Samsung H710AE??? 4000MRSP - Page 2

Thanks Mountaineer. You're welcome at my dinner table anytime.

Guptown, I've seen 'em all and the one that gets my vote for overall pq is the 710AE.

One of the reasons I like it better has to do with differences between TI's Darkchip-3 (DC3) and HD2+ DMDs. It's one of those cases where reading the spec sheet isn't going to tell you the whole story.

Long story short, while DC3 has more contrast and better black levels than the HD2+, the HD2+ has finer color gradations within the visible area most of us are sensitive to, in other words for most people colors are going to look more saturated and richer with an HD2+ DMD than with the DC3. It is a matter of how the eye's rods and cones perceive the light. Now, some people may be more sensitive to contrast than color gradation, and they will naturally prefer a DC3 machine. For most of us, though, the DC3 does a lot of its color grading/grayscale in very dark and very bright areas that we don't really see very well. One result is that the 710AE does a superb job in shadow detail, better to my eyes than any DC3 machine.

So it's a matter of color bit depth and HD2+ is better than DC3 in that regard.

When you combine that fact with the 710AE's superior optics, drive electronics and software, you have a winner.

sspears

My screen is a 80"wide 92" diagonal studiotek 130 16x9. I would like to go bigger. I was wondering about the Carada Brilliant White 1.4 going 100" or 102 diaganol they have gotten really good reviews.

Thanks
Brad

Stef, I thought AVS was going to have a power buy on the Samsung, but here's a link where you can find e-tailers:

http://www.samsung.com/Products/ProA...710AEMXXAA.asp

Alan, can you confirm that AVS is carrying this product.

Thanks.

Hello all, first time post. This thread has prompted me to buy the h710AE and I
will get it early next week. This is my first projector, i hope I can figure out which side goes up!

The Samsung SP-H700AE, the predecessor of the currently discussed SP-H710AE, was reviewed in the May '05 issue of Home Theater magazine, and here are some pertinent measurements vis-a-vis the Sharp XV-Z12000 MARK II, which was just reviewed by the same magazine using the same instrumentation and screen, an 87-inch wide, 1.0 gain Da-Lite Da-Mat screen :
FULL FIELD 100-IRE white } 15.92 foot-lamberts > Samsung
} 7.263 foot-lamberts > Sharp
FULL FIELD 0-IRE black } 0.011 ft-L > Samsung
} 0.002 ft-L > Sharp
......These figures are for best black level.................
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FULL FIELD 100-IRE white } 20.83 ft-L > Samsung
} 22.09 ft-L > Sharp
FULL FIELD 0-IRE black } 0.014 ft-L > Samsung
} 0.016 ft-L > Sharp
.......These figures are for brightest image...............
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The Sharp also has a "medium" mode which measured 11.6 ft-L (FULL FIELD/white) and 0.005 ft-L (FULL FIELD/ black) and a "high-contrast" mode, measured at 10.6 ft-L // 0.003 ft-L ....So the Sharp does offer a few more options.......
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BEST CONTRAST RATIO } 1488.1 Samsung
} 3632.1 Sharp
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ANSI CONTRAST RATIO } 370.1 Samsung
} 525.1 Sharp
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Both units received ratings of "excellent" for DC RESTORATION and for COLOR DECODER
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"Out -of-the-box" measured gray scale tracked very close to D6500 for both units and calibrated even closer afterwards.....
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The Samsung had excellent processing, picked up the 3:2 sequence very quickly and processed incorrect 3:2 sequences and video with equal dexterity.
The Sharp picked up the 3:2 sequence quickly, with video processing only a little better than average which displayed some "jaggies"
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After calibration the Samsung was described as "downright impressive/ with an accurate & almost relaxing image/colors, midtones and skintones all looking very realistic".... Some "steps" observed in test signals for gray ramp, although rarely noticed in actual video material.....The reviewer mentioned the "disappointing black level" measured, however i am not sure exactly which TI chip the SP-H700AE uses, it could very well be the DC2 instead of the DC2+ which is apparently used by the current model, the SP-H710AE.
The Sharp had an extremely detailed image with one of the smoothest gray ramps ever seen on a digital display and "blacks" that were indeed black, although they were still higher than with a CRT...The Sharp had one of the best contrast ratios ever measured in a projector, with a "punchy" and "totally watchable" image.
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THe Samsung had a very unique and interesting "trick up its sleeve", so to speak : instead of measuring several different levels of gray and making a series of adjustments, a technician just measures a red field, a green field, a blue field and then a white field; The technician then enters the light level (in foot-lamberts) and x,y coordinates for each color into the projector, and the projector automatically adjusts the gray scale, gamma and color points...."Incredibly easy and accurate", as noticed by the reviewer !
Also, even the color wheel used in this projector appears to be unique, as the RED segment has GREEN/BLUE in it, the BLUE segment has RED/GREEN in it, and the GREEN segment has RED/BLUE in it, therefore allowing the technician to adjust the color points by playing around with the amounts of R/G/B available for each individual color-segment on the color wheel, aiming to bring each primary color closer to its correct point; This "allows for extremely accurate color reproduction, regardless of any minor color shift the screen may introduce" !
The color temperature of the Samsung relative to the color points of the display's red, green and blue color-filter-wheel segments were measured as being extremely close to those specified by SMPTE, as opposed to most other digital displays measured by the same magazine, making it another "rarity" !
I can't think of any other DLP projector that offers similar color adjustability by means of such unique color wheel, or am i wrong ?
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Regards >>>>> Marcos

Navigating around the samsung US website for this product isn't too easy and there isn't much information, but I did find some more information on the Samsung uk website you all might be interested in. At least you can see what the back of the unit looks like.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/p...?page=Features


http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/p...files/h710.pdf

???

