I just got my LT85 but haven't had a chance to play with it yet. I definitely want a 16:9 screen as I plan to primarily watch DVDs on this and, if I do watch a 4:3 image, I probably will use the "Native" mode to show it in a smaller inset image as I'm not fond of scaling artifacts and I don't mind the smaller image seeing as most 4:3 images are of lower res anyway.
My question is, what kind of DVD player should I use? I seem to recall reading something to the effect that if I used a 4:3 projector with a 16:9 screen, then I would need an RP91 for some reason or another. Is that true? Again, here are my needs:
- 16:9 screen
- Want to watch older non-anamorphic letterbox movies filled to the screen.
- Want 4:3 images displayed centered within 16:9 screen (Native mode?)
- Projector will be setup and "broken down" for each use and will sit on a table of some sort. I state this because I don't mind moving the projector back and forth if that makes any difference.
If I don't need an RP91, that would be great as there seem to be better/cheaper progressive players out there (RP56?) which aren't as flexible.
To add another wrinkle in here, I also own an IBM Thinkpad 600X which has a PIII 500 chip and a DVD-ROM player (don't remember the speed). Could this produce a noticeably improved picture over a progressive player or is this hardware underpowered for the purpose? Remember that my projector is only SVGA, so I would think that I wouldn't need as much computing horsepower. I don't mind dealing with the added complexities of an HTPC if the visual improvement is worth it and I don't have to spend much more (I'd need some sort of PCMCIA digital audio output). But if the quality with my hardware would be about the same or worse (e.g. - pauses/skipped frames), then I'd just as soon get a progressive player. Thanks,
Scott
My question is, what kind of DVD player should I use? I seem to recall reading something to the effect that if I used a 4:3 projector with a 16:9 screen, then I would need an RP91 for some reason or another. Is that true? Again, here are my needs:
- 16:9 screen
- Want to watch older non-anamorphic letterbox movies filled to the screen.
- Want 4:3 images displayed centered within 16:9 screen (Native mode?)
- Projector will be setup and "broken down" for each use and will sit on a table of some sort. I state this because I don't mind moving the projector back and forth if that makes any difference.
If I don't need an RP91, that would be great as there seem to be better/cheaper progressive players out there (RP56?) which aren't as flexible.
To add another wrinkle in here, I also own an IBM Thinkpad 600X which has a PIII 500 chip and a DVD-ROM player (don't remember the speed). Could this produce a noticeably improved picture over a progressive player or is this hardware underpowered for the purpose? Remember that my projector is only SVGA, so I would think that I wouldn't need as much computing horsepower. I don't mind dealing with the added complexities of an HTPC if the visual improvement is worth it and I don't have to spend much more (I'd need some sort of PCMCIA digital audio output). But if the quality with my hardware would be about the same or worse (e.g. - pauses/skipped frames), then I'd just as soon get a progressive player. Thanks,
Scott