Benq W1070 HD projector & Sapphire 106" screen review

PyeContinental

Hi all,
I recently bought a Benq W1070 HD projector and a Sapphire 106" screen.
Would anyone be interested in a review with photos and how to optimise the setup?

I have ceiling-mounted the projector and added it to a 7.1 surround system which is essential for the home cinema experience.

I did a bit of research into everything, including the mount kit and cabling, so I think it could be informative. I also think a lot of people may be surprised to learn that a home cinema is an affordable alternative to a large screen tv.

It is going to take me a bit of effort to post about it, so I just wanted to check if there is any interest in a writeup. I haven't seen any full review of this projector yet on boards.

MHI

the benq w1070 is a fantastic projector at it price point, if you don't suffer from rainbow effect it performs excellent and give a big image from a short distance, the blacks/shadow detail could be better but hard to complain with a full HD 3D projector for under €1,000 euro. Hope you enjoy your set up.

eddiem74

Would be interested in some pics of your set-up and mount details.

I am just about to look at the BenQ to replace my existing Panasonic AX200. I am currently using a Vogels 545 mount.

PyeContinental

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
I have fitted it with the Brateck Two Pole Projector Ceiling/Wall Mount
Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0062H9WE0
At the moment it is listed out of stock by Amazon, but is currently in stock at £24.99 from one of the resellers.

It is not height adjustable, except you get two different length poles with it, one short (approx 10 cm) and one long (approx 65cm). It is able to configure to a lot of different fitting permutations though, and the tilt and swivel position is a full 360 degrees and up and down almost 90 degrees in all axes.

I'll put up some photos and write a bit more about it later, or answer any questions you might have.

eddiem74

Thanks, I had a loan of a W1070 over the weekend and went ahead and bit the bullet this week. Existing mount and screen location all work fine. Color is amazing from this thing...:D

PyeContinental

Yes the colours are accurate, and not oversaturated. Skintones look natural.
This is with the default settings.

The only setting I changed from default was for the lamp power from Normal to SmartEco. I perceive absolutely no difference in brightness going from one setting to the other. It is supposed to adjust the brightness dynamically and extend the lamplife to twice as long. I notice no detrimental effects if it is dynamically adjusting between scenes, whereas I have noticed this on my previous Toshiba tv which (like many tvs) is supposed to be able to save energy by dynamically adjusting the backlighting.

eddiem74

PyeContinental wrote: »

Yes the colours are accurate, and not oversaturated. Skintones look natural.
This is with the default settings.

The only setting I changed from default was for the lamp power from Normal to SmartEco. I perceive absolutely no difference in brightness going from one setting to the other. It is supposed to adjust the brightness dynamically and extend the lamplife to twice as long. I notice no detrimental effects if it is dynamically adjusting between scenes, whereas I have noticed this on my previous Toshiba tv which (like many tvs) is supposed to be able to save energy by dynamically adjusting the backlighting.

I tested out the calibration settings from the AvForums review and must say I think they really improved the picture or at least did not affect it badly. Really enjoying it now...:)

Nelbert

I'm thinking of having a very similar setup when I can scrape the cash together.

How far is your W1070 from the screen? Ceiling mounted?

I've an approx 8 foot wall and I want the bottom of my screen to be about 1.5-2feet above the floor and either be 106 or 120 on a 16:9 diagonal and am a bit confused on how far back and how far from the ceiling (downwards) the projector should be mounted.

PyeContinental

eddiem74 wrote: »

I tested out the calibration settings from the AvForums review and must say I think they really improved the picture or at least did not affect it badly. Really enjoying it now...:)

Have you a link to this? What settings did you adjust? Does this involve unlocking the expert calibration menu?

Nelbert wrote: »

How far is your W1070 from the screen? Ceiling mounted?

This is a very appropriate question.
I have mine mounted 9 feet/275cm (plus or minus an inch approx) from the screen. There is a range of about 1 metre or so in which you can mount it (for a given screen size), because there is a 1.5x zoom lens on it. There is a table of measurements published somewhere. I'll see if I can find it.

I'll get into more detail and the other measurements of the screen and aspect ratios of films later.

