SGHT's Qualia review is online!
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I find it funny that there were:
-some scaling issues
-a colour uniformity (red being too much on one side and too little on the other...this is an issue you can find in LCD pjs for a grand)
-the insane replacement lamp cost
-the PLUGE issue
to be funny.
I'm sorry but if I were to pay 30 grand for a projector (more than the avg car in north america) I don't expect those types of issues. The scaling issue is just flat out bad.
-some scaling issues
-a colour uniformity (red being too much on one side and too little on the other...this is an issue you can find in LCD pjs for a grand)
-the insane replacement lamp cost
-the PLUGE issue
to be funny.
I'm sorry but if I were to pay 30 grand for a projector (more than the avg car in north america) I don't expect those types of issues. The scaling issue is just flat out bad.
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But considering most people watch it with the lamp in the low position and the iris closed down, I would argue the HD2K provides very similar (if not better) performance.
One of the issues that is tricky for all of these reviewers to deal with is having a reference to compare the 1080p projector to. I like CRT (mainly directview) as a reference because I know there is no image processing going on, but getting a CRT to do 1920X1080 is tough. My suggestion is to find a 21" computer monitor as a reference and crop the image horizontally to the point that you can see 1920 on a test generator/image. A G90 is also a good reference but an expensive one and one that is impractical to shoot side by side with the Qualia.
IMO, you have to get the source material defects out of the equation to do a fair review. Using the best D-VHS tapes helps, but personally I think you should try and do better than that if at all possible. At the very least you can use a computer to generate some 720p test images (since the Sony can't take 1080p correct?) to see how the projector scales up stationary images.
My guess is that the Sony is simply too revealing for most sources. I wish the SGHT review tried better to nail that down instead of leaving it more of a question mark.
-Mr. Wigggles
| Originally posted by thebland Not enough flaws to bother me.....there is nothing out better...that in and of itself makes it seductive... |
One of the issues that is tricky for all of these reviewers to deal with is having a reference to compare the 1080p projector to. I like CRT (mainly directview) as a reference because I know there is no image processing going on, but getting a CRT to do 1920X1080 is tough. My suggestion is to find a 21" computer monitor as a reference and crop the image horizontally to the point that you can see 1920 on a test generator/image. A G90 is also a good reference but an expensive one and one that is impractical to shoot side by side with the Qualia.
IMO, you have to get the source material defects out of the equation to do a fair review. Using the best D-VHS tapes helps, but personally I think you should try and do better than that if at all possible. At the very least you can use a computer to generate some 720p test images (since the Sony can't take 1080p correct?) to see how the projector scales up stationary images.
My guess is that the Sony is simply too revealing for most sources. I wish the SGHT review tried better to nail that down instead of leaving it more of a question mark.
-Mr. Wigggles
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I'm still trying to figure this out between digitals and CRTs. When we did the shootout between my 11k and a G70 one of the comments that Chris Wiggles made with the 11k and "Boys and Girls" was that there was some noise in one of the shrubs that he didn't see on the G70 and he made a similar comment about something from "The Fifth Element". People on the CRT forum have told me that they see all the details that are in the source, but after seeing what the Algolith Mosquito does and talking to them about common MPEG2 compression artifacts I am convinced that the noise we saw was MPEG2 artifacts and just the kind that the Mosquito improves. I didn't try all the same scenes with it, but once I get a Mosquito I will. There were also things we saw with a WM9 title on the 11k that we didn't notice on the CRT, but maybe that had to do with one of the conversion steps. In any case, at least one of them was confirmed to be in the source.
I don't understand why some MPEG2 artifacts wouldn't show up as much with CRT projected images since they can do high frequencies, unless it is just that dimmer images tend to make artifacts (and details in general) less obvious. In the case of the 11k and G70 we had them set to about the same light output, though.
At some point I would like to be able to see some more things on a good CRT to see if all the details really are coming through.
--Darin
| Originally posted by MrWigggles My guess is that the Sony is simply too revealing for most sources. I wish the SGHT review tried better to nail that down instead of leaving it more of a question mark. |
I don't understand why some MPEG2 artifacts wouldn't show up as much with CRT projected images since they can do high frequencies, unless it is just that dimmer images tend to make artifacts (and details in general) less obvious. In the case of the 11k and G70 we had them set to about the same light output, though.
At some point I would like to be able to see some more things on a good CRT to see if all the details really are coming through.
--Darin
We should remember that the Qualia was reviewd by some very critical eyes. One issuse was commented on but the reviewer did not bother to try and calibrate it out.
The scaling get somewhat different reviews from different people. First the reviewer found the scaling or was it deintelacing just fine and then some professional point to a detail. How bad is or how good is it?
Perhaps scaling / deinterlacing can be improved to some degree with a software update?
The scaling get somewhat different reviews from different people. First the reviewer found the scaling or was it deintelacing just fine and then some professional point to a detail. How bad is or how good is it?
Perhaps scaling / deinterlacing can be improved to some degree with a software update?
