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http://www.avsforum.com Upgrade from Davis DL-450?
Hi,
About 3 years ago I bought a used Davis DL-450 (actually the Kodak version, DP-850) as my first FP. About a year later I added a Panamorph to the system, always driving it with an HTPC (w/ various video cards, ATI Radeon currently) in pixel-perfect 1:1 mapping at 800x600.
What I love about the Davis is its incredibly smooth film-like image and almost complete absence of rainbows. What I don't like about it is (in order):
-- Pixel visibility. Not talking screendoor here, but actually being able to see pixels because the pj is only 800x600 -- I'm very sensitive to this and have to aggressively defocus (losing precious detail) in order not to see pixels at almost 2x width viewing distance from a small screen -- only about 76" diag. 16x9 (AND with an anamorphic lens in the system!). I'd love to go up to about 88" or more and not even think about seeing pixels (let alone screen door).
-- Black level. Sub-par, fails the "shadow test" miserably. Not sure if my screen is partly to blame for this. Gain is about 1.5.
-- Contrast ratio. The Davis is only rated at 230:1 and about 600 lumens. I'm sure mine is less than that with it being older and having >2000 hours on the bulb.
-- Color balance. Tends to swing towards magenta/purple, especially in lips and skin tones. I tried an FL-D filter some time ago, but it made the image too dim for my taste.
My question is for what I paid for the Davis (about $2k, hope it's OK to say that here), I see a number of projectors being discussed that, from their specs. and the discussion, sound like they are a step up from my current FP. The pixel visibility thing is by far the biggest headache for me right now. I love my setup and watch 5+ movies a week on it (always DVD), just wondering if ~$2k (+/- $500) will get me a significantly better unit that will fix the above problems, or whether I should be looking at spending more like $3K+ (which is an option, although cheaper is better). I'm a DLP fan, but not opposed to LCD (just have never seen one that I would buy). Thanks for any and all responses.
Cheers,
--Geoff
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Today 02:08 AM
rlsmith
AVS Special Member
Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Posts: 1006
None of the $2K projectors are going to addres the pixel visibility issue very effectively.
-- the Infocus X1 is also 800X600. It probably is better than the Davis in other respects, e.g., contrast, but it will have the same pixelization.
-- many of the LCD's are also low-rez. The Sony HS10 is WXGA so you might look at it, but it it probably going to have a screen door to you. LCD's have bigger inter-pixel gap that DLP as a rule.
I would suggest looking at the HD2 WXGA DLP's such as the Infocus 7200 (probably the cheapest at under $7K street). On a 16X9 image, it has about 3 times as many pixels as the Davis (less on a 4X3 image).
But right now, there is nothing in your price range that will make a substantial improvement on the pixelization front.
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Today 07:09 AM
vmixer
Member
Registered: Jun 1999
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 81
quote:
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But right now, there is nothing in your price range that will make a substantial improvement on the pixelization front.
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rlsmith,
I was afraid someone was going to say something like this . I have seen the HS10, under far from ideal conditions unfortunately, and it didn't get my blood pumping (neither did the 11HT it was being A/B'd with -- I'm knocking the setup, not the projectors). However, with the tweakability the HS10 seems to have (bias adjustments for each color panel, filter-friendly) combined with its high res., it might be worth a look in an environment where I can really put it through its paces. Bet I'll still want to defocus it though . Another bonus is that with an anamorphic lens I could get a constant height/variable width setup with the Sony and mask my screen to 2.35:1 once and for all (something I've been wanting to do for awhile, as I watch slightly > 50% of content in this AR). Thanks, I'll check it out.
How do people put up with being able to see pixels? Just defocus? For me, it totally takes me out of the experience. Surprised this isn't discussed more -- a limitation one learns to live with unless you're willing to spend (a lot) more $?
Cheers,
--Geoff
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