BenQ LK990 First Impressions

[AVSMike]

Several already made the comparison using your earlier settings that you claimed were great. You claimed the LK990 performed better than any of the low nit JVC and Sony projectors.  All of the people along with their guests came to the same conclusion, the RS2000 outperformed the LK990. Of course you made your claim without any side by side comparison and without ever seeing an RS2000 and you are laughing at us. 

[HarperVision]

Several already made the comparison using your earlier settings that you claimed were great.....

"Earlier settings"?  Thanks for proving my point, Mike.

....You claimed the LK990 performed better than any of the low nit JVC and Sony projectors......

Overall, yes. Total blacks and contrast, no.

....All of the people along with their guests came to the same conclusion, the RS2000 outperformed the LK990. Of course you made your claim without any side by side comparison and without ever seeing an RS2000 and you are laughing at us.

All of these so called "comparisons", as I have said a million times, were not done with any of my complete settings for the LK990.  That is fact Mike. Many got their LK990's before I ever got mine or before I ever completed any tweaks, settings, equipment in use, etc.  In fact, most if not all of those folks used settings from the old LK970, which has already been said a million times do not cross over at all to the upgraded LK990, which added SmartEco laser dimming and HDR.

Also, this is a totally different setup anyway.  It would be like me saying....."well, I tested an RS600 with old eShift technology and my newer LK990 with an HDFury allowing native LLDV/Dolby Vision to be displayed and the LK990 beats it, so therefore I am jumping to conclusions based on something I did years ago and making the incorrect assumption and opinion that it also beats the newer native 4K RS2000"! 

Also, in this case, nobody did any comparisons side by side whatsoever here either.  Most if not all replying here haven't even tried this on any projector for that matter!

Why are you bringing in older, outdated information as a basis for your argument here, when something totally new is being discussed?

[Javs]

One problem is every-time someone tests something, Dave's rebuttal is that there is a NEW setting which undoes everything that ever came before it, and it always happens when the people who did the testing dont have the machine anymore and thus 'ITS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOW', This is where the merry goes round...

The LK990 has a FINITE black floor, we all know how to test this, do you think you are the only person who knows how to test and manipulate a display to find its lowest possible black floor? Its really easy to do. If Dave thinks he found some way to increase the possible contrast past 5k, I call bull.

The LK990 has a pathetic black floor, that's just a fact. its contrast is ultimately unacceptable. What we have here is just Dave's level for acceptable contrast apparently way less stringent than some of us, and that's fine, why argue it back and forth.

"Overall, yes. Total blacks and contrast, no."

The LK990 DID NOT have better colour than the JVC I have, that's fact. And that's a BIG deal just like contrast is.
The LK990 DID NOT have better motion, its locked on some internal 60hz it looks wrong to me.
The LK990 DID NOT have better 3d. It was blurry as hell compared to the JVC which scales 3D properly.
The LK990 DID NOT have better shadow detail.

[Dylan Seeger]

Dave, what is your viewing environment like? I wonder if you're not seeing the massive difference the rest of us have seen because your room is limiting the performance of the projectors you've put up against the LK990. Do you have a room that soaks up stray light? I could see why someone would prefer the LK990 in a non-optomized room with all of its light output to counteract the issues with stray/reflected light within a room.

[AVSCraig]

The LK990 DID NOT have better colour than the JVC I have, that's fact. And that's a BIG deal just like contrast is.
The LK990 DID NOT have better motion, its locked on some internal 60hz it looks wrong to me.
The LK990 DID NOT have better 3d. It was blurry as hell compared to the JVC which scales 3D properly.
The LK990 DID NOT have better shadow detail.

It can't display 24p movies in 24p ? It's got built in " soap opera effect " ? 

[AVSMike]

"Earlier settings"?  Thanks for proving my point, Mike.


Overall, yes. Total blacks and contrast, no.

All of these so called "comparisons", as I have said a million times, were not done with any of my complete settings for the LK990.  That is fact Mike. Many got their LK990's before I ever got mine or before I ever completed any tweaks, settings, equipment in use, etc.  In fact, most if not all of those folks used settings from the old LK970, which has already been said a million times do not cross over at all to the upgraded LK990, which added SmartEco laser dimming and HDR.

Also, this is a totally different setup anyway.  It would be like me saying....."well, I tested an RS600 with old eShift technology and my newer LK990 with an HDFury allowing native LLDV/Dolby Vision to be displayed and the LK990 beats it, so therefore I am jumping to conclusions based on something I did years ago and making the incorrect assumption and opinion that it also beats the newer native 4K RS2000"! 

Also, in this case, nobody did any comparisons side by side whatsoever here either.  Most if not all replying here haven't even tried this on any projector for that matter!

