Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out? - Page 9

Sweet! I have a syndrome named after me. I'm infamous!

"Infamous" is cool...er, I mean "sweet".
Well, there's one inmate heard from. I think I'll drill some driver holes and then put on a horror flick. Any horror movie plans for the next several days? Anyone? Yes, I know it's the wrong thread, but I feel lazy tonight.

Has anyone here seen or heard much about InFocus's LP70 DLP projector?



While it is certainly meant as an ideal choice for mobile presentations, I couldn't help but be impressed by its outrageously small size yet impressive specs and performance ratings.

Just imagine a laptop cut in half, the 2 lb LP70 is smaller. Projector Central claims it can fit in the palm of your hand, but its a little larger than that.

As small as it is it manages to produce 1100:1 CR, XGA resolution, 1100 Lumens, 3000 hour lamp life, and amazingly only 32db sound level!

As expected for any mobile presentation device, and for its ridiculous size, it has no component input, but does have a DVI, as well as an S-Video and composite.

All of this for less than $2,000.

I've taken my 12SF on quite a few trips, and while it is quite small as well, it doesn’t compare in size to this lil thing. I'd love to see how it performs after a decent tweaking for video.

The LP70 came out over a year ago so I am wondering if any of you have either had a chance to see it, or have read any reviews from respectable sources?

I believe I saw one at Best Buy yesterday. Their pj's are in a rediculous location - chained to and end cap shelf back at the end of the multi-function printer/copier/scan machines. Just sitting there - no hope of seeing one in action. I ran a report of small pj's the other day at work. Under about 4.3 lbs it's called the "picoportable" size. There are several 3 pounders and a few 2 lb babies.

Hey Hank,

Jonathan mentioned to me that you had found a place that would rent CNC time for $50/hr? Mind giving me the details on that? Flush mounting odd shaped drivers is not being fun today and I'm looking for options What kind of program do I need to use to use their services? Thanks,

That was a year ago, Mark. With the economy turning up a bit, I don't know if they would offer the same rate, but I'll call 'em and check.

I've been invited to demo Panasonic's AE500 projector when I get back to OC. For those interested in this projector, is there anything you want me to check for you?

Can I stow away in your suitcase? The AE500 is the leading contender for my next purchase (I'm concerned about screendoor on the Z2).

Things I would like to know:
Black levels compared to more expensive DLP pjs when the AE500 is run in low bulb mode or in AI-2 (varying bulb intensity) mode?
How loud is it in AI-2 mode?
Shadow detail?
Presence of "scanline" artifacts found on the L300U?

The only thing I don't like about the AE500 so far is that it doesn't have any lens offset, i.e. the top of the screen is level with the projector. That means I'm going to have to drop the thing fiften or so inches off my ceiling to get the image down to a reasonable spot. With the Z2 I could use the lens shift to mount it flush against the ceiling and still get my fifteen inch image drop.

Is the top of the AE500's picture really level with the projector? If so, that would be a step in the right direction from the L300U. The 300 has a weird throw angle; the projector actually has to hang down below the top of the screen to avoid keystone. I wonder why Panasonic did it this way, when virtually every other projector does the opposite.

Buds at Hitachi have announced their first HT projector, the "Home-1". It has a list price of $1,795, so shouldn't be too long before it streets for around $1,000.
http://www.projectorcentral.com/news_story_613.htm

Ryan Mitchell wrote: I do not know of any one with an 8700 to demo, but if I hear of one I'll you know.



The PE8700 was unveiled at CES last year and is the first projector from BenQ dedicated for HT use and from what I can tell deserves serious consideration.

(click here to read BenQ's press release regarding the PE8700)

I would certainly recommend it over the InFocus Screenplay 5700. The 5700 uses TI's Matterhorn chip, where as the 8700 uses the Mustang HD2 chip. Thus the BenQ has greater resolution and contrast.

