[JHouse]

Out of the box it sucked canal water. I was cussing for 30 minutes. Way too many adjustments required for the average guy. Lucky there aren't many of those around here. 15 minutes of tweeking and the artifacts noticable on 6200 are Ghandi!(gone). Tremendous amount of control available. A tweaker's delight. All that stuff I thought was the scaler or the screendoor is gone. Obviously I was full of #%$&. I'm not certain it's as colorfull and bright as the 6200 but it is certainly much less "digital" looking due to the absence of blocks, stairsteps etc. I'm sure I'll be fooling with it for a while and I'll have to reread all the tips on the DVD hardware forum. But, the problems I thought I had obviously weren't in the projector. Way good news. Tickled again.


------------------

Joe


Boxlight 38t

Panasonic RP91

RCA DTC-100

Da-Lite 100" 4:3 1.3gain

Studio Experience SE616's

and some other stuff.

 

[DanHouck]

OK, Joe you know I'm about to get a 38T from Hank so I'll want to hear all the dirty details as you play with this puppy.


Dan

 

[Jonmx]

Out of the box, my the XP21N looked awesome driven by the RP91. My only difference was I had a Greyhawk. Wonder if Sanyo tweaks their version differently .

 

[JHouse]

The 38t DID look awesome out of the box. It was the RP91 that didn't. You might have had your 91 adjusted before you got your projector. I did the reverse. I suspect Panasonic potentiates many of the parameters so that the user can "improve" the picture by getting it back to where it should be. But it looks great now!


------------------

Joe


Boxlight 38t

Panasonic RP91

RCA DTC-100

Da-Lite 100" 4:3 1.3gain

Studio Experience SE616's

and some other stuff.

 

[Jonmx]

I didn't even have to tweak the RP-91. I hooked both of them up at the same time. It took me about 10-15 minutes to figure out I had to press the button on the RP-91 for the progressive scan, but after that everything was great.

 

[JHouse]

Now I'm really, REALLY confused. I had it looking great, absolutely minimal artifacts, etc. Then Jonmx subtly tells me about THE BUTTON. Whoa! Hold on! You mean I was watching interlaced? I had set the 38t to the "other" component input setting to get a picture on the 91 before, and now I had to change it back to where it was on the 6200. Component interlaced v component progressive? I had been wondering what the difference was between those two inputs. I reset everything to 0 and started over. I did some tweaking. Tried all the settings of all the filters, "mosquito", "block", 3-D", sharpness, "soft", "cinema", "fine", "normal"...WHATEVER, and here's my problem: it looks great, but I'm not at all sure it looks any BETTER. I'm having to rely on my memory and I'm starting to look only for artifacts, on edges, in bright whites, vertical, diagonal and horizontal lines, movement, panning, etc. When you look (with your glasses on(and clean)) you can always find SOME, assuming you are searching for them and know what to look for. But then you close your eyes, and then open them to start actually watching the scene, and PRESTO, no artifacts (i.e. no noticable artifacts). I tried about three movies. I may be seeing the source material a little more clearly and am therefore picking up some problems in the source (when I really try). I will say that 15 feet is where you need to be to stop worrying about the sceen door on an 80 inch wide screen WITHOUT defocusing. So is it true that progressive component is not that much better than the "other" component, whatever that is?


------------------

Joe


Boxlight 38t

Panasonic RP91

RCA DTC-100

Da-Lite 100" 4:3 1.3gain

Studio Experience SE616's

and some other stuff.

 

[Jonmx]

You got the interlace signal to look good? Once I figured out the progressive scan, I had given up on trying to get an interlaced signal to look good.

 

[DanHouck]

Joe:

If you're using the interlaced signal does that mean you're having the projector make it progressive?


Dan

 

[JHouse]

Dan, that's what I thought. Hard to believe, with all the trash talk about the deinterlacer in the 38t.


To continue with the saga...I switched back and tried it again, just so I could compare. I could still make it look pretty darn good, I just needed to use more tweaks/adjustments. It still looks better in progressive though, but the difference just isn't as great as I thought it would be.


For now I have settled upon factory defaults on the picture adjustments except gamma to +4 and mosquito filter to +2 and block to +1 and 3D to +1, and the picture set for S(soft). NO Defocusing. Looked stupendous on O' Brother Where Art Thou?, MI2 and The Magnificent Seven.


