Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater A couple of front projection questions....

Chris I wouldn't even know what to look for, but also my aim is to keep ignorant because *I know* that if I ever did see it I'd probably notice it every time while viewing a DLP picture.

So..

For primarily watching movies, what features would I need to be looking for? The light in the room is not an issue, all ambient light in the room can be eliminated on the brightest of days.

Sony's rear-projection LCoS went away, which might be what Ken was thinking of. Their front projectors are still using SXRD? Does anyone talk about issues with the color going wonky over time? I have a second-generation SXRD rear-projection TV, and the screen has gone green. It started going yellow in the upper left corner, but now it's pretty much a greenish tint across the whole picture. This unit is actually a replacement for their first-generation SXRDs which had the same problem. I was hoping the issue had been resolved between generations, but I guess not. A tech is coming to diagnose the problem on Monday, but I'm sure it's the optical block again. The good news is that I have a five-year warranty which doesn't run out until 2012, and if they try to fix it three times and can't, then I get another replacement. If this is anything like the first TV, replacing the optical block will almost fix the problem, but there will be residual color issues. Hopefully not, but I wouldn't mind another new TV.

I wonder if the optical block is the same as the optical engine on our Mits DLP? It was just replaced a couple of months ago after pink hues and highlighting pixelation breakup, kudos to Mitsubishi who paid for the $450 optical engine after being out of warranty for four months ... still sucked paying $400 for labor though.

Could be similar, though when they replaced the optical block (I forget the other name they had for the part) they said it was a $1600 part. I imagine that's partly Sony's overblown pricing and partly the newness of the technology at the time.

...and Sony's quality control. While I really like the PS3 as a media player (and sometimes games), I won't buy any more of their stuff, it always breaks just out of warranty.

If your primary use is movies, no gaming/computer and minimal HDTV then that simplifies things a lot. First I would go with Randy’s suggestion of a 2.35:1 screen and live with the smaller 1.78:1 and 1.33:1 images with dark vertical bars which I also agree with Randy are less distracting than the horizontal ones and easier to DIY mask should you choose to do so.

For movies you can look mostly at the projectors performance as the various features are more of a convenience than a necessity. Here is a guide at ProjectorPeople that covers a lot of what to look for:

http://www.projectorpeople.com/resources/buyersguide.asp

Some key things I would prioritize for movies are:

Placement needs - no point in getting a projector that won’t throw an image in your room. Look at zoom and horizontal and vertical image adjustment.

Brightness in best or movie mode - is it bright enough for your screen size, room conditions and projector distance. The brighter the image the more pop and wow it inspires, however to bright can cause eye strain.

Image detail - a detailed but “film like” image not a hyper-real digital video like image.

Black levels - darker blacks will enhance everything including colours and make the “black” bars less noticeable

Shadow detail - how well you can make out what’s in dark screen areas can make or break a lot of movie genres.

Colour accuracy/adjustment - if you don’t want to pay for professional calibration then how accurate is it out of the box or when adjusted by a layman.

Fan/iris noise - if the projector is going to be close to you fan or dynamic iris noise could be very irritating.

Remote control zoom/picture adjustment - ceiling or high shelf mounted projectors could be a pain if you want to adjust the zoom to maintain constant image height on a 2.35:1 screen.

Variable frame interpolation - can help reduce motion judder and enhance the 3D feel of animated movies. Can also reduce motion blur in sports. To much makes the image look digitized and stark. Not all manufactures do this well.

Warranty - Sony sucks, Epson rocks everyone else is somewhere in between.

Some things to consider:

Placement - the closer the projector is to the screen the brighter the image. The farther from the screen the more accurate the image especially at the edges of the screen.

1.78:1/1.33:1 - a 104” diagonal 2.35:1 screen will only give you about an 80” diagonal 1.78:1 image. Only slightly bigger than your Mitsubishi.

Personally if you were considering the AE3000 and still want a projector for under $2,000 unless you have a particular need/constraint contraindicating it the AE4000 is the way to go unless other manufacturers drop their prices accordingly.

A couple other links relevant to the discussion if you or others haven’t already seen them:

http://www.projectorreviews.com/advice/dlpvslcd/3LCD_vs_DLP_vs_LCoS.php

http://www.projectorreviews.com/advice/HomeTheaterProjector-FAQs/index.php

Cheers,
Dean

Pull down sounds important to your room design so I wouldn't be too concerned but I will add that I opted out of plans to go with a similar setup, I considered hiding the TV behind a pull down, as needed. In the demo rooms, the pull down screen were great. However, I demoed one in a co-worker's basement, similar to what mine would be like, and the vibrations of people walking overhead were sometimes ever so slightly noticeable in the screen. It was an older house and I suspect the newer style floor joists are a bitmore structurally stable but it made me nervous.

Again, not the correct solution for you, but should you decide to go with a permanent screen, I am VERY satisfied with my sub $200 dollar solution using a roll of Wilsonart Laminate - Designer White, code = D354-60. I cut it to size and framed it with black felt around wooded trim as described in another post above. I'm convinced the results in my light controlled room are every bit as as clear, colorful and bright as the thousand dollar plus screens that I demoed.

Rick,

Seeing the rainbow effects of a spinning color wheel in a single-chip DLP projector is not age-related and ClubNeon exaggerates (not for him) this aspect of DLP designs. The vast majority of viewers never see rainbow effects; millions of DLP sets have been sold.

I had to "teach" myself how to see them (I won't tell you how. . .) and I know of only one case (an Axiom customer whose wife was highly sensitive to rainbow effects) where a DLP set had to be returned.

Samsung also introduced a series of DLP sets that used sequentially firing LEDs (red, green, blue) that eliminated the color wheel. In that demo, I found it impossible to see any rainbow effects in the LED-driven Samsung light engine sets.

I'd concede with others here that the best LCD front projectors are now on a par with DLP so long as the color values don't shift with age. I have seen no reliable data that that occurs, only a biased DLP industry report that suggested it might occur over the long term with LCD front projectors.

Regards,

Alan

I saw rainbows when I first got my DLP, but haven't seen them in the 5 years since after those first few weeks.

Here is a good basics article on comparing the pros and cons of 16:9 vs. vs. 2.35:1 vs. 4:3 screen formats.

Projector Central -- Formats