300xtra-H... first impression

gandley

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(with Component)
Unit out of the box isnt very good for pic, everything looks washed out, tweaking therefore a must......

I must say i dont think ive ever had a unit that requires such an accurate calibration of the contrast and brightness.
But once you get it, my god does the image change or what, suddenly on screen detail is gobsmacking, that much desired 3D effect is there in spades.

Red needs a gentle push, this then gives skin tones a very beliveable hue.
After getting the contrast and brightness spot on, according to DVE very little else needed to be touched.

The one thing that does impress is the absense of pic noise, wow this is so clean. not bad for component.

HDMI...

Ahhh now everybody pays attention. well at first you think...is that it....
Mainly due to the fact that you need again to get the brightness and contrast spot on , and the results do differ from component. If you dont colours just look very washed out. downside to this is to get an exceptable image, Ansi lumen output drops a fair bit. therefore view is restricted to the minimum of ambient light as possible.(read that as none if you realy want to see what this PJ can do)

But once set and tweaked image is stunning. even less pic noise.
set to pixelxpixel gives a much better pic.
Resolution gets a percieved boost, but its down to a sharper image.
So while not a quantom leap, HDMI is a must have if you plan to make a purchase(or DVI) of any PJ.
It takes time but you will get a finer pic than from component. must also say it didnt look DIGITAL but much more crt like.
 
NOW

Hi-DEF

Holy hell, i have never seen anything like this before.

i believe you will not see what a 300xtra can realy do till everything goes hi-def.
I have a copy of fith element in true 720p thanks to a nice forum member and had only viewed it on my PC, and to be honest didnt think much of it. but what the hell i thought i`ll stick it on the sim and see what happens.
Mine and my wifes jaws just hit the floor. detail was amazing, at times you thought you could walk into the pic.
So impressive, its hard to describe. seen hi-def before but never knew what the fuss was about(PLASMA) but now

I WANT HD-DVD:D

next post the downsides sides(for my setup anyhow)
 
With HDMI, hows this then
 

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RIGHT, the DOWNSIDES

well its hard to find any i must admit, black is resolved as it should be, detail is jaw dropping and the image in general is first rate except.

for me its a bit dim, not in calibrated conditions, ie darkness but ambient light is not treated kindley, and i dont mean inhouse lighting but daylight. its hard in my house to control as i have two rooms connected by an archway and the other room does tend to get direct light from 2-8pm so even with curtains drawn it lets a fair amount of light in. NOT HELPFUL as the Sim is not the brightest PJ i Have had. it was not realy a prob with the H56 but it is now.

NOISE from being on standby. cant leave it on standby as it whines more than a donkey, quite hi pitched.
AD Roser this cant be right can it?

FAN NOISE...OK much quiter than my H56 so we need to get this in perspective, but still too noisey. but give me a pj that isnt. Cant PJ manufactures use papst Fanes or somthing. mind you its located at present at ear height, just behind me, so once i move it proper this groan might change.(hush box)

Also at first it insisted my dvd player was out of range, via component, had to turn on and off repeatedly till the dam pj reconized the signal, but it did and it seems ok now.

HDMI dropout. film ends stick new disc in, wait to load and all i get is static, however dvd player still has its blue light on to say HDMI is locked, so it is a PJ issue. turn dvd player off and on all is fine.
this does not happen all the time.

AND LAST but not LEAST,

and if i could get an answer from RTFM or AD ROSER id most gratefull.

this is the only image issue i have, i gess some call it combing in low lights(ringing in background colours) and solarization in bright light(rings surrounding say a torch light).
They are there not terrible and some may be due to bad disc encoding, but a couple scencs i know my plasma did not display these RINGs are evident on the 300 xtra. could be post-width- modulation, DLPs weakness, but advice would be helpfull
 
Gandley
You are reminding me of my feelings when my S3 arrived!
These latest generation of DLPs(HD2+) are different than DLPs that have come before them.
Sure they are fine out of the box compared to the more budget DLPs, but once "dialled in" they enter a different realm.

I only hope that film after film gives you the same grin i have afterwards.
You really need to start watching your back catalogue of DVDs again.
I guarantee you will swear the films seem different somehow. And the answer will be that they ARE different in colour and detail levels. The Ansi contrast on these new models is very high meaning most scenes will almost seem 3D, all this added to detail that has simply never been noticed before.
No these HD2+ machines are not perfect, but they make a good stab at trying to be. :)

It seems you have found the same thing with HDMI/DVI that i did. Ie no giant leap in picture quality, rather more subtle improvements that seem to polish and finish off a near perfect image.
Due to the lack of picture noise and ringing(no false sharpening etc), i agree that it really does make normal DVDs appear to have more resolution..."almost" HD like.

But of course these PJ's then make true HD look even better!
My S3 did have a fault with DVI saturation levels, meaning my loan unit is even more stunning with HD material than i imagined it could be.

All we now need is for that Kiss WMF 9HD player to hit soon, and Euro1080 HDMI/DVI boxes from Panny/Pioneer to arrive and we have got it cracked!
 
watched matrix revolutions last night, and it was better than the cinema, the whole dock breach scene was amazing, every muzzle flash, every bullet tracer, every sentinel was clearly discernable.

not just a mass black cloud but amazing detail so you could pic out each one.

Stunning.

For once fulabeer i agree with you totaly, this unit delivers a near identical image to an S3.(even more so as its the same dvd player, but dam that layer change)

Dont tempt me with more stuff, got to get a 9m HDMI cable yet
@ £170....extortion

best regards mate:D
 
Try this test:-

Pick a PAL DVD say "Finding Nemo".
Run a scene which has a long "Pan" via component. You may notice very slight micro stutters, but nowhere the same as a NTSC disc would judder etc.

Now try the same scene via HDMI/DVI etc.

If the Sim is the same as the S3, the pan will be the smoothest you will have ever seen.
It must be down to zero DA/AD conversion delays etc.
This added to DLPs trick of matching the colourwheel speed to the source, meaning no tearing or frame rate conversion etc.

I imagined HDMI/DVI would result in a more digital looking picture. The opposite seems to be true!
 
Ok, Been using this a fair bit now, and it just gets better, going through my back catalog of dvd`s (about 340 so it will take time)is amazing, there is just so much detail i havent seen before. superb.

At last i`m watching the film again and not looking for pic probs.

HDMI is all working fine now, with no dropouts. i`ve sused the brightness issues, so thats solved as well but i think the min a PJ should be is 950 ANSI.

Anyone buying this PJ will be amazed, it is stunning, and HDMI is no gimmic, swtching back to component just isnt good enough as it does look slightly fuzzy in comparison.

i`ll try and post some more pics as the images im getting are dazzling. :thumbsup:
 
hi gandley, see your enjoying your sim then. im currently trying to persuade the wife about getting a projector (slowly mind you ), i see from your post the other day that you live in wellington m8. If i ever get a chance do you reckon i could get to have a look at your setup , should give me some idea of what to expect as opposed to my plasma image. anyway ill leave you to your new toy mate

cheers darren
 
Some nice kit you got there m8, between us i reckon we could build our own cinema :laugh:

I`m sure we could sort somthing if you want to check out my humble set-up. Its a work in progress and in noway compares to fulabeers above (checkout his home cinema via his gallery. Awesome stuff)
OR click this www.pauldowning.co.uk

I am in the process of considering a move, so i can better house my gear, but will see,

I had a pio 503 HDE before, and im glad i didnt buy another plasma for my film viewing.

Try and get some demos if you can, sound and vision in exeter, have real good demo facilities for other models other than mine.
 

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