[Editor's note: this review is excerpted from John's write-up of the 2004 Projector Expo.]

Since almost everyone there agreed that these were the best two sub-$12000 projectors at the show, we did an extensive comparison between the two as our finale Sunday night. Unfortunately, after 2 days of solid comparisons, we only had about 12 people left in the room to see it! Hopefully one or more of them will comment here as to what they thought.

Our source was once again the JVC D-VHS deck feeding both projectors via component video, using the TI DLP 1080i Demo Tape as source material. We paired each projector with what we felt to be its best match in regard to screen - the 7205 was matched with the 110" Firehawk, the Sharp with the 110" Carada Brilliant White. The Sharp was run in high contrast mode for most of the comparison; the 7205 was always left at the lower power bulb setting.

The pictures were far more alike than they were different, appearing almost identical in regard to detail and sharpness. In terms of brightness, the 7205 was distinctly but not overwhelmingly brighter, even though it was on a grey screen and the Sharp was on a white. The blacks were slightly deeper on the Sharp (here the Infocus had the assistance of the Firehawk screen material; I would say that the blacks would have been distinctly deeper on the Sharp had they both been shown on the same white screen). In terms of contrast, the Sharp had the advantage in high contrast mode due to the deeper blacks. Interestingly, the visible contrast advantage went to the Infocus when we switched the Sharp to the medium or high brightness modes.

In terms of color, the Sharp displayed a slight but distinct reddish cast, while the Infocus appeared dead on. During a shot of a river bank, the grey of the rocks was more realistically rendered by the 7205, with the Sharp giving them the reddish cast I mentioned above. It is only fair to point out that the Sharp has some of the most complete calibration controls of any projector, and several ISF techs have mentioned that it is possible to get the colors dialed in just about perfectly on the Sharp. Keep in mind, too, that the colors on the Sharp were much more accurate right out of the box than say, the BenQ PE8700, and most people would be hard pressed to notice the red push without another projector as a reference. Still, a calibration should be factored in to the price if you are wanting to get the very best color performance out of the Sharp.

Another interesting, but minor, difference appeared to be in the scaling that each projector used to convert the 1080i signal of the DVHS deck to 720p. Both were essentially artifact free, but we noticed that the Sharp displayed more distinct lettering for the white on black titles at the beginning of the tape. At first we thought that the optics might have been superior on the Sharp, resulting in sharper outlines and a crisper delineation between the lettering and the background. When we got within inches of the screen, though, it was clear that both projectors were focused perfectly, as the pixels were clearly focused by both projectors. It appeared that the Sharp was adding a bit of edge enhancement to boost the apparent sharpness of the image - the lettering on the Sharp had a distinct blacker than black single pixel border around it, while the Infocus showed a single mid grey border around each letter, where the scaler was averaging the white and black information. After looking at this, we also noticed slight edge enhancement on the Sharp on items like feathers and hairs. One of the people at the show commented that the edge enhancement was variable on the Sharp, so that it could be dialed out if someone found it objectionable, but I have not been able to confirm this. It kind of shows how close in performance these two projectors are, when we had to literally get within inches of the screen to find any real substantive differences in picture sharpness and detail.

Note - InFocus uses the latest version of the Faroudja deinterlacer/scaler, while Sharp uses their own proprietary scaling/deinterlacing system. Both were excellent, and their different approaches I think were reflected in how they handled the above material.

Other differences are much more subjective - the Sharp had a smoother, deeper look than the Infocus (at least when it was run in high contrast mode and when we had it running solo), while the Infocus looked punchier, more dynamic. Preferences were split pretty evenly down the middle, as anyone there can attest. The final conclusion of everyone there was that anyone would be thrilled to have either one of these in their home.

Here are the recommendations that I would make, based upon this side by side and our separate solo comparison. If you are looking for ultimate color and contrast performance, get an ISF calibration for the Sharp and place it in a totally light controlled home theater environment, with dark walls, floors, and ceilings. Pair it with a white screen like the StudioTek, the Dalite CinemaVision, or the Carada Brilliant White, and keep the screen size under at or below 110". If you do not have light control, or like to watch movies or video with lights on occasionally, or want to have a screen larger than 110", the Infocus would be the better choice. Yes, you can always run the Sharp in high brightness mode, but the Infocus actually has superior contrast compared to the Sharp in this setting.

Even so, we are splitting hairs here. It's not as if the Sharp is a poor performer in high brightness mode - it still looks excellent! It's not as if the Infocus would not work well in a darkened theater environment - it will! If you prefer a brighter image over higher contrast, you will probably prefer the image of the Infocus regardless. If smoothness and the highest contrast is what you are after, you will probably prefer the Sharp if you have the proper environment.

Keeping that in mind, if you want to get the ultimate performance out of the high contrast projectors like the Sharp and the NEC, a totally light controlled environment with darker walls and furnishings is essential. Adding even a small amount of ambient light can destroy contrast ratios unless the projector has the lumens to counter it. When running in high contrast mode, the Sharp puts out less than 300 lumens - any ambient light at all will wash out the picture and destroy all the contrast you paid for. I point this out because many expect they will get a 5000:1 contrast ratio even when slapping the projector in their living room with two huge picture windows dominating one wall -it ain't gonna happen.

Even the side by side test above is not completely valid - the light from one projector affects the image from the other. Contrast performance will suffer as a result. For example, the Sharp looked more 3-D than the Infocus when the Sharp was running solo in our totally darkened room (this is going from memory, of course, since this is based on the "single projector at a time" portion of our shootout). When we had them side by side, though, the Infocus had the more 3-D look (regardless of the setting on the Z12000) because the light from the competing projector was affecting the contrast of the Sharp! I think it is a testament to how good these projectors have become when they still throw stunning images under less than ideal circumstances.

Lastly, my opinion of this whole "film-like" argument. I don't get it - I've worked in the film industry for a big chunk of my adult life, and I've never associated deep blacks and smoothness with film. Film is grainy and flat, yet has a beauty that video presentation cannot match. The deep black and smoothness look I associate with an excellent CRT presentation, not film, so you won't get me saying the "deep black" and "smooth" image is the one that is more film-like. I will say it is more CRT like, however.