My z1 arrived today, took some snapshots (1 Viewer)

[David K.]

edited out pics to reduce load times, updated pics at bottom of thread

 

[mark alan]

Just couldn't wait to see what it looked like

Get your screen set up, get some component cables and we will see you in a couple of months when you come up for air.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Congratulations. How do you find the contrast ratio (blacks) with the 10' size?

 

[Leo_P]

WHOA!!! Could've fooled me!
Those screenies look great. I wonder how good they'd look if everything was set up "right"?
Enjoy!

 

[Neil Joseph]

I assume you have a calibration disk like DVE, VE or AVIA. Based solely on these pics as viewed from my computer monitor they look a little heavy on the green or lacking on the red perhaps. Once you get the final screen in place you can calibrate at that time.

 

[David K.]

I used the sound and vision calibration disc and it made the imgaes worse, today I resetted to original specs and the images looks tons better, I just up'd the sharpness, I like it better that way then when i used the calibration disc.

 

[David K.]

it is a problem with dark movies, even with controlled lighting, I was watching SWAT today and the dark scenes look too muddy and undefined, while bright scenes look incredible.

But ive always thought it was due to my bare wall screen, I will be getting large manual glass beaded screen. Hopefull that will help, But ya contrast issues are a problem during dark scenes.

 

[Max Leung]

A calibration disc would help you control the shadow detail. Sounds like you need to up the brightness level a little.

The tint problem in the screenshots could be attributed to an incorrect camera white balance setting, and may not be a big problem with the projector itself. Damn variables!

 

[Maurice B]

David,

Hold that Glass Beaded screen! It will be a deplorable choice for a LCD PJ like the Z1. You'll get a big Hot Spot in the center.

Better to paint that wall with any one of several special paint formulas.

Or....., go to my Gallerys and view some screenies of Light Fusion Mirror screens that will show you what to aspire to in DIY screens.

All screen shots were taken off 110" diagonal screens cut from 5' x 8' x 1/8" mirror to a size of 54.4" x 96". (16:9 format) The photos were taken with a 2 year old 4.2 MP Toshiba M-81 Digicam, set on Auto Exp -Auto Focus. NO post processing was done, save resizing the images down from a whopping 2400 x 1800 pixels to a size somewhat more tractible for posting onto the web.



http://www.hometheaterforum.com/gall...n-Screen-shots

http://gallery.avsforum.com/showgall...=50111&cat=500

http://www.yorkphoto.com/thumbnailsh...55/t_=12338494

On the last link, you have to register to veiw the photos. Don't worry though, they do NOT sell your info to spammers.

Post mail me back and tell me what you think.


Most of the Paint formulas I've created were originally designed to compliment the Z1 (lumen AND Contrast challenged) & X1 PJs. (4:3 :frowning: ) Enhanced contrast, without sacrificing brillant whites, and a drastic reduction of Screen Door Effect (SDE) and video artifacts were the main objectives. All that and more were accomplished. Shoot an image onto Light Fusion from a High Def DLP-Lycos-DILA PJ of 1000 + lumens and you'll never stop getting over the end results. Neither will your Buds.

I'm here on HTF to help bring this type of DIY'ism to those of you who desire to spend less than $150.00 in materials to achieve a screen application that has been matched up against the much touted Silver Star ($1800 +) and the StudioTek 130 ($1600 +) and met or exceeded thier performance on all counts.

PS.

Max up there sez:
Quote:
The tint problem in the screenshots could be attributed to an incorrect camera white balance setting, and may not be a big problem with the projector itself. Damn variables! Unquote.

Nope. The Z1 does indeed have "tint" issues, and produces a deffinate Blue push. This can be offset by both calibration, and using a very small amount of Red Oxide (1/96 oz droplett) added to any specific "White" paint mix.

 

[Max Leung]

Yeah, my Z1 has a "blue push". But, I never bothered calibrating it with a colorimeter, since I don't have one that will work with digital projection anyways.

Your Light Fusion solution is interesting...

(Oh, and ditto on not using the glass beaded screen...hot spotting from h*ll!)

 

[David K.]

im new to projectors, what is light fusion? Those picture look great!

but unfortunately Ive already placed a bid on a generic pull down screen on ebay,

I measured my screen and its a 92" 80x45 projected image.

If I win the auction itll cost me $128 shipped.

its a 92" diganal 16:9 matte white pull down screen with a gain of 1:3

i need a pull down screen because a fixed screen will block my closet door.

Hopefully this screen will help out with the muddy picture issues? Also take note that there is a lot of artifacting and interference because my 25' s-video cable is really cheapo. Im just using it until my heartland component cables arrive sometime next week. wish me luck!

