Meridian 801 4K Display System

SWC thanks for the report. Is the anamorphic with sled included with the package. How was black level and contrast. Any specs?


This is the first 4k to hit consumers. Way to go.

I am no professional reviewer, but the picture shown on the 801 display was as lifelike as I've seen any image, way more so than my CRT or any 'real' cinema picture. There was a fairly dark scene as the gladiators are in a tunnel then a lift heading to the Forum in Gladiators, and it was like I was there in the midst of them - shadows appeared realistic.


Yes, the anamorphic lens was motorized in front of the mounted lens.


Each of these are built for the specific room where they are to be used, so I would think all the details are also taken care of to the finest degree.

If anyone is interested, I posted my impressions from last night seeing this projector over in the 20K and up section. It was as SWC wrote, quite spectacular.


matt

With the choice of video material it "sounds" like Meridian was not pushing the display so hard. Some content captured by a RED camera would have been more appropriate or a digital cinema file of great quality.

I noticed that they were playing ripped content from a computer harddrive. For example Gladiator was 16x9 (ripped) and not OAR at 2.35:1. I have a sneaky suspicion that the scaler didn't support HDCP or something and hence no blu-ray.


Regardless the image was impressive but I wasn't blown away compared to my RS1 shooting on a 6' x 14' screen in my home. It was better in many respects but not 180k better. I also didn't care for the curved screen even though I have always wanted one (and now I don't).

I've not seen anything touch a properly calibrated Barco DP100 2k 3chip DLP including the sony 4k ( by a significant margin too). And even the barco is getting long in the tooth these days. I wonder how much they go for now ( they were upwards of $250k depending on spec).


I was in a grading suite the other week that used an RS1 calibrated for film scans and rec.709. Looked like it might give the barco a run for its money.

I was surprised by the lack of knowledge of some of the people working there. I mentioned that Sony has had a 4k for awhile and the guy looked at me like I was a fool and said something like "well I'm not sure about that..."

Pultzar, not sure if you've had much experience at Definitive, but at the end of the day they are still salesmen. They almost seem annoyed when you are as knowledgable as most of us are. I bought a runco plasma there a few years back as a demo back when they were all pricey and it had no digital input and they RGBHV is a superior connection and whatnot. They have some very high end gear but they still want to sell whats on the floor. They also told my uncle recently that its not worth buying any projector under 10K. I'm sure its not coincidence that the cheapest model they carry is the Runco RS900 at around that price. That being said, if you have money to burn, they do some crazy-nice installations.

I like the Ferrari Enzo Better...whew..valet boy parked my Honda CRV right were the Enzo was...so my CRV probably was close to the category of the Ferrari if you get to park it with all those boutique cars...hehehe

oh BTW, I ask one of the Pioneer Elite Tech People about their new Receiver/Amplifier regarding the capability of the ICE amps to support low impedance rated speakers and she just replied "that's a good question".



Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.D /forum/post/14122277


I was in a grading suite the other week that used an RS1 calibrated for film scans and rec.709. Looked like it might give the barco a run for its money.

Click to expand...

How do you calibrate an RS1 for film scans (apart from not dumbing down the 'oversaturated' primaries)? Variable gamma?

Darin and I spoke to william, who stated he measured about 8500:1, but quite frankly, it appeared higher than that to me. Admittedly I was sitting very close, so that can help the perception of a higher on/off CR, but it held an utter blackout for a couple seconds, and the ANSI also was quite high, it black-holed some dark areas in bright scenes extremely well.


There were a few odd things that I tried really hard to find, but some of it may have been content-related.


I'm curious about where the colors are on this unit, it appeared to be a little bit out there in a couple scenes, and not like what you'd see on film. William was not clear what the gamut was that they targeted, but it did not appear to me to be SMPTE C.


That all being said, it was incredible. If they show this at cedia with actual 4k content, which I expect them to, it should look incredible. I'm curious to see how that stacks up against 70mm film.

Even if you can afford this unit where would somebody get 4k source material in order to fully utilize it ?


I know the point here is for HT's with really large screens but does it not seem a bit overkill for a HOME theater ? Seems more like a real theater projector to me , or is it not bright enough for 300+ inches ?


-- Jason