My first home PJ was an Optoma EP 719; I then graduated to an HD 70 (a huge improvement) fed by an HD DVD player. My big mistake was peeking into this forum and getting hooked on the idea of buying a 1080p unit. I tool the plunge and the Pearl arrived yesterday. This post gives my initial impressions of the PJ.

Firstly, it’s impressively big—about 3-4 times the size of my HD 70 (around 20 inches long), but it is not overly heavy. Build quality is excellent and the unit looks and feels solid and well-finished.

Turning it on, the first major difference between the Sony and my Optoma became apparent: the fan on the Sony is incredibly quiet—almost inaudible. The PJ seemed to take a little longer to “come up” than the Optoma, but the wait isn’t overly-long.

Setup for the screen (a 106 inch Grey Wolf) was a dream—there’s no substitute for lens shift and a decent zoom ratio. I was able to get my image perfectly aligned in less than a minute (it seemed to take forever with the Optoma—I had to move the projector stand and fiddle with the keystone settings).

As for image quality—I set my HD DVD player to 1080i and fed Apollo 13 (lots of fine detail in gauges, etc!) to the PJ. I know there is an ongoing debate about 1080i vs 1080p on fixed-pixel devices, but this is the best source I have right now. Firstly—the image was bright and contrasty—even on the high lamp setting. Setting the lamp to low produced astonishing blacks and black detail. The black of space was truly black indeed!

I also noticed on completely black screens (no pic), that there was a faint, milky area in the top left and bottom right corners when using high lamp (this effect was _very_ subtle). However, even a dim “letterbox image” (which left those areas still dark) was enough to render it invisible. It seemed to fade away as the PJ warmed and was completely invisible on low lamp.

I did a rough grayscale setting using the THX disk and the contrast improved even more. Color seemed a little “punchy” and I think the PJ could benefit from some formal calibration. However, this is a minor complaint as overall, the color seemed natural and not too far from the color balance on my professionally-calibrated HD 70. And no rainbows!

As to pixels—what pixels? From about 2 feet, the pixels are pretty much impossible to see on this PJ. And as to resolution, even from my viewing distance (about 12 feet), the difference between 1080 and 720 was apparent (though one could argue that superior optics also come into play!). The difference was much more subtle than the shift between the 719 and the HD 70. It was more like moving from a decent but inexpensive audio system to more upscale equipment. It was as if a subtle veil had been removed between me and the image; “like looking through a window” describes it pretty well.

This PJ also gives you lots of control over just about any aspect of the image you want to mess with. I didn’t have time to explore them all, but the unit seems to be very flexible and I’m sure that further calibration should be relatively simple with the right equipment.

That concluded my first night with the PJ. Tonight, I plan on exploring more of the many features Sony provides. My initial impression—this PJ is a winner!

Brian

Brian, Can u post some screen shots...

I will try to do that...

Congrats, glad you're happy with your choice. Enjoy some movies now!! :)

Couple of things Brian. I also went from an Optoma (the H78DC3) to the Pearl and used the same Graywolf screen. You should consider replacing the 106" Graywolf with a Dalite HP of the same size. It made a big difference for me and the Pearl IMHO does not need that gray to do blacks, it does great blacks. And you won't even be thinking about going from low lamp, and that is a big plus for lamp usage.

Most importantly, the surface of the Dalite HP is better for the Pearl than the Graywolf.

You may also want to play around with some setting by Googer who posted these on the Pearl:

Picture Mode Cinema
Cinema Black Pro
Advanced Iris Auto1, Recommended
Lamp Control Low
Contrast 80
Brightness 52
Color 70
Hue 50
Color Temp Custom 3
Gain
R 5
G -10
B 6
Bias
R 11
G -6
B -16
Sharpness 0
Black Level Adj Off
Gamma Correction Gamma 2

RCP
Red
Color -20
Hue 4
Yellow
Color -20
Hue -5
Green
Color -20
Hue 20
Cyan
Color -19
Hue -3
Blue
Color -20
Hue 23
Magenta
Color -19
Hue 7
Color Space Normal

Romanesque--

Thank you for the thoughtful advice and the settings you posted. I'll certainly look into the Dalite screen and I'll give those settings a try this evening.

