scaeasare
The hs511 is seriously overrated in light output. Can someone comment on real numbers for hs51a. I will guess at 350 ANSI lumen or less in high lamp mode.

I have not verified that, but i will tonight, as I need to move the image over like 2 inches on my screen!


Anyone know if horizontal lens shift with the Pearl or Ruby, causes image distortion? Or degrade the picture in anyway?

It shouldn't since it's a physical move instead of an electronic one, which can cause errors.

scaeasare
The hs511 is seriously overrated in light output. Can someone comment on real numbers for hs51a. I will guess at 350 ANSI lumen or less in high lamp mode.

iirc, according to the late CKL at AVBUZZ...it was 330 Lumens(D65K) on high lamp mode

SWOK,

This is a valuable insight you are providing for prospective Pearl purchaser....thanks!

I too would like to hear more on the Pearls scaling and 1080i to 1080p deinterlacing capabilities, when compared to your Lumagen.

Also can the Pearls lens take filters if required. For my screen size and gain, I will have approx 40/60 ftLamberts Low/High lamp mode from my viewing position, thus a CCxxR/81B filter combination or a ND filter may be have to be called upon to tame the output!

Thanks! :)

How does the brightness of the Pearl compare to the Ruby in real world viewing?

If I recall, some of the "downsides" to the Ruby icluded the lack of brightness and expensive Xenon bulb replacements. I understand the Pearl has a 200w UHP lamp.

Pearl appears brighter in my opinion. I have both in my home right now.

How many hours on your Ruby???

I just had a new Ruby here to calibrate and to pass on to a new client and that too was brighter than my ~160 hour Ruby in my demo room.

New lamp vs. old lamp usually wins:D

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to see a VPL-VW50 Pearl ASAP so I can make some fast decisions.

Is there ANYONE within about 100 miles or so of Central PA that has one of these that I can go check out as soon as possible?

I'll throw in discounted calibration and free travel costs on it if you do:)!!!

Please PM me w/ any info.

Thanks!!!

Thanks for the info, then I may have to flip it upside down on top of the shelf.

Hope to hear your picture comparison once you have it up n running.


It does, but ony in the UP direction, It is not like the HS51 at all!

The HS51 can go one full length screen DOWN, and UP
Plus has the ability to do horizontal up to 65% screen length Left and Right.

The Pearl has about 2% Horizontal left and right

The Pearl has No downward lens shift, and only 65% UP

I had my HS51A tweaked/Calibrated more, and i have not had to much time with the Pearl yet. Was busy working on the mount, that I wish I didn't have to make.

sowk,

how long is your hdmi cable from the pj to your source?


15' to Lumagen

Then 25' to the Toshiba HD-A1

SOWK,

So from your comments, are you saying that the VP in the Peal is eqaul to your stand alone VP? That is a big statement considering many are leaning towards the Mits because of its internal scaler.

Also, does the projector give a good 3D look? I'm still waiting for my PJ from a local guy here. Probably won't get it until next month.:(


Very good 3D look! Even more so then my HS51a, witch was good by itself.

Its almost as good as the Lumagen, not quite, but oh so close.

I recall reading that the Ruby could be adjusted to eliminate overscan when fed from HDMI. Is that the case with Pearl too?

I HATE overscan, especially after living with losing almost 20% of the picture all the time on my HS10 (which I otherwise love).

Also wondering if overscan can be reduced/eliminated via component, although I figure the answer to that is no.

Cheers,
-Chris

How many hours on your Ruby???

I just had a new Ruby here to calibrate and to pass on to a new client and that too was brighter than my ~160 hour Ruby in my demo room.

New lamp vs. old lamp usually wins:D

200 on the Ruby compared to 50 on the Pearl, but I do not remember the Ruby looking as bright at first.

200 on the Ruby compared to 50 on the Pearl, but I do not remember the Ruby looking as bright at first.

Well, at this rate, it looks like you will be able to do an apples to apples comparison in just a few days :)

If UHP degrades more slowly than Xenon, then it could be a week or so. :)

Best Regards,
Doug

SOWK or Andrew P

when you get a chance it would be good to know if the Pearl allows 1 pixel granular MC adjustment like the one found in the new SXRD RPTV.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...785#post8391785


One more setting I changed on my coworker's set that's definitely a setting specific to his set (though others that want to adjust this on theirs will now know where to be playing in the SM ;)):

PANEL
1 TG
26 VSFT_R 2 (default 1)The above offsets the red panel by 1 pixel vertically relative to the green and blue ones to improve convergence. There are settings here for all three panels, both horizontally and vertically (i.e., there are 6 settings total in the TG menu for this, plus other settings whose purpose I don't remember offhand ;))
I ordered a 70" XBR2 for myself today (9/8) which I expect will probably have a similar (but likely even more extensive) service menu to the A2000. With any luck once I have this set in my hands and calibrated I will figure out more tweaks that are applicable down the line to the A2000's as well. :D[/LIST]

HoustonHoyaFan
That is huge if MC adjustments is available on sxrd.

SOWK or Andrew P

when you get a chance it would be good to know if the Pearl allows 1 pixel granular MC adjustment like the one found in the new SXRD RPTV.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...785#post8391785

I did not read the entire thread. What is the service menu code?

SOWK or Andrew P

when you get a chance it would be good to know if the Pearl allows 1 pixel granular MC adjustment like the one found in the new SXRD RPTV.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...785#post8391785


Nope! There is very little under the service menu, way less then the HS51

I did not read the entire thread. What is the service menu code?


Enter, Enter, Left, Enter

I was think about painting the Pearl Black! What do you think guys! :D

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8093/dsc01710bd9.jpg

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/5473/dsc01705pt2.jpg

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/893/dsc01715am6.jpg

The Finished Theater Room! wohoo!

Now time for major testng!

Congrad. on such a nice setup !!!

Can't wait to hear your detail report.

SOWK,

Is there any danger of bumping your head on the Pearl when you stand up? I'm asking because if I end up buying the Pearl, I might end up with a similar set-up with the Pearl mounted over one of the chairs. Also, how many feet above your head is the Pearl when you are seated, and how far over the back of the chair does the Pearl extend?

HoustonHoyaFan
That is huge if MC adjustments is available on sxrd.

Perhaps this will be a feature on the Diamond?

I did not read the entire thread. What is the service menu code?
Sony service menu code used to be [enter enter up down enter] IIRC.

Perhaps this will be a feature on the Diamond?

I don't think they can do Diamond as that is a Mits trademark.

I don't think they can do Diamond as that is a Mits trademark.

I believe it's an in-house name, like Ruby and Pearl, not a brandname that they will market to the public.

Read here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=725348

I am considering buying the Pearl to work with my HTPC as a main input source.

I am planning a pure digital route so VGA connector is not of my interest. The holy grail is to avoid any extra processing within the projector itself. Is this scenario possible with the Pearl? It has HDMI 1.2 connector which should work fine with PC resolutions. Can you guys confirm?

1. Will it do 1:1 pixel mapping (no underscan, overscan, no halo effect) with 1920x1080p at 24/50/60 Hz.
2. Are there any settings which control PC setup? Can you change the colorspace on HDMI from video levels (16-235) to PC levels (0-255)?
3. How about lower resolutions feed, i.e 1280x720p? Are they perfect as well? How would you rate Pearl's scaling?
4. Can you go higher refresh freq. than 60Hz with 1280x720?

I will be greatful for your feedback.

Kobe, to your #1
Last night I tried out my pearl for the first time using my computer (DVI--->HDMI) and while I didn't check 24/50/60hz or have optimal conditions, it seemed to me to be pixel perfect 1920x1080 thru my Radeon x1900 xtx. HD trailers and gaming (half-life 2) looked damn good.

Can't wait to get this thing set up proper.

can you turn overscan off over VGA so I could get the whole picture from my 360?

SOWK,

Is there any danger of bumping your head on the Pearl when you stand up? I'm asking because if I end up buying the Pearl, I might end up with a similar set-up with the Pearl mounted over one of the chairs. Also, how many feet above your head is the Pearl when you are seated, and how far over the back of the chair does the Pearl extend?



No chance of hitting your head.

About 2 1/2 feet above your head.

And 1 1/2 feet over the back

Anyone going to ISF this unit, so i can steal your color and gamma settings? :)

I believe it's an in-house name, like Ruby and Pearl, not a brandname that they will market to the public.

Read here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=725348

In that case, you are correct.

Anyone going to ISF this unit, so i can steal your color and gamma settings? :)

I'd recommend having your device individually calibrated. Unit to unit differences and placement differences can make subtle, but very visible changes to the colors. Think of it this way: it's less than 10% of the total cost of the device.

SOWK:
Any chance we could get the DIY mount parts list and instructions today? :D

Kobe, to your #1
Last night I tried out my pearl for the first time using my computer (DVI--->HDMI) and while I didn't check 24/50/60hz or have optimal conditions, it seemed to me to be pixel perfect 1920x1080 thru my Radeon x1900 xtx. HD trailers and gaming (half-life 2) looked damn good.

Can't wait to get this thing set up proper.

JustBKaz,
many thanks for the feedback. What was the output refresh rate from your Radeon? How about image sharpness in desktop and ingame action? Are you going to play some more with your PC setup later on? If so, please give more details. So far, so good.

Anyone else has some more info of the HDMI PC hookup?

Kobe, as for your #3, I'd suggest that you do the upscale to 1080p from your HTPC using ffdshow ;)
should be more efficient (my guess) than letting the Pearl work the upscaling but I can be wrong as I don't know what the Pearl is capable of.

Got my Pearl today, and did a quick setup (no calibration). Ran "Perfect Storm" from the Toshiba HD-DVD player, and it was truly stunning. Even the wife and kids noticed the huge difference from the JVC G15U that they thought was "just fine" ("Why are you getting a new projector??").

I'm using my old Greyhawk screen (120" diagonal, .92 gain) and the picture is plenty bright at this point at "medium" zoom (i.e. in-between min and max for my screen at about 16'). I am getting ST130 material later on (to handle the inevitable decrease in brightness), but for now I am very, very impressed.

Marc

Congrads Mblank! Sounds like my .95 screen would work great @92".

Does anyone know if overscan can be turned off over VGA?

Got my Pearl today, and did a quick setup (no calibration). Ran "Perfect Storm" from the Toshiba HD-DVD player, and it was truly stunning. Even the wife and kids noticed the huge difference from the JVC G15U that they thought was "just fine" ("Why are you getting a new projector??").

I'm using my old Greyhawk screen (120" diagonal, .92 gain) and the picture is plenty bright at this point at "medium" zoom (i.e. in-between min and max for my screen at about 16'). I am getting ST130 material later on (to handle the inevitable decrease in brightness), but for now I am very, very impressed.

Marc

This is very encouraging, Marc. I'm looking into the Pearl as we speak, and have a 106" diagonal Grayhawk as well. My current projector sits about 13 feet back, as will the new one. I love this screen, and although it is 5 years old, it is in perfect condition (the tab tensioning really works). I was thinking I'd try it out with the Pearl, rather than sending the whole motorized screen setup back to Stewart for a refit to another material. Sounds like it might be just fine with the Pearl, at least with a strong bulb.

Congratulations, and enjoy your new PJ.

I think it would be fine at 96", but it's all subjective.

I only use the projector for movies, so I don't get a ton of use on it (a few hundred hours each year). But even buying a new bulb every year would be fine with me - I'd still consider the Pearl a bargain.

Marc

p.s. I used to be a fanatic about this stuff (hours and hours on calibrations, fretting about every detail, up all night with Dilard, etc. :eek: ), but I'm much more laid back at this point. The image looks terrific, and the price is great. I'll spend some time doing the basics, but I'm not going to agonize about whether some other projector might be better in some way, etc. My intention is to spend more time enjoying films, and less time fussing over the equipment. :)

This is very encouraging, Marc. I'm looking into the Pearl as we speak, and have a 106" diagonal Grayhawk as well. My current projector sits about 13 feet back, as will the new one. I love this screen, and although it is 5 years old, it is in perfect condition (the tab tensioning really works). I was thinking I'd try it out with the Pearl, rather than sending the whole motorized screen setup back to Stewart for a refit to another material. Sounds like it might be just fine with the Pearl, at least with a strong bulb.

Congratulations, and enjoy your new PJ.

