Veeeeery tiny.




Classic! :D

I recommend getting a HD DVD player and the HD DVD. :D

The screenshots may lose some pq on a big screen as CJ points out, but have fun and thanks for the compliment.

Dan

A HD player of SOME type will be bought first - hopefully within the next few months. I want to make sure that the future projector and the HD player jive with each other.

I'm using MCE 2005 with an Nvidia 7800gt card; it recognized the Pearl and outputs 1920x1080p....

...another PC with a MyHD card feeding the pearl's input A are great.

I'm using an nVidia 6600LE and that works great, except on some of my homemade HD recordings, which get a little funky at times. I was thinking of getting a MyHD card, to output those at their native 1080i, since the nVidia's interlaced output is created from its own internal deinterlaced signal.

How does the MyHD output compare with the nVidia output?

Was using the HTPC today to just test things with the pearl and i notice it will let me output 1080i 24 as well as 1080p24, the nvidia bit just says 1080 24interlaced.

After a fair bit of testing also i have come to the conclusion that feeding the pearl 1080i is not the best bet, as it seems it drops resolution and looses some sharpness. there in no doubt that feeding 1080p 1080p24 and even 720p yeilded better results with SD dvd. This was with the 7800gtx and theatertek, the pearl is not doing somthing right@1080i

I have just fired up my Pearl and whilst I find it excellent for HD material I am disappointed in the standard material. The colours are drab and the picture is not as good as the InFocus 4805 I had running before. Its probably a matter of adjustment but changing the colour and contrasts doesnt really improve it, just changes the colours. Football matches for example are superb on HD broadcasts but on standard are not clear with black lines around the players.
is it normal to have a different set of adjustments for standard and HD material?
I have it running on HDMI cable.
For such an outlay its disappointing so I might reconnect the InFocus and have that for standard definition programmes on a lower shelf connected to the component leads. It will look impressive if nothing else.
dave

I have just fired up my Pearl and whilst I find it excellent for HD material I am disappointed in the standard material. The colours are drab and the picture is not as good as the InFocus 4805 I had running before. Its probably a matter of adjustment but changing the colour and contrasts doesnt really improve it, just changes the colours. Football matches for example are superb on HD broadcasts but on standard are not clear with black lines around the players.
is it normal to have a different set of adjustments for standard and HD material?
I have it running on HDMI cable.
For such an outlay its disappointing so I might reconnect the InFocus and have that for standard definition programmes on a lower shelf connected to the component leads. It will look impressive if nothing else.
dave

Hmmm - that is not good. My viewing habits are about 70% HD and 30% SD from Directv.

Is this unit considered to be HDCP compliant? It seems there has been a real tadoo in the HTPC market this past year regarding HDCP compatibility vs. the hardware/software installed on the system. I'm considering adding Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD to a nVidia 8800 video card HTCP, and I'm wondering if this unit will display the media properly. It sounds like the Sony unit can be properly fed from the HTPC through DVI-D to HDMI cable for true 1080p content?

Is this unit considered to be HDCP compliant? It seems there has been a real tadoo in the HTPC market this past year regarding HDCP compatibility vs. the hardware/software installed on the system. I'm considering adding Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD to a nVidia 8800 video card HTCP, and I'm wondering if this unit will display the media properly. It sounds like the Sony unit can be properly fed from the HTPC through DVI-D to HDMI cable for true 1080p content?
Yes it is HDCP complient and works fine from a HTPC @1920x1080p, the HTPC will also allow you to sync at 1080p24 for film content.

Works fine for me with my Nvidia GFX

Gandley, which nVidia card are you using? It seems that only the most recent cards are HDCP compliant? I ran the nVidia HDCP test on my relatively new computer system and nearly everything failed!

Well I'm at it, one more question ... the light output on this unit seems to be quite low, but the contrast ratio quite high. As always, these units should be in a darker room to work well, but the lumen output on this thing is remarkably low, did that cause you any concern when purchasing?

Looking at pulling the trigger on a Sony Pearl, questions for owners. Anyone having any issues with the so called Green Blob BS? I have a 60" SXRD and don't have this yet, although I did see it a couple of times watching a Black and White movie at startup, and have not seen it since. Just was wondering if this is an issue on there FPs. Currently using a HS51 which is decent. Thanks..

Anyone having any issues with the so called Green Blob BS? Yes, color uniformity is an issue although not as bad overall as reported in the RPTV forum with early SXRDs there.

