[abigpicture]

I will be viewing the new SHarp z9000 tomorrow. I must say it is a projector I have been waiting to see for a long time.


Hopefully the unit will be set-up in a nice environment. I am dying to take it home and set-it up in my demo room..on the 52 X 92 grayhawk..but I know it will not happen tomorrow.


I am sensitive myself to rainbows....and am now use to the color saturation on my 3 chip DLP. I am hoping for no rainbows...and good saturation but I do not expect it to be as good as the 3- chip but the contrast is superior..so I will give a few words tomorrow if any of you would be interested.


Regards,

John Andrews

 

[noah katz]

John,


It sounds like the Sharp may be what we've all been waiting for - no white section, super contrast, real HD resolution, quiet.


Rainbow should be all but banished; the "Sharp" thread says its RGBRGB wheel runs at 2.5X normal speed, for effectively 5X the speed of an RGB wheel at normal speed.


But it also quoted 600 or 800 L depending on mode; let us know what you think of the subjective brightness.


Thanks


------------------

Noah

 

[abigpicture]

I did not realize the brightness was an issue..for some reason I had in my mind it was at least 1000 ANSI....I hope it doesn't blow the deal...


Regards,

john

 

[catullus]

Moderate brightness and high contrast seems to be the formula for some of the new HT projectors. The Plus Piano will be only 450 lumens, but have 600:1 contrast. My old Sony 400Q with 400 lumens on a DaLite Hi-Power screen had all the brightness I would ever want on 52x92 screen. It also had the most detailed, glare-free bright areas I have seen on a digital projector in my home (LT150 hasn't got here yet). I've had trouble with washed out whites on all the +1000 lumen projectors I have tried.


I think that front projection--either from film or CRT tubes or digital panels--was meant to be a lights-out affair. I'm glad that the Sharp has a 600-lumen mode.


Mike

 

[Jerry Pease]

What's the scoup?


------------------

JP

 

[Krimi]

perhaps Steve Goff from CRT forum could give a comment. He has seen the projector in action, and was not happy with it (to say the least)


Steve?


------------------

Best regards

Lars

 

[abigpicture]

Just back from the Sharp demo. I must say I would buy one and I would even pay retail. Many of the problems discussed in this forum were addressed.


Intially the unit was set-up on Draper M2500 screen...it looked pretty good. ANyway knowing that there are only 2 demo units in the world I drove back to my theater..took down my Stewart Grayhawk AND drove back to Balaton Marketing in Sterling VA (very nice company)and set-up the Z9000 with the Stewart 52 X 92 grayhawk ..The Z9000 was being driven by Rotel RDV-1080 Prog Player....The image was as Sharp and clear as you could want...I was most concerned with brightness and color saturation...however both were more than adequate to create a 3D like image..Keep in mind my reference fo viewing satisfaction was based on my Ampro 3-chip DLP..I must say that I was thrilled to see how good the color was on the SHarp....it was not as good as the Ampro but it was very close.It was however shaper than the Ampro and better shadow detail.


It was extremely quiet to where its noise is a non-issue. The lens shift feature was outstanding....You could mount the projector on its feet on a rear shelf and shift the image below it...very nice...


All in all I was pleasantly surprised. I will be installing one in my theater at the end of August....


Regards,

John

 

[abigpicture]

oh..I forgot....NO rainbows...


Regards,

john

 

[JATWolf]

What is the retail of this machine and when will it be released to the public?

 

[Spizz]

John how about the oboard scaler? Please tell me it doesn't have the problem that the Sony 10HT and apparently the 11HT have in that the onboard scaler produces a blocky and digital look?


Black Level? Is it black or grey?


Also so on a normal white screen it didn't look that good to you, until you used your Grayhawk? If so it may be that the problems still may not have been addressed?


Was this a final production model as they are on sale in September or a prototype?


More importantly are you getting one?


Spero D.


[This message has been edited by Spizz (edited 07-19-2001).]


[This message has been edited by Spizz (edited 07-19-2001).]

 

[thebland]

And about those pesky black levels???????????????????


Jeff

 

[abigpicture]

Keep in mind that I was a guest at the demo. Also the Grayhawk makes most projectors look better anyway so the fact that it looked better on the gray hawk is not an issue with Sharp.


I was watching the Sharp hooked up to the Rotel player....set to Progressive out....I noticed nothing but a clean crisp bright image..nothing funky or digital looking about it...


I would buy one..as it is plug and play...In my opinion it is a Runco killer....no need for external doublers as the Rotel did a very nice job...I did not see it with an NTSC digital signal...


