What Hi-Fi? Verdict
The Sim2’s pictures are a thrill in every way – if £4500’s your limit, it’s the prime candidate
Pros
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Punchy, vibrant, rich colours make for an always enjoyable watch
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solid edges and lots of detail
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good-looks and flexible, lightweight design
Cons
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Needs a touch more detail
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deinterlacer isn’t quite perfect
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single HDMI might be an issue for some
Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.
Sim2's new D80E has all the features one could require, including Full HD resolution, 24fps support for Blu-rays, and 1080p upscaling for DVDs.
It's a slight shame that there's just a single HDMI, but if you pipe all your sources through an AV receiver, it's not going to matter too much.
Once more we kick off with some animation, this time courtesy of Chicken Little on Blu-ray. Right off the bat, the Sim2's all-out punch makes for an exciting performance.
Colours are vibrant and, combined with sharp edges and fine detail, make the Sim2 ideally suited to CGI. Of course, unless you have odd taste, you're not going to be feeding your projector a diet of just cartoons, so live-action performance is also crucial.
The good news is that the Sim2 impresses here, too. The D80E is unfazed by our Blu-ray copy of Blood Diamond, the rich colour palette lending itself brilliantly to the warm hues of Sierra Leone's countryside. All of this is partnered to a well-defined picture that remains extremely composed in motion.
Facing up to tough competition
In isolation, the Blu-ray performance is almost perfect, and it's only with very close comparison that we can conclude that some of its rivals offer just a little extra detail over the Sim2.
For the final time we load the Training Day DVD, and the D80E impresses with a clean and rich delivery. There's a bit of jagginess to moving edges when asked to deinterlace a picture, but upscaling a 576p image is no problem at all.
It's clear with DVD, however, that, while the D80E offers a sharp and detailed picture others do just pip it in these regards.
Although at this price we'd expect you to be looking for a fixed-position projector, the Sim2 is very compact and easy to set up. It's let down slightly by the remote, though, which is rather basic.
If £4500 is your absolute limit, the Sim2 is the perfect choice.
