The latest laser projectors from Canon, Christie, Digital Projection, Epson, NEC, Panasonic and Sony were put to the test in a shootout held by integrator Pure AV.
The Pure AV Laser Showcase took place at the Victoria Warehouse Hotel, Manchester on 12 October. What started as a chance for staff to take a closer look at the latest laser projection offerings ended up as an event involving ten manufacturers, and around 40 delegates from sectors including education, health and enterprise. The day also added a mini-exhibition and presentations into the mix.
As well as the projector brands, additional products from Peerless and Samsung were shown, with projection screens provided by event supporter Sapphire.
The event was opened with a key note on laser projection and standards delivered by Greg Jeffreys, founding director of Visual Displays and former InfoComm president. Discussing the importance of standards and offering guidance on the evaluation and assessment of images, the presentation set the scene for the projector shootout that followed.
The six-projector shootout, for 6,000-lumen models, encouraged delegates to take a closer look at the image quality on display; participants were invited to score the projectors out of 10 against a range of criteria including, greyscale, contrast, uniformity and colour rendition.
Cabinets were placed over the projectors to hide the identity, which ensured that judging was based solely on image quality, and also provoked lively discussion as to which projector was which. All manufacturers were required to use standard lenses and content was run from a single laptop and distributed via HDMI using identical length cables.
Each manufacturer put on an impressive showcase of laser projection technology. The Panasonic 1-chip DLP PT-RZ660 emerged as the day’s overall top performer, with the Canon LX-MU600Z finishing just one point behind.
Pure AV managing director Peter Sutton commented: “We are delighted with the way that the delegates embraced the concept of the event. There was much lively debate during the shootout, followed by lots of constructive dialogue with the manufacturers as they presented the wider merits of their solutions in the exhibition area. Early feedback from customers and suppliers has been extremely positive. We seem to have found a format that has encouraged everyone, Pure AV staff, manufacturers and delegates alike, to take a fresh look at what laser projection has to offer.”
