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Posted By: mpyw Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 08:37 AM
It's been sold over here for almost same price for all the above three projector models.

HW30 & 5010 comes with 2 pairs of glasses but Panny comes with a Bluray HT with a 3D BD player.

I have seen the Sony but are not impressive with the black level but the demo unit was not proper calibrated, however I do like the 3D, not dim at all at dynamic setting and I don't feel dizzy watching using the shutter glasses.

Have not seen the Panny & Epson but from review, they are equally good and the Epson are the cheapest among the 3.

Which would you guys buy if you are in the same boat like me?
Posted By: SirQuack Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 01:54 PM
I would read the reviews at Projector Central dot Com, they have a review between the panny and the epson. They are both good projectors. I like the Panny's ability to auto adjust for different aspect ratios.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 01:59 PM
I was looking at those exact 3 myself, but the general consensus from some of the AVS elitists, is that the 3D just isn't their in these models. It isn't terrible by any means, but the brightness (which impacts ghosting, etc) is an issue, especially once they (or any projector) hits a couple hundred hours on the lamp.

I didn't care about 3D, so I went with a JVC for a leaps-and-bounds ahead 2D image, but potentially worse 3D image than the ones above. It just is a matter of what you watch most. And with something like less than 5% of the worlds movies in 3D, and a chunk of those are bad movies, it wasn't important to me.

The lens memory is VERY nice too, so if you want to be able to store zoom, shift, and focus settings for different screen ratios, look at one with that.
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 02:53 PM
What is the model number of your JVC projector?

You still have Sanyo in your sig line link.
Posted By: SirQuack Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 03:44 PM
The JVC is pretty pricey in my book. I will probably be shopping for something new in the next 6 months or so, to stay up with the Jones family. At this point the Panny or Epsons are on my list, based on reviews I have read.
In all my projector selection journeys, I've learned that every single one of them, no matter the cost, has its warts. When picking one, you just need to figure out which one is less ugly than the others.....

Personally, out of the ones you listed, I would go with the Sony. If its low ire blacks did not impress you, the others will not either, but maybe the JVC. Calibration is the key point here, and I wouldn't put much faith in demo units unless I knew they were calibrated at d65.

If 3D or gaming is important to you, DLP would be the best choice.

Here's a shoot out between four projectors that's a good read. (pany not included)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1382091
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 06:29 PM
After reading this, I think that the Sony VPL-HW30ES at $3700 is my favorite performer.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 06:55 PM
Originally Posted By: CatBrat
What is the model number of your JVC projector?

You still have Sanyo in your sig line link.


Hmmm... My sig shows the following when I look at it:
M60s,VP180,VP150,(4)QS8s,20-39PCi,HD-A2,JVC RS45, Onkyo TX-NR709

I got it at a pre-order price of less than the street price of the Panny 7000 (by a few hundred $$$) and more than $1000 off of the price of the Sony, so it was a no brainer for me. Ink like blacks are awesome.

People argue at other sites that for gaming, a DLP is the way to go, but then again, they are the ones that say that they will keep their JVC for movies, and buy a "cheap" DLP for gaming... Yea, like I have the budget for TWO projectors. Others say that they are fine with gaming on LCOS (like the JVC) or LCD. I know that I played games like Batman: Arkham Asylum on my Sanyo Z3 (720p LCD with a dimming bulb) and I had no motion issues, and I am sensitive to refresh rates, etc...

Sort of like the DLP color wheel problem that used to be really bad, and has gotten better. I can still see the "rainbow effect" even with the "better" technology, but have no issues with motion on LCD. Strange, but true.
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/10/12 06:58 PM
Ah. I didn't see it there. I was clicking on the link instead. Oops.
Posted By: Bayne Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/12/12 08:59 PM
I've had 2 Panny's and 1 JVC over the years and my favourite by far is the JVC--but that did take me 3 years to save up for. Of the 3 that you mentioned, I'd go for the AE7000. Panasonics have always had great placement flexibility and lots of features, but like all LCD projectors the light paths are not sealed. I'm a clean-freak and I was getting dust blobs in my projectors every few months. I got tired if cleaning them out and decided the inky blacks, superb colour and sealed light path was worth the extra cost of the JVC. I care not for 3D, BTW, so my opinion is based purely on the 2D capability.
Originally Posted By: michael_d
In all my projector selection journeys, I've learned that every single one of them, no matter the cost, has its warts. When picking one, you just need to figure out which one is less ugly than the others.....