Nelbert

PyeContinental wrote: »

Have you a link to this? What settings did you adjust? Does this involve unlocking the expert calibration menu?


This is a very appropriate question.
I have mine mounted 9 feet/275cm (plus or minus an inch approx) from the screen. There is a range of about 1 metre or so in which you can mount it (for a given screen size), because there is a 1.5x zoom lens on it. There is a table of measurements published somewhere. I'll see if I can find it.

I'll get into more detail and the other measurements of the screen and aspect ratios of films later.

Great look forward to it. It's a couple of months away from being ready on the financial side of things but I've been trying to at least have the setup ready in my head well in advance.

eamondunphy

Where did you buy your projector and screen, hoping to get mine at the end of the month, treating myself for my 30th!!

Will be looking to at a similar set up to your, about 8/9 from screen, want at least 100 inch screen.

Can you put photos up when possible please?

eddiem74

PyeContinental wrote: »

Have you a link to this? What settings did you adjust? Does this involve unlocking the expert calibration menu?

Here you go!

PyeContinental

I bought the projector and screen from Richer Sounds as I like to give them the business if I can, and they were willing to match Amazon's price. They are always keen to sell with their 5-year warranty bundled, but you don't have to get it. In the end I decided to let them sell me the extended warranty, even though it won't cover the bulb of course. I suppose I felt I was spending so much that I might as well spend a little more for peace of mind (and thinking that if I didn't get it Murphy's law might kick in) also I don't mind so much letting them have a bit of extra profit margin.

I'll post up the exact prices a later, but from memory, the projector was £700 and the screen around £250. I bought a 10 metre Cablesson HDMI cable on Amazon for about £18 and it works fine. I don't believe I would have noticed any difference if I spent £100 on this cable, which I could have!

Anyway, here are some pics. You might spot straight away that my circumstances were particularly difficult, as I have a sloping (not flat) ceiling and the area in which I mounted the screen is not actually tall enough to allow me to pull down the screen to its full length. I'll write about how this affects my setup a bit later, but you might be able to see from the pics.
The short story is that for true cinematic films that have an anamorphic widescreen format, it is not a problem.

PyeContinental

It might be difficult to get a sense of scale, especially with the lights off. It could just look like I'm taking a picture of a tv. It is a cinema screen though. Funnily enough, I would say I would have got a bigger one if only the room was wider and I had more space. So if you are thinking of going big screen, my advice would be don't worry if you are thinking it might be too big. After a while, you will think it just looks normal.

PyeContinental

This is the projector screen I bought from Richer sounds:
Sapphire SWS240WSF-ASR2
It was £199.95 + £50 delivery and it arrived quickly and well packaged. It is a big item to have delivered. The long box it comes in is necessarily longer than the case of the screen itself.

Three things I wanted to know before I bought it were:
If it had a black backing to it (so it would be sure of blocking out light when mounted over a window). It does, and it does not let any light through it (in either direction).

If it could be mounted from the ceiling or from a wall. The brackets supplied with it do allow both mounting options and it is a very good system. You affix the brackets and then clip the screen casing into them. It works well.



The dimensions of the case (so I would know if it would fit between two walls).
The case is 250.5cm wide (but I would allow another mm or two. You could be sure that it would fit into a space of 251cm. Don't forget that you will need to leave room for your speakers either side of it too. The width of my cinema room is 274.5cm (approx 9feet) which is quite narrow.

The speakers are Logitech computer type speakers, similar to the type you get with surround sound systems, and much narrower than typical "bookshelf" type hifi speakers. You would think that the sound would be tinny, but with a powered subwoofer, the right sounds go to the right channels and your ear puts the sounds all back together in a way that sounds crisp and detailed. If anyone wants to know more about my sound setup, I'll go into more detail about it.

The width of the screen is 243.1cm (almost 95 and 3/4 inches) including the black border. The black border is 4.5cm on each side, therefore the viewable width is 234.1cm or just a fraction over 92 inches wide.

