PRODUCT REVIEW
Sanyo PLV-Z5 Widescreen LCD Projector
Sanyo’s “Z” series of projectors have consistently raised the bar for performance while lowering prices. The Z5 continues that tradition.
Ever since the first “Z” projector came out about 5 years ago, fans of low-cost home theater have flocked to these products. With each successive generation, resolution was improved (PLV-Z2), color and gamma tweaked (PLV-Z3), and black levels and contrast souped up (PLV-Z4).
Now, the latest “Z” projector brings a few more tricks to the table, including a dual iris system for even higher contrast (factory claim is 10,000:1), dual HDMI inputs, 12-bit signal processing, and improved color management. Throw in a predicted MAP of $1695, and the PLV-Z5 could turn out to be quite a bargain.
OUT OF THE BOX
Figure 1. Sanyo’s PLV-Z5 LCD projector
Figure 2. A close-up of the PLV-Z5’s input connectors.
In terms of appearance, the PLV-Z5 is a dead ringer for its predecessor (PLV-Z4, reviewed here a year ago). It has the same case dimensions, the same hide-a-away automatic sliding lens cover, but a different finish. Instead of a two-tone gray, the entire housing is now a lighter shade of brushed silver.
The connector plate is almost the same, except for the addition of a second HDMI input jack. The rest of the line-up is similar, with two component, one VGA, and one each composite and S-video jacks. Unfortunately, “Z” fans waiting for a 12V screen trigger will have to bide their time a little longer: It’s still not included on this model.
The supplied remote control is identical to the Z4’s unit. It’s a nice layout with big buttons, direct access to all inputs (the HDMI input is toggled), a nice directional keypad, and a strong backlight. It fits nicely in the hand and you can even use it without looking.
Sanyo has retained the nice long zoom lens (2.0:1) with manual zoom, focus, and horizontal and vertical lens offset. This gives you tremendous flexibility in locating the projector, as the lens offset is about 50% horizontally and 100% vertically.
The dual iris system places one shutter at the lens and another at the lamp, with iris action tied to program luminance levels. You can also define a specific iris setting and either have the automatic iris respond quickly or slowly. The lamp has several operating modes, including an economy mode that reduces brightness about 20%.
REMOTE AND MENUS
Not that much has changed from the original PLV-Z4 menu. There are seven different picture presets, including three CINEMA modes, NATURAL, LIVING, DYNAMIC, and VIVID. (I’m not sure what the difference is between the last two, as they produced the same light reading in my tests.)
A modified Advanced Menu contains the iris controls, which have been expanded with a choice of AUTO 1, AUTO 2, OPEN or CLOSED. In AUTO 1, the iris opens and closes at normal speed, while AUTO 2 selection speeds up the transition (handy for TV shows, where scene luminance is all over the place).
Lamp settings go hand-in-hand, allowing you to operate the projector at normal brightness, change light output in step with luminance changes in video scenes, or drop into the previously mentioned economy mode. You’ll also find two black stretch settings; three contrast enhancement selections, and three edge enhancement choices.
At the heart of the Advanced Menu are the individual RGB Gain, Offset, and Gamma controls, and here is where you’ll do most of your grayscale corrections. Remember that all of your settings can be saved into four different USER modes, which can be toggled directly from the remote control.
Sanyo has retained the color management functions from earlier projectors. With this function, you can adjust saturation, phase, and gamma for any color. It’s a nice function, but tricky to work with. I’d suggest using primary and secondary colors from standard color bar test patterns and stay away with subtle shades.
The COLOR LIST function works from internal memories. LIST 0 provides no color correction, while LIST 2 applies corrections you’ve made with the color manager. LIST 2 enhances flesh tones, while LIST 3 kicks up primary colors.
A dynamic gamma circuit provides rapid-fire gamma correction with changes in signal level. There are two choices in this menu, but the description is limited to “small correction” and ‘large correction”. One additional helpful feature adjusts the black level with HDMI input signals, where black may be set to 0 IRE or 7.5 IRE.
ON THE TEST BENCH
I ran many different signals into the PLV-Z5 to give it a thorough workout. (Along the way, I inadvertently discovered it also supports 1080p/60 through its HDMI inputs!) Test DVDs included Video Essentials and the Realta HQV disc. I also used Men In Black to judge shadow detail and black levels.
For HD content, I viewed segments of native 720p programs including the Mets-Cardinals NLCS baseball playoffs, a Philadelphia Eagles — New Orleans Saints game (both on Fox HD), ESPN’s SportsCenter, Lost on ABC HD, and local ABC station WPVI’s HD newscasts. 1080i content came from NBC’s Sunday Night Football, Discovery HD, Showtime HD, and CBS prime time shows including CSI.
Figure 3. The PLV-Z5 tracks a grayscale better than its predecessor.
Figure 4. The projector’s gamma curve could be a bit smoother.
