BenQ DLP HD 1080p Projector (W1070) - 3D Home Theater Projector with Lens Shift Technology and RGBRGB Color Wheel

JUST BUY IT ALREADY. For the price , you really can't go wrong and seriously you are not compromising on any video quality. Let me start of saying that, this is my first projector and picture quality was mind blowing. Its as good as watching in a real theater. Let me not get into, how good this projector is or the black level that everyone had talked about. I shall focus on things for which I could not find answers online. I was convinced to get Optoma HD-25LV, but I end up getting this for couple of specific reasons. I am glad I did that (and I saved $300 as well :-) . In my opinion $884 is a steal for this projector. My Theater room has a low ceiling height of 7'5" H * 13.5" W X 22' Length and my top of the screen is about 5" - 6" from the ceiling. HD-25 requires atleast a 8" for the center of the lens to be higher than. Ben Q doesn't require a specific clearance from the ceiling, you could go flush if you want. I used the mount (refer below) approximately 5" drop from the ceiling. NO keystone Or Lens Shift or Zoom was used in my case. Don't relay on the distance calculator its quite off in my opinion. Simple Technique is, Enable the Test Pattern and set the background to blue. Built a simple stand using empty cardboard boxes. Select the Projector position to "Front Ceiling", put the projector upside down on top of the cardboard boxes. I moved slowly back until I can align the edges of the test pattern with my screen. Once close enough, I basically put the mount (not attached) and made it snug using some of my kids book (At this point, it was slightly off and I was worried that I may need to use Keystone Correction). Hung it using the mount and adjusted (both horizontally & vertically), Voila a perfect square. A Simple one man job. Certainly its a short throw compared with Epson or Optoma. I used NATGEO (National Geographic HD Channel from Dish and Blu Ray DVD) to compare between this projector and an 50" Pioneer Elite TV. Honestly, I didn't find any difference at all. In fact, I was able to see for the first time minor details of the image just because of the sheer size of the image. I "hated" non HD channels from Dish on this projector, but it looked nice on the TV, I believe its the size. My theater room is completely dark and this projector illuminates the whole room. Its quite bright. I tried with lights on, its still good. I know I read "Rainbow effects" in lot of places, but I don't know what that is and I didn't see anything other than the movie, I didn't do any setting modifications yet, but right out of the box its pretty good. I have a link from AVS forum for calibration, that I shall post once I had a chance to play around with. Here are the things that I bought Universal Projector Ceiling Mount for DLP / LCD video projectors (Heavy Duty Steel, White, adjustable height 16.9-Inch - 25.6-Inch, built-in cable management, easy installation) - Excellent mount. If you need a height between 6" - 16" drop don't buy it. However this projector has vertical lens shift that could potentially compensate. Elite Screens ER100DH2 Sable Fixed Frame Projection Screen - Amazing screen for this projector. I also bout True Depth 3D glasses, but yet to test 3D or the glass. I also used high speed HDMI cables with Redmere Technology from Mono price, which are by far the cheapest and best quality especially if you want to run 35' in wall

This is a great sub $1k projector in every sense of the word. I had an epson 720p LCD for the last few years and have gotten used to the idea of having a projector integrated into my daily home theater experience. It was ceiling mounted and pointed at a pull down favi screen. The original setup cost $500 thanks to Craigslist. Decided to treat myself and buy something new and more modern. I based my decision on a few factors. The projector had to be 1080p and had to support 3d. A month was spent evaluating the options. In the end I went with the BenQ W1070 based on the reviews here and amazon as well as the projector and home theater sites on the inter webs. All of that background said lets talk about the projector. It puts out a beautiful picture. That FAVI screen (bought here for $100) is starting to sag and has a few ripples. It doesn't matter, this thing puts off such a strong picture that its not noticeable. A few others have noted how bright the initial image is and they're right. Fortunately you get a lot of options for tweaking the colors. It actually is one of the few projectors that is certified (don't ask me the organization) and offers options that are normally only offered by much higher dollar projectors and televisions. So the 2D performance is perfect. I use this with a HTPC, XBOX360, and blue ray player all running through a receiver. It just works well right out of the box and once you tweak those colors it's even better. Now of course what about 3D? This thing single handedly sold me on the concept of 3d in the home. It uses active DLP IR glasses which essentially means they have an IR receiver and pick up the signal reflected off the screen from the projector. No pairing required just turn them on. Went with the sainsonic 144hz. The 3d image is sharp, clear, colorful, bright, and I could see no rainbow effect. Tried it with movies as well as PC games (Skyrim especially looks great!) If you go 3d do yourself a service and set up surround sound. The immersive experience is more than words can describe. 3d is definitely not a gimmick. Last night we watched Pirhana 3DD (don't judge) and my GF actually spilled her drink freaking out when the spiny little death machine of a fish jumped out of the screen at her. So a couple of tips for you would be buyers: 1. This is a HDMI 1.4a projector. Pay attention to the 3d modes and respective resolutions. I spent days figuring out how to set it up correctly with the PC. For movies 1080p 24hz (Frame packing) or 1080i 60hz (SBS). For games 1080i (SBS) or 720p (Frame Packing) Get the appropriate 3d driver for your video card and let it fly. 2. This has a lot of options for tweaking out the color and setting up multiple user modes for different applications. Google it and see what other folks have already done to save yourself time 3. The projector is really quiet just mount it correctly 4. Said it before saying it again. Set up surround sound. It'll cost you $500 or less for a decent setup between the receiver, speakers, and subwoofer. It's worth it. Enjoy!