Here's an example of what is likely a more severe case:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8964605&&#post8964605

I have seen some in my Pearl but it's much less noticeable than the given example. I'm still going to try to correct the nonuniformity I see with adjustments discussed at length in the Pearl Calibration/Tweak thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8991136#post8991136

Dan

drapp1952: Just started seeing some tonight at start up, never seen it before. Just don't want to fork out a ton of cash and have a major issue, been a Sony FP fan for sometime, but they are still improving on there LCDS vastly, the SXRD line is still new. nonuniformity doesn't bother me as much unless severe and can usually as you stated be adjusted, the green blob etc issues can be trouble some, but as usual the RPTV/Sony SXRD forum has some wackos in it that have a problem then just TVs with Sony. Thanks for the info, looking at those screen shots they look impressive.

Does anyone know a dealer etc.. that will take trade in's on a Sony HS51 with under 800hours on it? I have one in town and one other guy, just trying to get pricing... PM me if anyone has any info... Many thanks.....

Gandley, which nVidia card are you using? It seems that only the most recent cards are HDCP compliant? I ran the nVidia HDCP test on my relatively new computer system and nearly everything failed!

Well I'm at it, one more question ... the light output on this unit seems to be quite low, but the contrast ratio quite high. As always, these units should be in a darker room to work well, but the lumen output on this thing is remarkably low, did that cause you any concern when purchasing?

Oh yeah, i did forget the older cards dont have HDCP enabled, sorry.

Mine is the 8800 GTX, which is spanking new.

As for the pearls brightness i find it actually quite bright and i dont use a screen with gain. So while it is only specc as 800 lumens, there is plenty of lumens hitting the screen. I only need to run in low lamp mode and i dont have total light control, though i dont have ambient light issues, just white ceiling, light coloured walls etc. But the pearl is plenty bright.

I strongly suspect that (most) people who don't think the Pearl is bright enough either expect it to be a large TV in their front room, or haven't actually seen one. We actually watch football with this window open (http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i61/rsamos/Home%20Theater/?action=view&current=HT_20061123_002.jpg) and have no problem with it.

We only have partial light control (white ceiling, light leaks around blackout shades) but the picture looks fine. Projector is wall mounted 14' from a BOC screen with its bulb on low.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i61/rsamos/Home%20Theater/Pearl%20screen%20shots/HT_20061123_015.jpg

On the other hand - this is my first projector. I may change my tune after the bulb starts to wear. But for now - I continue to be astounded by the picture from this thing.

Looking at pulling the trigger on a Sony Pearl, questions for owners.

Only one user, that I know of, has reported a blob on a Pearl, and that blob was pink, not green.

Based on end-user reports, all Pearls will have some color discontinuity problems, most commonly seen as a slight tint on white fields -- either pink or green. It is usually very subtle and can be vastly improved by anyone with the courage to delve into the 3D gamma tables in the service menu.

I do wish Sony would do a better job of this, but it's not all that bad.

thankfully my pearl had perfect uformity, no tints of any kind, just pure white.

Didnt have the bright corners issues either. Mine is however misconverged with both red and i think green (it might be blue thou). one 1 pixel to the left the other to the right, so being 3 pixels apart. Sony have agreed this is too much and are replacing the unit, but have also agreed to check the unit they are sending out to me. (though it will take a few days xtra to arrive).

So happy with that.

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/drapp1952/Kong/KongD.jpg

Shaq, is that you? :eek:

CJ
I have owned 3 LCD projectors over the last 7 1/2 years. The first only briefly and the last two a Sony 400Q 4 years and a Sony HS-10 3 1/2 years. Image degradation has never came into play as a reason for me to upgrade.

Familiarity makes it hard to spot. Plus, three projectors over 7 1/2 years means you never had one long enough to have an issue most likely.

Could not imagine anything in this game satisfying me for 20 years to come. Glad to hear that the image is to your liking.

Welcome to CRT ;)

Was using the HTPC today to just test things with the pearl and i notice it will let me output 1080i 24 as well as 1080p24, the nvidia bit just says 1080 24interlaced.

After a fair bit of testing also i have come to the conclusion that feeding the pearl 1080i is not the best bet, as it seems it drops resolution and looses some sharpness. there in no doubt that feeding 1080p 1080p24 and even 720p yeilded better results with SD dvd. This was with the 7800gtx and theatertek, the pearl is not doing somthing right@1080i

I suspect the problem here is with the nVidia card and Theatertek: They are taking a 1080i file, converting to 1080p, then re-interlacing back to 1080i. From all reports, you then end up with a 540p image, since the card uses an equavlent of a "bob" to complete that process.

