Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater DVD player options for my H31 projector.

Good Afternoon,

I am in week two of using my brand new H31 projector on a 92" Designer Contour Video Spectra screen. My DVD player is the Denon 2900. I previously had a Hitachi 57T500 and the picture was incredible! I knew going in that I would be sacrificing some by going with the H31. The biggest problem right now is the SDE. I have noticed that I can really see it on bright scenes. If I am watching a movie and the scene is supposed to be dark, the picture looks pretty good. Then, the scene switches to an outdoor scene or a brighter scene, I notice the SDE.

My screen is a 1.5 gain and my room is completely light controlled. Should I consider getting a different screen?

Would purchasing a DVI/HDMI dvd player help eliminate some of the SDE? If so, any recommendations around the 300-400 price point?

Has anybody on here used a component DVD player with the H31 then switch to a DVI/hdmi player and notice a noticable improvement in PQ?


My wife knows that I am not 100% happy with the change I have made. She said we can look at getting a new DVD player if that will fix the problem for now. I can't return my projector at this point, so if I decided to change projectors I would have to sell my H31, take a hit and put extra money into a different unit.

Any advice would be great. Also, if their is another post that I should look at, please refer me to that one.

Thanks a bunch,

Coach.

How far back are you sitting from the screen? A good rule of thumb is 1.5 times the screen width or more? The 854 x 480 native resolution probably does not help matters either. My LCD Z2 is 1280 x 720 and SDE is not an issue unless you get very close to the screen, at normal viewing distances there is not issue. LCD's by nature are more prone to people talking about SDE, so I am a bit suprised this is a problem for you. My guess again, is that it is related to the resolution. I assume your running in Progressive mode on either the DVD player or the Projector? What position do you have the zoom set, is it maxed out, or are you not zooming at all to fill your screen? I'm not sure a new DVD player will help much, but I can tell you I have the Panasonic S97S HDMI player, and I think nothing else can match it for picture quality around $300. 720p or 1080i over HDMI/DVI is jaw dropping. And again no SDE.

Anyway, I hope you find a resolution. This is one reason I tell people to take the LCD route, as you can get a much higher resolution cheaper than DLPs of the same resolution, or High Definition.

One thought, try defocussing just slightly, I have heard that works on LCD's, not sure about DLP's.

coach the only thing i can see that well help is to sit father away. A rule of thumb is to sit 1.5 to 2 times the width of your screen back. I run the denon 1910 with the dvi-d hook up and there was a noticable improvement in picture then s video. i've seen the h31 and the picture it puts out in movies can be compared to projectors 3 times the cost. but set up is very important find a seating distance that is right and sde is not noticable. if ya have any questions just hollar. the h31 for movies is hard to beat don't throw the towel in yet. also don't let anyone tell ya you need more resolution for dvds. dvds are made at 480p. so higher resoulition means nothing. in fact if the upscaling is not very good on higher res projectors it puts a worse looking picture out. 480 is all you need for dvds. untell the hd dvds come out. which might be some time. Pointless to get high res projector for dvds now. if hd tv is what you watch most of then there the way to go.

i just did some checking for you. h31 owners generally use 1.7 or 1.9 times the screen width to get a seating distance. people more sde prone use 1.9 or even 2. so at 1.9 you should be 12.6 feet back from the screen. at 2 times you should be 13.6. hope that helps.

High Coach,

Not sure what upscaling projectors Smokey is referring to, I'm sure he has tested them all Anyway, at least with my Z2 and the S97S, DVD's that looked great in 480p, look almost High Def, and I am comparing the picture to my Samsung HD tuner when watching true High Def signals. Smokey is partially right, in that poor quality DVD's may not look as good, but that is no different than people saying some CD's sound bad on Axioms, it is not the speakers, but the recording itself. Most newer DVD's are fabulous, and blow away 480p, in my opinion, but what do I know...Anyway, I hope you find a solution to your problem, the H31 has great reviews. Try posting on the AVSforum under $3500 thread, I'm sure they will be able to offer great suggestions.

Thanks for all the great input! I am going to double check, but I think I am sitting about 13 feet from the projector. I really can't move back much because of the size of my room and the layout of my surround speakers.

Tonight my wife was throwing a couples shower for her sister and everybody came down and we did a demo on my projector. This time we used Return of the Jedi and the SDE didn't bother me. I am wondering if that has something to do with the quality of the transfer of the movie???

Well, my wife and I are getting ready to watch Man of the House and I know their will be some good outdoor scenes on the football field, so I should be able to make some more observations....

no i haven't tested them all nor did i say i did. I just find it rather comical how you bash dlp every chance you get. The fact of the matter is dlp has taken over the projector market and has been tops for two years. As for upscaling some higher res projectors do have this problem and it creates a rather dissapointing picture. they have to upscale a pic from a natural 480 signal.As to lcd it is way easier to get sde effect like you mentioned. Rainbows are dlp problems tipically but thats besides the point.i own a dlp projector and love it. what ever makes you happy for the coin you dish out for it. but to say lcd is a better product then dlp. the facts don't back it up.

13 feet is pretty close to wear you should be. i would try going threw the settings. try the focus ring also. go threw all the settings and see what kind a pic you can get adjusting settings.

Funny, I don't recall bashing the DLP technology in this thread or in others. I just reread my above statements to make sure, so not sure where you are coming from, I only provide the side of the story I'm most familiar with so people can get as much information they can to make a wise decision based on their needs.

"but to say lcd is a better product then dlp" again you may want to put down whatever your smokin tonight. Please don't put words in other peoples mouths, now I know where Nick was coming from on another thread.

I have good repoor with the people around here, please don't tarnish my reputation.

Coach, sorry about this mud slinging, and I don't want to hijack your thread by this petty $hit.


Good Luck and I'm signing off of this thread.

"Goodbye cruel world, I'm leaving here today, goodbye goodbye.....goodbye" click



Peace Out

I did some official measuring this evening and I am sitting a little more than 13.5 feet from the projector. We just got done watching Man of the House and the picture was pretty darn good. Somebody had written in another post that I might just be going through a transition period from CRT to digital. I am starting to believe he is right. If that is the case, then I will be very happy. I was also considering finding some place locally that sells the Panasonic HDMI player I read about a lot on the forums. As long as they have a good return policy, I can play around with it for awhile and see I can see a noticable difference.

My wife thinks that we should give our current setup until the holidays and by then if new models of pj are coming out, the older units should drop in price. She said if I am not happy at that point, we could look at getting one of the 720P units and sell our current unit. Hopefully we won't have to!