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Sanyo PLV-Z4000 Projector Calibration and Settings

Posted on October 18, 2013 By Art Feierman

We calibrate each home theater that is reviewed. It is a pretty standard calibration, there’s always more that can – and will be done by the “hi-end” calibrators.

Sanyo PLV-Z4000 Color Temperature
30 IRE (dark gray) 7012K
50 IRE (medium gray) 7350K
80 IRE (light gray) 7159K
100 IRE (white) 6980K

That I should note, the PLV-Z4000’s measurements are a bit similar to the old Z3000, in that they both are coolest at 50IRE, but the variation across the range is is much greater on the old model, as you can see from the Z3000 numbers immediately below. This definitely would indicate changes were made to the color tables since our Z3000 review.

PLV-Z3000:
30 IRE (dark gray) 7181K
50 IRE (medium gray)  7617K
80 IRE (light gray) 7244K
100 IRE (white) 6952K

Sanyo PLV-Z4000 Basic Settings

In addition to calibrating Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.

For those who care to compare with the Z3000 numbers, you’ll find significant changes again, compared to the older projector:

Below, Mike left the Iris settings for each mode in their default. That’s not the way I recommend using this projector. For your movie viewing, I suggest you’ll want dynamic iris on, but start with any manual iris settings wide open. Since Sanyo sets every combination differently, Mike’s first measurements are all over the place: Livingroom brighter than Dynamic, Creative dimmer than Pure Cinema… That’s not how you’ll end up viewing. Start your mode at its brightest iris, and only close down manually if needed (too bright – not a problem many will have with this projector).

But the black level work is done both by iris and by the dynamic lamp if you are on A1 (and A2, I think)…

Header Content
Brill. Cinema Creat. Cinema Pure Cinema Natural Living Dynamic
Contrast (0) 0 3 3 3 2 -2
Brightness (0) 4 2 0 4 2 4
Color 0 0 0 0 -3 -8
Tint (0) 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lamp Mode (A1) (A2) (Normal) (Normal) (Normal) (A1)
Iris (Mode=M) (M1 on 0) (M2 on -20) (Fixed on -60) (Fixed on -20) (M1 on 0) (M1 on 0)

NOTE: x.v.Color has the Lamp on Normal and the Iris Fixed on 0 (wide open).  None of the above adjustments are available in x.v.Color

All other settings at default (untouched)

Important note: If you are working from any of the Presets, changes you make are lost,and defaults return, when you leave that preset (ie. Pure Cinema), and return to it from another mode. That makes it important to save your preferred changes in one of the seven user savable modes. Don’t forget. And write them down, too.

Sanyo PLV-Z4000 Post Calibration Grayscale

The PLV-Z4000 calibrated far better than the PLV-Z3000. I’ve left the Z3000 numbers below, the numbers difference is pretty significant. The picture simply looks far more natural as well. The Z4000’s numbers (we only did 4 IRE levels back when we reviewed the 3000), are downright beautiful from 30 IRE to 100. 20 IRE starts getting warmer – more red, but that’s not unusual. From 30 to 100 IRE, the total range is only 156 degrees (Kelvin). That’s about as good as you’ll find going back through the last two years of reviews!

Color Temp over IRE Range Pure (or Creative) Cinema: Post calibration:
20 IRE 6151
30 IRE 6432
40 IRE 6551
50 IRE 6551
60 IRE 6588
70 IRE 6530
80 IRE 6576
90 IRE 6475
100 IRE 6571
Old Z3000 numbers:
White (100 IRE) 6449K
Light gray (80 IRE) 6434K
Medium gray (50 IRE) 6752K
Dark gray (30 IRE) 6334K
Sharpness: Sanyo PLV-Z4000
Sanyo PLV-Z4000 Post Calibration Grayscale1