BobbyD
Auditioning
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2004
- Messages
- 11
I've seen a fair bit of discussion about the HD2K and thought that I would drop a subjective opinion in for everyone to absorb. I'm technical, and chose the HD2K for a number of reasons my head worked out. (A) It's 3-chip DILA system offers some pretty obvious immediate benefits - superior color rendition, full Hidef, less space between pixels for a more realistic image, perfectly adequate light for my home (I estimate near 700 Lumens) (B) the Faroudja 1010 scaler is (as far as I'm concerned) simply the best on the market (C) At only 13 pounds, I can mount the thing any old way I want, as I like.
I compared it to the Sony Qualia (and also, incidentally to the brand new Sanyo HiDef projector (I think it is the HD10, something like 5,000 lumens). The Qualia and the Sanyo weigh close to 100 pounds each, but at least the Sanyo produces almost an order of magnitude more light. The Sanyo is more commercial and costs a lot more than the Sony and the JVC, but I felt it necessary to include in this discussion to make some key points.
OK - that's pretty much all the objective considerations out of the way - here's where I get emotional.
I am completely and utterly gobsmacked by this projector. There is just no other way to put it in so few words. I have had it almost 3 months now (unit #13, apparently
and everyday, something else surprises me (pleasantly, of course).
First of all THE SPEED! I never expected it to be so fast! I don't know what the rated latency is, but it absolutely makes the Qualia and the Sanyo look like old-fashioned toys. Forget about the fact they all three have the same 1080 resolution, when it comes to moving pans or action scenes, the other two are completely shown up by this unit.
Only after you have seen the JVC do you realize the other two are struggling with fast movement. They end up with all kinds of flickering (particularly the Sanyo)and you can "see" the frame movement, if you know what I mean. I expected this from the Sanyo, as it is LCD based, but was surprised how much smoother the action was on the JVC, vs the Sony.
Second, it's a lot brighter than I expected. I set up a 92" horizontal space, intending to order a positive gain screen. I held off on the order, as I got close to 35 footlamberts off the PLAIN WALL instead of the expected 27. I am now going to wait until I move into my new place in January and will go for closer to a 120" horizontal sceen.
I can see why Phelps has a hard time moving back to CRT. Although the CRT moves a bit faster, those I've seen don't have anywhere near the clarity and sharpness at full 1920x1080 that the JVC does.
OK - so all of the above probably is still too objective. How do I like it? It is the most fantastic piece of kit you could put in a home. It astonishes me everytime I use it. For DVD material, I mostly use PAL discs, except where something new is out on NTSC first. The upscaling is utterly phenomenal. On some material, it actually looks like the source was 720p. I've read one review of the Qualia where the reviewer commented he has never seen HiDef Satellite compression artifacts so clearly... WHAT?? Maybe Sony should have included the Faroudja scaler for the price, since I don't believe you should have to endure artifacting - and with the JVC (and Faroudja) ... I don't.
For HiDef material, I am using JVC DVHS decks. Yes, I know HD DVD will be great when it arrives, but I've been enjoying hi-bitrate HD for two years on this, and probably another two before I'm able to add a blueray. "Man on Fire" on DVHS is just another of the recent releases that SOOO utterly suits this projector - incredible sight. I also use HD material from Satellite.
You become totally absorbed in the picture - even to the point where you sometimes realized that you have watched a totally rubbish movie just because it was a really nice transfer ("Vertical Limit"comes to mind).
Some points on use - feed it what comes off the disc or tape, native. ie. on DVD material, send the proper interlaced signal, as the Faroudja box does a FAR better job of deinterlacing and scaling than your own DVD player could.
Second, the projector only accepts a 1080p signal in, either in 50 or 60 phase. The trick to watch is that the scaler will output whatever phase it is fed (regardless of the resolution of the source). You must manually set the projector for which phase to expect in from the scaler, or you will get an "out of range" error. This foxed me for an hour the first night.
Quick note about the Qualia - which I don't think many people realize. The Qualia CANNOT accept a 1080p 60 signal! The only progressive input it can take is 1080p 24Fs. Now how many of us have gear that does that. None, unless you work in a studio with HDCAM gear. So the Qualia forces you to input 1080i and deinterlaces it itself - taking away your opportunity to use some good gear like Faroudja. No wonder the other reviewers noted interlace artifacting. Sheesh!
In the end, my choice was clear. I like the picture and speed better than the other two. And even if the Sony Qualia was the identical output as the HD2K, I wouldn't buy it, because it won't accept 1080p 60 or 50, which limits what preprocessing you can do with the image. In addition, its 90 pounds of weight is just ridiculous, given that the JVC HD2K produces the same light at just 13 pounds and the Sanyo HD10 takes about the weight as the Sony but produces 8 times the light.
If you can't control the room lighting properly, then you should consider setting the HD2K up as a rear projector. But if you can swing this price range for any unit at all, you should buy this projector! Stunning. Anyone who comments on it without seeing it is missing a great opportunity. Believe me. The JVC is totally unpretentious and does what it says on the box, better and in more ways, than the Qualia.
What does the Qualia have? Huge amounts of style (after all 90 pounds is pretty big), masses of software and tricks (ie ethernet networking and configuration over the network, etc) which are mostly completely useless to me. Against? It puts out a huge amount of heat, compared to the JVC, dominates any room, takes away the option of proper preprocessing of the video by eliminating proper 1080p 50/60, more expensive to run and maintain.
