Awesome home theater high definition projector

I bought the Sharp DT-510 DLP projector as an upgrade to the Sharp PG-A10X LCD projector I had gotten about 5 years ago. The main downside with the PG-A10X was it’s poor contrast ratio and black levels (blacks were gray as LCD technology has trouble blocking the light completely), other than that it was a great projector. What I wanted in an upgrade was of course better blacks and a projector that uses DLP technology (which is much better at making good blacks and better image quality in general), I also wanted a widescreen aspect ratio (16:9) model as everything is going widescreen and the PG-A10X was 4:3.

I decided on the Sharp DT-510 because it was pretty much the only model with the specifications I wanted in the price range I wanted to pay and I had heard very good reviews from people that own it. Its contrast ratio is 4000:1 compared to the PG-A10X’s 450:1 (if I put my hand in front of a black screen projected by the PG-A10X, I could very clearly see its shadow since it could not block the light very well to produce blacks, ironically a black screen was enough to light up the room more than a night light would, with the DT-510 I can barely see the shadow if I put my hand over a black screen as almost all the light is blocked). I also need a projector with a short throw since I’m not using it in a very large room, this projector makes an 82” screen when the lens is 8 feet away and the zoom on maximum (the PG-A10X made a 72” screen from the same distance but was not widescreen).

The DT-510 has 6 video inputs:
-HDMI (or DVI with DVI to HDMI adapter)
-VGA (or component with VGA to component adapter)
-Component
-Component (yes, that's up to 3 component inputs)
-S-Video
-Composite

The first 4 inputs support high definition signals, the 2 last ones are “standard definition” like you would get from analog TV or a video tape. I would highly recommend avoiding the last 2 inputs unless it’s to use with a low quality source like a VCR or analog TV. S-Video would be the better choice of the last two inputs, but both can only use a tiny fraction of the HD image this projector is capable of producing (I know someone who had bought a $5000 HDTV and for years was using it with the composite video input, causing the TV to display the lowest possible quality and all that money had been spent for nothing).

The image quality is much better on the DT-510, it was already incredible on the PG-A10X, I had a hard time believing I’d have even better image quality but now I do and it is incredible. The resolution is higher (especially for widescreen material which could only use a fraction of the PG-A10X’s resolution) and the contrast ratio and black levels are much, much better, this is especially noticeable in dark scenes which were washed out on the PG-A10X. The DT-510 also has an iris, similar to the iris in a human eye, the iris can be made smaller or larger. What this does is that when the iris is open, priority is given to brightness over high contrast, when the iris is closed, priority is given to contrast over high brightness. I find both modes useful, if there is ambient light then having the iris open is better to overcome the ambient light, if you are in a perfectly dark room then the iris closed is better for better contrast and black levels. I must say that even with the iris open the blacks and contrast are very good.

This projector is also very quiet as it is made specifically for home theater use, the PG-A10X was mostly made for business presentations and was not as quiet as this one. The DT-510 uses 3 large low speed fans rather than a small high speed fan. You can adjust the fan speed in two ways. Firstly you can set the lamp to bright which causes the fans to run faster, the bulb to have an estimated 2000 hour life, and the projector to consume more power, or you can set the lamp to eco quiet mode which causes the fans to run slower, the bulb to have an estimated 3000 hour life, and the projector to consume less power. Secondly, you can set the fan speed on high or normal. The high fan speed is normally used in high altitude locations where the air is thinner and more air flow is required to achieve the same cooling effect. I personally chose to set the lamp on eco quiet mode as an extra 1000 hours of lamp life is great at the cost of these bulbs, and the image is more than bright enough in this mode. I also set the fan speed on high even though I am not at high altitude to help extend the bulb life. However, if you set both the bulb on bright and the fan on high, then the fans go at the maximum speed and then it’s a bit too noisy.

I was slightly worried about the “rainbow effect” that some people see with DLP technology. This is because DLP technology is essentially black and white, so they place a spinning color wheel in front of the lamp which is divided into red, green and blue segments (some devices use more colors). This causes the image to rapidly alternate between a black and red, black and green, and black and blue image. It alternates between colors so fast that it creates the illusion of a full color image, but some sensitive people can see the three colors separate especially in scenes with bright fast moving objects over a black background. Luckily a friend recently bought a DLP projector and I was able to go see it, the rainbow effect was almost not noticeable at all, I really had to look for it and even with scenes that would cause the effect it was nearly impossible to see. On top of that, his projector has a 1x or 2x color wheel, the Sharp DT-510 has a 5x color wheel meaning it alternates between the three colors much faster. Even though I was able to sometimes slightly see the rainbow effect on my friend’s projector, I have never been able to see it at all on the DT-510, but some very sensitive people can see it even on a 5x color wheel projector.

I would highly recommend this projector if you are looking for a low cost high definition projector.