Review: Sanyo PLV-Z700 Projector

At the rate things are going, 1080p projectors may cost less than a clearance sale recliner by this time next year. With fierce competition from home theater projector makers such as Panasonic, Epson and Mitsubishi, Sanyo continues to lead the industry push towards affordable 1080p.

Be careful though – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: 1080p alone does not a good projector make. (Be sure to read that using your best Yoda voice.) Resolution is important, but dynamic range and color accuracy are often far more critical when it comes to creating an affecting image. Thankfully, the PLV-Z700 is more than capable of holding its own in these all-important departments.

The PLV-Z700 is obviously going to appeal to shoppers seeking an affordable entry point into 1080p and those looking to find out just how impressive a Blu-ray Disc’s picture can be. However, it may come as a surprise that the PLV-Z700 is also an exceptionally flexible machine and comes with a consumer-friendly three year warranty. Its supremely tempting price tag may be what grabs your attention, but there are actually quite a few reasons to consider Sanyo’s PLV-Z700.

Aesthetically, the PLV-Z700 is a plain and unassuming white box. It’s not terribly attractive, but it also doesn’t draw attention – a legitimate concern for décor-minded shoppers considering a ceiling mount solution. The projector’s white casework blends nicely with a typical white ceiling and the motorized lens door takes the camouflage one step further when closed. The lens door is a quick visual indicator that the projector is on or off and it also serves to keep the lens clean and free from dust when not in use. It’s a bit noisy when opening and closing, but the benefits outweigh this nitpick. And while we’re talking noise, the PLV-Z700 is extremely quiet during use, with fan noise that’s barely noticeable in its default configuration. “Low” lamp mode gets things even quieter but light output is reduced considerably.

As I hinted at earlier, the PLV-Z700 couldn’t be easier to set up. This is thanks in large part to its 2.0x manual zoom lens and both vertical and horizontal lens shift controls. The 2.0x zoom means the PLV-Z700 can produce a 100-inch (diagonal) picture from anywhere between 10 and 20 feet away. Brightness falls off at the far end so stay close to the zoom’s midpoint for best results. I projected onto a 92-inch Carada Masquerade screen using a throw distance of roughly twelve feet.

The supplied remote is fully backlit with one button access to the projector’s seven distinct source inputs. I kept things on “HDMI 1” during my review but it’s always nice when you don’t have to hit SOURCE six times to get to a desired input. On-screen menus were simple to navigate but some folks may be a bit overwhelmed by the myriad configuration options. The “Advanced” menu leads to even more decisions, where several items (such as “Auto Black Stretch” and “Transient Improvement”) are not immediately obvious as to function and will likely require a trip to the Owner’s Manual. In short, tweakers should find plenty to keep themselves busy.

Using my SpyderTV PRO colorimeter, I had good luck dialing in the video settings on the PLV-Z700. I ended up using the “Creative Cinema” image preset as my starting point and made sure to disable the dynamic iris before making any changes. I also disabled “Auto Black Stretch,” “Dynamic Gamma” and “Contrast Enhancement” to keep everybody honest. I used the “Low1” color temperate preset and I was able to get pretty close to the D6500 standard with refreshingly consistent grayscale tracking. Video processing was very good and the PLV-Z700 did an admirable job tackling the “jaggies” tests on my HQV Benchmark disc.

After calibration, I checked out DISH Network’s new 1080p Video-On-Demand service and rented Iron Man. Tony Stark and his Mark III armor looked splendid with bold dashes of “hot rod red” and natural-looking skin tones. Using my Philips BDP7200 Blu-ray player I popped in Tropic Thunder and was once again stunned by the fine object detail and lush color palette present in this reference quality disc from Paramount Home Entertainment. The PLV-Z700 handled everything with ease and although black levels were not quite as deep as I’ve seen on some other projectors, they’re far from the charcoal grays which LCD used to be known for.

With street prices even lower than its $1,995 list price, the PLV-Z700 delivers a compelling high def picture at a price that was unthinkable two years ago and hard to resist now. yy