Sim2 Crystal 35 and 45 - Page 5

The Highlite 260 HC (3 .65 DLP chips) now has a MSRP of $23,995. Obviously, street is lower.

I took a quick look at some reviews of the DPI 260, and at least one of them mentioned that it's noisier than other projectors in its class. That's a non-starter for me, as I'm not able to put it into an enclosure in my room. That's one reason I was thinking along the lines of a liquid-cooled LED.

This is getting circular. A one chipper DLP causes those sensitive to see rainbows. LEDs DLPs don't use a color wheel but sequential flashing RGB LEDs which cause those really sensitive to still see rainbows. You don't like non DLPs. LED machines will give you around 400 to 500 lumens when calibrated. The 3 chip DLPs have no rainbows but put out a lot of light and consequently a lot of heat. There are only about two in your price class and they are noisier than something like a Sim2 Lumis which is considerably above that price class. Depending on your screen size and gain, a LED DLP may be the right choice but like any one chipper, the red, green, and blue color streams are sequential and this artifact is visible to some as rainbows.

Mark, I'm not sure whom you're addressing. It seems like a mixture of me and doublewing11?

I have not expressed a price target or a dislike of the LCoS projectors, but he has. Meanwhile, I did express a sensitivity to rainbow effect, which I don't believe he did, and a requirement for the projector to be quiet.

I said that I want to see a MICO in person for an extended period because, when I saw it briefly before, it didn't produce a noticeable rainbow effect for me (and I was looking for it). Although it displays sequential color, it's able to do the color switching much more quickly than the traditional single chip machines because it can just switch the LEDs on and off instead of relying upon a spinning wheel. Perhaps that finally gets it above the threshold where I will be bothered by it.

I did see rainbow effect in the DPI LED, but that is based on a different engine, and I don't know how its color sequence display compares to the MICO/Vango engine.

If the MICO doesn't produce rainbow that I find bothersome, then it would be an excellent choice for me because it's quiet. Although it's not super bright, at least it won't fade quickly like lamp-based models. Its single chip design means that it cannot suffer from color misalignment like the 3-chip models can, and DLP of course has a reputation for a tack-sharp image, while the LCoS projectors tend to be a little softer. I can make 400-500 lumens work for me provided that I use a 1.3 gain screen.

If the MICO does produce bothersome rainbow, then I will be looking very hard indeed at a Lumis, especially given the superb 3D capabilities of the latest model. But, I still need to do a detailed evaluation of the latest LCoS models as well. Given the price difference between them and the 3-chip DLPs, they may offer more bang for the buck.

None of this is on the topic of the Crystal, by the way. I had really hoped to see it at the San Jose event, because a co-worker saw them in Florida and was extremely impressed. He's not particularly rainbow sensitive, so I wanted to see for myself whether the latest generation of color wheel projectors are better in terms of rainbow than the ones from several years ago, and as you correctly note, that's something that is really quite subjective and dependent upon how sensitive each individual is to the rainbow effect.

I'm still looking forward to Benito's report on what he saw!

Thanks. I too hate how a manufatcure uses avery similar name for very different machines!

Sorry guys I was looking at the M not highlite

I was combining both of you in my mind as one poster. Often I read many threads and start my post before looking to see who I was responding to. Last week, I tried to send myself three responses asking for further clarification. When I received those posts I took myself off my friends list.

Sorry guys for the delay in getting in here and posting.
So i was at the Stewart event on Thursday and although they had the both model Crystal projectors there, we didn't get a chance to see them for long. Turned out to be more of a Stewart event which I honestly was not interested in.

They first showed the Crystal 35 on a 132" wide 2.35 screen. Firehawk material was used for that demo. If you've ever been to their training room, you know it's not a good room for demo's. It's a green colored room with reflective surfaces all around! They fired up the projector and damn it looked good!! They had all the lights on and the brightness of the projector showed. There was a clear visible image and although not the greatest, still very very good considering the ambient light present.

The 45 was shown on a 70" starglas 60. As expected from such brightness on a small image, it looked amazing with lights on and off. Not much to say about this part of the demo. Simply looked good.

I am susceptible to rainbow effect, especially since i wear glasses when viewing high resolution images. Even with me trying to see it, i had no problem with it.

Asked a few questions but they were not releasing much info. They did mention that the projectors will be shipping in two weeks and as expected, it's already backordered.

Sorry for the short review if you can even call it that. It's more of my short experience with the Crystal projectors. We didn't get much time with it and when we did, it was too quick.

Met up with a few dealers that will have it in their showroom. As soon as that happens, i plan on meeting up with them for an actual review.

Benito

Benito,

Thanks for the update. Did they happen to give you any indication of what the calibrated lumens might be for the two projectors?

Thanks,
Scott

I can answer that. They had no additional specs than the preliminary specs months ago. They will start shipping soon and there will at least be user reviews to answer your questions.