 

[Max Leung]

Light Fusion is a Do-It-Yourself screen...paint your own.

$128 for a 1.3 gain pulldown screen is quite good. Is it a Da-Lite Da-Mat screen? Or whatever the pulldown equivalent of the fixed-screen CinemaVision is called...

 

[Darren Haycock]

This is the Sanyo Z1 correct? That looks amazing, especially for the price you can get it nowadays. I really need to save up and get myself one of these babies.

Btw, David, I remember you were considering getting a more expensive Infocus model before. Are you pleased with your current purchase? Or do you wish you had gone the more expensive route?

 

[David K.]

Yes it is the Sanyo z1

I like this projector, at first i was afraid of screen door effect, because that is all I would hear of, but its not really an issue, I sit about 11' back with a 92" diagnal screen and it looks great.

my only complaint is that on dark scenes everything looks muddy and undefined, hopefully when i get the right cables and a decent screen itll change that.

Im also scared about the lamp life, since a lot of people seem to complain about it online, but then i dont know if its just a problem that is blown out of proportion just like the SDE, in all sincerity, SDE is not a problem with this projector, I see sde on the crystal projectors that regal cinema uses, I think some of these people expect IMAX quality projection. Those complaining about SDE on this $900 projector has their expectations way too high for such a budget.

I post updated pics after I get the screen and cables, I found that the original settings are better then the calibrated settings with the sound and vision disc, which threw the colors way off. i lowered the green since green seemed too prominant, and the yellow is just way too bright, but there is no yellow compensation in the settings.

But I cant really set any colors correctly until i get the component cables in there, which I assume will have much truer colors.

btw the screen im bidding on is a da lite clone from an in house photo studio store. if the specs are correct 1.3 gain, that should help my picture right?
the spec on this screen seems higher then the da light screen it was compared to, at a much lower price. Im thinking projector screens are like every other thing on the home theater market, the lower end stuff is created by some distributor in taiwan or china and companies oem them and slap their name on them. So brand name isnt that much a big deal for entry stuff IMO.

And all the screens in the 92" hd format cost at least $160, so Id thought id give this ebayer a try.

 

[Maurice B]

Good luck. I hate being the pessimist, but I'm betting the 1.3 gain is a pipe dream though.

Also, any roll up screen that is not of the tensioned variety will suffer from "Lays Syndrome" That is to say, the end will roll up forward. That your gonna hate, sorry to say.

As a staunch DIY advocate, I feel your desire to get a lot of bang for the buck. Let's hope your 'shot in the dark' (hey! that's a good one! PJ. Screen. shot in the dark... ) works out.

One last thing. There is nothing wrong with trying to make a PJ like the Z1 perform like a champ. My Partner CMRA over on the AVS Forum has one, and has worked to make it's image far better than any could have ever guessed it could be.

But the darn thing does have 'issues', and they will become painfully apparent when you do actually shoot the image on a decent surface. Enhanced brightness will bring out that SDE far more than your experiencing. Can you trust me on this? It will happen. Sometimes, a slight de-focusing can help, but that's counterproductive in my reasoning; to take away the sharpness that a LCD is famous for just to defray SDE. Therein lies why we have worked so hard on paint combos that actually make the SDE go away.

Well, ya havent won that bid yet, so maybe there is still hope. If you do lose, and post up and ask for help, I can steer you toward "Painted" solutions that will cost you less than $30.00 total, and are GAR-RON-TEED to offset the Z1's issues and essentally BLOW YOU AWAY. Can you afford NOT to try?

Not only that, I can relate to you how to take decent screenies too.

 

[David K.]

ill takt that into consideration, but i think i will be winning this auction. Maurice as much as i was interested in making a diy screen, That was my intention when I first before I even got the projector, as you look at my pictures above, any fixed screen will block my door. and it would be too much of a hassle to remove a 45" x 80" screen everytime i needed to get to the closet door. Ill take your word for it about sde getting worse. Ill post more when i get all my stuff.

 

[David K.]

today i noticed for the first time some vertical shadows when the projector is on the blue screen, is this normal?? I think its called vertical banding, why does it do that?

 

[David K.]

edit: removed photos to save load times

 

[Neil Joseph]

Much better. Look at the before and after shots of Darla tapping the aquarium. The second one is brighter and has more natural skintones.

 

[David K.]

after 10 hours of use, gounf a huge dust blob, size of a fist on the lower left screen, just appeared there all of sudden! Its annoying as heck, looks like a permanent green lens flare stuck on the screen.