I'd like to leave this section with as few words as possible. The images truly speak for themselves and we found the picture quality of the BenQ to be both filmlike and crisply detailed. Detail was so good, in fact that I was able to see definition and characteristics of on-screen elements in places I had never been able to see before. I always espouse high definition as being able to see the dimples in a golf ball when watching Tiger Woods in HD. With the W5000 you'll likely begin to notice the shadows in the pits. Everything below is taken with our reference Marantz VP-15S1 DLP projector in mind, a model we keep on hand to compare other products to and derive differences and capabilities.

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HDTV: Deadliest Catch
This is a great show on Discovery HD Theater, made even greater opportunities to see how well your display stacks up against nighttime hi-def shots, rolling waves, and a lot of fast pans with complex source material. Ever want to see how well your front projector will follow a king crab flying across the screen into an ice-soaked ship deck? OK, maybe I'm weird... Still, it looked really great on the W5000.

The colors in this show really come out in the sky and the outfits worn by crew members as they struggle to survive the brutal conditions associated with fishing the Bering Sea.

HDTV: My House is Worth What?
This show is filmed with high quality HD cameras and utilizes ample lighting. The result is a crisp, clean image that is hard to beat. Colors pop, edges are crisp and the content does well to show off any projector's ability to render crisp detail. In this particular episode, an establishing shot of the city resulted in a real-world deinterlacing test which the W5000 passed with flying colors.

Look at the buildings here. At 1080i and in motion, this presented a great challenge.

HDTV: MTVHD Bon Jovi Live Concert
We got a chance to see some Bon Jovi in high definition courtesy of MTV's new HD channel. It was well worth our time and the images we captured, while they can't possibly do justice to what we saw, are at least representative of the excellent material we viewed.

DVD: Shrek
An oldie, but goodie, I wanted to put something up which showed the excellent film-like color reproduction possible with the W5000. Shrek seemed like a perfect movie to use and we also got to see more of how well the BenQ projector handles SD content upconverted to its natural 1080p resolution.

Colors popped but maintained a film quality provided Brilliant Color was left off

Brilliant animation moments like this delivered shadow detail and opportunities to see (a lack of) banding in difficult areas of images such as fire on a kettle.

Conclusion

The street price of this projector is around half its retail. Given the quality and level of sharpness this system is capable of - plus the excellent Blacks it can produce thanks to its dual iris system - it's hard not to take notice. The BenQ W5000 is going to rival some more expensive projectors and certainly beats out the Epson 1080UB in terms of its ability to reproduce deep rich blacks. For those daring enough to risk even less lumen output and less contrast, you can dial down the iris to its lowest setting and really get some seriously low black levels. For those wanting some daytime use the W5000 offers enough flexibility to endure with ambient light and less-than-pristine viewing conditions.

I think BenQ hit one out of the park this go-around. The W5000 isn't perfect (heaven knows I'd like a shorter throw distance and horizontal lens shift) but for the price it's really, really, hard not to take some serious notice. We started by trying to figure out what price bracket the BenQ W5000 fit. The answer is that it is pretty much taking on, successfully, both the $2500 and $5000 markets. Put this on your short list and be sure to check it out.

BenQ W5000 DLP Projector
MSRP $4999

15375 Barranca
Suite A205
Irvine, CA 92618
949-255-9500
www.benq.us

About BenQ Corporation
BenQ Corporation consists of three main business groups ¡X Digital Media Business Group, Integrated Manufacturing Service Business Group and Mobile Communications Business Group. These three business groups encompass a broad range of products and each possesses a focus on providing consumer-oriented solutions designed for the digital lifestyle. 2006 revenues for BenQ Corporation exceeded US$6.2 billion dollars.