[CPanther95]

I am settling on my first FP for a dedicated HT. I'll watch almost exclusively DVD's and HD broadcasts. I was dead set on 16:9 because I'll rarely if ever watch any 4:3 material. However it looks like there are some good deals on the NEC HT1000 now, and I was wondering if although it is a 4:3 projector, does it have (conveniently) a way to squeeze widescreen material to 4:3 and let the Panamorph convert it back?


Or, is there a comparable or better projector I should be looking at. I want high-resolution and I'll have full light control in a 15" x 18" room. Also, is it practical to think I can go with a 100"+ screen size?

 

[madpoet]

I assume you are set on DLP?

 

[guitarman]

CPanther95,

Wow this is and easy one to answer. Yes to every one of your questions. I've seen the HT1000 with a Panamorph and it's more than excellent. The HT1000 after calibration tested out and a true 2300.1+ CR. The lens adds brightness and shrinks pixels sizes to what looks to be about half the size. Allot more resolution is noticed.

Your key question, NEC added a firmware which allows you to keep the Panamorph lens on and display 4.3 material within the 16.9 frame naturally with black bars on the sides by the hit of a button.

 

[CPanther95]

Guitarman:


How would Anamorphic movies be displayed - any problem, or issue, that I wouldn't have with a native 16:9 FP with Panamorph?


madpoet:


Leaning DLP from what others have said, but I have no personal experience with FP - Whatcha thinkin' ?

 

[guitarman]

No problems with the lens and widescreen movies also 4.3 material is covered to. DLP black and contrast are so much better. You should test a DLP first if you can. 1 percent of viewers might get a head ache from viewing DLP tech. Mostly everybody that's viewed DLP projectors at my house had no problem. But one member here Robert Hollaway got a headache after 15mins with the HT1000.

 

[CPanther95]

Quote:

Originally posted by guitarman No problems with the lens and widescreen movies also 4.3 material is covered to. DLP black and contrast are so much better. You should test a DLP first if you can. 1 percent of viewers might get a head ache from viewing DLP tech. Mostly everybody that's viewed DLP projectors at my house had no problem. But one member here Robert Hollaway got a headache after 15mins with the HT1000.

I'll just tell people that it's a 6.1.1 system - the extra .1 is a direct telepathic link to the brain. "You telling me that if you were actually in Deadwood listening to Swearengen and Wu communicating - you WOULDN'T have a headache?"

 

[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally posted by CPanther95 How would Anamorphic movies be displayed - any problem, or issue, that I wouldn't have with a native 16:9 FP with Panamorph?

Shouldn't be a problem. Just set your DVD player for 16:9 and adjust the "Aspect Ratio" control on the HT1000. If using a Panamorph, you'll want to tell the projector that the incoming signal is 4:3 full-frame (not Widescreen) so that it uses all available pixels. This would normally cause a picture that is vertically stretched, but the Panamorph will compress it back down to the proper shape.


As Tom stated, NEC recently upgraded the HT1000 firmware to allow you to pillarbox 4:3 material in the center of the picture if using an anamorphic lens. Previously, you would have had to remove the lens to watch 4:3.

Quote:

Leaning DLP from what others have said, but I have no personal experience with FP - Whatcha thinkin' ?

The HT1000 has a 4x color wheel, so unless you are extremely sensitive to them you shouldn't notice any rainbow artifacts.

 

[CPanther95]

Does the Panamorph lens attach "full-time" some how directly to the NEC lens, or would I still need to purchase the optional rail kit?

 

[johnny_marin]

Quote:

Originally posted by CPanther95 Does the Panamorph lens attach "full-time" some how directly to the NEC lens, or would I still need to purchase the optional rail kit?

The Panamorph does not attach to the NEC directly but in front of the lens (as close to it as possible). For the rail kit it would depend on how the projector was mounted. If on a table then the Panamorph may not need the rail kit. If ceiling mounted then the rail kit may be required. With the new S/W I don't see the need to move the Panamorph out of the path for ANY viewing as 4:3 will be shown properly centered within the 16:9 frame so that all you would need are side masking to eliminate the black bars.


John

 

[CPanther95]

Any significant difference between the HT1000 and the HT1100 or is it basically the same thing?

 

[guitarman]

The HT1100 edges out some more contrast 3500.1 now. It also uses a faster color wheel (5Xspeed) vs (4Xspeed). There's some other goodies for picture adjustments. One that caught my eye was Sweetvision for DVI.

 

[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally posted by guitarman The HT1100 edges out some more contrast 3500.1 now. It also uses a faster color wheel (5Xspeed) vs (4Xspeed). There's some other goodies for picture adjustments. One that caught my eye was Sweetvision for DVI.

The HT1100 also drops the Faroudja deinterlacing, sadly.