AE900 filter question

Edt

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Can anyone recommend the best filter for my AE900? It's as much for dust protection as anything as very happy with the brightness
Ed
 
Get a 77mm 81C filter, it will give you better blacks and a dimmer picture.
 
OK anyone know where to find the best deals going?
Ed
 
IS this the one ?

HOYA 77mm HMC 81C Warming Filter 77 Multi-Coated

Ta all
Ed
 
I`m now using a filter from Hoya, the HMC 77 mm ND2 ( multi-coated ), and i like the result ( slightly better blacks ), but i`ve never tried another type of filter before.

Marccus
 
there appear to be 2.. single coated & multi coated...

Any suggestions appreciated fellows !

ED
 
Multi coated is better. It stops more stray reflections which reduce contrast and cause lens flare.

Gary
 
good man! Just ordered a multi-coated one from the US of A

Ed
 
It's arrived so as soon as the sun sets I can dial in those settings from avsforum.com & I'll be back with a report!
Ed
 
right.. I've watched a few carefully chosen films & played a little Tiger Woods also. Impressions....

Overall brightness takes a little hit. Is OK as plenty there even running on ECON mode, plus I only use in a dark environment.

Black levels down down down. Much more like it. Excellent !

Next I dialed in setting "Eric's Settings for 81C" from US site:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=589234&page=1&pp=30

(though I turned the contrast down to +8 as +20 surely too high.. too high for my preference anyhow)

and the colours are great too. Obv cant compare side by side, but whatever the filter has done in conjunction with these settings, its good!

Overall, am mighty pleased. Wonder why Panasonic dont fit as standard?

Ed
 
Filters can work two fold - one is that they will dim the image down if you are projecting onto a smaller screen so it will be too bright to start with, and the second is that a colour correction filter can correct the lamps own colour imbalance and give a more natural colour.

UHP lamps are red deficient, but Xenon lamps like those used in cinemas and some high end projectors (Sony Ruby) produce a more natural white light but are more expensive. If you have less red and green than blue in a UHP for instance, placing a filter that boosts the red and green to match the higher blue output means a correct colour balance but at the expense of some lumens. If you don't use a filter but want correct colours, you have to reduce the green and blue within the projector using it's own digital adjustments, to match the lamps red output level. This means a dimmer picture too (since you reduce the white level), and a reduction in contrast. The filter allows more contrast and a better black level.

If your screen size is quite large then the filter will dim it too much so it won't work for everyone. An ND2 will work without any colour recalibration, but a colour correcting filter will need different RGB gain/bias settings compared to the pj without it. Cost and the added compliaction iof different settings and maybe the need to have each pj set individually for the filter to visibly work to near it's potential probably make it an unviable option, especialy since the vast majority of owners probably won't tweak and just want a point and shoot solution.

Use a test disk to set the white (contrast) and black (brightness) levels correctly rather than trying to do it by eye. Star Wars A New Hope THX Optimode sill do if you don't have any other test disk.

Gary
 
I've got Monsters Inc which offers a THX setup section.. the audio is beyond what I have at home but the visual section I've found very useful, for grey scales at least.

My screen is pretty big, so I did notice the recudction in brightness. However is still mighty fine to me .
 
Some THX Optmodes were set for the particular DVD thery were on, and weren't all set for the standard 'video levels' which all test disks are desugned to. SW ANH was correctly set at video levels, but I'm not sure if Monters Inc was, but I would think it would get you close to correct at least.

Gary
 

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