Best,

Brian

Thanks for posting your impressions Brian.
The Pearl is looking better and better to me. I would like to go CIH and I believe that the Pearl does the required "stretch".
Please let us know of your experience with the Dynamic Iris. Did you feel like it was intrusive when in operation?
Will you be operating the pj continuouly in "low" mode.
I'm also interested in using a pj for black & white content, but there doesn't seem to be much interest for that here.
Tony...

That concluded my first night with the PJ. Tonight, I plan on exploring more of the many features Sony provides. My initial impression—this PJ is a winner!

Brian

How dare you clutter up this forum with Sony talk when you know we only want to discuss the RS1. :p



I'm obviously kidding. THe Pearl is on my short list and I look forward to hearing about your further explorations. :)

Thanks for the feedback Brian. Glad you are happy.

I believe that the Pearl does the required "stretch".
Oops....only does it for SD. Sorry. :(

How good is the convergence? What about the shading? Any issues?...

What amazes me is that there are barely used Pearls selling for under three grand now that the RS1 is out. I watched the BR Prestige last night and couldn't help but be amazed at the PQ from 8' away (110" screen).

I would highly recommend a Dalite HP screen-works great w/ the Pearl.My first proj./screen was a $15,000 purchase back in 1997.My sony Pearl and screen cost me around $4k and just blows away my old proj. in every way. Ron :)

Thanks for posting your impressions Brian.
The Pearl is looking better and better to me. I would like to go CIH and I believe that the Pearl does the required "stretch".
Please let us know of your experience with the Dynamic Iris. Did you feel like it was intrusive when in operation?
Will you be operating the pj continuouly in "low" mode.
I'm also interested in using a pj for black & white content, but there doesn't seem to be much interest for that here.
Tony...

Tony--I will be operating the PJ in 'low' mode more or less exclusively. I cannot confirm that it will do the CIH stretch, but I'll look into it more. The dynamic iris was in no way obtrusive (using setting Auto 1, which is optimal)--I didn't notice it (unlike the image AI on my HD70).

How good is the convergence? What about the shading? Any issues?...
Michael--I don't have the test patterns to test the convergence. To the unaided eye, the image looks pretty darn good; if there's softness there compared to other 1080p projectors I've seen, it's subtle. As for shading, I see none at all and the uniformity (with the exception of the subtle lighter areas I noticed at startup on the high lamp setting) seems to be fine to me. I'll spend more time with the unit over the next day or two and report any issues I see as I get to know it better.

Best,

Brian

Brian, some folks have also noted that the use of the overscan softens the picture. When you pull up the main menu, make sure that overscan is off.

Good luck with the settings and hope they work for you or act as a template for one of your three user settings. It was big for me.

But as big, if not more so was getting a nice white Dalite HP screen.

Congrats! I had my Pearl for 6 weeks now, and get more pleased with each movie. My screen is a 92" light grey gain 1.0 (Dreamscreen), and the picture has plenty of punch and great blacks.

And it gets alot better with al ittle coloradj. ;)

Sold my IF7205 and purchased pearl just 10 days ago, I remember my instant reaction when fired up right out of the box. "Oh my God, this is amazing, WOW"
No doubt Sony makes good display product especially when it is made in Japan.

I am using Draper M2500 133" with a minimum throw distance around 16ft and with low lamp setting. Auto iris off, gamma off, sharpness set to min for HDMI source when fed ps3 & Tosh HD-A1 to pearl. Rests of the setting are factory default.

I would like to try Gain, Bias & RCP but afraid it might screw up the picture therefore, want to leave it as is.
Brian, please post your final settings it may help me to tweak my pearl.
Thanks
sraoof

How do you adjust the "Gain" on the Pearl.
I found everything else.