My Greyhawk is in perfect condition too, but the cost of new material is very reasonable so I'm going to go for it. So see how it looks on the Greyhawk, and go for the small marginal cost if you think brightness could be better.

And may I add, while I have the floor, that it's always been a real pleasure working with Jason and AV Science, and that I couldn't recommend them more highly.

Marc

Thanks for the follow up, Marc. I just took some measurements and my current projector lens is 1.7 screen widths away (to the inch, actually), which is fortunate because I have no flexibility for projector placement in the room. Maybe a ST130 is in my future too, but I'll start with this one.

P.S. I'll second you on your last comment, Marc. I bought this Stewart screen through him about 5 years ago, and they way they (Jason and Stewart) both interacted and the quality of this screen really spoke well of Jason, AVS and Stewart. I know there are other good screen makers out there, but I'm now a Stewart loyalist. I've got an e-mail in to Jason to hook me up with a Pearl, but I know he's busy, so I'd expect it to be a while before I hear back. Anyone know what happened to the thread (it was here a few days ago) where you could order/inquire on the Pearl from AVS?



I think it would be fine at 96", but it's all subjective.

I only use the projector for movies, so I don't get a ton of use on it (a few hundred hours each year). But even buying a new bulb every year would be fine with me - I'd still consider the Pearl a bargain.

Marc

p.s. I used to be a fanatic about this stuff (hours and hours on calibrations, fretting about every detail, up all night with Dilard, etc. :eek: ), but I'm much more laid back at this point. The image looks terrific, and the price is great. I'll spend some time doing the basics, but I'm not going to agonize about whether some other projector might be better in some way, etc. My intention is to spend more time enjoying films, and less time fussing over the equipment. :)

For the AVS members that wanted the parts list for my projector mount.

(1) One Large Shelf - (20" depth / 36" Wide)
(1) Piece of plain White paper to Mark the Counting holes
(3) Three #10 x 32 thread 3" length
(6) #10 Nuts
(6) #10 washers

p.s. I used to be a fanatic about this stuff (hours and hours on calibrations, fretting about every detail, up all night with Dilard, etc. :eek: ), but I'm much more laid back at this point. The image looks terrific, and the price is great. I'll spend some time doing the basics, but I'm not going to agonize about whether some other projector might be better in some way, etc. My intention is to spend more time enjoying films, and less time fussing over the equipment. :)

Good for you. I used to be the same way and now I have learned to enjoy my gear as well. What a difference. I think me having a daughter that is just over 2 has changed me and this has allowed me to enjoy things for what they are instead of always trying to change things. :) :) :)

JustBKaz,
many thanks for the feedback. What was the output refresh rate from your Radeon? How about image sharpness in desktop and ingame action? Are you going to play some more with your PC setup later on? If so, please give more details. So far, so good.

Anyone else has some more info of the HDMI PC hookup?

Kobe, I may have spoke too soon. I just setup the Pearl in a different environment and noticed that there is some underscan going on. I haven't had a chance to play around with this too much. I'm out of town and had the pearl shipped to my parent's while I visit, so I've just been shooting it onto bare walls so far (even this looks fabulous, though).

As for gaming, I played some more HL2 and FEAR and it looks every bit as good as it does on my HP 2336 23" widescreen LCD (actually better 'cause it's B I G ). The card automatically recognized the projector as VPL-VW50 and set the refresh at 60hz. The input info on the pearl shows 1080/60p. Desktop text is sharp and legible, though not quite as sharp as a regular computer monitor (probably due to size of picture and less than perfect conditions).

The two bad things I've noticed so far (with no real calibrating yet) is red convergence pushed to the right on text and video tearing when watching HD movie trailers. I hope I can correct this or at least minimize it.

Make no mistake though, this pj is incredible. Everyone who has seen it in action just stares speechless, then lets out a "woooowwwww...."

Anyone else has some more info of the HDMI PC hookup?

I watched a couple of hours of HD ts files from my HTPC outputting to the Pearl (DVI->HDMI) with good results. The nVidia card was set to output 1080p60. Tried 1080p24 but had some weird stutter during zooms in the program which looked a lot like the HTPC was having some trouble. Just downloaded the latest drivers from nVidia and will give those a try tomorrow.

JustBKaz,
again many thanks for your comments - I am closer to pull the triger on the Pearl.
Really nice to hear your video card recognises the VPL-VW50. It confirms HDMI 1.2 works well with PC's. (anyway - I've been wondering if it's HDMI 1.2 actually or the Sony's job and care put to this issue).
Given the above one can suspect that the underscan you mentioned about is tweakable. (within the video card's settings or the Pearl).

As for gaming - I think when you were playing HL2 or FEAR your video card most probably switched to some lower resolution unless you have a very powerful PC to run 1920x1080. That's why I asked about Pearl's scaling. It is an important factor then. Again - it must be very good because you didn't see any artifacts or image degradation.

As for the tearing distortions - I think it's a different issue. It might be the PC being too slow or some Vsync issue. Do you notice this when watching the same material from the same PC on your LCD monitor?

SOWK,
do you have any experiences with PC hookup so far?

Anyway, I am already boiling to get the Pearl in my room. Hopefuly it will be soon available here in Europe.

I do, but only with my laptop, witch is now 2 years old. I couldn't get it to output proper1080P 60


I have a Radeon 9600 pro in the laptop, and is 128meg, so it should have had the hourse power to do it, I'm just not sure why it was giving me a hard time.


-SOWK

I watched a couple of hours of HD ts files from my HTPC outputting to the Pearl (DVI->HDMI) with good results. The nVidia card was set to output 1080p60. Tried 1080p24 but had some weird stutter during zooms in the program which looked a lot like the HTPC was having some trouble. Just downloaded the latest drivers from nVidia and will give those a try tomorrow.

interesting, maybe you should try at 48hz from your htpc.
but .ts files are 1080i60 so you need to do the ivtc to get the 23,976fps (with dscaler or nvidia decoder for example) so you can send some 24/48hz to your pearl ;)

Had a couple questions for you

1) Are you in apartment, or does the room just look very small. If so, w hat are the dimensions?

2) Have you seen the 46inch XBR2 set? I recently just picked that up, and am now debating if I should return it for the Pearl. I have a room with alot of ambient light, that is not 100% controllable (den on second level with blackout curtains)

Thanks.

iirc, according to the late CKL at AVBUZZ...it was 330 Lumens(D65K) on high lamp mode

Almost one quarter it's rated output? Wow, I guess Sony got religion when they rated the Ruby and Pearl. Much closer to reality.

For the AVS members that wanted the parts list for my projector mount.

(1) One Large Shelf - (20" depth / 36" Wide)
(1) Piece of plain White paper to Mark the Counting holes
(3) Three #10 x 32 thread 3" length
(6) #10 Nuts
(6) #10 washers

Thank you very much! I will be making a mount very similar to yours and I really have to compliment you on how your's turned out...Looks great!

Is it possible for someone to take a picture of this light spill around the edges of the screen. I have never seen this and am wondering how big of an issue is this?

Had a couple questions for you

1) Are you in apartment, or does the room just look very small. If so, w hat are the dimensions?

2) Have you seen the 46inch XBR2 set? I recently just picked that up, and am now debating if I should return it for the Pearl. I have a room with alot of ambient light, that is not 100% controllable (den on second level with blackout curtains)

Thanks.


Keep the XBR2 you may be disapointed when you want to watch in the light, and you won't have to worry about bulbs.


My Apt Theater Room is 18' by 14'

As for gaming - I think when you were playing HL2 or FEAR your video card most probably switched to some lower resolution unless you have a very powerful PC to run 1920x1080. That's why I asked about Pearl's scaling. It is an important factor then. Again - it must be very good because you didn't see any artifacts or image degradation.

As for the tearing distortions - I think it's a different issue. It might be the PC being too slow or some Vsync issue. Do you notice this when watching the same material from the same PC on your LCD monitor?

.

I do have a very powerful PC so no scaling was involved. FEAR doesn't have a widescreen setting, but was at its highest rez and looked great. HL2 was running at full 1920x1080 and looked stellar (no Vsync, will try it on next time). As for the tearing, I think that's something inherent in all LCD type monitors, I guess the large size just brings it out more? This coming week I'll be able to do some serious testing and tweaking on a proper setup.

FWIW, I doubt the Pearl is a good choice unless the room is light-controlled or the screen is quite small.

Marc

FWIW, I doubt the Pearl is a good choice unless the room is light-controlled or the screen is quite small.

Marc

The Pearl is fine with ambient light on my 96" Firehawk. Bigger screens maybe your point is valid, under 100" I think you are wrong.

FWIW, I doubt the Pearl is a good choice unless the room is light-controlled or the screen is quite small.Marc

Is this true even if one uses a Dalite HighPower screen? E.g., with 700 lumens, a 120"diag HP would yield 46 ftL; with 400 luemns, this goes down to 26 ftL. Isn't this enough, even with a 'slightly imperfect' room? [I remember a thread some months ago with many people singing the praises of the HP screen with their Ruby.] I realize that one gives up some width in viewing angle with an HP, but if this isn't a problem in one's room (i.e., it's longer than wide), what is the downside to this?

Has anyone a pdf of the Pearl manual yet?

Have looked here;
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=VPLVW50&LOC=3
and nothing so far. Will keep checking it out.

Regards,

Ian Guinan

Is this true even if one uses a Dalite HighPower screen? E.g., with 700 lumens, a 120"diag HP would yield 46 ftL; with 400 luemns, this goes down to 26 ftL. Isn't this enough, even with a 'slightly imperfect' room? [I remember a thread some months ago with many people singing the praises of the HP screen with their Ruby.] I realize that one gives up some width in viewing angle with an HP, but if this isn't a problem in one's room (i.e., it's longer than wide), what is the downside to this?

I guess I should retract my statement about light-controlled rooms and the Pearl; there are too many variables (including, as you say, screen material).

Marc

Is there something specific from the manual you are interested in?

Marc

I am awaiting deliver of my unit which is scheduled for 10/6. I was not in a hurry and received very good pricing from Tweeter. Since no manual is available online for download, would any of you with the manual be kind enough to scan yours and post it?

Is there something specific from the manual you are interested in?

Marc

Hi Marc,

I've looked over the thread extensively, thought there were reports on "throw" distances and screen size. I have a 15 ft by 13.5 ft room and would like to place the projector in the next room (crawl space) in order to have easy access, cooling and no light spill. If you have a table in the manual, that would be a real help to those of us trying to determine whether the Pearl will work in our rooms. Thanks!

Dave

Hi Marc,

I've looked over the thread extensively, thought there were reports on "throw" distances and screen size. I have a 15 ft by 13.5 ft room and would like to place the projector in the next room (crawl space) in order to have easy access, cooling and no light spill. If you have a table in the manual, that would be a real help to those of us trying to determine whether the Pearl will work in our rooms. Thanks!

Dave

The throw is identical to the Ruby. Go to http://www.projectorcentral.com/Sony-VPL-VW100-projection-calculator-pro.htm and use the Ruby (VP-100) calculator.

The range of throw distance, where SS is diagonal screen size, is within a few inches of...

For a 16:9 screen, 1.23*SS to 2.1*SS

For a 4:3 screen, 1.5*SS to 2.57*SS

So, if SS = 100" (i.e. 100" diagonal), 16:9, range is from 123" to 210"

If you're really within a few inches of the min or max, you should be very careful and see use the exact formula.

Marc

Is it possible for someone to take a picture of this light spill around the edges of the screen. I have never seen this and am wondering how big of an issue is this?

Shooting on my temp screen while awaiting my Hi Power, I've not noticed any spill. Not to say there's none, but it's not terribly significant on my unit.

I've noticed that the the auto pattern that comes up on my Pear when focusing the lens or adjusting the lens shift is green. This makes using thoe internal patterns to judge misconvergence or chromatic aberation useless.

I assume the green is by design. Any wy to change this?

Or has anybody discovered any other internal patterns (therefore eliminating source and scaling issues) that are useful for judging the above?

Hello All,

Since this subject of ambient light popped up again, is everyone watching this thing in total darkness, or are you allowing perhaps partial daylight to shine in during viewing?

And how many are using this is a primary display? My question is asked as I am wondering how it would fair in that regard. The ability to have a smaller unit to take with me as I move is becoming much more attractive for setup, and gaming.

