CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

dropzone7 · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 1069 Location: Charlotte, NC

Dave, I realize that specific projector models are not the purpose of this thread but will you be recommending anything in particular later on? I have a friend that is ready to buy and while he may not purchase a lens right away, he wants a projector that will be a good fit for CIH while using more than likely a DIY anamorphic lens. Just curious.

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Deleted due to the fact that this post runs counter to the site position that "CRTs are always great and digitals always suck."

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

> The "you" was not "you Tim", the "you" was to be read as "one". <

Whew! Thanks, Dave. I'm glad I didn't go as far over the line as I feared I had.

I agree with your comments on how easy it is to get carried away with numbers, and lose track of the enjoyment of the experience. Let that be your true measure, and you'll have a lot more fun.

dropzone7 · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 1069 Location: Charlotte, NC

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Deleted due to the fact that this post runs counter to the site position that "CRTs are always great and digitals always suck."

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Deleted due to the fact that this post runs counter to the site position that "CRTs are always great and digitals always suck."

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

That's is too bad, because I was definitely interested in your projector specific comments.

I think people are interested they are just too scared to say so since digitals are the devil.

Please keep the thread alive. I don't want to post in thread too much because I don't have any knowledge to add, so I am just reading it.

paw · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1176 Location: Arvada, CO

I'm still watching. I just haven't read in depth enough to post questions. Please continue.

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

> I'm going to bail on this. <

Bummer. How else will I (we) learn?

> Since there is no discussion here I'm assuming there is no interest <

Fallacious assumption. First off, many may be eagerly reading, but not commenting. But more importantly, some of the initial "interactions" (ahem Wink

) tended to establish this as a thread for exposition, without cluttering it with discussions that might tend to take it off-topic. I suspect what you're seeing is just folks showing some respect by NOT flooding the thread with commentary.

I'd guess you're not going to see a lot of discussion here in any event, for several reasons:
a) most have no experience to be able to add comments, and
b) questions posed may be interpreted as attacks on digitals, and no one wants to start that

> what to look for and not look for in a PJ when doing CIH <

I think these guidelines were something a lot of folks were looking forward to.

Personally, I'm waiting for an explanation of the psycho-visual effects that allowed to you conclude that brightness trumps resolution. I.e., let us know what you were smoking, dude. Sounds like some good chit. Mr. Green

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Deleted due to the fact that this post runs counter to the site position that "CRTs are always great and digitals always suck."

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

I didn't read about it, what projector did you get Dave?

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

Good comments, Dave. Thanks.

> to have a real widescreen scope image that is noticeably better than the one I got for about $2300 would cost me at least $8500 <

> if you want to be really cheap, you could actually get semi-close to my set up for about $1000-$1300. That is pretty cheap for a decent looking scope set up!!!! <

Excellent. Now you need to describe those 3 scope systems:
a) $1300 decent system
b) $2300 best-bang-for-the-buck system
c) $8500 noticably superior system

> I doubt you need my experiences to learn. <

Perhaps not, but...

> I demoed a lot of PJs. I hauled some around to other peoples houses to do various head to head comparisons. I would not change my decision at all even if doing it today. From my testing <

that's a pretty time-consuming endeavor, and not likely one I'll be attempting soon. Sharing your hard-earned experience and opinions will be valuable to many of us here, especially so since you DO know what good CRT looks like, and can address where things are looking better/worse in these new-fangled digital systems.

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

I keep getting interrupted with other distractions (work), but wanted to comment that this was a good (and easily overlooked) point...

> Given that a scope blu ray movie has about 810-817 lines of active image area, I do not see a significant difference when viewing scope content between downscaling the 810 to 720, leaving at 810, or upscaling to 1080 (vertically for an HE lens). So, the real discussion is the horizontal resolution. <

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Deleted due to the fact that this post runs counter to the site position that "CRTs are always great and digitals always suck."

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

[Deleted due to the fact that this post runs counter to the site position that "CRTs are always great and digitals always suck."

ecrabb · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:57 pm Post subject:

Dave, thanks so much for taking the time to do this. It really gives me hope for what comes next. Seeing what you've done for relatively little money and reading about how much you enjoy it is inspirational indeed. A year or two ago, I was concerned digital was forcing us down a path where whatever I replaced my CRT with would be a disappointment somehow, but your experience is good enough proof for me of the contrary.

