[noah katz]

One thing I prize about my Toshiba RPTV (61" HD-ready) is the illusion of depth it gives. My only reservation about going to a digital projector is losing this effect.


I'd like to hear your comments on how your digital PJ compares with your previous CRT in this regard. I think contrast is the biggest objective contributor, with brightness not far behind, so I'm especially interested in your comments if you have/have seen PJ's with high contrast and brightness.


Do you agree that contrast is the biggie here? For example, did your CRT with inadequate control of ambient light and thus impaired contrast ratio have no better 3D effect than your digital PJ with similar projected contrast ratio?


Does anyone feel there is something about a CRT that gives it superior 3D effect besides it's superior contrast?


Thanks very much


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Noah


[This message has been edited by noah katz (edited 07-17-2001).]

 

[Bulldogger]

That's exactly my observation. Digital projectors are becoming a bitter pill for me to swallow. The loss of the 3D effect really sucks.


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Never become so involved with something that it blinds you.

 

[Dean McManis]

Noah,


I believe that CRT displays (tube, RPTV, FPTV) look great with regard to percieved picture depth, but I think that some digital displays are quite good here too.


You are close enough to San Jose to come by and visit my home theater and judge for yourself if digital does a good job of rendering lifelike picture depth.


You may be surprised.


E-mail me and we can set a day/time for a visit.

I've read so many of your posts over the years that I'm sure that we would both enjoy the visit.


-Dean.

 

[noah katz]

Hi Dean,


Thanks for the invitation. The reason I haven't expressed interest in seeing you're setup is because I don't want to pine for the huge screen that I'll never be able to have, at least not in the house I have now. But I guess I can just pretend I went to a theater. YGM


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Noah

 

[Dean McManis]

Noah,


You can rationalize the visit as "theoretical research".

I look forward to seeing you.


-Dean.

 

[Gary McCoy]

OK, I realize this is not exactly the comparison you are asking for, but here goes. 18 years ago my first projector was an absolutely state-of-the-art Advent Videobeam triple CRT designed by Henry Kloss (the "K" in KLH). It was a floor-sitting inline credenza unit in a Walnut case, not the original "Norelco Shaver" design. It maxed out at [email protected] (i.e. basic "data grade"), and also offered what we now know of as composite video but was simply "Video" then. I fed it the state-of-the-art video source of that era: a direct C-band satellite receiver, a hand-built Pinzone unit hooked up to a 14' fiberglass dish using a select ultra-low-noise-amplifier that I sometimes "tweeked" by chilling it down with dry ice for even better performance. I lived in a place where it snowed then, and I used to run outside while commercials were on, to sweep fresh snowfall off the dish! The C-band receiver had 8Mhz bandwidth, which was as good as NTSC video ever got. Sometimes I viewed VHS tapes, in the early days even before S-VHS, much less analog laserdisc.


My present projector is a NEC VT540, and XGA unit with 1000 lumens. In a fully darkened room, it offers better color saturation, more brightness, a lot more resolution, and even better contrast than that old Videobeam. It costs 1/10th of what the original setup cost, as well. It definately has a better illusion of 3D than the Videobeam.


I fully agree the very best CRTs offer advantages that the average digital projector cannot match. The digital advantage that mattered to me most was I could get 4X the screen size that the same money would buy in a CRT RPTV - and that translates to a lot more involvement with the movie I'm viewing.


There are good deals to be had on used 9" CRT projectors, if you have the space, the total ambient light control, and the ceiling strength to support the unit, and of course 3 more people to help you lift it to the mount....


Gary