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Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out? - Page 29

post #841 of 975
3/14/06 at 8:08pm
The screen I've seen/read most often used with the Panny is the Dalite High Contrast Cinema Vision. I've seen it paired with an AE700 and AE500, and it looked good, so I'm assuming it would be a good choice with the 900 as well. You can also see the AE900 on a blackout screen at my place when we do the CRT comparison.

I think that color filtering would be more important than a gray screen. Check out the AVS AE900 Tweak Thread to see some of the various calibrations that have been done. I'd like to see what an 81ef or 81c filter did for blacks as well gray scale accuracy.
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post #842 of 975
3/14/06 at 11:27pm
Well, it's official. I'm projector-less. I sold the Panny 300 tonight. Hopefully this current state of emergency will remedied by this weekend.
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post #843 of 975
3/15/06 at 6:44am
Quote:
Well, it's official. I'm projector-less.
Oh the humanity! SOMEONE CALL 911

Like an expecting father, I can imagine Chad pacing back and forth waiting for the delivery man.

So when is the baby shower and are we all going to light up some cigars?
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post #844 of 975
3/15/06 at 9:52am
I've received tracking info on mine as well. It's a toss up on whether it will make it Friday or not. Finger's crossed!
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post #845 of 975
3/16/06 at 7:47am
I was hoping to have everything by this weekend, but my credit card company put a hold on the transaction because it was a large purchase from a new vendor. Of course, I didn't find out about it until after the delivery guy had already left. Oh well, it should ship out today.

I ended up going w/ the following bundle from Projector Packages:
Panasonic AE 900
Severtson 119" High Contrast Gray fixed screen
OPPO OPDV971H upconverting DVD player
Mount w/ 18-48" extension

All for about $3k shipped. Price doesn't include the $400 rebate from Panny.

Will definitely be scheduling a movie night in the near future!
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post #846 of 975
3/16/06 at 7:50am
Jonathan,
Do you know if you can get those filters locally? It's been a while since I've been through any of the local camera shops.
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post #847 of 975
3/16/06 at 8:01am
I feel for you Chad.

Remains to be seen if mine will come in tomorrow. It left Seattle yesterday according to tracking. HDMI cable from MonoPrice for my Oppo won't be here 'til next week but I could use Component in the meantime or with the lens shift use the 5 footer that came with the 971. The remote is not the best on the Oppo, doesn't remember where it left off and other weirdness. On the other hand the picture via DVI is great and it'll play just about anything including DiVX and PAL stuff. Great player.
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post #848 of 975
3/16/06 at 3:42pm
Chad, you should be able to get those filters at Wolf Camera. I believe the Panny uses the 72mm size. Or is 70mm? You might need to double check that.

I messed around with an ND2 filter briefly on an L300U I got for my father in law, and it definitely made an improvement in the blacks. Same experience when comparing Ja Phule's 4805 with filter vs without. If the 81c improves blacks and increases color accuracy at the same time, it would definitely be worth the $25-40 the filter costs.
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post #849 of 975
3/16/06 at 5:02pm
The consensus filter of choice for the AE700 in the forums is the 77mm KR-6 81EF Color Conversion Glass Filter.
The AE900 is physically almost identical to the AE700, so the same filter (size and type) may be offer similar results.
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post #850 of 975
3/18/06 at 8:26am
Damn! AE900 Projector made it into Austin during the night, but UPS won't let me pick it up myself. Says the facility is closed on Sat and Sunday. Guess I'll have to wait around Monday for them to deliver. FedEX would let me, picked my HK AVR635 up out at the airport facility when it showed up on a Saturday. Not UPS though. Dang, Dang Dang...!

Ohh well. Projector mini-shootout at Jonathans next Saturday Eve. He wanted to see the 900 next to his Barco and Jay is going to bring his AE700 as well. I'll leave it to Jonathan to post the details.
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post #851 of 975
3/18/06 at 11:52am
Jay,
What's the difference between the filters on that page? Other than the $40 difference in price.
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post #852 of 975
3/18/06 at 11:54am
I feel your pain, Humphrey! Luckily, my Blue Jeans HDMI cable has arrived. At least I can occupy myself this weekend by running it through the conduit so everything is ready for the projector.
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post #853 of 975
3/18/06 at 12:33pm
Digging around in the piping ehh? Well I should have all my cables and wiring by Wednesday at the latest. Me and the UPS guy are going to be seeing each other a lot over the next several days (tracking 3 shipments right now). Jonathan's bringing the last 2 Mirus Debrios for my HT tomorrow. 2 for the back wall, the other 5 are already in. Home should be rocking by mid-week. Have to look at screens and acoustical treatments next.

Why Blue Jeans instead of MonoPrice? Worried about cable quality? FWIW, I used MonoPrice last time and the cables seem be of good quality. And I've built cables myself in the past fulltime for sonar stuff. Of course withthe monoPrice I can't tell what's under the sheath, only the end connectors.
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post #854 of 975
3/18/06 at 2:15pm
I've had good luck with Blue Jeans in the past and in various friends' installs. I probably would have went w/ Monoprice except that the cable that I needed was out of stock. I guess I'm a little impatient.

Are you going to get the 5x1 HDMI switcher from Monoprice? I bought that along w/ some shorter HDMI and HDMI to DVI cables earlier this week.
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post #855 of 975
3/18/06 at 4:10pm
For those readers who only check forum when they get an email alert, I started a new thread for next Saturday's meet here.

