18th Annual Value Electronics Projector® Shootout

The 2022 Projector Shootout took place on December 10 and 11, with judges granting awards for various settings and the coveted King of Projector prize for both UST and Long Throw entries. A panel of judges made up of professional Hollywood video colorists, film finishers, TV reviewers and video experts spent hours each day inspecting various aspects of each projector. The projectors were judged based on picture quality, including contrast, color fidelity, color saturation and motion resolution.  

Masters of Ceremonies for the 2022 event was industry expert Philip Jones of Projector Reviews. Jones owns ProjectorReviews.com with his wife, where he brings his extensive expertise and passion for home theater as Technical Editor and Lead Reviewer. Jason Dustal, Engineer with Murideo and ISF Instructor, led the calibration team and operations during each day of the event. 

The latest state of the art in switching, distribution, and test equipment was supplied by AVProStore and HDMI 2.1 48Gbs cables by MetraAV. 

The projectors involved in this year’s Shootout were from companies AWOL, Hisense, Epson, LG, Samsung, JVC and Sony. Each of these companies supplied new products in either the UST or Long Throw competitions. In the UST category, which took place on the first day of the Shootout, AWOL entered its LTV-3500, Epson entered the LS800B, Hisense entered the PX1-PRO, LG entered its HU915QB and Samsung entered the LSP9T.  

The LG HU915QB ended up taking home the top prize on the first day of the shootout, with judges crowning it the King of UST Projectors. It was also named the best UST projector for both SDR and HDR, meaning it took home every prize of the day. The race was tight and the other contenders, including AWOL, Hisense, Epson and Samsung, put up a good fight. However, LG was the big winner on the first day of the Projector Shootout. 

The second day of the shootout was a fresh start for the judges to consider projectors in the Long Throw category. Unlike the first day, the second day included three different price categories: $4,000-$7000, $11,000 to $16,000 and $25,000-$30,000. In the $4,000-$7000 category, Epson entered it LS12000, JVC entered the DLA-NP5, LG entered the AU810PB and Sony entered its VPL-XW5000ES. In the $11,000 to $16,000 category, JVC entered its DLA-NZ7 and DLA-NZ8, while Sony entered the VPL-XW6000ES. In the $25,000-$30,000 category, it was JVC’s DLA-NZ9 against Sony’s VPL-XW7000ES. 

JVC was the big winner of the day, taking home the top prize in every category. The DLA-NP5 won the $4,000-$7000 category, the DLA-NZ7 won the $11,000 to $16,000 category, and the DLA-NZ9 won the $25,000-$30,000 category. After much consideration, the group of expert judges crowned the JVC DLA-NZ9 the King of Long Throw Projectors. The second day was filled with plenty of deliberation, but it was clear to the judges that JVC earned the total sweep.  

These were the projectors that competed in the Shootout:

UST Projectors:

– AWOL LTV-3500 – Epson LS800B
– Hisense PX1-PRO – LG HU915QB

– Samsung LSP9T

$4,000-$7000 Category Long Throw Projectors:

– Epson LS12000
– JVC DLA-NP5
– LG AU810PB
– Sony VPL-XW5000ES

$11,000 to $16,000 Category Long Throw Projectors:

JVC DLA-NZ7
JVC DLA-NZ8
Sony VPL-XW6000ES

$25,000-$30,000 Category Long Throw Projectors:

– JVC DLA-NZ9
– Sony VPL-XW7000ES

The Projector Shootout showed how much fierce competition there currently is in the projector market these days, both with UST and Long Throw products. However, at the end of the day, the shootout also showed how many great products there are to choose from, no matter what type of projector consumers are looking for to fit their needs.  

THE PROJECTOR SHOOTOUT IS POWERED BY

Shootout Backstage Candids