Cineversum Blackwing Two

By Fred Jonathan

October 2007

Blackwing Two DILA projector. $15,499.

Cineversum Blackwing 2

Back panel of the Blackwing 2

A few years ago I saw the first DILA projectors including the SX-21 from JVC. The picture was very clean but just didn’t have the brightness or contrast ratio that would of make the projector, or the technology, truly outstanding.

As time has marched on, the French company Cineversum with their Blackwing Two has adopted the DILA three chip in reflective LCOS form.

Visual statement

The stylish appearance of the Blackwing Two makes a visual statement, with the unusual aesthetic design not a box with rounded corners. The projector I reviewed was black with a high gloss finish. You can have it painted within a range of available colours on request.

The Blackwing Two is native High Definition resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, with 3 x 0.7 DILA chips, native 16:9, and a 16-element glass lens. On the rear of the projector are 2xHDMI, 1xComponent, 1xS Video and 1xComposite inputs. The rated or stated light output is 1000 ANSI. The IR remote control is very straightforward and uncluttered.

You can further enhance the Blackwing performance with the Master Three video processing and picture control. The Master Three processor and Blackwing Two have retail around $19,999.

No mess, no fuss

Setting up the projector was very easy and is really a “plug and play” device. There is no messing around with keystone correction with the optical lens shift. When zooming the picture size the image remained central on the screen.

The projected screen size was 2600 x 1500mm, as this is quite a large screen. It did not present any problems at all and the Blackwing filled the screen with ease.

Viewing was with a variation of sources. Sony DVD player was used for the HDMI and the component sources. I used my Lumagen scaler/processor for DVD upscaled to 1080i. High Definition viewing was done using a Sony Playstation PS3 as a Blu-Ray player with the HDMI output selected.

Throughout the viewing of DVD’s the projector’s light output was set at the low (700 ASNI) mode. It was too bright at the full output setting.

Impressions

Impressions of the projector were excellent. I found with my Sony DVD player outputting at 1280p did deliver a good noise free image, but when reset to 576p thing definitely took a turn for the better.

Once sorted I selected my normal test DVDs: Monsters Inc, The Fifth Element, Avia Test, Star Wars Episode 3. The processing within the projector was good in every respect. The images were artifact free, clean and very satisfying.

Blu-Ray discs were something else – visually stunning, no video noise, and with colour range, contrast, black level being simply excellent. I have the Superbit DVD and the latest Blu-Ray versions of The Fifth Element. This definitely displayed the differences between the formats. The Blu-Ray player images on screen were stunning with notably no video noise, greater depth of view, sharp images. Whilst the Superbit DVD was very good but just didn’t compare with the HD image. Other titles played in HD were Casino Royale, Planet Earth and Layer Cake.

If you’re still using a CRT projector, then the Blackwing is for you. It is the first projector I’ve had that can be installed at the same point as the CRT projector and project the same sized image. I recommend this projector as direct replacement any CRT projector.

In summary, the Blackwing Two is a projector that sets the standard higher and setting a new benchmark for Home Cinema projection. If you are looking for a high-end projector this is the one.