Artifacts and screen door? None noticed while watching the movies. But remember, seek and ye shall find (but extemely minimal). So start watching and stop seeking.


Try not to develop the "whining eye". (I just made that up.)


Well, that's a wrap.


------------------

Joe


Boxlight 38t

Panasonic RP91

RCA DTC-100

Da-Lite 100" 4:3 1.3gain

Studio Experience SE616's

and some other stuff.


[This message has been edited by JHouse (edited 07-29-2001).]

 

[Jonmx]

I assume you are inputing from the DVD to the projector via the component video input for both the interlace and progressive scan signals. If you figure out a way to get a regualar TV signal (cable, antena, vcr) signal to look good let me know.

 

[DanHouck]

DanG, who has had one of these (XP21N) for some time, is pretty adamant that the best solution to all of this is to use a quadscan. I'm going to take his advice and go that route.


Dan Houck

 

[JHouse]

Jonmx, yep, my only connection from the DVD is through the component inputs.


Dan, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that. What's it going to cost me to try that?


I really fear that my problem is too much experience. Changes in equipment always cause the picture to look different, causing me to notice the obvious differences and look further for more. The more I do that, the better I get at finding artifacts. When I shut down that part of my brain, it looks terrific (and since that is what everyone else who sees it thinks, I have some independant verification that I really am picking nits). When I think back to my 70" RPTV, it's kind of amazing what I once considered a good picture. Huge black scan lines, hanging dots, jumping horizontal surfaces, stair steps,...sheesh!, I COULDN'T watch with my glasses on. It was just too painful. We are in a whole different world of nits here. Now things that are unnoticable unless you know what to look for and actively inspect for them have become the focus. That seems pretty Ok. When I go to the movie now, I pick my theater for the brightest and most focused picture. Still, the prints that get distributed are usually pretty lousy. Talk about grain, and blurry, jumpy and just not clear. I don't take my glasses to the movie either, cause it looks better without them. DVD's at home look and sound a BUNCH better.


------------------

Joe


Boxlight 38t

Panasonic RP91

RCA DTC-100

Da-Lite 100" 4:3 1.3gain

Studio Experience SE616's

and some other stuff.


[This message has been edited by JHouse (edited 07-29-2001).]

 

[DanHouck]

Quadscan Pro should be more than enough. DanG picked a Quadscan up for $600 from someone.


Don't forget you'll also need a breakout cable.

 

[jaron]

The dealer price on the Quadscan Elite has come down so that you can now buy one new for under $1200. I highly recommend it as my Pro had tons of quirks that were fixed on the Elite. Now I just need to get Hank to fix my 38T as it is suffering from a wierd problem with green tinted grayscale that couldn't be fixed through RGB adjustments. Good luck with yours!.

 

[DanHouck]

Jaron:


Where the heck can you buy an elite for $1200?


Dan

 

[jaron]

I forget where I originally saw it for that but I am pretty sure Jason at AV Science was able to comfirm that the dealer price had been reduced and that he would be able to sell it for that. If I am wrong (don't kill me Jason, I think I am quoting you accurately) I will post the name of the web site that advertises that price tomorrow. (I have it written down at work)

 

[DanHouck]

Joe, I reread your last post and would have to conclude you've concluded this thing works fine on progressive without a scaler. Plus, it would work better yet if you get a gray screen IMO. The 38T is so bright you sure don't need gain. All the stuff I've read concludes gray is great with this projector.


On the other hand, if I can achieve nirvana for $1200 more, I'll probably go for it. So I'll see what Jaron comes up with tomorrow.


Dan

 

[jaron]

I did it the hard way and searched every site on the net. But here it is.
http://store.yahoo.com/vss-electronics/444-5600.html


$1196


But give Jason at AVScience a chance because I can vouch for the quality of their service while I have no idea who the VSS people are.

 

[DanHouck]

Joe:

I'm going to pick one up used for under $1000. Plus all the cabling. That's why I started a thread asking everyone how to cable my planned setup.


If it's that good, just watch the movie! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


Dan

 

[JHouse]

Which model should I look at?


------------------

Joe


Boxlight 38t

Panasonic RP91

RCA DTC-100

Da-Lite 100" 4:3 1.3gain

Studio Experience SE616's

and some other stuff.