Todd Terwilliger
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2001
- Messages
- 1,745
To preface:
My previous television was a Sony 27" Wega. I have no prior experience with larger TVs or projectors.
I knew that light control was going to be key so I made sure my livingroom was projector ready before investing in the X1. A set of denim drapes close to cover the only large window in the room.
On to my impressions:
I received the X1 on Friday as well as the component to VGA converter (the component to s-video converter comes in tomorrow).
I ceiling mounted the projector and hooked up the VGA input to my XBox via the converter and the XBox HD pack and my receiver through the s-video input.
I am projecting (for the moment) onto a bare off-white wall.
Setting up the projector itself was extremely easy. Set it to ceiling mode and I was off and running.
The first image I watched on the X1 was the opening screen of Halo on the Xbox. I have to say, the image looked awesome to my admittedly untrained eye.
Being aware of the rainbows issue, I didn't want to doom myself by looking hard for them but I also wanted to be honest to myself. Well, my eyes detected not a single rainbow. Over the weekend, I had several friends over and none of them saw any either. Needless to say, I was relieved.
Although I'm not yet using the optimal non-progressive setup for my DVD player, the output was very watchable through the s-video connection (dvd player to receiver to X1).
I calibrated using the Avia DVD. The X1 has three configurable presets, so I saved a couple of different configurations to mess around with.
I paid special attention to black levels as I knew this was an issue with digital projectors as a whole. While the light spill around the widescreen image was clearly not as dark as the dark room around the image, I thought the black levels and shadow details within the image were extremely pleasing. In fact, a friend of mine, without any prompting, remarked specifically about the shadow detail. The images seemed very film-like. I can't wait to see the improvement with the component to s-video adapter.
I watched some regular TV via the s-video input (HD comes tomorrow) and I was pleasantly surpised by the image. While the analog cable channels were a bit of a mixed bag, the digital channels looked very clear and clean. I watched the Sopranos on digital HBO Saturday night and was very impressed with the clean image. Football on Sunday was a bit fuzzy but overall very watchable. I'm really looking forward to checking out the games in HD next weekend.
If this sounds a bit like a gushing review, well, it is. I don't have any bad things to say. As I prefaced, this is my first plunge into the projector universe and my eyes and mind are untrained (and unjaded). While I'm sure the higher rez projectors out there produce a better image, for my money and time, I could not be happier with the X1.
My previous television was a Sony 27" Wega. I have no prior experience with larger TVs or projectors.
I knew that light control was going to be key so I made sure my livingroom was projector ready before investing in the X1. A set of denim drapes close to cover the only large window in the room.
On to my impressions:
I received the X1 on Friday as well as the component to VGA converter (the component to s-video converter comes in tomorrow).
I ceiling mounted the projector and hooked up the VGA input to my XBox via the converter and the XBox HD pack and my receiver through the s-video input.
I am projecting (for the moment) onto a bare off-white wall.
Setting up the projector itself was extremely easy. Set it to ceiling mode and I was off and running.
The first image I watched on the X1 was the opening screen of Halo on the Xbox. I have to say, the image looked awesome to my admittedly untrained eye.
Being aware of the rainbows issue, I didn't want to doom myself by looking hard for them but I also wanted to be honest to myself. Well, my eyes detected not a single rainbow. Over the weekend, I had several friends over and none of them saw any either. Needless to say, I was relieved.
Although I'm not yet using the optimal non-progressive setup for my DVD player, the output was very watchable through the s-video connection (dvd player to receiver to X1).
I calibrated using the Avia DVD. The X1 has three configurable presets, so I saved a couple of different configurations to mess around with.
I paid special attention to black levels as I knew this was an issue with digital projectors as a whole. While the light spill around the widescreen image was clearly not as dark as the dark room around the image, I thought the black levels and shadow details within the image were extremely pleasing. In fact, a friend of mine, without any prompting, remarked specifically about the shadow detail. The images seemed very film-like. I can't wait to see the improvement with the component to s-video adapter.
I watched some regular TV via the s-video input (HD comes tomorrow) and I was pleasantly surpised by the image. While the analog cable channels were a bit of a mixed bag, the digital channels looked very clear and clean. I watched the Sopranos on digital HBO Saturday night and was very impressed with the clean image. Football on Sunday was a bit fuzzy but overall very watchable. I'm really looking forward to checking out the games in HD next weekend.
If this sounds a bit like a gushing review, well, it is. I don't have any bad things to say. As I prefaced, this is my first plunge into the projector universe and my eyes and mind are untrained (and unjaded). While I'm sure the higher rez projectors out there produce a better image, for my money and time, I could not be happier with the X1.
