Marantz VP-12S3 DLP Projector

By Augie Bettencourt

I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to watch a 120" image in their home.  Whether it be movies, sports or HDTV viewing, for most people, bigger is almost always better. At least half the experience of watching a movie in a theater is based on watching a film quality image on a big screen, so many of us want to try and duplicate that at home. What's lagged behind in the home theater market has been affordable projectors that have the ability to produce a bright, colorful, high-contrast image. CRT (cathode ray tube) projectors have been around for years and can project film-like images with wonderful lush colors and excellent contrast, but many cost upwards of $30,000 and can't produce the brightness required to display a 120" image. 80" images yes, 120" images no. Luckily, lower-cost, digital projectors have made significant inroads into the high-end home theater market that has traditionally been the domain of the CRT. Over the past few years, digital projection technology has made great strides in color accuracy, saturation, and contrast are dominating the projector market. Today's digital projectors can put brighter images on bigger screens and deliver the excitement of big theater in the home. 

The Acronyms

When you start your search for a projector, you find a slew of technical acronyms. There's LCD (liquid crystal display), DILA (Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier) and DLP (digital light processing). The Marantz VP-12S3 is a DLP projector, so light from the projector's lamp is directed onto the surface of a DLP chip. The mirrors move back and forth, directing light either into the lens path to turn the pixel on, or away from the lens path to turn it off. What does all this translate to? Read on. 

Features Galore!

The Marantz VP-12S3 isn't just another conference room, data projector that was slapped into a pretty case. No, the Marantz VP-12S3 is one of latest, state-of-art, digital projectors designed from the ground-up, specifically for the home theater market. As I unboxed the Marantz VP-12S3, I marveled at its beautiful, heavy-duty look and feel. The finish is kind of a pearlesant, metallic gray color and it has a sleek appearance measuring just 15.94 inches wide by 18.56 deep by 6.125 high. Despite its sleek appearance, it weighs-in at over 26 pounds and has the same bullet-proof, build quality of past Marantz projectors and built as good, or better than any of the new 1,280 x 720 one-chip DLP projectors I've tested. As one of the most recent HD2+ projectors, the Marantz VP-12S3 offers leading-edge technologies, such as the latest Texas Instruments HD2+ chip, three Faroudja chipsets that incorporate patented DCDi™ Directional Correlational Deinterlacing technology, a high-definition 1280 x 720 pixel panel and Minolta custom optics and a green color-wheel segment that Texas Instruments has designed for use with HD2+ displays. Marantz even added an additional, proprietary filter segment called ORCA to add color purity by filtering out excess yellow from the new DC-bulb Marantz now uses. Its threaded, adjustable legs make it simple to table mount and its Minolta lens is easily focused by turning the lens outer ring. The Marantz VP-12S3 has the same broad throw-distance of its past projectors, leaning towards the short end of digital projector throw-distances, but has always worked very well in my room. I'm happy to say that the new, back-lit remote is wonderful and is both easy to use and very intuitive. The back panel has just about every connector type you would want: composite, component, S-Video, RGB and DVI. There's also a remote control input if you want to have your screen trigger your projector to turn on and a RS-232C port for remote options. 

One of the things I really like about the back panel of Marantz projectors, is that they can be illuminated and all inputs can be seen in the dark. As in past Marantz projectors, the Marantz VP-12S3 is designed for custom installation flexibility and offers many operational and convenience features including a menu system that facilitates setup and calibration. The projector can be optimized to display both 16:9 widescreen or standard 4:3 aspect ratios with four viewing modes-Theater, Standard, Dynamic and User. The VP-12S3's Lens Shift feature enables the image to be shifted up or down and projected through the upper or lower portion of the lens. This function and its horizontal keystone correction enables the VP-12S3 to achieve correct picture geometry if the projector is not mounted exactly parallel to the screen. The Marantz VP-12S3 is calibrated to three color temperatures including correct NTSC 6500° color temperature and it also features selectable black level adjustment to achieve optimum image quality with any video source. 


