[Lurker #25]

I just plugged my brand spankin' new LT150 into a VCR to get an idea of throw distances and brightness. (My progressive scan DVD player is still in transit.) While the image was suprisingly bright and watchable, the fan noise drove me nuts! To be fair, it was three feet from my head, but I could hear the damn thing two rooms away. It is as loud as a small fan I keep at my desk.


I never heard fan noise cited as a deal killer for this thing. Do I have a bum projector or is this normal?


I can't do better than $1700 for a projector of this caliber, so if it is normal, I'll just have to build a hush box.

 

[Grant Smyth]

If you had done a search under LT150 and read "For Your Eyes Only" you would have noted that when ceiling mounted the fan kicks up a notch and is noticeably louder - and yes you may need a hush box. The fan noise when ceiling mounted has been mentioned several times on this forum.


I am surprised you found an image feed to it from a VCR watchable!


Personally I would mount this little thing on a coffee table, or under a shelf in a table like Tom has done.


Cheers,


Grant

 

[Lurker #25]

Grant, the projector was on a coffee table! I turned the thing upside down and made the appropriate menu changes, and it did not get louder. I guess a hush box will definitely be in order...


BTW, I was watching a decade-old dubbed VHS version of "Exit to Eden", complete with Macrovision hot flashes. Maybe I've been immunized by uncalibrated 27" TVs, but the picture quality didn't distract me from the movie (unfortunately http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif ). It can only get better!

 

[ckolchak]

Lurker #25:

that's the most encouraging thing i've heard yet about this projector. yes, it should only get better, and if it's not unwatchable with that...wow.

i'm going from a 53" digital, not a 27" so mmmv, but this was still great to read.


whats the ETA for your player and which one did you get?

any plans to add a scaler?


a guide (or link) to building a hushbox sounds like it should definately be put in the FAQ

 

[Lurker #25]

ckolchak,


I got the Sony DVP-NS700P, eta unknown, but hopefully before the weekend. I picked it up for $305 (incl. shipping) from expresscameras.com. The reviews of this unit on the forum haven't been too charitable, but I only plan to use it until I put together a HTPC. After that, it's condemned to the 27" set in the bedroom. It has a great remote.


Here are some more details on my initial LT150 setup: 10-year old Panasonic VCR, with composite input to the LT150. The room was a 8'x9' "bedroom", with the projector positioned in the closet to maximize the distance to the screen about 9'. My "screen" was a bedroom wall with most of the wallpaper scraped off. Some bits of wallpaper and a few nails were still on the wall. Lots of bumps and scrapes.


I had no audio, which probably exacerbated my perceptions of the fan noise, which remained constant when I changed the settings to those for ceiling mounts. I haven't read anything to suggest that the LT150 is as loud as the notorious DILAs or the venerable Davis DL450s. Nevertheless, I think a hush box may be in order.


I turned on the LT150 and went through the menus to adjust for keystoning and to turn the white segment off, per Grant Smyth's advice.


The picture was 82" diag and plenty bright. There was some ambient light from another room. I was seated 7.5'from the screen, but screen door was not visible at all until I moved to 3 ft. A discernable halo extended 4" around the screen, but it didn't bother me at all. The colors went from oversaturated to washed out at the whims of the Macrovision chip. Because the resolution was so lousy, I had trouble spotting jaggies and artifacts. It was like holding a cheap 19" tv a foot away from your face and watching a channel with fuzzy reception.


However, I had no difficulty watching "Exit to Eden", which I found in my roommate's closet. I chose this movie because if I cited the titles of some of the other movies I found, I'd probably get kicked off this forum. The movie was pretty mediocre (esp. w/o sound), but Dana Delany... yummy!


So far I'm thrilled with the LT150's picture quality. It is watchable under the crappiest conditions imaginable. I am building a house and am planning a theater around the LT150, and I'm very eager to see it with a Da-Lite Hipower, masking, and a HTPC. However, until my house is finished, I'll probably continue using the 8'x9' bedroom as my HT.

 

[arrow]

I wasn't bothered so much by the db of the LT150, as much as I was by the whine when I evaluated it.


