Well it's been 4 months,Can it be that there are no AVS forum member impressions on the Planar PD8130? Are all of the active members PD8150 level only?What about us in the working poor catagorie?:confused:

what do you want to no ?

He wants to yes not no.:)

I would really like to hear about the image color,sharpness,convergence,blacks,controls etc...You know impressions.:)

The machine like any other 1 chip projector has perfect, absolutely PURRRFECT, convergence, since there is nothing to converge! I think few here own this machine for a vaiety of reasons,none of which relate to the PQ of this machine or its moreexpensive brother.

I would really like to hear about the image color,sharpness,convergence,blacks,controls etc...You know impressions.:)

I have one on demo at the moment, I was going for the 8150 but in keeping this 8130 I can add a prismasonic anamorphic lens and only exceed my initial purchase estimation by a few hundred euro!

Colours are rich and vibrant also extremely accurate, the sharpness of the picture I am still trying to adjust to, it is very revealing of source material.
Some have mentioned a 3-dimensional quality of the picture while viewing some scenes, I can confirm this fact..very dynamic. I have not seen this in a projector since my old crt.
Black level is very good, not as good as a vpl vw200 but really only a shade less ( pun intended), I would put an ND filter on it as there is plenty of range to cope with this addition.
convergence is perfect ( dlp single chip), lens seems fine no CA, no light spill.
Control options are many and varied but other people have elaborated on this in regards to the 8150.
IR pickup is excellent, there is a sensor located on the top of the case as well as the front.
I thought that there were some films that I could see the DI working in, but when I hooked up my Sharp z10K I could still see the same artifacts and compression-like highlights, definitley source based.
I think I'll watch the films and not read the forums!.
IT is a quiet enough machine in eco mode, but in high lamp mode it can rival my sharp projector in its low lamp mode.
Throw is quite long but I have the room and it will suit the anamorphic lens.
Did I mention the sharp picture

Just adding
I demoed the 8130 to several friends last night, one of whom works professionally with Avid and Final Cut Pro, he never stopped with the expletives regarding the super quality of the colours and the dynamics while watching the demo.
The rest who I might add were also very informed people sufficed with just ohhs and ahhs.
in the end I am happy with my choice if you want an 8150 though go for it but I think the 8130 can hold its own with the best of them.

How were the out of box settings?

I cannot comment on the PD8130....but when I did my PD8150 review I found it was quite good out of the box.

How were the out of box settings?

When I gave my review of the PD 8130, that was with the out of the box settings!

I remember putting literally hundreds of hours of calibration into some of my older projectors before I could even enjoy a watching a movie instead of watching 'the projector'.
I am glad things have changed, the sharp Z10K was the first projector were I had its CMS and picture setups calibrated in just a few hours, I then watched movies with only minor corrections along its long operating life.
The PD 8130 which is IMHO on completely different level from the Sharp only seems to need some basic user tweaks after viewing for about 20 hours, so I'll let the projector settle down first and meanwhile enjoy my DVD collection again.

Oggythemoggy;Thank's for the review!How much flexability in placement does Planar provide? My room is 16.5' deep and I have to place the projector about 18" above the top of the screen.Also how large of screen do you have and does it have any gain?Thank's JB

Planar PD8150/PD8130 image size calculator

http://www.planarhometheater.com/projectors/PlanarImageSizeCalculator0308.xls

My current screen is a meler corsair 8ft wide 1.0 gain screen, I'll be changing it to a 10ft wide carada when I get my anamorphic lens

The PD 8130 which is IMHO on completely different level from the Sharp only seems to need some basic user tweaks after viewing for about 20 hours

I can second that. The last 8130 that I set up was so close to the target that I had to correct it only in the dimesion of maybe 1% in color temperature. I would not trust my sources and light meter that much to claim the pj was 1% off (instead of my set up). :)

There may be some sample to sample variation (so it's always a good idea to check) however, Planar is really doing a great job setting the 8130/8150 up correctly as people interested in videophile perfomance would hope.

When I gave my review of the PD 8130, that was with the out of the box settings!

I remember putting literally hundreds of hours of calibration into some of my older projectors before I could even enjoy a watching a movie instead of watching 'the projector'.
I am glad things have changed, the sharp Z10K was the first projector were I had its CMS and picture setups calibrated in just a few hours, I then watched movies with only minor corrections along its long operating life.
The PD 8130 which is IMHO on completely different level from the Sharp only seems to need some basic user tweaks after viewing for about 20 hours, so I'll let the projector settle down first and meanwhile enjoy my DVD collection again.

Hi Oggy,

I have a Sharp Z10K and regretted not getting the Z20K late last year when I could have bought it for £1499.

I would like your opinions of the PD 8130, Z10K and Z20K (if you have seen one) compared to each other. My only other experience is looking at a Panny 1000 when I bought my Sharp and recently a brief demo of an IN83. I would have to travel a very long way to get any decent demoes. (Cornwall to ?)

I need the lens offset of the Sharp to meet my requirements.

thanks,

Graham

Hi Oggy,

I have a Sharp Z10K and regretted not getting the Z20K late last year when I could have bought it for £1499.

I would like your opinions of the PD 8130, Z10K and Z20K (if you have seen one) compared to each other. My only other experience is looking at a Panny 1000 when I bought my Sharp and recently a brief demo of an IN83. I would have to travel a very long way to get any decent demoes. (Cornwall to ?)

I need the lens offset of the Sharp to meet my requirements.

thanks,

Graham


Hi Graham,

I have seen the Z20K, its an excellent machine a friend of mine has one in a basement cinema setup which I see pretty regularly. I myself found it too expensive to buy originally and when the price dropped the few machines that were around sold like hot cakes and became unobtainable.
However as a Sharp DLP owner you can become quite picky about the type of picture you like seeing in a projector, even in 1080p machines.
I have seen most of the 1080p machines in the top ten sellers list including those you have mentioned, I do not want to really say why I did not like these machines in fact they were all very good, but I found this was a personal taste search and in in this the Planar was the one that ticked all the boxes for me at price I could afford.

Oggy,

thanks for the reply,

Graham