Sharpness: Sanyo PLV-Z4000

It would be hard to be displeased with the Sanyo sharpness. Yes, you can find sharper, but they will likely be single chip DLP projectors. A more expensive Mitsubishi or two might also best the Z4000 (among other 3LCD projectors), but certainly by only the slightest amount. Don’t think for a moment, that the content won’t be the more important aspect of sharpness. Yes, the best digital HD content, can be done sharper on some others, but, we’re really quibbling, especially if you are comparing, say, lower content material (standard DVD, or non-HD broadcasts), on a “sharper” projector, compared to HD on the Sanyo, the Sanyo (or any other 1080p projectors should blow away the sharpest projector on lower res content.

Even if you are a total sharpness freak, the Z4000 may not be at the top of your list, but it should satisfy you. Sanyo, I should note, upon grilling them about the changes from the Z3000 to the Z4000, primarily emphasized refinements in the optical engine, yielding improvements in both color and sharpness. Works for me!

The Sanyo PLV-Z4000 projector is very quiet. In its low power eco-mode, the Sanyo claims 19 db, making it one of the very quietest. At full power, the noise level increased more than most, but it’s still quieter than most projectors. It’s definitely quieter than any of the 1080p DLP based projectors I can think of, and also quieter than the likes of the Epson Home Cinema 8500 UB. Noise in either mode should not be a problem for owners. Few projectors are as quite in eco mode as the Sanyo is at full power. That should give some thought to those of you who are really noise adverse, that might be important relative to brightness. For example, if you found the BenQ W6000 too noisy at full power, and had, therefore to run it at low power, then the lumen differences, would be somewhat less.