[FRANK BRUNETTE]

I have a dreamvision dl500...i'm thinking of changing to a nec 150.....should i stay where i'm at? or upgrade....i'm happy with my picture....am i doing the right thing...tell me should i keep what i have or trade to the nec 150...also i'm using a iscan pro with the dreamvision...

 

[Tom Hilton]

Hi Frank,


I'm sure you realize that judging image quality among display devices is a very subjective issue. With that in mind, I'll try to respond to your inquiry based upon my personal observations and preferences.


Let me say at the outset that I have not viewed the NEC LT150, but I have demo'd the Plus UP1080. (The UP1080 is the unit on which the LT150 is based). During my projector search, I tried out the InFocus LP350, NEC VT540, Sony 10HT, Dreamvision DL500, and Plus UP1080. The clear winner IMO was the Dreamvision, which I subsequently purchased and now use in my HT.


I cannot say what significant improvements, if any, were made to the Plus UP1080 by NEC in its implementation of the LT150. For me, it's hard to imagine that the picture produced by the NEC unit would be dramatically different from the Plus UP1080 upon which it is based. However, since I have not seen the NEC projector in action, I cannot say definitively how it compares to the Plus.


Given the subjective nature of projector preferences, "seeing for yourself" is always the best course of action. Are you able to view the LT150 so as to make a meaningful comparison with the Dreamvision you now own? If at all possible, try to do so before making a final decision.


Happy home theater-ing!


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Tom

 

[Frode]

Just curious Tom..but how was the Dreamvision better? Color? Light output? Contrast? Scaling? etc


The LT150 is definetly different than your run of the mill UP1080. The ability to turn white segment off and the extra gamma tables help immensely.


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/frode

 

[Tom Hilton]

Hi Frode,


Well, to my eye, the Dreamvision was better in the areas which matter most to me. Deeper blacks, much quieter whites, greater perceived contrast, more vivid colors, zoom lens (the Plus lacked this capability), far more uniform focus and picture sharpness.


For me, the real deal killer with the UP1080 was an inordinate "fuzziness" about the entire image. This was noticed immediately by everyone who viewed this projector while I evaluated it in my theater. I tried every possible way to get a sharply focused picture but obtained only marginal results at best. I don't know if the optical path was somehow out of whack or if the fuzziness was caused by something else. Of course, my experience with this machine is anecdotal...it is difficult for me to believe that the UP1080 production line would allow such a focus problem to go uncorrected. These devices are, after all, designed to produce effective visual presentations!


In any case, as mentioned above, I felt the Dreamvision DL500 recommended itself in a much better fashion overall. The only area where the Plus excelled was in resolution (XGA rather than SVGA), but its inadequate focus nullified that potential advantage. The internal video processing of the Dreamvision and the Plus struck me as about average, i.e., you could do better with a good outboard scaler/HTPC. Fan noise was about the same with each machine.


It may well be that the NEC version has overcome many of the Plus unit's weaknesses and that the LT150 is an outstanding HT performer. I would still recommend seeing the LT150 (or any other projector) with one's own eyes before making a decision to purchase.


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Tom

 

[Frode]

Tom,


It's a bit funny because all those problem areas you mentioned except scaler and zoom are areas in which the LT150 excels. Great contrast, blacks, color. I've also compared my LT150 to a Ask XGA LCD, and didn't notice any issues with sharpness.


I will grant you that if you use the "normal" gamma setting and have white segment turned on that would be the exact impression you got off the Plus. It's amazing the difference these two tweaks make. You also _have_ to use a HTPC or progressive player as the scaler leads quite a lot to be desired. Using composite/s-video would lead to the sharpness issues you noted (among other things). If the projector doesnt' synch properly to the source you'd get some of the same results regarding sharpness.


As with other things YMMV - but I really think the LT150 is one of the still undiscovered giants of HT. I would love to get my hands on a clone and compare to my LT150 to see what difference there really is in the NEC, but I do think most of it is in those two tweaks I mentioned.


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/frode

 

[Grant Smyth]

I have viewed the Dreamvision projector several times - without and without the Iscan DVDO. I liked it, but there were some scaling issues and motion artifacts that made me hesitate. This projector will benefit a great deal from a good scaler along with just about every other projector. The Dreamvision, I believe, is a Davis machine and therefore has the some of the same attributes.


The colour, black level etc. on the Dreamvision are very good.


The LT150 on the other hand probably doesn't look as good through s-video as the Dreamvision does. The LT150 simply excells like no other projector I have seen when a progressive source is used. For the price of the LT150 + screen + HTPC you will get the Dreamvision (at least in Canada)- and this is where the LT150 mauls the other projectors.


