Projector questions (1 Viewer)

[David Payne]

I started another thread asking about the PE7700, but I also need some general advice on projector buying, since I'm new here. First off, since projectors have native resolutions comparable to TV's, is there a loss in picture quality from blowing the image up to larger proportions? Or is this generally only a problem for viewing low resolution source material on a higher resolution display? And someone told me that viewing SD source material on a HD screen/projector,can make the image appear worse than on a SD screen/projector of the same size/resolution. Is this true?

And I asked this in the other thread as well, but it's still relevant here: do European model projectors usually support RGB input via SCART?

Thanks in advance for any help guys!

 

[David Payne]

Anyone?

 

[Shane Harg]

Projector technology has come a LONG way in the last few years to the point of being able to rival their direct-view counter parts in both brightness and contrast. If you can, catch a demo on a good projector like the Panasonic AE900, Sanyo Z4 (both LCDs) or the Optoma HD72 and BenQ PE7700 (DLPs) - and prepare to be astonished!

I was sold on the AE900 when I saw it. I was not prepared for, nor did I expect what I saw. The picture was bright, brilliant and highly detailed. I could not see any flaws with what this projector was capable of. Any weakness will be the fault of your DVD player. LOL. Good projectors like these are also generally capable of producing an picture size of over 100" without any substantial loss of resolution or brightness. It is still necessary to be able to control room lighting with projectors, however. Viewing SD material can be made to look worse on projectors, but this is the case with all larger displays and depends more on the source device, media, connection and so forth, than on the display, itself. Hope this helps.

Sorry, I can't answer your last question.

Shane Harger
Yamanashi prefecture, Japan

 

[David Payne]

Thanks for that reply. Is the problem with viewing SD material the same on both SD and HD projectors, or is it worse on HD projectors? Someone suggested to me that it was the case.

 

[Mark-P]

Generally speaking, SD material looks no different on HD projectors than it looks on SD projectors. However, I suppose if a certain projector were to have a really crappy scaler, SD material could look worse.

I have a Benq PE7700 and DVDs look sensational on it.

The only thing you need to know going with DLP projectors is that you are not going to get 100% true black like you do with CRT. The PE7700 has a contrast ratio of 2500:1 which is pretty good for DLP technology. There are projectors out there now that can produce 10,000:1 CR but they cost MEGA bucks.

 

[Shane Harg]

What kind of SD material are we talking? There is a huge difference between say, VHS and DVD. VHS looks crappy no matter what kind of display you use. DVDs (or DVD quality material) look incredible on these projectors whether in native 480i or upscaled to 720p.

To add to what Mark said about contrast, I didn't even notice that I wasn't seeing true blacks when I saw the opening scene of Revenge of the Sith on the above-mentioned demo. Looked better than I remember it looking when I saw it in the movie theater, anyway. You can help the contrast by getting a good beaded grey screen instead of a white one.

In any case, projectors are now a far cry from that washed out contrast you used to see a few years ago, whether DLP or LCD, so you shouldn't really worry about this. BTW, DLP used have the advantage over LCD in reproducing better blacks, but that is no longer true.

 

[David Payne]

^Yep, it will be exclusively for DVD's.



Great, that's the one I'm interested in!

Thanks to both of you for posting. It's been very helpfull.

 

[Joel...Lane]

I'm curious, if you're just going to watch dvd's, is a hi-def pj even necessary? The 4805 might give you what you want at a better price.

 

[Shane Harg]

Say, WHAT??? Information is stored on DVD in MPEG format, which is digital. Component is analog, so the video signal has to go through a DAC circuit before leaving the player in component form. This is an oversimplification, of course, but still much more accurate than saying that "DVDs store video information in the component form."

"The path of least transformation" would be to keep the signal in digital form until it reaches the display (i.e. HDMI or DVI).

And YES, I would still opt for the Hi-Def display, even if I was watching DVDs exclusively. What if he bought a DVD player or receiver, later, which upscaled the picture to Hi-Def? Then a Hi-Def display WOULD actually be necessary.

 

[Joel...Lane]

That quote came from our own HTF Primer found here

But I guess you're right.