Home Projector Comparison Report: Summary

All Home Theater Projectors Winning major awards in this report

Winners are listed by Award.  In the case of ties, they are listed alphabetically.

Entry Level Projector Class - Under $2000:

Mid-Priced Projector Class: $2000 - $3500:

Best In Class (tie): Epson Home Cinema 5010
Best In Class (tie): Epson Pro Cinema 6010
Best In Class: Runner-Up (tie): BenQ W7000
Best In Class: Runner-Up (tie): Panasonic PT-AE7000

Premium Priced Projector Class: $3500 - $10,000

Best In Class: (tie): JVC DLA-X70R
Best In Class: (tie): Sony VPL-VW95ES
Best In Class: Runner-Up: Mitsubishi HC9000D

Projector Recommendations For Those Only Interested in Movies

These are projectors that are generally great for movie viewing, but for one reason or another, are less practical for watching other content. The key reason a projector make this group: limited brightness in brightest modes. That means the inability to handle any significant ambient light, since most people don't watch sports or most TV in a pitch black room. These projectors should have at least good black level performance. Almost all of these have "brightest modes" that are only average or below in brightness.

Projectors that are completely well rounded, and equally good at HDTV and Sports (requiring at least average "brightest mode" performance), are not included in this list.

Afterall, the best overall projectors are the ones that win our Best In Class awards, and don't need to be also on these additional lists, even though they should be good For example, the Mitsubishi HC4000 could be said to be very good at movies, but it is equally good at sports and HDTV. As a result it's not listed as a "movies only" projector even though it would serve well as one.

This is not intended as a comprehensive list, rather a good sampling:

• Optoma HD20 (best of the sub-$1000 projectors, when it comes to blacks)
• Mitsubishi HC7800D
• JVC DLA-RS45/X30
• Runco LS5
• Sony VPL-VW95ES