[Sykes]

While I was away on holiday, I lent my AE100 to John Dawson at Arcam so they could check out their new DVD player, the DV88+ (which is PAL prog enabled), with this projector as there had been some reported problem, see DVD section.

Anyway I went to pick it up yesterday and JD very kindly gave me a demo - I now wish he hadn't! I admit I have always been a fan of Arcam for HiFi and I now am one for Home Cinema.

First up, JD demoed the sonic ability of the DV88+ with music and with the DTS soundtrack from American Beauty through their new top end Home cinema amp/power amp combination (can't remember the name, it is the one reviewed in HCC this month). It was unbelievably good both for music and movies. I went home afterwards played the same scene from Amercian Beauty through my Toshiba 510, Denon 3802 and Kef Q series speakers (I know it is not a fair comparison but mine is a reasonable system, although certainly not top end) and it sounded lifeless and flat in comparison as well as lacking in detail. I now feel quite dejected and am wondering where I am going to find several thousand pounds to upgrade.

Anyway next we plugged in the DV88+ into the AE100 via component inputs. I know this has been mentioned before both here on AVforum and over on AVS, but what a difference there is between PAL interlaced and PAL prog on the AE100.

Flicking between 625p and 625i it was clear that prog scan made the picture sharper and also reduced the faint LCD panel grid structure. What surprised me was this was evident even on static menus.

I did have a ProV for a while but much preferred interlaced component straight into the AE100 over s-video de-interlaced with the ProV. This showed me how good proper 2:2 pulldown can be. So the point of this thread, if you can afford it the DV88+ is well worth it even if it does cost as much as the projector itself. I just wish could.

Sykes

PS I also suspect that the picture quality was just plain superior with the DV88+ on interlaced than that possible with my Tosh 510 but obviously I didn't have the chance to do a side by side comparison. I suppose like the old adage says 'you get what you pay for' or as JD said 'put muck in, you get muck out'.