Update: After much gnashing of teeth over the overheating issue (see below), I finally contacted Benq Support to try and get it fixed...again. In March of this year I submitted a support ticket...19 months after purchase. Without any drama, they issued an RMA and paid to ship it BOTH ways and rapidly got it back to me (I contacted them on March 19th, got the prepaid label on March 21st and it was back to me on April 7th (FEDEX attempted delivery on April 6th and I wasn't home). I've had it back for 4 months and it has operated flawlessly (I hope this doesn't jinx me). Now, I am VERY HAPPY!!! I still didn't give it 5 stars because of the long road to get here, but it is a HUGE relief to finally get this thing working as it should. And though BENQ didn't tell me what they did to fix it, they did it VERY quickly and it didn't cost me a dime even though it was 7 months out of warranty. That's impressive! Original Review: I have had this projector installed in my basement (the coolest area in the house) for a little over a year now. It is ceiling mounted with a Benq mount and projects onto a 115" screen. I live at about 6800', so I've enabled the High Altitude mode since I first set it up. This significantly increases the fan noise, but usually it isn't distracting. The picture is fairly sharp, bright and colors are good right out of the box. No significant issues with the picture and I've never felt much desire to have it professionally calibrated or to spend hours tweaking the picture. If pushed, I would say that my previous projector (Panasonic PT-AR100U) was a touch more natural although that projector was more expensive and physically larger. So, picture-wise, this is a pretty good deal IMHO. The reason that my rating is so low is because I've been plagued with overheating issues. The projector initially started overheating and shutting down a couple months after installation. I went online and worked with a Benq technician who helped me reset the projector. It worked for a couple of weeks, before it started overheating again. Eventually, I sent it back to Benq. They turned it around in a reasonable amount of time, but I got ZERO feedback on what they might have done (or not done) to it, which is frustrating. When I reinstalled it, I reduced the bulb power option to "Economy" and the problem went away for several months. But, it came back. I've had it shut down during the summer and winter and I keep the thermostat (which is upstairs) at 68 degrees, so this is not about ambient temperature. The fans continue to operate until the projector shuts down, so they aren't to blame. A bulb problem should have reappeared immediately when I got it back. It seems to me that the projector needs routine cleaning, but there is no removable filter (my Panasonic had one) and no instructions on how to take it apart and clean it. So, now that my warranty is expired, I guess I can crack it open and see how dirty it is (or isn't). EDIT: I'm not sure if the projector knows that I've been talking bad about it, but it has suddenly gotten shutdown happy. I've only got 1600 hours on the bulb. I tried using the ecosmart power setting and the projector shutdown after only 10 minutes. Economical is the only setting I've had any luck with watching for extended periods. I'm listening to the Steelers play right now because the projector shutdown on me for the second time today. It shutdown earlier after watching a movie on YouTube. If you buy this projector, use it for 8+ hours a day for the first 30 days. If it shutdowns, send it back!!!!!