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This may be true. It is either a function of the internal scaling or the fact that 480i is too little a resolution to be blown up so big..
However, the reviewers, gregr included, state that the increased res is a benefit of the machine. Sharp images, etc were in all of the major reviews. Unfortunately, few of us have had the opportunity to demo a well calibrated unit but compiling all of the published reviews, it seems to be the one to beat (at this moment).
When I had the HD2K at my house for a few hours, John Gannon (SGHT) and Ken Whitcomb) were able to do a mini calibration of the unit prior to viewing. In terms of DVD sources, it looked great with few artifacts. Going back to scaling and 1920 x 1080 being too revealing, we fed it 1080P from my HD LEEZA. Razor sharp!
| Originally posted by MrWigggles My guess is that the Sony is simply too revealing for most sources. I wish the SGHT review tried better to nail that down instead of leaving it more of a question mark. -Mr. Wigggles |
However, the reviewers, gregr included, state that the increased res is a benefit of the machine. Sharp images, etc were in all of the major reviews. Unfortunately, few of us have had the opportunity to demo a well calibrated unit but compiling all of the published reviews, it seems to be the one to beat (at this moment).
When I had the HD2K at my house for a few hours, John Gannon (SGHT) and Ken Whitcomb) were able to do a mini calibration of the unit prior to viewing. In terms of DVD sources, it looked great with few artifacts. Going back to scaling and 1920 x 1080 being too revealing, we fed it 1080P from my HD LEEZA. Razor sharp!
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is this thing shipping at all?????
| Originally posted by thebland there is nothing out better... |
I had a feeling this thing would possibly suffer when it came to DVD's just like the Dila did. The Dila also looked pretty good with HD (but nohwere near as good as the Qualia) but the Dila's DVD playback seemed wrong to me. I think it has a lot to do with trying to upconvert a 480 signal all the way up to 1920. Thats gotta be hard.
Feed it 1080p24sF and it will swallow.
chap
Is it really harder to scale 480p to 1080p instead of 720p? I do not think so but I guess more processing power is necessary.
Reed W
Did you even read the review? Dvds looked great almost like hd. Qualia had some issues using 480i but anyone with a Qualia can use a player putting out 480p. 1080i was very good but could be improved upon.
chap
Is it really harder to scale 480p to 1080p instead of 720p? I do not think so but I guess more processing power is necessary.
Reed W
Did you even read the review? Dvds looked great almost like hd. Qualia had some issues using 480i but anyone with a Qualia can use a player putting out 480p. 1080i was very good but could be improved upon.
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To be fair, I think this thing is getting a somewhat bad rap for DVDs. As I see it, the Qualia has an advantage in resolution over DLPs, but they also have some advantages. While I think that more resolution is pretty much always a good thing at this point, it is more of an advantage with higher resolution sources (where the other projector has to downscale). So, when you use DVDs for a comparison to DLPs the Qualia gets some of one of its advantages reduced, while the DLPs retain their CR advantages (from both measurements and my viewing). When you pop in HD the resolution between 720p and 1080p in the projectors matters more than with DVDs (also depends on where you sit). We should also remember that since the Qualia is able to show the full resolution of 1080i sources, when HDTV is viewed on this thing it is likely to then make DVDs viewed later look even worse.
When I viewed DVDs on a Qualia I found that the extra resolution helped for being able to sit closer. I still wanted more CR, though.
If I had a Qualia I would probably try a Zenith DVB318 player with 1080i over component for DVDs. It would be nice for deinterlacing and scaling for 480i and 480p to work well inside the Qualia for best performance with an Algolith Mosquito though, as that is said to work best when it gets an unscaled image (although 1080i from the DVB318 looked good to me).
--Darin
| Originally posted by chap I had a feeling this thing would possibly suffer when it came to DVD's just like the Dila did. |
When I viewed DVDs on a Qualia I found that the extra resolution helped for being able to sit closer. I still wanted more CR, though.
If I had a Qualia I would probably try a Zenith DVB318 player with 1080i over component for DVDs. It would be nice for deinterlacing and scaling for 480i and 480p to work well inside the Qualia for best performance with an Algolith Mosquito though, as that is said to work best when it gets an unscaled image (although 1080i from the DVB318 looked good to me).
--Darin
Ohlson - Yes I read the review. I also read DocDVD's "review", if you can call it that. I agree with Greg Rogers view as stated in Widescreen Review. For standard DVD material he prefers DLP over the Qualia.
It would be great if all the folks that go to the shows and demo's could see the Qualia play standard DVD as well as Hi-Def stuff, maybe they could draw their own conclusions. But Sony simply refuses to show DVD material at any of their demo's. Why do you think that is?
Reed.
It would be great if all the folks that go to the shows and demo's could see the Qualia play standard DVD as well as Hi-Def stuff, maybe they could draw their own conclusions. But Sony simply refuses to show DVD material at any of their demo's. Why do you think that is?
Reed.
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