If you need three-chip DLP performance but find your church cannot afford it, the new Christie L2K1000 may be the projector for you. I am a purest when it comes to video, so when a projector manufacturer makes the claim “absolutely brilliant” I am usually skeptical. After running the new L2K1000 through its paces, I have to agree with the manufacturer's statement. It is absolutely brilliant. The deep rich color saturation coupled with the high lumen output creates an almost life-like image.
Let's start with some facts. Namely, 10,000 lumens, 2K resolution and 4D Color. These elements alone are attributes of great medium- to large-format projectors. Combining all of them into one package provides the end-user with a multitude of options. With a list price of $39,999 (not including a lens) this is not a small purchase for most of us in the church world. However, the MSRP is about $10,000 less than most comparable three-chip DLP 10,000-lumen projectors.
Physical Appearance
The outside of the projector is not exciting, it is a large rectangle and the case has been used for a few years on previous Christie models. However, just because the case is boring does not mean it is not functional.
Inside, the projector's top-loading lamp door and automatic filter cartridge make for easy maintenance, and there is LED lighting around the input connections. There are also two optional input card slots. These slots, in addition to the standard RGBHV, HDMI, DVI and VGA inputs, allow the L2K1000 to accommodate many input signals and styles. In addition to the built-in menu control on the side of the projector there are RS232 and Ethernet ports allowing you to connect to room automation systems or control the unit from your computer's Internet browser.
Performance
The L2K1000 is a 4D Color projector. With 4D technology, light is split into the red, green, blue and yellow spectrums. The yellow light passes through a dedicated LCD panel and then through the green panel. Once the green and yellow are mixed they are sent to the prism and combined with red and blue to create the final image. This technology yields a stunning picture with deep rich colors. The colors from this projector look more natural and closely match three-chip DLP projectors.
The 4D Color provides the Christie L2K1000 a larger color space, as well. In LCD projectors, the green color space can be hard to reproduce, and in most cases the color green is not very far from the yellow midpoint. The L2K1000 with 4D Color technology expands the green color space providing more separation between green and yellow color spaces (see Figure 1) improving the color quality of the image.
In addition to 4D Color, the color calibration menus in the L2K1000 are exceptional. All of the standard adjustments are present and they have provided access to red, green, and blue gain and offset to fine tune the white balance level of the projector. In Figure 2 you can see how closely the red, green and blue colors follow each other as they track from left to right across the white light output of the projector. You will notice a drop between 10% and 30% white. This drop is normal among most projectors. It is important to note how the colors stay very consistent with each other through the drop and the rest of the graph. Christie also has an advanced color management menu for precise calibration when edge blending and staking multiple projectors is needed. This menu allows you to set the overall color space using X and Y values from the CIE chromaticity chart for each color point.
Real-world Application
While the L2K1000 was on site for this review, one of our church's installed 10K projectors malfunctioned. I set up the Christie on an AV cart in the production booth, pointing it up to the screen. The projector was completely off of the center axis of the screen and I was willing to accept a trapezoidal image for one weekend while waiting for a loaner to arrive. Much to my surprise and delight the keystone adjustment in addition to the lens shift capabilities made the image a perfect rectangle. The image fit inside of the screen area so precisely that no one even knew it was not our normal unit.
The L2K1000 brightness is powerful enough to overcome a lot of natural light. While using this projector in our auditorium I was impressed by the amount of light it produced on our screens with our large windows open. Even with some natural outside indirect light washing the screen, the image of the L2K1000 still managed great contrast and deep rich color saturation.
The 2K native resolution of 2,048 X 1,080 provides some flexibility. Currently, there is not a lot of video content using the 2K resolution. In the future when more 2k content becomes available, however, the L2K1000 will be ready to display it in its native format. The 2K resolution is a 17 X 9 ratio. This resolution is great when using secondary screens for backgrounds or stage design. It also is a great solution when edge-blending projectors together, since you now have more area to work with and can ultimately have a wider screen or not need as many projectors.
Maintenance and Support
The two main areas of normal projector maintenance are the filter cartridge and the lamps. The filter cartridge on the Christie L2K1000 is an automated unit and has an expected life span of 11,000 hours under normal use. Expect to get about 1,500-2,000 hours from the lamps when running the unit at full power. The light optics used in this projector are solid. I have been told a test unit at the Christie engineering department has over 20,000 hours on it. The only things they have had to replace are the lamps and filter cartridge.
One important piece of projector ownership is technical support. While reviewing this projector I ran across an issue that ultimately ended up being a problem on my end, not the projector's. When the problem was first detected, I made a call to tech support at Christie and was expecting to leave a message and play phone tag for a half a day until we both were able to connect at the right time. Much to my amazement my call was answered after the third ring. I was so taken back at first I did not know what to say; I was prepared to leave a message and had a hard time getting the first few coherent words out. A description of my problem was passed on to the Christie engineering department where they tried to reproduce the issue, and then gave some suggestions on what to look and check for in my environment. It was refreshing to work with Christie's technical support and come away with a positive experience.
Conclusion
The Christie L2K1000 LCD 2K Projector is the complete package—everything you would want and need in performance it has. From the amazing rich colors to the high lumen output and a price thousands less than a comparable DLP model, this projector is definitely worth a look.
