August 2002 Reviewed by Wes Marshall	Boxlight Studio Experience Cinema 12SF DLP Projector

Description Model: Boxlight Studio Experience Cinema 12SF Price: $4999 USD Dimensions: 10.4"W x 12.1"D x 3.3"H Weight: 6.1 pounds Warranty: Three years parts and labor (120 days on lamp) Features Texas Instruments DLP technology Single-chip DMD (Digital Micromirror device) 508,800 pixels (848 x 600)

Features (cont'd) 40" to 200" image size 1000 ANSI lumens (Brightness) 600:1 contrast ratio 1080i, 720p, 576i, 480p, 480i compatible 220W high-pressure mercury lamp 16.7 million colors 1.2x zoom lens Digital keystone correction Manual zoom and focus Inputs: M1-DA analog/digital for computer or component, VESA, computer mini-jack, RCA component, S-video, RCA composite Video supported: NTSC, NTSC 4.43, PAL, PAL-M, PAL-N, PAL-60, SECAM 3W speaker system Remote control

If you want to see just how far DLP technology has come, and you watch 480p and 480i sources, we may have found your projector. I’ve been using the Boxlight Studio Experience Cinema 12SF for three months and, except for a couple of issues, it’s a honey.

The hardware

The Boxlight Studio Experience Cinema 12SF comes with the Texas Instruments (TI) Dual Mode DLP chip, an ideal choice for folks who watch mostly DVD and regular-definition broadcast TV. This is the same chip used in the PLUS Pianos, the Runco CL-500, the InFocus ScreenPlay 110, and the SIM2 Seleco HT200. TI calls it Dual Mode because you can set the projector at 848 x 480 for 16:9 sources or at 800 x 600 for 4:3 material.

The projector comes with DVI (analog or digital), S-video, and composite video inputs. However, in a stroke of consumer-loving genius, they have developed a seemingly future-proof system. They call it the Enhanced Connectivity Module (ECM). It is a snap-in piece that attaches to the back, and plugs into the projector through the DVI input. Once in, it allows you to accept DVI, VGA RGB, component, composite, and S-video signals. Let’s hope Jack Valenti can quickly decide to quit squandering our time and his member’s money and allow a digital-connection standard to pass. With the ECM, virtually any of the currently proposed standards are already covered, and if they come up with something truly draconian, all you would have to do is buy a new and up-to-date ECM. Obviously, somewhere in the company, there is an engineer who is also a home-theater buff. Thank you.

One way to make sure consumers show some interest in your product is to put the name Faroudja on it. The 12SF carries the DCDi badge, which is a grouping of four Faroudja features gathered in their FLI2200 chipset. First is the Film Mode Detection, Faroudja’s patented inverse 3:2 pulldown system for film. Second is Cross Color Suppression, a way of separating the chroma and luma in a composite signal. Third is Per Pixel Motion Adaptivity, which uses complex algorithms to keep the definition as high as possible without showing motion artifacts. The final feature is Directional Correlational De-interlacing, a system to reduce jagged edges on video-based material.

There are several other nice design features. One of the down sides of most fixed-pixel projectors is the need to change the light bulb every 1000 hours. The 12SF goes 2000 hours. Their bulb puts out 1000 lumens, a boon to those with less-than-perfect light control in the viewing room. Some folks look at DLP projectors and see rainbow artifacts. The 12SF has a six-segment, 4x-speed wheel to stop the rainbows. Unlike the PLUS Piano HE-3100 we reviewed last December, the 12SF will take a 1080i or 720p signal, though either will be down-converted. Like most DLP projectors, the 12SF is light and small, but the ease of installation could use a tweak.

Setup

Everything starts nicely when you remove the projector from its box. It comes well packed and includes a soft carry case, a computer cable, A/V cable, and very well written manual (except parts of the index are off by two pages). After popping in the ECM, you can hook-up almost anything. Alas, centering the picture on the screen was a pain. The 12SF uses what they call an "elevator foot" to set the projector’s vertical centering. It is a drop-down foot that locks when you get it into place. It is not precise. Situating it reminded me of setting the vertical tracking angle on a cartridge with its constant set-try-set-try experimentation. The tweak they should consider is adding a threaded stem. How much could that cost? Other than the elevator foot, the installation was the soul of simplicity.

Set up was also fairly undemanding. The 12SF hunts for an active source, then checks the signal and sets about, as the screen says, "perfecting the image." The only time the projector would get confused was when I switched the NAD T571 between 480p and 480i. The 12SF would go into convulsions and the only way to stop it was to change the input manually to something else, and then back again. Setting the specific picture parameters was more complicated.

Again, that videophile engineer showed consideration by giving us deep access to settings, but the GUI takes too many steps to arrive at the simple stuff. Let’s say you didn’t know if your DVD was enhanced or plain letterbox. This is handled on the Resize screen. Switching from anamorphic to letterbox and back takes 29 key pushes. That’s too many. Instead, why couldn’t they change the two big PowerPoint buttons (leftovers from its presentation-market ancestors) and have them scroll through the Resize options?

One thing that will make you nervous when you flip the switch is the amount of light leakage coming from the front of the projector. I was sure it was a problem, so I rigged an opaque, black felt screen with a lens-sized hole in it and sat it in front of the projector. With no picture, it definitely prevented the unwanted light from hitting the screen and gave a much darker gray. Then I tried a dark DVD (Rashomon) and let watchers guess whether I was masking the spurious light with the felt. No one could accurately tell. The bottom line: Yes, there is light escaping, but it isn’t bright enough to affect the contrast.

