Acer H9500BD Projector – Image Quality 2 Posted on July 10, 2013 By Art Feierman 1. Acer H9500BD Home Theater Projector Review - Acer H9500BD Projector Overview - Acer H9500BD Projector Highlights - Acer H9500BD Special Features2. Acer H9500BD Projector – Physical Tour - Acer H9500BD Projector - Appearance - H9500BD Control Panel - H9500BD Projector - Input/Output - H9500BD Menus - Acer H9500BD Remote Control - Acer H9500BD Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens - Wide Screen3. Acer H9500BD Projector – Image Quality - Acer H9500BD Out of the Box Picture Quality - Acer H9500BD Projector - Flesh Tones - Acer H9500BD Black Levels & Shadow Detail4. Acer H9500BD Projector – Image Quality 2 - Shadow Detail Performance - Black Level and Shadow Detail Performance: H9500BD Projector - Bottom Line - Acer H9500BD - Overall Color & Picture Quality - Acer H9500BD Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports, including 3D - Acer H9500BD Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports, and also 3D HDTV content5. Acer H9500BD Projector – Performance - Acer H9500BD Brightness - Post Calibration: User "best" mode = 1106 lumens - Effect of zoom on lumen output (Dynamic mode) - Effect of Brilliant Color on lumen output (Bright mode) - H9500BD Eco-Mode vs. Full Power - Acer H9500BD Pre-Calibration Color temp - H9500BD, Post Calibration, Best Mode6. Acer H9500BD Projector – Performance 2 - Acer H9500BD 3D Brightness - Acer H9500BD Sharpness - Acer H9500BD: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise7. Acer H9500BD Projector Calibration and Settings - Acer H9500BD Color Temperature - Acer H9500BD Basic Settings - Acer H9500BD Post Calibration Grayscale: User Mode - User - H9500BD RGB Settings and Recommendations8. Acer H9500BD – Competitors - Acer H9500BD vs. Panasonic AR100U - Acer H9500BD vs. Mitsubishi HC4000 - Acer H9500BD vs. Epson Home Cinema 8350 - Acer H9500BD vs. Home Cinema 3010 and Home Cinema 3010e - Acer H9500BD vs. Optoma HD33 - Acer H9500BD vs. Optoma HD20, Viewsonic Pro8200, Vivitek H1080fd9. Acer H9500BD – Projector Screens - Acer H9500BD Projector Screen Recommendation10. Acer H9500BD Projector – Warranty - Acer H9500BD Projector - Warranty11. Acer H9500BD – Review Summary - Acer H9500BD Projector - The Bottom Line - Acer H9500BD Projector: Pros - Acer H9500BD Projector: Cons12. Acer H9500BD Projector – Full Specifications Shadow Detail PerformanceImmediately below is our favorite image for looking at dark shadow detail. It’s also a good test of black level performance. As you can see in the shrubs on the right and behind the tracks, and also in the darkest portion of the woods, that there’s plenty of dark shadow detail. Several of the projectors’ images below crush the darkest detail. Not only does it have good black level performance, but very good dark shadow detail, rivaling the Epson, which is also very good. Acer H9500BDEpson Home Cinema 3010Optoma HD33BenQ W1200Viewsonic Pro8200Mitsubishi HC4000BenQ W6000 (ultra high contrast, 2D, $2000+)Sony VPL-HW30ESPreviousNext Black Level and Shadow Detail Performance: H9500BD Projector - Bottom LineLet’s start with 3D, since I didn’t discuss that yet, at least not here. The blacks are very good considering price. In 3D the blacks are really dark, the combination of the general performance of the H9500 Acer in terms of contrast and blacks, combine with 3D, as usual eating up about 75% of available brightness. I even ran the H9500DB, in 3D along with the almost twice the price, higher end Epson Home Cinema 5010. Now that projector lacks dynamic iris functionality when in 3D, but is superb at blacks, beating all but a handful of more, and of far more, expensive projectors. Unfortunately for the Epson, their dynamic iris stays off. Fortunately, the inherent black level abilities of the Epson, even when not using the iris, are truly impressve. So, the bottom line – Acer really performs with the top of its class when it comes to blacks and shadow detail. These are key strengths of the Acer H9500! Acer H9500BD - Overall Color & Picture QualityBlacks and shadow detail are the strengths. Color, while fine for my wife and daughter, and friends passing by, won’t please the more critical folks shopping