Christie is renowned for its top-of-the-line three-chip DLP projectors used in some of the largest and most advanced venues worldwide. So when the company offered me a chance to review the LX605, I was perplexed because this particular unit is, in many ways, a throwback to projectors from seven to ten years ago-only much, much brighter.
Brightness in Spades
To be fair, the LX605 is a mid-sized projector with the brightness of some of the larger projectors. This is really where the unit, pardon the pun, "shines." At a rated 6,000 lumens, it's got brightness in spades. In fact, with the supplied lens, it has very nice uniformity from edge to edge, both vertically and horizontally. Whites are crisp and colors are saturated well for LCD technology. Blacks are fair, but that's to be expected considering that it's using LCD panels and an uber-bright lamp.
Brightness isn't everything, though. The throwback of this product that I alluded to above is the low resolution of 1,024 x 768 that is the native resolution of the LX605. The last time I saw a desktop or laptop sold with native XGA (1,024 x 768) resolution was last century. Literally. I realize that many people still surf the web at home on 1,024 x 768 (W3Counter.com states that 24.44% of browsers are set to 1,024 x 768, the most of any resolution). But what we're looking at is a church installation of a very bright projector, presumably for an auditorium, gymnatorium, large meeting room or youth center, so that puts a definite limit on the content that can be displayed on a large screen and still look crisp and sharp.
Finally, the fact that Christie's support department is available is important. In fact, having the service and warranty of Christie behind this projector may be the best reason to buy it. Undoubtedly, they have some of the best warranties, service programs and technical support in the business.
The list price isn't published, but a few phone calls confirmed that the unit should have a street price of less than $1-per-lumen.
This light machine isn't for every church or every situation, but given the cost-to-brightness ratio, this is an inexpensive projector for the brightness.
