Got HOME THEATER?

Bill,

A couple of guys answered your inquiry at avsforum:


There are several kinds of HDTV 'decoders' (more commonly called Set-Top-Boxes or STBs), none of which (AFAIK) will enhance the PQ (Picture Quality) of a DVD from a progressive scan DVD player. (The forthcoming Samsung T165 may upconvert/deinterlace a standard DVD player's output, but until somebody get their hands on one, no way to know how good it is.) To enhance the PQ of a DVD and a good prog-scan DVD player, you'd need a scaler which costs many thousands of dollars.

However when you get your STB (either OTA-only or OTA & satellite combo), the PQ you'll get on real HD material will be so far and away better than anything you could ever get out of a DVD even with the most expensive scalers it isn't even funny.

- Jim

_____________________________________________

quote:

... I have a phillip 16:9 Flatscreen tv which is HDTV ready, now I have to buy the HDTV decoder to make it work.

Does this HDTV only affect broadcasting networks...



Correct.

Some decoders receive over the air digital channels only.
Others receive both analog (NTSC) & digital (8VSB) over the air channels.
Others receive analog & digital OTA, as well as Satellite channels.

All of them require some type of antenna(s), and AFAIK, none of them are used for connecting your DVD player to them.

Connect the DVD player directly to the TV's Component or S-video inputs.

*Bill, on a side note, unless you live in the boonies, why is it that you can't run over to blockbuster and rent a movie?
 
Joel thanks for the reply. I must have a complex but I love having a collection. Whenever I feel like watching a movie just pick it out and watch it. I mean they are so cheap nowadays 15-20 bucks. To rent costs like 5-9 bucks, doesn't pay for me. I am a movie fanatic and love watching most movies if they're good over and over. And by the way would you rent an NSX or buy one?
biggrin.gif
 
Bill,

If you are a movie fanatic, you MUST (MUST, MUST) see a demonstration of a front projection setup. You'll either thank me (I hope) or hate me, but either way my friend, you owe it to yourself. Look here to find the name of a local CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association) member/dealer.
 
Bill,

Where are you anyways? If you're in the L.A. area, e-mail me and I'll show you my theater.

BTW, my DVD rentals are only $1.50/day. It works for me to just rent it. If I really like it, then I'll buy it.
 
Michigan - I sent you a reply this morning to your e-mail; however, I got a "Delivery Status Notification (Failure)" error message. Perhaps your inbox is full. If you didn't get it, lemme know and I'll resend.
 
Joel I live in NY. There isn't enough knowledgable people that I know that would help me in thos department. Will look at the l.ink you gave me though. I am very interested in a front projector, I think it would really complete my set up. Thanks again guys.
 
In Bayside, suburb of New York City. WHile my setup is good with the tv I have now I just think it would be better if it was just bigger. I always stayed away from projection TVs (rear that is) because the picture quality was always a letdown. Plasma screens have a great picture quality but has lots of reliability problems. Don't want to spend big bucks on something that might be blown within a year. While the TV I have now is great (Phillips 16:9 34in) it is just too small a picture when the sound is so great. I am definitely interested in a front projector but what is the difference between a DCP and a DLP? Which brand or make do you guys recommend?
 
Originally posted by bill92nsx:
Plasma screens have a great picture quality but has lots of reliability problems.
What is the difference between a DCP and a DLP? Which brand or make do you guys recommend?
Click to expand...

Plasma screen have a TERRIBLE picture IMO. They don't look a lot best than most laptops. I would not ever get one until they improve the picture. I think a good HDTV rear projection has a MUCH nicer picture than ANY plasma screen I have ever seen.

As for DCP.. I don't know what that is, but DLP is wonderful technology. It produces true black, unlike most LCD projectors. You can get a nice one for 8-10K. I saw a sharp about a 8 months ago that was gorgeous.
 
Anyone ever tried running a home theater with the 3-4000 Multimedia projectors from infocus etc? I wonder how good they are.
 
Netviper,

I have the Cinema 12SF which is the exact same clone as the Infocus LS110. MSRP is $5k and I got it for less than that. It was made specifically for Home Theater unlike most projectors made by Infocus which is geared towards the business presentation field. Presenation projectors are adequate for home theaters but they are not as refined. If you are going this route, make sure the projector is marked "FCC: Class B" so it can double as a home theater pj.

The picture on the 12SF is absolutely amazing. It has most of the features that the Sharp Z9000 has for a lot less money.

The top five projectors in the market right now under the $5k mark are on the following link:

"Awesome Home Theater for under $5,000" http://www.projectorcentral.com/ht_apr02.htm


For research purposes, a side by side comparison/contrast between DLP (Digital Light Processing) vs. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) projection systems are on the following link:

"LCD vs. DLP: Which is Best?" http://www.projectorcentral.com/lcd_dlp.htm


Happy reading.


