Can anyone help me with a Seleco/Barco comparison?

[John Watts]

Hi all.
Some of you may be aware that i am an ex-CRT owner.
I have been toying with geting a new digital PJ but i am still unconvinced. Their pictures can be superb and getting better all the time but i find them hard to watch. My eyes just dont like them and even hurt sometimes after watching for a while.
Anyway i was thinking of Seleco's. I have only owned Barco's before but i wanted something a bit more "friendly" for the missis.
Is there or can anyone roughly compare the 2 brands? ie is a seleco 400 a +/-/= to a Barco 801/808 etc.
Or what is Seleco's version of a Barco 12xx?
I know this is a bit vague but i hope you can help.
Regards,
John.

 

[garyb9900]

Shame you're in Leeds John, i've just put my Seleco back on the for sale forum.

 

[Chris Frost]

Hi John,

The 4XX/500 series Selecos are smaller and a bit more wife friendly than an 800 series. Where they run out of steam compared to an 800/801 is in the scan rate they will accept.

The Barcos will run at a higher rate and are capable of a little extra sharpness if the tubes are good. A 4XX/500 Seleco maxes out at 576p (line doubled PAL). Having said that, they'll produce a lovely image, especially when coupled with an equally wife friendly iScan Pro line doubler

Have a look at MadMrH's excellent Seleco FAQ at the head of this forum. It covers all the variations of the 400 and 500 chassis.

Regards

 

[Mad Mr H]

If you can wait I will try and answer this in a couple of days........

About to watch a film .

 

[Mad Mr H]

Some of you may be aware that i am an ex-CRT owner. I have been toying with geting a new digital PJ but i am still unconvinced.

So am I .

Their pictures can be superb and getting better all the time but i find them hard to watch. My eyes just dont like them and even hurt sometimes after watching for a while.
Anyway I was thinking of Seleco's. I have only owned Barco's before but i wanted something a bit more "friendly" for the missis.

when you say "Friendly" I take it you mean size wise ? User friendly my Barco 1209s I just switch on/off - couldnt ask for more than that .

Is there or can anyone roughly compare the 2 brands? ie is a seleco 400 a +/-/= to a Barco 801/808 etc.
Or what is Seleco's version of a Barco 12xx?
I know this is a bit vague but i hope you can help.
Regards,
John.

Size wise the entire SELECO range are similar to the Barco 701,701s,708 . And maybe the Barco Cine5, although I find the Cine5 a little on the heavy side and a little bigger than the SELECOS.

I think if you needed to go for looks only then the Seleco range suits best, these were designed with home cinema in mind, Barco units were more commercial items.

The Seleco 400 and above will line double, and the option was for an internal line doubler. Out of choice I would only consider a 400 and above. BUT I would not consider the 800 as parts are too rare.

I feel in general you still get a better picture from a CRT than a new digital if you compare NEW Digital to second hand CRT prices.

There is not a seleco that can complete with the 1290s Barco.


Chris Frost is the best guy to compare a Seleco 800 to a Barco.........

IF size/price does not matter and its all about picture quality then the Barco 1209s or Cine9 are top of the table.

Looking for fair size and picture quality then the 808 series Barco seems to fit the bill.

Want to go a little better but cant afford a 1209s / Cine9 the the 1208 series Barcos are better spec than the 808 series BUT, they do come in a fairly large case - The reason for this is they share the SAME CHASSIS as the 1209 series.

That does mean that of you buy a 1208 then when you are ready and go to a 1209 series the PJ IS the same size and you see an improved picture quality.

............There I hope thats of some help to you............Im very tired so any massive errors please ingnore .

 

[Alan Westy]

Question for Chris Frost, I note that you say the 400/500 series can only display 576p. According to the specs they are capable of displaying up to 1000 lines, why does this not mean you could display 720p on them or am I missing something. I am interested in this as I would like to try HD but do not want to change my projector at the moment. Thanks for any reply

 

[Chris Frost]

Hi Alan,
It's good to talk to you again.

There are figures for the resolving power of the lenses, then the theoretical maximum capabilities of the tubes. But what's really important is the bandwidth and the maximum scan rate before the lines overlap.

The tubes are capable of higher resolution than 576p. They're certainly capable of 1000 lines interlaced - this would be TV lines. The bottleneck is the projector's bandwidth. It hasn't got the bandwidth for 720p. I haven't had chance to try 1080i.

Regards

 

[Alan Westy]

Thanks for the quick reply Chris