It still also was a prototype..


REgards

John

 

[abigpicture]

black level was very satisfying....and with my eye I cant tell you the contrast ratio other than it was very very good....

Regards,

john

 

[abigpicture]

The so called fake MSRP is $11k and supposed to sell for around $9,995...some of you may think that this is high..but You do not need an external scaler ....or HTPC..or Panamorph OR ISCO 2 or Hushbox..but I do suggest the Grayhawk...


Regards,

john

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Gosh John,


that is so exciting. It really is. I can't wait for projectors like this to fall in price over the next year (hopefully) and for this level of performance to set a new bench-mark for HT-oriented projectors by other manufacturers to follow.


No external scaler and the image was really that good? no obvious aliasing or jaggies on diagonal shifting lines? Wow. Was the resulting quality something that really looked HTPC-esque? That would be the stuff...to get a projector that can really scale incoming analog video with the refinement to not make you feel that you're watching a compromise.


Wonder how it would look with a composite or S-video feed from laserdisc?


did you get a chance to see any HDTV on it? What were the particular DVD titles you watched? Can you go back again with a handful or was this the one demo before it moves on?


thanks for bearing with us...we're just so into this projector and we're hanging on every word!


Almost forgot...how far away is Sterling Va from Wash DC? How much longer will this demo be going? Any chance thru the weekend?


dave


[This message has been edited by DaViD Boulet (edited 07-19-2001).]

 

[noah katz]

John,


"You do not need an external scaler .."


That would be truly wonderful, but from what you said, the only source you saw was progressive DVD, with which many current projectors look very good.


Did you see it with anything else?


Thanks


------------------

Noah

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Let's keep in mind that de-interlacing and scaling are two separate affairs.


A projector can have a great de-interlacer (like the sage chip) with fantastic 3-2 detection and great interpolation for native 480I video...but then have really cheezy scaling algorithms to upconvert that 720x480 signal to the native 1280x720 of the dlp chip.


Likewise you can have a projector with poor deinterlacing (like ineffective or no 3-2 detection at all and soft native 480I-480P conversion) but one that excels in scaling the 720x480 image to the dlp resolution. Such a projector could look great with 480P input (which bypasses the de-interlacing) but that starts to show some warts with 480I input via composite and S-video.


Sounds like the Sharp has at least a first-rate scaler to upconvert 720x480 (progressive) input to the native 1280x720 dlp chip resolution. It remains to be seen what type of deinterlacing capability it possesses.


Would be great for someone to really have a chance to throw some good demo material at this projector to really put its deinterlacing and scaling to the test!


-dave

 

[abigpicture]

HI Gentlemen,


The Sharp was only connected to the Rotel RDV-1080 player via progressive outputs. It very well may be possible to improve the image with a radeon card on an HTPC however the image was so stunnning that I personally like it just the way it was demoed. (Grayhawk though) Their DTC-100 was acting up somehow and they could not show HDTV. I offered to correct it but they had dealers coming it at various times and did not want to interfere with their viewing.(which I understand) They waited until the crowd dispersed before we put up the Grayhawk...Those of you who read this forum regualrly are not the norm. The information contained in these threads is far beyond the knowledge of the typical customer or even dealer and MAnufactureres reps..


Like I said before to me the Sharp Z9000 is appealing in its ease of use and especially the flexability in installation situations.I'm sure it has a few quirks...but it will take 100 units in the hands of us nuts in this forum to find out what they are.


Regards,

John


r

 

[abigpicture]

HI Gentlemen,


The Sharp was only connected to the Rotel RDV-1080 player via progressive outputs. It very well may be possible to improve the image with a radeon card on an HTPC however the image was so stunnning that I personally like it just the way it was demoed. (Grayhawk though) Their DTC-100 was acting up somehow and they could not show HDTV. I offered to correct it but they had dealers coming it at various times and did not want to interfere with their viewing.(which I understand) They waited until the crowd dispersed before we put up the Grayhawk...Those of you who read this forum regualrly are not the norm. The information contained in these threads is far beyond the knowledge of the typical customer or even dealer and MAnufactureres reps..


Like I said before to me the Sharp Z9000 is appealing in its ease of use and especially the flexability in installation situations.I'm sure it has a few quirks...but it will take 100 units in the hands of us nuts in this forum to find out what they are.


Regards,

John


r

 

[abigpicture]

Lamp life rated at 1500 hours....$399 replacement


John