This would be replacing my 46inch XBR2 that I just bought and would return. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The throw is identical to the Ruby. Go to http://www.projectorcentral.com/Sony-VPL-VW100-projection-calculator-pro.htm and use the Ruby (VP-100) calculator.

The range of throw distance, where SS is diagonal screen size, is within a few inches of...

For a 16:9 screen, 1.23*SS to 2.1*SS

For a 4:3 screen, 1.5*SS to 2.57*SS

So, if SS = 100" (i.e. 100" diagonal), 16:9, range is from 123" to 210"

If you're really within a few inches of the min or max, you should be very careful and see use the exact formula.

Marc

Thanks CPCAT & Marc:

I had played with the Projector Central Calculator, but wasn't sure if the Pearl was the same as the Ruby. I'm at the very edge of the Envelope with a 92" diagonal screen size, so may have to go to a HP or Carada BW in order to have enough FL. The projection calculator also uses 800 ANSI Lumens vs 700 Lumens IIRC for the Pearl and there doesn't appear to be a way to reduce the lamp output on the calculator or to factor in the loss in output over time. Thanks again, it may require some re-thinking on my part regarding placement.

Dave

Sommer3: I would forget the PJC calculator so far as ftL are concerned; just use the best value you have for the lumen output of the pj (usually from reports here in the Forum), and do the ftL calculation yourself. The PJC calculator is very useful, though, for throw distance for your chosen screen size.

Sommer3: I would forget the PJC calculator so far as ftL are concerned; just use the best value you have for the lumen output of the pj (usually from reports here in the Forum), and do the ftL calculation yourself. The PJC calculator is very useful, though, for throw distance for your chosen screen size.

Agreed about the calculator; it's a good visualization of the max and min placement of the projector, but I found the brightness information misleading at best.

Marc

Sorry if this was answered already but will the Pearl accept 1080p over component?

Does the Pearl allow you to shift the image DOWN 65% or more?
When the Pearl is right-side-up, I am able to shift the image down by 25%, or up by 70%, according to my measurements.

65% from center, per Sony.

The Pearl is fine with ambient light on my 96" Firehawk. Bigger screens maybe your point is valid, under 100" I think you are wrong.

On bright scenes like sport show is fine but when watching movies you still have to sacrifice a lot of black levels.

Im considering the Pearl but wanted to get opinions on how live sporting events look? I would be using an off-air antenna fed through a directv tuner. Sports would be my main viewing interest. Is a front projector in general the right move for this???

How does the Pearl do with 720p sources?

Im considering the Pearl but wanted to get opinions on how live sporting events look? I would be using an off-air antenna fed through a directv tuner. Sports would be my main viewing interest. Is a front projector in general the right move for this???

I'm assuming you want lights on in the room *and* maximum punch. So,
I say, no. Get a large rear projection or flat panel display.

or rear projection with Pearl

I have can lights that are zone controlled and on a dimmer. Some lighting would be on in the room but i wouldnt have to necessarily have lights on between the projector and screen.

I have can lights that are zone controlled and on a dimmer. Some lighting would be on in the room but i wouldnt have to necessarily have lights on between the projector and screen.

You can do it, but I wouldn't recommend it for film viewing. Even in a dim room, with indirect lighting, I find a rear projector, or direct view, TV to be nicer. For sports, maybe it doesn't matter?

Sorry if this was answered already but will the Pearl accept 1080p over component?

It's not spec-ed to be able to, and I don't know of a 1080p via component source that I could use to test.

65% from center, per Sony.
Sony does indeed mention that it can shift UP by 65%, but Sony does not mention that it can shift DOWN (with the Pearl being right side up, as opposed to being upside down).

When I measured it myself, I found that it can shift DOWN by 25%. I also found that it can shift UP by 70%, which is slightly higher than Sony's claim. Perhaps my measurements are slightly off, but anyway, the point is that it can shift down to some extent.

Sony does indeed mention that it can shift UP by 65%, but Sony does not mention that it can shift DOWN (with the Pearl being right side up, as opposed to being upside down).

When I measured it myself, I found that it can shift DOWN by 25%. I also found that it can shift UP by 70%, which is slightly higher than Sony's claim. Perhaps my measurements are slightly off, but anyway, the point is that it can shift down to some extent.

Thanks much, Erik; this is extemely useful info.

Im considering the Pearl but wanted to get opinions on how live sporting events look? I would be using an off-air antenna fed through a directv tuner. Sports would be my main viewing interest. Is a front projector in general the right move for this???

I have no direct experience with the Pearl, but taking your question in the context of using FP in general, I'd say it's definitely possible to have a setup which provides a very pleasing image for sports. If you want a true "big screen" image, it's really the only way.

I have a Panny AE900 which is rated at 1100 lumens (likely overestimated) at 19 ft. throw with the addition of an 81EF filter (decreases lumen output further but lowers black level) which I use with a 110 inch diag. HP screen (retroreflective with max gain of 2.8). The image for sports is very pleasing even with a 40 watt lamp on in the room and black levels are subjectively comparable to my NEC plasma. Turn the lights off and blacks drop to sub-plasma levels for a very pleasing cinema experience as well.

From the specs, the Pearl should provide comparable light output to the AE900 but with higher contrast/lower blacks even without an external filter.

Whether the lumen output drops off more with the Pearl at long throw distances relative to other pj's seems to be somewhat up for debate. It would seem that since this is dependent primarily upon the telephoto characteristic of the lens then it should be similar if both pj's have similar throw ranges. Maybe someone else can comment on this.

Caveat: when using a retroreflective screen like the HP, you must project at an angle as close to the viewing angle as possible to get the most from screen gain.
Also, as usually is the case, there is no free lunch. More screen gain means a narrower viewing cone for max gain.

When I measured it myself, I found that it can shift DOWN by 25%. I also found that it can shift UP by 70%, which is slightly higher than Sony's claim. Perhaps my measurements are slightly off, but anyway, the point is that it can shift down to some extent.

Let me see if I have read this correctly. You mean you were able to place three quarters of the picture below the lens plane?

Sony does indeed mention that it can shift UP by 65%, but Sony does not mention that it can shift DOWN (with the Pearl being right side up, as opposed to being upside down).

When I measured it myself, I found that it can shift DOWN by 25%. I also found that it can shift UP by 70%, which is slightly higher than Sony's claim. Perhaps my measurements are slightly off, but anyway, the point is that it can shift down to some extent.

Okay, now I'm really confused. Is the shift measured from the middle of the lens or from the middle of the projected image. In other words, in the right side up position, with a shelf mount at say 8 feet, can the image be shifted down 25% of 8 feet or 2 feet? In other, other words, with the shelf mount lens at 8 feet can the top of the screen be at 6 feet.

Thanks for the input NATHAN and CPCAT. I was looking to spend 4k-5k and it is just so tempting to jump to a FP with the huge screen size increase that it would bring. I just dont want to sacrifice picture quality going from a RPTV to a Projector. The Pearl definately falls in my range and so far seems to get great reviews from users.

Okay, now I'm really confused. Is the shift measured from the middle of the lens or from the middle of the projected image. In other words, in the right side up position, with a shelf mount at say 8 feet, can the image be shifted down 25% of 8 feet or 2 feet? In other, other words, with the shelf mount lens at 8 feet can the top of the screen be at 6 feet.

I think the 25% corresponds to that fraction of the image height. Thus with a 100"diag screen, for example, the height of the screen is 49". So you can shift the image down by .25x49" = ~12".

Apologies if this has already been answered, but I can't find it in this thread or easily via search.

According to everything I have seen/read, the required throw for a Pearl/Ruby for a 110" screen is roughly between 11' and 19'. Assuming that I am looking for the optimal placement of the projector, which end of the spectrum is ideal to maxmize brightness without sacrificing anything else?

My room will be 12' x 25' and I can place the projector anywhere (ceiling mount) within the above range. First row viewing position is still not firm, but the plan is for 11' to 12' and second row would be around 17' to 18'. Room is completely light controlled.

It seems like the screen will need to have a gain around 1.5.

What throw distance is ideal? Did I provide enough about my room?

Thanks in advance.

Closest will be brightest.

Marc

I think the 25% corresponds to that fraction of the image height. Thus with a 100"diag screen, for example, the height of the screen is 49". So you can shift the image down by .25x49" = ~12".


Here's the calc for 16:9 measured from base mount position i.e. self, ceiling etc

Maxshift middle of projected image= 8.0876*diagonal screen size +91+length of projection ceiling mount (if used)

Therefore on a 100" (diag) screens size the Pearl will provide 35.42" shift from mount height.

Dazzer

so are the blacks not crt blacks ????

I own a infocus 4805 and havea filter on it to improve blacks would you say the pearl has better deeper blacks than this projector i know the contrast is way higher.

I have had a

sony hs1
sony hs10
sony hs20
infocus 4805

and have to say the infocus had the best contrast and blacks i have seen out of the projectors i have had.

I am a sucker for blacks and was just woundering if the pearl blows the deep blacks away compaired to teh 4805

thaks for any info

Any shift statistic like these is measured from the middle.... Sony quotes 65%, which means the projector can be 15% of the >>screen height<< outside the screen. So if the screen is 50 inches tall, you can go 7 1/2" above (upside down mount) or below (right side up).

The above poster suggests Sony's stat is a little conservative, so you might get away with a couple more inches.

Really, Sony should quote 15% (the shift outside the screen area). But since some installs do have the projector in front of the viewers -- especially in Japan -- it's not entirely wrong to quote 65%.

Any shift statistic like these is measured from the middle.... Sony quotes 65%, which means the projector can be 15% of the >>screen height<< outside the screen. So if the screen is 50 inches tall, you can go 7 1/2" above (upside down mount) or below (right side up).

The above poster suggests Sony's stat is a little conservative, so you might get away with a couple more inches.

Really, Sony should quote 15% (the shift outside the screen area). But since some installs do have the projector in front of the viewers -- especially in Japan -- it's not entirely wrong to quote 65%.

How does this affect where you can mount it right side up? For example, the top or my screen (49" tall) will be 3" down from the ceiling. I will be mounting the projector right side up on a shelf. What percentage of the screen do I need to have the lens below (in order to keep it right side up)?

Sorry if this is worded in a confusing way, but I can't figure out how to ask.
I would like to have the PJ as high off of the ground as I can, but this downward lens shift has me confused.

Thanks in advance!

Alright, let me take a stab at this. Sony's "default" (or centered) vertical position for lens shift assumes that half the image will be below the lens and the other half will be above the lens. That is, if you have a screen with a 100" height, the "normal" position to mount the projector will be at the screen's halfway point, or 50". This way half of the image is projected in a downward direction and the other half is projected upward. The best thing to do is draw what I have just described on a piece of paper, preferably graph paper where you can use some sort of scale (like 1 block = 1 inch).

Now, in real life, very few people actually mount their projector at that height, so that is why Sony allows a limited amount of vertical lens shift. Now, using the same drawing that you just created, move the bottom of the screen up by 65" (or 65 blocks on the graph paper). This is now the new bottom of the screen. Draw another point 100" (or blocks) up from that new bottom and this will be the new top of the screen. If you check, you will see that the new top of the screen is also 65" higher than the old top of screen. Therefore the image has been moved upward by 65%. Get it?

Once again, in real life people usually set the screen in place and simply move the projector, but if you drew this on graph paper like I suggested, then you can leave the screen where it is and move the projector down (the reciprocal of moving the image up) by the same 65" to achieve the same goal by moving the projector, not the screen. If you want to see what happens with the projector hanging (upside down), then simply turn the diagram around 180 degrees (upside down).

I hope this helps.

I enjoy reading your posts Bob because I never fail to learn something. Thanks for another great post.

Thanks Bob! That was a very helpful and informative post.

So, (if I understand this correctly) because the PJ has a 25% downward shift, I could mount the projector right side up 25% of my screen height above the screen's middle point and still get the image displayed correctly?

For example, if my screen was 100" tall, I could mount the projector 75" from the bottom of the screen and then use the 25% vertical shift to center the image. Is this correct?

Again, you have my humble thanks.

Bob, would you mind illustrating all that in ASCII art?

Kidding. Great info. :)

-tony

Im considering the Pearl but wanted to get opinions on how live sporting events look? I would be using an off-air antenna fed through a directv tuner. Sports would be my main viewing interest. Is a front projector in general the right move for this???

