32 replies to this topic

[mustud52]

MarkTecher, on 26 March 2012 - 08:18 PM, said:

Having a think back...When I got my first BD player in 2008, I had read the forums and set it to 1080/24P.  At the time I was still running DVDs on a older DVD player.  The part that convinced me to run all discs through the BD player was when I watched the "shuttle launch" on copies of JPK DVE on both DVD and BD formats.  The BD player was connected by HDMI and the DVD player by YPbPr allowing the Reon in the BenQ to upscale when running both inputs on "16:9".  I simply switched inputs via the remote.  The ONLY time the DVD looked as good was when I ran it in "REAL" mode which maps the image 1:1.  So then it was just a small image in the centre of the chip at just 720 pixels wide, but it looked awesome but was just too small.  Switching back to 16:9 mode was the only way to 'fill the panel" which looked quite ordinary compared to the both the small 1;1 image or the BD at 1:1.  I then decided to re-load the DVD into the BD player.  It was enough of an improvement for me to ditch the DVD player altogether after that and I have continued to use the BD player's upscaling for all DVDs since.  That might have been my first turn to being a HD snob.

Interesting, Mark. I have done a lot more reading since my earlier posts, and I am sure I will get a BD player at some stage. Your post is another piece of evidence pointing me that way. However I have no BD discs, have about 3,000 classic movies on dvd, have 3 Denon 2930 players and a 3900 player feeding various Samsung 720 plasmas and, in the HT room, the soon to be replaced Screenplay 576 pj. At least I will keep the Denon AVR and speaker setup.

Yes Glen, I got a Panasonic 7000. It has not arrived yet. I have developed a feverish anticipation.

[:)]

congrats mustud, be very pleased with the panasonic I think. with a pj like that and no BDs. perhaps worth checking out some remastered classics on blu-ray. you might be blown away ! benhur, north by north west, river kwai, tora tora, the bond films, sound of music some classics that come to mind. stunningly re mastered and restored and would look sensational on a projector like that am thinking

[Glen1]

mustud52, on 26 March 2012 - 09:05 PM, said:

Interesting, Mark. I have done a lot more reading since my earlier posts, and I am sure I will get a BD player at some stage. Your post is another piece of evidence pointing me that way. However I have no BD discs, have about 3,000 classic movies on dvd, have 3 Denon 2930 players and a 3900 player feeding various Samsung 720 plasmas and, in the HT room, the soon to be replaced Screenplay 576 pj. At least I will keep the Denon AVR and speaker setup.

Yes Glen, I got a Panasonic 7000. It has not arrived yet. I have developed a feverish anticipation.

Nice stuff, now if you get a BD player you can even check out 3D movies on the 7000.

[MarkTecher]

mustud52, on 26 March 2012 - 09:05 PM, said:

Interesting, Mark. I have done a lot more reading since my earlier posts, and I am sure I will get a BD player at some stage. Your post is another piece of evidence pointing me that way. However I have no BD discs, have about 3,000 classic movies on dvd, have 3 Denon 2930 players and a 3900 player feeding various Samsung 720 plasmas and, in the HT room, the soon to be replaced Screenplay 576 pj. At least I will keep the Denon AVR and speaker setup.

Yes Glen, I got a Panasonic 7000. It has not arrived yet. I have developed a feverish anticipation.

Good to know you will have one soon and you really do need to buy a few soon so you have something to watch when the player arrives.

Even on a 576P display, I think you will see a difference, though you may be forced to select 480P as the output in the set up menu.  I had to do this for a client with an older system using the exact projector you will be using.  When set to 1080i, (you can't use 1080P here), the projected image was just a part of the total image.  Because it did map 1:1, the chip ran out of space beyond 1024 x 576.  I was forced to reduce the output to a lower rez to see the entire image on screen.  I can't remember if 720P worked or not.  i don't think it did and why I ended using 480P.

For your 720P displays, test both 720P and 1080i and stick with what looks best.  It should be 720P, but that will be display dependent as I have seen cases where it just does not work out so and 1080i looked better (one example was a BenQ 8720 with HD DVD).      

When you get your BD player, do take note of what others say about "good transfers" as there are some stunning and some terrible ones out there.

