Sanyo PLV-Z3000 Projector - Overall Color & Picture Quality

Overall Color & Picture Quality

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Here's the rub. I think the Sanyo is at its best when handling bright scenes, and even mixed scenes with lots of bright areas. The images tend to be rich and dynamic, while still looking natural.

The weakness is the dark scenes. They do reveal more shadow detail than any of the immediate competition, and, in fact its shadow detail abilities are exceptional. At the same time, though, the dark scenes seem muted, lacking dynamics, and were disappointing compared to those same competitors. I'm a big Sci-Fi fan, so I'm watching lots of dark scenes, special effects, etc. The Sanyo therefore, isn't a top choice for my movie viewing, at least not on movies where dark scenes are prevalent.

Moving to bright modes, the Sanyo is very good. I found it to be an excellent projector for viewing sports, and spectacular content from HDTV sources like Discovery HD, National Geographic, and Palladia (the old M-HD MTV hi-def channel).

In other words, very good for movies in general, but better for HDTV and sports. That, again, is the surprise. Previous Sanyo projectors tended to be favorites among enthusiasts, with better than typical black levels, good shadow detail, but lacking the umph to be a star at HDTV and sports. Go figure!

A mix of additional images to show off the PLV-Z3000 and from the DTS Blu-ray test disk, from the DVE-HD test disc, and here are two last images, the first from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the second from the latest Indiana Jones movie:

Sanyo PLV-Z3000 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports

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This Sanyo is great on HDTV and sports under some ambient light conditions. At almost 1500 lumens, the Sanyo can put out in brightest (Dynamic) mode, and actually has some of the best color balance found among competing projectors, when comparing brightest mode. Sure, the Dynamic mode has oversaturated colors, but that is what you want to help cut through that ambient light. If you plan to use Dynamic mode, with very low ambient light, just dial down the saturation.

The images are from a Moody Blues Concert that has been broadcast in HD, and is also available on Blu-ray disc.