Unbeatable Home Theatre Value

The BenQ PE5120 is a superb entry into the world of front projection home theatre.

I've owned mine for three months and I couldn't be more pleased with it. For financial reasons I had to downgrade from a more expensive LCD projector, but I don't miss it at all. DLP has several advantages over LCD, not the least of which (in my opinion) is the total lack of vertical banding or fixed pixel noise, which used to annoy me greatly.

The dreaded DLP rainbow effect is not an issue for me with this projector, despite its relatively slow 2x colour wheel. I saw rainbows when I first set up the projector, but quickly trained my eye not to see them. It is, however, an issue you should consider if you have never seen a DLP in action as some people do have major issues with this side-effect.

The image is bright and colours are surprisingly accurate to my eyes. (I have worked as a cinema projectionist for 25 years so I would like to think I have good idea of what movies should look like.) There are a few controls to adjust colour, brightness and the like, but these are quite basic compared to more expensive projectors.

My PE5120 is mounted on the ceiling about 12" from the screen, which is 74' diagonal. The image looks best with all room lighting off, but it can get away with a small lamp on in the room (although contrast is diminished).

The projector can resolve fine detail in DVD material, although if I set my DVI player to upconvert the signal to high-definition, the picture looses sharpness. It performs best, therefore, with standard-definition DVD material.

For the price, this projector is unbeatable. It is also a much better choice for home theatre enthusiasts than 4:3 "data" projectors, as it is optimised for home theatre and sports a widescreen DLP chip.