Anything animated is a clear (yes pun intended) winner.  But not everyone wants to watch animations, so you need to be aware of the fact that some studios just do bad transfers (can I say Universal here?) Having said that, films like MIAMI VICE (Universal) and 300 (Warner) are actually very good for showing the fine detial even though they are both said to be noisy or grainy.  With 300, the effect is intentional and BD shows every bit of it.  With MV, the film was shot on digital and the noise you see is there due to the way the camera was set up at the time.  Again, BD resolves everything.

SHOOTER (Paramount) is probably one example of a good looking film to video in HD.  
ALIENS (Fox) is stellar!  And a must own IMO as is the original ALIEN.  Both can be purchased individually now and I saw these in the cheap bins at JB the other day.  

You mentioned "classics" and even though I have not seen it for myself, I am told GONE WITH THE WIND is supperb as is BREAKFAST AT TIFFINIES.

I would suggest renting for a while and take advantage of Video Ezy's cheap Tuesday offer for this.

[mustud52]

What a voyage for the Mustud family. Well, Mr Mustud, anyway, as Mrs Mustud thinks this is all a little silly.

The first pj I tried to buy was an Epson 8700. That fell through (after I paid) because the eBay seller had no stock and tried to upsell me. I got a refund and then an eBay no pay claim. Had to call eBay to get that redirected back to the seller for being naughty.

Next attempted purchase was a Panasonic 4000. Cancelled that (and in hindsight, perhaps a bad decision) because I thought  3D might be a good option. That was for $1950 from the Good Guys following a suggestion by Glen 1.

Next purchase and payment was to Simply Electronics for a Panny 7000. Many emails later, and after 12 days, I had to contact Paypal to explain that Simply Electronics are a pack of shysters. I should have checked up on them before paying... It looks like they either supply immediately or, as in my case, never.

The Paypal refund came back within 4 hours. Tick to Paypal and confirmation that Simply Electronics were just stringing me along.

Last night bought an Epson 5010. The tracking info tells me it is already well on the way. I reckon that $2,790 is pretty good (I remember paying $6,000 for my old Infocus 5800 all those years ago).

After looking at some posts here I have also ordered a Peerless geery thing mount from Amazon. Excellent price and it is also despatched.

I might end up looking at movies one day...

Edited by mustud52, 03 April 2012 - 07:48 PM.

[mustud52]

Projector arrived today.

Temporarily set it up on the Little Jumbo as the ceiling mount has not yet arrived. Also need to get a DVI-D to HDMI adaptor to connect to the cabling in the ceiling. In the mean time, and to try out the projector, shifted the dvd player onto the next step of the Little Jumbo so I could hook it up with a spare HDMI cable.

Ooh, it is nice, isn't it!

Tried out the opening sequences in Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia, which I knew gave stutters with the old Infocus 5700. Very smooth and sweet. Lovely colours and, all in all, very happy with the picture. Would have been even better if I had the sound hooked up as well...

Who needs Blu Ray? Not on my 92 inch screen, anyway.

Mustud is a happy boy.

Fitting new double glazed windows on the west side of the house next week, so that will most probably occupy me for some time. The projector will most probably stay on the Little Jumbo unused for a couple of weeks, but I am really looking forward to some cinema magic.

[mustud52]

Okay.

The double glazed windows are now installed on the west half of the house. What a job. Now for lots of painting.

And found out that the roof is leaking. And that I have some dry rot that has to be dealt with ASAP.

Stuff all that. This evening installed the Epson on the ceiling and got the movie room back into shape. Just in time for tonight's GP.

One heck of a projector. Its always interesting to see how they perform in a display room, but the real test is when you install in your own environment.

I am delighted.

I think I will get it professionally calibrated once I have a few hours up.

[mustud52]

Discovered last night that to display an old 4:3 format movie in correct ratio when using an HDMI connection that it must not be upscaled by the player. Otherwise it does a variable stretch, stretching more at the sides than in the centre, to fit the widescreen screen. Fortunately a button press on the HDMI format button on the 2930 player remote. Took me ages to work out that was the only way to do it as the PJ aspect ratio is locked when receiving 1080.