BenQ HT1085ST Review
Native Full HD 1080P (1920x1080) short throw
Zoom Ratio; 1.2:1
Texas Instruments DarkChip3 DLP Technology
2,200 ANSI lumens, 10,000:1 high contrast ratio
Dual HDMI, MHL connectivity
Optional Wireless Full HD Kit
3D Full HD, built-in 10W speaker
Horizontal and vertical keystone
6.3lbs
ISFccc Certified
6x - Speed RGBRGB Color Wheel
SmartECO mode and Eco Blank mode to save energy and lens life
The rest of the specs can be found here: http://www.benq.us/product/projector/HT1085ST/specs/
I have been looking for a home theater solution for a while since I've always wanted my own personal theater. I started looking into suitable projectors and I knew that I needed a short throw projector because to the arrangement of my room. I used www.projectorcentral.com to do most of the comparisons. This is a priceless resource when it comes to finding the right projector, screen size, distance, etc. You can even compare several projectors at a time. I didn't want to spend too much and wanted to keep my costs down to below $1500; including the screen and installation. I will be over that soon because I will be adding additional seating, maybe a popcorn machine, etc. Long story short, I settled on this projector, but there were not many reviews out there just on how new it was. So far, I would have to say that I am not disappointed. I'm fairly happy with it. Sure it has it's quirks, but it has excellent image quality for the price. They are listed on amazon now for about $850. http://amzn.com/B00LTMPOUE.
My setup is the BenQ HT1085ST about 5' away projection unto a 106" Elite Sable Fixed Frame 16:9 screen. Screen is CineWhite 1.1 with black backing and surrounded by black velvet. Setup was rather simple and the projector was close to being perfect out of the box. I originally had it set on a stool about 4' way from the screen projecting about 100" on the wall. Even before I had the screen mounted, the colors popped and it showed no lag when playing video games. Non that I could see anyway. Once I got the screen mounted and the projector mounted to the ceiling, I used the THX application to make some fine tuning adjustments but they were nominal. One thing that I found irritating was the lack of auto keystoning or corner keystoning. I would get my image almost exactly where I wanted it and if you touch keystoning, it would mess it up. I spent hours adjusting keystone and adjusting the ceiling mount to get what I wanted. Overscan did not help in this instance. I finally gave up and had to use some zoom. This irritated me as I would have the image almost exactly where it needed to be and one corner would be off. I also noticed that there was some light leakage from the edges of the projector. Since my screen is surrounded by velvet it hides most of it, but along the edge of the screen I can still see remnants of light that can not be adjusted out. This light is coming from around the lens itself and the vents. I've noticed this with a friends projector and his was missing foam around the lens, and the same seems to be the case for mine.
I would say that the darks are better than expected. I've heard the horror stories about not getting the darks correct, but I think they did a pretty good job and it only needed nominal adjusting from me. When playing some very dark video games, I could make out any shadows that I needed to see without adjusting the brightness. This is one of the changes I had to make using the THX application; but it was only a slight adjustment. Almost ready to go out of the box.
Pros:
Cost - good bang for the buck
Short Throw
MHL Capable
3D capable
Wireless capable (if you purchase the accessory)
Really good colors and dark. No lag detected during video gaming.
Eco Mode - saves the lens life.
Native 1080P resolution
Very easy setup and almost ready out of the box.
Cons:
No auto zoom or keystone from the remote control.
Light leak from around the lens. Overscan or zooming will not get rid of this.
No corner keystoning. This would help with those fine adjustments.
**I have attached some sample videos below. Ensure that you change the youtube resolution to max or it will be even more compressed. Please excuse the shaky hands**
Using pacific rim to test projector. All rights of then movie belong to WB.
Just a test video with the BenQ HT1080ST. Projection from about 5' away on a 106' screen. Video is compressed here, but the quality is very good. Licensing of the video belongs to WB. This review is not about the movie, but about the projection quality.
Testing Benq HT1085ST with 4k videos. Video credit to Jacob and Katie Schwarz.