Epson TW3200/3600 owners thread

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kbfern

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As there are now one or two owners starting to appear I thought you should have your own thread to give us all the info on these new projectors.

So lets have it guys I am sure they are fabulous projectors so start waxing lyrical so that we can all drool and wish we had one too.

Link added below to the excellent FAQ page posted by JMog 24/1/2011


http://www.avforums.com/forums/projectors/1400035-epson-tw3200-tw3600-faq-info-guide.html


Cheers

Keith
 
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Cheers Keith :thumbsup:

Well I've only been watching it for 15minutes, but I have to say.....

I am absolutely stunned!!!!! Really! It takes a lot to impress me this days with over-hyped products. I've just watched some of a 1080p recorded broadcast of Star Wars and - from what I'd read about LCD vs. DLP, especially at this price point - was expecting fair black levels but nothing too impressive. What I have is black levels every bit the equal of my Infocus SP4805, a DLP projector. The image is VERY punchy indeed with plenty of 'pop'. It has that 'wow' factor in spades. Projector Point weren't exaggerating in their review when they described the black levels as 'surprising', and the one to beat at this price point. You lose a SLIGHT bit of pop when going to ECO mode, but it really is VERY slight indeed and you forget about it after a few moments.

Haven't had a chance to really play around with the settings, but it's on Cinema and eco mode. My Oppo BDP-83 is set to deep colour on the HDMI. Colour temp on Epson set to 7500K. Colour is VERY film-like and natural. As I said I havent played with the settings really, but I'm quite content with how it is at the moment to be honest.

Just stunning. I've been using a SD projector for past 3 years, and wasn't expecting that RAZOR sharpness of 1080p to survive when projected onto a 90" screen. How wrong was I! The detail levels are insane! It really is like being at the cinema - I can see NO evidence of pixels at all from our viewing distance only 2-3 metres from the screen. You can see all the quality of the film itself, film grain & detail is reproduced cleanly (providing the transfer is a good one).

This thing is so quiet on ECO mode too - almost silent. Such a relief from the extreme noise of my old Infocus.

Without wishing to tempt fate... so far so excellent!

I am extremely happy and absolutely blown away by this thing, I really am :thumbsup:

More details later...

- John
 
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Nice mini review John,I guess you won't be sending it back for a refund then.:D
 
I have had my TW3200 for about 2 weeks now, and I have been really impressed. I have been using a 92” Optoma screen. Using the default settings, the picture out of the box is very good. I have since adjusted the brightness/contrast down, and also started using economic mode, and the picture is plenty bright enough for me. The colour production also seems true, but I will have to calibrate the projector at some point to get the right settings. Sharpness is very good, and as reported in most of the early reviews, black levels seem pleasing. I have turned off noise reduction and the image appears very film-like, and film grain is often pleasing and visible, depending on the transfer of the film.

I'm really glad that you can view at 1080p 24fps, as I have noticed some models in the same price only offering interpolated modes, and not true 24fps. That was a big positive for me.

The flexibility in the placement position is great, and I have been using almost all of the lens shift, and I noticed no defects or problems with the picture. The remote is also very good, and I only wish my mediaplayer had such big and spaced out buttons, let alone a light on the keypad. I'm forever pushing the wrong buttons on my Dune mediaplayer and stopping or forwarding the scene by mistake LOL.

I set the projector to high altitude mode to help the machine cool down, and I sit about 0.3m away from the projector and the noise is minimal to say the least. My PC at the other side of the room makes a lot more noise.

This is my first projector, and I'm extremely pleased with my purchase. On my 42” plasma I struggled to see much difference between a good Blu-ray transfer and a mediocre one. Since I have had the Epson I have found myself noticing every little defect on the transfer. You can see the huge variation and strengths and weaknesses of the Blu-ray transfer when projected onto the big screen. The only problem I have now is that DVD looks poor in comparison LOL. Because I'm used to the stunning quality of full Blu-ray, and on DVD you can see every little defect.

So I would recommend this projector to you all who were considering it. I'm glad I held off from buying a DLP, and the flexibility of LCD is great. Projectorpoint will be selling a lot of these I'm sure.
 
Would be really interested in all owners thoughts on how they think the projector will cope with a massice image - say 120" +.

Thanks.

Bobby.
 
Nearly made it through all of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 before the folks started flaking out. It looks absolutely stunning. I've seen this 3 or 4 times now but only through my standard def Infocus projector. It was like seeing it again for the first time - stunning details and colours. Again it really felt like watching film rather than an electronically produced and compressed image. Also watched the opening scenes of The Shining and was again drawn into the film and just marvelled at how film-like it all looked.

My only niggle so far was setting the Oppo BDP-83 to 24fps mode - the Epson's image then started to jerk quite a bit like it was trying to lock on or something. I'm sure it's nothing major and I just need to alter some settings. When I put the Oppo onto Auto for resolution all was fine. Are there only certain blurays which are authored with the 24fps ability, or should it work with any disc?

Right I'm going to stop waxing lyrical there for fear fate will intervene with my new purchase tomorrow ;)

A very happy chappy this evening!

MANY thanks to Claire at Projector Point, and to Epson too of course!

- John
 
I haven't had more than a couple of hours to play with it but I am a VERY happy man :)

Colours, brightness, depth - it's all very impressive. I went from a 4 year old Panny AE900 720P projector and we've really come a long way since then when it comes to projector technology. The image is fantastisc!

I haven't got my mount ready yet (possibly tomorrow or the next day), so I had to get a temporary solution going to test the image. I simply placed the empty cardboard box it came in on my table and then placed the projector ontop of it. It's too close for me to be able to fill out my 120" painted wall but as soon as I get the mount ready I should be able to give some impressions. I'm noget worried though - the AE900 was excellent at the same distance on this screen and that was much dimmer than the Epson.

I only sampled a couple of movies (Baraka, The Dark Knight) but I took quite a few pictures. I will post them as soon as I have uploaded them to flickr.
 
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First some unboxing shots :)

It looks so innocent in it's cardboard box. Sure, the box is big, but it cannot possibly take up all of the space inside.
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Correction. Yes it can. This thing is HUGE! I knew it's measurements beforehand and still I am surprised by the size. I've laid out everything that comes in the box. Safety info (yellow paper), remote, manuals on a CD, power cable and a quickguide (only drawings - no words).
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Here it is in all it's unpacked glory :). I don't know why but for some reason I had read the official measurements wrong and therefore assumed that the pj was more deep than wide. I bought the shelf for the mount today. Luckily it will still fit on it. As you can see, the front air went is quite large. Unsurprisingly the air blowing out from it is very warm. It's directed so it goes out at an angle away from the lens.
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A closeup seen from above. My old panny had the lens shift on the front - a single joystick. The Epson instead has two dials (vertical/horisontal). Much more precise and easy to use... if you are table mounting it or on a mount with the projector hanging upside down. It will be interesting to operate with my mount when it's finished. Table mounted on a high shelf using maximum lens shift. Yikes! At the top of the image you can almost see the two warning LEDs for lamp and temperature.
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The back of the beast. It pretty much speaks for itself, but here's the rundown from left to right: 2x HDMI, Component, Svideo, Composite, VGA, Controll-port, and a trigger. Here we also see the second went on the machine (there are no side wents). I've only had the projector running for under two hours but in contrast with the front went you can hardly feel any air coming out of it and it's not even lukewarm. The days of needing plenty of space at the back for letting hot air dissipate are over.
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It lives! :-D. Finally I get to fire it up. As you can see, the image is not filling out my image area on the wall. That will wait until I can mount it further back. Right now I think the size is around 100". The Warner logo is in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio though so it looks even smaller. In the next images, the size is easier to judge. Notice that I've shot the photos in widescreen format - it seemed fitting ;-)
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I chose the opening shot from The Dark Knight (Blu-Ray) because it has so much fine detail. With a pj so much brighter than the old one, the drawbacks of using a painted wall (ordinary cheap white paint) instead of a real screen has never been more clear to me. It's probably not easy to see from the photos but I can clearly see that the black levels would be even better on a proper canvas. The colours and sharpness does look a lot better in real life than the images. My camera is to blame - the colours look fantastic even on a plain wall. It's also the camera making the lower edges look as if they are slightly bending (I'm taking pictures sitting down).
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I really like this image. Notice the fine details in the clown's hair and the scratches to the mask.
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All of the images are shot while using the colour mode "living room". I haven't gotten around to playing with the others yet. But as the default mode in use when you turn on the projector it seems like an excellent choice. I haven't calibrated the image at all yet.
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A good range of colours in the same shot. This scene looks simply fantastic projected onto 100" of wall. I salivate at the thought of seing it on a canvas.
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Boom, baby! The car chase scene looks fantastic. Much better black levels than on my Panny AE900. very difficult to see from the photos though.
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And now for something completely different. The Blu-ray of Baraka is perfect demo material. It's in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, so there are black bars at the top/bottom. All the following images are from Baraka.
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Quite a loot of colour is missing from this photo compared with what my eyes saw. If you think it looks good now... well, then you won't be dissappointed when you see the real thing :)
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I haven't even tried out eco mode yet, so I thought something green would placate the environmentalists ;-). Jokes aside, I thought it was marvelously quiet in normal mode. Looking forward to hearing it being EVEN quieter.
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That wonderfuld 1080p resolution really helps with material with so much detail as this.
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And here is the last image for today (it's 02:30). Ain't it lovely :)
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I will post some comparison shots from the exact same scenes when I get my screen in the next couple of weeks. Should be extremely interesting to see how much difference it makes.
 
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Jmog

Thanks for the detailed review a good read,try theatre black mode and the blacks will be even better and eco as the pj is still plenty bright enough.

Although if you are going to use it at 120" screen size you may still need full power on the lamp.

Great screen shots by the way.:thumbsup:
 
Thanks :)

I will try the other modes tonight. Maybe take some comparison shots between them.
 
Received my 3200 yesterday and like a kid not interested in breakfast on Christmas morning, I couldn't wait get Dinner over so I could unbox & test my new toy :D

Can I first say a Big Thanks to Projector Point for an extremely quick & efficient service. I was advised just to order online via their website. I placed the order around 1pm Mon...the projector was delivered around 2pm Tue! Fantastic.

On to the 3200 itself.... WOW!!!!

This is my 3rd PJ (Panny standard def AE200, then the Panny 720p AX100) and the step up with the 3200 is incredible! Brightness, vivid colours, sharpness & detail and not forgetting Contrast / Black levels are simply awesome!

I use on a 100" screen, about 13ft away, viewing from about 10ft in a normal living room environment (white ceiling! but chocolate walls with heavy curtains) so certainly no Bat Cave. I bought the previous AX100 because it was highly regarded and one of the brightest PJs available at the time at 2000lumens (6000:1 contrast). However, the Epson definitely seems brighter even tho rated at a lower 1800lumens (maybe that's the improved contrast / colour?). Its plenty bright enough to watch SKY HD stuff even with living room table lamps on whereas the old Panny would be very washed out!

I had reservations about upgrading. I wanted to upgrade because although I loved the movie experience via a PJ, I always felt my 42" 720p Panny Plasma had a much, much better image. I was therefore worried if the £1000 would actually see much improvement? NO MORE WORRY, money well spent!

Sitting 10-11ft away, the huge display now looks every bit as good, bright, vibrant as the Plasma except the detail is now more evident and visible thanks to the big image. I now appreciate the term 'pop' and certainly feel the 3200 has that in spades.

Only problems I had was first with the ceiling mount. My Vogels 595 is rated up to 10kg but the weight if this beast means it slowly tips out of alignment. Some 'bodging' was required to help stop it moving from it's position!
The other thing was it doesn't use a Cloverleaf type power socket like the Panny but a more domestic kettle lead power socket. As I'd hard wired power for the Panny to the ceiling by going under floor upstairs, I think I'll get an adapter at Maplins to convert the end rather than uprooting & rewiring!

Just need a proper movie session to enjoy it & get some advice on optimal calibration settings. I used 'cinema' mode last night...don't see a "Theatre Black 1" option mentioned by others....assume that's only for the 3600?

Steve.
 
don't see a "Theatre Black 1" option mentioned by others....assume that's only for the 3600?

Steve.

Glad there's another happy 3200 owner on here too :smashin:

I think this projector is going to be extremely popular over the next 12 months and definately the one to beat.

You're absolutely right it's cinema mode (theatre black was for the 3500 - got my names mixed up in my mini review).

- John
 
Thanks for all the feedback, and hope you all enjoy your purchases! Watched cars last night and on animation the image quality is awesome, also Avatar on blueray really looks great!
 
Hi Guys,

Got mine too as per the other thread.. A few comments

Decided it was time to change my old faithful projector (Pany AE100e .. I told you it was old ha ha) Its feed from a little HTPC and to fair it was pretty good when set up and calibrated (pixel mapped ect) but times change and 1080p was shouting at me !!.

After going thru the usual soul searching and pulling out of hair (is that normal ??) I decided to be sensible and set a budget of £1200 (I could of stretch to 2k but decided not too) Anyway the TW3200 won out in the end after some last minute nerves about red glows !!!!! the Epson gold plated warranty and the excellent service from Projector Point helped.

I pre ordered about a week ago and started the wait . I had a e-mail from Babar (projector point) telling me it was due and then a phone call from Chris(pp) telling me it had arrived. Chris did a pre flight check for me on Monday and sent it out to the deeepest darkest corner of the North east. Arrived Tuesday Morning, after a age at work I snook of at about 4

Unboxed to fine a huge white projector (its at least 4 times as big as my old one) I need to modify my roof mount and I am also getting some work done (plastering ceiling running cables in ect) so the projector is temp mounted on a couple of chairs.

Hooked it up to the HTPC via HDMI and fired up XBMC on a 88" screen straight away the thing looked great with the lights on !!. Far better than the old one (1080p, so alote sharper) good colours and good contrast. What to test it on ? I thought I'd try somthing that would make it shine. Toy Story 3 in 1080p. It looked great, well fantastic even! as I watched I had a play with the settings choose Cimena mode set it to eco and the thing rocks. Colours look breathtaking it's super razor sharp (the detail is unbelievable) and black levels are very good (the blacks are still very slightly grey but still excellent for a projector.. I am in total darkness now BTW) I then watched The Dark Knight with its Imax scenes that was Stunning.

So over all very happy with my purchase and now let the tweeking begin !!

I also had a play with auto Iris its quite noisy, Can someone explain the advantages of it ? (normal or High Speed)

I am away till friday with work so wont have a chance to play till Saturday ....

Cheers

Tal

Oh and not a red glow it sight !!
 
I also had a play with auto Iris its quite noisy, Can someone explain the advantages of it ? (normal or High Speed)

It adjusts the amount of light coming out by slightly closing the iris during dark scenes. It should give better black levels. You could see it as a way of artificially lowering the lamp's brightness without the resulting damage to the bulp from going up/down in temperature several times each minute.

The downside is that it can make noise and depending on the speed of the scene it might not be able to keep up. High speed is probably more geared towards keeping up with fast dark scenes (and makes the most noise) while normal speed is fine for scene changes to dark scenes which happen less frequent.

I should be getting my mount up tonight and will then be able to test it running 120". I am also going to mount the projector a bit lower than the old one. When turning the projector on and having a completely black background I can see that the portion of the image which is closest to the projector (lower part) is a bit brighter than the top. It's nothing I can see while having an actual image, but now that I KNOW about it... well ;-)

So I will try mounting it in a position which will use as little lens shift as possible, so the light can spread out onto the screen more uniformly.
 
The default for the Iris is OFF on my 3200, and from reviews on the 3500 and 3100 etc I think I'll leave it off too as - as reported here - it can be quite noisy. There were only a couple of scenes on Pirates of the Caribbean 3 which looked slightly (and I mean slightly) washed out without it, but for 99.9% of the time the image really does 'pop'. The opening scenes from Star Wars looked amazing - could see every star bright and clear (and this on the buggered up 2004 'Special' Editions!). When the Star Destroyer lumbered onto the screen it really looked crystal clear and jumped off the screen.

I think spending beyond £1k is probably where the cost of diminishing returns kicks in - one could spend more than £1k for slightly better black levels on tricky scenes but I doubt the extra funds equate with the prices paid unless you needed a much bigger image. I've also read on several sites that people cannot see much - if any - difference between the 3200 and 3600 which makes the 3200 even more of a bargain :thumbsup:.

Looking forward to have a proper play with the settings this evening. Going to try out Wolfman - much of that takes place at night and in shadows and darkness so that'll be a stern test of the 3200 I should think.

@ JMOG: those images look outstanding - I'm definitely going to have to pick myself up a copy of Baraka!
 
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I think spending beyond £1k is probably where the cost of diminishing returns kicks in - one could spend more than £1k for slightly better black levels on tricky scenes but I doubt the extra funds equate with the prices paid unless you needed a much bigger image. I've also read on several sites that people cannot see much - if any - difference between the 3200 and 3600 which makes the 3200 even more of a bargain :thumbsup:.


You are spot on there John, we are extremely lucky these days to get such stonking performance for such a paltry sum.:D

Only 3-5 yrs ago anything approaching this level would have set you back £5k-£10k.

I really wonder sometimes if the high end stuff has any place in 95% of peoples homes.Unless you are a banker or premier league footy player the max you need spend is £2k (JVC 350) or even better £1k (TW3200):thumbsup:
 
Agreed - sometimes you buy something on a budget, and have that nagging 'what if' feeling that if you'd spent more perhaps you would have gotten far better performance.

In this instance I really can't see how I'd need anything more than I now have with the 3200 :D.

£1000 is still a LOT of money to many people (definitely myself!) and I still have trouble calling this a 'budget' projector. Still the performance is far from budget :smashin:

Well done Epson!
 
The mount is up and I am enjoying immensely having the full 120" image.

A couple of observations:

-The projector is easily able to project a 120" image at 3.64m distance. There is absolutely no compromise due to the large size. I don't notice it being any dimmer than when I projected 100" yesterday.

-Using a painted wall to project onto absorbs A LOT more of the light than using a canvas. Using the mode "living room" the image would be extravagantly bright using a screen I expect.

I experimented with the different colour modes and finally concluded that Living room is hands down the best mode. For my current setup that is. Cinema looks good but is too dark compared to the very pleasant Living Room mode. This is due to my painted wall absorbing too much of the light from the projector. With a screen cinema mode would most likely be perfect.

The difference between Eco and normal mode is so slight that I have absolutely no qualms using it when projecting onto the wall. Eco is plenty bright and I noticed black levels being a little bit better.

Natural and dynamic modes... suck. Natural is very UNnatural when it comes to colour. There simply isn't enough of it. Dynamic simply puts everything on high. Colours, brightness, saturation - it looks horrible. Especially red is dominating the colour range.

I tried doing some before/after shots of running in eco mode, but could not tell any difference on the pictures. There IS a difference, but it is too small for the camera to pick up. All the following photos are therefore in Eco mode.

Someone asked specifically about running a 120" image, so I took some shots which are zoomed out, so you get an impression of how it would look in your living room (bear in mind this is on a wall - a screen would be brighter).



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The Opening shot from The Dark Knight. This time in 120" and as you can see the image is certainly not lacking when it comes to brightness in this size. It looks incredible having an image this big and this good looking in your home. This is in colour mode "Living Room".



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Simply loving this image quality. It's like having a huge flatscreen TV of excellent quality on your wall.



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And now for some comparisons. This image is in colour mode Living Room. I thinks this looks exactly right. Nothing's overdone. The grass, the reds in the checkerboard pattern in the background, the makeup of the joker and his skin tone. It seems a bit muted but this is exactly as it was when I saw it at the cinema.



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This is colour mode Dynamic. This one's all over the place. Too much in every way - especially red colour. Notice that the pavement actually has a red tint. His makeup looks silly - almost pink - and his skin colour is way too red.



I took some photos of Natural and X.V.Color but the camera wasn't able to capture the differences between them and living room so I won't post any of those. It is quite easy to spot the differences when you sit in front of the image on your wall though. Natural lacks colour and X.V.Color is too warm for my taste.

I am looking forward to seeing if I change my mind about any of the modes (not Dynamic though) when I try it on a screen. This evening I will finally sit down and just enjoy a movie. It will be Harry Potter and The Halfblood Prince on Blu-Ray. A movie with a lot of dark scenes and high contrast imagery (the cave scene) - should be a blast :)
 
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Reading these posts has gotten me all fired up. I'll be transfering my funds from savings to my current account and my missus said she'll get her mum to loan me the money (just made her a few hundred quid profit on a car she was selling so she owes me:D) to make up the difference so I can get the 3200 ordered next week - HOORAH:clap:

The missus thinks she'll get me to shut up about the damn thing once I finally have it - She's wrong of course:laugh:

Cheers all, and thanks John and the rest for the great mini reviews. I think it helped to convince my better half after she read some of the glowing reports...
 
You tricksters!!

Your absolute gushing over these Epsons has got me re-thinking my plans for a HD20 next year. Great reviews and feedback, and top pics too.

;)
 
Just out of interest - how does DVD output standup when projected to 120"?

While Blu-Ray will be the preference I can't ditch the DVD back-catalogue but wouldn't want it to look too rough.

Ta
 
Just out of interest - how does DVD output standup when projected to 120"?

While Blu-Ray will be the preference I can't ditch the DVD back-catalogue but wouldn't want it to look too rough.

Ta

I would say it probably wouldn't look good. On a 92" screen, it looks quite poor. I have actually decided to watch DVDs on my Plasma instead of the projector, as you notice so many artefacts it isn't that enjoyable to watch, and having such a big screen is actually no benefit as it looks soft. I guess the LCD projectors are less forgiving than DLP, but most of it is due to the sheer size and viewing distance of the projection, and not the performance of the Epson to handle SD. I just notice too much chicken wire and a lot of aliasing on DVD content, which distracts me too much.
 
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If you have a decent DVD player with good upscaling (I use a Denon DVD 1930) it looks excellent. Not as good as Blu-ray of course - you are never in any doubt that it's a DVD you are watching, but it's definetely more than just okey.

I think it looks marvelous. Blu-ray just looks even better. Don't be scared away from going for a projector. I used a 480p projector and then a 720p projector for watching dvd's for many years and absolutely loved it. 120" was not a problem as long as the DVD player was a good one. Upgrading to a 1080p projector just means the DVDs look even better than before.

I'll take some pictures later tonight. I have a quite substantial DVD collection so let me know if there are any requests or specific scenes you would like examples of - chances are, I have the movie you want to see.
 
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Using an Oppo BDP-83 and upscaling DVD to 1080p it didn't look too bad at all - in fact I was very pleasantly surprised. This was on an old black & white Laurel & Hardy DVD and I haven't tried a more recent colour movie yet, but if it can cope well with that source material with all the film grain, scratches and so forth I would have thought it would cope even better with more modern fare. The DVD looked pretty sharp, sharper than watching it through my standard def SP4805 projector even!

I'm not sure what the 3200s inbuilt upscaling is like, but through the Oppo I was more than happy with it. It was slightly weird watching a DVD I know well, without any discernable pixel structure for the first time!

So with a decent upscaling DVD player all your DVDs will get an impressive upgrade in quality when playing through the 3200 :)
 
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