Coming to the performance, the Benq W1700 delivers 4K playback using the DLP method which involves illuminating each of its sub-4K set of mirrors multiple times per frame, to deliver a 4K effect.
While its arguable as to whether this really is 4K or not, what we can say confidently is that this output is miles ahead of the 4K output that you would get from a pseudo 4K playback.
Another advantage we have in the DLP method is that its single chip approach negates any or all of the sharpness reducing and noise convergence issues that you would find in the three chip systems.
Another little addition is that motion is handled really well by the W1700. There are no fizzing skin tones which is usually a problem in the single chips DLPs. We did not find any signs of blurring or drops in the rather beautiful 4K like resolution, and the colour output just strengthens the case for the W1700.
It handles the relatively limited tonal range of SDR footage effortlessly. It also, impressively, delivers a genuine sense of expanded colour range with HDR/wide colour gamut footage.
There is also this dedicated “Cinema Master” mode which further allows you to tweak the settings of the output. The “Flesh Tone” feature makes the skin tones appear more natural while the “Pixel Enhancer” helps to sharper images. Do note that tweaking these too much will result in changes you would not like, so use this with discretion.
