HDTV Projector Shopping: It’s Not All About Specs, Sometimes It’s About Logos

I was lucky enough to miss last week’s cold blast on the East Coast because I was comfortably reclining in a Mexican hotel with a bottomless margarita in my hand. In fact, I was at a home theater dealer retreat sponsored by Runco, which gathers its best dealers and a handful of magazine editors every year and brings them out to a Mexican beach to talk about issues in the industry and chase a few tequilas in between formal sessions.

One topic that came up several times was the ongoing spec war in home theater projectors. I’ve written in the past that resolution isn’t the only thing to judge a video display by. There’s contrast ratio (one of the most important specs), brightness and a host of other features that don’t really show up on spec sheets or are not easily quantifiable. In addition to the suggestion that most manufacturers fudge their specs a little bit (our product looks twice as good as their 1,000:1 projector so we’ll call it 2,000:1), there’s the issue that actual in-use contrast ratio and brightness will vary tremendously once the product is calibrated and projected onto a screen (screen size, gain and ambient light play a huge part).

So how do you judge a display before you buy? Runco uses a system called Cinema Standards Measurement System, which takes scree size and gain into account when measuring light output. But, as much as an improvement as that is, it’s still just another spec.

When THX started putting its logo on audio gear, that was viewed like a seal of approval. You can now find various levels of THX certification on receivers, amplifiers, speakers, cables and even some DVD and video games. Last fall the company started offering a video certification for displays (starting with Runco and Vidikron projectors) and DVRs (Series 3 Tivo). That logo should offer consumers an added sense of confidence that the product meets certain performance requirements.

Other logos to look out for: DCDi on the box tells you that the video processing is handled by Faroudja technology. HQV on the box tells you that Silicon Optics does the projector’s video processing. Then there’s the long list of made up logos that are specific to brands—most major flat panel TV brands have several.

So does all the logo and spec watching make product selection any easier? In my option, only a little. The real test is not on paper but on screen. Trust your eyes more than anything else. Shop around, talk to the installers or dealers in your area (read our reviews!) and weigh the picture quality against your budget.