[timmorris]

I've been asked to replace the aging and huge lump of a Sony 6" CRT in my brother's house with something. The projector was inherited when he bought the house and it lives in a room which is media room and study split down the middle. It does have a feeling of being in a 1980s pub, and it is just too big for the room. I've tried to go through a full calibration process but the picture quality isn't anywhere near as good as you'd expect, so it has to go.

While he has decent curtains and blinds the room is by no means blacked out. Would the Panny be a better contender in this instance? It isn't a heavily used device and the room isn't a dedicated home cinema. He watches a lot of rugby and perhaps one or two DVDs a month. I have a Lumagen HDQ which will be going in his direction which will overcome some of the drawbacks Phil noticed in his review and also allow me to calibrate greyscale.

Tim

[Gary Lightfoot]

The more ambient light you have the more light you need from the pj to give a reasonable contrast otherwise having something that is capable of good blacks and high on/off is completely wasted. A grey screen with gain will help to negate some of the effects of the ambient light too, so you might want to consider that as an option.

If he's not watching many movies (and may not be particularly image critical) and so doesn't require the kind of image quality the JVC can give, you may as well buy a cheap (<£500) but high lumen projector. Your scaler will make a big difference in this case so even a data projector will do.

Do you have the calibration kit to adjust greyscale to D65 (colorimiter/spectroradiometer and modeling software)? If not you will have to pay extra for that service. Most fixed pixel displays can give a pretty flat greyscale without the need for an external scaler unless you want to modify the gamma. The JVC has some limited adjustability so the scaler may be more useful.

I would try to get your brother to look at some of these projectors before he buys. If he's an ex CRT owner one of the first complaints is usually 'it's too bright', but that's because they're used to lower lumen output and no shops will set reflectance level to cinema levels. In his case he needs that of he's to have an ambient light present or he can add an ND filter for night time viewing and have more cinematic/CRT light levels. it can make a lot of difference to perceived image quality when coming from a CRT.

What's his seating distance and screen size? You may be able to work out the kind of lumen levels you need if you have a means to measure the ambient light levels on the screen and if you are considering the JVC, there are plenty of places with the measured lumen values (and at different throws) so you will know what kind of contrast to expect under those normal ambient conditions.

Some LCDs have good advertised on/off contrast numbers but that's from a dynamic iris, and the native contrast is still low enough to give very grey blacks during mid APL scenes (DLP is better here). Bit of a moot point with ambient around but you need to see the projector in action to get an idea of real world performance. The Sony's have the best DIs currently but may be too dim.

Gary

[timmorris]

Gary, thanks that's for more information than I asked for or deserved really.

I've got Calman V2, will upgrade to V3 and a Display2 purely because it is a calibrated device. To be honest it isn't going to be heavily used and image isn't that critical - the odd film a couple of times a month, Guiness Premiership rugby and of course the world cup later in the year.

He's got a 110" stewart screen - sofas in an open U facing the projector with the furthest one about 12 feet away. The CRT/Scaler combination he has in there has been very badly set up - there's an interference pattern between the two using a pretty ancient Extron so to be honest anything half decent will be an improvement. Unfortunately I can't do much with it, the previous owner used AudioT in Epsom who sub-contracted it out to a guy in the West End who I can no longer get hold of, I have no Crestron source code so I think I'm going to have to pretty much start from scratch probably with a Pronto! There's also a Plasma behind the screen for casual day-time viewing.

It's been suggested elsewhere that I'd probably be better off with a Panny in this instance.

Tim

[Gary Lightfoot]

Hi Tim,

Calman and the D2 are relatively cheap but ideal for home DIY use IMHO.

Is that 4:3, 16:9 diagonal or width? I prefer width since it's easier to calculate area

If he was using the 6" CRT on that screen then he should have plenty of brightness with any fixed pixel display as a comparison (calibrated will reduce the lumens though). The Panny may well be ideal but I always suggest you get a demo just to get an idea of what you're buying. I've not seen one but there are a few reviews out there that may be useful. projectorcentral.com has some interesting stuff although there are better reviews if you want something more technically biased. cine4home.de or.com for example.

The JVC is a great machine and a good step up from his 6" CRT IMHO and in some respects the Panny may be too, but it depends on what his image criteria are.

There are some Crestron programmers around and some of the dealers here may be able to put you in touch with someone who can do it for you, but it's quite expensive IIRC, so going the Pronto route may be more cost effective.

Gary

[Avi]

Originally Posted by timmorris

It's been suggested elsewhere that I'd probably be better off with a Panny in this instance.

Tim

I guess it comes down to image criteria and personal preference but I would avoid a dynamic iris if possible.

AVI

[VirusKiller]

Hi Tim. We meet again...

I assume you are talking about the 1080p Panny, but what about the Panny AX100? Although the panel is 720p, it's got a lot of lumens and can be had for under £900.