IanS
10-05-07, 05:02 PM
Two summers ago, I had the chance to do a side-by-side comparison, in a controlled environment, of one of the new Panasoic 720p LCD's against the unusual aspect ratio (1024x576) Infocus ScreenPlay 5700 .
Much to my surprise, I vastly preferred the Infocus, even with HD television sources, where the Infocus had to downscale the resolution! The film like character of the Infocus (I was told that it was the increased 'fill' of DLP that I was appreciating) really wowed me. I also appreciated the better contrast of the DLP (although the DLP melted subtle dark shades into one giant pool of black). The LCD gave me the feeling of being slightly washed out. I get the same washed out feeling from LCD computer monitors, compared to the very high end CRT I have sat in front of for years.
I never ended up putting together a home theatre back then, so I am revisiting things now. One of the constraints of my space is a low ceiling height, and the need to beam the image with no offset, right to the top of the opposite wall. I'm thinking I can do a 100" - 110" 16:9 diagonal, with the projector about 14' back.
So I'm wondering the there is a current equivalent of that Screenplay 5700? An inexpensive ($1300 or less) DLP with flexible placement options? Also, I would like to use if for Sunday afternoon sports watching with friends, so it'd be great if the room didn't have to be cave-like.
I saw one poster here who cleverly used a Sharp XR-10X (a 1024x768 business use DLP) which allowed for a digital image shift in 1024x576 16:9 mode.
I guess what I'm saying is that I know that flexible placement, bright DLP's are very expensive if they are current top-line models. But are there some older, lower resolution models still hanging about that would work for me?
Thanks a lot.
Much to my surprise, I vastly preferred the Infocus, even with HD television sources, where the Infocus had to downscale the resolution! The film like character of the Infocus (I was told that it was the increased 'fill' of DLP that I was appreciating) really wowed me. I also appreciated the better contrast of the DLP (although the DLP melted subtle dark shades into one giant pool of black). The LCD gave me the feeling of being slightly washed out. I get the same washed out feeling from LCD computer monitors, compared to the very high end CRT I have sat in front of for years.
I never ended up putting together a home theatre back then, so I am revisiting things now. One of the constraints of my space is a low ceiling height, and the need to beam the image with no offset, right to the top of the opposite wall. I'm thinking I can do a 100" - 110" 16:9 diagonal, with the projector about 14' back.
So I'm wondering the there is a current equivalent of that Screenplay 5700? An inexpensive ($1300 or less) DLP with flexible placement options? Also, I would like to use if for Sunday afternoon sports watching with friends, so it'd be great if the room didn't have to be cave-like.
I saw one poster here who cleverly used a Sharp XR-10X (a 1024x768 business use DLP) which allowed for a digital image shift in 1024x576 16:9 mode.
I guess what I'm saying is that I know that flexible placement, bright DLP's are very expensive if they are current top-line models. But are there some older, lower resolution models still hanging about that would work for me?
Thanks a lot.