[dbldare]

Hi all, I posted this in the HTPC forum also...


I'm in the middle of tearing down my old theater and setting up a new one from scratch. I have been using a 4:3 screen for my NEC VT540, but I think I want to go to a 16:9 look. I'm running out of ceiling space so the 16:9 will give me a bigger picture without losing the "headroom". I know with the component and s-video inputs I can use the "cinema" mode and get away with it, but with my HTPC via RGB how can I make the image fit? I can't afford and don't have the patients for a Cygnus (or any other type for that matter) lens. So can I use YXY or Powerstrip for this? Or is there a better way?


Thanks in advance,

Mike


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Let's go out to the lobby.

Let's go out to the lobby.

To have ourselves a snack!

[email protected]

 

[cbradley]

The executive summary is that 16X9 using VT540, HTPC feeding RGB, and PowerStrip is very do-able looks quite good! Sorry I don't have any pictures! When I have the chance, I will post pictures of screen images as well as the HT room!


here are the details...


1) vt540 - ceiling mount - approx. 16' from screen

2) screen - DIY - 92" wide, blacking material surface

3) HTPC

CPU - AMD 1.2 GHZ

RAM - 512 MB

Video - LeadTek WinFast GeForce 64 MB DDRAM

Sound - Hercules Game Theater XP

DVD - Pioneer generic DVD

4) Connection to vt540 - CAT5 sheilded...soldered to DB15 (monitor) connections...no noise! Approx. 20' within PVC built-in to ceiling...I recommend anybody who has to run video cable use the CAT5 and soldered route as publicized here on AVScience...

5) Yamaha receiver V596 w/Mirage speakers...this is the HiFi buys HT special...complete with subwoofer and centerline...

6) PowerStrip 3.0 build 170 - 1072 X 720 60 Hz Refresh rate...True Color(32Bpp)...I'm still tweaking this one...as the VRes seems to determine the 'fuzziness' of the text on the computer desktop...my fuzziness isn't bad, but it isn't perfect, either!

7) DScaler 2.3.0

8) TV Source - ATT Digital Cable


I use DScaler probably 70% of the time to watch regular cable...the picture is very, very good...I surf the net about 15%...and we watch DVD's the remaining 15%...I am very happy with the 16X9 rendered via PowerStrip...


To me, the best thing about a Home Theater is the sound! This Dolby 5.1 Surround really overloads the senses! I use 'The Matrix' to demo the HT (specifically the 'Lobby Shooting Spree' and the 'Rooftop Rescue')


Hope this helps...if anybody has any questions/comments/suggestions, please don't hesitate to post or email...


Thanks!

Curtis


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This is my world and I am a world-leader pretend...REM

 

[tk]

Do you get noticeable better picture out of VT540 by using HTPC instead of standalone player? I have been thinking that should I build HTPC or not. It would be great to see photos of HTPC system compared to standalone player.

 

[Gary McCoy]

tk, the advantage of the HTPC in a nutshell is it deinterlaces, does 3:2 pulldown reconstruction, scales to native resolution, all in the digital domain, and only then does D/A conversion to RGBHV in the video card. The net result is the projected DVD image is free from artifacts that result from less sophisticated hardware deinterlacing chips and multiple A/D and D/A conversions. The DVD picture is simply the best you can get short of spending tens of thousands of dollars.


Having said that, it's true the HTPC advantage is less than it used to be, because the scaling hardware built into the projectors is better than ever. There is still a significant HTPC advantage over standalone progressive DVD players (fixed 480p output that doesn't match many projectors)) and external scalers (extra D/A and A/D conversions). I think it's worth it, especially if you have a digital projector driven at native panel resolution by the HTPC.


Michael, the best addition to the configuration you have would be an ISCO II or Panamorph lens, so you could drive the entire XGA panel and effectively have an XGA 16:9 projector. I'm still trying to afford one, and until then I'm sticking to the 4:3 screen and manual black masking.


Gary

(Another satisfied VT540/HTPC owner)

 

[ssj2]

Mike,

I use a Quadscan Pro with my Sanyo Plc 8800N XGA projector. The line doubler and scaling is very good (excellent with the component input). It has a number of different scaling choices for different resolution projectors, as well as aspect ratio input and output controls. The latter allows the use of a 16 x 9 screen with digital projectors -- it's worked great for me.