Darbee vision darblet - Page 172

No question about it, if your eyes can't see a difference why keep it. On my 55" and 60" LCD screens there is a very distinct difference in any movie. In some scenes where they briefly show an item such as a gold nugget the difference is remarkable. Without Darbee it's more of a mass, with Darbee you see the edges/facets, and this is not paused. Some TV shows like NCIS there is little difference, but Hawaii 5-0 it's a difference worth the cost for sure. Documentaries from HBO for instance also show a remarkable difference, especially in the faces of the people and scenery. But again, if you don't see a difference no reason to use it.

Mostly to pay Will Smith's Sallary

Sorry to hear the Darbee didn't work out for you. Funny, but I don't watch any animated movies or standard def. on my Pioneer Kuro plasma, just blu ray. The difference using the Darbee is very noticable and I have a professionally calibrated set. Finally settled on HD 40. Any higher and the skin tones start to get too harsh and I begin to see more artifacts. The HD 40 setting truely makes it a more enjoyable watching experience. Will probably pick up another when it goes on sale again.

With blu ray (film, animated), and HD cable (TWC), I see very noticeable improvements toggling darbee on/off @ 50% game mode. That is with a 80" DLP front projector and a 32" high end Sharp LCD/LED, both from 9-10ft away.

As for fast moving 'live action' shots, I think it's a little hard to judge sharpness/clarity in general, perhaps due to the blur, inherent to frame rate of the source and/or the display. At least I can't.

I just received my "Open Box" Darbee from Solid Signal about an hour ago. I'm not sure why it was called an "Open Box". It was factory sealed and looked brand new to me. Kudos to Solid Signal!

Anyway...it took me all of about 15 minutes to set up and run the demo. I set it at 55% HD since that seems to be the recommended setting from most reviews that I have read.

I don’t game on my HT system, so I didn’t even try that mode.

I can definitely tell a difference on my 5 year-old 58" Panny Professional plasma.

I am running Time Warner Cable HD via Tivo HD and Oppo BR player. I haven't tried the Oppo yet. I am processing the video through a DVDO Edge.

Am I blown away with the difference? No, but there is improvement. I'm guessing most folks who aren't into video wouldn't think it was worth the $$$.

Am I going to keep it? Yes! I'm all in favor of audio/video improvement that is demonstrable.

I'm looking forward to spending more time with the Darbee in my system when I get the chance.

Regards,

Pilot

Most people here using game mode use it on movies, etc.

I use game mode @ 50% and I don't even have a gaming console.

Yes gaming 46 for me on all sd dvds and blu ray

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll continue to experiment.

If you turned it on and it defaulted to anything but !00% Pop, then it was used before. Otherwise, it won't look or act any different.

Have fun with it.

It defaulted to 100% "Pop" on startup. There was even a plastic piece in the end of the remote to keep the battery from discharding accidentally.

But, it doesn't really matter as long as it works, and so far...so good.

You might have gotten a new unit either by mistake, or, they might have sold the open box already and decided to substitute a new unit. Most people won't complain about an upgrade at the discounted price.

Enjoy..

Alright guys/gals I need some help. I have a PM out to DrDarby as well.

I recently purchased a used Darby and am very happy with the improvements it has made on my Panasonic VT50. I am more than likely going to buy an Onkyo NR-818 AVR but would like to continue to use the Darby. I understand that the Darby on has 2k processing and the Onkyo has 4k processing. From what I understand I need to place the Darby before the receiver to take full advantage of the 818's video processing. The only problem with this is that I have 3 video sources. Is the best way to deal with this to buy a switch box and place it before the Darby/Onkyo? So it would look like this:

Video sources (DTV, PS3, Apple TV) --> switch box-->Darby--> Onkyo 818 --> TV.

The other problem this presents is that all of my components are in another room and I don't want to have to run to the office to change a switch box. Is there switch boxes that can be run by a Logitech Harmony remote?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Steve

I would be cautious about purchasing an "open box" item of this nature. I purchased a "new" unit from AVS, and returned it due to constant handshake issues.
Upon return they confirmed that the unit was not functioning properly, but informed me that since the unit was no longer suitable for re-sale, I had to pay a 50 dollar fee.
I paid 349, but only got credited 299 upon return.
Apparently there were some missing packing materials.Since I returned everything they sent to me, I believe this was an "open box" item simply being re-sold by AVS.
They confirmed that was the intent with this returned item, so you should always confirm their return policy before purchase.

Since there is no 4k 'source' available to us, I would think it would not matter either way.

What part of he processing are you going to use in the Onkyo? The scaling? Interlacing? Something else?

Errr, I wish I knew. I need to figure this stuff out a bit more before I go buy a receiver. I just read that the Onkyo has great video processing and upscaling qualities. I need a new AVR because my current AVR is not 3d capable. I currently have an Onkyo(607) and really like it which is one of the reasons I was quick to jump on the 818 when I read good things about it. I guess I assumed by running your video content through it, it would take care of the rest. Is that not the case? I am no more than a light hobbiest in this stuff and just want a good picture.

Amazon has the 818 at $679 right now which seems like a crazy good deal.

