If you thought that you couldn't do much better than NEC's NP-PH1000U large-venue projector (see the full CPM review at , think again. The company’s new NP-PH1400U is not only brighter, but NEC has expanded the variety of add-on video processing boards that work with the projector. This upgrade has not come for free though, because the projector now costs $60,000 ($10,000 more than the PH1000U) and is more expensive to use.
Compare and contrast
The PH14000U projector picks up where the PH1000U model leaves off. It matches its predecessor in terms of its silver and black design, size at 9.3- by 22.7- by 22.0-inches and weight at nearly 90 pounds. This will require at least two technicians to unpack, move and install, but, like the older model, the PH14000U has a pair of handles for lugging it around your church.
As is the case with the PH1000U, the PH1400U is one of the only projectors to use a trio of 0.96-inch Texas Instruments digital light processing chips (DLP) to create the 1,920 by 1,200 image. Its pair of air-cooled lamps combine for a rated output of 13,500 lumens of light, but—unlike most other projectors—requires a 220-volt power line. It's not a big deal and common at this end of the projector market, but will increase the cost of installation.
Able to create up to a 41.6-foot image, the PH1400U comes without a lens, but NEC has five to choose from that should fit just about any church, temple or mosque. They range from a short-throw lens with manual focus to a variety of optical elements with powered focus and zoom. All have bayonet mounts, take about five minutes to install, and add between $5,500 and $9,500 to the projector's cost.
The projector's remote control is thoughtfully backlit and can command the powered zoom and focus as well as select the source and fine-tune the image. It's easy to adjust everything from changing the color balance and brightness to making minute gamma corrections. If its 30-foot range isn't enough, you can use an off-the-shelf audio cable to extend its range so that you can optimize the image without getting onto a ladder.
Setting up the PH1400U is speeded by a built-in test pattern that can help with framing and optimizing the image. The projector has keystone correction that can compensate for up to a 30-degree tilt up or down as much as 35-degrees right or left of center. There's also an image shift mechanism that can precisely move the projected image up 50% or down 40%, as well as right or left by 20%. This means that you don't have to have the projector directly in front of the screen to get an excellent image.
A variety of screens
With a lens and video board, the PH1400's price tag rises to nearly $70,000, but is worth every penny.
While it works well on a traditional rectangular white target, the PH1400U is versatile enough to work with a variety of colored backgrounds or circular or even concave and convex screens. In addition to picture-in-picture, the projector can be split into two equal-sized streams, side by side.
NEC's flagship projector has built-in edge blending for using multiple projectors. With its locking brackets at each corner, up to four PH1400Us can be stacked and ganged together to put more than 50,000 lumens on a screen.
Its array of input ports mirrors the PH1000U with a pair of VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, Composite, Component and S-video inputs. There's also a VGA-out plug for streaming images from one projector to another, as well as Wired LAN, USB and RS-232 ports for monitoring and controlling the projector; NEC sells an optional WiFi adapter for $80. The USB port can be used for displaying images or playing video from a memory key, and you can show items stored on the building's network.
Rather than on top, the PH14000U's control panel is conveniently located next to the projector's ports. It has LEDs for power and lamp status, and is thoughtfully lit. However, it lacks the innovative monochrome information panel of Hitachi's CP-WU8450 projector.
While I'm not sure it will come up in the church market, the PH14000U adds the ability to project frame-sequential 3D material. On the back, the projector has a DVI port as well as a pair of plugs for synchronizing a 3D signal. You will need to get the congregation to wear the special 3D glasses, though.
While it has protective bars next to the power switch, there's also a clip to lock the power cord in place and prevent it from being pulled out at the wrong moment. The projector, however, lacks the Epson's PowerLite Pro Z8455WUNL cable cover that hides all the wires.
The PH1400U comes into its own when you need to project broadcast-quality video, like a live shot of the worship or even high-definition movies. It is the rare device that not only has an HQV video processing and scaling chip and a slot for plugging in a video processing board. Based on the Open Pluggable Specification, NEC sells 12 different boards that are actually full computers and are available in a variety of configurations and operating systems. They cost between $800 and $1,540 and can be controlled by a wired or wireless keyboard.
Put to the test
With NEC's NP-25FL short-throw lens, I gave the PH14000U a workout with a series of real world tests—and I am convinced that it outdoes its predecessor in every category. With both lamps on, the projector put out 15,280 lumens (slightly above its specification), and with nearly perfect uniformity and sharp focus.
The PH1400U excels at filling a large house of worship with clear, crisp, bright images. It worked well regardless of whether it was connected to a computer, Blu-ray, DVD, or a tablet—with excellent color balance and nearly perfect flesh tones. Its video output looked great with no artifacts or dropped frames, as well.
On the other hand, it's an expensive projector to use. In addition to air filters that cost $229 and need to be changed or vacuumed every 5,000 hours of use, the projector uses a pair of 465-watt lamps that cost $825 a piece and are rated to last 2,500 hours of use. At full blast, the PH1400U has a total power consumption of 1,215 watts and annual
estimated operating expenses of $895 per year based on using it for 15 hours a week and the national average of 12 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity.
You can use NEC's Eco setting to dim the lamps and cut its power use by about 20% and make the lamp last longer. It might be a good idea because to change either of the PH14000U's lamps you need to first remove a cooling fan, which can be a little awkward while hanging on a ladder.
The PH1400U is a little slow to start up and shut down, taking 39 seconds to put an image onto the screen and two minutes and 58 seconds to turn itself off—an improvement of more than 10 seconds compared to the PH1000U. With both lamps firing, the metal cabinet stays cool to the touch and can be used to put a notebook on during set up, but the projector's exhaust was 159-degrees Fahrenheit, slightly hotter than its predecessor. In other words, the cooling fans are working very hard to keep the PH1400U from overheating, and they put out a noisy 51 dBA at 10 feet.
Like other auditorium projectors, the PH1400U comes with a three-year warranty, although its lamps are only covered for 500 hours of use. With a lens and video board, the PH1400U's price tag rises to nearly $70,000, but is worth every penny for a large room because it combines high-brightness with the ability to project beautiful images. In other words, it makes a good thing better.
