[Colmino]

Reading through the various relevant threads here, it's apparent that I have missed most of the discussions about the "well known" issues with the Sharp 9000 front projector. There seems to be a general concensus that all of the 16:9 projectors have glaring flaws that make them poor buys.


I did at least gather that Sharp 9000 units manufactured prior to last December have some sort of sync issue, which Sharp is supposed to rectify at no extra cost.


Finding discussions about problems with the Marantz, by comparison, is easy. Lots of talk about flickering (necessitating a bulb replacement) and dead pixels of all things (which Marantz was apparently loathe to do anything about). I don't think I'd buy anything from those guys if it was half-off.


So what are the other problems with the Sharp 9000?


Thanks.

 

[the bomber]

MPE, none so far.



Bomber

 

[Colmino]

While I'm at it, I may as well ask: What makes a DLP projector superior to a CRT projector? I'm probably missing some crucial info, but so far it sounds like CRT projectors have a superior picture for less money. Those two qualifiers together would need some serious counter-considerations.

 

[clehner]

Colmino,

two words: quality control. Both products, the new Marantz as well as the Sharp 9000 seem to have problems with quality control, just do some reading here in the forum you will find a bunch of problems that seem to plague both products. The background problem IMHO is that Sharp and Marantz offer their high end DLP projectors as one product among a couple of thousand other products whereas SIM2 e.g. is specialized and naturally more dedicated to the products. THis does not come for free, however a customer spending more than 10k for a projector should be entitled to expect excellent service.


Just my 2 cents


Christoph

 

[Tom Carey]

I don't think many people claim that DLP is superior to CRT. Inferior, probably. But less fussy. CRT is for the hobbyist/purist. DLP is for the person who doesn't have the time or the inclination to tweak, or the money to pay others to do so.

 

[longshot]

The only problem I have with my 9000 is lack of sleep. Every Friday & Saturday night I don't get to bed before 3AM!

 

[Morbius]

Colmino,


The Sharp 9000 reportedly had a problem "syncing" with the audio. Evidently, there was some delay in processing the

video, and the sound of a person talking got ahead of the image of their moving lips. Perhaps Sharp has fixed this

already.


DLPs and CRT have different strengths and weaknesses. CRTs excel at black level and smoothness, but are fussy, and need

to be converged periodically, and are limited in light output.


DLPs have higher light output than CRTs, but do have issues with "rainbow effect" and resolution.


Which is appropriate depends on the application. If you are going to try lighting up a very large screen - the DLP can

do it while a single CRT can't. You would have to stack multiple CRTs to illuminate very large screens - and a single

CRT is a handful in and of itself.


Dr. Gregory Greenman

Physicist

 

[Bill d]

I have 650 hrs on my Z9000 and have not had any problems except lip sync. That was corrected with changing to progressive mode on DVD player.

DVD image is outstanding and Hi-Def blows me (Family & Friends) away.

I highly recommend this projector.

This is my second Sharp projector (previously had LCD projector for 3 years) and was very satisfied with it also.

 

[Paul Hayward]

Hi Colmino


I own the HT300 and have seen the Sharp Z9000. Both are excellent projectors in my view. Although alot of people have seen the sinc issue on the Sharp, I did not notice it at all during my demo and believe me, I looked for it. The only downsides of the Sharp, and they are very minor, are that you need a progressive signal to get the best out of it. Also, if you want to view satelite, you may need an external processor to get a watchable picture. This last point may even be debateable. Ran, a regular poster and owner of the Z9000, whose judgement is excellent on these matters finds the Sharp's internal processing comparable with the Faroudja NRS.


In comparison with CRT, these HD1 projectors are much closer to CRT quality than many people think. The sharpness and clarity of these pj's is as good if not better than most calibrated 7" and 8" CRT's. Colour saturation is now much closer in bright scenes but still suffers in very low contrast scenes. This area is where CRT is still very much king. They can do true black and this gives them the edge in absolute colour and in fantastic shadow detail in the very low lit scenes. Near black or true black is the holy grail of digital pjs and when achieved will bang the final nail in the coffin of CRT. The great advantange of digital is its smaller size and weight. It is much easier to plug and play without fuss and tweaking and is generally brighter than CRT. For me the quality of the current HD1 pjs is now at a point where for me, CRT is no longer an issue. Hope this helps,


Best Wishes,


Paul H

 

[Joseph Clark]

I agree with most who have posted here. The only two significant areas where DLP is weaker than CRT are black level and rainbow. Black levels still don't match CRTs, and the rainbow may or may not be an issue, depending on whether you see them. I've owned CRT and DLP, and since I don't have time to tweak and want the flexibility to change things around easily, DLP is a great choice for me.


I've had zero problems with my Japanese Sharp, and like longshot, my only problem is that I can't get enough of the picture. And I do see rainbows occasionally. CRT was definitely "smoother" in that regard. Is the tradeoff worth it? Absolutely.


No regrets here.

 

[Ran]

Hi Colmino,


As Paul correctly stated I own the Sharp for quite a while now and I'm enjoying it immensely.


I had a chance to test the Sharp with a Faroudja NRS and the Omega 1.

As to the Faroudja, the Sharp had problems syncing with Pal T.V content (I live in a Pal country) so I tested its film mode (DVD NTSC) against my Panasonic RP-91. I remember seeing a slight improvement in terms of stabilization and color, but it was not worth the 3k price tag. I would go on and say that my impression were probably biased towards the Faroudja due to the "obvious" improvement I thought I'll see with this expensive and pretty machine. I'm not even sure that I would have been able to spot the differences between the RP-91+NRS to the RP-91 in progressive mode if I was to undergo a blind test.