IMHO the video processing in an $800 av amplifier isn't going to be that fantastic, plus unless you have a 4K display to upscale into then it's going to downscale back to 1080p anyway even if it does upscale to 4K at some point (which it may not in this case). It's more just an excuse to put a '4K' badge on a product rather than if it is particularly good at it. If you have a 4K display then it will probably have better upscaling than the amplifier, though it would be worth comparing the options to find out for sure of course.

Personally I reckon you'll get more benefit out of trying the Darbee into your (1080p?) existing display.

Thanks for your input. My current TV is a Panasonic TC-P65VT50 and my video source is 95% of the time Directv, I dont watch many movie and don't game at all. My current receiver is an Onkyo TS 607 that is not 3D capable. Do you have a recommendation for an AVR? Hope I am not derailing this thread too much, sorry.

Sorry I'm not that up with current AV amps as I use an older separate processor, power amp and separate Lumagen video processor. Probably worth asking in the amp section, though I do get the impression that it's sometimes a bit of a 'badge war' hence my comments about 4K upscaling. I don't pass any video through my AV processor though so I could watch 3D if I'd bothered to buy the glasses and emitter (I'm not fused about 3D myself), so a 3D amp isn't essential, just perhaps more convenient. TBH I'd have thought that the upscaling/processing in your VT50 is probably better than most AV amps anyway, so I'd look for an amp that can pass 3D but without doing any processing on it (ie that it can be bypassed or at least switched off).

Thanks for your help. I have read the VP in the VT50 sucks. It makes sense too, my older Samsung dealt with crappy signals much better than my Panasonic. The picture was much more consistent on the Samsung

Funny, just recieved my open box exactly as yours, and defaulted to 100% pop...hmmm
Haven't played with it near as much as I will this weekend but initial response is it is a keeper.

Finally settled on 60% gaming. The telling thing is when you take it off and the image just looks softer and not as dynamic.

60% Pop on animated movies is pretty amazing. It's like animation on steroids. Will be curious if the family will notice anything...

When I install the Darblet to the video output of my Cambridge Audio Azur 650R AV-receiver (to JVC HD100/RS2) I don't get picture out of my CA 650BD blu-ray player, but all other sources work fine. When I install the Darblet between 650BD and 650R it works ok. I know that the 650R only passes the HDMI signal through without any processing. I've tried all the video output choices on 650BD, but I can't get no picture with the Darblet installed in 650R video output. This is really annoying as now I can use the Darblet only with a blu-ray player...

I love the Darblet still!

Any one hooking the Darblet right at the PJ point, and placing the unit on top of the PJ installed on a ceiling? I have a 30' hdmi cable going from my AVR to the PJ, and thought to secure best performance it should be closer, rather than farther away in the cable chain, to the PJ.

I think it would get pretty hot up there.

Can't you hang it off to the side somewhere?

@DarbeeDR

Are you guys interested in fixing the problem of not passing the ARC (ie, not being fully HDMI 1.4 compliant)?

Sean

True, I guess I'll try placing it at the other end of the chain. AVR, 3' hdmi, darblet, 30' hdmi, PJ.

That worked for me

I had the same problem with connecting between my receiver and HD3300 projector. Had to connect right after the blu-ray to get it to work, so it's only good for blu-ray.

I have mine connected out of my Denon AVR. Works fine on all connected components - Sat, BR, HD-DVD. Going into a Sharp 80" LED.

Same here ie to a Denon AVR. I had a mate over last night and demoed the DD and he was blown away by the improvement in PQ. I was using Titanic BR 2D for the demo.

He came to the conclusion that the Game Mode at 55% looks best. Him being a keen photographer I took notice of his opinion.

Received my Darblet yesterday, and here is my chain:

Comcast HD receiver + Panny BDT210 BD player -> Denon 1911 -> Darbee -> Acer BD9500 (PJ)

Blu-Ray works great and I can notice a difference pretty easily, and this is on a sharp DLP projector. I am happy on HD with a setting of 45%. I don't notice any processing at that setting and you can still see that the image is enhanced. Over 50-55% or so and I start to notice, what appears to be, processing from 12.5 ft away on a 125" screen.

Comcast is a no go through the Denon. I either get just sound and a blank screen, or flashing magneta and a solid green screen, or a black screen with no sound. Have tried multiple HDMI cables (4-6ft), and different HDMI ports on the receiver. If I hook the Comcast receiver up directly to the Darbee and then to the projector it works great So it has to be something with the Denon and Darbee that Comcast just does not like. I have three things left to try:
- Try moving the Darbee closer to the projector
- Buy a longer higher quality HDMI cable (Blue Jeans, I am using a cheap no name and cheap Monoprice HDMI cable now)
- Use component cables with my Comcast box and an optical cable.

I am not opposed to going with component, I have tested before and there is zero noticeable improvement for me between HDMI and component.

Hopefully I can get this working with HDMI, but it is rather frustrating, especially since I just switched to Comcast from DirecTV. I just got tired of climbing on a latter on a 3 story house in a snow storm and trying to get snow off the dish to watch TV, and switching to Comcast saved me like $100 a month...

Ughh....