Darbee Visual Presense Darblet Owners Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
As do those from Rickyj at Kalibrate.

Good stuff :)

I only mentioned Ideal cos mine arrived from there this morning and I know Kalibrate dont have stock until next week, as they were my first port of call when I decided to buy one ;)
 
Would using a short hdmi cable from the darblet to the projector cause any problems ? That is a 30cm cable ! If I buy one the Darblet would be better close to my projector !
 
Dont see that it would make any difference mate. Just bear in mind the Darbee is IR so you may want to have line of sight.
I'm going to have mine behind my amp as I'm hoping to have it set at around 45% and just leave it.

I got mine this morning but wont be able to play until tomorrow evening by the looks of it :(
 
Would using a short hdmi cable from the darblet to the projector cause any problems ? That is a 30cm cable ! If I buy one the Darblet would be better close to my projector !

There have been some reports lately that suggest that cables less than about 2m long can cause HDMI problems. Personally I have used short cables in the past without any adverse issues arising. Try it and see before you make the installation permanent.
 
There have been some reports lately that suggest that cables less than about 2m long can cause HDMI problems. Personally I have used short cables in the past without any adverse issues arising. Try it and see before you make the installation permanent.

Are you talking about short cables with the Darbee or short HDMI cables in general?
 
Are you talking about short cables with the Darbee or short HDMI cables in general?

Sorry - should have made that clear. In general. It was discussed in the Darbee thread on AVS at some length but they were referring to cables in general. I'd never heard it suggested before but they pulled out some good supporting references to back it up.

EDIT: Here you go - apparently it's something that Lumagen reported on. Here's a couple of quotes from the AVS thread:

"Not a myth relative to HDMI cable length and Lumagen radiance products. Randy and others at Lumagen have stated their processors "need" HDMI cable lengths 6ft or longer. Bugs have been reported using cables less than 6ft with their Radiance products. In fact, I think Randy talked about this in this thread, but most certainly in the Radiance mini threads and other radiance threads."

"I had received this advice about HDMI cables from Jim Peterson of Lumagen a few years back while troubleshooting a video sync problem:

"Make sure the cable is at least 6 feet long. All HDMI chips are EQ'd and they appear to be EQ'd for longer cables. We have seen a number of cases where a longer cable (10 to 15 feet) worked much better than a 3 foot cable. Six feet seems to be fine."

Like I say, I've never had problems with 1m long cables.
 
Last edited:
Sorry - should have made that clear. In general. It was discussed in the Darbee thread on AVS at some length but they were referring to cables in general. I'd never heard it suggested before but they pulled out some good supporting references to back it up.

EDIT: Here you go - apparently it's something that Lumagen reported on. Here's a couple of quotes from the AVS thread:

"Not a myth relative to HDMI cable length and Lumagen radiance products. Randy and others at Lumagen have stated their processors "need" HDMI cable lengths 6ft or longer. Bugs have been reported using cables less than 6ft with their Radiance products. In fact, I think Randy talked about this in this thread, but most certainly in the Radiance mini threads and other radiance threads."

"I had received this advice about HDMI cables from Jim Peterson of Lumagen a few years back while troubleshooting a video sync problem:

Make sure the cable is at least 6 feet long. All HDMI chips are EQ'd and they appear to be EQ'd for longer cables. We have seen a number of cases where a longer cable (10 to 15 feet) worked much better than a 3 foot cable. Six feet seems to be fine."

Like I say, I've never had problems with 1m long cables.

lol..you learn something new every day ;)
 
I had some issues with sound dropouts with the V3 Darblet and was beginning to think it could have been the fact that i was using two chord 1 metre HDMI's after the recent talk about cable lengh.

But have since discovered that it was the bad fitting power supply into the supplied shaver adapter, causing a loose connection. And it was always sitting at an angle and loose while inserted. But i have taped it firmly straight and it's tight fitting now and have had no issues since :thumbsup:
 
Marvell call pixel luminance manipulation natural depth expansion. With HD material this creates an affect similar to DVP at low level setting. This can be observed using an Oppo and setting sharpness to level 1 or 2. Any higher and more aggressive processing occurs as with DVP at higher levels.

I just got round to trying this last night (I had to swap some HDMI cables around as I was using HDMI2 on my Oppo). On a paused scene I could see quite a difference going from 0 to 1 on the Oppo's sharpness and have to say that I liked the effect (sat up close to my TV). It was a scene on the Mission Impossible 4 BluRay, with hair, plus some other detail on a metal watch really went from appearing a little soft to looking crisp. Going up to '2' was overkill for my taste and I also noticed that distance shots (such as an Adele concert) looked odd on the higher setting.

Has anyone with a Darblet compared the two options? Kind of wondering if what the Oppo does is enough for me, given I didn't like the next setting up?

Makes me wonder what this setting would have looked like on my old HD350. I might have to borrow it back before the room gets redecorated to try it out (+1 if I do get the Darblet). :D

Just debating placing an order before the price rise, even though I won't be able to use it much in the next month due to other commitments.
 
I had some issues with sound dropouts with the V3 Darblet and was beginning to think it could have been the fact that i was using two chord 1 metre HDMI's after the recent talk about cable lengh.

