to contrast/blacks. LCD based stuff looks excellent with stills and the like but as soon as you get to fast action, again IMO, the tech sort of falls to pieces.

Now, if you’re reading this with 3 VA LCD TVs in your house and you’re thinking: what is Sage on about? Don’t worry about it, you’re used to the blur. Unfortunately, I’m not. It’s why I don’t own a single LCD TV and the LCDs I do own are gaming focused monitors with ultra fast TN panels or overdriven IPS panels. Again, everyone has their priorities.

Hi Keith,

The short answer is yes - but the long answer is no.

The firmware for both units is the same in what we call the "front end" and via USB this is the same globally. It can be done by the user, in home very simply.

In order to have the best experience though there is a TI firmware that needs to be applied - and this can only be done by a BenQ tech. We need to apply this firmware as well for the best result.

I will share with you the corporate line:

"To have best viewing experience, BenQ will take care the firmware update process to ensure your W5700 to perform at its best with the firmware upgraded. Please contact BenQ’s local customer care team or your designated SI to arrange the return shipment."

The front end firmware needs to show V1.0.1 to make sure you have the latest software but without the otherfirmware only half the job is done.

This is th eonly time this backend firmware will need to be updated (for those who have them already) and all will be completed on USB by user from next FW update.

Cheers,

Matt

Hey Ac388 - see above

Hi Matt,

Noted with thanks. I have no intention to ship it back to Taiwan in the meantime, since the factory said no new firmware is available. However, if I just upgrade the unit with your v1.0.1, wonder what improvement will I get . Many thanks in advance. 🙏🏻

Appreciate all this.

Ive been having a tough time deciding between a 5050ub or ht5550(or even more expensive sony jvc and benq projectors) due to LCD/LCOS contrast vs dlp response time. I currently have a w1070, and am very satisfied with madvrs smooth motion(frame blending) plus a little oversharpening. much prefering it to motion via 24p, 60p 3/2, or 60p frame interpolation. On the occassion I do use a VA monitor/tv for movies the blur is very noticeable and I vastly prefer the w1070s image despite the better native contrast(4kish?) on the tcl s405 and benq xr3501 I have.

I made some improvements to get the best image I could in a non dedicated space:
-a nd2 filter to get the right light output
-an xy screens black crystal retractable screen, a .8 gain dark grey with a gain layer, to shift the contrast down and fight some room reflections.
-some black fabric on the ceiling and to the sides of the projector

With the lights off and even with bright content, the screen gets very close to the black of the masking, so I do think I could take advantage of high contrast lcd/lcos projectors. But it seems I may prefer the sharpness and motion of dlp, although I have no experience with lcd/lcos panels, only va monitors.

The current setup is a really striking image though especially for the price, with the only flaws being the cheap w1070s lense uniformity, the lower contrast and lighter blacks of dlp, and the sparkle/shimmer artifact of the screen(probably similar to the elite cinewhite material). The screens easy enough, get a dalite parallax... For the projector I know either choice features a better lense, and better contrast/blacks than what I have now, it's still tricky to make a choice between dlp and maintain the sharpness/motion clarity or lcd/lcos though.

Germany's cine4home dismantled a W5700 (HT5550) to take a look under its hood:


http://cine4home.de/die-inneren-wert...700-tear-down/


Ekki observed some positive (previously unmentioned) surprises. Regarding creative frame interpolation BenQ has chosen MStar processing (adopted from NXP).


I'm not familiar with NXP but apparently it originates from Philips and supposedly handles halo reduction around moving objects rather well: https://www.hotchips.org/wp-content/...C20.25.231.pdf

Hey folks, a quick heads up to anyone who is in the market for one of BenQ’s projectors:
As many of you know there will be a 10% tariff imposed on projectors starting 9/1/2019. My contact at BenQ has assured me they are working hard to make sure they minimize the impact these tariffs will have on their customers but that we should expect a price increase sometime in the next 30-90 days.

If you’re on the fence about jumping in this might be a good time to get off that fence.

^ I believe Trump blinked and delayed the new tariffs until the end of the year.

