Posted on September 7, 2010 By Art Feierman
Welcome to our detailed review of the Sanyo PLV-Z4000 1080p home theater projector. We encountered no unusual issues that would require fixing, or any reason to need a follow up Z4000 projector. The PLV-Z4000 is based on last year’s model, with no new features, but overall performance seems improved. Check it out!
What have we here? Sanyo has introduced their PLV-Z4000. Right up front they pointed out that there no major changes compared to the Z3000. It would seem that any changes (other than the name) are mostly minor firmware improvements, better tuning of the optical engine, and tighter quality control, according to Sanyo. Some firmware may have been changed in the Z3000 since we reviewed one of the first ones, other changes may have been done with the transition from the Z3000 to the Z4000. Sanyo hasn’t provided any specific details.
Let’s get one thing straight up front. Regardless of what’s different, and what’s not, this Z4000 absolutely puts a better image on the screen than the Z3000 we reviewed when it came out.
The other key point getting started, would be the pricing change over the Z3000 – Sanyo now has the MAP pricing under $2K, joining the Panasonic PT-AE4000, as one of two (so far) “ultra high contrast” projectors below that $2000 price point.
Overall, what we have here, is a feature laden home theater projector that will sell mostly, for $2000 or less, that has very good black level performance, uses 3 LCD technology, and lots of benefits including a longer than most warranty, and extensive feature set.
The short version: Consider the PLV-Z4000 projector to be an improved PLV-Z3000. It may look the same, but it doesn’t “cook” the same. The improvements may be only a little here, and a little there, but, we were a bit disappointed with the older Z3000 when reviewed, we never were able to get the color accuracy as good as we had hoped, etc. This time around, the newer Sanyo seems to have improved things enough to make for a real difference – in color handling if nothing else.
As a result of the similarities, though, a good part (ie. the Tour) of this review is a mild rewrite of the Z3000’s review, with some additional thoughts thrown in. I will be spending a good bit of the Summary page and the Competitor’s pages trying to position the PLV-Z4000 compared to the competition.
I don’t care how few features change, any significant improvement in overall color (and skin tones) is important in my book!
This Sanyo PLV-Z4000 is the first of the “new fall lineup” of projectors. The CEDIA show (late September) is when the large majority of home theater projectors are announced, and most ship within a few months. A whole bunch of new competition (and retreads) will be shown at CEDIA, and we’ll of course, let you know how those new projectors stack up to this new one, as they arrive and get reviewed.
Back to the Sanyo PLV-Z4000 projector: The projector comes in a dark grey case, basically a box with rounded corners – it’s clean looking, but that’s about it. Its inputs and other connectors are pretty standard, and the projector has excellent placement flexibility thanks to lens shift and a 2:1 zoom lens. BTW, the color scheme has changed slightly. The older Sanyo’s front was a lighter gray than the rest of the projector, now the front, including the motorized lens door, is darker – basically the same as the rest of the projector.
Figure we’ll be reviewing, over the next 5 months, perhaps a dozen other home theater projectors that will sell (plus or minus) within $750 of this Sanyo. Of those, some will be significantly updated, some will have but minor changes, a few perhaps basically new designs. A few companies will just let a model or two run for another year, without updating.
Just about every home theater projector has a special feature or two. The PLV-Z4000 projector has HDMI 1.3 support, although that is found on just about every home theater projector. The most noteworthy special feature is Creative Frame Creation, and 120 frame per second display capability, but there are a host of dynamic features as well.
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