And ultimately this is why i decided not to bother with the technology.
Couldn't stand the various faults.

I think i'm going to wait it out for OLED to go mainstream.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/12/12 10:45 PM
Originally Posted By: Bayne
Panasonics have always had great placement flexibility and lots of features, but like all LCD projectors the light paths are not sealed. I'm a clean-freak and I was getting dust blobs in my projectors every few months. I got tired if cleaning them out and decided the inky blacks, superb colour and sealed light path was worth the extra cost of the JVC. I care not for 3D, BTW, so my opinion is based purely on the 2D capability.


Those are the exact reasons that most people jumped on the JVC boat (like I did)... Better brightness and contrast than any LCD, plus no dust blobs, and it has even more flexibility than the 7000 as far as being able to save all of the motorized functions into a lens memory (I read that the Panny doesn't do the lends shift quite as expected).

No matter what, all of these projectors are really good, it just depends on what you want. I went for best 2D movie picture and flexibility, others want better 3D, and so on.
Posted By: pmbuko Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/13/12 06:55 PM
Originally Posted By: chesseroo
Originally Posted By: michael_d
In all my projector selection journeys, I've learned that every single one of them, no matter the cost, has its warts. When picking one, you just need to figure out which one is less ugly than the others.....

And ultimately this is why i decided not to bother with the technology.
Couldn't stand the various faults.

I think i'm going to wait it out for OLED to go mainstream.

You must have put your lineup of potential wives through quite the assay.
Posted By: Nick B Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/13/12 10:32 PM
In terms of contrast ratio and black levels, the Sony and JVC are always at the top of the list. The Sony's use a dynamic iris, where it may be distracting every once in a while. But their iris is supposed to be better than just about any other manufacturer's implementation. JVC is able to get very similar contrast ratio and black levels without a dynamic iris, which is a nice plus. For the past several years JVC has nudged ahead of the Sony in terms of professional reviews. But this year the Sony nudged ahead of the JVC slightly. I don't think that you could go wrong with either of them.

For me, when I go with a projector it will probably be either the Sony or the JVC. Contrast ratio and black levels, to me, are the most important aspects of a display to give the most life-like image quality (that is unless something else like color, for example is waaaaay off and cannot be fixed with calibration). Now having owned a Kuro display for the past several years, I cannot change this requirement when going to a projector for a larger more immerse viewing experience.

If the Sony and JVC are out of your price-range, then the Epson UB's are supposed to be close in terms of contrast and blacklevel, but a more budget friendly price-point.
Well there is the whole "big screen" experience that helps make the warts less distracting. But admittedly, I do not watch sports in the HT and reserve that for the plasma. I should have a Sony VPL VW95 next week to play with. It's motion handling is reported to be very good, so I may be able to watch the Superbowl on it.
Originally Posted By: pmbuko

You must have put your lineup of potential wives through quite the assay.

I thoroughly researched every single one over a ten year span.
Ah good times...
Posted By: mpyw Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/20/12 05:55 AM
How much does the custom installer charge for the hook up, setting & isf calibration excluding the projector?

I have a quote of $4.8k for RS45 inclusive of delivery, installation, setup & isf calibration. Worth it?
Posted By: Bayne Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/20/12 03:04 PM
Professional install and calibration is a joke. I've had 3 projectors and was able to get everything set myself and looking great with just the price of a decent calibration disk. Find a calibration thread for your projector model, there are often several installers online who post their settings. Take those, apply them to your model, and use a calibration disk to fine tune the settings to your unique bulb and unit. It's easy and cheap. Plus what you consider a great picture is often different from what someone else conisders a great picture. You may like a slightly greener or redder picture, you installer may not. Picture, like sound, sound be based on your taste alone.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/20/12 03:15 PM
Not sure what the base price of the RS45 is for you. For me it was $2600. So $2200 more would not be worth it at all for me.

I agree with Bayne. There are so many setup discs out there to do what you want with a little time. Also, the RS45 won't get to a near perfect color since you would need an external CMS to get it right on the mark as the RS45 doesn't have robust CMS controls if you want to call them that.

Now, I own an RS45, but have only shot the image on to a beige painted wall, and the image was great out of the box. I see me making a few adjustments once I get it into the theater, but wow, was I blown away.
Posted By: Bayne Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/20/12 04:02 PM
I have a JVC RS25 and was very happy with the THX colour setting and the custom one I calibrated with the Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics blu-ray disk. Then one of the installers on the AVS Forum calibration thread posted his settings for the extensive CMS the RS25 has. I entered all his settings as a base and calibrated again with the DVE disk. Wow, what an improvement. Now I calibrate those setting every few hundred hours as the bulb changes and am still blown away by the picture quality.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/20/12 04:44 PM
I've heard that the (of all people) Disney WOW disc is great for DIY calibration. I hope so because I bought it. The others out there seem like just minor updates to the old DVD versions, which who knows if they are an issue or not as I too have the DVD version of a few calibration discs.