in this price range. Still there’s lots to like. The picture has a lot of image punch to go along with its home entertainment accuracy, in terms of color. The Acer projector will perform fine for most of us. The question of whether it’s the right one, though, comes down to many things and a couple of those things are the trade-offs between color accuracy, and black level performance. A mix of additional images to show off the Acer H9500BD: Acer H9500BD Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports, including 3DThe H9500BD has a nice clear image. The H9500BD’s CFI – smooth motion – works well enough. I don’t pay close attention, but I did use their implementation on High, and Medium and Low settings. High was fine for sports while low was fine for normal HDTV content. There’s more than a little “live digital video look” when applied to movies. I wouldn’t recommend using CFI for that, but fine for HDTV. The lightly cool color of the Acer isn’t an issue for sports. That modest 500K shift in color balance towards blue, just isn’t something anyone’s really going to care about while watching the NFL playoffs, or boxing. Speaking of boxing, the Acer H9500 projector tacking 3D boxing was exhilarating. Boxing is one of the most phenomenal sports for 3D. Impressive. A few hundred more lumens in 3D would have been nice, but this projector is reasonable in 3D on a 100″ screen. Acer H9500BD Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports, and also 3D HDTV content A definite competitor, better in 2D than 3D, since the Acer isn’t really bright in 3D. Overall the 3D worked fine, but as is oft the case, my eyes are seeing quaterback bombs almost becoming invisible at times. I see this in other 3D projectors, but this isn’t as good as the few others I’ve encountered. 1. Acer H9500BD Home Theater Projector Review - Acer H9500BD Projector Overview - Acer H9500BD Projector Highlights - Acer H9500BD Special Features2. Acer H9500BD Projector – Physical Tour - Acer H9500BD Projector - Appearance - H9500BD Control Panel - H9500BD Projector - Input/Output - H9500BD Menus - Acer H9500BD Remote Control - Acer H9500BD Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens - Wide Screen3. Acer H9500BD Projector – Image Quality - Acer H9500BD Out of the Box Picture Quality - Acer H9500BD Projector - Flesh Tones - Acer H9500BD Black Levels & Shadow Detail4. Acer H9500BD Projector – Image Quality 2 - Shadow Detail Performance - Black Level and Shadow Detail Performance: H9500BD Projector - Bottom Line - Acer H9500BD - Overall Color & Picture Quality - Acer H9500BD Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports, including 3D - Acer H9500BD Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports, and also 3D HDTV content5. Acer H9500BD Projector – Performance - Acer H9500BD Brightness - Post Calibration: User "best" mode = 1106 lumens - Effect of zoom on lumen output (Dynamic mode) - Effect of Brilliant Color on lumen output (Bright mode) - H9500BD Eco-Mode vs. Full Power - Acer H9500BD Pre-Calibration Color temp - H9500BD, Post Calibration, Best Mode6. Acer H9500BD Projector – Performance 2 - Acer H9500BD 3D Brightness - Acer H9500BD Sharpness - Acer H9500BD: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise7. Acer H9500BD Projector Calibration and Settings - Acer H9500BD Color Temperature - Acer H9500BD Basic Settings - Acer H9500BD Post Calibration Grayscale: User Mode - User - H9500BD RGB Settings and Recommendations8. Acer H9500BD – Competitors - Acer H9500BD vs. Panasonic AR100U - Acer H9500BD vs. Mitsubishi HC4000 - Acer H9500BD vs. Epson Home Cinema 8350 - Acer H9500BD vs. Home Cinema 3010 and Home Cinema 3010e - Acer H9500BD vs. Optoma HD33 - Acer H9500BD vs. Optoma HD20, Viewsonic Pro8200, Vivitek H1080fd9. Acer H9500BD – Projector Screens - Acer H9500BD Projector Screen Recommendation10. Acer H9500BD Projector – Warranty - Acer H9500BD Projector - Warranty11. Acer H9500BD – Review Summary - Acer H9500BD Projector - The Bottom Line - Acer H9500BD Projector: Pros - Acer H9500BD Projector: Cons12. Acer H9500BD Projector – Full Specifications Acer H9500BD Projector – Image Quality Acer H9500BD Projector – Performance LnRiLWhlYWRpbmcuaGFzLWJhY2tncm91bmR7cGFkZGluZzowfQ==