I came across this article about Sim2 today. It talks about the D60, and how it was a 'commodity' model sourced from Asia, and that they won't be repeating that in the future as they aren't a commodity brand. So I take that as further evidence that the crystal models are not sourced from Benq.

No new info on the crystal models, but it does mention they have begun to build there own light engines in Italy. It also mentions a future technology called High Dynamic Range (HDR), that is some form of 'local dimming', and indicate it will be used with LED projectors in the future.

http://www.twice.com/article/468386-...tand_Alone.php

Thanks for the info. It supports my report that the light engine is their own design. Where it is built really doesn't matter. But if its Italy I bet it will be very tasty. Yuk. Yuk. I have been to their facility in Italy and it is certainly large enough to build almost anything. Great engineering team and very nice ownership too.

Don't believe it.

Take a look at the BenQ's inputs:



Compare them to the Sim2's found on page 8 of the manual here.

Identical.

The menu options that I compared look identical too. See the BenQ's manual here. Compare the menu options on page 27 of the Sim2 with those on page 30 of the BenQ.

Identical.

Yeah, the light engine is like a Ford Shelby though. How can you not be skeptical of a claim like that?

These two projectors are probably the same thing but meant for different markets. The BenQ is sold on the internet, where price is the main concern and retailers hope to move plenty of units. The Sim2 is sold by dealers who don't deal in volume and hopefully provide quality customer service. What you see on the screen may not be exactly the same because there is some chance that Sim2 did mess with some stuff. But, it will be very close.

The remote controls look identical too for what that is worth. You get two of them with the Sim2 so that explains the cost difference.

I don't see any inconsistencies in their statement regarding not engaging in commodity (i.e. D60) business. BenQ doesn't make the light engine in their W6000. They source it from an OEM manufacture. It's clear that SIM2 sources the same or similar light engine in their Crystal Series (with the same alignment of ins and outs), but this does not preclude them from finishing the product to a higher standard. The D60 had no SIM2 DNA. It was just an OEM projector with their name on it. This is apparently what they have decided to move away from.

They didn't even change the menu structure or colors . . .

I presume these are fundamental to the light engine. Why should they spend money changing something that doesn't improve performance?

Believe what you want.

Me? Based on what I see (same specs, similar dimensions, identical inputs, identical menu structure, same lens specs, same remotes) I am skeptical. What is left that would really improve performance? Sim2's Italian designed case doesn't help here and that is the only thing that we know for sure was changed.

We can only speculate...Dynamic Black perhaps...but why take SIM2 to task for not revealing their "special sauce" when no other manufacture who occasionally sources light engines -- and there are many -- reveal details on their modifications? The only way to dispel skepticism is to do an A-B side by side comparison. I nominate Lawguy to buy one of each projector for this purpose.

Like I said, I am just skeptical. I'm not taking anyone to task. As far as I know, Sim2 has not made any claim that the Crystal PJs are better than the BenQ. The specs are the same. No claims of special sauce or anything else. So, it is not Sim2 claiming anything. It is people in this thread speculating.

Four years ago I replaced my Grand Cinema bought in 2003 for a Domino 80 because I wanted blur ray. I think I went from a Dark Chip 2 to a Dark Chip 3. Is that correct? Now I see talk of large and small chips. Can someone point me to an up-to-date DLP chip primer? What will the Crystal machines have?

I have a Sim2 Crystal 35 in my house in the box which should be installed and running by the end of the week. I will hopefully have a review up by this weekend.

NIce, Cannot wait to hear what you think. Are you upgrading from a previous? If so what was your former pj so we have a reference

It's actually my first projector- so you'll have to give me some leeway as far as details, but I'm happy to answer any questions as best I can.

I'm coming from a 7 yr old 50 inch Sammy DLP RPTV that I have lugged around from house to house.

This is going into a dedicated room that I have been building out for about 2 months. There are some windows on the side, but light control is actually very good. The screen is a 2.35:1 Stewart Firehawk G3 130" diag. The proj will be ceiling mounted.

Audio (and video) is via a new Anthem MRX500, and OPPO BDP-93.

With that background I should have some first impressions soon...

nice set up. what are you using for speakers

This should be abig upgrade in pq.

I have B&W 600 series fronts/center and 300 series surrounds. They are about 10 yrs old. Also a velodyne sub 1012.

I am looking to upgrade the speakers eventually, adding sides and a second sub. Also want to add an anamorphic lens. But hit a budget wall....

I have to ask . . . Why did you choose this over the BenQ given all the things that are the same? I would imagine that you paid a lot more for a SIM2.

It was not a criticism. There may well be improvements over the Sim2. That was kind of what I was getting at. You write that you don't know if there are any improvements and you are a dealer. I'm just curious is all.