Calling all DLP Experts

[jacked]

Hi Folks
I am looking for a 50-60" DLP TV for Sky HD and to link to a HTPC. Due to room design I would need a table top model so the Samsung 50" pedestal is a no-no. I was willing to wait for new models but having read stories of the HD4 chipset being cheaper and not as good as the HD2+ I`m not so sure. I know there is Sagem but frosty screens is a problem. I have not been able to get a proper demo but I really like the design of the Toshiba 52" and you could well get one quite cheaply now. Whatever I go for I will be getting a decent scaler and asking Gordon to do an ISF calibration anyway.
So I`m just looking for some feedback from all you DLP owners especially Mark if your reading this, I know you have the Lumagen but I`m not sure if you had ISF as well. Are there any downsides or has the Lumagen genuinely eradicated all the well documented picture faults with the Toshiba ?
Thanks Guys, Dave.

 

[Mark_a]

Yes, the Lumagen had removed the oil paint effect. It would appear to be a simple matter of the on-board deintelacer/scaler electronics simply not being fast enough. If you give the TV a properly scaled and deinterlaced feed in the first place then it doesn't suffer the same problem. Now the mystery is why doesn't a scaling, HDMI out-putting, DVD player solve it too? Well, from my own tests with a Panasonic S97 it does go a helluva long way to removing the problem, but not 100%, and not at all for your Sky or Freeview box. I don't know why it only makes say about 95% improvement, as by rights it should be presenting the TV with exactly the same 720p feed that the Lumagen is doing. Thus relieving the set of having to do any of the work itself. And yet the Lumagen does work better than a scaling DVD player, and it does it for Sky/Freeview too. I'm at a loss to explain quite why, other than it's a lot more expensive and it should be bloody good.

No, I haven't had any calibration done on it as it worked as is more than well enough for me. Had it cost something like £50 I might have gone for it, but £300 just to get colours closer to the original wasn't something I felt sufficient reason to pay that amount for. It was bought to remove the motion blur/oil paint effect and it did it with flying colours, no pun intended. That's more than good enough for me. And providing a 720p HDMI feed to my Z3 projector is just the icing on the cake.

Having said all of that, I think I'd still buy the Sagem 56", given a choice of the two. Unfortunately for me it came out just a month too late for me. My old set died and I had to buy something at short notice.

The only downside you might consider is that you lose any auto switching of the screen format. If I want to move from anamorphic 16:9 to zoomed or non-linear stretch (or even, god-forbid 4:3) then you have to do it manually via the remote. The Lumagen has no facility for WS switching as it doesn't use scarts at all.

Regards

Mark

 

[jacked]

Thanks for the info Mark.
I don`t remember seeing any but have you ever posted any pics / screenshots of your system ? I must admit the Sagem 56" is tempting but trying to find one to look at is another matter. My mate got the Sagem HD-D45 from John Lewis` and whilst it`s great value the frosty screen with bright sources is ****-poor, very distracting. You might be able to pick up a Tosh 52" and scaler for a similar price to the Sagem 56", Sound and Vision list the Tosh At £1560 !
Do any forum members get together to show off their systems ? Would you be up for demoing yours ?
Cheers Mark, Dave.