Sharp 9000, ColorFacts, and CC30R Filter review

Hardware:

Sharp 9000 (j)

Stewart 110' Firehawk

Denon DVD 3800 (via comp)

Room 100% light controlled (dark red walls and ceiling)


I have had this combo setup in my home theater for a while now; About 3 months. When I first got it all setup, I was a little disappointed in the color I was able to obtain with only Avia. I have a HD RPTV's that has been ISF calibrated in the past and I was hoping that with that D65 reference and Avia, I wouldn’t have to pay for an ISF tech to come out again.


Well after about a month of being frustrated with what I was able to obtain by eye, I decided that I still wouldn’t pay an ISF tech and I would just buy the hardware and software and do it myself. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of the ColorFacts power buy. (Very nice package by the way).


For a week I performed multiple calibration runs with ColorFacts, I was able to get a very good D65 calibration on the Sharp. Thanks to Russ (aka Benny) for documenting a great description of how to calibrate the Sharp 9000 with the service menu controls, I was really able to really dial in the projector with ColorFacts. ( http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...s&pagenumber=3 ) The ability to calibrate my display devices myself is a great relief to me especially since I like to change my source hardware often and with a DLP system, there is bulb ware and replacements which would cause the necessity of a recalibration much sooner than a CRT based RPTV. My HT setup was now beautiful... Almost.


Although my HT would now best any theater I know of in my area (commercial or consumer), I still wasn’t happy. It just wasn’t as pleasing to me as my RPTV. The color still seemed just the small amount off and the black levels and contrast were a little disappointing. I have been on a horror film kick lately watching lots of movies where the black level and contrast is very important to the immersive experience. (Just try watching Friday the 13th on a low contrast, low black level projector)


I spent another week tweaking the Sharp just that little bit more with the Sharp Vision Manager which allows you to adjust the gamma curves for RGB. I didn’t get very far with that. I was never able to really improve on the picture quality and in most cases, adjusting the custom gamma created really bad artifacts, banding, or weird pixilation dithering effects.


I was at the point where I was seriously considering taking a loss on the Sharp 9000 and buying a new Sharp 10000, Infocus 7200, or Marantz vp12s2 and hope that the improved blacks and contrast ratios cured my aliment.


But I tried one more thing, calibrating the projector with a color correction filter. Many AVS members have tried it; many more have talked about it. The most descriptive report I have read on using CC filters with the Sharp was from Matt Augustine. ( http://www.teamzim.com/augie/ht/smart/ ) But, Matt’s end comments of the experience were that although he saw a dramatic improvement in black level and contrast, the loss of brightness was not worth the improvements of adding a filter. Not a very promising article for my situation. So I read his article over and over for weeks. I also read about contrast and CC filter theory of the SMART calibration system from Steve Smallcombe ( http://www.smartavtweaks.com/ ) over and over again. Eventually I decided to take the $33 plunge (I know, I know… tens of thousands on HT equipment and I spend a week debating whether I wanted to try a $33 filter.) Steve Shubick’s at EnhancedHT ( http://www.enhancedht.com/ ) served up an Optiflex Color Correcting 4x4 CC30R filter for me and I was about to make my last attempt at salvaging my projector choice.


Well let me tell you….


Oh My Gawd! What a difference a filter makes. With Colorfacts I was able to calibrate the projector to flat d65 from 20 to 100 and obtain a 750:1 contrast ratio. If I wanted my bright whites a little blue, I could get a 905:1 contrast ratio using AVIA after the calibration. That’s right, I said 905:1. And that’s with a flat d65 from 20 to 90 IRE. Freaking amazing! It's just unbelievable that everyone doesn’t do this. This one $33 filter (and proper calibration tools) made my $10,000 (MSRP) projector look and perform at a level that is just a hair below my RPTV. Any light loss (or decrease in brightness) by using a filter was not perceivable to me over the light loss with d65 calibration without the filter.


Now, finally, after 3 months, my projector and HT is at a level of quality that allows me to enjoy my films, get immersed in the experience, and never be distracted by the limitations of mediocre black levels, low contrast, or improper color calibration. For all you other Sharp 9000 owners out there, I implore you to go out and try a CC20R or CC30R filter in your home theater. If a filter it works for you, great, if it doesn’t, its only $33; the lowly price of two DVDs. It’s a small cost to lose on the chance that it will improve your setup. If you don’t have access to a ColorFacts system, have an ISF tech calibrate your sharp with a filter. I think your will be happy.


The one thing I can’t do is explain why Matt’s experience wasn’t the same as mine. Could it be that his room isn’t 100% light controlled? Maybe his projector was properly calibrated before he tried the SMART calibration. Maybe it’s because the SMART system isn’t designed for Sharp’s. Maybe his inability to properly measure bias with the photocell was the problem. ( http://www.teamzim.com/augie/ht/smart/step-06.htm ) I don’t know. I only hope that he will try again.


I want to thank Matt Augustine, Steve Smallcombe, Steve Shubick’s, and all the other AVS members out there who have experimented and documented using a CC filter with these types of projectors. I also want to thank Mark Hunter for ColorFacts and Russ for helping me apply ColorFacts.


Amazing I say, visually amazing.