Plus, you are right on with this, many people post online the calibrations that they are using, and while there are other factors, like screen gain, etc, but they are a great starting point.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/20/12 10:27 PM
Hey, I found the RS45 calibration thread over at AVS... Here you go:
JVS DLA-RS45/X30 Calibration
Posted By: mpyw Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 01/21/12 02:07 PM
The price of any projector here are very high, usually selling at USA list price, so it would be like $4200 or so. The price he quoted does include 2 pairs of 3D glasses. I did ask my friend who is in the business of AV, he said it's a ver good price and about 25% cheaper than RS40 previously sold here and he's surprised at the price quoted as well.
Posted By: mpyw Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/10/12 01:56 PM
Finallly ordered the Sony, will be installing next week.....wish me luck! :p
Posted By: SirQuack Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/10/12 01:57 PM
Wish you luck... smile
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/10/12 02:39 PM
Nice choice.

I stole the info below from a post on AVS by this guy that seems to do a LOT of projector testing/reviewing. You will notice that the Sony shows up on the list multiple times (which is good).


------------------------------------------------------------------------
*******Coder's Projector Picks and Awards of 2012*******
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best 2D Image for Movies under $8,000 = JVC RS-55 LCOS with e-shift and Lens Memory (CIH ability)
Runner Up: Sony vw95es (also has CIH)

Best 2D Image for Movies under $4000 = JVC RS-45 LCOS with Lens Memory (CIH Ability)
Runner Ups: Sony hw30 and Epson 5010 (neither have CIH)

Best "Do Everything but CIH" Projector (3D, 2D, and Gaming) under $4000 = Sony hw30
Runner Up: Epson 5010 (has some gaming lag)

Best "Do Everything with CIH" Projector under $4000 = Panasonic ae7000u
Runner Up: JVC RS-45 (some gaming lag, 3D not perfect)

Best 2D Image for Movies under $2500 = JVC HD250
Runner Up: Epson 8700ub

Best overall 2D Image under $2000 = Epson 8700ub, Benq w6000, and Mitsubishi hc4000
Runner Ups: Panasonic ae4000u

Best overall 2D Image with Easy Placement Flexibility under $2000: Epson 8700ub
Runner Up: Benq w6000 (not as placement flexible, but sharper)

Best overall 2D Image with Easy Placement Flexibility under $1500: Epson 8350
Runner Up: Benq w6000 (not quite as placement flexible but a sharper image)

Best Overall 2D Image under $1500 = Mitsubishi hc4000 and Benq w6000
Runner Up: Epson 8350 and Benq w1200

Best 2D Image for an LCD under $1500 = Epson 8350

Lowest Cost 3D-1080p LCD Projector: Epson 3010

Lowest Cost 1080p 2D Only Image = Viewsonic Pro8200
Runner Up: Optoma hd20, various Acer 1080p Models

Most accurate projectors under $2000 without ANY Calibration (good gamma and color): Epson 3010/8350/8700ub, and Mitsubishi hc4000
Most accurate projectors under $5000 before Calibration: Sony hw30 (also very accurate after calibration)

Sharpest Projectors of 2012: Benq Models, Runco Models, and various high-end DLP models

Sharpest Non-DLP Projectors of 2012 = JVC RS-45/55/65
Runner Up: Epson 5010

Sharpest Projectors under $2500 = Benq w1200 and Benq w6000
Runner Up: Mitsubishi hc4000 and JVC HD250 LCOS

DLP Projector with least Rainbow Effect (RBE) under $2000: Optoma hd33/hd3300

DLP Projector with least Rainbow Effect (RBE) under $1500: Viewsonic Pro8200

Lowest Cost Projector with fully automated CIH Lens Memory (auto-zooms 16:9, 2.35 naturally): Panasonic ae4000u

Lowest Cost Projector with semi-auto CIH: Mitsubishi hc4000 (has to scale 16:9, 2.35 naturally)

Best Low Cost Closeout or Refurb LCOS Projector: LG cf181d or any of the JVC Models (when available - RS10, HD250, RS15, RS20, etc...)

