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Sanyo PLV-Z2000

Manufacturer: Sanyo Part number: PLV-Z2000

Zoom Compare with most popular

$1,989.95 - $2,364.15 at 5 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
3.0 stars Good
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 1 review

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: While Sanyo's PLV-Z2000 1080p projector does have some performance shortcomings, it's nonetheless a very good value.
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store	customer rating	inventory	tax & shipping	price
Amazon.com Marketplace	See store profile	In stock	Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price	$2,364.15 Shop now as of 07/03/2009
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	Not yet rated See store profile	In stock		$1,989.95 Shop now as of 07/03/2009
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*Total price for the Sanyo PLV-Z2000 are estimated and may vary slightly based on exact tax, shipping, manufacturer rebate or any sale/promotion on the merchant site.

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CNET editors' review

Sanyo PLV-Z2000

price range: $1,989.95 - $2,364.15

Reviewed by: Kevin Miller
Edited by: David Katzmaier
Reviewed on: 10/31/2007
Released on: 10/01/2007

The good: Accurate color decoding; independent memory per input; comprehensive connectivity; includes both horizontal and vertical lens shift.

The bad: Primary and secondary color accuracy is way off, particularly red and green.

The bottom line: While Sanyo's PLV-Z2000 1080p projector does have some performance shortcomings, it's nonetheless a very good value.

Read full review

Both front projectors and flat-panel HDTVs are plummeting in price while offering more and more in the way of features and performance. Sanyo's LCD-based PLV-Z2000, is an extremely well-priced, 1080p resolution projector that delivers reasonably good performance for the dollar. It has a solid feature package for setup and fine tuning of the picture, and also offers comprehensive connectivity. Its flaws in picture quality, while notable, are generally shared by most front-projection systems, particularly in the sub-$10,000 price range.

Design
The Sanyo PLV-Z2000's outward appearance belies the fact that little or no effort or money was invested in its physical design to make it attractive in any way. It's basically a squarish box with a relatively small footprint, and our review sample was finished in white. Both the intake and outtake vents for cooling are located on the right side of the chassis when in a floor-mounted configuration, or on the left if ceiling-mounted. The unit does sport a cool electronic trap door that opens automatically when it is turned on and closes when powered down. All told, the projector measures 15.8 by 5.8 by 13.6 inches and weighs 16 pounds.

The remote control is an intelligent design and is relatively intuitive and easy to use. It has direct access keys for all inputs and picture controls. Thankfully, it is also fully backlit with the touch of a button on the upper-left side. Internally, the menu system is quite simple and straightforward to use.

Features
As we mentioned earlier, the Sanyo PLV-Z2000 has a native resolution of 1080p, which translates to 1,920x1,080 pixels available to produce a picture. That's especially important in a projector, because the big screen size makes the benefits of 1080p more apparent.

Like many projectors, the PLV-Z2000 has a few picture-affecting features that are best left turned off, as they keep the projector from delivering its best performance. These include Auto Black Stretch, which automatically changes the black level depending on the content of the picture; Contrast Enhancement, which simply lowers the black; Transient Improvement, which appears to do nothing at all; and Dynamic Gamma, which we take to mean gamma that changes on the fly. Finally, there is a complex Color Management System, but it actually doesn't work well at all. You can improve primary color accuracy, but it ruins color decoding, which is a problem we have seen before. All of these features are located in the Advanced menu on the second page of the Image Adjust menu.

With that said, Sanyo does offer a few features that actually help in setup as well as the fine-tuning of the picture. Topping our favorites list here is the inclusion of both horizontal and vertical lens shift, which greatly eases the difficulty of the physical installation of the projector relative to the screen. The PLV-Z2000 has perhaps too many picture modes. We chose Natural as it was the only one that didn't negatively effect color decoding; the others seemed to introduce red push.

Selectable color temperatures are, of course, available and include Default, Low 1, Low 2, High 1, High 2, and User, the last of which appears if you use the three grayscale controls to adjust the color of gray. There are four settings for the amplitude of the lamp, while the Iris, which attenuates the lamp output, has a Normal and a Fast setting in addition to offering a fixed mode with a range from -63 to 0. We left ours at -30, which is the default setting for Natural.

Connection options on the PLV-Z2000 are fairly generous for a front projector. Two HDMI inputs are the most important, and they both support the HDMI 1.3 specification. There are also two component-video inputs, an S-Video and a composite-video input for legacy sources such as VCRs. I was disappointed to find no RS-232 control port or 12-volt trigger for electric drop-down screens.

Performance
While not perfect by any means, the Sanyo PLV-Z2000 does have some things to recommend it in the performance department. First off, color decoding is accurate for both SD and HD formats. Video processing is reasonably good with 2:3 pull-down for motion artifact elimination with film-based DVDs, and it also deinterlaces 1080i HD properly, preserving all the resolution in the signal. The projector also passes all of the resolution in a 1080p source at the HDMI inputs, but like many an HD display today, loses some of that resolution at the component inputs. That isn't such a tragedy though, because 1080p sources are rarely allowed to travel via component video because of copy-protection issues.

