Background
I owned a 400Q since 1997 and had tweaked it to death, including being an early adopter of a G400 based HTPC. I built a custom sync-on-green generator, as the AA box hadn't been invented, and the Extron was too costly. The SoG generator also allowed me to switch between HTPC, a R1 (NTSC) Toshiba 3108 interlaced DVD player (wife/kids operated) and the RGB output from Sky Digital, a digital satellite STB found in the UK. The SoG generator also put the sync on the green channel for the interlaced PAL signal coming from the STB. The PJ is mounted about 20 feet from a 110†diagonal 1.0 gain 16:9 screen. The HT is in a 22’ x 18’ family room.
My collection of DVD’s is R1 (NTSC) so we would watch those via HTPC. My NTSC laserdisc collection was watched via the S-Vid input, and the STB signal was via interlaced RGB PAL.
I had always been very impressed with the 400Q, and was very disappointed with the VW-10HT as I thought it looked very low in contrast and bad in black level when I auditioned it – for me, it didn’t seem any sizeable improvement over the 400Q.
When I first saw the DL-450 DLP, I new that, primarily, contrast and black level were the thing that was going to get me to upgrade, but when?
Well my business partner made my mind up for me when he made me a ridiculous take-it-or-leave-it offer for my entire old PJ setup, including trick SoG box. He is a technophobe, loved my setup, and wanted to plug-and-play. Time to buy!
Criteria
My criteria was:
1 Must use current installation (long throw, screen size, rear wall shelf mount, no hush box, no hole in wall etc)
2 16:9 panel. As the 400Q is native 16:9, I didn’t want to change. Also, more and more digital satellite programming is 16:9 here in the UK – in fact, it’s difficult to buy a 4:3 TV over here!
3 Better contrast and black level than the 400Q
4 Significantly higher resolution
5 Brighter (but not huge issue as light control was good).
6 Quieter – the 400Q is a noisy beast
7 Ability to use an external scaler to deinterlace and scale RGB PAL signals. This was really important to me as I love sports and the 400Q internal scaler fell apart with moving images. The quality of the digital satellite broadcasting of big sports here in the UK can be very good – a high data rate RGB PAL 16:9 image of a big soccer match had the potential to look great if de-interlaced (actually looked darn good on my 400Q). The current lack of RGB input cards for Dscaler meant that I would have to use a commercial scaler. Scaler should be NTSC and PAL compatible. Also wanted to move away from HTPC for WAF (wife acceptance factor).
8 I need it now! (400Q left mid October)
Choice
After some clarifications directly with Faroudja, went for Sharp 9000 with Faroudja NRS – bought unseen, untested….
Post-ordering, pre-Installation panic
I was in London and saw a SIM-HT200 driven by an Iscan+. Left demo is complete state of panic as I was seeing rainbows all over the place! I’m obviously very sensitive to them – oh dear!
Slightly reassured myself with discussions here of 2.5x color wheels, but now worried – why didn’t I audition first?
Installation of Sharp
The PJ arrived about a week before the NRS. The installation could not have been easier, the lens shift, throw and focus took seconds and it went straight on my old 400Q shelf. The PJ is also the right way up (on its feet) – my 400Q was on a shelf upside down.
I set the PJ up quickly with VE on the 3108. Out of the box, the brightness was spot on, I could up the contrast a few notches and the colour and tint very close.
Initial image impressions
Using my usual test disks, I was immediately delighted (and relieved). Rainbows just not an issue (don’t forget my HT200 experience). If I stand close to the screen (say, 0.5 screen width away), pause an image of a bright starfield and flick my eyes about, I can see slight rainbows on the stars. Otherwise, I can’t. LCD owners thinking of upgrading to DLP – I recommend you look at any PJ yourself to check this. Bottom line – I think the new generation of 16:9 DLP’s with 2.5x wheels will be good for the vast majority of owners. More on the image later… (but I was excited).
It's also very quiet - *much* quieter than the 400Q in theatre mode (all I use it in).
