BenQ SH960 1080p DLP Projector First Look

Professional projectors have more demands on them than traditional home theater projectors. Often (very often) they are used in non-optimal situations. That means lots of light, non-white projection surfaces, and less than optimal placement. With all these things working against them, the only thing they have in their corner is that, usually, no one cares how loud they are.

BenQ has long been know for their DLP projectors and the SH960 looks to extend this reputation. Set to ship in June, the SH960 will cost just under $7k. The SH960 has a lot going for it, however, including 1080p resolution, 5500 ANSI lumens, and horizontal and vertical lens shift. While 1080p resolution is sort of standard these days, the other two will really help in non-optimal environments. The extra brightness will help combat ambient light and the horizontal and vertical lens shift will ease placement in office settings.

One thing that you may run into in a professional setting is non-white projection surfaces. It might be that you've moved the projector for a meeting or that you've gone offsite, or maybe there wasn't enough money in the budget for a screen. BenQ had built into their projectors their proprietary Wall Color Correction feature. With it (if it is like the versions we've experienced in the past) you can select your wall color from a list. While it isn't a perfect solution (there must be a million different colors of white out there much less the other options) it does help. In our experience, it will balance out some of the colors so that it isn't so distracting when viewing images. It isn't the same a full calibration, but for presentations, it should be more than adequate.

The BenQ SH960 has a 3000:1 contrast ratio and a native 16:9 aspect ratio with a full 1.07 billion color palette. There is also and ecomode which will extend the lamp life by 30 percent. If you have light control in your room, this can be a huge savings since the bulbs for projectors tend to be pricey. Speaking of price, the $7k price tag on the SH960 certainly is a bit of an eye opener. It seems a bit stiff for what they are offering but we'll hold off on our judgement until they release a few more facts.

Conclusion

Business projectors have it rough but the BenQ SH960 looks to be up to the challenge. With a 3000:1 contrast ratio, 5500 ANSI lumens brightness, 1.07 billion colors, horizontal and vertical lens shift, and BenQ's proprietary Wall Color Correction system for non-white projection surfaces, there is very little you can throw at the SH960 that it can't handle. While details at this point are still sketchy, we look forward to learning more (and why we should pay $7k for these features) when the projector ships in June.

For more information, please visit www.benq.us.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.