At first, we thought that the projector was clipping both white and black, but it turns out the factory default in the Settings menu for the HDMI Setting, which is Normal, is the wrong reference. Rather than 16-235 it is 0-255. Sanyo has it backwards here. A projector intended for Video should have the factory preset to Expanded, which is correct at 16-235. This is a common mistake in the industry that costs consumers contrast ratio and detail in black-and-white as a result.

After we found the correct setting, the black level and contrast ratio performance of the PLV-Z2000 looked much better. Blacks were definitely compelling, and on a par with those of other projectors in its class. The lens is of reasonably high quality considering the price, with very few chromatic aberrations. Images from top quality sources such as HD DVD and Blu-ray looked quite sharp.

Seabiscuit on HD DVD looked pretty impressive, with decent skin tone rendition and saturation. We watched chapters 10 through 13, which shows you a variety of different things like blacks on the overnight train ride, natural wood colors in the owner's house, and then outdoor colors in Chapter 13 at the race track. The inaccurate red stuck out when viewing the jockey's uniform, which is supposed to be slightly orange, but appears to be candy-apple red on the Sanyo.

Chapter 4 of The Italian Job on Blu-ray looked very good as well. The dark shots under water and in the building revealed plenty of shadow detail, and the contrasting outdoor boat chase scene showed off the projector's excellent contrast ratio. On our Time Warner Cable feed, we watched some of Happy Feet, an animated feature with lots of bright material. The picture was again impressive, especially for a sub-$3,000 projector.

Geek box

TEST	RESULT	SCORE
Before color temp (20/80)	6,320/5,945K	Good
After color temp	6,650/6,570K	Average
Before grayscale variation	404K	Good
After grayscale variation	207K	Average
Color of red (x/y)	0.670/0.323	Poor
Color of green	0.304/0.676	Poor
Color of blue	0.141/0.056	Average
Overscan	0 percent	Good
Black-level retention	All patterns stable	Good
Defeatable edge enhancement	Yes	Good
480i 2:3 pull-down detection	Yes	Good
1080i video resolution	Pass	Good
1080i film resolution	Pass	Good

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 1 review
My rating: 0 stars

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8 stars

a GOOD PROJECTOR for the investment

by rwrsmart on July 31, 2008

Pros: 0 pixellation, 0 artifacts, color good, bright, and quiet

Cons: could always be better but for under 3k a good deal

Summary: Recommended for someone who enjoys movies without a microscope. A+.

Summary: Recommended for someone who enjoys movies without a microscope. A+.

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Sanyo
Part number: PLV-Z2000
Description: PRODUCT FEATURES: Widescreen LCD Projector 14-Bit Gamma Correction 1,200 ANSI Lumens (Vivid Mode) 15000:1 Contrast Ratio Full HD Resolution at 1080p offering a full 1920x1080 Exclusive Topaz Real HD Technology 3D Color Management System Lens Maximization of Image Detail New Optical System for Reliability and Performance (D.I.O.S.) Advanced Lens Shift for Various Room Environments Virtually Silent Fan Design Illuminated Infrared Remote Control Included AC Power Cord Included Net Weight 16.1 lbs

General
Device Type LCD projector - High Definition 1080p
Width 15.7 in
Depth 13.6 in
Height 5.7 in
Weight 16.1 lbs
Projector / Panel
Image Brightness 1200 ANSI lumens
Image Contrast Ratio 15000:1
Image Size 3.3 ft - 25 ft
Projection Distance 4 ft - 60 ft
Throw Ratio 1.35 - 2.7:1
Uniformity 85 %
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Native Aspect Ratio Widescreen
Video Bandwidth 100 MHz
Display Format 6,220,800 pixels
Max Sync Rate (V x H) 100 Hz x 80 KHz
Lamp Type UHP 165 Watt
Projector Lens System
Focus Type Manual
Lens Aperture F/2.0-3.0
Zoom Type Manual
Zoom Factor 2x
Lens Shift Type Manual
Lens Shift Direction Vertical, Horizontal
Vertical Lens Shift 3:1 - 1:3
Horizontal Lens Shift 10:0 - 0:10
Video Input
Analog video format PAL, NTSC, PAL-M, PAL-N, SECAM, NTSC 4.43
Analog video signal RGB, S-Video, Component video, Composite video
Digital video standard High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
Digital Television Video Formats 1080p
Video Input Device
Type None
Audio Input
Type None
Audio Output
Type None

Input Device
Type Remote control - External - Wireless
Expansion / Connectivity
Expansion Slot(s) None
Interfaces 2 x HDMI - 19 pin HDMI Type A, 1 x RGB input - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 1 x Composite video input - RCA, 1 x S-video input - 4 pin mini-DIN, 2 x Component video input - RCA X 3, 1 x Serial RS-232 - 8 pin mini-DIN
Miscellaneous
Compliant Standards UL, FCC Class B certified
Power
Power Device Power supply - Internal
Voltage Required AC 120/230 V
Power Consumption Operational 252 Watt
Manufacturer Warranty
Service & support type 3 years warranty
Service & Support Details Limited warranty - Parts and labor - 3 years, Limited warranty - Lamp - 90 days, Limited warranty - Replacement - Lamp - 30 days
Environmental Parameters
Sound Emission 19 dBA

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