Of late I have come across a few posts on this forum seeking advice on projectors, Heres hoping that this post can help somewhat. This is a comparision between three popular projectors: Epson 2030, LG PF1500G, and LG PF1000UW.
Some things that I would like to make clear before proceeding. I am not a professional reviewer by any stretch of the imagination. The images that I am posting were all taken with a Nikon Coolpix S9100 using the Night Landscape mode. The camera was initially set to the Auto mode; what this did was that the camera would automatically use its built-in post processing effects to brighten the image a very helpful feature when you are clicking away in parties but not so useful when aiming for accuracy. I then selected the Night Landscape mode because it gives a more relatively accurate picture of how the image looks to the human eye. Again, please note that the images taken by the camera in this mode still do not give an accurate reproduction of how the image would look to the human eye. But what I am hoping is to show the picture quality of the three projectors relative to each other.
On to projection surface: two projector screens were used. One is an Optoma Greywolf II screen (92 inches diagonal) with a grey screen and 1.8 gain.
The other is a generic portable tripod screen (6ft x 4ft). Why two projector screens? The answer is that the LG PF1000 is an ultra short projector and for some reason short throw projectors do not do well with high gain screens. The image becomes dark when viewed from front and center but becomes progressively brighter as you move to the side similar to what happens when you view images on a TN monitor, but in reverse.
The first series of pictures will show the Epson 2030 projecting on to the Greywolf screen.
Note that I shot pictures of the projectors displaying still images only. This was done to avoid introducing image blur owing to slow camera shutter speeds.
The image showing the black and white shades is in 4:3 aspect ratio. The extended black bars to either side are due to the absence of an image.
Other images
The artifacts in dark images is due to digital noise introduced by camera ISO settings. They are not actually present in the image.
Now on to the LG PF1500G.
And yes, this is the European version, which supposedly is not as bright as the US version. However, I have come across a post in some forum where it is mentioned that the initial units of the European versions were not as bright - the later ones, though, apparently have the same level of brightness as the US ones.
The pics above were projected onto the portable tripod screen. The pics below show the same projector image on the Greywolf.
And finally the PF1000UW.
This is the newer version of the PF1000U. It is an ultra short throw (UST) projector and I must say that it is a rather convenient projector to use. Just place it a few inches in front of the screen and you have yourself a very bright and vibrant image. The projection surface, though, must be smooth otherwise the image will appear wavy. I am happy to confirm that the portable tripod projector I have is perfect for the job. No waves in the image. I have seen reports backed up by images which suggest that tripod screens display waves with this particular projector. I guess I got lucky - or maybe some people got unlucky.
Like I mentioned earlier, this is not a professional review. For instance, the picture settings on all the projectors were not set to the exact same values - though they were all on CINEMA mode. So if a particular projector's colours seem muted it could be because the colour has been tuned down. I don't like my colours oversaturated so most of the colour settings will probably be on the lower side of the spectrum.
Hope this proves helpful to some forum members who are on the fence about what model of projector to go for.
Some things that I would like to make clear before proceeding. I am not a professional reviewer by any stretch of the imagination. The images that I am posting were all taken with a Nikon Coolpix S9100 using the Night Landscape mode. The camera was initially set to the Auto mode; what this did was that the camera would automatically use its built-in post processing effects to brighten the image a very helpful feature when you are clicking away in parties but not so useful when aiming for accuracy. I then selected the Night Landscape mode because it gives a more relatively accurate picture of how the image looks to the human eye. Again, please note that the images taken by the camera in this mode still do not give an accurate reproduction of how the image would look to the human eye. But what I am hoping is to show the picture quality of the three projectors relative to each other.
On to projection surface: two projector screens were used. One is an Optoma Greywolf II screen (92 inches diagonal) with a grey screen and 1.8 gain.
The other is a generic portable tripod screen (6ft x 4ft). Why two projector screens? The answer is that the LG PF1000 is an ultra short projector and for some reason short throw projectors do not do well with high gain screens. The image becomes dark when viewed from front and center but becomes progressively brighter as you move to the side similar to what happens when you view images on a TN monitor, but in reverse.
The first series of pictures will show the Epson 2030 projecting on to the Greywolf screen.
Note that I shot pictures of the projectors displaying still images only. This was done to avoid introducing image blur owing to slow camera shutter speeds.
The image showing the black and white shades is in 4:3 aspect ratio. The extended black bars to either side are due to the absence of an image.
Other images
The artifacts in dark images is due to digital noise introduced by camera ISO settings. They are not actually present in the image.
Now on to the LG PF1500G.
And yes, this is the European version, which supposedly is not as bright as the US version. However, I have come across a post in some forum where it is mentioned that the initial units of the European versions were not as bright - the later ones, though, apparently have the same level of brightness as the US ones.
The pics above were projected onto the portable tripod screen. The pics below show the same projector image on the Greywolf.
And finally the PF1000UW.
This is the newer version of the PF1000U. It is an ultra short throw (UST) projector and I must say that it is a rather convenient projector to use. Just place it a few inches in front of the screen and you have yourself a very bright and vibrant image. The projection surface, though, must be smooth otherwise the image will appear wavy. I am happy to confirm that the portable tripod projector I have is perfect for the job. No waves in the image. I have seen reports backed up by images which suggest that tripod screens display waves with this particular projector. I guess I got lucky - or maybe some people got unlucky.
Like I mentioned earlier, this is not a professional review. For instance, the picture settings on all the projectors were not set to the exact same values - though they were all on CINEMA mode. So if a particular projector's colours seem muted it could be because the colour has been tuned down. I don't like my colours oversaturated so most of the colour settings will probably be on the lower side of the spectrum.
Hope this proves helpful to some forum members who are on the fence about what model of projector to go for.
Last edited:
. A big thank you to elangoas for the Imgur suggestion.
) 
