High quality FP without scaler (1 Viewer)

[Dave_DBG]

I'm looking for a high quality front projector without a built in scaler or 3:2 pulldown detection. Are there any? Most of the projectors I've found all include 3:2 pulldown and a bunch of other features I don't need. I am building an HTPC with all video processing required, so all I need is a display device that wants a good input.

The projector should be able to handle at least 720p natively. LCD works, but DLP or D-ILA are better. I'm looking to spend $3000-5000, but I don't want to spend extra for lots of video processing that I already have.

Does anyone know of any good candidates?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Dave,

Check out AVS forum (avscience.com).

If you get a panamorph lens, you can get > 720 resolution output from the 4x3 NEC HT1000 projector which is in your price range, has supurb color rendition, and a CR/black level that can't be beat.

Don't bother with LCD IMO as the screen-door artifacts are a distraction, IMO. However, that's a matter of personal tastes and with MLA difusing lenses and other technologies you might find an LCD unit that works for you.

In your price range I'd REALLY stear you toward an NEC HT1000 paired with a panamorph lens for 16x9 display at full pixel-resolution. A perfect match for someone using HTPC.

Oh...it does have 3-2 pulldown and a good onboard scaler...but you're not paying $$$ for it so don't worry about it. Besides, it's nice to have there for when you haul it outside for an evening of back-yard films with your stand-alone DVD player.

-dave

 

[Sean M]

Any digital projector will have some sort of scaler/video processor built in. There's no choice in the matter. since we are talking about a fixed pixel array, a scaler is required to take the incoming signal and map it to the panel. While it is possible to build a projector without any scaling on board of any kind, it would only have a digital input and could only map resolutions 1:1 up to the full panel ress. Not very flexible.

CRT projectors don't have scalers built in as they are multi-sync devices and can display whatever signal is input into them, within their capabilities. Most will do at least 720p.

If you want at least 720p native in a 16x9 frame between $3k and $5k, then it's going to be an LCD. There are no DLP's in that price range that are 16x9 native, and no native 16x9 DILA's at all, not counting Toshiba's RPTV, but even that is $8k.

The Sony HS10 is about the best in this range. David's suggestion is excellent if you want better quality than LCD without going to CRT.

 

[Craig Robertson]

if you go with fixed panel, you will need to make sure that it has 1:1 pixel mapping, otherwise even if you feed it it's native resolution it will still run the signal thru the onboard processor.

 

[RobertR]

and a CR/black level that can't be beat.

Except by CRT projectors

 

[Craig Robertson]

Except by CRT projectors

!!

 

[Dave_DBG]

What I was hoping for in analogous to buying a DVD player without a DD 5.1 processor. Since I already have a processor (Rotel RSP-985), I don't want to spend extra for a DVD player with it's own processor. In this case, I have an HTPC that can scale to just about any resolution, so I'd rather spend my money on a good projector, not another scaler that I will end up bypassing anyway. What would be perfect is one of the projectors that has an external scaler (Runco or Dwin, for example), but only if I could get it without the scaler. Based on the prices of the their separate scalers, I'm guessing that close to half the price of the projector is for the scaler alone.

Since I'm new to projectors, is it even possible to fully bypass a projector's internal scaler?

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Dave,

scalers are becoming *cheap* and 3-2 pulldown is also cheap. It's no biggie...and as a previous poster mentioned...all fixed-pixel displays need a scaler anyway to "map" the incoming image to the panel.

Bottom line...you're not paying $$$ for the buit-in scaler so don't worry about it...it just so happens that the quality of these built-in scalers is getting better at the same time they're getting cheaper.

And you will still definitely notice an improvement going HTPC and doing your scaling on the computer!

BTW, the ability to bypass the internal scaler is what most people refer to as a projectors ability to "map pixels 1:1". The NEC will let you do this. The Sony 10HT will not (it always runs the signal through its own processor/scaler even when the incoming signal matches the resolution of its own panel pixel for pixel).

dave

 

[Dave_DBG]

Thanks for the info. I equating some of the external scaler prices ($5000 and up) to a good part of a projector's price. It makes one wonder what you're paying for when you can get a really good scaler for free on a PC (dScaler). For around $400, you can get the Faroudja DCDi chips on a PC card (Immersive Holo3DGraph).

At this point, I'm leaning toward the Sony VPL-HS10. For the money, it has a lot of what I'm looking for. The new PLUS Piano is another option, but it doesn't handle full HDTV signals.