I finally overcame my fear of commitment and ordered a Hitachi 5500. It arrived yesterday. Being a long-time owner of a Sony 400Q, the first thing I noticed about it was how small it is. The next thing I noticed was how BRIGHT it is. Amazingly bright, but it doesn't overpower the picture. I currently have an 87" wide 16:9 Stewart Videomatte (I think) at 1.8 gain. The projector is almost too bright for that. My intention is to go with a 120" wide Firehawk. I've already ordered a Panamorph.
Some comments:
It's not that easy to see the pixels even with your face to the screen. That's great, since I want to sit 15' from a 10' wide screen.
Displaying some test screens with Video Essentials shows some red and green fringing, but this requires nose-to-screen examination. The panel alignment seems to be excellent.
Dead pixels. When I turn on a "black" screen and examine it up close, I can see a group of blue pixels that appear to be slightly stuck on. They are in the top center 1/3 of the screen. There are a few faint green pixels in the bottom third. None can be seen beyond a few feet, and I have to re-look to find them again.
Blue or purple blacks. There are none. For the people who are following serial numbers, mine is G2B000580.
Black blacks. There are none. This is the one problem I've found. With a black "blanked" screen or a blanked PC display, the screen is a rather bright gray. In brighter scenes, this is no problem. In low-light scenes, blacks appear washed out. My guess is that they may have stepped up the lower gamma settings to overcome the blue or purple push. The projector is a little to new for me to work with the service settings. I will get in there eventually to see if I can tone that down.
Colors are very impressive. I had to bump up the red for the computer in, and blue and red for component in. I'll eventually calibrate it with my Colorfacts, if they ever come up with a 5500 profile.
I've noticed that there is a band of very low reddish light around the outline of the panels. It's about an inch wide at my settings and seems to be some sort of a "light leak"? It's much darker than the gray black of the panels themselves. It doesn't appear to be a problem. I just wonder what it is.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with this projector. That's with just 3 hours use. I've just got to find a way to darken the gray blacks. As I discover more things, I'll post them for anyone who's interested.
Chuck Davis
Some comments:
It's not that easy to see the pixels even with your face to the screen. That's great, since I want to sit 15' from a 10' wide screen.
Displaying some test screens with Video Essentials shows some red and green fringing, but this requires nose-to-screen examination. The panel alignment seems to be excellent.
Dead pixels. When I turn on a "black" screen and examine it up close, I can see a group of blue pixels that appear to be slightly stuck on. They are in the top center 1/3 of the screen. There are a few faint green pixels in the bottom third. None can be seen beyond a few feet, and I have to re-look to find them again.
Blue or purple blacks. There are none. For the people who are following serial numbers, mine is G2B000580.
Black blacks. There are none. This is the one problem I've found. With a black "blanked" screen or a blanked PC display, the screen is a rather bright gray. In brighter scenes, this is no problem. In low-light scenes, blacks appear washed out. My guess is that they may have stepped up the lower gamma settings to overcome the blue or purple push. The projector is a little to new for me to work with the service settings. I will get in there eventually to see if I can tone that down.
Colors are very impressive. I had to bump up the red for the computer in, and blue and red for component in. I'll eventually calibrate it with my Colorfacts, if they ever come up with a 5500 profile.
I've noticed that there is a band of very low reddish light around the outline of the panels. It's about an inch wide at my settings and seems to be some sort of a "light leak"? It's much darker than the gray black of the panels themselves. It doesn't appear to be a problem. I just wonder what it is.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with this projector. That's with just 3 hours use. I've just got to find a way to darken the gray blacks. As I discover more things, I'll post them for anyone who's interested.
Chuck Davis