As far as the Sanyo HD10 is concerned, we now use this for big training events with a 20 foot horizontal rear-projected screen, in lighted rooms for over 100 people. It's perfect for this, and could probably go way larger.
I compared it to the Sony Qualia (and also, incidentally to the brand new Sanyo HiDef projector (I think it is the HD10, something like 5,000 lumens). The Qualia and the Sanyo weigh close to 100 pounds each, but at least the Sanyo produces almost an order of magnitude more light. The Sanyo is more commercial and costs a lot more than the Sony and the JVC, but I felt it necessary to include in this discussion to make some key points.
OK - that's pretty much all the objective considerations out of the way - here's where I get emotional.
I am completely and utterly gobsmacked by this projector. There is just no other way to put it in so few words. I have had it almost 3 months now (unit #13, apparently
and everyday, something else surprises me (pleasantly, of course). First of all THE SPEED! I never expected it to be so fast! I don't know what the rated latency is, but it absolutely makes the Qualia and the Sanyo look like old-fashioned toys. Forget about the fact they all three have the same 1080 resolution, when it comes to moving pans or action scenes, the other two are completely shown up by this unit.
Only after you have seen the JVC do you realize the other two are struggling with fast movement. They end up with all kinds of flickering (particularly the Sanyo)and you can "see" the frame movement, if you know what I mean. I expected this from the Sanyo, as it is LCD based, but was surprised how much smoother the action was on the JVC, vs the Sony.
Second, it's a lot brighter than I expected. I set up a 92" horizontal space, intending to order a positive gain screen. I held off on the order, as I got close to 35 footlamberts off the PLAIN WALL instead of the expected 27. I am now going to wait until I move into my new place in January and will go for closer to a 120" horizontal sceen.
I can see why Phelps has a hard time moving back to CRT. Although the CRT moves a bit faster, those I've seen don't have anywhere near the clarity and sharpness at full 1920x1080 that the JVC does.
OK - so all of the above probably is still too objective. How do I like it? It is the most fantastic piece of kit you could put in a home. It astonishes me everytime I use it. For DVD material, I mostly use PAL discs, except where something new is out on NTSC first. The upscaling is utterly phenomenal. On some material, it actually looks like the source was 720p. I've read one review of the Qualia where the reviewer commented he has never seen HiDef Satellite compression artifacts so clearly... WHAT?? Maybe Sony should have included the Faroudja scaler for the price, since I don't believe you should have to endure artifacting - and with the JVC (and Faroudja) ... I don't.
For HiDef material, I am using JVC DVHS decks. Yes, I know HD DVD will be great when it arrives, but I've been enjoying hi-bitrate HD for two years on this, and probably another two before I'm able to add a blueray. "Man on Fire" on DVHS is just another of the recent releases that SOOO utterly suits this projector - incredible sight. I also use HD material from Satellite.
You become totally absorbed in the picture - even to the point where you sometimes realized that you have watched a totally rubbish movie just because it was a really nice transfer ("Vertical Limit"comes to mind).
Some points on use - feed it what comes off the disc or tape, native. ie. on DVD material, send the proper interlaced signal, as the Faroudja box does a FAR better job of deinterlacing and scaling than your own DVD player could.
Second, the projector only accepts a 1080p signal in, either in 50 or 60 phase. The trick to watch is that the scaler will output whatever phase it is fed (regardless of the resolution of the source). You must manually set the projector for which phase to expect in from the scaler, or you will get an "out of range" error. This foxed me for an hour the first night.
Quick note about the Qualia - which I don't think many people realize. The Qualia CANNOT accept a 1080p 60 signal! The only progressive input it can take is 1080p 24Fs. Now how many of us have gear that does that. None, unless you work in a studio with HDCAM gear. So the Qualia forces you to input 1080i and deinterlaces it itself - taking away your opportunity to use some good gear like Faroudja. No wonder the other reviewers noted interlace artifacting. Sheesh!
In the end, my choice was clear. I like the picture and speed better than the other two. And even if the Sony Qualia was the identical output as the HD2K, I wouldn't buy it, because it won't accept 1080p 60 or 50, which limits what preprocessing you can do with the image. In addition, its 90 pounds of weight is just ridiculous, given that the JVC HD2K produces the same light at just 13 pounds and the Sanyo HD10 takes about the weight as the Sony but produces 8 times the light.
If you can't control the room lighting properly, then you should consider setting the HD2K up as a rear projector. But if you can swing this price range for any unit at all, you should buy this projector! Stunning. Anyone who comments on it without seeing it is missing a great opportunity. Believe me. The JVC is totally unpretentious and does what it says on the box, better and in more ways, than the Qualia.
What does the Qualia have? Huge amounts of style (after all 90 pounds is pretty big), masses of software and tricks (ie ethernet networking and configuration over the network, etc) which are mostly completely useless to me. Against? It puts out a huge amount of heat, compared to the JVC, dominates any room, takes away the option of proper preprocessing of the video by eliminating proper 1080p 50/60, more expensive to run and maintain.
As far as the Sanyo HD10 is concerned, we now use this for big training events with a 20 foot horizontal rear-projected screen, in lighted rooms for over 100 people. It's perfect for this, and could probably go way larger.