Chad, usually the difference in the filters is the precision of the optics machining as well as the number of coatings applied to the lens. For HT use, you're probably fine with the cheaper filters.
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post #856 of 975
3/18/06 at 4:17pm
I am new to this thread and have a Ae900 on order expecting it on next thursday the 23rd. I also had to order Blue Jeans cables after Monoprice was out of every cable I needed. I have used Monoprice for my HT in Colorado with good results. I am putting together a 2 person viewing setup in my master bedroom here as there is no other place that will pass the WAF test. Using Oppo DVD and 92" Model B hcmw pull down screen initially.

In Pagosa Springs I have a Mits HC3000, Oppo and 106" fixed Firehawk. The HC3000 replaced my 4805 that gave me much pleasure for 18 months or so. I brought the 3000 here to Austin and could bring it to your shootout if no one has seen one. I would have used the 3000 again but the throw is too short (by 1 foot) and the AE900 is easy to shelf mount.
Hi to Nils.. I attended his first showing of the AE700 just as he was buying a boxcar load of them.
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post #857 of 975
3/18/06 at 6:47pm
I ended up getting a Hoya 77mm 81C Color Conversion Glass Filter. It was a little over $50 shipped 2-day air from http://www.filterhouse.com. I should have it in time for the meet on Saturday.

The 81C seemed to be the preferred filter in the AE900 Tweak Thread over at AVS.
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post #858 of 975
3/18/06 at 8:24pm
Bob,

Please do bring your Mits HC3000--that is one of the other projectors on my short list. I'll be very curious to see the difference in blacks levels between the DLP and LCD.
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post #859 of 975
3/19/06 at 4:18pm
Johnathan,

I will bring it see your other thread re the meeting.
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post #860 of 975
3/20/06 at 4:11pm
[rant]So it's 6PM and UPS has not even shown. Aarghhh! I can't beleive it! UPS = Unbeleivable Parcel Service[/rant]

Jonathan came by yesterday with the last two Mirus Audio Debrio speakers. I'm now rocking in full 7.1 (.2 if you consider I'm using 2 subs ). After bumping up the back a few DB the rear stage really started to pop and it's not even really calibrated yet. I picked up a Harmon Kardon AVR635 a few months ago and once the newer quieter projector gets here (if it ever does) I'll run the built in EQ to redo all the levels. For such a small HT it won't be perfect but it'll be as good as a limited budget will allow in a 10x12 space... So HT'ers if you want to see what <$5K (cost of a decent Plasma) will make possible for you drop me a PM for a demo.
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post #861 of 975
3/20/06 at 8:18pm
Meet? New projectors? Shoot-out? Cigars?

It's a damn good think I happened to take time to open this thread (haven't been on HTF for a while) and not rely on my buds to call or send an e-mail.
So, two new AE900's eh? Doc, this mibht tempt you to go over to the (semi)Dark LCD side
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post #862 of 975
3/20/06 at 9:59pm
My AE900/screen/oppo/ and mount arrived tonight. Haven't had a chance to do anything other than take everything out and screw around with the mount.

My 1.0 gain DIY screen is still up, so I'm going to try it out on that before switching to the HC Gray ~ 1.0 gain Severtson Screen.

I'm glad I ordered (and received) my HDMI cable from Blue Jeans. My Monoprice shipment of stuff (shorter HDMI cables, DVI-HDMI adapter, etc.) hasn't shipped yet.
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post #863 of 975
3/20/06 at 10:03pm
Another fun project - I'm modding my old XBOX to turn into a media server using the open-source Xbox Media Center software. Supposed to be really slick. Does everything but play high definition content. I'll keep yall posted how that goes and may have it done in time for the meet.
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post #864 of 975
3/21/06 at 3:20am
Mine showed up about 30 minutes after I posted yesterday afternoon. It's 5 AM here. I put 2 hours of prime time HDTV on it, did my midnight grocery trip (self employment does have some perks), then came back and put another 5 on it. Shows the grainyness of my SharpVision glass beaded screen to an extent but the black level are pretty dang good.
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post #865 of 975
3/21/06 at 4:58am
Hank,

It's 3 new AE900 if you count the one I will receive tomorrow. I bought it for a bedroom setup where the throw/lens shift/1.5X viewing distance makes it the best choice. I'm anxious to compare the AE900's with my Mits HC3000 that I will be bringing saturday.

Also what screen(s) will we have?
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post #866 of 975
3/21/06 at 2:23pm
Hmmm..... my email subscriptions haven't been working...

Chad, I recently modded my xbox and I wish I had done it sooner. I must say you guys should definitely see what can be done with XBMC because it's quite cool. I have some pics up on AVS but I'll post them here while we are at it.

I'm also interested in attending the shootout, I'd like to see the Mits hc3000.

More Info:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=635294







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post #867 of 975
3/21/06 at 2:34pm
Does anyone want my ~ 120" 16x9 1.0 gain white screen? It's matte white screen material from ebay on a DIY fixed wooden-framed screen. I also put on a pretty nice (if I do say so myself) masked border.

It'll be a bear to move, but is free to any takers. I'd rather it go to a good home than dismantle it.
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post #868 of 975
3/21/06 at 3:33pm
Talked to Chad about the screen. Assuming I can get a trailer and get it out of Chad's way reliably.
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post #869 of 975
3/21/06 at 4:35pm
Bob,

My screen is a DIY blackout cloth screen, which is basically a matte white 1.0 gain fabric. If you're interested in a high grain screen, Mark Hayenga has a high gain DaLite instatheater screen you might be able to talk him into bringing over for comparison.
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post #870 of 975
3/23/06 at 11:58pm
Does anybody own a SLAPPA CD case? I am thinking about getting one but apprehensive since I can't see/touch one in person. Thanks!

Oh and I can bring the screen if anyone wants. Though I don't really recommend any high-gain screens unless you have ambient light problems (which I normally do in apartments).
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