The Skins game yesterday in Hi Def via Dish's MPEG4 feed looked glorious.

Admittedly, the Dish ViP622 sat box was doing the upscaling, not the Pearl, and the 720p-1080i conversion the box does is pretty good.

Caveat: when using a retroreflective screen like the HP, you must project at an angle as close to the viewing angle as possible to get the most from screen gain.

I take this to mean that the pj should be just (e.g., no more than 1 to 2 ft) above the top of the viewers heads, and just behind them. Is this correct?

For example, if my screen was 100" tall, I could mount the projector 75" from the bottom of the screen and then use the 25% vertical shift to center the image. Is this correct?
Yes, that is correct assuming that Eric is correct in the existence of the 25% downward shift. Since Sony has no mention of such a shift, I would at least double check Eric's information, not that I have any reason to doubt him. If Eric's starting point was off of the midpoint for some unknown reason, that could easily lead to an incorrect conclusion.

If we use Sony's numbers (just to be on the conservative side), the only allowable placement of the projector in its upright position would be from 15% below the screen up to the screen's midpoint, and of course inverted hanging from the ceiling we could go from 15% above the screen down to the screen's midpoint.

If we use Eric's numbers, we could go from 20% below the screen up to 75% up from the bottom edge when the projector is upright and from 20% above the screen down to 75% down from the top edge of the screen.

Sony is claiming 65% total shift, all in one direction, while Eric has measured 95% total shift, 70% in the upward direction and 25% in the downward direction.

Take your pick...:)

And remember, everything is measured from the center of the lens, not from the bottom or top of the projector housing.
Bob, would you mind illustrating all that in ASCII art?
You know, I was trying to figure a way to do something like that, but I just couldn't get it together...:)

I take this to mean that the pj should be just (e.g., no more than 1 to 2 ft) above the top of the viewers heads, and just behind them. Is this correct?

Yes. It doesn't have to technically be behind you, but for most this is most practical and prevents using any horizontal lens shift.

You know, I was trying to figure a way to do something like that, but I just couldn't get it together...:)

I did something in Excel, but it looked horrible when I viewed the jpg after attaching it to a post. The original jpg looked pretty good in paint and irfanview...

Best Regards,
Doug

Yes. It doesn't have to technically be behind you, but for most this is most practical and prevents using any horizontal lens shift.

My old projector had so much lense shift and short throw I could put in on a lower shelf of the coffee table in front of me, and that worked well. Needless to say, while the Sony allows for that short a throw, the lense shift is not nearly that extreme.

Thanks Bob! That was a very helpful and informative post.

So, (if I understand this correctly) because the PJ has a 25% downward shift, I could mount the projector right side up 25% of my screen height above the screen's middle point and still get the image displayed correctly?

For example, if my screen was 100" tall, I could mount the projector 75" from the bottom of the screen and then use the 25% vertical shift to center the image. Is this correct?

Again, you have my humble thanks.

Definitely not.

In fact, not even a little close.

If the projector sits right-side up, you can sit it anywhere from:

15" below the screen (or 25" if Sony's spec is conservative)

to

50" from the bottom of the screen (i.e. the center point).

The only way to have the projector located 75" from the bottom of the screen is to mount it upside down.

Definitely not.

In fact, not even a little close.
Rogo, the answer is no if you use Sony's specs, but yes if you go by Eric Garci's actual measurements (see Eric's post).

Erik says: "When I measured it myself, I found that it can shift DOWN by 25%. I also found that it can shift UP by 70%, which is slightly higher than Sony's claim. Perhaps my measurements are slightly off, but anyway, the point is that it can shift down to some extent."

Which would be something like this (if you excuse the terrible Paint job):

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/9241/pearlegeh3.jpg

The Skins game yesterday in Hi Def via Dish's MPEG4 feed looked glorious.

Admittedly, the Dish ViP622 sat box was doing the upscaling, not the Pearl, and the 720p-1080i conversion the box does is pretty good.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully my Raiders will look equally as good. Then again the way theyre playing a 100" plasma probably wouldnt help them look good!

Hey guys,

Quick question.

My current set up is a 119" Da-Lite High Powered screen with a gain of 2.8. Pitch black room, ceilings and walls also painted black.

Pic:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3197/ht1fd8.jpg

My projector is an Infocus 7200 (720p).

I am REALLY thinking about upgrading.

Would the Pearl be ok with this large screen? I would think being a HP screen it would even help it. I also prefer a nice "vibrant punch" with my set up. That is one reason I bought the 7200 and HP screen. :)

Using the calulator, ideally it should be mounted about 17 feet back, right?

Has anyone else upgraded from a 72xx model to the Pearl?

What were your thoughts?

I really love my 7200 but keep hearing about this Pearl and am now tempted to get one and watch a LOT of HD material.

Thanks! If anyone knows a good price, please PM me.

I look forward to your replies and am getting really excited about this PJ.

Rogo, the answer is no if you use Sony's specs, but yes if you go by Eric Garci's actual measurements (see Eric's post).
I already tried to explain it to rogo, but he still disagrees with my measurements.

Would the Pearl be ok with this large screen? I would think being HP it would even help it. I also prefer a nice "vibrant punch" with my set up. That is one reason I bought the 7200 and HP screen.
The 7200 was a light cannon producing a d65 calibrated 1,000 lumens/1,200:1 CR IIRC! You are not going to get the same light output from a Pearl., but you will have more CR. If you can make it work in your room, you should look at the Optoma HD81.

The 7200 was a light cannon producing a d65 calibrated 1,000 lumens/1,200:1 CR IIRC! You are not going to get the same light output from a Pearl., but you will have more CR. If you can make it work in your room, you should look at the Optoma HD81.

Thanks.

That is why I was hoping to hear from others who went from a "light cannon" to the Pearl.

Or people using the Pearl with a large screen over 119".

Thanks.

That is why I was hoping to hear from others who went from a "light cannon" to the Pearl.

Or people using the Pearl with a large screen over 119".
You have an ideal Pearl/Ruby room, very nice!!. What kind of speakers are you using

You have an ideal Pearl/Ruby room, very nice!!. What kind of speakers are you using

There is also a second row of seats behind the ones pictured. The room is around 16 feet wide x 22 feet long.

Paradigm Reference speakers all around, 7.1

From reading other threads, I am beginning to lean towards the Optoma HD81.

My projector is an Infocus 7200 (720p).

I am REALLY thinking about upgrading.

Would the Pearl be ok with this large screen? I would think being a HP screen it would even help it. I also prefer a nice "vibrant punch" with my set up. That is one reason I bought the 7200 and HP screen. :)

Using the calulator, ideally it should be mounted about 17 feet back, right?

Has anyone else upgraded from a 72xx model to the Pearl?

What were your thoughts?

I really love my 7200 but keep hearing about this Pearl and am now tempted to get one and watch a LOT of HD material.

Thanks! If anyone knows a good price, please PM me.

I look forward to your replies and am getting really excited about this PJ.I have an H79 I'm probably changing to the Pearl. Perhaps with a new bulb my Optoma sort of looks like an IF7200 with an old bulb. :)

One concern is your wanting a "lot of punch." No way is the Pearl a bright pj although I think your 119" - diagonal, right? - High Power will work pretty well with the Pearl. I think you'd want a shorter throw for the highest zoom possible with concomitant higher brightness, if I understand how that zoom-brightness relationship works with the Pearl. I'm going to be trying maybe 120+ diagonal with my High Power @ 2.8-3 gain and Pearl 14.5 ft away.

On the other hand, you're likely to be impressed with the improved black level and CR and that could make up for any loss of brightness overall with the change in pjs. As has been noted, pjs with high contrast seem to tolerate reduced light levels with seemingly good impact or punch because the image has good dynamic range.

Dan

From reading other threads, I am beginning to lean towards the Optoma HD81.
As I said before you are use to a 7200 + HP combo, I suspect you might miss the sheer light output in moving to a Pearl. IIRC, Bob Sorel moved from a 72XX to a Ruby, hopefully he will chime in with his thoughts.

Very nice theater, Good luck!

Ok, I guess I qualify for comment once again...:)

I have a Da-Lite Model C 119" HP and a 114" Firehawk. My last three projectors were the IF 7210, the Optoma H-79, and currently a Ruby. My room is a bat cave.

The IF 7210, when new, put out around 850 lumens calibrated, but it dropped down to 450 lumens at about 500 hours (when I sold it). The Ruby with a new lamp (593 lumens) was brighter than the IF with 500 hours. I didn't measure the H-79 when new, but after about 400 hours it was down to about 300 lumens calibrated (again when I sold it).

The only area that the 7210 was better than the Ruby was with initial brightness. The Ruby has MUCH better black level, dark detail, and contrast - IMO, no contest.

Now my Ruby is down to about 275 lumens after 550 hours and it still looks bright and punchy on the 119" HP.

If I had the room height I also might consider the HD-81 for its extra brightness and simultaneous contrast, but unless Optoma fixes the reported problems with the DI, I would not seriously consider it as a replacement for the Ruby as I am too spoiled by the high on/off contrast and low black level that I am currently enjoying. Otherwise, it does sound like a seriously nice unit!

Oh, and BTW, my Ruby is mounted somewhere around 160" from my screen, just about one foot over my head (while seated).

Guys, if the Pearl really puts out 700 lumens (new lamp, shortest through distance, 'high' lamp mode), and the HP is set up in its optimum location (to get its 2.8 gain), this amounts to ~46 ftL, going down to ~23 ftL after the lamp looses half its brightness. Isn't this enough for a 'punchy' pic in a light-controlled room?

Guys, if the Pearl really puts out 700 lumens (new lamp, shortest through distance, 'high' lamp mode), and the HP is set up in its optimum location (to get its 2.8 gain), this amounts to ~46 ftL, going down to ~23 ftL after the lamp looses half its brightness. Isn't this enough for a 'punchy' pic in a light-controlled room?It'll do really well for me. There's always the possibility that someone used to an even higher ftL might be dissatisfied despite the better black level, CR, no visible pixels, etc.

Dan

I have an H79 I'm probably changing to the Pearl. Perhaps with a new bulb my Optoma sort of looks like an IF7200 with an old bulb. :)

One concern is your wanting a "lot of punch." No way is the Pearl a bright pj although I think your 119" - diagonal, right? - High Power will work pretty well with the Pearl. I think you'd want a shorter throw for the highest zoom possible with concomitant higher brightness, if I understand how that zoom-brightness relationship works with the Pearl. I'm going to be trying maybe 120+ diagonal with my High Power @ 2.8-3 gain and Pearl 14.5 ft away.

On the other hand, you're likely to be impressed with the improved black level and CR and that could make up for any loss of brightness overall with the change in pjs. As has been noted, pjs with high contrast seem to tolerate reduced light levels with seemingly good impact or punch because the image has good dynamic range.

Dan


I just sold my H79 and got the Pearl. My impressions thus far is that I'm a little surprised that the H79 can hang with the Pearl pretty well (I'm using a 110" Silverstar).......with sports and most 720p material, the H79 seems to do better than the Pearl.....I'm sure once 1080p software and hardware becomes more plentiful, the Pearl can start to really take advantage........but so far, I'm not "blown away" like some of you are.

PSB - Maybe you didn't calibrate your expectations properly? What were they?

Marc

PSB - Maybe you didn't calibrate your expectations properly? What were they?

Marc

"Calibrate my expectations?" :confused: ............I calibrated my Pearl using Avia right out of the box.

I was blown by the Pearl compared to the h78dc3

I was blown by the Pearl compared to the h78dc3

I'm still laughing at this one. I hope you meant "blown away." :eek:

:D

I was blown by the Pearl compared to the h78dc3My expectations aren't that high. :p

As far as comparing the H79 and Pearl, I wouldn't be unhappy if there was more similarity than I'm imagining. I think I'll see better black levels and CR than the H79 based on the Pearl at CEDIA and I'm sure I'll see no pixels. I think no color wheel and the good motion the Pearl appeared to have at 96Hz with 24p sources made watching more relaxing. We'll see.

Dan

My expectations aren't that high. :p

Yeah, I guess you never know what functions you might find in the Service Menu huh?