If you can output the same 1080i original, in 1080i that hasn't been processed the way all nvidia cards process it (1080i->1080p->1080i) you'll be much happier.

thankfully my pearl had perfect uformity, no tints of any kind, just pure white.


Not that I reccommend looking for problems, but have you looked at full-field IRE windows, from 30 or 40 IRE all the way to 100?

Another thing to consider is that not everyone is sensitive to the uniformity issues. My wife can be staring at a discolored whitefield, with me pointing out the specific locations of the pinkish area and then the greenish area, and she still can't see it.

But if you've truly got perfect uniformity sans a William Phelps calibration, congrats.

Beautiful screenshots everyone. Just a stunning picture.

What amazes me the most is the projector's ability to make even what is supposed to be real look fake again. Whenever I see Ann in the same picture as Kong, she just stands out like a puppet. Also, in the screenshot where Jack Black is standing in front of Kong's fence, everything just seems artificial to me, kind of like well painted styrofoam. Of course I am not so bothered during the movie because I have less time to stare and nitpick.

Nonetheless, the VW50 certainly shines. Congratulations on your purchases. :)

Beautiful screenshots everyone. Just a stunning picture.

What amazes me the most is the projector's ability to make even what is supposed to be real look fake again. Whenever I see Ann in the same picture as Kong, she just stands out like a puppet. Also, in the screenshot where Jack Black is standing in front of Kong's fence, everything just seems artificial to me, kind of like well painted styrofoam. Of course I am not so bothered during the movie because I have less time to stare and nitpick.

Nonetheless, the VW50 certainly shines. Congratulations on your purchases. :)

(emphasis mine)

I actually think this might be ADDITIONAL PROOF that the Pearl shines... by all accounts, the more detailed the picture, the more revealing of source defects, including special FX that aren't so "special". ;-)

I have some PS3 shots on the Pearl. Anyone here I can email them to who can link them into this thread? Terminator too.

Kip, I've PM'd you.

Dan

Hi Dan,
Pics sent. Thanks!!!

KING KONG is way too often FAKE LOOKING (not him in particular, the movie).
it's such a CGI galore..... JPark and especially the second looked way more believable :)
Spielberg knew night shots + animatronics was the only way to more realism.

i think KING KONG needs a projector with massive contrast capacities and ansi contrast. but still it looks fake, cartoonesque.
some bad CGI also in the movie on top of way too many CGI

some CGI look good (Kong, the raft scene, some trex scene).

I agree. Believe it or not, the witch flying around in The Wizard of Oz looks pretty darn good. No CGI, just people being creative.

Can someone who really knows their stuff tell me what screen is the best for the Sony Pearl? Price is not a factor. Thanks!!

1.3 gain
http://www.digitalvortex.com/MK235.JPG

Nice! I like the gothic castle hall feel :) Did you get the dragon lamps from Design Toscano? I like their stuff.

What is the width of your screen? It looks curved.

Can someone who really knows their stuff tell me what screen is the best for the Sony Pearl? Price is not a factor. Thanks!!


I am very pleased with the Carada BW 100".

Here are Kipp's pics.

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/drapp1952/Kipp/Kipp1.jpg

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/drapp1952/Kipp/Kipp2.jpg

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/drapp1952/Kipp/Kipp3.jpg

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/drapp1952/Kipp/Kipp4.jpg

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/drapp1952/Kipp/Kipp5.jpg

Dan

1.3 gain
http://www.digitalvortex.com/MK235.JPG

Thanks for the tip!!! NICE stuff you guys got here.....

By the way, what screen size is this A/Vspec? Looks pretty big.

It is a 120" by 51" Cine-W Curved StudioTek 130

Nice! I like the gothic castle hall feel :) Did you get the dragon lamps from Design Toscano? I like their stuff.

What is the width of your screen? It looks curved.

Actually I bought them at a local Spencers gift store on sale.

My last name is Knight so I had no choice but to go with a castle look.... LOL ;)

I hope to finish most of the theater off this weekend and will post some finished pics when it is all done.

