Sanyo PLC-XF30… Powerfully Bright Lamp

If you need a projector for major industrial use or for large venues that are either indoor or outdoor check out the dropping price of the Sanyo PLC-XF30. Back in 2003 when it first came out it would have cost you close to $23,000 US but two years later you should be able to acquire one for thousands of dollars less.

Let’s move straight to what this projector was built for, lumens, lumens and more lumens. The Sanyo PLC-XF30 shines over 5200 ANSI lumens giving more than ample brightness for your large venue. And for those people with a lot of cash, who decide to buy this machine for their home, forget it, unless you have a really long room with a wide wall. The reason why these projectors like the PLC-XF30 are built with major lumens is that they are designed for large venues. If you try to shoot a small picture by reducing the throw distance you will almost certainly get an image with severe screen door effects.

The range for the PLC-XF30 is between 40inches and 600inches. This means that you really don’t want to project at too close a distance otherwise you may experience a screen that is way too bright. I will dedicate an article that discusses the brightness of a projector versus screen size in the future.

The closer your projector is to the screen (or if you are zooming your lens equivalently) the image is obviously going to be smaller, but at the same time is using the same amount of brightness. Most projectors don’t allow you to lower your lumens rate and the only other way to possibly do that is by enabling eco-mode. I guess what I am trying to get at here is that you should purchase the PLC-XF30 if you have a large enough venue to display the image.

The PLC-XF30 also has a contrast ratio of 700:1 so you will get decent color saturation and good blacks throughout. The resolution on this baby will blow your mind as it can be pushed up to 1600x1200p. This is what helps give the PLC-XF30 a crisp picture.

Another thing you must keep in mind when you are purchasing this type of projector, the type where it dangles out a huge amount of brightness, is that your projector lamp will need to be replaced a little more often. The good thing is that it only requires one 200W UHP projector lamp as opposed to two or sometimes four, which some high powered projectors utilize.

There is much noise coming from the internals of this machine so it is a good thing that your audience is probably going to be seated somewhere in the middle between the projector and the screen. You might want to consider having a room like that of a movie theatre projection booth to keep the noise out (45db).

A couple of minor notes are that this machine has most inputs, including DVI, and also has a lens shift feature giving a range of 80 degrees (up/down). Overall, the Sanyo PLC-XF30 is a well built projector with features that are worth the money.