Get Ready, Set, Go

What I love about the Marantz VP-12S3, is how easy it is to set-up. Literally, within minutes of unboxing it, I had the Marantz up and running. I set the projector on my coffee table, connected the projector via its component, interlaced inputs to the Sony DVP-ES999 DVD player, turned it on, calibrated it with the Video Essentials DVD and began movie watching. It couldn't be any easier!

How It Looks

The VP-12S3 can operate in either native progressive scan mode or upconvert video sources, depending on the signal source. It can display a native 720p progressive scan image, HDTV set-top box or computer up to XGA resolution, or an upconverted image from any NTSC source, as well as 480i and 1080i images.
Anytime I evaluate a display device, I like to start with the Moulin Rouge (20th Century Fox) DVD, which is visually astounding. Chapter 4 embodies the film's dizzying cinematic style and is a psychedelic roller-coaster ride with richly colored sets and costumes that seem to pop off the screen. The Marantz VP-12S3 produced very lush, saturated colors, much more so than its predecessor, the Marantz VP-12S2. Images were extremely smooth and film-like, but also had excellent detail, without having a digital appearance. The image quality was incredible, especially considering that I was looking at a 120" image!

I then moved to the Shrek 2 (Dreamworks) DVD. Colors were fantastic and I was treated to bright, bold images and wonderfully saturated colors throughout. I saw no noticeable noise or motion artifacts and blacks were also rock solid with excellent contrast across the entire grayscale.

I then moved to over-the-air HDTV programming, viewed with the LG LST-4200A HDTV tuner via the component inputs. I watched various 1080i OTA programming and was treated to the most vibrant, jaw-dropping images my theater has ever produced. Images had an unparalleled level of clarity and detail and I saw every pore, every whisker and every blemish that could be seen on a face. Colors had an extremely deep, rich, saturated look. Contrast-levels popped off the screen and black levels were inky-black. My old standard, the Moulin Rouge DVD king, had officially been de-throned as the most visually amazing images my theater had produced. If you've never seen a 120", 1080i image through the Marantz VP-12S3, you really owe it to yourself to check it out. It's truly a sight to behold.

Finally, I hooked up my Microsoft Xbox to the Marantz VP-12S3 and played Halo 2 Collector's Edition (Bungie). Many reviewers would scoff at the thought of using a game to review a display review, but I wanted to make sure I could throw anything and everything at this projector. I'll tell you, it was a blast. In the context of a game, Halo 2 is visually stunning and has never looked better than with the Marantz VP-12S3 displaying a 120" image. Gamers will love the immersive feeling of playing games through this projector, especially when combined with a thunderous, Dolby Digital home theater system, which Halo 2 supports. 

Conclusion

The Marantz VP-12S3 proves that digital projectors now rule the home theater market and are no longer disgraced by the mighty CRT. Lush, film-like images that were once exclusive to mega-buck, CRT projectors have now been replaced by affordable, digital projectors like the Marantz VP-12S3 that can display a beautiful 120" image. With plenty of brightness, lush colors, high contrast impact and excellent detail, it has everything the most critical home theater enthusiast would want. I was completely and utterly impressed by the Marantz VP-12S3 and can honestly say that regardless of price or technology, it's the most impressive projector that has ever graced my theater.
*Please not that the Marantz VP-12S4, which will eventually replace the VP-12S3, has been announced by Marantz and promises even better picture quality in terms of brightness, contrast, scaling, color rendering and connectivity.


Reviewer's Reference Equipment List
Marantz VP-12S3 Projector
Dalite 120 HDTV, High Power Screen
Definitive Technology BP7000SC Speakers
Definitive Technology C/L/R Center Speaker
4 Definitive Technology BPVX Surround Speakers
2 Velodyne DD-18 Subwoofers
Denon 3910 DVD Player
Sony NS999ES DVD Player
LG LST-4200A HDTV Tuner
Sunfire Theater Grand IV A/V Processor
Sunfire 400 Seven Amplifier
Cardas Golden Reference Audio Cables
Monster Cable Monster M Silver Video Cables
Acoustic Smart Murano Electric Theater Seating
Cable Organizer.com Cable Organizing Products

 For more information, please visit the Marantz website: