[Bristol Pete]

Just set up my Hoya FLD filter after ordering it from castle-cameras and I concur with what other people here have already said about them. Not a night and day difference to quote others here but certainly worth the £20.00 that it has cost me.

The filter reminds me of the one Sony supply with their projectors, giving the image a mild red push, which results in a lovely warm picture.

Anyhow, as a quick test, I had a watch of Matrix – Reloaded. There is a definite improvement in an already good black level. Neos cloak/robe is a very deep black and Agent Smiths suit is now clearly a lot darker than the other agents in the film

Had a look at LOTR: The Two Towers. I have noticed that the filter, although not bought for the purpose, has smoothed out some of the FPN and thus results in a more cinematic picture with the correct tweaking


X-box Tiger woods looks great via s-video, as it seems to filter any s-video related noise

So, all in all, definitely a worthy purchase. Once again, thanks to all at AV-forums for this information. Cant believe it took me six months to order one !!!

Cap

PS. Do not know if other Panny 200/300 owners here are aware but if you want to change the temp settings, by pressing enter when the ‘user’ option is displayed you find another menu allowing further tweaking of both red and blue contrast and brightness.

[Goof]

Told you

[Bristol Pete]

Thanks Goof.

Just wondering what settings you like to view your films with, with the filter on?

I quite like Cinema 1 out of the box myself. Maybe a little too red but TTT looked cinematic never the less.

Tending to find that it can vary from disk to disk, so a little twaek here and there will suffice.

Oh and I just shot a fabulously smooth 8 under par at X-box Pebble Beach whilst the wife did an hour on the tread mill

Cap

[Goof]

Hi Captain,

I think I've still got it on Cinema2 actually, with blue +6, green +12 and red -12 (sharpness +2, brightness about -5). But tbh I was shifting the colour balance up and down and finding it difficult to notice any difference! So it's not tweaked to perfection but I looks good and the -12 on red has certainly cut out any 'purple push' so I'm happy

I thought I read on another thread the filter couldn't (or shouldn't) be used with the ae300 for some reason but obviously not (?).

[thfccambs]

Captain Benefit
do you have a link to the filter please?

[Bristol Pete]

Sure,

I got mine from -

www.castlecameras.co.uk

Call them on 01202 730725.

Look for the filters and locate the Hoya FLD 52 if you have either a Panny 100, 200 or 300.

Cheers,

Cap

[Bristol Pete]

Goof,

I pressume that you are using HTPC then as you can access the RGB menu?

TBH I cant recall ever reading anything about not using the filter with the 300. I have also sourced loads of posts over at the overly technical AVS forums and loads of U.S 300 owners are using FLD filters or combinations of other filters.

All the best,

Cap

[Goof]

Yup, HCPC all the way baby!

It may just have been that because the ae300 doesn't pixel match, then most ppl have been using other player connection methods that don't let you adjust the individual colour balance. Or maybe I just made it up

[Mr.D]

I would recommend maxing out the green and blue drives if you use an FLD filter.
You may find after that that you want to back off on the green a little and red to a degree. this will ensure you get the best compromise between contrast range and colour ( lower intensities may still be a little purple)

[Bristol Pete]

Why would you ramp up the green if the whole point of an FLD is to lower the green push associated with LCD ?

Isnt that negating the whole point of the FLD?

Thanks for your time.

Cap

[theritz]

The FLD does reduce the green and blue elements in the image - but excessively so - this is why you see a red/purplish tinge to the image unless you correct the white balance by bringing up the green and blu Wbal levels.


Sean.

[Mr.D]

The idea behind the FLD is not simply to correct "over greenness" .
The idea is the projectors light source is high in the green. By using the FLD you lower the black point ( blacks get darker) but you can compensate for the magenta of the filter sufficiently by raising the green ( because you have plenty of it). So you get the benefit of lowering the blacks without the peak output of the projector taking a terrible hit ( or at least an acceptable one) And you are able to somewhat restore the colour balance.

Its about getting the blacks lower not about making the picture warmer.

[Ghidorah]

Hello Cap,

Long time no speak

Did you get the 52mm as I've got a 67mm filter ring that screws into the lens end perfick, or does it matter where you put the filter. If if it does not then I might get one that size instead.

Do you need to have it hooked up to a HCPC or is it allright to use the filter if it is just on a DVD player


Ghidorah

[Tempest]

I know we've been around and around this topic so many times now, but as I'm just about to get my HTPC running (3m VGA cable in the post to me now) and I've already got the HOYA filter we're all talking about:

I'd like to try and get some clear details about correcting for the filter once it is in place (as has been said here, the red/magenta will be pushed up and needs correcting)

1st of all I guess I need to ask a few questions:
Does it matter what MODE the projector is in for these settings, or does it affect them all ? I mean the Cinema1, Dynamic etc etc modes. If it does matter then is there a mode you should do these adjustments from ?

I understand you should not touch your HTPC colour settings as you are just going to start getting everything confused... SO...

Is what you have to do - Adjust the WHITE BALANCE levels ?

And (by now) there must be a fairly agreed amount you have to adjust the RGB values by to compensate for the filter and bring the colours back to their normal natural levels (but now without the LCD green hue that we are trying to get rid of)

And are you simply upping the Green and Blue, or are you reducing the red also ?

Advice please as the "Experts" on here must have fiddles with this filter on the Panny projectors for ages now.....

Many thanks

[Bristol Pete]

Yep, long time no speak. Hope things are good with you

I got the 52mm lens and it simply fits into the inner housing - no problem. As my PJ is wall mounted, the fact that its a snug fit is a bonus as I can assume that the filter will not drop out.

I have mine set up with a standard component video driven DVD player and as my original remarks said the filter definately offers a deeper black and a warmth to my PQ that I like.

I can understand what the ritz and Mr. D are saying now, but as I am not using HTPC, I cannot ramp up the green, just the blue. I suppose I can simply let my eyes judge how the filter has affected my PQ and my wife and I like it with it on.

That said, we are far from videophile when it comes to this as we simply want to watch movies, not tweak the PJ all the time. I watched Spiderman recently and the Green Goblins suit certainly looked green enough to me

As I have always said, I am quite into plug and play cinema and out of the box settings are good enough for me at the moment - although I did use zanders pal calibrated 'normal' mode over at AVS forums, which seems much like it did before to be honest . What I am saying is that depsite tweaking the various picture modes on my 300 I prefer them at the default settings, although I do tweak via my DVD players advanced menu if the picture warrants it.

By the way I think that the picture temp on the PJ is similar to the picture temp options found on my Panasonic w/s TV. Therefore, I conclude that -1/2 = warm, 0 = natural and +1/2 = cool, the latter of which does seem to put more blue/green into the picture if required.

Cheers

Cap

[Ghidorah]

Yep things are good,

I have PM you about something.

Ghidorah