The full height of the screen is approximately 142cm or roughly 56 inches, including the weight bar (which is a little less wide than the case, measuring 247.7 or just over 97.5 inches) at the bottom of the screen (but not including the handle at the bottom centre of the screen).
The viewable height of the screen (excluding the black border at the top and bottom) is 132cm or roughly 52 inches.

The square root of the sum of the squares of the viewable width (234.1cm or 92") and height (132cm or 52") give a diagonal viewable screen measurement of just a shade under 106" which is close enough for me, given that my measurements of the viewable area were with a cheap tape measure.

To put all those figures more simply at a glance:

The red arrow on the right is a rough measurement of the total height needed for the height of the case including allowing for the mounting brackets, screen, and weight bar down to the bottom of the handle.

PyeContinental

Some more measurements for the Sapphire screen here:
http://www.ivojo.co.uk/projection-screen.php?pid=Sapphire_SWS240WSF-ASR2

Viewable Screen Dimensions Metric Imperial
Width 2338mm 92.0"
Height 1315mm 51.8"
Diagonal 2682mm 105.6"
Area 3.07m² 33.09'
Overall Material Surface Dimensions
Width 2432mm 95.7"
Height 1913mm 75.3"
Diagonal 3094mm 121.8"
Top Border Size 556mm 21.89"
Bottom Border 42mm 1.65"
Left & Right Border Size 47mm 1.85"
Area 4.65m² 50.08'
Case Dimensions
Length 2508mm 98.7"
Height 93mm 3.7"
Depth 79mm 3.1"
Surface Specifications
Surface Finish Matt White
Gain 1
Foot Lamberts / ANSI Lumen 30.22 / 1000
Lux / ANSI Lumen 325.26 / 1000
Additional Information
Weight 11.00kg.

PyeContinental

This is the screen I considered buying before I bought the Sapphire one from Richer Sounds:
Duronic EPS106/169 which is significantly cheaper than the Sapphire one at £79.99 and yet seems to have an electric motor included, although remote control is optional.
I have no need for an electric motor or remote, although perhaps this is something that would interest other people.

I decided not to order this one, partially because of the price being so low I thought it could not be all that great, and secondly because I thought it might be very expensive or a lot of hassle to get it posted to Ireland.

This may not have ben a very rational decision though, and although there are a few reviews of it on Amazon.co.uk, if anyone does get this, I'd be interested to hear your opinion of it - especially of course if you have seen the Sapphire screen and can compare both.

One thing I read in the Amazon reviews for this screen, which prepared me for the Sapphire was the plastic smell that you get from it. At first it seems subtle but after a while it seems overpowering. Like the reviewer on Amazon wrote though, it does dissipate after a day or two. It's not an offensive smell though. I think it's the same smell you'd get if you put your nose up to the plastic of a beach ball. My guess is this is the same smell you will get initially with any projector screen.

eamondunphy

thanks for all the info pye!!

i'll still not sure which projector to get, the w1070, the optoma hd25e or the epson tw5910, i was thinking this one cause of it being cheaper.

i see richersounds do a inance deal were you can buy now and pay after 6 months interest free, i;d defo be interested in doing this but not sure if it available to us in ireland, will be giving them a ring during the week.

can you think of anything on the benq w1070 that you might see as a negative??

PyeContinental

I can think of two negatives to the BenQ W1070, however both are very likely to also apply to the Optoma HD25e.

The first, and the big one for me, is the noise from the unit. I don't know if all of the noise is from the cooling fan or if the colour wheel is something that spins and also creates noise. Whatever is the source of the noise, I hear it and I do find it intrusive at times. A part of the problem for me is that I am sitting almost under the projector itself. Others may have less of a problem if their room and seating position is different.

Of course, I have the sound system up loud for the cinema experience, and others will surely say that it only becomes noticeable at quiet parts of a film and possibly dismiss it as not much of an issue. It is something that I find a big drawback with the technology though and I would upgrade in the future if I thought it would be possible to have a projector that did not generate heat that needed to be cooled by a fan.

I remember reading reviews of both the various Optoma models (which were about £100 dearer than the BenQ) and comparing it to the BenQ for noise rating. On paper, the Optoma had a fan noise decibel level a little less than the BenQ, but a few reviews said that in reality the Optoma was louder.