Best Low Cost Closeout or Refurb LCD Projector: Epson 6500ub (when available) or Epson 8500ub/8700ub (limited availability for refurbs)

Best DLP Black Levels under $2000 = Acer 9500bd and Benq w6000

Best Low Cost 3D Image under $2000 = Acer 9500bd and Optoma hd33
Runner Up: Epson 3010

Best Overall 3D Image under $4000 = Acer9500bd and Epson 5010 and Sony hw30
Runner Ups: Benq w7000 and Optoma hd8300

Best Black Levels in 3D under $4000 = Acer9500bd and Panasonic ae7000u
Runner Ups: Sony hw30 and Epson 5010 (IRIS is disabled in 3D mode, others have IRIS)

Best 3D Gaming Projectors with Best 2D under $4000 = Sony hw30 and Benq w7000 and Panasonic ae7000u
Runner Up: Acer 9500bd (SBS issue affects some games, lacks calibration controls which gives others edge in 2D)

Best CIH / 2.35 Format Projectors under $4000: JVC RS-45 and Panasonic ae7000u

Best NON-3D Gaming Projector under $1000 = Viewsonic Pro8200 DLP
Runner Up: Optoma hd20

Best NON-3D Gaming Projector under $1500 = Mitsubishi hc4000 DLP
Runner Up: Epson 8350 (better placement flexibility, but not quite as sharp)

Best 3D Gaming Projector under $2000 = Optoma hd33
Runner Ups: Acer9500bd (SBS issue), and Epson 3010 (lag + LCD vs. DLP)

Best 2D Image with High Lumens under $1200 = Benq w1200
Runner Up: Viewsonic Pro8200 (higher lumens than the Benq w1200, but image and black levels are not as good)

Best Native Motion under $2000 = Mitsubishi hc4000

Best Projector at handling poorer sources and maintaining the appearance of a clean signal (Cable, Netflix, etc...) under $2000:
Mitsuibishi hc4000

Best 1080p Light Cannon Projector for Large Screens under $1000 = Viewsonic Pro8200 (1500+ Lumens near best mode) ...Handles 150" to 180" Screens without gain...

Best 1080p Light Cannon Projector for Large Screens under $1500 = Epson 3010 (1500+ Lumens Near Best Mode) ...Handles 150" to 180" Screens without gain...
Runner Ups: Benq w6000, Benq w1200, and Optoma hd33 (1000+ to 1200+ lumens)

Best 1080p Light Cannon Projector for VERY Large Screens under $2000 = Panasonic ar100u (2000+ Lumens near best mode) ...Handles 200"+ Screens...

Best 1080p Light Cannon Projector for VERY Large Screens under $3500 = Epson g5450 @ 4000 rated Max Lumens (2500+ Lumens near best mode) ...Handles 250"+ Screens...

Best 1080p Light Cannon Projector for VERY Large Screens under $5000 = Epson g5750 @ 4500 rated Max Lumens (3000+ Lumens near best mode) ...Handles 275"+ Screens...

Most Controversial Projectors and Biggest Dissapointments of 2012: Middle-End DLP's between $2000 and $5000
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/10/12 02:48 PM
Cool. I made a doc out of this and saved it to my desktop.
Posted By: mpyw Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/20/12 01:46 PM
Installed the Sony hw30es on sat. The installer do the calibration and tune the gamma to almost perfect 2.2 and around 6500k. The picture is WOW!

The low lamp mode is good enough for me in 3D mode and very bright in 2D mode. Black level is no as good as the JVC but without Side by side comparison, you won't notice a thing missing. It look so solid and I don' need to do any panel alignment adjustment at all, it's sharp but not as sharp as the DLP competitor.

Will post some picture over the weekend.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/20/12 03:44 PM
Awesome. Glad you are loving it!
Posted By: mpyw Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/26/12 11:14 AM
here some picture of my new projector :p



the image:-




Posted By: grunt Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 02/26/12 02:39 PM
It’s a seahorse! Wait you’re not the doc. Seriously, very nice pictures.

@ Nick, nice list of projector info . . . maybe AVS is still useful for something.
Posted By: JBG Re: Sony HW30 vs Panny AE7000 vs Epson 5010 - 07/16/12 03:53 AM
Originally Posted By: SirQuack
I would read the reviews at Projector Central dot Com, they have a review between the panny and the epson. They are both good projectors. I like the Panny's ability to auto adjust for different aspect ratios.


have to agree with sirquack

I have the epson 3010 & very happy..
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