Cine7 Which One?

[gwbailey]

Hi all,

There's a good chance within the next 12-18 months that I will be finally getting a PJ.(God the wait is killing me) At this point I'm still keeping an open mind as to which one to get (hopefully Event 2 will help me there, Gordon?) but the Cine 7 is still top of the list.

Now to my question,

Which of the following will give me a better picture and why?( I'll be using it with DVD and Sky plus in a dedicated AV room)!

1) C7 with Limo-Pro?

2) C7 with Quadscan?

3) C7 with HTPC?

Regards,

[helipilot]

Here are some of my thoughts that might give you some idea which route to take.

This should keep you thinking until one of the real "Gurus" come along.

The answer is not quite as clear cut as you might think. The problem comes from the fact that you want to use sky plus with the projector. The other consideration is budget. The quadscan is very much at the entry level for scalers so I am assuming that you will not be using a £3000 stand alone DVD player.

However I would suggest :-

1) HTPC
2) Limo Pro
3) Quadscan

To justify the HTPC at the top you have to consider several options a £50 capture card ain't going to cut it. The best analogue capture card around at the moment is the Falcon. However I am not convinced it could beat the Limo Pro for Sky playback (although with the latest Dscaler filters its getting pretty close). To do the best job at the moment you need an SDI capture card and you need to have your sky plus unit modified. (Jeff's your man here!). In this configuration I am sure you would get the best of both worlds.

A few words on HTPCs :-

There is more to an HTPC than buying the right bits, screw it together, switch it on and hey presto. My HTPC has been developed over a period of a year and has gone from OK to fairly exceptional in that time. Most of my developments have been in software rather throwing expensive hardware at it. An HTPC can be a tweakers delight but once you get everything the way you want it it can be controlled by a remote control in a similar way to any of your other home theatre products. A poorly concieved HTPC would be at the bottom of the list but a "proper" one should happily live at the top.

Why HTPC ?

In a word flexibility an HTPC can handle multiple screen resolutions, multiple refresh rates, 2:2 Pull down for PAL, 3:2 Pull down for NTSC, multiple screen ratios and more all in its stride.

The good news

As time is currently on your side over the next year major advances are coming with regard to capture cards and by the time you are ready to buy you will have several other options available.

As ever it is really up to yourself what you are willing to consider. For some people The HTPC is a non starter because they want a "Plug and Play" solution. However as far as bang per buck goes you will find a well configured HTPC hard to beat.

[Roland @ B4]

I pretty much hold with what Helipilot says on the HTPC front.

The ones I have had experience with are not particularly family friendly though.

I would rule the Quadscan out now it has been discontinued. The Centre stage 1 that replaces the quadscan is more intersting.

The Limo Pro would beat it on video processing.

With the Lio pro you will have to run all cables to the projetor. (long s-video ? )

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

With the Limo Pro you would also need mutlitple memory banks for aspect ratio control, meaning doing more than one touch up on convergence.

With an off board video processor that has aspect ratio control you would have a lot less work to do keeping the projector tip top (not that it's that hard anway!)

Agreed HTPC could be best or worst.


Gordon

[gwbailey]

Thanks guys,

I thought a HTPC would be the best way to go for DVD play back but maybe not so with Sky tv.

I'm not a PC geek so it looks like i'll be doing some home work here soon then!

Is it hard?

What do I need?

How would I connect a PC to a Cine7?

If I go with a HTPC for DVD what should I do about Sky play back?

It would be better if it's user friendly (not for me but for Mrs B)

All's I need now is a demo! can anyone help?

Gordon, what's happening with the Event2?

Why is it so hard to get a demo on a well setup PJ whether it's CRT,LCD or DLP?

If anyone can help (in the North West) please PM me!

Regards,