......"DC RESTORATION" : described by the same magazine as "an archaic term that tells you whether the display is floating its black level. An "excellent" rating means the black level is steady, regardless of average picture level (APL). A "poor" rating means the display crushes black when the APL goes up"...................................

Yes. I just thought it was funny, because that term applies to CRT displays. Sorry, my sense of humor has become slightly techified.

Thanks for the info from the review, MCaugusto. It would be interesting to see the results of the same tests on the 710, since the generational changes were primarily to address the one weakness of the 700 - black levels.

BRADH - At the Electrograph show, Joe was showing it on the Stewart StudioTek 130. Everything looked marvelous. I'd be tempted to go with a high contrast gray screen just to deepen the blacks a little. Whites were almost too bright, but with no crush in the bright shadow details, so I'd say it wouldn't make the whites look too dirty. I know a couple who used the Vutec SilverStar due to high ambient light in their room. They reported that it was brighter than their 46" Samsung RPTV, yet just as clear and sharp and with more shadow detail.

The last page of that Samsung .PDF file,

http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/.../files/h710.pdf

advertises a DC3 version of this projector, which also has an 8 segment color wheel. Model number is listed as: SP-H800BE

Anyone have any input on this model? Also, does anyone know the difference in price between the SP-H710AE and the SP-H800BE?

Thanks!

Could any new purchasers of the Samsung SP-H710 AE please comment on this PJ. How it looked out of the box, what size and color/type screen being used. How long it took to calibrate if any. What disc used to calibrate. Any and all comments are appreciated. I am trying to decide between the Hitachi HDP-J52 or The Samsung 710. Also do you think the Samsung is worth the extra $1,000 over the Hitachi. Thankyou. J.D.

"Las Vegas, NV -- Samsung, a worldwide Information Technology and Consumer Electronics leader, brings the home theater experience to an unprecedented level of quality with the new high-end SP-H710AE and SP-H800BE DLP front projectors. Each unit allows home theater aficionados to experience the on-screen imagery and sound previously only possible in a commercial movie theater. The SP-H710AE ($4,000 MSRP) and SP-H800BE ($12,000 MSRP) are currently shipping and will be on display during CES 2006 at the Samsung booth, #11033 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center from January 5th - 8th"

Based on the price difference, I am a little surprised that some reviewers feel that the 710AE performs better than other DC3 projectors.

It really makes one try to guess what marketing departments smoke these days. On the one hand the 710 seems to be the best mix of items that makes one believe that spending a few dollars more actually makes sense (mature components packaged intelligently with a calibration heritage).

The 800 seems on the other hand a complete mystery at 3 times the price. It does not even rate a separate marketing brochure and they think they could possibly sell one of these? At best I could think of charging 10 - 30 percent more for the 'latest' buzzword ''improvements" all of which would be in the noise as far as performance goes for a single chip machine.

What could they be thinking on the 800? Is it a purely marketing item like "We have a 12k projector like everyone else used to have?

The Carada BW would be a great choice IMO, and you can't beat the price. The BW material is very color accurate so it would be ideal for a very color accurate projector.

I believe the SP-H800BE is not yet shipping. Samsung may be working with TI to ensure their DC3 pj actually outperforms the 710. The 800 will be for the custom install market. While the 710 is allowed to be sold on the internet, the 800 likely will not. It will be for the same market that buys Runco, DWIN, SIM2, etc. Many of these buyers of true custom home theaters do not research as hard as we "bang for the buck" folks do. They trust their installer to provide an excellent theater experience and are more concerned about the total package price as opposed to the component costs.

The real question should be... when will Sammy bring out 1080p and or 3-chip FPs? And how much better can image quality get?

I have almost made my mind up to buy this projector. I have a couple of questions that hopefully some of you can answer.

First question. I want a screen size of 110" diag (96" wide). Sounds like this projector is bright enough for it. I'm thinking of Da-lite CinemaVision (1.3 gain) or HCCV (1.1 gain). Room has total light control. Which of these would you recommend?

Second question. There is only a DVI connection. What is the down side to not having an HDMI connection, or does it matter?

Thanks

Stef, I've seen the pj in a couple of different settings now, everybody notes it's "quiet". Rated at 28db. Fan noise seems to be well-baffled under any and all circumstances.

DVI connectors transfer only digital video, where HDMI transfer digital video and audio. Some people prefer DVI because its a larger connector, more sturdy.

You can get an adapter from HDMI-DVI. Of course, it's not going to xfer audio.

Is there a chance that the projector displayed at CES was the 800 and not the 710 ??

Can anyone confirm that the projector can be controlled by it's rs-232 port for integration into a hardwired control system?? If so, are the codes availiable?

Good news! AVS is now carrying this piece.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=653041

Yes it was the 800 at CES and it didn't look anywhere near as good as the 710. If you scroll up through this thread you will some of the reasons why a DC3 pj doesn't always look as good as an HD2+ pj.

That's why the RS232 port is there. I'm sure the codes can be easily obtained.