CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[gjaky]

For a fair comparision we should compare the 8500 ULTRA with an XG, and the PG xtra with the plain 8500, as my PG xtra almost 10 years older than your ULTRA.
Honestly I haven't seen much difference between the NEC and Marquee other than the trivial shortcomings of the unfiltered HD8 lenses' For me the size was the biggest concern, as I have a floor mounted setup, and the NEC is much smaller than the Marquee plus NEC has better (read: more flexible) geometry/convergence controls, comes with flare yokes, color filtered lenses.

[stridsvognen]

Well i dont think thats needet.. ill not change, and you wont change, and its all about ansi contrast improvement in this thread..

There is always shortcommings of one kind or another, so its individual what we prefer.

I hope there are others going to try out the masking, on other machines, in different setups, and report back.

For sure its staying in my 8500, unless the velour starts burning.

Found this link.. its cheper there it looks.. i payed around 14 euro pr. m.

http://www.d-c-fix.com/velours-5996.html

http://www.wilko.com/dc-fix-fablon/d-c-fix-original-matt-deco-self-adhesive-film-black-346-0002/invt/0309581?VBMST=&VBMTC=151c5afe0aebd91ba06a2e6a3ad5f26d

[CasetheCorvetteman]

I too will be staying with NEC as far as 8" is concerned

Im always on the lookout for very cheap and near free 7" machines too.

[stridsvognen]

What projectors were born with HD 144/ 145 lenses.? Any Barco/ Ampro.?

[gjaky]

What I know of:
HD145: NEC 6/9PG plus, xtra (plain PG not!), DWIN 500/700 (unfiltered), Barco cine7, Toshiba P7300U (Zenith 2000) VDC 8500 longbow (unfiltered)
HD144: some NEC 6PG xtra, NEC XG

[stridsvognen]

I can find a Sim2 SVD-500plus is it possible it have HD 144/ 145 lenses.?

[gjaky]

Oh, yes, but I think only the higher end of those (SVD800, SDG900 ?) were equipped with HD145, but even those used tinted glycol instead of filtered lenses, however don't know what is the difference in practice between the two.

[stridsvognen]

Ill keep a open eye, and see whats beeing trown out around me.

I was playing with calibration last night, and found out i can beat 17fl out of this 8500.. damn thats a lot, without blooming like crazy.

I calibrated it to around 12 fl, loosing a bit of the ansi contrast again, but got some quite impressive dynamic.

[gjaky]

Think about of a 8500LC and compare the performance difference compared to a 9500LC and the tube price difference...

[stridsvognen]

WHO cares about the Price..

Its much easier to find a 9500LC than a 8500LC, and its around 600-700$ for mint units. And those tubes last forever.

the expensive part is the Radiance, Moome Card, screen and stuff.

Im sure the high light output is conected with the missing color filtering.

[stridsvognen]

New calibration with new contrast setting, G2 and Drive adjusted, and blue focus adjusted, and with radiance touchup on blue.
its a 1 shot calibration, will run it over a few times another day to get it more perfect.

[stridsvognen]

Looks like the SIM have color filtered HD145 lenses, so ill co check it, and offer the guy 50$ for the projector, if the lenses are ok.

[gjaky]

Can you do the lens adapters?

[stridsvognen]

I Think ill just cut a wood plate 6mm thick.
Should not take long

[stridsvognen]

Did some contrast measures last night.

On/off = 21119 : 1
Ansi. = 38 : 1

In a white room with lots of reflections.

What your ansi measures.?

[fragzero]

How do you measure Ansi contrast using HCFR?

My 808 with hd144's is totally misconfigured so i won't be able to measure for a while.

[stridsvognen]

There is a ansi contrast measurement in HCFR. And a ansi pattern in the Radiance.

Or you just put up the ansi pattern, and measures the light in the Dark, and the bright area.

White Y= 36,412 cd/m2
Black. Y = 0,912 cd/m2

Divide those 2 nr. And you have your ansi contrast.

[stridsvognen]

I just have internet on my sh*tty iphone, so ill try if i can post a pic of the mess om in right now!

[stridsvognen]

Now i have been using my 8500 AC Ultra for some time, running 1080P 72hz

Its 13,2fl super bright, and with nice grayscale, and a 2,27 gamma.

I love this machine, specialy thinking about the Price, and the tube masking is going to stay forever..

I got a defect convergence board from Curt, i did the repair, and addet the ultra mod to it, and put a FGM into it, so its now a real Ultra machine.

Ill try see if i can make some screen shots that do this projector Justice, its quite impressive with the high light output, and nice ansi contrast.

[gjaky]

So did you obtain the HD145 lenses or still the HD8s are in duty? The HD8s are undoubtedly brighter lenses not just because they lacking color filtering but because they have better focal length / aperture ratio.
That's for sure 8" machines are not far behind the 9", especially with their price tag, as the market pushed down their price near to zero