Originally the BenQ was to have an MSRP of $10,000, but they dropped it down to $8,000 and the street prices are $5,000. Considering that the street prices for the InFocus 5700 are about $4,000, I would think the difference in performance would be more than worth the extra cost. Not only that but BenQ also offers PIP (which is a surprisingly useful feature, and they also throw in a 3yr warranty which for the first year you can exchange your projector for a new one - most companies only will do this if your projector can not be serviced.


On a side note, while flipping through some iDocuments from BenQ, I came across a FAQ sheet with some interesting comments about LCD vs DLP.

(click here to jump to that part of the FAQ sheet)

The reason those comparisons are intriguing is that BenQ is the largest manufacturer of LCD projectors, and one of the largest makers of LCD monitors. Seems they may be hinting on a future emphasis on DLP?

Nils, several light engine mfgrs are seriously looking at adding/converting to DLP engines. The impetis is Sony's exiting the LCD panel business, which leaves only Epson as the sole source supplier in the world, never a good thing.
YGM.

Hey Nils, did your AE500 demo ever materialize?

Sadly it did not.

But I am glad to hear that an english manual is now available and perhaps by CES, Panasonic will release it in the States?

BTW: Speaking of CES, I've started a new thread, Austin HT Group Meet @ 2004 CES , for those attending to arrange for one or more gatherings.

Doc,

If you have not read it already, Evan at Projector Central, just posted yesterday a side-by-side comparison review between the Sanyo Z2 & the Panny 500. It may help answer some of your lingering questions about both projectors.

Yeah I read it, it didn't help. He says SDE dissapears at 1.15x viewing distance on the Z2. That seems highly unlikely. I'll have to see it to believe it. If it is true, then the Z2 would be perfect for me. If, however, SDE is still visible at 1.5x, then I'll go for the L500U and just deal with the unsightly drop from my ceiling. I've been living with the CRT for over a year now and it's even worse.

If I were buying now, those two would be my short list. Imagine what they'll cost a year from now. Hey, my buds from St. Paul will have some very interesting RPTV's in their suite at C.E.S.

I expect the Z2 will be slightly better than an HS10 with regard to screendoor. The resolution is very similar, but the Z2's newer-technology panels supposedly have less inter-pixel gap than the HS10. At a south Austin projector shootout that took place a while back, there was an HS10 and a Z1. Screendoor was a problem on the Z1 from OVER 2x, even when soft focused. It was less of a problem on the HS10 from 1.5x or so. Seeing an HS10 would probably be a better indication of what to expect from the Z2.

That said, I certainly wouldn't buy one until I saw it in person.

Every make/model of player is likely to put out a different image out of the box, but when calibrated with Avia or VE you should be able to get most player/projector combos to look fairly similar.

This does, however, bring up an interesting question. That being, should one set their dvd player's settings at the midpoint and change the settings on the pj, or set the pj at the midpoint and change the settings on the dvd player? In reality it will take a combination of the two, since the full set of controls won't be available on either device individually.

I wouldn't put too much stock into DCDI over other de-interlacers. Properly implemented there are other options that will satisfy just as much (e.g. Silicon Imaging). The Q50 has a rep for having a lot of problems. Do a search in the DVD Player section of AVS for "Q50" and you'll find lots of messages. You might want to consider a Denon 910, or a Denon 1600, Denon 1200, Panasonic XP30, or Panasonic RP82 (some these you'll need to buy used or from a non-authorized dealer to get in the same price range as the Q50). Does your Z1 have a DVI input? If so, you may want to ditch component connections all together and go with a DVI player like the Momitsu V880.

Sorta, but not really, related to Mike's question above, I ordered a Denon DVD-2200 universal player last week, which uses the Silicon deinterlacer. Today at Fry's I picked up two Keb Mo SACDs, "The Door" and "Just Like You". Interestingly (at least to me) was that "The Door" was $1 cheaper in SACD format than in red book cd format. "Just Like You", however, was $4 more, but it is a multi-channel disc so I figured I'd pay the extra $4 for multi-channel and hope that the stereo mix was mastered as well or better than the cd version.