Performance

The picture is fabulous. Texas Instruments' DLP chip is ubiquitous in the presentation market and getting that way in home theater. The reason is simple -- it works. And it has fewer unwanted side effects than CRT (set up, maintenance, and cost), LCD (burnt pixels and screendooring), or D-ILA (cost, heat, and light spill). What separates the 12SF from other DLP offerings is the integration of Faroudja processing. However, let me tell you a cautionary tale.

When I started critically watching, I used the 480p settings on each of the DVD players I had. I noticed some weird artifacts. The film credits from Ocean’s Eleven were particularly bad. When a credit would slide by, the motion would cause a temporary, dusty look on the screen. After trying three DVD players, I called Studio Experience technical support. They said the processors were probably being overworked. I called Faroudja and they told me to switch the DVD players from progressive scan to interlaced and see if the problem went away. It did.

The reason is that the Faroudja processing is totally bypassed when you set the 12SF to component input and the DVD player to progressive scan. Take my advice. Go ahead and use the component outs, but set the DVD player to interlaced. Unless you have a multi-thousand-dollar state-of-the-art DVD player, you’ll probably get the best results from letting the Faroudja processor in the 12SF do all the heavy lifting.

From the moment I finished setting up the projector, it looked sensational. I started with the menu page from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to align the picture on my screen. Its bright 16:9 picture eases the job of setting up a rear projector. I usually switch to chapter 10 where Austin is catapulted back to the 1960s in his VW. Through the 12SF, the primary colors were deeply saturated with fantastic contrast. There were no visible problems as the camera panned around all of the geometrical shapes.

The opening of Dinosaur always elicits oohs and aahs when I show it to people who haven’t experienced a good home theater. Occasionally, the mix of film and computer-generated images (CGI) can play havoc with a projector. The detail through the 12SF was the best I’ve seen in my home; better even than the PLUS Piano.

I wanted to try a really dark film to check how well the 12SF compensated for DLP’s inherent inability to project black. Warner Brothers’ DVD of Citizen Kane features brilliant use of dark grays and blacks, and is phenomenally well mastered. The 12SF’s blacks beat my Runco 750. I have no doubt that one of the $30,000-and-up CRTs could beat the Boxlight, but the blacks were never distracting.

In the Mood for Love (Hua Yang Nian Hua) is another dark film, but one shot in beautiful pastel shades. Again, the 12SF was imperturbable, allowing every texture in the rich Chinese fabrics to show through with distinct detail.

Comparison

When we originally reviewed the PLUS Piano HE-3100, there was nothing to compare it with. Now, the TI Dual Mode DLP has shown up in several other models. PLUS, though, has dropped the price of its HE-3100 by $300. In the almost-Moore’s Law world of home-theater projectors, it remains a stunning bargain. But the 12SF was the better projector. For a $2000 premium, it should be. There were two principle differences. When the camera quickly panned across a scene, the 12SF had a more film-like look. The HE-3100 would just slightly break up. The difference was minor but clear. The other difference was in light output. The 12SF was brighter. However, the HE-3100 had slightly better blacks.

The newer PLUS HE-3200 has just made it to market and I haven’t yet seen it, but based on the feature set, it seems clear that it is their response to the Boxlight Studio Experience Cinema 12SF. If the new Silicon Image 504 processor that PLUS uses, gets close to the DCDi, then PLUS may have another winner. Especially since the PLUS is $1700 cheaper.

There should be no difference between the InFocus ScreenPlay 110 and the Boxlight Studio Experience Cinema 12SF. Studio Experience, the home-theater division of Boxlight, purchases the InFocus ScreenPlay 110, re-badges it as the 12SF, and adds a year to the warranty. Otherwise, the two projectors are identical. They also have the same retail price ($4999), and street prices change so fast that I cannot really predict which will be cheaper. Check around.

The next step up is to the TI 16:9 DLP with 720p capability (code named HD1 for the older chip, and HD2 for the newer). All of the manufacturers of Dual Mode chips either already make an HD1- or HD2-based projector, or they will soon. Prices are currently higher, though they won’t stay that way. But you have to ask yourself a question. Do you live in an area with HDTV? And if so, do they broadcast something you care about seeing? Where I live, the only HDTV is from satellite and 95% of what I watch is on DVD. If you live in HDTV land and like what you see, you might want to hold on for a little while longer to see how low the prices on the HD1-based projectors will go. On the other hand, maybe you shouldn’t.

Conclusion

Things are changing faster than ever in the world of projectors. Since the speed of change is unlikely to slow down, you could spend your life waiting for the "next big thing." This isn’t like a pool where you dip your toe in and decide whether you want to swim. You just have to hold your breath and jump. If today was my day to jump, my shortlist would be the Plus HE-3200, the Boxlight Studio Experience Cinema 12SF, and the Runco CL-500. The deciding factor for me would be the processing muscle. In that arena, the 12SF’s Faroujda suite of processors looks pretty invincible. 

Manufacturer contact information:

Studio Experience
19332 Powder Hill Place
Poulsbo, WA 98370-7407
Phone: (800) 762-5757

Website: www.studioexperience.com

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