"Because all DLP-based projectors project light through a rapidly circulating color wheel (or two), there is the possibility one will see what is commonly referred to as the "rainbow effect,""

This statement is inaccurate and I'm surprised to read this in a supposed home theater magazine. Only single-chip DLPs show rainbow effect.

"Think of it this way: D-ILA is to plasma TVs what DLP is to LED TVs. "

Huh? Did you mean to write "D-ILA is to DLP what plasma is to LED"? I still think that's a poor comparison, but at least the sentence makes sense in your context.

Also, you talk about "calibrating" using a test DVD. Did you simply adjust the tint, color, brightness and contrast this way? If so, I would hardly call that a full calibration which would entail grey-scale and gamma calibration at multiple points.

I'm sorry, but this review seems rather amateurish.

You have to be kidding.

3000:1 contrast ratio and $7K?

I can understand why you suggest it might be dandy for ambient light situations. It certainly can't handle the black level requirements of a proper theater.

Krispy,

While "rainbow effects" are more prominent with single chip designs they can also be seen in three chip or multi-wheel designs as well-though possibly less so. It also depends on how susceptible the user is to seeing the "rainbow effect". My wife doesn't notice rainbow artifacts at all where as I can not avoid them.

As for my analogy I was trying to illustrate that DLP projectors tend to reproduce a very vibrant and punchy image a-la LED where as D-ILA designs tend to focus on black level reproduction and more natural colors making it more akin to plasma based HDTVs such as Pioneer's defunct KURO line.

As for the calibrating comment, I checked and ran through the various parameters you mentioned however for the purposes of this review I felt it more important to illustrate to the readers that out of the box the DPI projector was pretty much ready to go. For those wanting to extract the last ounce of mojo out of the DPI you obviously can, however it would make no sense for me to post my exact settings or specifications for they would be unique or exclusive to my room and environment-a fact few home theater publications talk about.

A lot of publications put their stuff on a "bench" and say "yep, it tests well" or "nope, it's crap" when in a real environment it may be the best thing you've ever seen. Calibration is important, however it's not going to be uniform or the same for everyone and/or every room, for if I have a lighter room (light walls, white ceiling etc) I'm going to have to adjust brightness, contrast and the like differently than if I had dark walls or lived in a cave. Is the same final image able to be achieved between a test lab and one's living room? Perhaps or at least the image will be close enough for disco.

I'm sorry you found the review to be amateurish. Perhaps I could've been more clear in areas but I still stand by my findings. I hope you'll continue to check back with us and enjoy our reviews in the future.
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Steve,

NO, I'm not kidding. Are you kidding? Because I'm not kidding. DPI really does make a $7,000 projector that kicks total ass-even with its reported 3,000:1 contrast ratio. All "kidding" aside, the DPI can more than handle a proper theater and a proper theater's black levels.

A projector doesn't have to showcase inflated contrast ratio numbers to achieve proper black levels, in fact, many projectors claiming 50,000:1 or 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio can't achieve those numbers in real world situations (projected on a screen, in a room, sitting x feet away)-it's all marketing for in the real world (the one DPI lives in) those same projectors produce DPI like numbers.

Furthermore, the way companies test for contrast has ZERO bearing on what the image actually looks like for they don't measure contrast using actual moving images, they use static test patterns. Contrast numbers (and brightness numbers for that matter) are largely BS designed to give the guys in blue shirts something to cling their tiny brains too in order to sell you a HDTV or projector.

Trust your eyes. If you like the way the image looks than that is ALL that matters. Thanks for reading.

I get the comment "Think of it this way: D-ILA is to plasma TVs what DLP is to LED TVs. "; plasma's tend to be more rich and film-like, and an LED backed LCD will have an almost surreal brightness and "pop". And 3000:1 contrast ratio for DLP is somewhat normal for DLP range. It's the accuracy of gray scale and the level of blacks achieved I think is important. And what good is it to have really deep blacks, and no detail? But contrast ratio is a marketing ploy; the bigger the number, the better it must be; sorry, I feel numbers, provided by the manufacturers, on paper are less than relevant in the real world. I too prefer LCoS (D-ILA, SXRD). I recently compared a Yamaha DPX-1300 to some newer LCD and DLP projectors; at 2000:1 rated contrast ratio, the Yamaha had the better blacks. To be fair, the Yamaha listed a few years back at $13k; I was comparing it to projectors of today in the sub $3k range. But, it's all rather subjective isn't it?

It's ridiculous that you want to insist that there can be a rainbow effect with a 3-chip DLP. All three colors are shown at the same time with a 3-chip design, so by it's very nature, rainbow effects are impossible. Just admit your mistake and edit the article. No, I don't think I'll be reading anymore of your reviews. There are so many problems with this article and I've only touched on a few. DLPs are more "punchy" and D-ILAs are more accurate? That's just a ridiculous statement. Again, amateur hour.

Krispy,

I believe the issue has stemmed from my use of the word "all", which was a mistake/typo on my part. For not ALL DLP projectors use a color wheel. Three chip and LED based DLP projectors do not use a color wheel thus do not suffer from color wheel caused rainbow effects.

However, just because a projector uses three chips (or panels) doesn't mean it can't suffer from image issues not unlike those experienced with color wheel based designs. There can be convergence issues with multi-chip or panel designs such as 3-chip DLPs that will create rainbow like/looking effects (ghosted edges, blur, color shift etc). An example of what I'm talking about can be found here:

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/projectors/epson-pro-cinema-1080ub/corner-screen.jpg/image_preview

(Yes, I know the above is an image produced by a three chip LCD projector and not a DLP one. I'm using it for illustrative purposes.)

While not "technically" a rainbow effect in the traditional sense (produced by passing light through a color wheel) the result of poor convergence, even if only off by a pixel, can result in a rainbow like effect. My apologies for again, not being clear.

I will edit the use of the word "ALL" for that IS incorrect. I honestly didn't realize that I said "all DLP projectors use..." Chalk it up to human error and I thank you for catching it. As for my suggesting that DLPs produce a "punchy" image, well that is my opinion and the adjective I used to describe my thoughts. You are free to disagree.

Wow the long knives are coming out.

Seems to be decent, but wouldn´t pay 7 grand for this projector tho...