So what does HD mean for projector owners?

pearlyred · 08-24-2006, 02:40 AM

Hi all,

As the new owner of a Panasonic PT-AE900 projector I'm spending increasing amounts of time watching movies. We just moved into a new house about 5 weeks ago, and I bought the projector a week after that. I'm now at the point where I've pursuaded the Mrs that we don't need a TV in the living room (where the pj is) and that we should do all the tv watching in the lounge/dining room. Woohoo

Anyway, I absolutely love the clear/sharp picture I am getting on standard dvds (i've never owned anything better than a standard tv before) and it brings a whole new level of entertainment to watching movies. I'm wondering what the new HD format will bring to projector users?

I think my projector runs natively on 720p, so it's hardly 'top of the line', which I cant afford, but a rough comparison in the shop when i bought it put it right up with the best plasmas/lcd's they were selling at half the size, but how much difference can I expect between a standard dvd and a HD-DVD/BD?

High-Def hasn't yet been introduced in New Zealand, so I am all excited but have no reference points as of yet because the shops arent stocking/demo'ing them and I have no way to compare.

Will I notice the difference when HD finally arrives, on my projector and standard 100" 16x9 screen?

Cheers
PR

Michael TLV · 08-24-2006, 08:57 AM

Greetings

Depends how well the unit is set up and how far back you are sitting. At 1.5 screen widths back, you see roughly 1-1.2 million pixels of information.

DVD has 348,000 pixels of information ... 720p HD has 921,000 pixels ...

Regards

Alon Goldberg · 08-24-2006, 09:54 AM

Quote:

I think my projector runs natively on 720p, so it's hardly 'top of the line', which I cant afford, but a rough comparison in the shop when i bought it put it right up with the best plasmas/lcd's they were selling at half the size, but how much difference can I expect between a standard dvd and a HD-DVD/BD?

DVD = 720 x 480p = 345,600 pixels
HDTV = 1280 x 720p = 921,600 pixels
HD DVD = 1920 x 1080p = 2,073,600 pixels

HD DVD and Blu-Ray have the ability to display 6x the resolution of DVD, and twice the resolution of HDTV broadcasts. However, 1080p projectors still cost well over $10,000 so I think you will be very happy watching HD content on 720p for the next two years.

ChrisWiggles · 08-24-2006, 01:16 PM

Yes you will notice a difference with HD content if you are sitting close enough. For a 720p display, anything 2.0 or closer will show a big difference IMO. You'd have to go pretty darn far back, maybe like 3.0 or something not to see any difference.

Jack Gilvey · 08-24-2006, 01:28 PM

While most discussion of HD vs. DVD centers on pixel resolution, the color resolution of HD is also vastly superior. This is clearly noticeable over my 480p InFocus 4805 from any distance.

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ChrisWiggles · 08-24-2006, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Gilvey

While most discussion of HD vs. DVD centers on pixel resolution, the color resolution of HD is also vastly superior. This is clearly noticeable over my 480p InFocus 4805 from any distance.

??? The color is not different, it's still 8-bit 4:2:0. Yes, HD does use 709 matrix to encode component rather than 601, but the end-to-end result is still the same in RGB.

Th8ter · 08-24-2006, 02:29 PM

I have the Panni 700U and I can say you will see a difference. I have a Denon upconverting DVD player (set at 720P) and there is a pretty good difference in the HD picture vs. upconverted DVD. Huge difference in non-upconverted picture vs HD. The picture is very detailed. Fox, ESPN, and ABC sports look fantastic (they are broadcasting in 720P).

pearlyred · 08-24-2006, 11:47 PM

Thanks for all the reply's. Due to the setup of our lounge the seating is 2 - 2.5 screens back, with the projector mounted about 1' behind the back seats.

Not sure i'd really wanna be sitting any closer anyway...

I can't wait till i can get my hands on a HD player and be able to compare this for myself. Getting excited

Tim Glover · 08-25-2006, 08:26 AM

Alot of the reviews I've read are seeing glorious images from these 2nd generation 720p projectors. Panasonic, Optoma are getting rave reviews so while you could have spent more, you've got a great pj right now!

Get the popcorn going.