[baltar]

Yesterday I received my Prismasonic V200 Anamorphic lense. This my review. I am kind of a newbie so it will not be full of all kinds of technical stuff.


My setup:


Projector: Nec VT440 (SVGA, 1100 lumen)

DVD-play.: Sony DVP-S725D (interlaced)

Connection: Component-to-VGA


The lense itself is much heavier than I thought. It has a metal housing containing two solid glass prism's. The quality of the used materials look very good. The lens has several adjustment screws so that a lot of different projectors work with the lens. This solid glass model is especially made for front heat exhaust projectors (like the VT440). The hot air blows right under the two prisms.


Both prisms can be rotated on the side of the lens in order to adjust the aspect ratio. I use it to squeeze a 4:3 image to 16:9 but it can also be used to for a 16:9 to 21:9 (2.35:1) squeeze. That will come handy in de future when I buy a widescreen projector.


The calibration of the lense is very simple. Just put it in front of the lense, making sure that the light beam goes through the middle of the prisms. I do not have a permanent setup of my projector in my living room, but that is no problem since placing the lense goes very quick.


Due to an increased resolution of 33% the image quality is significantly better. Less screendoor effect en much better colors. But perhaps the greatest advantage to me is the disapearence of the 'black (grey)' bars under and above the image. Now I really have the idea of looking at a cinemascreen.


There is only a very small pincushion effect on the lower side of the screen. It is aprox. 1cm but it is not annoying at all.


Conclusion:


I am very pleased with this upgrade. Especially for those who havel an older SVGA projector this is a very good upgrade. Since the lens also has the ability to squeeze from 16:9 to 2.35:1, it will also be very useful in the future. Price is 730 euro, without shipping.


Greetings from Holland,


Marco

 

[Jim Story]

Marco,


Nice of you to share your review on the V200.


I have a couple of questions, if you have the time:


1. Will it work when the pj is slanted down and keystone is used to square up the image (I have to mount my pj above the bottom of the screen, almost in the middle)?


2. How many pounds does it weigh?


Thank you.

 

[baltar]

Hi,


1. Since I never work with keystone i didn't try that out. However the lense is very easy to setup you don't have to calibrate for minutes. Prismasonic advises you to make sure that the light beam goes through the middle of the prism's. When you do that you will have a 98% perfect image. With finetuning you can almost make the pincushion effect (very minimal) almost disappear. Next time when i use the projector (almost everyday) I will try it in your position and use keystone and see what the results are. I'll let you know.


2. The lense weighs about 4 pounds. That's because it is made of heavy metal and solid glass.


Greetings,


Marco

 

[Jim Story]

Thanks Marco, I look forward to your opinion on whether the V200 will work ok when tilting the pj (to lower the image), and then using keystone to square the image.

 

[baltar]

Correction:


In my review i said that the housing is of metal. That is incorrect. It is made out of wood. It is mounted on a metal plate.


Marco

 

[sethk]

Marco,

Thanks for your review, it certainly sounds like a promising upgrade for 4:3 projectors. I would also love to hear from any X1 owners who've tried this lens. A few questions:

The prismasonic website lists the lens at 600 Euros before shipping, is there some hidden cost we should be aware of?

Could you explain the mounting procedure a little. For a heavy lens like that it sounds like it needs to be resting on the plate or table or shelf that the projector itself is mounted on, or does it rest on the projector's lens?

Can the lens take a 4:3 (1.33) image to 2.35? Doesn't sound like it from the description, but thought I'd ask.


Thanks again for your review

 

[DenisT]

"Can the lens take a 4:3 (1.33) image to 2.35? Doesn't sound like it from the description, but thought I'd ask. "


Yes, an anamorphic lens will stretch a 4:3 image by a factor of 1.33 to a 16:9 image. Set the DVD player to output to a 16:9 projector. Tell the projector it is getting a 4:3 image. The image will be squeezed in the horizontal. People will be tall and skinny. Put the anamorphic lens in front of the pj lens. The lens streatches it out so that it is in the correct aspect (1.77:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1 or even 2.40:1 for BenHur).

Using the lens:

1. If it is a 16:9 (1.77:1) image there will be no black bars on top or bottom. The image fills a 16:9 screen

2. If it is a 1.85:1 image, then there will be small black bars on top and bottom of a 16:9 screen.

3. If it is a 2.35:1 image, the black bars on the 16x9 screen will be larger.

 

[baltar]

Sethk:

There are no hidden costs. Prismasonic is a very honest company. However the listed price of 595euro is without 22%VAT. This will be added when the lense is ordered within the European Union. For me (Holland) the shipping costs were 34 euro so my total costs were 768euro's. If you live outside the European Union, no VAT will be added but you must be aware of customs at your country.


The lens itself is mounted on ametal plate that measures about 8 by 3 inch. On the four corners of this plate are 4 holes. I took a 0,75 inch thick wooden plate and fixed the metal plate at the end . I only have to place my projector on the wooden plate behind the lense. I put the projector against the lense.


It is possible to squeeze a 4:3 image to 2.35:1 but then you get a lot more distortion. That is not what this lense is for. Besides I haven't heard of any anamorphic 2.35:1 material that can be stretched to 4:3. It is always from 2.35:1 to 16:9 because this is the aspect ratio of widescreen TV's.


Off course you can use the lense with a 16:9 native projector to squeeze the image to 21:9 (2.35:1)


Marco

 

[darinp]

Quote:

Originally posted by baltar It is possible to squeeze a 4:3 image to 2.35:1 but then you get a lot more distortion. That is not what this lense is for. Besides I haven't heard of any anamorphic 2.35:1 material that can be stretched to 4:3. It is always from 2.35:1 to 16:9 because this is the aspect ratio of widescreen TV's.

You can stretch 2.35:1 to 4:3 with an HTPC and the appropriate DVD software.


To go all the way from 2.35:1 to 4:3 would require a projector with a fairly long throw, though. Otherwise the passage through the V-200 isn't big enough. Their website pretty much says that going from 2:1 to 4:3 is the limit, since it wasn't designed to go beyond that, like you said.


I did some comparison with the custom Panamorph for the HT1000 and posted my comments here .


--Darin

 

[baltar]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim Story Thanks Marco, I look forward to your opinion on whether the V200 will work ok when tilting the pj (to lower the image), and then using keystone to square the image.

I tried it out and using Keystone is no problem, when the V-200 is tilted at the same angle (but that speaks for itself, I think).


The best you can do is to mount the lense on a rack (like I did), put the proj. before the lense and then tilt the rack in the desired angle.


However, to be sure with using the V-200 with keystone, I advise you to place a posting on the www.prismasonic.com messageboard. The two owners of Prismasonic can give you a definite answer.


Greetings,


Marco