What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
10 OCT 2006
ThemeScene HD81
Offers much of the ability of more expensive projectors for a far more reasonable price
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ThemeScene’s stunning HD81 is a two-box DLP projector offering the ultra-high-resolution 1920 x 1080 Texas Instruments DarkChip3 chipset, teamed with an offboard video-scaler, which also serves as the video hub for all your sources.
It also makes use of Gennum's Visual Excellence Processing (VXP) to sharpen its images: you’ll find identical components in many far more expensive projectors, a strong indication of the value on offer here.
And in the main, we’ve no complaints at all about its performance: colour rendition, detail resolution and black depth are exemplary, whether with standard-definition or high def. It shines with 1080i HD from Sky HD, and looks great with 1080p Blu-ray, boasting terrific depth, colour accuracy and vitality.
Usability gripes
Our review sample took its time about operating: switching from one video input to another was painfully slow, for example. We’d also question the decision not to provide some form of vertical lens-shift, which can make installation fiddly.
Finally, some of us felt that the auto-iris system, which attempts to maximise contrast, can produce the odd (brief) variation in screen brightness as the image shifts from one scene to another. A manual iris setting is on tap if this bothers you.
These quibbles aside, this is a dramatic projector: it demands your attention.
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