As to the Omega 1, this was also a bit of a disappointment. I managed to test the Omega 1 with Pal T.V content and DVD NTSC content, neither proved any major advantage over the Sharp's internal deinterlacer or the Panasonic's progressive mode.


Usually, when I test new gear I "use" my wife to evaluate how much of the so called upgrade is actually visible to an "ordinary" user. Although, my wife by now (as probably many others on this forum) can not be labeled as an "ordinary" user, she is by no means as picky as I am. After an hour or so she admittedly said that she can't see any difference with the use of the Faroudja or the Omega 1. This is from a viewer that immediately saw a difference between my old DVD the Toshiba 6200 to my current Panasonic RP-91, and from the same person that saw the immediate advantages of the FireHawk screen.


As to the Seleco 300, I have seen this projector a few times with content I was very familiar with. I must state that I have not seen it with the new software upgrade which supposedly increases the brightness by aprox 20%. The version I saw was very very good, but it lacked the punch I was accustomed to with the Sharp which I attribute to the Sharp's extra brightness. The new software might change my mind and I intend to view it pretty soon and post my thoughts. As far as I know the Seleco is well known for its reliability and super service.


As to the so called problems with this new DLP projectors, I think they are blown beyond proportion. Sure, there are problems like any other ectronic gear, but I invite you to pick any electronic gear, may it be a new receiver, DVD player or a projector and use the search button to read the member's reviews/thoughts/experiences.

You will find that EVERY piece of gear has some kind of glitch/malfunction or some irritating bug, for some they may be tolerable and for some they are deal breakers.


A good example is the Sharp's so called lip sync problem. Some members stated that this will keep them away from buying this projector, and I completely respect that opinion. Others, me included, think that this projector is a steal and if you can overcome this problem, by using a Receiver/Processor that lets you adjust the A/V delay (like the Onkyo 989 for example) then this problem is mute at best.


The new DLP projectors are very promising in terms of picture quality and ease of use, they may not represent the "death" of CRT which at this point has better Black level and improved peak whit level, but this may change forever in a few months with the introduction of HD-2 projectors.


Ran

 

[Colmino]

Thanks for the great replies, everyone. It's been a long while since I've been able to bring up a potentially hot subject and see people give straight, unemotional answers.


Getting back on track with my first query (re, problems with the Sharp 9000 in particular), this item got my attention:


> Also, if you want to view satelite, you may need an external processor to get a watchable picture.


Here's an area with which I am totally unfamiliar, and have been meaning to do some research on. I fully understand that a good way to get the best results from my (hypothetical) Sharp 9000 would be to pre-process it into either a high-res progressive signal or 1080i, and then just feed that to the unit.


I recall somebody on one of these forums mentioning that they basically do just that, using a PC box with a 64-meg ATI card (pretty basic stuff). It so happens that my living room currently has such a box in it, put together for the sake of viewing PC-originated video.


What I don't yet have a good understanding of is what sort of options are available to me if I want to do external processing. I don't even know whether or not I could get the desired results from the PC alone. What sort of external processor would I want to look for, if I wanted everything to be sent to the Sharp as a specific high-definition signal?


Thanks again, everyone.

 

[step]

Colmino,


I've had my 9000 since last November and love it. I have seen the lip-sync issue on TV signals (not on progressive-out DVD), and have heard of 2 ways to fix it- either get a pre/pro with delay setting for all channels, or send in the unit for the firmware update.


The other issue is the VGA not syncing to 720p signals. I found a workaround by having my HTPC run in at 1280x960 using Powerstrip while Windows still thinks it is a 1280x720 display. Works perfectly, though not an option for an NRS or other external scaler.


Note that these are both old firmware issues that have been addressed and that I've just been too much of a coward to send my unit in- given the extent to which they aren't issues to my day-to-day use, I don't really want to risk the shipping.


As I say, I love the thing. I've seen threads on just about every one of these units where people find problems of some sort or other. I don't feel like the ones I've seen are serious (or for that matter still an issue on newer firmware versions). YMMV.


Watching cable or sat. will look fine, but not great- the signal generally isn't good enough to begin with. Running it through a processor may do slightly better on some de-interlacing edge handling, but the signal just isn't too fine to begin with. I'm looking to add a DTV/HDTV tuner not too far out.


-Step

http://www.stepniczka.com/theater.html

 

[mooneycj]

No problems with my Sharp 9000 with latest firmware (purchased 4/1/02). No lip sync, no bulb flicker. Cannot comment on SVGA input - have not tried this.


I'm using a Pioneer DV-05 interlaced player and find the Sharp to be excellent with this. I have also tried a Panasonic RP56, RP91 and just yesterday a Pioneer DV-47A as a DVD source (see the "Sharp 9000 and Panasonic RP56 review" thread in the DVD hardware section for more). Were there differences? In a word yes. Were they significant or did one source "blow the other away?" Not at all. In fact, I'm keeping my Pioneer as a DVD source for now, can't see spending more to get a different but not always better picture.


The only problem I'm having is that the Sharp 9000 is too good. It shows up all the other flaws in my system, and any flaws in source material. In particular, I'm hating "edge enhancement" on DVD's, and I can see faults in my cable system (analog and digitial) on the 9000.


I think it's a superior product, I'm very happy.


Corey Joekel