Why are you bringing in older, outdated information as a basis for your argument here, when something totally new is being discussed?

Kris brought in the LK based on what you were reporting. You had had the unit for a while. As for your settings, you posted them. Kris found where you posted your settings and used them. You then came back and said those were not your latest settings. Kris then asked you for your latest settings, telling you he would have the LK there for another week and you never sent the settings, even though Kris asked several times? The posts are still there.

I am bring this up, because you made the exact same statements then regarding image quality, that you are making now. 

[AVSMike]

Dave, what is your viewing environment like? I wonder if you're not seeing the massive difference the rest of us have seen because your room is limiting the performance of the projectors you've put up against the LK990. Do you have a room that soaks up stray light? I could see why someone would prefer the LK990 in a non-optomized room with all of its light output to counteract the issues with stray/reflected light within a room.

I don't believe Dave has had a JVC or Sony for that matter, the same time he has had one of the LK's. He had a defective 885 for a few days, but that was before any of the LK projectors. 

[Javs]

It can't display 24p movies in 24p ? It's got built in " soap opera effect " ?

Yep, Kris saw it too, as did Dylan I believe.

Its very subtle but its there. I am completely allergic to motion that is not the original frame rate because the film industry is my career and noticed it very quickly.

Its motion resolution was excellent though, the sharpness of objects moving, but the actual motion itself was not proper 24p motion I know that much.

[Dylan Seeger]

Yep, Kris saw it too, as did Dylan I believe.

Its very subtle but its there. I am completely allergic to motion that is not the original frame rate because the film industry is my career and noticed it very quickly.

Its motion resolution was excellent though, the sharpness of objects moving, but the actual motion itself was not proper 24p motion I know that much.

Yeah, it accepts 24p but it appeared to me that everything was output at 60p. There seems to be some sort of pulldown happening internally. If I remember correctly, this behavior was common amongst several of the older .66-inch DLP DMD projectors.

[HarperVision]

One problem is every-time someone tests something, Dave's rebuttal is that there is a NEW setting which undoes everything that ever came before it, and it always happens when the people who did the testing dont have the machine anymore and thus 'ITS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOW', This is where the merry goes round...

It was and is definitely a work in progress and great gains were made as I went along and as time passed.  I don't understand why this is so hard to believe or understand?  Are you trying to tell me that the longer someone owns something and the more they use, experiment, test and research something, that you aren't going to get a better understanding of how it works and how you can maximize what it does best, enhance what you can and minimize what its weaknesses are?

Plus, if you had read what I've written lately, this is a whole new thing I discovered being able to use Dolby Vision/LLDV on HDR10 only displays and projectors.  This IS completely different.

...The LK990 has a FINITE black floor, we all know how to test this, do you think you are the only person who knows how to test and manipulate a display to find its lowest possible black floor? Its really easy to do. If Dave thinks he found some way to increase the possible contrast past 5k, I call bull.....

Maybe if you'd have read what I wrote about this, you'd see what it is I was talking about.  Maybe you should consult @woofer and @markmon and ask them about the blacks and contrast with the LASER PHOSHOR RS4500/Z1 compared to the RS3000?  Same concept. I will not repeat it here......again!

...The LK990 has a pathetic black floor, that's just a fact. its contrast is ultimately unacceptable. What we have here is just Dave's level for acceptable contrast apparently way less stringent than some of us, and that's fine, why argue it back and forth.....

No, what we have here is you not knowing what you're talking about, in relation to the LK990 anyway.  I was actually going to email you and try to talk to you like an adult man, thinking you'd actually be willing to listen and have an open mind and maybe actually try this new found LLDV discovery on the LK990 and also using on other projectors.  I would have LOVED your informed feedback, but Oh well.  Such is life these days around the world.

I asked Mike for your email.  I now see this once again can never happen with you or anyone here, so forget about it. The only people missing out are the ones who love HT and could really benefit from this and an open discussion, but once again you've all closed your minds and ruined it for anyone else who may benefit from this.  Thanks.

...The LK990 DID NOT have better colour than the JVC I have, that's fact. And that's a BIG deal just like contrast is...

As I have stated previously..again...I discovered that if you reduce color down to about 7, use Color Enhancement around 16 and keep Brilliant Color ON, it allows the color to track very nicely.  It is not I am sure as wide as the JVC with DCI filter, but one thing I do not see or miss here is color, that's for sure!  In fact, the colors are quite amazing and appear to be one of the strengths now.  You don't get the color shifts we saw and reported initially on the LK990.  I am sure they're close to the Sonys and JVCs without DCI filter.

...The LK990 DID NOT have better motion, its locked on some internal 60hz it looks wrong to me...

