Is the Mini3D worth $500 more than the DVDO Duo?

Originally Posted by Dmiraclejr

I am planning on buying one of these VPs in the very near future and am trying to decide if the Mini3D would be worth $500 more to me or not. The VP chosen will be used in the following system:

Panasonic AR100u projector (starter projector and I know VP will be more)
120 inch, 16:9 Elunevision fixed screen with 1.4 gain
Panasonic BDT 220 Bluray player
Onkyo tx-nr808 AVR (use for switching right now)
Calman or Chromapure with Autocal calibration software (not decided yet)
50% day and 50% night viewing in non light controlled room
60% HDTV (Cable), 20% HDTV sports, 20% Bluray Movies, 0% SD

I don't mind making the investment in a better VP since I consider this a long term purchase but I want to get something extra out for the money.

Maybe I should forgo the VP all together and just do manual calibration?

What do you think? Mini3D, Duo, or nothing?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by wmwilker

It is to me. After researching both I decided on the Mini mainly because of the support. I'm not sure if it's gotten any better but then DVDO was said to have poor support and infrequent firmware updates for bug fixes. Lumagen is very vigilant with their support of the Radiance line.
Another thing is 3D support. Even though I don't use it it's there if needed.

Originally Posted by Ronomy

I have never seen the newer Lumagen VP's in action but the ring free scaling in the HDQ yielded a soft image. The resolution boost when I got my Duo was major on 720p and 1080i. Even 1080p/24p passthru is much sharper. I would love to try a mini tho someday.

Ron

Originally Posted by Citation4444

I can assure you the Lumagen Radiance series gives a very sharp image. No problems there at all. There might have been some issues many, many firmware revisions ago but not now and not recently. I have owned or used several DVDO products up to and including the VP50 Pro and the Radiance is superior in virtually every way IMO. I gave up on DVDO after several issues went unresolved, and jumped on the Lumagen Radiance bandwagon during its initial beta release and have never regretted that decision. I have no experience with the later DVDO models, but I own a Lumagen HDQ and there is no sharpness problem if the display can be set up in pixel to pixel mode. I've never known the scaling to cause softness. If the display doesn't allow the HDQ to drive it in a pixel perfect mode, then picture softness can result. All just my opinion, of course.

Originally Posted by Fudoh

I would agree that the Radiance's image is softer than that of the later DVDO units. That was actually my only major complain about the Lumagen series. The reason behind it is that the enhancement features in the Radiance are done before scaling, while the DVDO's detail and edge enhancement is done after the scaling. Chaining a Radiance (for scaling) and a DVDO (for detail and edge enhancement on the already scaled picture) delivers breathtakingly good image quality.

Originally Posted by Ronomy

If you don't see a softer image comparing your Radiance and your HDQ that tells me the Radiance is softer. I am talking about fine detail in the image. It's not overly soft with the HDQ but was noticable how much sharper Avatar looked through my Duo.

I have not had one problem with the Duo over the past two years. I owned earlier DVDO VP's before I had the HDQ. Don't get me wrong I still liked the HDQ when I had it. Just noticed it was a lot sharper when I got the Duo and my JVC projector does 1:1 pixel maping

Originally Posted by Citation4444

We can agree to disagree here. I maintain the Radiance is sharp. I am judging sharpness on my Sim2 C3X and Sim2 MICO 50 and now Sim2 HT5000E, all of which are sharper than the JVC. I have calibrated a few JVC's so I am familiar with their image. I'm also talking about fine detail in the image as well as various resolution test patterns.