First, the bench measurements: After calibration for best grayscale image, I logged brightness at 389 ANSI lumens in User 2 mode with the lamp functioning normally and no auto iris. Brightness ranged from a high of 739 lumens in Vivid/Dynamic modes to a low of 179 lumens in Pure Cinema mode. Brightness uniformity was 73% to the average corner.
Contrast came in at 326:1 ANSI and 438:1 peak, which is certainly an improvement over the PLV-Z4’s readings of 279:1 and 396:1 peak using a single iris system. Displaying a small area white field and adjacent 100% black surround, I measured contrast at 1638:1 in AUTO IRIS 1 mode, and 1664:1 in AUTO 2 mode.
In my grayscale tracking tests, color temperature shifted about 450 degrees from high to low, no matter what gamma setting I selected. Figure 3 shows the actual plots. That too is an improvement over the Z4, which had a larger CT shift of 572 degrees. Figure 4 shows the PLV-Z5’s gamma curve after my tests, with the factory CREATIVE CINEMA gamma shown for comparison.
In terms of color rendering, the PLV-Z5 does a good job. Figure 5 shows the plotted color gamut, referenced to the REC.709 HDTV color gamut. The PLV-Z5 comes close to hitting the magenta and blue points, and was a little off with cyan, green, yellow, and red. Color saturation levels can presumably be changed with the color management system and an accurate colorimeter to better match the REC.709 color space.
Figure 5. The PLV-Z5’s measured color gamut is quite close to the REC.709 color space.
IMAGE QUALITY
1280x720 resolution is a nice middle ground for projectors. It’s not too much of a leap from 720x480p, nor is it too much of a drop from 1920x1080i. The ideal set-up for viewing DVDs would have the player handle the “heavy lifting” with deinterlacing and motion error correction, then let the projector scale the result to 720p.
The PLV-Z5 works best when processing interlaced video as a component YPbPr signal using FILM mode. There are two other settings (L1, L2), but neither of them was as effective in cleaning up the scan line artifacts from the waving flag and rotating bar sequences. Composite video processing is average, with plenty of color moiré seen at 300 and 400 lines when displaying the VE Zone Plate.
Bandwidth is a bit of an issue with this projector. I saw slight banding at 18 MHz with the AccuPel luminance multiburst in 720p mode, and lots more at 37.5 MHz. 1080i results were about the same, so this projector could use a little help with its frequency response for really fine picture detail.
Best results came with native 720p content connected through the HDMI input. The colors from the Mets and Cardinals uniforms really popped in 720p, particularly bright oranges and crimson reds. Picture detail was superb, right down to blades of grass and seat on player’s faces when seen in close-up.
Ditto ABC’s Lost, where the colors of the jungle jumped off the screen and each actor’s flesh tones were realistic. Although I could have fiddled more with the Z5’s color management tools, I found the range of flesh tones and pastel colors I saw in Lost to be pretty much on the money and decided to stay with the factory default settings.
1080i wasn’t shabby either, particularly high bit-rate content from networks like CBS and Discovery HD. The Z5’s processing in 1080i mode is more of a “bob” than a “weave” process, so you will see some motion errors from time to time with live sports programming. A good outboard video scaler makes a real difference here.
CSI looked great converted from 1080i to 720p, but shadow details were lost in some really dark scenes. The iris system works very well to maintain high contrast and darker blacks, but you can expect some low luminance picture detail to disappear. I observed the same thing with Men In Black, as some low luminance levels were closer to dark gray than black.
None of this was a surprise — you’ll see pretty much the same thing with any current-model LCD projector, and it can be corrected to some degree by experimenting with gamma settings and the auto iris system.
As mentioned earlier, my Whitehorse scaler was set to 1080p/60 output when I began my image quality tests. I didn’t realize it until I started some of my testing. Nevertheless, the PLV-Z5 locked up right away on 1080p/60 signals, scaling them down to 1280x720 automatically. Comcast’s SportsNet HD, which started out as 1080i/30, was surprisingly detailed and crisp after surviving this inadvertent 1080i-to-1080p-to-720p journey!
CONCLUSIONS
Sanyo’s PLV-Z5 is indeed a step up from the acclaimed Z4. The differences may not be as dramatic as you’d expect from the marketing literature, but you will see better contrast and improved color shading. The RGB gain, offset, and gamma controls will allow you to tune up a nice clean grayscale and the projector’s dynamic range is outstanding for the price.
Just a couple of negatives: The second HDMI input is very nice to have, but the additional cost of a 12V screen trigger is miniscule and it should have been included on this model. Also, the fan on this review model was constantly noisier than that in a PLV-Z4 I set up in a side-by-side comparison. I’m not sure why, and must assume it was a mechanical problem with the lamp mode sensor. Even turning the projector’s power management circuit on made no difference.