Damn! If I had known the Pearl could do that, I would have ordered a couple of them by now :D

I was tempted to make a pearl necklace joke…

Damn, that was funny, I wont even edit that :)

I was tempted to make a pearl necklace joke…

:eek: :p

And what about horizontal shift? Anyone?

My expectations aren't that high. :p

Dan

God that was funny :D

I was tempted to make a pearl necklace joke…

The "spak" "spak" "spak" noise you hear is me stabbing out my mind's eye with the closest sharp instrument I could find. :eek:

Hi all,

Big time newbie here. I've never had a projector before, but have recently decided (after lots of research) to get the Pearl. I was hoping for some suggestions on the best way to set it up. The dimensions of my room are 11'3" X 19'4" with a ceiling height of 7'9". I have complete light control as it is the basement with no windows. Also, I plan on painting the walls and ceiling dark colors. I have 2 young labradors, so I'd like to keep the projector high enough that they couldn't reach it. The main seating will be 2 lazyboys directly in front of the screen. I would prefer to set up the projetor on one of the walls (since I would need to remove a ceiling fan for a ceiling mount), but would be willing to do a ceiling mount if it would result in a better picture. My main questions are as follows:

Is 19 Feet to far of a throw distance?
What is the ideal throw distance?
What would be the ideal screen and screen size for my setup(I understand this is dependent on the placement of the projector)?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated and please free to offer up any other suggestions.

Thanks,
David

My expectations aren't that high. :p

As far as comparing the H79 and Pearl, I wouldn't be unhappy if there was more similarity than I'm imagining. I think I'll see better black levels and CR than the H79 based on the Pearl at CEDIA and I'm sure I'll see no pixels. I think no color wheel and the good motion the Pearl appeared to have at 96Hz with 24p sources made watching more relaxing. We'll see.

Dan
Yes no color wheel and good motion but at the expense of missconversion and not perfect color uniformity compare to a DLP unit such as the H79.

Yes no color wheel and good motion but at the expense of missconversion and not perfect color uniformity compare to a DLP unit such as the H79.Color uniformity can be made much better by tweaking 3D gamma tables.

I was blown by the Pearl compared to the h78dc3

Andrew, I'm just wondering are you not going to put the phone number up in the bathroom. It sounds like you think the h78 is a tease.

She's not with me.

Hi all,

Big time newbie here. I've never had a projector before, but have recently decided (after lots of research) to get the Pearl. I was hoping for some suggestions on the best way to set it up. The dimensions of my room are 11'3" X 19'4" with a ceiling height of 7'9". I have complete light control as it is the basement with no windows. Also, I plan on painting the walls and ceiling dark colors. I have 2 young labradors, so I'd like to keep the projector high enough that they couldn't reach it. The main seating will be 2 lazyboys directly in front of the screen. I would prefer to set up the projetor on one of the walls (since I would need to remove a ceiling fan for a ceiling mount), but would be willing to do a ceiling mount if it would result in a better picture. My main questions are as follows:

Is 19 Feet to far of a throw distance?
What is the ideal throw distance?
What would be the ideal screen and screen size for my setup(I understand this is dependent on the placement of the projector)?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated and please free to offer up any other suggestions.

Thanks,
David

Hey David.Since the other's here are to busy worried about whats better LCD or DLP I will give it a stab.If you get the pearl you will be better off mounting it closer to the screen about 12ft if what i would do.Ceiling mount is the way to go with this FP and your setup.But others will chume in.19ft throw for the pearl is to far.The new panny ax100 would work from 19ft if that helps.It just got 5 stars on everything at PC review.Keep a open mind BUDDA

hey guys, let me know what you guys think of this setup: the sony pearl paired with a Da-lite 119" pearlescent screen with a gain of 1.5. the projector will be ceiling mounted and the room has total light control. With my calculations, that will give me about 25 foot lamperts, will this be bright enough?! please let me know! thanks!

Bright enough for what? 25 ftl is great for most people, but not everyone; it's at least 50-100% brighter than your average movie theater screen...

Marc

Jeez, have you Googled the latest street prices, i am getting dizzy at how fast they are dropping. By next year it will be what i paid for my Z3 :)

Jeez, have you Googled the latest street prices, i am getting dizzy at how fast they are dropping. By next year it will be what i paid for my Z3 :)

Wow, you aren't kidding!

:eek:

Many, many scammers:

http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?p=158003

Some collective ratings:
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14677

Because I just know some poor guy is going to google this and get his ass handed to him.

Yes no color wheel and good motion but at the expense of missconversion and not perfect color uniformity compare to a DLP unit such as the H79.Quite possibly.

Color uniformity is my first concern about this pj. After a conversation with Tryg about this I am hoping that wm offers a software tool to correct such problems if they arise. More likely there will be something in the service menu like the Ruby's gamma 3D or equivalent adjustments - not that I've heard those adjustments work really well, I haven't. I've missed someone with a Pearl confirming that this adjustment even exists in the service menu - has it been, already?

I'm a little less concerned about misconvergence because there does seem to be a pattern of fewer reports about this lately with Rubys. There's been a couple of reports of seemingly acceptable misconvergence with Pearls. Sony overall seems responsive to fixing out of spec convergence but I'll be among the first to report if they are not. As they say, that's not a threat, just a fact. :)

Dan

Buddha,
Thanks for the advice. Do you have any recommendations for a good reflective screen that's not overly expensive. I was thinking about the HP Da-lite, but I suppose a retroreflective (or something like that) screen wouldn't work for a ceiling mount.

Hi all,

Big time newbie here. I've never had a projector before, but have recently decided (after lots of research) to get the Pearl. I was hoping for some suggestions on the best way to set it up. The dimensions of my room are 11'3" X 19'4" with a ceiling height of 7'9". I have complete light control as it is the basement with no windows. Also, I plan on painting the walls and ceiling dark colors. I have 2 young labradors, so I'd like to keep the projector high enough that they couldn't reach it. The main seating will be 2 lazyboys directly in front of the screen. I would prefer to set up the projetor on one of the walls (since I would need to remove a ceiling fan for a ceiling mount), but would be willing to do a ceiling mount if it would result in a better picture. My main questions are as follows:

Is 19 Feet to far of a throw distance?
What is the ideal throw distance?
What would be the ideal screen and screen size for my setup(I understand this is dependent on the placement of the projector)?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated and please free to offer up any other suggestions.

Thanks,
David

This is similar to my setup and I am considering the Pearl as well. At 19 ft. throw you'll need at least a 110 inch diagonal screen. See the Ruby throw range calculator : http://www.projectorcentral.com/Sony-VPL-VW100-projection-calculator-pro.htm This will place you at near maximum telephoto on the Pearl's lens so you will get less brightness. Thus, if you want to go with the Pearl and not use a ceiling mount, a high gain screen is mandatory IMO. Choices would include the HP Da-Lite (for shelf mount right behind you just clearing your head) or something like a Silverstar if you mounted higher up.

If you go ceiling mounted closer to the screen, your options would increase for screen choices I'd think.

Do you guys think that the Carada Brilliant white would be a good match for a ceiling mounted Pearl in a light controlled room? That's my most recent plan.

I picked up my Pearl from FedEx last night, however the screen (Carada 100" Brilliant White) and HD-DVD player won't be here until next wednesday.

It seems like many people are curious about this screen/PJ combo, so as soon as I get it set up I will be sure to post my impressions. (Maybe even some pics, if there is a demand).

Can't wait!

Any handshake hiccups between the Pearl and the Tosh HD DVD players?

None here -- though, of course, if you change the Pearl input to something other than the Toshiba player cable/line, the Toshiba player gets unhappy. And you have to have the player input selected on the Pearl (and the Pearl on) when starting up the Toshiba. But this is not unique to the Pearl. I have the same problem/situation with my other TV, as well.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a ceiling mount for the Pearl yet? Thanks.

Since this is the official thread I thought I would make this link available from a more obscure thread. I'm sure everyone is interested in Jason Turk's "preliminary measurements" for the Pearl!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8530207#post8530207

He noted "So far so good. Very good specs".

Daniel

Saw this in action from a friends house. Light controlled room. Its way too dim for me.

Even when its in a very dark room. Especially when I calibrated it via AVIA. I have to raise brightness and contrast to +3 on the PJ. I'm using the Deadwood TV show as reference. When we opened some of the windows to test performance on daylight viewing the image almost dissappered. Not good for sunday football.

Don't consider this PJ if you plan on using it in a casual viewing experience with some ambient light. You can install another PJ for that purpose.

I think this PJ PQ can only be appreciated fully in a very dark room. Probably a dedicated HT room. Of course it shouldnt be a problem for people who can afford this PJ.

screensize?

Saw this in action from a friends house. Light controlled room. Its way too dim for me.

Even when its in a very dark room. Especially when I calibrated it via AVIA. I have to raise brightness and contrast to +3 on the PJ. I'm using the Deadwood TV show as reference. When we opened some of the windows to test performance on daylight viewing the image almost dissappered. Not good for sunday football.

Don't consider this PJ if you plan on using it in a casual viewing experience with some ambient light. You can install another PJ for that purpose.

I think this PJ PQ can only be appreciated fully in a very dark room. Probably a dedicated HT room. Of course it shouldnt be a problem for people who can afford this PJ.

Screen type and size? Jason's preliminary report says ~ 800 lumens (calibrated) in high lamp mode. This seems very bright to me, though high lamp mode will of course wear out the lamps more frequently.

Do you guys think that the Carada Brilliant white would be a good match for a ceiling mounted Pearl in a light controlled room? That's my most recent plan.

I receive my 110" Carada BW tomorrow. I'll let you know how it fares from 14' away.


For those that can help...
I had planned on ceiling mounting, but it looks as though my ceiling is too high (closest I can get to my desired screen position is 1 1/2 ft. above ). Here is a diagram of what's happening(the red square is where shift hits its limit):

http://www.reyo-sanpictures.com/pj.jpg

Am I missing something? What are my options to fix this? I don't want to keystone, and I can't keep it at that height as it would make everyone's neck sore...

Screen type and size? Jason's preliminary report says ~ 800 lumens (calibrated) in high lamp mode. This seems very bright to me, though high lamp mode will of course wear out the lamps more frequently.

Is Jason's report available now? Where can I see it?

screensize?

Dalite 106" 16x9 mounted screen. I don't know what type, matte white or high contrast. I forgot to ask him.

Don't get me wrong here the PQ is astounding especially for the price. You just have to get used to its light output and making sure the room is really, really dark to enjoy its maximum PQ.

Is Jason's report available now? Where can I see it?


His prelim report is in the thread "Should I sell my brand new RUBY for a Pearl?"; sorry I don't know how to make a direct link for you, but you can find it easily.

I receive my 110" Carada BW tomorrow. I'll let you know how it fares from 14' away.


For those that can help...
I had planned on ceiling mounting, but it looks as though my ceiling is too high (closest I can get to my desired screen position is 1 1/2 ft. above ). Here is a diagram of what's happening(the red square is where shift hits its limit):

http://www.reyo-sanpictures.com/pj.jpg

Am I missing something? What are my options to fix this? I don't want to keystone, and I can't keep it at that height as it would make everyone's neck sore...


Extension arm for your mount?

I dont like keystoning so I bought a new mount with an extension arm for my AE900u.

Am I missing something? What are my options to fix this? I don't want to keystone, and I can't keep it at that height as it would make everyone's neck sore...

You might be missing a ceiling mount that has a one or two foot drop?

I ordered one from Jason with the PJ. Pretty good price, I thought.

Best Regards,
Doug

Yeah, did some research just now and I can get up to 7ft extensions. I have to drop at least 3 feet. Thing is, even 3ft is gonna look some fugly coming down off the ceiling.

Who cares when its in the dark.

The wife...

A data point...

I just watched The Incredibles on my Pearl and it really was incredible; just a terrific picture.

For those keeping score, I'm in a 18' x 12' light-controlled room, sitting 12' away from a 120" diagonal greyhawk screen (.92 gain). The projector is on high lamp, and sits around 18.5 feet away (about 80% of the way between max and min throw), ceiling-mounted (where my old G15U was).

Given that the brightness is more than acceptable to me, and that I'll be getting StudioTek 130 material for the screen, I think this will be fine even with 40-50% reduction in lamp output (of course, by then I'll just buy another bulb, since I don't expect that to be for a year or more - say, 250 hours.)