[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 19 September 2002).]

[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 19 September 2002).]
 
Originally posted by Joel:
Netviper,

I have the Cinema 12SF which is the exact same clone as the Infocus LS110. MSRP is $5k and I got it for less than that.
Click to expand...

Joel, How big of picture are you projecting?
 
Well, my screen is in the 16:9 aspect ratio (Same as what Bill has in his rear projection TV).

The size is 8 ft wide and 4 1/2 ft tall (96"x54"). The pj is situated 19 feet away on the opposite side of the wall. I sit about 12 feet from the screen and I get totally engrossed in it. I keep the zoom lens in the lowest setting and it fits the screen perfectly. With a simple twist of the lens to zoom out, I can easily fill the entire size of the wall (this would be great for 'drive-in' type movies in the backyard at night).

I can watch widescreen movies, anamorphic widescreen movies and regular 4:3 size television all on the same screen.

[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 19 September 2002).]
 
I am looking for a projector.
I have a room that is 14 feet by 12 feet.
It will be a dedicated home theater room - there will be no ambient light to deal with.

I am currently interested in the Epson TW-100. Someone in this thread mentioned AVSforum and guys there are talking about it alot. It got a real good review at Projector Central

I can get the TW-100 for $4,199 online at Projector People

I know it's not DLP, but for the price, can I get a better projector?
 
Originally posted by DONYMO:

I can get the TW-100 for $4,199 online...

I know it's not DLP, but for the price, can I get a better projector?
Click to expand...


You sure can! The Infocus LS110 has another clone (other than the 12SF which I have) made by Toshiba. It's called the "MT-5." Last I checked months ago, it was selling for around $3800 and it's a DLP!

A few things to add:

The Epson has an XGA resolution which is necessary if you go with the LCD route. Otherwise, you have to contend with a nuisance called a "screendoor effect" (it looks like you're looking at the picture through a screendoor) common with SVGA LCD's. In the XGA, the effect is minimized but it is still there.

With DLP's, you can get away with SVGA resolution because the screendoor effect does not exist. There is however a "rainbow effect" on DLP's which you might want to test if you are sensitive to. AVSforum has detailed information on this.

A few things you might want to consider:

1. The Epson has 700 lumens. While the reviewers think this is adequate (they seldom say anything negative about projectors because they have to sell them), I am telling you, from personal experience of seeing a 700 lumen pj, this is DARK. Minimum of 1000 lumens is best just to be in the safe side. Better too bright and have the option of toning it down than have a dark pj to begin with and can't do anything about it to brighten the pic.

2. How much regular TV do you watch? The reason I ask is that the Epson has a native 16:9 aspect ratio (HDTV). When watching HDTV or widescreen/anamorphic widescreen movies is fine and dandy, projecting a 4:3 image (standard NTSC Television) can be less than perfect because there will be motion artifacts. If you watch regular TV as much as HDTV/DVD's, your best bet is to go with the Toshiba MT-5 because it has BOTH 16:9 and 4:3 in NATIVE format. Just switch between the two depending on what you're watching (translation=no motion artifacts. Crisp, clean picture)

3. Screen. With a 700 lumen projector like Epson, you will need a high-gain screen to compensate for the dark picture. Remember to factor that in your purchase of this projector. With a 1000 lumen projector, you can project onto a wall and it would still be fine.

4. Do you have a Home-Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) or a standard DVD player? The reason I ask is that the Epson has only a DVI input for component video. If you don't know, component video surpasses both S-video and analog RGB in picture quality. To get this, you must hook up the Epson to an HTPC with DVI output. Or, get a different projector with component RCA outputs and hook up a progressive scan DVD player with cables. The difference between the 2:

a. HTPC ($1000+)
b. Progressive Scan DVD player ($200)

If you do decide to go with LCD projectors, know that you will have to contend with the down sides to which LCD owners can attest to: poor contrast, dust blobs and dead pixels. Dead pixels are the worst, because manufacturers will not replace a projector with "just" 2 or 3 dead pixels and you are forced to live with it because there is no way of fixing it short of replacing the entire LCD panel. There's nothing worse than watching a movie and seeing a permanent blue pixel dot on some actor's forehead. BTW, DLP's doesn't get dead pixels.

One last note, whether you go with either LCD or DLP, never buy a projector without a demo first. I cannot overstress this enough. You don't want a $5k investment go to something you can't get a refund on.

Hope this helps.
 
Originally posted by Joel:
... With a 1000 lumen projector, you can project onto a wall and it would still be fine.
Click to expand...