Scott

How do you adjust the "Gain" on the Pearl.
I found everything else.

Scott

Same here--I couldn't find it, either. I'm still doing a few tweaks--hopefully this evening I can post some of my settings (for the Grey Wolf)

Brian

Brian,

I found it. It's under color temp.
Enter in there and go to user settings.

Scott

Great! Thanks, Scott!

Brian

I spent a couple of hours with the Pearl last night and there are one or two more adjustments I want to make before posting the settings I'm using. I'll also try to put one or two screenshots up.

Best,

Brian

Finally Demo'd the Pearl this afternoon at a Bestbuy/Magnolia store.....

To any that don't already know, the Pearl CAN produce a film like image that is on par with the local cineplex.
So it seem we have arrived, 1080P PJ's replicate that real theater image that has been the dream to many of us. I'm not an ISF tech to even start talking about IRE numbers or Lumen counts, but what I can say is I enjoy the movies. The real movies.

I walked in and the pearl was already warm and playing 5th element. I measure the distances of the PJ and seating, and find the distance that I have for my seats. I ask the sales guy to please turn off all the lights and close the doors so we can do a private demo. He does.

First. The Pearl is, for all intents and purposes, SILENT.

Second, The pearl has NO pixel structure that can be seen unless your nose is practically touching the screen.

Third, it IS film like. *With* HD dvd or Bluray. We swithced thru some sources and HD theater was one of them. Though the HD was beautiful, I could tell I was watching a *TV*show. Maybe because it was too clear. (not a bad thing, but I will not use it for TV anyway.)

Blu ray was a reproduction of film. And for my purposes, that is what I want. But you have to *find* it in the settings. According to the sales guy, the pearl was ISF calibrated when they set it up in store. But as I watched, I took extra notice of the black level because of all the hub-bub of the RS1's super black level. And I noticed that the letterbox bars looked kinda "grey".
I pointed this out and the guy gets the remote and flips thru the different modes. When he hit Cinema Mode I told him "HOLD IT".

Talk about richness. I can understand that alot of AV peeps keep comparing their PJ's to CRT's but maybe they're missing the forest for the trees. CRT is TV man. This is about the film. The organic attributes, the imperfections, heck even the "dust". Well, the Pearl can do it (except the dust part). The blacks were impressive in cinema mode, and color was alot better too. Maybe it was calibrated, but not in the orginal mode he had it in to begin with. Now it looked like an image I could charge admission for. As I'm watching the taxi chase scene, I find that the sales guy and I were BOTH just sitting in the chairs enjoying the movie. He even starts to laugh when the cops spill their drinks as Dallas speeds by. We're sucked into the film for the next few minutes. The Pearl does what I need it to do. Now I need to take notes.

I notice the room isn't completely dark. Though the doors are closed, Light is spilling in through the glass. Also, the PJ is 16 feet away from the 92" firehawk screen (which I didn't really like because of it's sparkling properties), so the PJ had a few elements that were not ideal, or even how I would set it up. But I went there to see if the PJ itself could put out the next level of image that I have been wanting. I can unequivically say IT DOES. Other members have said it before, that it's pretty hard to go wrong with this latest gen of 1080p PJ's. I have to agree.

My last task will be to demo the RS1. Although I am seriously thinking what for. Seeing the Pearl image first hand has shown that the power is now in a consumers hands to really create true Theater and so the extra step of going to a 2:35:1 theater is doable. The RS1 needs some extra equipment from what I gather, but I have not made up my mind yet. 1500 bucks is 1500 bucks. Thats a BR and HDVD player with a few good titles. But I will conceed that a "WOW" image is worth that. However, I gotta see it for myself. Sony and JVC have really let the genie out of the bottle.

Cheers.