Actually, who cares which is better! It's all subjective anyway. IMO we should be asking questions as how to improve what we have. I don't believe the Dreamvision will accept a proscan DVD player so a decent scaler or HTPC should do the trick. I think if this is done you will elevate the performance markedly and you will have a unit that will impress you and your guests even more!


Border the screen and cover your walls with black material to soak up reflected light - makes a huge difference.


Cheers,


Grant

 

[Jim Tittle]

I have had a Davis DL450 (upon which the Dreamvision is based) in my home theater for over a year, and just last night had the chance to demo a LT150 at the home of a fellow forum member.


I use a HTPC with a Radeon graphics card for my DL450 and the LT150 I saw was also being driven by a HTPC with Radeon card. So I think I got a fairly close comparison between the two projectors. Here are my impressions:


First of all, the LT150 is a very impressive projector. Even at it's current street price it may be the best bang for the buck in home theater right now, but at the Dell price it is an absolute steal.


It has very good contrast and excellent color saturation.


However, I thought the DL450 compared very favorably with the LT150 for DVD viewing (I think for HDTV the LT150 is obviously superior because of the greater resolution). The image I saw was very sharp and clear on the LT150 and was at least as good as the razor sharp image I get on the DL450. I was surprised to not see any obvious effects of the extra resolution on the LT150. I thought it might be hard to go back to a mere 800X600 after seeing an XGA projector, but that was not the case at least for me. Maybe this is not surprising given that SVGA really utilizes almost all the available resolution in DVD (and once my Panamorph arrives it WILL utilize all the resolution).


Overall I thought the LT150 and DL450 were very similar in most respects except for two: one favoring the LT150 and one favoring the DL450.


Color saturation and color fidelity are both a little better on the LT150. I am happy with the saturation and overall color performance on my projector, but I must admit that the LT150 is simply a little better on these two attributes. as a side note, my projector is currently being "Thumperized" so maybe once the clear section is blacked out I will feel better about the saturation. I especially noticed that deep reds looked a little more natural on the LT150. My projector tends to render these colors with too much orange for my taste.


On the other hand, the DL450 is superior when it comes to Rainbow resistance. To be fair, I saw very few rainbow artifac ts on the LT150, but I never see ANY on my DL450. I especially noticed slight rainbows in films I have watched on my projector (Criterion edition of the Rock) and had no perception of this artifact. That being said, in my opinion the rainbow effect on the LT150 is very minor and would not hinder my enjoyment of movies with this projector.


So what is the take home message here: I left the demo thinking that the LT150 is a damn nice projector, and the people who got it at that ridiculous Dell price should be very happy. However, I have no regrets about not getting a LT150. My DL450 stacked up very well against the new best-bang-for-the-buck projector, and for DVD viewing I think I am not missing out on anything by keeping my DL450.

 

[clopez]

Hi simon,

(Please dont yell).

To get the best use of your DL450 get build aan HTPC to get the most of your projector.


clopez

 

[Frode]

Just a thought... is it possible that resolution has an effect on rainbow perception? Given that both use the same refresh rate but would have different amounts of pixels to illuminate? If so that would explain why they're going for 6 section color wheels for high resolution DLPs.


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/frode

 

[Tim Smith]

simonthepieman,


The light around the screen is not from unused pixels. This is one of the draw backs to dlp chips (although newer chips don't seem to have the problem as much). Search the forum for "halo." You'll find there have been many discussions about this. On my DL450, I created a little lens cap with hole cut out slightly bigger than the size of the image. This helps cut down on some of the light but does not get too close to the edge to blur the picture.


Tim

 

[clopez]

frode,

The DL450 hve a variable colorwheel rotation speed. The DL450 loves 72 Hz.


clopez

 

[simonthepieman uk]

DEAR JIM

THIS IS MY FIRST RESPONSE ON THE FORUM ALTHOUGH I HAVE

VIEWED IT FOR THE LAST 3 DAYS (COULD BE GETTING ADDICTED)

ANYWAY I USE A DL450 WITH DVD VIA S-VIDEO FROM PIONEER

636 ONTO STEWART 1.3 GAIN.MY Q IS WHAT DOES HAVING YOUR

PROJECTOR THUMPERISED MEAN ?(I UNDERSTAND THUMPER IS A MEMBER)

1.CAN ANYTHING BE DONE TO STOP GLOW AROUND SCREEN (UNUSED

PIXELS WHEN DISPLAYING 16:9 ?WHICH IS ALL I USE.

APART FROM BLACK CURTAINS BEHIND SCREEN.

I LIVE IN THE UK DOES ANYONE KNOW IF MODS CAN BE DONE HERE?