I am not technical expert, but would like to share my review based on two months of experience with this projector and in mostly in layman terms. First thing, if anyone is looking for the best thing for value of money, simply click on 'buy now' for this projector without any second thought. After around 6 months of reading thru various AV forums, checking with people who actually owned this projector I had zeroed down for this Model and I am personally very happy for the quality we get at the asked price. I am projecting it at wall to wall distance of 9 feet on a 92 inch grand-view screen. My viewing distance is also 9 feet and I am able to get THX recommended viewing angle due to which we get immerse feeling while watching movies. As this is my bedroom setup the projector is ceiling mounted and is bit close to top of head when we seat on bed. Even if its close, we don't hear much fan sound, so its not at all disturbing while silent scene in movies. I have Yamaha 196 to complement with this projector for the sound setup. When everything is ON, you feel like in Movie theater. For bigger rooms, there is no issues, but in my case, my only concerns was with regards to the screen size for projected distance. After raising queries here itself in Amazon, I was convinced that due to good throw ratio I will get big image In my setup, I am getting very good image size. Regarding Rainbow effect, till now, none of my family members / guests / myself have noticed it. Regarding 3D quality, its superb. I have couple of IMAX series and couple of SBS format movies. everything works simply perfect. Regarding 3d depth, there were couple of scenes which we experienced very good 3d depth. While watching one of the IMAX 3d movie, trust me, all of sudden my 5 year old Niece said 'this is superb than movie theater' (I am referring to Indian Theater). I asked, really? she said, yeah ! In due course we had couple of guests and everyone enjoyed big screen. They all liked the picture quality. They had to travel back so even during daytime we were able to get good picture contrast. i.e the Lumens of this projector is sufficient enough to give decent picture for daytime watching (we have blackout curtain ) My Father was delighted to watch FIFA world cup on BIG screen and had experience as if he is present right their in the stadium. Regarding Amazon Customer care, only one word I can say that they are the best customer care people, truly customer centric. I had got delayed shipment and faulty piece, but, I had piece of mind as it was "Amazon fulfilled'. Customer care was truly customer centric and they helped me with refunds for my delayed shipment and immediately sent replacement piece which works perfectly well and that's what the above review to share my real experience and hope it helps other to buy who want to experience BIG screen in cost effective way Once again a BIG THANKS to AMAZON for the excellent customer service. it was really hassle free. I am looking forward for future purchases from 'Amazon only ' for my international shipment requirement. Hats off.

My wife and I had just decided to get into the world of home theater projection (moving up from a 59" plasma) and were really looking to get a good unit with great value. We've also had back luck in buying items that weren't very future-proof in the past (hello DVI HDTV), so we didn't want to spend a lot of money if it ended up being obsolete in the near future. Anyhow, we spent a TON of time researching different projectors and kept coming back to the BenQ because of the quality of the high ratings. Every reputable review we read spoke very highly of the BenQ's performance and gave it top marks in the bang-for-your-buck category, which is exactly what we were looking for. We've been nothing but thrilled with this purchase. The setup was straightforward, including flipping the image for a ceiling mount, and calling up various color and image settings. Other than a few minor tweaks though we were pretty satisfied with the out-of-the-box configuration. Being able to bring up the positioning grid was helpful for ensuring a good square picture and filling the entire screen. The sound out of the speakers is horrible of course, but anyone who would expect to be able to use just the sounds from their projector speakers on a large screen is dreaming anyhow. We use the projector on a 120" screen and it projects beautifully, even with some ambient light in the room. We have good curtains over the windows, but some light gets in anyhow, and unless light is shining directly on the screen, there's never any issue seeing the image clearly. The complaint I have - and it's not even enough for me to remove a star - is that the throw distance on the BenQ doesn't have quite as wide of a range as some of the others. Because of the length of our home theater room I would have liked to be able to move the projector back about another foot, but with throw ratio didn't allow for this on "only" a 120" screen. It's still behind where we sit, so it's not a big deal.

I am in love with this projector! This is the show-stopping centerpiece for my dedicated home theater, so I wanted to be sure it would be worth the investment for a DIY set up. I trusted the other reviews I found on Amazon before making this purchase and they did NOT let me down. First of all, this projector was sharp enough to produce fairly decent contrast even with the lights on in a sunlight-polluted room where I first unboxed and tested it. I was blown away and eagerly tested it in a light-controlled space only to be even more amazed. The settings were pretty perfect straight out of the box, with great color balance, brightness, and true depth to dark colors -- on nothing but a plain white painted wall!! I've watched 10 movies or so and a few dozen hours of television and I could not be happier with the quality and can't wait to ceiling mount and watch on a real PVC screen. Now, there are a few things I have noticed that might matter to others, depending on their level of use and magnificence of their home theater, but these things do not bother me at all.... 1. There is a teeny bit of light that escapes from the projector and casts a halo to the right of the screen (left if cieling mounted). My screen is on a dark wall, so it doesn't bother me too much and I have seen others build a box around the projector to prevent that. 2. The native sound sucks. Be prepared to have a nice, long cable to connect to external speakers, or connect speakers directly to your media player (Of course, what is a home theater without surround sound or at least a sound bar). 3. It does get warm and the fan does make some noise, but I only ever noticed those issues when I finished watching a movie and was shutting everything down. 4. It is a short throw projector, meaning it needs to be a little closer to the screen/wall than most other projectors. This was perfect or me, where I am working with an 11ft throw, but might place the projector distractingly in front of you if are working in a larger area.