This is interesting,why?coz for the first time I'm actually enjoying reading a pj review!I think it's due to the fact that the comments are from average joe who lives in the real world and doesnt analize the pj at the microscopic level with -ire reading-test pattern analizing spectrowhatchamacallit gizmo thingy :rolleyes: .Just a down to earth average guy who has some understanding of what constitutes a good picture.
What I would like too see is someone like this that can assess the difference between the jvc and the pearl,I think this type of analyses is more valid for me personally as I am an average joe also who doesnt understand half the crap thats said on these reviews.

Dave

I spent a couple of hours with the Pearl last night and there are one or two more adjustments I want to make before posting the settings I'm using. I'll also try to put one or two screenshots up.

Best,

Brian

Brian,
I'll be interested in trying your settings. had some success with others but I still think I need a little more tweaking.
Once I've had it for a while I'll probably do the ISF thing.

scott

What I would like too see is someone like this that can assess the difference between the jvc and the pearl,I think this type of analyses is more valid for me personally as I am an average joe also who doesnt understand half the crap thats said on these reviews.

Dave
Dave,

I was just reading the review below regarding the RS1 and the writer references the Pearl quite a bit. It's a straight forward review so you might find it interesting.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/jvc/DLA-RS1/index.asp

:)

Dave,

I was just reading the review below regarding the RS1 and the writer references the Pearl quite a bit. It's a straight forward review so you might find it interesting.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/jvc/DLA-RS1/index.asp

:)

Wet1

Thanks for that,I actually like that guys reviews quite alot,concise and straight forward,from his review I can not see anyone being disapointed with either projector.I'll be auditioning both and if there isnt much in it I'll then compare prices before I decide.

Dave

I got some settings that worked last night--I'll post them later as it was late by the time I finished. The batteries in my camera failed, so I was unable to post pix. I tool a look at convergence using the THX test pattern adn I'll also post pix of this. The convergence does not seem to be too bad--pretty much on at the center, but some issues (1-2 pixels horizontal and vertical) towards the edges. The bottom line of the test pattern shows a red fringe at the top a pixel wide (this is the most obvious issue).

I'm very pleased with the balance and smoothness of the image now. I think this unit was better calibrated that the projectorreviews sample Art reviewed. If I use his settings, I get a very green pic.

More later!

Brian

Concrats on the Pearl purchase Brian.

I watched "The Departed" last night and was very pleased with the image... well except that they used WAY to much compression on some of the scenes. But then again I am projecting onto a 130" 2.35:1 screen.... ;)

Tonight: "The da vinci code" in HD. It should hold up a bit better.

http://www.digitalvortex.com/Marks%20Medieval%20Knight%20Theater.JPG

Went from a Barcographics 808S on a 16x9 106" screen to:

Sony Pearl, Panamorph UH380 lense, Stewart StudioTek 130 Cine-W.

What is the average throw distance for a 106" screen for the Pearl. Dr J

What is the average throw distance for a 106" screen for the Pearl. Dr J

You can find info for the Pearl here:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Sony-VPL-VW50-projection-calculator.htm

Best,

Brian

I got the notification that images were limited to 500K. I have some images to share, but they are over a meg in size. This may seem a stupid question, but how do I reduce the size?

Best,

Brian

These work very well on the Grey Wolf. I'd post pix, if I can figure out how to get the file size small enough!

Picture Mode Cinema
Cinema Black Pro
Advanced Iris Auto 1
Lamp Control Low
Contrast 80
Brightness 52
Color 50
Hue 50
Color Temp Middle
Gain
Sharpness 50
NR Off
Black Level Adj Low
Gamma Correction Off

Color Space Wide

Load the file into some imaging software (photoshop, etc) and save the file at a lower resolution.


I got the notification that images were limited to 500K. I have some images to share, but they are over a meg in size. This may seem a stupid question, but how do I reduce the size?

Best,

Brian

Email them to me I can host them if you like. Or just open them in a viewer and reduce them that way.
quantuminternet@hotmail.com

Javadog--

Thanks--I'll send them on later today!

