[madawu]

Hi,

Sharp 9000 is my original motivation to finish a HT in my basement. I have seen the result in audio king. My jaw was on the ground... I could not notice Rainbow effect in audio king. Is it because I did not look hard enough? Did anyone complain about rainbow effect on sharp 9000? Anyway, the whooping 5k is a little out of reach for me now.


The idea of HTPC brings me couple more incentives to burn some serious bucks for HD display. Not only I can watch movies, but also I can do slide shows, surf web and play VD games with it! I love it!


The only hurdle is to link computer to projector first. Since the sharp has a VGA RGB input, could I directly connect my computer to it? Will it recognize the signal? It says it is compatible with XGA signals from RGB input. Does it mean I can just link it with my laptop?


People in this forum seem to have very positive experience with panny 711. It is 2k cheaper than the sharp 9000. Since I have a 15ft x 15ft room, I could sit 2x screen size away. Does this mean screen door is a non-issue to me?


I do notice that sharp has a much higher contrast rate while panny 711 is twice as bright. Again, do they matter if I have full light control?


I couldn't find a panny show room around twin cities to compare these two. If anyone knows better, please educate me.



Thanks again.


mada

 

[chrisreeves]

Mada -


The contrast will make a big difference to many seasoned HT viewers (and you will become seasoned very quickly in your own theater). I bought and returned a Panasonic 75U (same resolution and contrast as the 711) because the contrast just wasn't good enough.


If you can live with rainbow potential and the motion artifacts of dlp, I think the Sharp will put out a much more pleasing picture because of the much greater contrast.


It will look much more three dimensional.


Of course, if you're building a dedicated theater in your basement you owe it to yourself to see a good CRT projector setup. Frankly, a well set-up CRT projector will put even the Sharp to shame in terms of making the picture look 3D and natural. Plus you can buy a quality CRT for half the price of even an imported Sharp 9000. Of course there is the set-up and size issue, but if your room is totally light controlled and dedicated to HT, the projector's size shouldn't matter that much. And setup on most CRT's is time consuming but not difficult, and needs to be done only once if the projector isn't moved. Occasional touch ups to the picture take only minutes.


Please folks, I'm not starting a war here - but this guy is new and possibly doesn't know about CRT's.

 

[bonedog]

I've seen both , though not side by side. The 711 is brighter and the with very vivid colors it appears just as, or perhaps more snappy (brighter and with maybe even more percieved contrast) than the 9000. The Sharp was viewed in completly darkened rooms and the 711 was viewed with a moderate amount of ambient light. This does not mean the actual black level, measured contrast or ability to handle overall dark scenes of the sharp isn't better , I would assume it is actually better in these regards. It's just that in purely percieved contrast (see thread on lumens and percieved contrast) terms I though the 711XU more than held its own.

Where I thought the Sharp excelled was in the filmlike quality of the DLP image compared the the LCD 711. The Panny, though screedoor was very subtle, still had a 'digital' look to it. Perhaps a bit more tweeking in the way of better grey screen, FLD filter, slight defocusing etc. will help the Panny in this regard. I'm hoping so because I'm likely to order it or the 75U shortly. The Sharp gave me headaches both times I saw it and the US price difference is more like $6000. I'm not up for the import route on a $5K item though it is a temptation that I'm sure pays off for a lot of folks.


Chris, do I hear you talking yourself into a CRT ? Now will you be renting, selling or returning the Sharp ? Just kibitsing. It's hard work checking out all these pjs in a home setting but someones got to do it. The posts of your ongoing saga are appreciated.

Now turn off your computer, go rent some DVDs relax and enjoy your new machine!

-Noam

 

[Bill d]

Madawu...

I sent you a private message...

 

[chrisreeves]

Hi bonedog,


I haven't been on the boards as much lately (that's a good thing) so I didn't see your reply to my post. I returned to sadly find the digital pj forum split in two - but that's another topic.


Yep I have talked myself into another CRT pj. After going through different digital pj's I finally took the time to optimize my old Sony 1271Q CRT with a worn blue tube. The lifelike, 3D picture simply blew me away. The three dimensionality of the picture is difficult to describe - sometimes it looks so good you think you could walk right into the screen and join the world of the movies. So for the time being I've abandoned the digital pj hunt and I'm looking for a better CRT - new tubes, tighter focus, etc.


I think I'm going to hold off on the digitals until HD2 is out, then I'll take another look. I sure would like the convenience of digital, but after using the different digital pj's I've gradually become pickier and pickier about image quality, and currently CRT's are still the top of the hill.


I miss the digital pj forums though because the discussion here is a lot faster paced and has the feel of an exciting community on the bleeding edge of technology. The CRT guys are unfortunately somewhat of a snooty old-farty type group of people. Of course there are exceptions. =)