Z3 Picture Quality

[CyberJockey]

Just recieved my Z3 on Friday - firstly thankyou to everyone for their recommendation - it was a great deal and I am really happy with it.

As a Newbie, I have a couple of questions:

I am really happy with the picture quality playing DVDs through my existing Sony player. However, through the threads their is a lot of discussion around enhanced picture quality with progressive scan DVD players and ones with HDMI out put (the Samsung 850 seems a potential good buy). I know it's a tough question, but how much improvement would I see?

PS2 Connection. I have also connected my PS through the standard connectors provided. Again the picture quality is good, but I notice some blurring or colour bleeding, especially around stationary icons e.g. the country flags on Pro Evolution Soccer. I have tweaked some of the settings and have improved this slightly. However, I anyone out there has any tips, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

[fallwood]

You would be far better building yourself a home theater pc, the quality you can get from a pc is amazing and can only be rivaled by the most expensive dvd players, you can knock a shuttle system together for about 350 quid and use it to play all your media (windows media center edition is a very good front end). As far as the ps2 is concerned for the best image you need to get a ps2 component lead (about 10 quid from ebay)

[gingerone]

I use the smasung hd850 with my Z3 and the picture is very good via HDMI and upscaled to 720p.
I also use the ps2 via component leads and again the picture is way better that with standard composite leads.
I also use colour filters on the Z3 to remove the blue from the blacks and this makes a big difference.

[CyberJockey]

Thanks Gingerone & Fallwood - I will try the PS2 Component leads. Do you have any tips on the settings, or shall I leave them pretty much as standard?

Fallwood - I already have a Media Centre PC (it's bulit into me flatscreen TV). Trouble is it's in the lounge and the projector is in another room. It will be interesting to see what quality I can get once I get the Xbox 360 when it's released as it has a built in Media Centre Extender connected by wifi. Have you heard anything about picture quality through the extenders?

Gingerone - what coulr filters do you use and where could I get them from?

Sounds like the Samsung is also a good bet.

Thanks

[dmjohnson123]

Originally Posted by CyberJockey

Sounds like the Samsung is also a good bet.

I've just got the Samsung 850HD to connect to my sanyo Z3.

I currently have it connected via component but when my 5 metre HDMI - HDMI cable turns up thats probably what I'll be using.

I'll let you know what its like when the HDMI cabel arrives.

Just one point on the Samsung 850HD Player - it can be multi-regioned but the NTSC / Pal switching isn't automatic - this means if you want to watch any Region 1 DVD's you need to manually go into the samsungs menu and set it from Pal to NTSC (and then back again for your next region 2 disc). I've had Pioneer players in the past and this was automatic so this is a bit of a pain if you watch a lot of Region 1 discs.

[gingerone]

I agree about the PAL/NTSC issue its a real pain.
As for the filters and settings, check RONE's sanyo Z3 Smart thread it's got all the settings and info you could possibly need.

[CyberJockey]

Thanks Guys - looks like I will be investing in the Samsung then.

I have also ordered the component leads for my PS (£8.90 delivered - thank god for Ebay) and I have just taken a look at ROne's thread and will be trying his settings also.

Many thanks for your help - it is much appreciated.

[martian1]

Go for a pc its better than a £1000 dvd player...

[inzaman]

I too would recommend a pc running ffdshow, especially if the Z3s onboard scaler is as poor as the one in the Z2.

[MADMAND]

Are those pics from the Z3?

[Geesus]

Yup definitely use a(your) PC instead of a player, and buy those filters too - the result is an absolutely storming image.

[benjiP]

anyone know how an apple powerbook would do as a source for a z3 - via dvi??

better than a sony dvp-f250 via component?

would a powerbook do a better job than the oppo dvd player that's so well received?

thanks

[CyberJockey]

Just recieved my component cables and have connected them to my PS2 and Z3. I cannot get a signal through them.

I did get a very jumbled picture for a brief second, but it cut out and now I get nothing.

I have tried both sets of component ports on the Z3, made sure the connectors are attached properly, restarted the PS2 and projector etc.

What am I doing wrong? Any one have any ideas? Could it be the cable? - I would be surprised if these were faulty, but I don't have any other devices with component inputs to test the cables.

[CyberJockey]

OK - scratch my last plee for help. I have changed the Component settings on my PS2 and it's nowing working fine - I am such a newb. The picture quality is superb - thanks for the advice.

Looks like I need to make a decision between a PC and a DVD player now though

[Neil in Bristol]

I'm stuck between building a PC and getting a Samsung HD850 to go with my new projector (when I order it) too.

I can't see a way of making a PC for less than about £400, though, which is quite a bit more than I budgeted for, which probably means the decision's made for me!