Best,

Brian

Brian,
What are your Gain & Bias settings? I tried color temp. middle and the colors look well, kind a un-natural comparing to the low color temp. setting. Please post your numbers for gain & bias also a procedure how and where to locate in service manual.
Thanks in advance
sraoof

Irfanview is a great freeware program that is easy to use.

Here (http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/How%20to%20Reduce%20Your%20Picture%20Size.htm) is a link to some instructions and a link for downloading it.


Best Regards,
Doug

I got the notification that images were limited to 500K. I have some images to share, but they are over a meg in size. This may seem a stupid question, but how do I reduce the size?

Best,

Brian

Brian,
What are your Gain & Bias settings? I tried color temp. middle and the colors look well, kind a un-natural comparing to the low color temp. setting. Please post your numbers for gain & bias also a procedure how and where to locate in service manual.
Thanks in advance
sraoof

I left these at factory settings. I think there's a fair degree of variation in units. I know on my HD 70 that Art's suggested settings in his review were completely off (my 70 was close to D65 out of the box, as a professional calibration showed). It may be that our Pearls are also different in their out of box calibration.

When I can finally get images uploaded (or take up Javdog on his kind offer), you'll be able to compare them to your experience...

Brian

Here are some pix of my Pearl's convergence at the edge and center using the SD THX grid.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/316/pict0121gx3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7606/pict0130gq3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/2493/pict0130na5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It seems to be within spec...(the black line on one of the pix is a shadow, not a PJ problem)

My initial impression—this PJ is a winner!

Brian

Brian I couldn't agree more. My first FP was an Infocus X2 which at the time wasn't bad, especially since there wasn't that many PJs out priced for the every day joe.

I was on the fence for a long time trying to decide between the Optoma HD81 and the Pearl. The Optoma sounded great with the outboard processor and all, but most of the posts made it seem like it needed way too much monkey time. Which is OK, within reason. It wasn't until the ole tosh A2 arrived, I was completely rocked by the lack of performance on the Infocus.

I finally settled on the Sony, set that bad boy up, the term "Bam!" doesn't begin to do it justice. After only 30 mins of monkey time the dang thing was perfectly set. Colors crisp and vibrant fairly leapt from the Dalite Matte 1.0 110" screen. This year's SUPERBOWL game, horrible, I could give a hoot, and I can't seem to stop watching that stinkin King Kong T-Rex scene over, an over, an...well you see my point :D

If Sony was ever to started backing HD DVD, FANBOY would be the understatement of the year (til then, they'll have to remain at least outside next to the dog house for now). As for the Pearl, in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "It's a homah."

...my Minolta Z2 simply does not do this PJ justice, but I'm posting a couple of shots anyway from the HD DVD version of "The Mummy." This movie is tack-sharp on the screen--the camera and the resize simply can't show this...

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/7018/pict0137jc7.jpg

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4272/pict0141pj7.jpg

It is a "homah" indeed!

Brian

I work in a Magnolia Home Theater location (within a Best Buy store) and I agree with all who are impressed with its performance.

I noticed that many people are referencing the detail in the black level, and to that I reccomend demoing the opening scene from the latest X-Men movie in which they are doing a danger room workout. There are many different black and dark elements so you can easily see how the pearl handles each circumstance. Also it is a fun little scene, which always helps.

I read a comment from a gentleman who had a demo in one of the Magnolia rooms and he mentioned that the salesman informed him that it had been calibrated. Although we usually have two to three sets in the store calibrated to demo for customers it is not standard for the projector to be one of them. If you guys decide to go check one out (which I highly reccomend) be sure to ask your salesman before assuming that it has or has not been calibrated.

-Yarney

P.S. If any of you guys are near the Wilmington Delaware Kirkwood Highway store, ask for Jon (even though we aren't on commission, I love playing with it).

Great thread and glad I found it. I am in the market for a new projector and had my mind set on the Pearl until all these "issues" that people are reporting started coming up. Also all the hype over the RS1 made me rethink on the Pearl.

This thread is great for me right now.

Glad you all are enjoying your Pearl's.

Thanks,