I will absolutely pursue a CIH digital setup when or if my G70 dies, or in a couple of years - whichever comes first. By then, everything will be even more affordable (or even better for the same money), I'll have gotten every bit of my money's worth out of my G70 (even if I just had to literally throw it away), and I'll be able to justify tearing my theater apart again to get what will clearly be a big upgrade to the movie-watching experience.

I for one, really look forward to the day where I can watch a scope movie BIGGER than HD Net, Discovery HD, TV shows, etc. and to get rid of the giant, noisy, behemoth on the ceiling. Until then, though - I'll enjoy the crap out of the beautiful setup I already have. I already - as often as possible. Wink

FYI, I'm sending the link to a couple of my digital-using friends so they can take a look, too. I like (and I'm sure they'll be surprised) that they could ease into this with the lens, sled, and cheap scaler first (for under $1000), then still upgrade the projector later if they desired.

Anyway, thanks again.

Cheers,
SC

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

ecrabb commented:
> I for one, really look forward to the day where I can watch a scope movie BIGGER than HD Net, Discovery HD, TV shows, etc. <

You already can, Crabby, though you might have to make a few adjustments in seating. Even using your current 16:9 screen, you can set up a CIA configuration, that will definitely let you enjoy the differences between scope film and HDTV-type content. You don't have to wait until you eventually abandon your CRT to do so. Dave has said as much himself, somewhere here in the Forum.

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

> I bought it about 6 months ago from costco for $999 delivered with a 3 year warranty. <

Great deal, on a $3k-$4k MSRP PJ (depending on who you believe).

One potential downside for others though, is that they're already obsolete (no longer made), and sold out almost everywhere (except for a handful of dealers wanting $2k for them).

I have no idea how things work in the bulb arena, so bear with me, but believe there's no such thing as "standard" bulbs? So there's a gazillion different bulb "types", specific to each PJ (or similar family members). Since the PJ is totally worthless without the bulb, and bulbs all die eventually (or sooner), I'm wondering what provision manufacturers are making (if any) to ensure that bulbs are readily available for the PJs they build and sell, for years to come?

Let's say you went through a bulb every 3 years (optimistic for some, pessimistic for others), and you bought a spare, to cover yourself for one transition. Would the plan then be to toss the PJ after 6 years, because compatible bulbs would no longer be available? Or is this not an issue? (Either because bulbs are and will be available for 10+ years, or no one with a digital PJ would even consider keeping it for more than 2 bulb cycles?)

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

OK, I have a few more questions for you, Dave.

> I got an Optoma HD 7100 which is not made by Optoma. <

What was it that clued you in that this would be an exceptional PJ? Or did you discover it by accident? Did you get a chance to see one first, or just ordered one on faith?

> I bought it about 6 months ago from costco for $999 delivered with a 3 year warranty. <

Since these can no longer be purchased from Costco for $999 (or anywhere else, AFAIK), and you've indicated that you don't think anyone needs spend more than $2300 for a great (equivalent) setup, how would you recommend someone who wasn't lucky enough to get the Optoma on closeout for 1/4 price to proceed? I assume you'd recommend: single-chip DLP, 1280x720p, DC3, and excellent optics. Anything else?

Another way to ask that might be, what digital PJ currently available for $999 would you recommend?

The problem I see is that...

> I know that in my search I actually found only 1 projector (yes, only 1!) that could meet all my requirements. <

which presents a bit of a dilemma for those who might want to follow in your footsteps, if you catch my drift.

> I demoed a lot of PJs... I would not change my decision at all even if doing it today. From my testing, to have a real widescreen scope image that is noticeably better than the one I got for about $2300 would cost me at least $8500. Personally, I think anyone that spends about $4500 on a projection display chain is nuts. You are not doing much better than you could for half that... <

The question, of course, is how? If one adds up the List prices of your "$2300 system", you come dangerously close to $6k. Failure to address this point is sort of like advocating that folks go out and find a free mint-condition M8500LC by the side of a dumpster Smile

(as one member here was lucky enough to do). And then add a few things to optimize your HT experience.

[BTW, in case I failed to mention it, I thought your first 3 installments were really well presented. Excellent job, and Thanks!]