Again, this is just a data point. My inclination is to say that people worried about brightness and wanting HP's or SilverStar's for their 120' screens are worried about the wrong things, but I understand that these things are very subjective. I guess what I will say is that people shouldn't assume that the projector won't work for them because they have a large screen - it ain't necessarily so.

Marc

A data point...

I just watched The Incredibles on my Pearl and it really was incredible; just a terrific picture.

For those keeping score, I'm in a 18' x 12' light-controlled room, sitting 12' away from a 120" diagonal greyhawk screen (.92 gain). The projector is on high lamp, and sits around 18.5 feet away (about 80% of the way between max and min throw), ceiling-mounted (where my old G15U was).

Given that the brightness is more than acceptable to me, and that I'll be getting StudioTek 130 material for the screen, I think this will be fine even with 40-50% reduction in lamp output (of course, by then I'll just buy another bulb, since I don't expect that to be for a year or more - say, 250 hours.)

Again, this is just a data point. My inclination is to say that people worried about brightness and wanting HP's or SilverStar's for their 120' screens are worried about the wrong things, but I understand that these things are very subjective. I guess what I will say is that people shouldn't assume that the projector won't work for them because they have a large screen - it ain't necessarily so.

Marc

Thanks, I was hoping someone would say that. That is a similar situation as mine, although I will be able to place in at its closest throw and have a 115" .95 screen.


BTW how is your PJ mounted 18.5' away from the screen in a 18X12 room? Do you have it peaking through a window in the back?

For those wondering how the Pearl looks with a Carada Brilliant White screen, I offer a review in 5 words:

1. Amazing
2. Beautiful
3. Mesmerizing
4. Incredible
5. Wow

I'm using a 110" Criterion. Blacks are the closest to CRT I've yet seen and the color pops off the screen. By the way, Carada's build quality is top notch. The screen is VERY heavy duty (and very HEAVY) and the frame is covered in a velvet that completely destroys any light spill. It was real easy to put together, too. Well worth the $$. I have no regrets not going with a Stewart.

Oh, and I noticed no hotspotting. The picture is consistent throughout.

BTW how is your PJ mounted 18.5' away from the screen in a 18X12 room? Do you have it peaking through a window in the back?

Actually, yes. There is an unused bathroom behind the theater with an opening for the output of the projector.

Marc

Thanks, I was hoping someone would say that. That is a similar situation as mine, although I will be able to place in at its closest throw and have a 115" .95 screen.


?

I wouldn't call those two scenarios similar at all. Having the pj at close to it's max telephoto (or min zoom) decreases lumen output significantly vs. having it at max zoom.

A data point...

I just watched The Incredibles on my Pearl and it really was incredible; just a terrific picture.

For those keeping score, I'm in a 18' x 12' light-controlled room, sitting 12' away from a 120" diagonal greyhawk screen (.92 gain). The projector is on high lamp, and sits around 18.5 feet away (about 80% of the way between max and min throw), ceiling-mounted (where my old G15U was).

Given that the brightness is more than acceptable to me, and that I'll be getting StudioTek 130 material for the screen, I think this will be fine even with 40-50% reduction in lamp output (of course, by then I'll just buy another bulb, since I don't expect that to be for a year or more - say, 250 hours.)

Again, this is just a data point. My inclination is to say that people worried about brightness and wanting HP's or SilverStar's for their 120' screens are worried about the wrong things, but I understand that these things are very subjective. I guess what I will say is that people shouldn't assume that the projector won't work for them because they have a large screen - it ain't necessarily so.

Marc

I agree, While I await my 120" wide Hi-Power, I've got the Pearl shooting on a 84" wide ~1-gain screen. I've moved the PJ back to so the picture extends over each side screen my 18" so I can simulate what the lumens coming off my actual screen will be, and even with no gain, it's very nice with reasonable light control.

I expect the Hi-Power to allow for some bulb aging, and to give it some addtional punch.

mblank: did you say that for brightness concerns, you are going to replace your bulb after only 250 hours? yikes

No, that's not what I meant to say. I meant that even IF the bulb lost 50% of its brightness in that time (which I do not at ALL expect), I would be perfectly happy to buy a new bulb for the relatively small cost. I expect that the bulb will last significantly longer than that...

Marc

As of right now, I am planning on placing the Pearl on my back wall which would give a throw of around 18'. I plan on placing it around 4ft to 5ft off the ground and matching it with a HP dalite. Do you guys think that this would provide good brightness? Also, in you opinion what would be the best screen size for this set up.

Thanks,
David

Hynds -

An impossible question to answer, since "good" brightness and "best" size are completely subjective. I expect any screen up to 130" would be "fine" for the large majority of users.

Marc

For those wondering how the Pearl looks with a Carada Brilliant White screen, I offer a review in 5 words:

1. Amazing
2. Beautiful
3. Mesmerizing
4. Incredible
5. Wow

I'm using a 110" Criterion. Blacks are the closest to CRT I've yet seen and the color pops off the screen. By the way, Carada's build quality is top notch. The screen is VERY heavy duty (and very HEAVY) and the frame is covered in a velvet that completely destroys any light spill. It was real easy to put together, too. Well worth the $$. I have no regrets not going with a Stewart.

Oh, and I noticed no hotspotting. The picture is consistent throughout.

Great news. This is the screen that I have. It looks like it should be a good match. How far back from the screen do you have the Pearl mounted?

How far back from the screen do you have the Pearl mounted?

14 feet.

For those wondering how the Pearl looks with a Carada Brilliant White screen, I offer a review in 5 words:

1. Amazing
2. Beautiful
3. Mesmerizing
4. Incredible
5. Wow

I'm using a 110" Criterion. Blacks are the closest to CRT I've yet seen and the color pops off the screen. By the way, Carada's build quality is top notch. The screen is VERY heavy duty (and very HEAVY) and the frame is covered in a velvet that completely destroys any light spill. It was real easy to put together, too. Well worth the $$. I have no regrets not going with a Stewart.

Oh, and I noticed no hotspotting. The picture is consistent throughout.

Great news. I have a 100" Carada BW. Pearl should be in next weekend.

I searched this thread for "canadian msrp" and came up with goose eggs.

Does anybody know the MSRP for this thing in Canada yet? When will it be available in Canada? I went to Sony.ca and there wasn't anything there.

Canadian MSRP is $5999.99 from what I have been told by my dealer

Where abouts are you? That actually sounds somewhat reasonable, although with the USD and CDN $$ difference less than 20%, it really should be lower. Using current exchange rates and the US MSRP as an example:

4,999.00 USD United States Dollars = 5,583.88 CAD Canada Dollars

Oh well. Close enough I guess, and it is only the MSRP and its exactly half the MSRP of the Ruby. I guess we will have to wait and see what the street price ends up being. Am I right to say this projector is crying out for a constant height 2.37:1 screen setup and a Panamorph or prism lens?

If any AVS member in the Toronto area gets a Pearl any time soon, please let us know how you like it and whether you entertain demo's for beer or similar :D

I am strongly considering the Pearl for my theater room. It will be ~12.5 ft from the screen (1.1 gain, 106" diag), ceiling mounted. The room is light controlled. I have no doubts that this will be bright enough for movies, but I also occationaly use the room for sports with some ambient light toward the back of the room. Has anyone had experience using the Pearl with some ambient light?

thanks,

ben

just as a clarification. Max Zoom means closer right? I assume if you want a 105" screen. if the projector is far away you would zoom it less since it would naturally get larger the further away the wall is.

So the closer the projector the brighter the image given a fixed screen size right? I figure this is why even if the projector is further away you don't get a better offset (up / down) as to keep the image the same size you end up zooming the image which effectively brings it forward and up at the same time.

Hi,
I am seriously tempted to buy the Pearl. Got a few questions though which I hope some of you lucky ones already owning one can answer :)

Current setup is a light controlled room (if there is not much sunshine I usually keep the windows open though), 138" (3mx1.7m=3.5m diag) white screen with next to no gain, HTPC doing everything (I have no other video or hifi equipment, the HTPC does everything from TV to DVD and whatnot) and the center piece a 4 year old Yamaha LPX-500 720p with 150W UHP.

Now, can the Pearl do a similar or better job working with that big a screen as the Yamaha (which is fine except when it is really bright outside) ? Most ppl seem to have smaller screens, so I was wondering if it's too big for the Pearl.

Anybody did some more testing on running a PC on the Pearl ? There was someone who posted a bit about that earlier in this thread but I was hoping if someone did some more testing on this. I really need pixel perfect 1920x1080p and would love some info on how the Pearl fares on scaling lower resolutions on the PC (like older games that simply can't run in that crazy res or games not supporting WS).

Is the price for the bulb confirmed now ? I read it will cost 300 or 350$ but I couldn't find any real confirmation on that.

Hope someone can find some time to help me out. The decision is a bit tougher for me here in europe since it's more expensive here (it's 5000 Euros which is about 6000 US$ and street price won't be much lower....considering I see the thing selling for around 4k US$ which is less than 3500 Euros in the US you can see it's not such an easy decision here ;) )

Thanks
Jaks

Anybody did some more testing on running a PC on the Pearl ? There was someone who posted a bit about that earlier in this thread but I was hoping if someone did some more testing on this. I really need pixel perfect 1920x1080p and would love some info on how the Pearl fares on scaling lower resolutions on the PC (like older games that simply can't run in that crazy res or games not supporting WS). Jaks

I've been running a pc (mce with nvidia 7300GT) over DVI to HDMI with no problems. Pixel perfect with monitor detection done automatically. Current Nvidia drivers offer 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 refresh rates out of the box. Everything works without a problem (ntsc video, DVD, HDTV). Great picture.

I've got an XBOX connected via component and everything from 480p games on up look great. Have not used composite or s-video inputs.

I've been running a pc (mce with nvidia 7300GT) over DVI to HDMI with no problems. Pixel perfect with monitor detection done automatically. Current Nvidia drivers offer 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 refresh rates out of the box. Everything works without a problem (ntsc video, DVD, HDTV). Great picture.

.

Really nice. :) Has anyone heard if the Pearl will accept 1080p24sf over HDMI?

just as a clarification. Max Zoom means closer right? I assume if you want a 105" screen. if the projector is far away you would zoom it less since it would naturally get larger the further away the wall is.

So the closer the projector the brighter the image given a fixed screen size right? I figure this is why even if the projector is further away you don't get a better offset (up / down) as to keep the image the same size you end up zooming the image which effectively brings it forward and up at the same time.

Max zoom = smallest picture. Typically you zoom more if the PJ is farther away.

Also max zoom = least light output, but greatest contrast. this is for the Pearl (and many other PJ's)

Max zoom=shortest throw=biggest picture=brightest picture
Min zoom=longest throw=smallest picture=best contrast/least brightness

Max zoom=shortest throw=biggest picture=brightest picture
Min zoom=longest throw=smallest picture=best contrast/least brightness
However one calls it, just get the projecter as close to the screen as possible for a given image size to get the best lumens, and furthest to get the best contrast.

Or place it up close and use a ND filter?

Howdy folks. I've been lurking here for a while and, based largely on the review at
cine4home I bought one. I just sparked it up tonight with a plain old composite source (as a quick look-see) and I must say that I was not thrilled with the upconversion - slightly improved by turning de-interlacing off but not great. I should note that my comcast cable tv source may be lacking. Has anyone had similar lack of happiness with composite video? I'll tweak the thing out and calibrate it when I get a chance this week.
Also I make a living as a video engineer and projectionist so hit me with any questions. If you've seen any ESPN sportscenter show I did all the projection on that set (18 Barcos) I just got back from OLN (now VS) setting up the 2 projectors behind the anchors of their NHL studio.
sorry for rambling. I'll be back with lumen measurements and colorimetry. Color out of the box looks very good though.
PS sorry if you read my duplicate post on a different thread. I just now found this "official" thread.

Howdy folks. I've been lurking here for a while and, based largely on the review at
cine4home I bought one. I just sparked it up tonight with a plain old composite source (as a quick look-see) and I must say that I was not thrilled with the upconversion - slightly improved by turning de-interlacing off but not great. I should note that my comcast cable tv source may be lacking. Has anyone had similar lack of happiness with composite video? I'll tweak the thing out and calibrate it when I get a chance this week.
Also I make a living as a video engineer and projectionist so hit me with any questions. If you've seen any ESPN sportscenter show I did all the projection on that set (18 Barcos) I just got back from OLN (now VS) setting up the 2 projectors behind the anchors of their NHL studio.
sorry for rambling. I'll be back with lumen measurements and colorimetry. Color out of the box looks very good though.
PS sorry if you read my duplicate post on a different thread. I just now found this "official" thread.

Since your a video engineer, I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. But it is worth mentioning that composite input is the lowest quality video signal input. It looks bad on my cheap 50 buck television, it looks bad on my $1200 dollar Sony Trinitron, and I am quite sure it will look bad on the Pearl, but I will never know because I will never use that input for anything.

Hopefully you have HD cable so you can use component or HDMI and foresake the travesty of composite.

My personal opinion is that overly compressed SD cable channels are probably going to look pretty bad no matter what the input (because many of them don't contain enough good information to deinterlace and scale properly), but using composite isn't helping things any.

As long as you're fielding questions, are you going to calibrate each input to D65K? If so, we're collecting RGB gain/bias settings in the Tweaks thread. So far, we've got a killer set of values for component.

I just sparked it up tonight with a plain old composite source (as a quick look-see) and I must say that I was not thrilled with the upconversion - slightly improved by turning de-interlacing off but not great. I should note that my comcast cable tv source may be lacking. Has anyone had similar lack of happiness with composite video?
That's like buying a new Mercedes and smearing dog sh*t all over the inside of it and then complaining you don't enjoy the car. Or like having the opportunity to have sex with Pamela Anderson and inviting Rosanne Barr over for a threesome. I think it might somewhat ruin the experience.

:)

That's like buying a new Mercedes and smearing dog sh*t all over the inside of it and then complaining you don't enjoy the car. Or like having sex with Pamela Anderson and inviting Rosanne Barr over for a threesome. I think it might somewhat ruin the experience.

:)I think we should start a "Memorable Replies" thread and put this one in it.

Looks like we may have settled the issue of how composite looks with the Pearl. Let's hope not too many Pearl users choose that route. :eek:

Dan

Edit: Modbom, if possible don't take it personally. :)

Thank you for explaining to me the relative merits of composite video. Can any owner of a VPL VW 50 address the question and offer any objective information on the internal scaler ?

BTW I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many TV studios, in NY, producing prime time shows are %100 composite video. regardless it was simply an easy cable to pull after a long day at work. Speaking of cables does anyone have a vender/ manufacturer for top end HDMI cable that is cheaper than Gefen?

Yes I will be calibrating using a GretagMacbeth Eye-One and color facts software. I will post.

As long as you're fielding questions, are you going to calibrate each input to D65K? If so, we're collecting RGB gain/bias settings in the Tweaks thread. So far, we've got a killer set of values for component.

I'm confused. How can you translate the settings from one projector to another ? No 2 projectors are the same even when new. The dichroic filters that provide the primary colors are different from batch to batch, of course lamps are all different, screen surfaces are often different, ambient light (even a tiny bit) is different. Basically anything optical is unique. That's why hollywood DPs often buy their own sets of matched lenses at incredible cost.

I guess it's worth trying. No harm, no foul. But I would be concerned that you might be miscoloring and loosing light by inputting settings that were measured on a different projector in a different place. Remember the only thing that ultimately matters is that it looks great to you.

Monoprice is doing a solid job of getting out excellent HDMI cables for low prices.

I'm confused. How can you translate the settings from one projector to another ? No 2 projectors are the same even when new. The dichroic filters that provide the primary colors are different from batch to batch, of course lamps are all different, screen surfaces are often different, ambient light (even a tiny bit) is different. Basically anything optical is unique. That's why hollywood DPs often buy their own sets of matched lenses at incredible cost.

I guess it's worth trying. No harm, no foul. But I would be concerned that you might be miscoloring and loosing light by inputting settings that were measured on a different projector in a different place. Remember the only thing that ultimately matters is that it looks great to you.

All of the professional calibrators on this board are quick to point out the very thing that you have mentioned. And I have no doubt that no two projectors are issued from the factory in the exact same state, so it is indeed unlikely that another person's settings will perfectly calibrate your set.

If the goal is to achieve perfect calibration, one should hire an ISF calibrator or take the classes and buy the equipment himself.

Having said all of this, my personal take is that many of these new digital displays come from the factory with similar color calibrations. For example, just go the a store and check out several SXRD RPTVs -- on warm mode, all of the reds are leaning toward magenta, and all of the faces look a bit technicolor, and most colors (reds especially) are oversaturated, and whites are leaning a bit too much to pink. The picture looks (to my naked eye) very similar on these units. So it stands to reason that if you calibrated one of the sets, and then applied those settings to the others, that you would have brought many (though possibly not all) of the sets *closer* to a calibrated state.

To give you a real life example, I have been wrestling with my color settings for the better part of a week trying to get them acceptable. My Pearl had the same color miscalibration that I've seen with OOB settings on most of the SXRD RPTVs I've seen (magenta reds, technicolor flesh tones, etc.) Then, I tried the settings that another member came up with when calibrating his set to D65K. And guess what? I have never *seen* color this accurate in my life. Is it perfect? I really can't say because I don't have the equipment to measure. Does it finally look like 35mm film to me? Yes, yes it does.

There is no question that Erik's RGB gain/bias settings improved my picture. All you have to do is look at it. For example, objects that I knew were supposed to be a true shade of red (a police car's flashing lights, a fire truck, a stop sign) were all way too purplish before, and now they are perfect (to my eye). I cannot promise that others would have a similar experience, but as you said, there's no harm in trying it out. The cool thing about these Pearls is that you can just switch back to the default colors with no hassle.

Thank you for explaining to me the relative merits of composite video. Can any owner of a VPL VW 50 address the question and offer any objective information on the internal scaler ?

BTW I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many TV studios, in NY, producing prime time shows are %100 composite video. regardless it was simply an easy cable to pull after a long day at work. Speaking of cables does anyone have a vender/ manufacturer for top end HDMI cable that is cheaper than Gefen?

Yes I will be calibrating using a GretagMacbeth Eye-One and color facts software. I will post.

GregR of Widescreen review is conducting his tests of the Pearl even as we speak, and I imagine that his article, when it becomes available, will answer all/most of your questions regarding the processor.

So far, here's what the tests of forum-members suggests:

1) Very good inverse telecine deinterlacing on 1080i film-based content
2) Some form of motion adaptive deinterlacing on 1080i video
3) Digital Noise Reduction, not so hot (so I keep it turned off).
4) Pearl accepts 1080p/24 and displays it at 48hz (a big plus)

If you feed this thing HD-DVD or BD at 1080i or 1080p resolution, the picture produced is very impressive. ShowTime and HBO HD (which are very good quality in my area) look like 35mm film. My own personal observation tells me that the scaling of 480p and 720p is good, but I am not sold on 480i deinterlacing yet. This is something that I do not ask my Pearl to do.

Monoprice is doing a solid job of getting out excellent HDMI cables for low prices.

Am I blind or are there no real spec.s listed for their HDMI cable? The user review is great for what it is but totally subjective and including lots of other gear. Those prices are so good it's hard for me to believe that a 50 foot cable is fully compliant.

Yes I will be calibrating using a GretagMacbeth Eye-One and color facts software. I will post.Thanks in advance for posting. We can share data and try the different settings as long as we know what we're doing and return to default or previous settings if needed. BTW, taking digital camera snapshots of menu settings before doing anything is a time-saving way of noting them.

The dynamic iris will have an impact on how calibration is done. Greg Rogers posted on this over in calibration forum:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6692453&&#post6692453

Dan

Can any one tell me the exact offset of the Pearl; say on a 90-100" screen. And how much vertical lensshift i possible? :confused:

Am I blind or are there no real spec.s listed for their HDMI cable? The user review is great for what it is but totally subjective and including lots of other gear. Those prices are so good it's hard for me to believe that a 50 foot cable is fully compliant.


Some have detailed specs (even a PDF of the workorder to the manufacturer with diagrams of the internal layout of the cable, etc.) and some only tell you the guage and a few other details. They allege that all are compliant, and the few I got were stamped with HDMI details.

But the truth is in the pudding: Try it and see. They have a very good return policy.

Am I blind or are there no real spec.s listed for their HDMI cable? The user review is great for what it is but totally subjective and including lots of other gear. Those prices are so good it's hard for me to believe that a 50 foot cable is fully compliant.

Going 50 feet is the max for one HDMI cable I hear but these guys will let you return it if you have a problem. I'm using a 25 footer with never an issue and it's a big fat pipe of a cable. When an installer came by he was surprised and said he didn't know they made HDMI that long.

For what monoprice charges you really don't have anything to lose. HDMI is carrying a digital signal so the connection will either work or not.

Good luck but I wouldn't sweat it. :p

I'm confused. How can you translate the settings from one projector to another ? No 2 projectors are the same even when new. The dichroic filters that provide the primary colors are different from batch to batch, of course lamps are all different, screen surfaces are often different, ambient light (even a tiny bit) is different. Basically anything optical is unique. That's why hollywood DPs often buy their own sets of matched lenses at incredible cost.

I guess it's worth trying. No harm, no foul. But I would be concerned that you might be miscoloring and loosing light by inputting settings that were measured on a different projector in a different place. Remember the only thing that ultimately matters is that it looks great to you.

I agree with everything Modbom said here. Folks that are taking color settings from each other confuse me for the reason above. I suppose borrowing online settings might get you in the right state, but probably not the right ballpark.

I would recommend properly calibrating your display for you location, display variation and screen time with quality tools, or hiring someone to do it. $400 for a professional calibration is a pitance compared to the cost of the projector.

Sage

Yeah that $400 is a pittance until the bulb dies the following week. :)

I agree with everything Modbom said here. Folks that are taking color settings from each other confuse me for the reason above. I suppose borrowing online settings might get you in the right state, but probably not the right ballpark.

Sage

Lots of variables here, including how closely calibrated the two sets were to begin with. And let's not forget, being in the right "state" can be quite an improvement if you were previously off the coast of Borneo without a paddle. :D


With these Pearls, my "amatuer A/V geek" opinion is that sharing settings will get you in the state, and maybe even in the ballpark, but probably not into your favorite seat behind home plate. And as with most things, your mileage may vary. Because, like I said, there are lots of variables here.

There is no harm in trying. And most folks who have been at this for a while can tell when color has "improved" versus when it's gotten worse.'

i knew the instant that I looked at HD content via component that the color settings on Warm mode were pretty screwed up. And I knew the instant that I used my new "shared" settings that they were vastly improved.

Lots of variables here, including how closely calibrated the two sets were to begin with. And let's not forget, being in the right "state" can be quite an improvement if you were previously off the coast of Borneo without a paddle. :D


With these Pearls, my "amatuer A/V geek" opinion is that sharing settings will get you in the state, and maybe even in the ballpark, but probably not into your favorite seat behind home plate. And as with most things, your mileage may vary. Because, like I said, there are lots of variables here.

There is no harm in trying. And most folks who have been at this for a while can tell when color has "improved" versus when it's gotten worse.'

i knew the instant that I looked at HD content via component that the color settings on Warm mode were pretty screwed up. And I knew the instant that I used my new "shared" settings that they were vastly improved.

I thought similar things, until I took a professional calibration class and purchased a professional tool. All the sudden I realized how wildly off I really was just using filters and color bars. It's probably better than nothing, but a proper gray scale calibration really makes things right in a truly satisfying way.

So far, here's what the tests of forum-members suggests:

1) Very good inverse telecine deinterlacing on 1080i film-based content
2) Some form of motion adaptive deinterlacing on 1080i video
3) Digital Noise Reduction, not so hot (so I keep it turned off).
4) Pearl accepts 1080p/24 and displays it at 48hz (a big plus)

If you feed this thing HD-DVD or BD at 1080i or 1080p resolution, the picture produced is very impressive. ShowTime and HBO HD (which are very good quality in my area) look like 35mm film. My own personal observation tells me that the scaling of 480p and 720p is good, but I am not sold on 480i deinterlacing yet. This is something that I do not ask my Pearl to do.
For those of us outside of the US, IIRC, the Pearl (and Ruby) are not so hot when it comes to 2:2 pulldown of SD PAL sources. I've also heard nothing about 50Hz video deinterlacing.