I should get the 2200 on Wednesday; some time after the first of the year I'd like to do some controlled listening comparisons between so called hi-res vinyl/sacd/dvd-a originals and recordings of the same tracks in 44.1 PCM, lossless WMA, and high bit rate MP3. I'm fairly certain I can identify a lossy compression like MP3 easily, but I'm skeptical that anyone would be able to identify a 44.1kHz PCM recording from an SACD orginal, even with the extra A/D conversion step from the recording process. Might make for a fun mini-meet for audio-without-video inclined among us.

Anyone have any opinions on digital SLR cameras? We're considering the Canon EOS 300D 6.3 megapixel.



It seems like a good balance between professional quality and consumer affordability. Any other digital SLRs in the $900 price range worth considering? Maybe the Sony DSC-F828, even though it isn't SLR?

I'll be up for an audio comparo meet. I used to take lots of pics with a Nikon film SLR, so if I were in the market for an upscale digicam, I'd choose an SLR model.

Doc,

Those are both excellent choices for that price range +/- $900 & minimum pixel size +5MP. I would definetly recommend a visit to Digital Photography Review for perhaps the most thorough unbiased reviews of all types of digital cameras. It is not very clear, but their reviews are several pages long and if you do not want to go through each page, there is a pull-down window at the top of the page that acts like an index so that you can jump to any page in the review.

(click here for a list of their highly recommended models)

Here are the models that may interest you the most, including the two you already mentioned (if you click on any of the photos below it will enlarge it to life size, and if you click on the model name it will link to the DPR review):


Canon EOS 300D
(link to DPR Conclusion: Pros, Cons, & Overall)




Sony Cybershot DSC-F828
The 828 is a significant revision of Sony's highly recommended DSC-F717, but unfortunately DPR has yet to do a thorough review of the 828. If you click on the above link they do however offer a 9 page preview of the 828 with some excellent information about the camera as well as how it compares spec wise to its predecessor the 717.




Minolta DiMAGE A1
(link to DPR Conclusion: Pros, Cons, & Overall)




Nikon Coolpix 5700
(link to DPR Conclusion: Pros, Cons, & Overall)

One other possible choice to consider:



Pentax *ist D
(link to DPR Conclusion: Pros, Cons, & Overall)

The MSRP is $1,700 but street prices are about $1,300 and falling.

Doc,

I assume you are wanting to get this camera before the wedding and if so, you may not find the following article to be of any use. However if your search for a camera is intended as a future aquisition, then you may want to read this article from Popular Photography & Imaging:

Report From Japan: The Future of Digital Photography

Yes and no. I don't have any data on SACD vs DVD-A, but here are a couple of examples of SACD vs CD being more than meets the eye.

On a Keb Mo hybrid SACD that Igor has there is a big difference in sound when you switch between the PCM and DSD layers. The real question, though, is was the difference caused by encoding scheme or different mastering? The sound is so different that I'm convinced it had to be from the mastering. On the 30th Anniversary edition of Dark Side of the Moon, one reviewer noted a big difference in sound between PCM and DSD as well and attributed it to the encoding. John Atkinson (technical editor of Stereophile) got a hold of the disc and ran its output through CoolEdit and discovered that the two layers were mastered very differently. The PCM layer was mastered with more compression and clipping, whereas the DSD layer preserved the original master tapes' dynamic range. Did the DSD encoding make any difference? Who knows? If you look strictly at the math, then 44.1kHz sampling PCM really is "perfect sound forever". However, if you look at the measurements of production cd players, none of them ever meet the ideal. But does that matter? I'm not sure yet. These kind of questions are one of the big reasons I got a universal player; so I can experiment with homemade recordings and find out of there really is a difference. And if there is no difference? Well, I'll probably still buy SACD and DVD-A for the generally bettering mastering and multi-channel tracks.

Nils, thanks for the suggestions, I've been spending a lot of time lately at DPR. You are correct, we do want to get it before the wedding.

Jonathan

My father just picked up the Canon, after doing some research and he seems pretty happy with its abilities.

Greg