Hi, Folks!
Every time I think I've got my projection setup tweaked to perfection, and that it just isn't possible to see a better image, something comes along that completely shatters that belief. It's just happened again, and the difference is amazing.
Andrew Chilvers, the author of the TheaterTek DVD player, was kind enough to send me a new beta release of TheaterTek V2.2 last night. I was particularly excited to see this one, because I've never been able to use the 1080/24PsF video format with my projector. Bugs, apparently in the earlier nVidia decoders, had led to a very strange juddering problem that made the image unwatchable at 1080/24PsF. Andrew suggested that this new release might just do the trick.
As I always do, after installing the new release, I loaded up the SuperBit version of The Fifth Element. As soon as the FBI warning hit the screen, it was obvious that this was a better image, and by the very first temple scene, I was hooked! Not only does the new release almost completely eliminate judder at 1080/24PsF, it uses extremely impressive new scaling algorithms that make the image look better than any other SD source I've seen. Particularly on a high-resolution projector, you won't believe how much more watchable DVDs are.
In our home theater, the viewing distance is just about 1.05 screen widths from our 141"x60" 2.35:1 screen. From this short distance, video quality is obviously crucial, since scaling artifacts are highly visible. In general, this has led to a shift towards viewing HD sources (where scaling artifacts are rare due to 1:1 pixel mapping on our 1080p projector). However, seeing the difference that this new TheaterTek release makes is flat-out amazing.
Fortunately, I'd just finished watching The Fifth Element with the V2.1 release of TheaterTek earlier this week, so the image was fresh in my mind. Watching it all the way through again with this new release was simply stunning.
DVDs just got a new lease on life. Particularly if you have a high-resolution projector, you must see the new TheaterTek. And if you have a 1080p machine, just go buy it now! While I'm sure that scalers will continue to improve, right now, I'm not aware of anything that can touch this image quality on film-based DVDs.
Many, many thanks to Andrew Chilvers for creating the best DVD player available!
Cheers!
MarkF
Every time I think I've got my projection setup tweaked to perfection, and that it just isn't possible to see a better image, something comes along that completely shatters that belief. It's just happened again, and the difference is amazing.
Andrew Chilvers, the author of the TheaterTek DVD player, was kind enough to send me a new beta release of TheaterTek V2.2 last night. I was particularly excited to see this one, because I've never been able to use the 1080/24PsF video format with my projector. Bugs, apparently in the earlier nVidia decoders, had led to a very strange juddering problem that made the image unwatchable at 1080/24PsF. Andrew suggested that this new release might just do the trick.
As I always do, after installing the new release, I loaded up the SuperBit version of The Fifth Element. As soon as the FBI warning hit the screen, it was obvious that this was a better image, and by the very first temple scene, I was hooked! Not only does the new release almost completely eliminate judder at 1080/24PsF, it uses extremely impressive new scaling algorithms that make the image look better than any other SD source I've seen. Particularly on a high-resolution projector, you won't believe how much more watchable DVDs are.
In our home theater, the viewing distance is just about 1.05 screen widths from our 141"x60" 2.35:1 screen. From this short distance, video quality is obviously crucial, since scaling artifacts are highly visible. In general, this has led to a shift towards viewing HD sources (where scaling artifacts are rare due to 1:1 pixel mapping on our 1080p projector). However, seeing the difference that this new TheaterTek release makes is flat-out amazing.
Fortunately, I'd just finished watching The Fifth Element with the V2.1 release of TheaterTek earlier this week, so the image was fresh in my mind. Watching it all the way through again with this new release was simply stunning.
DVDs just got a new lease on life. Particularly if you have a high-resolution projector, you must see the new TheaterTek. And if you have a 1080p machine, just go buy it now! While I'm sure that scalers will continue to improve, right now, I'm not aware of anything that can touch this image quality on film-based DVDs.
Many, many thanks to Andrew Chilvers for creating the best DVD player available!
Cheers!
MarkF