I thought similar things, until I took a professional calibration class and purchased a professional tool. All the sudden I realized how wildly off I really was just using filters and color bars. It's probably better than nothing, but a proper gray scale calibration really makes things right in a truly satisfying way.

As you probably noticed in the tweaks thread, it took me all of about 1 day to decide that I agree with you. :D

Out of curiosity, how much does the gear/class cost?

gremmy:

Several thousands of dollars. By the time it's all said and done, probably about as much as your Pearl did. You're probably better served having someone calibrate your Pearl for you.

Speaking of which, do you mind if I come over sometime and check it out? I also have some HD-DVD test patterns to put up on screen if you have an HD-DVD player. If you don't, I can schlep mine over.

Best,

Is the HDMI 1.3 version?

I'm a bit confused by the thinking on calibration. Specifically the reports of the Pearl being superb out of the box and yet people are advocating very expensive tuning from professionals. Exactly what gains on a percentage basis can be garnered when this thing is 98% or better from the factory?

Then if I'm reading it correctly, WSR will have a review soon and is dissuading folks from messing with the gray scale on the this unit.

Many units can have various degrees of improvement depending on the model but it doesn't sound like the Pearl is in that class. I'll be finally able to play with a unit this weekend and look at some of the settings folks have posted but what is astounding is how little the settings are adjusted at all.

gremmy:

Several thousands of dollars. By the time it's all said and done, probably about as much as your Pearl did. You're probably better served having someone calibrate your Pearl for you.

Speaking of which, do you mind if I come over sometime and check it out? I also have some HD-DVD test patterns to put up on screen if you have an HD-DVD player. If you don't, I can schlep mine over.

Best,

Sure, you're welcome to drop by. Unfortunately, I don't have an HD-DVD player, but I would sure love to see yours in action.

Right now, the projector is set up in a spare bedroom while my dedicated HT is being built. It's a tight fit in there, with this $4K projector sitting on a rickety card table and a tangle of wires running everywhere. I get nervous everytime someone has to step over the component video cable, which is laying in the walk-way. It's sort of a mess in there.

I think you'd probably find it easier to operate if we wait until the builders finish their job, but we can do this sooner if you like.

As you probably noticed in the tweaks thread, it took me all of about 1 day to decide that I agree with you. :D

Out of curiosity, how much does the gear/class cost?

The class was, IIRC, $950 through Sencore. Work paid for it for me. (Yay my job).

I purchased the Sencore 288 probe for a little $500 (I think that's MSRP). This is the older professional probe and software. It does not read well below 2.5 ft./lamberts. This roughly means that I have trouble calibrating below about 30 IRE, and 30 IRE is a bit iffy on dimmer displays (like the old professional 16x10 direct view CRT in my office). This limits the accuracy of my grayscale calibration at the bottom of the curve, so I try to make it a touch +blue, as that's least obnoxious. The newer tool is good to .5 ft./lamberts, but was much, much more expensive.

I'm now officially an ISF guy (and have the signed thingy to prove it), although I do not calibrate consumer displays for a living. Having a single display calibrated is about $300 - $400; this investment now allows me to calibrate most displays myself, although I do not kid myself -- a professional who calibrates for a living and has the newer tools will get better results than I will.

With all the talk of light-corners, RGB gain/bias, and calibrations that I've participated in lately, I decided it was just time to sit down and watch a movie without worrying about the settings.

I just got done watching Crimson Tide on Show-Time HD. A pristine image -- I think ShowTime and HBO HD are running at max bandwidth in my area via Charter Cable, since I never see a single block of pixelization, even on the fast moving scenes.

Anyway, Crimson Tide has lots of tricky images -- very saturated reds and blues from the submarine lights, shadows, swatches of very bright light from flashlights. I watched with the bulb setting on High, and it was just plain awesome. Good black levels, excellent colors, good contrast. Simply fantastic. It reminded me of why I bought this thing to begin with.

For those who are interested, I am using the "Low" color setting. After all my mucking around, I discovered that using the factory presets for Cinema mode work pretty good if I just back the color saturation down to 47.

How do the "light corners" on very dark (black and near black) scenes compare to the grey of the lcd black scenes? Is it just a trade-off or do the black scenes on the Pearl look better than the grey black of the current D5 lcd projectors (ie AE900, TX200 and Z4)??

How do the "light corners" on very dark (black and near black) scenes compare to the grey of the lcd black scenes? Is it just a trade-off or do the black scenes on the Pearl look better than the grey black of the current D5 lcd projectors (ie AE900, TX200 and Z4)??

On my Pearl, the bright corners are only noticeable in black out scenes, and then only barely. I might get the vague impression of a lighter corner on the rare scene or two, but it's not bothersome to me at all. Honestly, if no one had told me anything about the lighter corners, I wouldn't even notice them.

Dark scenes are excellent on the Pearl because of the superb dynamic iris implementation. Blacks are black.

I've never owned an LCD projector, but to me, shadow detail is as important as black level, and the Pearl excels in this area as compared to my friends low-contrast D5 projector.

For those of us outside of the US, IIRC, the Pearl (and Ruby) are not so hot when it comes to 2:2 pulldown of SD PAL sources. I've also heard nothing about 50Hz video deinterlacing.


VirusKiller

Did you attend the recent demo of the Pearl at PJ HiFi ?(Are you in the UK). We viewed DVD from Arcam at 576i to the Peal and the results whilst not perfect didn't look too bad. IIRC we also viewed euro HD source at 1080i direct with pleasing results.

Some UK feedback - http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=402311

Dazzer

I agree with what gremmy posted. My ae900 had a grey black in dark scenes. The pearls dark scenes are black.

Hello All,

I am close to pulling the trigger on this unit, and replacing an LCD, however I wanted to make sure I am getting a good deal. I have a chance to get it for what I think is an amazing price. Can I PM someone to make sure I am right??

however I wanted to make sure I am getting a good deal. I have a chance to get it for what I think is an amazing price. Can I PM someone to make sure I am right??
Call Tryg and see what his price is. If you can do significantly better, it is a good deal!
Tryg Hoff
Sales - Reviews
A/V Science Inc.
360-280-7077 (M-F 5-9 PST, Wkds)
tryghoff@gmail.com

Whoever you end up buying from make sure, like AVS, they are an authorized dealer and able to provide you with support.

I agree with what gremmy posted. My ae900 had a grey black in dark scenes. The pearls dark scenes are black.

When you guys say "black" they are not as black as the black border around the screen, right? You just mean, they never look gray, right?

When you guys say "black" they are not as black as the black border around the screen, right? You just mean, they never look gray, right?

Yes, what you said is correct.

I agree with what gremmy posted. My ae900 had a grey black in dark scenes. The pearls dark scenes are black.

Ditto. Just watched Jurassic Park last night, and lots of good black scenes there. Very well rendered.

Great movie to excercise the new sound system too.

Actually, yes. There is an unused bathroom behind the theater with an opening for the output of the projector.

Marc

How large is the opening in the wall to allow the image to shine through? I take it you have no light bleed over since you have a the wall edge to block it? 14'-5" will be the throw distance in my theater with a 106" diag Stewart ST130 screen.

Yes, what you said is correct.

Good. I was slightly worried that, though the blacks were looking VERY GOOD, perfect, even, I wasn't getting all the performance I should :)

I am planning to purchase my first projector and need some advice.

I have seen the Ruby and loved it but buying the Pearl would really boost my screen budget. After reading the many posts on this thread, it sounds like the Pearl would be a good choice.


What is the largest screen size I can use without sacrificing quality?
Which screen should I buy?
Which Throw distance?
Distance from seats to the screen?


Room Description:
19' x 19'
Ceiling Hieght: 8' and tapers to 10'
The walls and ceiling are painted dark brown with a dull finish
I have complete light control, it is black with the lights off.

I am trying to acheive the best quality I can, Any advise would be appreciated ...

I am trying to acheive the best quality I can, Any advise would be appreciated ...
I would suggest a Pearl and a 9' wide Silverstar! Thats what I am leaning towards!

Call Tryg
Tryg Hoff
Sales - Reviews
A/V Science Inc.
360-280-7077 (M-F 5-9 PST, Wkds)
tryghoff@gmail.com

Sorry if I missed this...does the Pearl have a sealed light path, to prevent dust blobs?

I noticed the new Mitsu has this feature. After living with a couple LCD Pannies that have seen their share of compressed air cans, this is key for me...

Thanks.

-tony

Sorry if I missed this, does the Pearl support HDMI 1.3???

Sorry if I missed this, does the Pearl support HDMI 1.3???

Nope, nothing supports 1.3 yet.

Is the Pearl upgradeable to 1.3???

Is the Pearl upgradeable to 1.3???Highly unlikely. You'd have to change the internal processing as well as the hardware to make use of the 1.3 improvements.

Anyone know what a replacement lamp is worth for th Pearl? I can' seem to find a price in US or Canadian dollars. Only in yen(37,000).

$350 MSRP

Are we sure the hardware is not already there and only a software update could do the trick?

Are we sure the hardware is not already there and only a software update could do the trick?
What are expecting HDMI 1.3 to do for you that the current version isn't already doing?

Are we sure the hardware is not already there and only a software update could do the trick?
Yes, the Sony uses a HDMI 1.2a part from Silicon Image. SI's HDMI parts are not software upgradeable.

What are expecting HDMI 1.3 to do for you that the current version isn't already doing?
I'm guessing "deep color" support for PS3 games coming in about five years. No other "deep content" content is expected in that timeframe.

Im new to the front projector realm so I have alot of ?, however alot has been cleared up by this forum. Below I will be listing the set up I will be purchasing and I have a few ?? about it.
Sony Pearl VPL-Vw50
100" Stewart Firehawk SST(when its released)
Cristalio II 3300
Onkyo SR803
Toshiba HD-XA1

Will the pearl be ok with a 100" screen and what is the optimum viewing distance, seeing as i will have a dedicated HT room, controled light, and tiered seeting? What is the mounting distance for the pearl? and i know this is prolly isnt the correct place for this question but does the cristalio have 1080p pass through since the new Toshiba HD DVD players will be full 1080p, just in case I deside to hold out for one of them.
BTW my room dimentions are 17' X 12'9". Just a heads up im thinking that 10' and 14' will be my seating distances.
Thanks in advance and sorry if these quetions have already been answered.

^

Cool it's pointless bump day =8)

Hey Don. Actually, just reminding everyone how the hype goes when a hot new product hits the market. Many tend to forget. Enjoy.

Oh yeah I agree Digital Rumors... like Digital Bulbs start really hot & bright but dim as the point is lost :), of course they do level out an slow down when they get to the thick of it.

Remember the AE100!

Hey Don. Actually, just reminding everyone how the hype goes when a hot new product hits the market. Many tend to forget. Enjoy.


Kipp, it looks like you did your best to bump some life back into all the old Pearl threads. However, you need to hit us with something like a new picture tweak, Pearl versus RS1 review, or hot rumor from the mothership that Pearl II is coming soon.

Britney keeps up the hype by dropping babies, flashing her muff and shaving her head. You gotta do your part. :rolleyes:

Hey Don. Actually, just reminding everyone how the hype goes when a hot new product hits the market. Many tend to forget. Enjoy.


You amuse me Kipp...do you intend to continue with your anit-hype campaign with the release of each new projector that gains interest? :rolleyes:

I guess what I find more interesting is the fact that your current pj, if I'm not mistaken, is the object of the last go round of the hype machine...perhaps you should just enjoy your pj and avoid the forum. ;)

Some one please help me to find Eric's calibration thread on Sony pearl. I just purchased VW 50 and would like to learn few tricks to make it bright and calibrate to acquire true colors.
Regarding sharpness, what number is best suited for HDMI & Component connectivity? factory setting is set at 50. How can I set gain and offset? again, what are the optimum numbers? how to access service manual?
Very many thanks in advance

I need to dig up more Pearl thread too!

So far I only tried HDMI in 1080i and 1080p feed. I leave the Sharpness at default 50 for 1080i and turn it to Min for 1080p because it removes some picture detail. The Gain/Offset control is under Picture, Color Temp, User1/2/3.

Service menu is Enter. Enter, Left, Enter, then OK, I think. A user posted the code in my recent Pearl thread. I haven't adjusted anything in service menu though.

regards,

Li On