Hi all,
I own a Davis DLX650 clone (XGA DLP) which Thumper performed some mods on (see this thread ). I also took advantage of the Dell deal on the LT-150. So I invited a fellow AVS member over, and we did a comparison.
I'd just like to state up front that I'm *not* unbiased. I had already agreed to sell my LT150, so I wanted my Davis to look better, or at least close, to the 150.
So, disclaimer out of the way, we fired up both projectors. (The Davis has a buffer box which makes it easy to split the output of my GeForce 2 HTPC.) When we first started doing the comparison, the 150 was very impressive. (FYI, I turned the clear section of the color wheel off on the 150, and used "Natural 1" as the gamma.) We would pause, and A/B them, and the 150 image jumped off the screen. The Davis image looked dull and "dirty".
My friend suggested that we calibrate both projectors with Avia. I had just done some quick stuff by eye. So, we went through Avia, and got both projectors adjusted much better. We then played some bright scenes from Elmo in Grouchland. The 150 definitely had more saturated colors. But the Davis I felt looked more filmlike. It was softer - the 150 looked harsh. The 150 was probably oversaturated - I think with more tweaking it could have been improved. So the colors of the 150 were more saturated and brighter, but the overall picture of my Davis was still quite good, I could argue it was comparable.
We then put in the Matrix, to watch some dark scenes. It was in these dark scenes in the past that I thought my Davis could have been improved. It had great black levels, but I couldn't seem to see as much shadow detail as I expected. Well, I guess I didn't have it calibrated well, because now the Davis actually looked quite good. A/B'ing the two, the Davis definitely had better blacks and better shadow detail. My friend was quite impressed with the blacks of the Davis. It was here that we noticed that the 150 was quite blue. Blacks were pretty blue. I started to think that where I had thought in bright scenes that my Davis looked "dirty" (yellowish), it was really that the 150 was just bluer. Now that we were aware of the blue from the 150, we seemed to agree that Davis probably had the more accurate color (i.e. 6500). Now, the 150 has lots of color controls, it has a color temperature (which didn't really seem to do much) and also individual brightness/contrast controls for each R/G/B. I didn't tweak those individual controls any more - I imagine the blues of the 150 could be reduced.
We also watched some of Apollo 13. Once again, the 150 was quite blue, and the Davis looked pretty good.
We also did a gross brightness comparison, by shooting them both on the screen at once. One image was a foot higher than the other. In my opinion, the brightness was about equivalent. Well, the 150 was brighter, but it wasn't an order of magnitude. (I had previously compared my projector to a 1000 lumen LCD, and I couldn't even see my output next to the LCD's output. This difference wasn't nearly that much this time.)
So, my summary. The 150 seemed to have almost *too* much color. Probably sub-optimal calibration, it was a bit harsh. But I have to be fair. Even though I say the 150 looked "harsh", we really only felt that way on A/B's of paused frames. Watching moving video, the 150 definitely looked fantastic... Next point - I'm not sure if it was the bluer color temperature or the contrast ratio, but the white on the 150 seemed brighter and cleaner than the Davis. Probably if the 150 had the proper color temperature, it would be closer, but I'd think the contrast ratio of the 150 would still make the difference. As far as black levels go, my Davis definitely had better blacks (thanks Thumper!). There was also more shadow detail on the Davis.
Now, I imagine that *both* projectors could use a specific, custom gamma curve. You could kindof get a sense of the heights of performance to which they could both climb, if perfectly calibrated/adjusted.
There you have it. I was happy to be able to conclude that I could keep my Davis, and the buyer of my 150 will be happy to hear I am not renegging on my deal... http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
I just hope that I never have to put my Thumperized Davis against a Thumperized 150!!! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
Mike
------------------
Join the NYC-area HT club! Send me e-mail!
I own a Davis DLX650 clone (XGA DLP) which Thumper performed some mods on (see this thread ). I also took advantage of the Dell deal on the LT-150. So I invited a fellow AVS member over, and we did a comparison.
I'd just like to state up front that I'm *not* unbiased. I had already agreed to sell my LT150, so I wanted my Davis to look better, or at least close, to the 150.
So, disclaimer out of the way, we fired up both projectors. (The Davis has a buffer box which makes it easy to split the output of my GeForce 2 HTPC.) When we first started doing the comparison, the 150 was very impressive. (FYI, I turned the clear section of the color wheel off on the 150, and used "Natural 1" as the gamma.) We would pause, and A/B them, and the 150 image jumped off the screen. The Davis image looked dull and "dirty".
My friend suggested that we calibrate both projectors with Avia. I had just done some quick stuff by eye. So, we went through Avia, and got both projectors adjusted much better. We then played some bright scenes from Elmo in Grouchland. The 150 definitely had more saturated colors. But the Davis I felt looked more filmlike. It was softer - the 150 looked harsh. The 150 was probably oversaturated - I think with more tweaking it could have been improved. So the colors of the 150 were more saturated and brighter, but the overall picture of my Davis was still quite good, I could argue it was comparable.
We then put in the Matrix, to watch some dark scenes. It was in these dark scenes in the past that I thought my Davis could have been improved. It had great black levels, but I couldn't seem to see as much shadow detail as I expected. Well, I guess I didn't have it calibrated well, because now the Davis actually looked quite good. A/B'ing the two, the Davis definitely had better blacks and better shadow detail. My friend was quite impressed with the blacks of the Davis. It was here that we noticed that the 150 was quite blue. Blacks were pretty blue. I started to think that where I had thought in bright scenes that my Davis looked "dirty" (yellowish), it was really that the 150 was just bluer. Now that we were aware of the blue from the 150, we seemed to agree that Davis probably had the more accurate color (i.e. 6500). Now, the 150 has lots of color controls, it has a color temperature (which didn't really seem to do much) and also individual brightness/contrast controls for each R/G/B. I didn't tweak those individual controls any more - I imagine the blues of the 150 could be reduced.
We also watched some of Apollo 13. Once again, the 150 was quite blue, and the Davis looked pretty good.
We also did a gross brightness comparison, by shooting them both on the screen at once. One image was a foot higher than the other. In my opinion, the brightness was about equivalent. Well, the 150 was brighter, but it wasn't an order of magnitude. (I had previously compared my projector to a 1000 lumen LCD, and I couldn't even see my output next to the LCD's output. This difference wasn't nearly that much this time.)
So, my summary. The 150 seemed to have almost *too* much color. Probably sub-optimal calibration, it was a bit harsh. But I have to be fair. Even though I say the 150 looked "harsh", we really only felt that way on A/B's of paused frames. Watching moving video, the 150 definitely looked fantastic... Next point - I'm not sure if it was the bluer color temperature or the contrast ratio, but the white on the 150 seemed brighter and cleaner than the Davis. Probably if the 150 had the proper color temperature, it would be closer, but I'd think the contrast ratio of the 150 would still make the difference. As far as black levels go, my Davis definitely had better blacks (thanks Thumper!). There was also more shadow detail on the Davis.
Now, I imagine that *both* projectors could use a specific, custom gamma curve. You could kindof get a sense of the heights of performance to which they could both climb, if perfectly calibrated/adjusted.
There you have it. I was happy to be able to conclude that I could keep my Davis, and the buyer of my 150 will be happy to hear I am not renegging on my deal... http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
I just hope that I never have to put my Thumperized Davis against a Thumperized 150!!! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
Mike
------------------
Join the NYC-area HT club! Send me e-mail!