I don't know that I have EVER given a 5 star rating for ANY product so my 5 star rating here will hopefully provide prospective purchasers with what they need to make a very good buying decision. First, I am not a video or audiophile, so if that is the type of video imaging your looking for, you should look to a panasonic ZT series plasma. I had purchased a mid level 60" "LED" Samsung, and although it was o.k. I was seriously considering the panasonic ZT for about $2,800 last December. I was reading the highly rated ZT reviews on Cnet when one of the reviewers lamented that he doesn't even own a television/monitor which peaked my attention. He has been a orojector owner for many years, so I started searching CNet for projector reviews and ran across the BenQ. I was very skeptical at the image quality you might get from a projector with an $800 price point and in all sincerity, thought I would likely be returning it...until I set it up on a table and flipped it on a paneled wall...I was so impressed with the image on an old wall, I decided to purchase a 106" projector screen [also very happy with] and when I had finally gotten everything set up....WOW. This little DLP box has a great image quality with both Blue Ray and 3D movies. We refuse cable television, but the HD over the air signals we receive also offer an outstanding image...watching the winter olympics on the 106" screen was a real treat. This unit also has a couple of features you typically find on higher end projectors as well. Our viewing is typically limited to watching movies or late night TV/streaming so lighting has not been an issue for us. We have had mid levels of ambient light in the room with only minimal washout. If you have a bright room without the ability to control your lighting, this may not be a good option for you. With that said, $800 for the projector and $280 for a nice quality 106" screen is quite inexpensive in comparing to a 65" Panasonic ZT and I am so very happy and satisfied I made the leap of faith with this projector...it truly is an amazing little box...would highly recommend if you can control your lighting. There is no better home theater experience than with a projector and if budget is part of your equation, give this little box a shot as I think you will be happy you did.

5/19/2013 I recently bought this to replace the ViewSonic PJD5134. The picture is amazing. I had to move it about a foot closer to the wall than I had to for the PJD5134 to get the same size picture, but once I got that handled, I was floored by the quality. However I am having issues with this projector. For whatever odd reason, when I am playing Call of Duty Black Ops 2, the video signal through HDMI drops intermittently. And when it drops, it is quite a long process to get it back up. I noticed that this projector gets really hot too. Not sure if this is the cause or not. I have tried more than one HDMI cable to no avail. Going to have to exchange this for a different one unless anyone here knows what the problem is. I did not have this problem watching a whole movie (Real Steel Blue Ray), or the entire time my son was playing his FIFA game. So far, it seems to be isolated to the Black Ops 2 game. Could it be a refresh rate problem or a hz problem? Update 3/24/2014 Well I was able to resolve my original problem with the projector and as others had commented on my review, it appeared to be an HDMI cable issue. Now I have had bought this projector in May of 2013. It received some limited use in that month, but then was not used at all in June, July, or August as I was working out of state. Since September I have used it steadily as my computer's display. Things that have gone wrong with it or do not work up to my standards. 1: When connected to my cable box via HDMI, switching to certain channels cause the projector to search for signal. It will then find the signal usually after about 9-10 seconds. Very annoying when channel surfing. 2: While I understand that some people will want to troll me over the fact that I use the built in audio, the fact remains that there are certain setups that make it worthwhile or the only viable option. The projector actually has a pretty loud speaker. The only problem is that even at it's lowest setting, it is way to loud. On the lowest setting, I can hear my son watching morning cartoons across the house while in my bedroom. 3: The keystone will not correct the image to make it perfectly square. It either sets it up to be to large on the top half of the image or to large on the bottom half. 4: Minor, but sometimes when pressing the volume up or down, as well as the directional arrow buttons on the remote, it will change the source of the projector, forcing me to wait while it seeks the proper input source again. 5: Like I mentioned previously, this projector only has about six months of use. I would say that on average, it was used about 8 hours a day. Some days it may not have been used at all like if we were out of town or something. So that is approximately 182 days at approximately 8 hours a day (likely over estimating use) for a total of 1,460 hours. Well the bulb just blew (loudly) the other night while watching some Amazon Prime on it. This is way below the estimated time on the lamp that this projector estimates. I don't increase the brightness but maybe by 10 for a couple of hours when the sun is just right in the sky to make it harder to see, and then I always lower the brightness back to it's stock setting of 50, 100 being the highest. Pretty heated right now as BenQ's website does not seem to even list the lamp as a product for sale and I have seen varying products on Amazon claiming to be a replacement lamp. If the one I am seeing is in fact the correct lamp, it is going for $236 right now on Amazon! If I have to buy a replacement for that much every 6 months, it will be my one and only replacement as I will cut my losses. Wondering if Amazon will RMA this or something. Buyer beware, the lamps can/will/and have in my case, go out sooner rather than later. And at nearly $500 a year in lamp replacements at my current pace, the original deal on the projector does not seem so worthwhile.