After trying out the Dell at home, and having a look at the NEC at a dealer, I decided to send the Dell back and ordered the NEC. I was actually quite impressed with the Dell projector, but felt the NEC had some features that were desirable for me.
Our LT240 arrived on Friday and I set it up (quickly) so my daughter could have it for her birthday party on Saturday. Initially, I was not sure it was actually any better than the Dell and I was getting a bit nervous about the increased cost..
Indeed, NEC has done something to slightly blur the square pixels which make it seem less sharp when up close to the screen. Of course, that is not where you actually watch movies or look at presentations. The effect of this is that images from a proper viewing distance look much smoother. I could not sit one screen width away from the screen with the Dell (I'm using an 8 foot wide screen, 16x9) because the screen door effect due to the clearly visible pixel structure was distracting. That is not visible at all with the NEC: I am able to sit at this distance and enjoy the feeling of being immersed in a very large image.
As I worked through the menus and got things set up, and discovered things, I found that it was indeed considerably better from the point of view of picture quality. The colors are much more natural (once properly set up). The positioning of the image on the screen is also far more adjustable. All in all, I think the extra expense is worth it.
The changes I made out of the box were simply to turn off the white segment, put the lamp into the econo mode, and change the color temperature to 6500 Kelvin. I have not tried to change the individual RGB colors or tweak the gamma at all. I did use the AVIA disc and the THX optimizer screens available in some movies to set the contrast, brightness, color and hue. I would note that I went through exactly the same procedure with the Dell: I really did not expect to see such a dramatic difference in the image.
I was impressed with the Dell however there were some scenes, particularly in Lord of the Rings, where the people look somewhat greenish and the colors looked somewhat artificial. With the NEC set up properly, there is a dramatic difference in the color and clarity of the image. The contrast ratio is also superior although the stated specifications would not lead me to suspect that. The depth and quality of the image is considerably different with the NEC compared to the Dell.
The scene in the Mines of Moria, when they are in the large hall, surrounded by goblins, and the Balrog is just starting to make its way into the great hall, is quite markedly different with the NEC. With the dell projector, even though I had tweaked it as much as I could, the group seemed to be surrounded by columns that were basically dim with not a lot of detail. With the NEC, the whole hall became suddenly dramatically more visible with a marked increase in depth of the image. Quite a surprising difference. Similarly, early in the movie, at the scenes in the Shire, the color of the grass went from being brilliant, almost artificial green, to looking quite normal, with far more variation in the tones and quality of the green. I was surprised to find that Frodo no longer looked as if he had been out on the town the night before he was meeting Gandalf. I was disappointed with the images when watching it on the Dell, even though I loved the movie. With the NEC, it suddenly seems to be a different movie!
My parents came over and I gave them a brief demonstration. Their comment: "It's like going to the movies" .... but we don't have to go out to do that! Indeed, my mother had to get up and walk out of the room during the intro, where the battle scene takes place as she found it too realistic!
I am going to have to go and watch a bunch of movies all over again to see how much better they are with proper color balance! Ah well..
All in all, highly recommended.
..Mike