I found this review on Amazon.com for the Optoma HD25e which is interesting because it talks about the confusion of Optoma model numbers and revisions. I know some have different completely model numbers depending on whether they come with the active 3D glasses or not. Other model numbers (like the addition of the "e" to the HD25 model number) are variations based on lamp type.

The second drawback is this phenomenon known as the "rainbow effect", where you see a momentary fringe of a rainbow at the edge of areas of high contrast when you move your eyes quickly around the screen.
For me, it's only something that occasionally occurs when I look away from the screen at a time when a scene has these areas of high contrast. I don't think it's a huge issue. Apparently some people see the effect more easily than others.

This phenomenon is something that will happen with any projector that uses the Texas Instruments DLP chipset, which both the BenQ and Optoma do.

When I was making my decision between the two, I went for the BenQ because it had so many very positive reviews, and because I read a few reviews which questioned the reliability of the Optoma. The deciding factor though was that there didn't seem to be much to separate the two in terms of what they offered, and the BenQ has a vertical lens shift which was useful in my setup (I'll explain more later if anyone's interested in what that does).

As they seemed to be more or less equal in reviews, apart from some saying that the Optoma had deeper blacks and colours, and the BenQ being about £100 cheaper, I went for that. Although I haven't seen the Optoma in real life to compare properly, from seeing screenshots, it seems to me that the Optoma oversaturates colours and does not show skintones as naturally.

I see from this review for the Epson EH-TW5910 that it seems to use a totally different technology. It says it uses a 3-LCD technology instead of DLP. It still evidently uses an incandescent lamp to shine light through though, so still there is a cooling fan with the associated noise. The review says that the richer colours and brightness levels are immediately apparent. I don't know, but perhaps the extra £200 for this model could be worth it to eliminate the possibility of the rainbow effect.

I'm not sure if there could be any downside though to this 3-LCD technology. I wonder would this projector be as good as the others with regard to smooth horizontal motion. Anyone got any experience with this one? (I've noticed the BenQ is pretty fluid with horizontal motion - much better than either of my LCD and LED backlit TVs.)

u01nk5

Fair dues to you and all that work you put in to this. I'm about to take the plunge with a w1070 also. For one reason or another a screen size of around 106" would suit my setup best. Do you think I'd regret not making say a 120" screen work for my living room? (This post made me feel a little empty inside - first world problems!)

PyeContinental

Don't be worrying about whether you're worrying about first world problems. We can't be carrying around a burden of guilt all the time about everything.
Anyway ...

I think if you have the room (space) for it, go for as big as you can, because as you have probably already noticed with televisions, when you first get them they seem big, but soon become just normal.

Describe more about your particular set of circumstances, and why you think the smaller screen might do to help make a more informed decision.

By the way, this projector has been on sale for nearly £600 recently, so keep an eye on its price for the best time to buy (I paid closer to £700 for it as far as I remember).
[edit] In fact it's exactly £600 on Amazon.co.uk right now.

I still love this projector and the whole cinema setup, including sound.
I bought four Sainsonic 3D glasses for it which seem to work well with it. It was around £70 for 4 pairs as far as I remember. Will get the details if required.

u01nk5

Ha, right you are i suppose.
I have a rectangular living room with 2 large windows at either end, a stanley stove on one side and limited power sockets. The projector screen would have to be mounted over one of the windows which is no problem. My tv would remain on that end also to be used when the screen is not essential and save on lamp burnout. There is a wooden pelmet covering the curtains which i would use to mount the screen. It's the perfect length for an approx 106" screen but i could probably doctor something to hold the screen in place. Come to think of it your screen seems to have slideable mounts which would work for me.
I'm thinking of ordering the projector from amazon.de - 685 euro? I'll also order the screen, glasses and long hdmi cables from there i think, they are much cheaper that i can see.
Answer me this:
1. If i go for the 106" vs the 120" can i expect much of a difference in pic quality with the smaller screen? I won't have total control of ambient light in the room.
2. Do you watch 3d much? I've seen 3d films in the past and the effects never seem to marry too well with the movie - except for Gravity which was incredible! I watch an amount of soccer and this would be so appealing if it enhanced the games on sky 3d.