Let us know what you do for a hush box. I'm going to try and stack a couple of the LT150s and the fan noise is one of my concerns.


--Les

 

[ckolchak]

Lurker #25:

yeah, there probably is a good reason for all the negativity concerning the sony player, sad to say.

i bought one a couple weeks ago, and was mortified by the quality it put out.

interlaced seemed to be a notch or two better than the interlaced on my tosh 2109 (which has been a great unit for me), but the progressive was a MAJOR dissapointment. if it looked any better than the interlaced setting, it was sure hard for me to tell. As good as the interlaced looked, i expected a quantum leap in quality when switching to progressive. the only effect was a much softer & darker image, which screwed up my grayscale.

i had other major problems when i went to play the Superman disc -including an unpleasant posterization effect on broad areas of flat color. yeeechh!

i took it back the next day and breathed a sigh of relief.

that said-

i saw it hooked up yesterday to a 36" + plasma screen playing Castaway and the image looked very nice.

and i have to admit that the audio it put out was actually excellant.

i'm thunderstruck as to why it didn't mate well with my HS10...i was expecting a match made in heaven, but it was clearly not the case.


Still, i'll be very interested in what you see when you hook them up together. could just be some weird chemistry that might make them an ideal budget solution. we'll see.


as to noise- i've been measuring out distances in the basement and it looks like the prime seats will be right next to this thing. this might take some thinkin', but i actually enjoy planning and constructing little projects like this, so i'm actually looking forward to it.


...if i ever get out of delivery prep hell, that is http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

 

[Darian]

Vlack infared transparent plastic. Edmunds optical glas and some Sonex.

 

[Lurker #25]

I'd really like to ceiling mount this sucker. Maybe I can put together a simple enclosure that deflects some of the sound away from my head. Alternatively, I might turn up the volume


ckolchak, now I'm really starting to waffle on the Sony. I think if it hasn't shipped, I'll cancel and buy a cheaper JVC prog scan player from Best Buy. Ultimately, I will use a HTPC. But I need something now.

 

[Dave E in TX]

Lurker,


I have a JVC XVD-723 progressive scan DVD player with my LT150 and it works very well. This player has received some good comments on the DVD board, so I bought it for $315 from Onecall.com.


I'd recommend it. It has some neat features, and DVD Audio sounds great on it...


-Dave

 

[Steve Dodds]

Just a note. You probably want to avoid using the keystone adjustment. It is a digital rather than optical system and it will affect picture quality.


How much this bothers you is up to you.


Steve


------------------
Steve's Stuff

 

[Lurker #25]

I just cancelled the Sony order. Avoid expresscameras.com! They have a crappy phone menu system and rather hostile customer service reps. The low prices are not worth it at all.


I'll look into the JVC. Thanks, guys!

 

[Lurker #25]

Thanks -- now that I'm using a DVD w/supervideo input (the breakout cable is on order), I notice a drastic decrease in resolution when keystoning. Hmph, I didn't notice this last night when I was using VHS! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif


BTW, the DVD picture through SV rocks! I can't wait to see this with component progressive inputs!!!

 

[ckolchak]

Lurker #25:

how's the rainbow situation. or maybe i should wait to ask when you actually get a screen up http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif .


sounds like you may get by with just a good progscan player, if you're happy with what you're seeing so far ( with just an interlaced signal via s-vid, right?)


i've got my sights set on the kenwood if the reviews pan out.

maybe i'll order the breakout cable tomorrow just to have it ready.

 

[Lurker #25]

ckolchak,

Last night I watched "The Gift", which had lots of high contrast scenes, and I did not see any rainbows. I did see flashes of different colors on occasion. These flashes occurred when a white portion of the picture passed over the remnants of old wallpaper on my wall...


It is not my practice to violently shake my head during movies, and even though this seems to be the recommended practice on this forum, I intend to stick to my archaic viewing habits. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif


Dave E, I read in the DVD Hardware section of the forum that the new $250 JVC uses the same guts as the well regarded older models. As far as I can tell, it works fine. I'll post an update when I get a breakout cable and screen.