[Daniel Swartz]

I've read some vague references to the LT150 in the other threads but I was hoping someone has been able to do a direct comparison. Thanks!

 

[aviman33]

Daniel,


Never seen the X1, but my concern would be the SVGA resolution 600x800. I just added HD to my cable service and using an XGA projector (LT150) yields a much better picture than DVD. With SVGA, DVD quality is the best your ever going to see. I'm not suggesting you get any specific brand or technology, just try for XGA if you can afford it. Remember, the cable company is giving rent free HDTV STB's with digital cable plans. By next year the dish companies will all but giving away their HD systems to compete.


Jon

 

[noah katz]

"With SVGA, DVD quality is the best your ever going to see."


Hmmm... A really good audio recording sounds better on budget speakers than a lesser recording, and the same is true of video. My 1st-generation HD=ready toshiba RPTV has limited resolution, but that lifelike HD quality is still discernible.

 

[aviman33]

Noah,


Your 1st generation Toshiba is HD ready and is CRT technology, so it doesn't have pixels to contend with. While the digital projectors in question are not true HD and do not have the required resolution for true HD. I refer to DVD quality because DVD's are capable of 600x800 resolution. HDTV would be scaled to the X1's native resolution of 600x800. I'd rather scale it to XGA wouldn't you?



Jon

 

[rlsmith]

I didn't respond to this because I have not seen the X1 yet. I am very familiar to the LT 150 however.


Resolution is one of the parameters affecting PQ. It is possible that the superior video processing, contrast and color of the X1 (if we are to believe reports) could more than compensate for the fact that the X1 is only SVGA while the LT150 is XGA.


The LT150 has good contrast for its generation but does not have very good video processing, especially on S-video and interlaced component inputs. Infocus has always been excellent on video processing (going back several years), and the X1 has the Faroudja chip.


While we will have to see, my bet is that, viewed at a distance of 1.5-2 screen widths, the Infocus X1 will outperform the LP150 many kinds of inputs.

 

[Bob Sorel]

I should have my X1 here on Monday or Tuesday, and a friend of mine agreed to do a shootout between his LT-240 and my X1 sometimes later during the week. Will that be close enough? We are both interested to find out whether or not the LT-240 is worth twice the price.


I will be doing a comparison between my X1 and my main projector, an Electrohome Marquee 9500LC, and my curiosity comes in the form of "How close does the X1 come to the finest projector (arguably) on Earth?"


The shootout between the LT-240 and the X1 is a much more fair contest.

 

[aviman33]

Bob & rlsmith


If you read my post you will find that I was referring specifically to HDTV source material. I don't dispute that the X1 may actually look better than the LT150 for DVD source material. And indeed Infocus has always done better with their internal scaler. The LT150 does terrible with s-video. However, now that I have HD cable, I don't think I can be impressed by a DVD again. So I would think twice about investing in SGVA resolution. Also, I never endorsed the LT150, I voiced my concern with respect to resolution.


Jon

 

[noah katz]

Jon,


Of course XGA would be better, my point was that HD could look better than DVD even on an SVGA machine.

 

[Gregg Brent]

So does HDTV look great on a SVGA machine like the X1? Or do you definitely need XGA? i'll be watching 50% DVDs and 50% HDTV from cable.

 

[chrisreeves]

I have seen HDTV compressed into the Piano Avanti (HE-3200) at Infocomm. Frankly I was quite impressed with the job it did. With the X1's higher contrast it should look even better.


HDTV will look better than DVD material even on a machine with only 450 lines of resolution available for 16X9 material, for the simple reason that there is a lot more color information in the HDTV signal. You won't see nearly as many compression artifacts as you do on a DVD either.


Don't knock HDTV signals displayed on an SVGA device until you've seen them - they're very good if compressed properly. I'm not saying that they look AS detailed as higher resolution displays, but they look a lot better than one might imagine.

 

[Daniel Swartz]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Bob, I'm sure everyone here is very eager to hear what your shootout determines! If anyone else is able to do a similar comparison, please let us know. Thanks again!