BenQ W6000

My BenQW5000 recently developed a case of the dreaded "vertical banding" and rather than repairing the unit, I decided it would be best to replace it with a new model. Thanks to a group buy at DTV Forums Australia, I was able to get one of the BenQW6000 projectors at a very good price.

BENQ W6000

The W6000 is still DLP at 1920 x 1080 and uses a smaller DMD of 0.65". I am not 100% sure if the DMD is still a Dark Chip 2 or if these are now DC3. The previous W5000 used the DC2 0.9" DMD. The lumen output has also been raised to a whopping 2500 from the previous 1200 of the W5000. The zoom has been increased from 1.2x to 1.5x and whist the lens appears to be the same, the smaller DLP imaging chip has allowed greater zoom as the beam angles are now smaller. BenQ have changed the chassis on this level of projector and this is the first change in over 5 models. The W6000 is quite a bit smaller than the previous W5000 and as a result, the fan noise is now audible. The W6000 now features H and V lens shift via a small joystick replacing the electric V [only] lens shift of the W5000.

Calibration

The grey-scale was not too bad out of the box [left] and was much improved [right] after calibration. The previous W5000 had a variable iris that could be accessed on the fly via the remote. The W6000 requires a dive into the service menu to make this adjustment. Out of the box, this unit was producing over 27 Foot Lamberts and where the D-Cinema spec calls for 14FL. I elected to turn this projector down to match that light output. There is plenty of range above the factory setting, so as the lamp ages and dims, I will be able to maintain the proper light levels needed for great video. The colour seems slightly improved too based on the CIE diagram. I am sightly concerned about the Gamma which was off the charts for this calibration. It will be interesting to see how that looks after a few hundred hours.

W6000 and MK5

The W6000 is now installed behind the MK5 Aussiemorphic Lens. As you can see, the benQW6000 is quite a bit smaller than the previous W5000. Like the W5000, the W6000 fully supports CIH offering the same Letter Box and 4x3 modes for changing ARs on the fly. The smaller 0.65" chip is said to be a little less sharp than the previous 0.9" chip. I think because the lenses on these projectors are at times questionable, that the image chip can't really be blamed. Over all I am happy with the performance of the BenQW6000 1080 DLP.

Email: aussiemorphic@gmail.com

Mark

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