[dmr]

Well, my projector broke down a while back so it´s time

to "rob" the bank account and get a new one!


I will use it for DVD playback 90% of the time and as I

live in Sweden, no HDTV in sight http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/mad.gif


I have read a lot of the posts here regarding new lower

priced DLP´s and I´m confused. All this talk about native

resolutions, does it at all apply to my application as

most DVD content available in Sweden is PAL? System to date

is pretty low end with Toshiba SD2109 DVD. Will pick up a

PS DVD when they can do both PAL and NTSC.

Screen is 108" diag(16:9) and seating a bit close at 8,5'.


I´m looking to spend no more than $3,5k

So far my eyes are focused on the Sanyp PLV30 and the

Plus Piano (retail price anyone?)


Great forum everyone! Highly addictive!



Regards. David


[This message has been edited by dmr (edited 08-14-2001).]

 

[MDubois]

Hello,

I'm also waiting for the Piano Plus. No special news in France. But in Germany, it seems that this projector will be available at the end of august. According to those people the retail price should be around 3500 euros.

Wait and see

 

[christoph]

hello dmr and mdubois


you may want to read in the german hometheatre forum about this little baby. people there are very overwhelmed about the performance. ****************** and do a search: "piano"


if i didn't already have a projector, i would buy this one!


greetings christoph

 

[MDubois]

thanks christoph,

people in Germany seems to be very enthusiastic...

The main problem for me is : is the piano as good as the sharp 9000 concerning the rainbow effect ?

I've seen a lot of dlp, but i'm very sensitive to the rainbow ?

Does anyone have seen a rainbow effect on the piano ?


thanks in advance

 

[Jones_Rush]

Well, IF my memory serves me well, I can recall one guy who saw this pj at a show somewhere. At first he saw it with Gladiator opening sequence, and was VERY suprised to see that even though he is very sensitive to rainbows, he couldn't see any. Then, while he was filling a satisfaction form for the piano, they played the "Eagles - Hell freezes over" DVD, and to his sorrow, he could see the rainbows all over again.

I tried to find this thread using the search option, but I found a different thread in which a different guy saw the piano in a show, also with gladiator. He didn't say anything about rainbows, but he wasn't satisfied with the image quality.

 

[KFung]

The Plus Piano is probably your best bet right now, I don't know what the pricing is currently set at, though. I saw it at INFOCOMM this past June and it looked pretty good. They weren't showing it on a Greyhawk or anything so the blacks were not stellar. With a Greyhawk or another grey screen it should look quite good. The rainbow effect should be much reduced, the wheel spins twice as fast as conventional 1-chip DLP, it may still be possible to see rainbows but they will be much less distracting.


Also, I don't think the Plus Piano takes progressive input, but I'm not sure so you will probably want to confirm that. If it doesn't, that will prevent you from upgrading to a progressive player later. This might have changed since I've seen the projector, but the internal de-interlacing is not bad so it should be good with a regular interlaced DVD player.


Another problem might be running PAL on the Piano, I think PAL is something like 525 lines and the 16*9 resolution of the Piano is 848*480 (to match NTSC). Hopefully it won't be a problem, but you might get scaling artifacts. The people in the German forum would probably have more experience.


Regards,


Kam Fung

 

[Jones_Rush]

KFung,

What about brightness levels ? were they good enough ?, the piano is only rated to give 450 lumens, pretty low. Add to this a grey screen, and you might end up with a VERY dark image.

 

[Frode]

Pal is 576 lines - not 525. So you'd have downconversion if you used the Piano. Which was one of the reasons I skipped it. It also doesn't accept component progressive input iirc.


You might try looking into the LT150 everyone here (including me) is raving about^_^. If you want to use progressive PAL with it then you'll have to use a HTPC however.


------------------

/frode

 

[pham]

Quote:

Originally posted by KFung: Also, I don't think the Plus Piano takes progressive input, but I'm not sure so you will probably want to confirm that.

According to the specs on the website , it does accept progressive, up to 1024x768. The 450 Lumens output seems like it would be a drawback but then again, some CRT projectors get away with less.

 

[acannon]

Quote:

Originally posted by pham: According to the specs on the website , it does accept progressive, up to 1024x768.

Unfortunately, progressive input is via a DVI jack only, not component inputs or a 15-pin VGA connector.


---

 

[MDubois]

thanks for all the information.

Some more questions.

- kFung : are you sure the wheel spins 2x the usual speed ? I thought it was 4x. (the sharp is 5x)

- Frode : i know that for Pal signal there is a downconversion. We need normally a 1024x576 matrix. A XGA projector seems to be a better solution from this point of view.However did you have the opportunity to make some tests ? Are the scaling artifacts really noticeable?


thanks in advance

 

[Frode]

Dubois,


A simple test of how it looks is to just switch resolution on your monitor to 800x600 and play an anamorphic PAL dvd in letterbox mode. That's what it'll look like if you use a HTPC. It may not immediately be obvious, but once you magnify that monitor several times then any scaling artifacts are going to be more visible - not less. If you're going to be using a standalone player then of course that comparison no longer applies. I'd think in that case there would be far more scaling artifacts compared to a HTPC.


------------------

/frode

 

[drewman]

If it is a DVI-I connector then there is an analog RGB input included along with the digital pins. You can buy a fairly cheap DVI-I to HD-15 adapter.


Never mind, I looked at the specs and it is a DVI-D connector which is digital only.


drewman


[This message has been edited by drewman (edited 08-15-2001).]

 

[dmr]

Thanks for all replies and tips!


MDubois: Have you been in contact with Grobi?

I could not find any pricing of the Piano on their website.


christoph: Yes, I have visited that German forum, however

my high school German has rested for many years with the exception of a few Car&Hifi mags http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/redface.gif Just out of curiosity,

what projector do you currently own?


Frode: You live in Norway right? So, how did you obtain

your LT-150. Online? Shop? Pricing? Why would I need to use

a HTPC for progressive PAL with the LT-150?



/David

 

[MDubois]

Hello dmr,

you're right, there's no price on the Grobi site.

I asked by mail. You can find the adress on their website. 3500 euros was an approximation of the definitive price.


a+

 

[christoph]

hi dmr


i was also in car hifi before i became a big-picture-lover ;-)

i have a plus u2 1130 (xga, 1300 lumens) with isco2 lens. great picture: real blacks, terrific colors. the downside with this pj is that you HAVE TO USE a htpc. i tried it with a pioneer standalone dvd (525) and the picture was rather disappointing. then i tried a htpc and the picture was more than double as good. the piano has an excellent videoboard with the same chip as the pal progressive dvd from denon 2800. you can go into the piano with a normal (non progressiv) standalone dvd and get 80%-90% of the picture you would get with a htpc., but i would suggest to use the isco2 lens because of the relative low brightness of the piano in order to use the the brightness of the whole panel instead of two third with 16:9 material.


greetings christoph