Epson TW100 owners.... help? (1 Viewer)

[Greg Robinson]

I just had the pleasure of auditioning the Epson TW100 in a less-than-ideal setup. The projector was on the floor, and it was projecting 16' away from an ENORMOUS 8' or 10' wide screen that went floor to ceiling. The epson was not using the whole screen (though it could when adjusted).

First MAJOR question... We tried 2 DVD players (Denon and Toshiba) and made sure the "TV size" output on the DVD players was set to 16:9/wide. Yet, every disc we played did not fill the width of the projected "lighted area" on screen. The Video Signal setting on the Epson was set to "auto" and it was connected via S-Video cable. We toggled through the "Aspect" choices on the Epson and NONE of them looked correct. So...

Should an anamorphic widescreen DVD like Fifth Elelment completely fill the "lighted area" from side to side? I thought it would. The height I know is dependant on ratio, and Fifth Element SHOULD have had bars top and bottom, being 2.35 (which it did).

Next, what is the difference between "NORMAL" and "THROUGH" aspects on the Epson? What is the correct setting for watching an anamorphic DVD on a 16:9 screen? I would think Normal. No?

What settings should be changed from default for the above desired viewing? Or is it ready to project what I'm trying to test "out of the box?"

I thought what I saw looked great, but I couldn't help but think that with component video, a smaller image the right distance from the screen, and better light control, it could look INCREDIBLE. Of course, then I read the projectorcentral.com article on NEC's new projector and I'm at wit's end trying to decide what to buy! Thoughts? Comments? thanks!

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Yes, an anamorphic wide DVD will fill the screen from side to side. The proper aspect ratio to select should be "squeeze" I think it was. That will leave narrow black bars at the top or bottom on a 2.35:1 movie.

Normal is when the projector takes the signal and, regardless of its resolution, scales it to the 1280x720 panel. That is what you want to use for virtually all s-video and component video transmissions. Through just passes the signal directly to the panel, and is what you want to use with a HTPC for instance if the HTPC is set to a 1280x720 resolution. If you run with "through" on a normal DVD, the image will only fill a portion of the screen in the middle of the LCD panels.

With a DVD player set to 16:9 display, the projector set to squeeze and a 2.35:1 anamorphic movie in the player, you should get a nice anamorphic 16:9 image, I know I do. If you didn't, something was wrong.

If the movie isn't anamorphic, you need to switch the aspect ratio to zoom.