Sharp, a major player in LCD front projection since its inception, segued into the DLP category back in 2001 with its original 720p DLP projector, the XV-Z9000U. That unit made quite a splash as one of the first 720p DLP projectors on the market. Six years later, Sharp's latest flagship DLP projector, the XV-Z21000, has the same basic design, 1080p native resolution, and the potential to make an equally large splash. It definitely left a positive impression on us during its testing period in our Lab. Yes, that 1080p resolution does come at a premium price with DLP projectors -- you can get 1080p LCD and LCoS units for a lot less -- but in terms of pure performance the Sharp XV-Z21000 definitely delivers the goods.
Design
Sharp's latest model looks virtually identical to the last several top-of-the-line Sharp 720p projectors, and its appearance is quite sleek and handsome. This is one of the few projectors out there with the lens perfectly centred on the chassis, which lends it a symmetrical look. More importantly, compared with beamers that have the lens off to one side of the chassis, the Sharp's centre-aligned lens eases the task of ceiling-mounting the unit properly relative to the screen. The rather large XV-Z21000 measures 410.2mm by 475mm by 187.5mm and weighs 9.4 kilograms.
The remote control is also excellent in terms of ergonomics and aesthetics. It is fully backlit and offers direct access keys to all inputs, picture modes and iris control, among other items. Internally, the menu system has five pages that are horizontally aligned, and each page is laid out vertically -- a simple, direct design.
Features
Most of the Sharp XV-Z21000's features are related to set-up and picture quality adjustment rather than the convenience features you would find on a consumer TV. As we mentioned, this projector uses a DLP light engine to achieve a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, a.k.a. 1080p. All sources, whether HD, DVD, standard television or computer, are scaled to fit the pixels.
The Sharp 21000 offers two settings which are key to getting the best contrast ratio, black levels, and enough light to properly drive the screen you are using. The first is the iris adjustment, which has three settings: High Brightness for large screens; medium; and high contrast. We used the high-contrast mode for our evaluations, as we were projecting onto a relatively small, 72-inch-wide Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 screen and wanted to get the best possible black levels. The second setting controls the lamp setting and offers two choices: High Brightness (for large screens) and Eco Mode (for small screens), which we chose for our set-up. We were a bit disappointed that the lens controls, such as zoom, shift, and focus, are all manual rather than motorised. The latter makes fine-tuning easier since you can stand right at the screen to get those settings perfect.
A total of six picture modes are available and, of course, the Sharp lets you save custom picture settings individually for each input. Instead of the standard presets, there's a sliding scale for the colour temperature selection that ranges from 5,500 to 10,500 Kelvin, making for a dizzying number of combinations. We appreciated the overscan feature, which can be zeroed out so you can see the entire picture. Finally, we played with the CMS (colour management system) extensively, only to find that it hurt the picture more than help it -- see the Performance section for details.
The connectivity options on the Sharp XV-Z-20000 are generous, indeed. There are two HDMI inputs on tap, both of which can accept 1080p 60Hz signals but not the less common 24Hz variant. Sharp also throws in a DVI input for good measure, which will come in handy for connecting the unit to a computer. An adaptor (not included) can be used to connect a computer via an analog, VGA-style cable. There are also two component-video inputs, one S-video, one composite video, and a serial (RS-232) for control purposes.
Performance
There is no question that the Sharp is a top performer in the 1080p DLP front-projection category. In fact, given the fact that it is half the price of the Marantz VP-11S1, has more accurate primary and secondary colours, and better gamma, it deserves an Editors' Choice in the 1080p front-projection class.
For our evaluation, we used Standard picture mode, the 6,500K colour temperature setting, and Standard Gamma for the HD-DVD input (HDMI 1), and Custom Gamma for the HD cable input (HDMI 2). Using the Eco Mode and the High Contrast setting on the iris, we measured over 15 footlamberts of light output, which is ample for front projection in a dedicated theatre environment. Prior to calibration, the greyscale tracked around 7,500K in the 6,500K setting, which is reasonable for a preset from the factory. Gamma implementation is also good, with a nice slow rise out of black.
Overall colour accuracy on the XV-Z21000 is pretty good with excellent colour decoding. The primary and secondary colours are off, but not nearly as offensively as a lot of projectors. The CMS is a double-edged sword. We could dial in the colours to near perfection, only to find colour severely desaturated. Increasing the colour control to get back the saturation resulted in strange-looking skin tones, so we reverted back to the factory settings in the CMS menu. This is a common problem with CMS systems. We wish manufacturers would simply give us the correct primary and secondary colours, like those of the Samsung SP-H710AE 720p DLP projector, which remains our reference because of its stellar colour and gamma performance characteristics.
Nonetheless, compared to most of the competition in 1080p resolution projectors, whether LCD, LCoS, or DLP, the Sharp XV-Z21000 definitely stands out as one of the best. It has a relatively powerful lamp, which is rated at 1,000 ANSI lumens, and is capable of driving relatively large screen sizes. The lens is also impressive, delivering crisp, sharp images with very few chromatic aberrations.
Speaking of sharpness, we were pleased to find that both the component and HDMI inputs accept and display all the resolution from 1080p HDTV sources. Tests from the HQV HD-DVD disc revealed that the Sharp deinterlaces 1080i properly, preserving all the resolutions in the signal. However, you must make sure that the Progressive setting in the Advanced menu is set to Slow and not Fast, or you will be losing a lot of information and gaining a lot of noise in the process.
To test the black-level performance, we chose the excellent transfer of Batman Begins on HD-DVD. Chapter 28, where Batman outmanoeuvres the cops and races the Batmobile back to the Bat Cave to save Rachel's life, is an awesome test of black-level performance and shadow detail capability. The 21000 sailed through this torture test with finesse. Blacks were also quite clean, with little low-level noise or dithering, which is common to DLP.
We chose scenes from the reference-quality HD-DVD transfer of Seabiscuit to evaluate colour saturation and skin tone rendition. Again the Sharp excelled compared with most other projectors, but we did wish for more accurate primary and secondary colours. Chapter 13 has a variety of colours, including natural objects like hedges and grass, and the scene where the jockeys line up their horses before the race is an excellent test for primary and secondary colour accuracy since all six of those colours are in close proximity. While this scene looked good, it would seem much better if the colours were on spec.
Watching HD from our cable feed was definitely an anti-climactic experience after seeing some of the best that HD-DVD has to offer, but nonetheless some material did look pretty impressive. We did notice that the video processing in the Sharp was a little noisy. When we ran all our sources through a DVDO VP50 video processor, it cleaned things up nicely, especially with standard-definition cable channels.