I would never consider projecting onto a wall for anything other than a temporary business presentation. Remember you don't watch a projector, you watch the image reflected off of the SCREEN! Does your wall have the right temperature of white, have a perfectly smooth and even surface, and have the proper reflectivity necessary for a high quality picture?

If you don't know, component video surpasses both S-video and analog RGB in picture quality...
Click to expand...

I hope you mean component is better than "composite" (which is different than analog RGB). Analog RGB is the best quality analog system available today (although it is almost always only used for the connection from an outboard video processor to a projector). Component is better than S-Video but only marginally so, certainly not as big as the jump (quality wise) as the move from composite to S-Video.

[This message has been edited by Michigan NSX (edited 20 September 2002).]
 
Joel,

I looked at the specs on the MT-5.
The resolution is much lower. 848x600 in 16:9 and 600x600 in 4:3. Won't this produce a picture that is inferior to the higher res Epson? I know I am showing some ignorance here...just trying to understand.

Have you seen demos of both units?

BTW, I watch Satellite TV (i.e. DirecTV) about 90% of the time. Regular satellite...not HDTV satellite.
 
Originally posted by DONYMO:
Joel,

I looked at the specs on the MT-5.
The resolution is much lower. 848x600 in 16:9 and 600x600 in 4:3. Won't this produce a picture that is inferior to the higher res Epson? I know I am showing some ignorance here...just trying to understand.

Have you seen demos of both units?

BTW, I watch Satellite TV (i.e. DirecTV) about 90% of the time. Regular satellite...not HDTV satellite.
Click to expand...


Not at all.
16:9 ratio is 848x480 and 3:4 ratio is in 800x600.
An actual DVD has only 848x480 MAXIMUM resolution (which is why the engineers made the pj with the same native resolution). It doesn't have more than that. So if you're watching a 16:9 DVD movie that has 848x480 resolution and a pj that displays that same exact resolution, then it's perfect. However, if you have the same DVD resolution being projected by a pj with higher resolution (like the Epson which is XGA), it has to make adjustment so that it will fit the pj's grid. How does it do this? Well, this subject has been discussed extensively in AVSforum and to put it in a nutshell, the projector has to "stretch" the image by "filling" in grey pixels in between the colored pixels. So, the picture you're seeing is actually produced by every other pixel. Kinda like this:

SVGA(Toshiba)pixels: rgbrgbrgbrgb
XGA (Epson) pixels: rGREYgGREYbGREYrGREYgGREYbGrey

This results in the motion artifacts that I mentioned earlier (which translates to little glitches you'll see here and there when you're watching a movie. Particularly during fast panning shots in the movie like a race car driving by).

Now this same concept applies to regular television pictures because, again, the maximum resolution that NTSC television can put out is 800x600 (As are the compressed signals coming from your satellite television).

Now the full benefit of XGA can be seen while watching HDTV. Then the full resolution of an XGA projector can be utilized. Now the SVGA is the one that needs to conform to the HDTV signal because it has to project a much higher resolution. However, don't fret because many reviewers (and many owners of the pj as well) who have seen HDTV in the Toshiba can say that the picture is absolutely gorgeous. See, even though it has 848x480 native resolution, it is more than capable of projecting an image that has higher resolution like the 1280i resolution of HDTVs. If you look at the specs on the Toshiba again, it will say that it is 1280i compatible.

Now let me tell you the reason why I bought an SVGA pj rather than XGA. It's simple really. HDTV signals are not the standard (as of yet) for television programming. I don't see this coming anytime soon (maybe years) because the majority of televisions in homes are still in the 800x600 resolution stage. The industry cannot expect every American to just drop their televisions and mandate them to buy HDTV compatible sets! And DVD's don't have high resolution bits incorporated in the disc. When these two happen, the price of projectors at that time would have gone down significantly in price while at the same time incorporating a better technology. Perfect time to upgrade. I don't have HDTV so it suits me best. But even if I do, I'd still stick with it for a while because of it's 1280i compatibility.


The choice is ultimately up to you. Obviously, both projectors have its + and -. But from your post above, I think the better choice is the Toshiba over the Epson at this time. Mind you, I still think the Epson is a good projector. But weighing the benefits of both projectors, the balance tips in favor of the Toshiba IMHO. I love my SVGA projector.
 
Joel,

Thanks for taking time to explain this...it is really helping me to understand.

So...what is the disadvantage to getting the MT-5? Is it that it cannot handle an HDTV signal? There must be some downside, as there always seems to be with any comparison.

Thanks,
Don
 
I just saw the Sharp projector I was recommending. It is a XV-Z9000U. It is incredible. If you are thinking of going with a front projector, check this one out. They wanted 10K for it, but I have found it online for as low as 7,500 so far. I am sure there are better deals out there.
 

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