The image is noticeably brighter than the 400Q and perfect for my large screen. The blacks are so good, I'm not sure that a greyhawk or equiv is necessary with this PJ>
Initial problems
At least with my PJ, there is a *big* lip-sync issue. Irrespective of the method of input (composite, S-Vid, component), any interlaced signal (NTSC or PAL) appears delayed relative to the audio by about 0.25 seconds (estimate). At this stage, I wanted to send the PJ back (un-watchable like this) as I thought it was broken or had a *huge* software bug (it has to be buffering at least 7 frames to do this) in the de-interlacing chip. Trouble is, I couldn’t turn it off to check the theory.
The PAL image on S-Video was also terrible with huge chroma delays / smearing – unwatchable.
HTPC hook-up
I then thought I’d dust off my old HTPC and try and bypass the scaler (like the NRS would) and see if the lip-sync issue was still there. I set up a 1280 x 720 x 60 Hz custom resolution on my G400, plugged it in to Input 5 (computer) and – oh damn!
It won’t recognise it - thinks it’s 800x600 and scales it accordingly. After much fiddling, as far as I can see, it seems to be impossible to drive the 9000 at it’s native rate via the computer input, without the fancy scaler intervening.
Having read cam’s post here, I then made myself a breakout cable to drive the ‘normal’ inputs (1 & 2) with the PC. When I fed the PJ the signal again, I got a ‘720P’ signal and everything was working. The scaler is disabled and I seem to get pixel-perfection this way. So this way, with break out cables, it is possible.
Sadly, my ol’ smoker of an HTPC was now struggling to be super-smooth at the new resolution, but the lip-sync issues were pretty much gone.
Arrival of Pana 56 DVD player
Next thing of interest was the arrival of my new DVD player. I had noticed some banding issues with my old Tosh, and there were a number of DVD’s that it just refused to play, so I upgraded. The DVD forum seemed to give the thumbs up the the 56, as there is no ‘chroma-bug’ and it can output an interlaced signal that the NRS must have. Interestingly, with the 56 connected to the PJ directly, and in progressive output mode (which disables the de-interlacer but not the scaler) the lip-sync issues were pretty much fixed.
Arrival of the NRS
Initially, I had a drama with the NRS not outputting the correct frequency, which a power cycle (of the ‘remove the mains lead’ variety) eventually cured. The lip-sync issue was now gone (as the HTPC tests had shown), but now the problems was my grand plan for deinterlaced RGB PAL images seemed to be thwarted by Sharp.
For some unknown reason, at the moment, the 9000 only allows the 720P mode (direct panel access) at 60 Hz! So, *despite* what they claim in the manual, you can’t drive it (this way) at any other scan rate. When the NRS gets a 25 Hz interlaced PAL signal, it outputs a 50 Hz signal to the PJ, which, at the moment, doesn’t work on the component inputs. They *must* upgrade the software to allow this in the future.
Anyway, I had a flash of inspiration. The computer input allows different scan rates, so I made up a 40’ long monitor lead with shielded Cat5 cable (as per Mr Wigggles posts) and connected the computer output of the NRS to the input 5 of the PJ. I set the computer input to be 1024x600 and Voila! – fabulous scaled, deinterlaced (which Faroudja know a thing or two about…) RGB PAL images on my PJ. Slight gripe that the NRS vertically stretches (and crops top and bottom) the image slightly but more fiddling to come...
Summary
I can now watch NTSC or RGB PAL through my NRS onto the Sharp 9000. What’s it like?
Well, it looks sensational! For those 400Q owners who have been waiting for the next best thing, it’s here. Size of the step above the 400Q? For me, like going from watching a movie on the 400Q via composite interlaced NTSC to full blown HTPC.
Unless you are incredibly sensitive to rainbows, I’m sure anyone would say the image is just breathtaking. The black level and contrast gives the image a razor-sharp 3D quality that blows the washed-out low contrast stuff away. Screen door just is not there (400Q was very good in this as well though).
Movie after movie makes my grin – I can watch the dark ones (Gladiator etc) without trepidation and shadow detail is miles better. But you should see the show-off ones now, like superbit 5th Element. Wow!
I can imagine that HD on the PJ would be just awesome.
Go on, do it. The future is here. You know it makes sense (and you didn’t really want that skiing holiday!)