It is a 120" by 51" Cine-W Curved StudioTek 130

That's pretty big for a Pearl. Hows the brightness? Using an anamorphic lense for the widescreen stuff?

nathan_h: I just saw a Pearl on the same screen, very nice indeed. And if you have no ambient light issues this projector shines. I have a Batcave design and I am getting a Pearl in a few weeks, I looked at the Mits and a few others and right now till the JVC R1 comes out for the money this unit is sweet. Some units tend to need more calibration out of the box then others hopefully mine will be one that doesn't need too much tweeking. The material I was viewing was Star Wars III in HD pretty Amazing...

the pearl looks great. i'm looking to hang the same projector from the ceiling. i have a 92" steward screen and i'm looking to shoot it from about 16' from the screen. My question is,"How low do i have to hang the projector from the ceiling."

That's pretty big for a Pearl. Hows the brightness? Using an anamorphic lense for the widescreen stuff?

Plenty bright! Using a UH380 lense fixed in place.

Camera screwed up on me for awhile.

I stapled up a bunch of black velvet, everything looks better now imho.
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/675/projectorstuff062xb4.jpg


One semi-blurry pic of Motorstorm
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/2006/projectorstuff063zb9.jpg

http://www.filelodge.com/files/hdd9/232691/AVSforum/Kong1.jpghttp://www.filelodge.com/files/hdd9/232691/HDTV/HDTV%20093b.png

My PJ is only AVIA calibrated. I'm waiting to get the Spyder TV pro to use later on. What I would like to see is for drapp to post an undited screenshot of this particular scene. I would like to use your screenshot as a reference point to how much improvement I get if I use the Spyder.

My screenshot looks a bit more colorful than what I see on my PJ and less bright. Thats just my camera introducing anomalies and stuff. I can actually make it look as close as drapps screenshots by using Photoshop (but that will cheating ;) )

I personally have seen the Pearl and I say its worth it as long as you have 100% light control in your room and sit close enough to see all the details up close.

Pearl in the House!!! Oh Joy!!!!

Can some one post some good settings for this unit? Or direct me to a Thread that has some good settings would be much appeciated. Got the VE and Avia Disc ready to roll, and this unit was a sinch to setup, just swapped out my HS51 (sold it) and slapped this one in it's place a few adjustments and away we go..... Nice to see more improvement in Blacks etc... Also looking for a
good screen for this combo...

Also I heard this Projector matches up well with a SilverStar.

Xylon: nice screen shots, I helped my buddy put up a AE900, nice PJ. He brought it over and we did a quick comparison. There is none in my mind, his did a fantastic job on some material but it was hard to compare a 1080p picture ;). Regardless both Projectors do well in certain areas. I heard this SilverStar by Vutec really brightens up things as it should with a 6.0 gain, most PJ will have hotspotting issues but I heard there isn't any with this combo...

"I personally have seen the Pearl and I say its worth it as long as you have 100% light control in your room and sit close enough to see all the details up close."

I agree with part of this statement, sitting close or far the detail is there regardless. But light control with this PJ is critical. Hence it would be nice to get a decent screen that could give it a some more pop if needed.

Thanks all!!

G

What I would like to see is for drapp to post an undited screenshot of this particular scene.

I personally have seen the Pearl and I say its worth it as long as you have 100% light control in your room and sit close enough to see all the details up close.Here's the unedited version. As you can see it's a bit rotated and not cropped and the black level may be a couple of clicks lower. If I were to change modes on my camera it'd have more effect than any subtle Photoshop alterations. Subsequent calibrations since I took these pics might lead to even a bit less color saturation, far less than in the AE900 shots.

I'll be getting a GretagMacbeth EyeOne Pro spectrophotometer in the next week or two and comparing with the Spyder2 and DTP-94 colorimeters. While I think the changes from calibrating with the EyeOne Pro will be subtle especially in terms of what screencaps can portray, I'll post if there's any significant difference.

http://67.18.219.83/image_hosting/web_pages/drapp1952/Kong/Unedited_KK_Restaurant.jpg

Dan

Perfect! Thanks a lot. Bigger size and all. I can rotate the pix myself.

This is another proof that calibrating your PJ is essential to get the maximum PQ. As far I'm concern after seeing all the screenshots in this thread especially Dan's I conclude that AVIA or DVE is not cutting it anymore. I need more accurate calibration than that. Albeit more pricey.

http://autopia.org/forum/images/smilies/kewlpics.gif

Hey would anyone have a screen shot of lord of the rings return of the king? with the sony vw50?? or x-men 2 the opening scene with the blue guy

would greatly appreciate it
cheers Chris

FROM AUSTRALIA!!