PyeContinental

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I don't think that the quality of the projected image will be any different between the 106" and 120" screen. I think there is an upper limit to the projected image size which is listed in the specs somewhere (which is likely a lot larger than 120" diagonal).
EDIT: According to the specs (see specifications tab here), the projected image range can be between 40" and 235", although this projection calculator website suggests that picture brightness will suffer beyond a 15 foot throw distance, which effectively gives a maximum (diagonal) screen size of about 160" before possible loss of picture quality.

I would be a little worried about the screen being in close proximity to a stove fire and what effect it might have on the screen. Perhaps it might cause it to sag or warp or deform over time in some way. A stove heater also tends to generate a fair amount of dust, so it may not be an ideal environment for the projector. However, these things may not be significant factors, but something to keep in mind. I read before that people buy special cleaning brushes that are used with DSLR cameras to clean the lens of their projectors.

I've only got the glasses recently. They seem to work fine (in the sense that they don't appear to drop out of synchronisation). However, I haven't watched a film from start to end yet with the 3D glasses, but I've watched more than an hour, which satisfies me that they do work properly.

I don't know if sport will be enhanced much, purely because it is (unless something dodgy is going on) not scripted, and therefore 3D effects are not planned throughout the action. However, there could be times when some camera angle combined with a certain direction of the ball or player could have some quite awesome effect.
EDIT: Forgot to say that I think sport in general will likely display very well with this projector. A lot of sport can be horizontally scrolling, and this can show up the deficiencies in a lot of TVs. I have played Forza Horizons on the Xbox via this projector and it looks fantastic and there have never been any issues with the picture not refreshing quickly enough. In fact I have been very impressed at how smoothly the game plays on this. So, I expect live sport would appear smooth as well (such as the travel of the football across the screen).

You can also tell the projector to simulate 3D from a 2D source and I find that this can work surprisingly well, but it depends on the film itself (animated stuff seems to be enhanced most convincingly) . You can also adjust the depths of the 3D "layers" so there's lots to experiment with in regard to finding some kind of sweet-spot that looks best for the particular source input.

These are the glasses I got on Amazon.co.uk
4 Pack of SainSonic® Zodiac 904 Series 144Hz Rechargeable 3D DLP-Link Projector Universal Active Shutter Glasses

As for buying the projector on amazon.de, it looks like you'd save €40 or so from there, so unless anyone knows of any significant downsides of buying from the German website, why not get from there I suppose.

EDIT: regarding the mounts, yes the screen case can slide in them to be adjusted left to right, but ideally you'd want to have the mounts equidistant from either end.

PyeContinental

^^^
I can't edit the above post any more to remove the bit about the 2D to 3D function. I had mis-remembered that, and it was in fact the blu-ray player which provided this feature, not the projector itself.

Mrdata.

Interested in getting a w1070 also. Can anyone recommend a decent surround sound system to go with it? Will be using my pc with a 6950 and the onboard audio on As Rock motherboard for both. Any issues to look out for? Thanks

PyeContinental

The Sony STRDN1040 is £299 on Richer Sounds this week.

The Pioneer VSX923 is £229.95

I use a precursor model to the Pioneer in conjunction with a set of Logitech X-540 5.1 computer speakers. The speakers only cost around €90 and came with an active (meaning independently powered) subwoofer. I chopped off the connectors and wired them directly to the amp. The sound that this combined setup produces is excellent.

Mrdata.

Thanks for the info.would it be possible to leave out the amp and just hook the 5.1 up to the pc and have the video going through the projector?will the audio be terrible?

PyeContinental

Yes you could, and you could add an amp later if needed.
You don't have to get this particular model of computer speakers anyway.
These speakers have analog inputs only.
You may want to research other models. Some might have digital inputs.
Others may be able to recommend some current computer speaker models.

PyeContinental

These Logitech Z506 speakers are £59 on Amazon and seem to be the successor to the X-540s. However, they look to be a disimprovement on the X540s because they don't seem to be designed for easy wall mounting, which seriously diminishes their usefulness for a home cinema setup as far as I'm concerned.

