Out of the box, video projectors such as the SONY VPL-VW10HT and 11HT, Sanyo PLV-60 and Sharp 9000 are great projectors. Tweaked or tuned up they can be even better. The key to tweaking is to create a custom color temperature that maximizes the brightness and contrast of the projector and at the same time achieves the best possible black levels. In the process, one must also maintain the proper balance of red green and blue at all levels of image brightness. To some extent, this can be done by eye using Avia and other test DVDs, but I have found that the use of a fairly low cost measurement device can make the process much less subjective. I am calling this technique, SMART for Simple Measurement And Ratio Tracking.

Most importantly, SMART can be used to re-establish the color balance in conjunction with the use of a CC filter, thus obtaining significant improvements in contrast ratio and black levels. It is easy to focus on the filter as the tweak, but since the object of this exercise is to NOT correct or change the color balance after the filter is applied, then the measurement and adjustment process that assures this, SMART II, is just as important as the filter.

I have now moved my site to http://www.smartavtweaks.com

You can contact me (Steve Smallcombe) via e-mail at steve@smartavtweaks.com

Last updated April 7, 2002 - New site.