I owned a 400Q since 1997 and had tweaked it to death, including being an early adopter of a G400 based HTPC. I built a custom sync-on-green generator, as the AA box hadn't been invented, and the Extron was too costly. The SoG generator also allowed me to switch between HTPC, a R1 (NTSC) Toshiba 3108 interlaced DVD player (wife/kids operated) and the RGB output from Sky Digital, a digital satellite STB found in the UK. The SoG generator also put the sync on the green channel for the interlaced PAL signal coming from the STB. The PJ is mounted about 20 feet from a 110†diagonal 1.0 gain 16:9 screen. The HT is in a 22’ x 18’ family room.
My collection of DVD’s is R1 (NTSC) so we would watch those via HTPC. My NTSC laserdisc collection was watched via the S-Vid input, and the STB signal was via interlaced RGB PAL.
I had always been very impressed with the 400Q, and was very disappointed with the VW-10HT as I thought it looked very low in contrast and bad in black level when I auditioned it – for me, it didn’t seem any sizeable improvement over the 400Q.
When I first saw the DL-450 DLP, I new that, primarily, contrast and black level were the thing that was going to get me to upgrade, but when?
Well my business partner made my mind up for me when he made me a ridiculous take-it-or-leave-it offer for my entire old PJ setup, including trick SoG box. He is a technophobe, loved my setup, and wanted to plug-and-play. Time to buy!
Criteria
My criteria was:
1 Must use current installation (long throw, screen size, rear wall shelf mount, no hush box, no hole in wall etc)
2 16:9 panel. As the 400Q is native 16:9, I didn’t want to change. Also, more and more digital satellite programming is 16:9 here in the UK – in fact, it’s difficult to buy a 4:3 TV over here!
3 Better contrast and black level than the 400Q
4 Significantly higher resolution
5 Brighter (but not huge issue as light control was good).
6 Quieter – the 400Q is a noisy beast
7 Ability to use an external scaler to deinterlace and scale RGB PAL signals. This was really important to me as I love sports and the 400Q internal scaler fell apart with moving images. The quality of the digital satellite broadcasting of big sports here in the UK can be very good – a high data rate RGB PAL 16:9 image of a big soccer match had the potential to look great if de-interlaced (actually looked darn good on my 400Q). The current lack of RGB input cards for Dscaler meant that I would have to use a commercial scaler. Scaler should be NTSC and PAL compatible. Also wanted to move away from HTPC for WAF (wife acceptance factor).
8 I need it now! (400Q left mid October)
Choice
After some clarifications directly with Faroudja, went for Sharp 9000 with Faroudja NRS – bought unseen, untested….
Post-ordering, pre-Installation panic
I was in London and saw a SIM-HT200 driven by an Iscan+. Left demo is complete state of panic as I was seeing rainbows all over the place! I’m obviously very sensitive to them – oh dear!
Slightly reassured myself with discussions here of 2.5x color wheels, but now worried – why didn’t I audition first?
Installation of Sharp
The PJ arrived about a week before the NRS. The installation could not have been easier, the lens shift, throw and focus took seconds and it went straight on my old 400Q shelf. The PJ is also the right way up (on its feet) – my 400Q was on a shelf upside down.
I set the PJ up quickly with VE on the 3108. Out of the box, the brightness was spot on, I could up the contrast a few notches and the colour and tint very close.
Initial image impressions
Using my usual test disks, I was immediately delighted (and relieved). Rainbows just not an issue (don’t forget my HT200 experience). If I stand close to the screen (say, 0.5 screen width away), pause an image of a bright starfield and flick my eyes about, I can see slight rainbows on the stars. Otherwise, I can’t. LCD owners thinking of upgrading to DLP – I recommend you look at any PJ yourself to check this. Bottom line – I think the new generation of 16:9 DLP’s with 2.5x wheels will be good for the vast majority of owners. More on the image later… (but I was excited).
It's also very quiet - *much* quieter than the 400Q in theatre mode (all I use it in).