I am not a huge motion guy and don't notice as much as many, I agree, but I certainly do NOT see anything even remotely similar to the "Soap Opera Effect".  I know what that looks like of course, and I absolutely HATE it!  I can't stand Gemini Man's 60p!  I will try some tests if I can.  Do you have any in particular?

..The LK990 DID NOT have better 3d. It was blurry as hell compared to the JVC which scales 3D properly....

I haven't really done anything with 3D, so this could very well be fact, but I do recall reading something from someone that they found a setting/fix, maybe @tnaik4 or 12GAGE?

...The LK990 DID NOT have better shadow detail.....

That I can almost say 100% would be false or at worst equal now with this Dolby Vision/LLDV tweak/mod/hack.  At least down to its absolute laser black floor/level.  One of the greatest improvements is how it now presents the low level shadow details and luminance steps in the HDR/DV video.  I watched The Call of the Wild this weekend, converted and Dolby Vision processed from HDR10 to LLDV and one of the most astonishing things you see in the entire movie now are the low ADL/APL level night scenes in the Yukon!

I already wrote about how the way HDR video is mastered and with my setup now it is pretty much looking like there's no tone mapping (compression) needed in the main part of the movie, which is almost exclusively always in the below ~100 nits category.  I think we ALL agree on this, no?  This makes that part of the image look absolutely incredible and reveals things I had never seen before.  Now all that is left is everything above the main movie image (100 thru 1,000/4,000/10,000 nits) that is to be tone mapped, for the specular highlights, etc.  This is easily done with simply adjusting the contrast control, in combination with what ST2084 HDR curve is used and maybe a little brightness.  Mine is setup using HDR Brightness (curve) -2 (out of 5 selections ranging from -2,-1,0,1,2) and contrast anywhere between 48-58 or so, depending on source content.

It appears as if you haven't read all my posts.  Have you?

I have had these LKs for years now and practically work on them, experiment and test things nearly every single night for hours on end.  I know them better than any one of you no matter what inexperienced narratives you guys are going to throw out here, that is what is FACT!

[HarperVision]

Dave, what is your viewing environment like? I wonder if you're not seeing the massive difference the rest of us have seen because your room is limiting the performance of the projectors you've put up against the LK990. Do you have a room that soaks up stray light? I could see why someone would prefer the LK990 in a non-optomized room with all of its light output to counteract the issues with stray/reflected light within a room.

I have already answered that question when Mike asked it.  Is every single post here by you guys going to keep showing that you don't even read what it is I am writing here?

[HarperVision]

Kris brought in the LK based on what you were reporting. You had had the unit for a while. As for your settings, you posted them. Kris found where you posted your settings and used them. You then came back and said those were not your latest settings. Kris then asked you for your latest settings, telling you he would have the LK there for another week and you never sent the settings, even though Kris asked several times? The posts are still there.

I am bring this up, because you made the exact same statements then regarding image quality, that you are making now.

I didn't post them because they were on my former contract partner's email server and using his CalMAN licenses that I could no longer access.  I tried to get access and was ignored by the server owner (That type of attitude is why I broke our contract agreement).  I  explained that at the time, so are you going to purposefully leave that part out to keep twisting this narrative to fit your agenda?  Do you not recall the demeaning picture of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible (from Javs?), repelling down into the server room with laser alarms all around, mocking me when I said this?  I certainly do! 

[HarperVision]

I don't believe Dave has had a JVC or Sony for that matter, the same time he has had one of the LK's. He had a defective 885 for a few days, but that was before any of the LK projectors.

I had a JVC RS600 shortly before that, then I had the Sony VW885ES at the same time I had an LK970 and after I saw the LK970 OVERALL compared to the VW885ES, I chose the LK970, mainly due to its price to performance ratio (less than half the price street).

The ONLY thing wrong with the 885 was the blue streaking issue, which you couldn't see in regular video and was only noticed when I opened a grid menu that had a white box around it and you could see the blue streaks above the white lettering.  The reason I started a return was due it being a brand new unit and I wouldn't accept that issue on a brand new projector, as I don't think anyone here would either.  I would have done a replacement had I not seen the LK970 and decided to keep that instead, again due to price/performance considerations, NOT because of the 885 blue streak issue.

I have explained this to you previously as well, so I am not sure why you continue to post this false narrative also?

[HarperVision]

...... because the film industry is my career........

And Radio/TV Broadcasting, Commercial, Rental & Staging, calibration, teaching and home theater has been MY career for 30+ years, so this is why I wanted to talk to you with an open mind, but alas that will apparently never happen.

[AVSMike]

I have already answered that question when Mike asked it.  Is every single post here by you guys going to keep showing that you don't even read what it is I am writing here?

Heck, I can't even remember the answer. Can you link to the post where you answeredthe question?