After doing some extensive testing with the Vigatec Dune F, I've decided that native 1080i looks awful. Okay, so that's a simplistic and dramatic statement, because in all actuality 1080i looks very nice --compared to 480i (DVD).
My experience... On a Friday I did some testing, and was thoroughly impressed. 1080i from an HD100 scaled to 768P and displayed on a Madrigal MP9 onto a Stewart StudioTek 130. There are still noticeable artifacts after the scaling, but rather than whole interlaced line artifacts, there was a more subtle and more acceptable pixel shimmer in the problem areas. The biggest difference was the overall appearance of the image. It was much more film-like, and realistic. Colors appeared to be much more saturated and the picture was simply easier to watch and much more natural. The image also appeared to be brighter as well, which makes sense since there is more phosphor being lit with the higher resolution.
For a 2nd opinion, another resident videophile came back from a trip to Runco on Monday, so he was extremely tuned in to quality... I first showed him the scaled 1080i image (duh), and he was impressed, but started pointing out issues I mentioned above. I could tell that he wasn't as impressed as I expected he would be so I put the projector back to the native 1080i. 'Whoah...' was the sound. He decisively agreed that 1080i native is not pleasing to watch in comparison to the scaled version.
My final though: I would absolutely put a Dune F in my theater, simply for the HD scaling. Unfortunately, this tax refund won't allow it this year.
BTW - I won't take the time to go into the SD scaling of this device... for a later thread.
My experience... On a Friday I did some testing, and was thoroughly impressed. 1080i from an HD100 scaled to 768P and displayed on a Madrigal MP9 onto a Stewart StudioTek 130. There are still noticeable artifacts after the scaling, but rather than whole interlaced line artifacts, there was a more subtle and more acceptable pixel shimmer in the problem areas. The biggest difference was the overall appearance of the image. It was much more film-like, and realistic. Colors appeared to be much more saturated and the picture was simply easier to watch and much more natural. The image also appeared to be brighter as well, which makes sense since there is more phosphor being lit with the higher resolution.
For a 2nd opinion, another resident videophile came back from a trip to Runco on Monday, so he was extremely tuned in to quality... I first showed him the scaled 1080i image (duh), and he was impressed, but started pointing out issues I mentioned above. I could tell that he wasn't as impressed as I expected he would be so I put the projector back to the native 1080i. 'Whoah...' was the sound. He decisively agreed that 1080i native is not pleasing to watch in comparison to the scaled version.
My final though: I would absolutely put a Dune F in my theater, simply for the HD scaling. Unfortunately, this tax refund won't allow it this year.
BTW - I won't take the time to go into the SD scaling of this device... for a later thread.