The image is noticeably brighter than the 400Q and perfect for my large screen. The blacks are so good, I'm not sure that a greyhawk or equiv is necessary with this PJ>
Initial problems
At least with my PJ, there is a *big* lip-sync issue. Irrespective of the method of input (composite, S-Vid, component), any interlaced signal (NTSC or PAL) appears delayed relative to the audio by about 0.25 seconds (estimate). At this stage, I wanted to send the PJ back (un-watchable like this) as I thought it was broken or had a *huge* software bug (it has to be buffering at least 7 frames to do this) in the de-interlacing chip. Trouble is, I couldn’t turn it off to check the theory.
The PAL image on S-Video was also terrible with huge chroma delays / smearing – unwatchable.
HTPC hook-up
I then thought I’d dust off my old HTPC and try and bypass the scaler (like the NRS would) and see if the lip-sync issue was still there. I set up a 1280 x 720 x 60 Hz custom resolution on my G400, plugged it in to Input 5 (computer) and – oh damn!
It won’t recognise it - thinks it’s 800x600 and scales it accordingly. After much fiddling, as far as I can see, it seems to be impossible to drive the 9000 at it’s native rate via the computer input, without the fancy scaler intervening.
Having read cam’s post here, I then made myself a breakout cable to drive the ‘normal’ inputs (1 & 2) with the PC. When I fed the PJ the signal again, I got a ‘720P’ signal and everything was working. The scaler is disabled and I seem to get pixel-perfection this way. So this way, with break out cables, it is possible.
Sadly, my ol’ smoker of an HTPC was now struggling to be super-smooth at the new resolution, but the lip-sync issues were pretty much gone.
Arrival of Pana 56 DVD player
Next thing of interest was the arrival of my new DVD player. I had noticed some banding issues with my old Tosh, and there were a number of DVD’s that it just refused to play, so I upgraded. The DVD forum seemed to give the thumbs up the the 56, as there is no ‘chroma-bug’ and it can output an interlaced signal that the NRS must have. Interestingly, with the 56 connected to the PJ directly, and in progressive output mode (which disables the de-interlacer but not the scaler) the lip-sync issues were pretty much fixed.
Arrival of the NRS
Initially, I had a drama with the NRS not outputting the correct frequency, which a power cycle (of the ‘remove the mains lead’ variety) eventually cured. The lip-sync issue was now gone (as the HTPC tests had shown), but now the problems was my grand plan for deinterlaced RGB PAL images seemed to be thwarted by Sharp.
For some unknown reason, at the moment, the 9000 only allows the 720P mode (direct panel access) at 60 Hz! So, *despite* what they claim in the manual, you can’t drive it (this way) at any other scan rate. When the NRS gets a 25 Hz interlaced PAL signal, it outputs a 50 Hz signal to the PJ, which, at the moment, doesn’t work on the component inputs. They *must* upgrade the software to allow this in the future.
Anyway, I had a flash of inspiration. The computer input allows different scan rates, so I made up a 40’ long monitor lead with shielded Cat5 cable (as per Mr Wigggles posts) and connected the computer output of the NRS to the input 5 of the PJ. I set the computer input to be 1024x600 and Voila! – fabulous scaled, deinterlaced (which Faroudja know a thing or two about…) RGB PAL images on my PJ. Slight gripe that the NRS vertically stretches (and crops top and bottom) the image slightly but more fiddling to come...
Summary
I can now watch NTSC or RGB PAL through my NRS onto the Sharp 9000. What’s it like?
Well, it looks sensational! For those 400Q owners who have been waiting for the next best thing, it’s here. Size of the step above the 400Q? For me, like going from watching a movie on the 400Q via composite interlaced NTSC to full blown HTPC.
Unless you are incredibly sensitive to rainbows, I’m sure anyone would say the image is just breathtaking. The black level and contrast gives the image a razor-sharp 3D quality that blows the washed-out low contrast stuff away. Screen door just is not there (400Q was very good in this as well though).
Movie after movie makes my grin – I can watch the dark ones (Gladiator etc) without trepidation and shadow detail is miles better. But you should see the show-off ones now, like superbit 5th Element. Wow!
I can imagine that HD on the PJ would be just awesome.
Go on, do it. The future is here. You know it makes sense (and you didn’t really want that skiing holiday!)