For both these speaker sets, there are standard analog 3.5mm jack inputs for front speakers (green) centre speaker (yellow/orange) and surround speakers (black). Your sound card would need to have these corresponding analog outputs.

If you only have the green output on your sound card, you will only get 2-channel stereo. Both the X-540 and the Z506 speakers can simulate surround sound in this case. It's called the matrix button on the X-540. A review on Amazon says that this feature is not able to be switched off on the Z506, so I'm not sure how that would work if you didn't want simulated surround.

With an AV-receiver (multi-channel amplifier), you can output the sound in digital format from your computer via optical (aka Toslink) or HDMI. The amp can then give you much better control over the sound before it's sent to the speakers.

An amp will almost always be designed in such a way that it will have less electrical noise within it than a PC, so will be less susceptible to electrical interference and will produce a better quality sound. It also will give you much more options about how to process the sound.

Of course it also gives you the ability to add many more inputs, such as Blu-ray players, satellite and DTT decoders, games consoles, and whatever else you might want to connect to your audio/visual setup.

PyeContinental

There are some second hand Logitech X-540s for sale on adverts.ie
http://www.adverts.ie/speakers/logitech-x-540-5-1/5363972
Collection on Grand Canal area €70

http://www.adverts.ie/other-electronics/logitech-x-540/4893539
Graiguenamanagh, Kilkenny €60

This ad is for a computer but maybe the person would sell the speakers separately.
http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/dell-xps-630/4760970
In Sandyford, Dublin.

Mrdata.

I think im going to bite the bullet and go for the w1070 and the Logitech Z506. I have just one more question regarding extending the speaker cables as I had a look at a youtube video and the cables look quite short for my needs. Would the rca/phone male to female cable be the one I need? Will extending the cables degrade the audio qualty? Thanks for all the advice Pye.

PyeContinental

Yes, RCA/phono male to female cables would be what you'd need.
Alternatively, phono couplers are available, like this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00205XTBU
which you can use to join one phono cable to another.
As phono cables are usually found as a joined pair, each cable can be torn apart to use for extensions for a pair of speakers. Use electrical self-amalgamating tape to secure the connection after you join them.

There will naturally be some electrical attenuation the longer you make each connection, but (within reasonable limits) no appreciable difference in sound quality. Try to use a good quality, well shielded, cable though.

Villain

Just to update this thread, I had read the reviews here and elsewhere and decided to buy a W1070 but the price point was pushing it a little, however I discovered Richer Sounds in Belfast had it at £499.95 which is a pretty good price! And if you register for the VIP club which just requires your email you get the 5 year warranty for free http://www.richersounds.com/product/projectors/benq/w1070/benq-w1070

I have a room in a house I built over the last few years that was designed for a home cinema, it is 3.8m by 7.5m so looking forward to getting it going. My only issue is the ceiling mount cables were designed for a short throw projector to get full size as I didn't want to be sitting under the projector. My dad has had projectors for over 8 years now and the only slight issue is the fan noise so I had hoped to sit about 5m from screen but have the projector 3m from the screen however this model will require it to be 4m to get the full wall screen.

Anyway we'll see how it goes and I don't want to totally hijack your thread so I'll post a new one once I get setup

Alkers

I'm considering the W1070 for my own setup now.

Hard to believe it's still the same price now on richersounds!

How is the projector holding up now? Are there any current models you'd consider an upgrade to at the same price point?

Nelbert

Simona1986 wrote: »

I'm considering the W1070 for my own setup now.

Hard to believe it's still the same price now on richersounds!

How is the projector holding up now? Are there any current models you'd consider an upgrade to at the same price point?

Haven't seen anything that has any killer feature that would make me revise my thinking if I was buying again. I got the W1070, and a Yamaha 5.1 system in the end. Will only upgrade when 4k projectors eventually get down under €1,000 (a good few years away).

The Optoma HD141X gets good reviews but doesn't have the lens shift (which I needed for WAF reasons).

Also I think the W1070 while at the same price point has actually had it's light output increased since I purchased (nearly 3 years ago now), so might be even better during the day now (it's quite good as long as the sun isn't shining directly on the screen).