[SyphonFi]

Hi,



I'm on the verge of taking the plunge and buying my 1st PJ. I'm still trying to make up my mind between an HD2 based DLP and a good CRT, but I must admit that I'm leaning towards a CRT.


However, I will not be able to use a dedicated room for my HT and plan on using the PJ in my living room for general viewing purposes, and not just films. Under these circumstances it will be impossible to achieve total darkness in the room. My question is: how dark must the room be? Can I still get a good image with some light coming in? How will the blacks look like? Will a DLP do a better job under these circumstances?


BTW, my CRT candidates are all 1200 Lumens units.



TIA,

Opher.

 

[TMelanson]

For your use, since you do not have a light controlled environment, it's a tough choice.


Though I am a CRT owner and know the pros and cons of the different technologies, I would have to say that, if you do not have a light controlled environment--or don't want one--a single bulb projector with lots of lumens might be better suited for your use.


Everything is a compromise and will be for the forseeable future.


Lots of brightness--the single-bulb's forte at the moment--enables you to watch a larger "TV style" picture with the lights on. It will not give you the filmic experience of a well set up CRT, but then you can view video material in the environment your family is most used to.


Pick what qualities you and your family are most going to value and go from there. It's no good to have a fabulous picture "in theory" when in fact, you will be constantly arguing about having the lights off to enjoy it.


And no. A high gain screen like a Silverstar will *not* let you have the lights turned up and still give you the best of what CRTs are valued for. Some light, yes. A lot of light, no. And the Silverstar is costly.

Tom

 

[WanMan]

With a screen in place (i.e. installed in the room), blacks will be observed best with the projector off and you looking at the screen. That's how dark the basement black in your environment will be.


So, if you have 10-20 IRE (or worse) worth of ambient lighting then blacks will probably appear as dark gray and loss of shadow detail expected.


Also, the use of a SilverStar in room without complete light control will only add to the problem. Remember, the SS is a 6.0 gain screen which means it'll take what ambient light you are already fighting and amplify (re-direct it) onto your viewing position.

 

[Don Rombach]

Both projection systems will perform poorly in a non light controlled environment. The more light, the more washed out the picture will be.


Take a trip to the nearest home theater store and view a bulb pj with the lights on. Not a pretty sight.


Tom and Wanman are absolutely right, the Silverstar will do more harm than good in a non light controlled room.. I have one, and love it, but due to the wide viewing cone it does a poor job of rejecting ambient light.


One option to strongly consider is a crt with a torus screen. This type of very high gain screen does a good job of rejecting ambient light due to its tight viewing cone. The fellow I bought my pj from was using a 700 lumen Sony 1272 with a torus screen in his living room. While the pq was of course not as good as in a darkened room, it nevertheless was still quite good.


Keep in mind, only a crt pj can be used with a torus screen due to focusing issues.

 

[dokworm]

I'd reluctantly go the dlp in your situation, you really can't use a crt during the day in a non-light controlled room, whereas for normal TV purposes (i.e. daytime TV) the dlp is still watchable. Also, no burn in issues is a plus, if you are going to use it as a TV replacement - the kids can leave the xbox on and it aint gonna kill you.

Then just build yourself a garage and put a crt in that more movie viewing

 

[John Alison]

dokworm has it right, I reckon. Go for the DLP. A CRT projector requires black out to do it justice.

 

[WanMan]

Hmm, this is all interesting. Without really knowing the poster's lighting situation everyone seems to think that DLP can practically overcome any ambient lighting, includnig daytime light. I could do this with a Mits 65" RPTV even at miximum brightness. So, without knowing the posters ambient lighting situation (what if he has 100K ANSI lumens entering the room), why DLP? Why not consider the potential fact that FP may not be the key at all.


It'd be nice for the poster to snap a photo of the room in question in daytime hours so that we'd get a better feeling for his situation.

 

[deronmoped]

TIA Opher


If your area around the screen is dark and there are no lights that are directed towards the screen you should be fine with a CRT. Just controll the lighting so the Screen is on the dark side of the room. This can be done with baffles on the lights, use of dark materials to absorb the light so it is not reflected towards the screen.


I would go CRT so when you do want to sit down and watch a movie with the lights off, the awesome blacks are there.


Deron.

 

[Drew Eckhardt]

Without light control you can't get reasonable results from any front projection system - digital or CRT.


With enough light control, you'll get acceptable results for casual viewing with either.


"Enough" with a CRT is blackout blinds on all windows, closed during the day, and at most dim ambient lighting. Spot lights (say over your couch for reading or whatever) provide more light where it's needed and impact the image less than ambient flood lights.


The film experience requires more light control - you need to turn off the lights. Obviously this is harder if you have an open floor plan. The other problem is reflected light with light walls. Bright scenes will look great, very dark scenes will be fine, but somewhat dark scenes will get washed out. Darker walls (with more light when you're not watching movies so it doesn't look like a cave) or curtains may help there.

http://www.poohsticks.org/drew/image...side-small.jpg

 

[Scot Kight]

Or you could use a curved screen....