Only on certain goods.

Yep, couldn't find specifically whether projectors/display devices were included/excluded, but was still hopeful.

Here’s a list courtesy of Jeff.

https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-off...steps-proposed

I like this one....


rocket launchers; flame‐throwers; grenade launchers; torpedo tubes and similar projectors

I sent my HT5550 in to get the grinding iris repaired. I have been using SmartEco for too long and want to gain the deeper blacks. In the meantime I put my HT2050 back up and it really looks pretty good. I hope the turnaround time isn't too long.

do you think the ht5550 is worth the upgrade over the 2050?

Yes I think it is worth it.

I tried the HT3550 initially but wasn't too impressed. I hear it has improved with a firmware update but I've moved on. Fan noise was loud and raised black levels.

I've had the HT2050 for a few years and wanted to make the move to 4k in my theater room. I skipped the previous models due to the light border and other issues...3d mode manually engage etc...

I spent the last few years upgrading the audio side of things and was ready for a change in video. I already had an Oppo 203 when they were going out of business and was already buying 4k discs.

Where the HT5550 improves is with the resolution. It's smooth compared to the pixel structure of the HT2050. Blacks are about the same. With the dynamic iris engaged, it looks really good with dark scenes. I haven't played too much with the updated firmware from Australia yet since the grinding noise has just been too distracting when scenes change from dark to light.

HDR 4k content is better on the HT5550. The out of the box picture is really good. The HT5550 will give you a wider color space which is the main reason i got it. I wanted something to give me a better image than the HT2050. The HT5550 does bluray 1080p content at reference quality. 4k HDR is pretty close for me too.

I think 3d content is better with the HT5550 as well. I like the 4k enhancer at 4 which makes it sharper. I was using a Darbee with the HT2050 to get close to the same effect.

I'm going to recalibrate the HT2050 with Chormapure this week and see how it holds up over the next handful of days while I wait for the return of the HT5550. I'm curious as I get used to HT2050 again with how the HT5550 will be once I get it back.....

What are you curious about coming from the HT2050? For me the Benq return policy is nice if you really aren't impressed.

I was curious because you went back to the HT2050 after having the HT5550 for some time and wanted to hear your thoughts on not whether it was an upgrade but how much of an upgrade you think it is. Based on my reading the HT2050 was the best 1080p DLP-based projector in it's price range and even beyond. I have been in the LCoS camp for a while and currently have a Sony HW30es. Due to placement restrictions, the HT5550 is my only consideration to be able try moving to 4k DLP. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I am scared of BenQ's rollout of the 3550/5550 projectors. Which one of these retailers has a better return policy?

I bought my W5700 a month ago with a manufacturing date of May 28. Have about 100 hours on it now. No noise what so ever on the Dynamic Iris. Only the dragging noise(1-2 second) when the DCI-P3 filter engaged. Also, the fan noise is low even when I set the lamp to Normal, n the unit is sitting 5ft. above my head.



Overall, nice unit with very sharp images n vibrant colour !!!

I'm very unhappy to report that regarding the W5700 in the German HiFi-Forum deficiencies in projection lens performance (supposedly lens shift operation partially diminishes sharpness, chromatic aberrations) are increasingly becoming some kind of red thread in the corresponding discussion and owner thread.


The latest poster and owner criticized that the projection image of Optoma's UHD 65 looks sharper.


It almost appears as if Germany (or Europe) is getting B-class units with projection lenses that are inferior to those of the HT5550.

Wanted to thank Scott for his youtube review of this projector. I am totally new to home theater and projectors in general but made my decision to go with this projector thanks to the video and a lot of reading. I need to purchase a mount and screen so it can be set up on the 30th.

Any recommendations on a screen? My wall can just fit a 120" 16:9, will have very good light control, we will sit 14' away at the most, and will be mounting probably right above us. ( we could possibly move the couch ahead 1-2' if needed) Budget wise I would like to make the most out of the projector, I'm thinking around $500 or less. It can be fixed or manual, not worried about electric really. Any help?