SANYO PLV-Z4000 Pro Reviews

This ugly projector doesn’t quite make it to the top of the class, but it has plenty of features and good image quality.

A whole new model from Sanyo that really pushed the technology to a higher level would have been very welcome, but what we have here is simply another incarnation of a good projector. The price feels right for this high-spec full HD unit and it has a good selection of key features, so I have no reservations in recommending it. The optical lens shift, 100Hz processing and incredibly quiet fan are all big plus points, while the automatic sliding lens cover is a nice touch. What it can't do is compete with the similarly priced DLP projectors in terms of natural colour response, and until Sanyo can fix that, it remains a reliable rather than remarkable projector.

This Sanyo delivers decent detail, excels with natural colours, and makes a fine fist of more dynamic presentations - only motion issues cause us any real concern. So it's close, but no cigar.

As with the Z3000 with which it shares, well, pretty much everything, the Z4000 is capable of being a very accomplished projector for its money. It’s just a shame it needs arguably professional levels of calibration before you’ll get anything like the best out of it. It’s also a shame that at the time of writing, the Z4000 actually costs more than the Z3000 did when it first came out, despite changing nothing but standby power consumption. Judging the Z4000 on its performance credentials, it just about deserves its 8 overall score. Though we admit we were sorely tempted to drop this to a 7, on account of its set-up hassles and its bare-faced cheek at sporting a model number that makes you think you’re getting a genuinely revamped Sanyo projector when it’s really a near clone of something that first appeared in spring 2009.

I believe I may have already said everything there is to say about the Sanyo PLV-Z4. This projector is practical in price, flexible in its functionality, and robust in its capabilities. It can reproduce blacks well for an LCD projector (though it did not strike me as a "DLP-killer") and it can put out color as well as some LCoS displays I've seen.