But have since discovered that it was the bad fitting power supply into the supplied shaver adapter, causing a loose connection. And it was always sitting at an angle and loose while inserted. But i have taped it firmly straight and it's tight fitting now and have had no issues since :thumbsup:

I'm thinking of picking up one of these:-
T4108ST - STONTRONICS - AC-DC POWER SUPPLY, 5V 1A, 2.1MM | CPC
 
So these units now come with a uk 3 pin power supply cable ? I have read it somewhere but cant remember where !

Actually a UK reseller MUST provide some sort of 3-pin UK adapter. It is actually a breach of UK regulations if they don't. However, there are 2 ways they could have gone, a simple UK to US pin converter, or provide a UK 5V power supply meaning you can throw the US one in the bin if you want. The US PSU is 100-240V so works fine in the UK with an adapter. I believe the UK resellers are all providing complete 5V UK power supplies making the US one redundant. I understood that Darbee were considering providing a more universal power supply with changeable power plugs for future distribution though.
 
Has anyone with a Darblet compared the two options? Kind of wondering if what the Oppo does is enough for me, given I didn't like the next setting up?

Makes me wonder what this setting would have looked like on my old HD350. I might have to borrow it back before the room gets redecorated to try it out (+1 if I do get the Darblet). :D

I have. I don't think the two are quite comparable. The Darblet "appears" more selective in where it applies its changes on a particular scene. And of course between the 0 and 1 of the Oppo is about 40% adjustment on the Darblet! Nevertheless, if you like the effect of +1 on the Oppo, you are probably the right kind of person to enjoy the Darbee......no guarantees though! I don't like +2 on the Oppo either, but its not a selective algorithm.
 
As you say Jon if the Oppo 1 setting= 40% 2 may be 80% at least with the darblet you have 1% increments so you can have far more control so you don't overcook the setting.

Most folks seem to settle somewhere between 45-65% with a few going lower and a few higher.
 
I spent a good few hours with my Darbee tonight and tbh I don't feel it's something I need in my setup.
I sat and played with different movies, including some 2D stunners like Avatar and Battleship. The difference is noticeable, but I guess it's really down to whether you like the difference or not. Personally I'm so happy with my picture (ISF'd HD350) I don't think I can justify a Darbee in my chain. I'd be more happy if I put something in that wouldn't need tweaking but I'm sure I'd spend my movie time turning it on or off, or up and down..and I enjoy my movies too much for that.
It was worth a try and if I hadn't given it a go I'd be constantly pondering. So I'm putting mine up for sale in the classifieds anyway :)
 
Last edited:
Looks like I might be an owner soon enough, thanks for the comments on the previous page. I guessed the Oppo's 'steps' might be a bit coarser than the Darblet's, though we watched the rest of MI 4 tonight and Beautiful Lies with the Oppo on +1, willing to give the DD a try and I might do some measurements with very small windows too, just out of technical interest. ;)
 
Kelvin

Just to say that whilst the darblet is also fine with smaller displays it really comes into it's own with projection equipment.I am not sure what size screen your tv is or from what distance you watch it but be sure to "borrow":D your hd350 for a few days to check out what it does on a larger screen.

Cheers

Keith
 
Thanks for the link, these seem reasonable. Tbh it not ideal having to doctor the adapter but not exactly a deal breaker. You having issues with yours too ?.

No I'm not. I just fancied having more of a flush fit.
 
kbfern said:
Kelvin

Just to say that whilst the darblet is also fine with smaller displays it really comes into it's own with projection equipment.I am not sure what size screen your tv is or from what distance you watch it but be sure to "borrow":D your hd350 for a few days to check out what it does on a larger screen.

Cheers

Keith

I'm sure it does suit bigger screens.

However.

The results as low as 36% HI DEF are blatantly obvious on a 50" krp plasma from as far as 12 ft.

Impressive indeed.
 
How do the darbee darblet work with the lumagen radiance is there inprovmens i see lumagen have updated the firmware for the darbee along with the new 125 p color cube.
 
How do the darbee darblet work with the lumagen radiance is there inprovmens i see lumagen have updated the firmware for the darbee along with the new 125 p color cube.

I'm not sure how you define improvement beyond subjective preference.

DVP will apply its processing to the pre-shaped data from the Lumagen. The Darblet has no idea how your display is calibrated of if there's another device in front of it pre-shaping data to address any measurable display chain uniformity issues. It just applies its saliance map and changes the data based on the values presented.

Avi
 
Interesting news on AVS wrt to the price increase tomorrow (to $349). Apparently Darbee is forbidding any dealer to sell the units at less than $349 (the MSRP). Seems that this isn't applying in the UK where they are being sold for less than the (American) MSRP, allowing for taxes, VAT, carriage etc. Here's the link:

Darbee vision darblet news of price hike

Moral is: buy TODAY and beat the price increase.
 
I just got round to trying this last night (I had to swap some HDMI cables around as I was using HDMI2 on my Oppo). On a paused scene I could see quite a difference going from 0 to 1 on the Oppo's sharpness and have to say that I liked the effect (sat up close to my TV). It was a scene on the Mission Impossible 4 BluRay, with hair, plus some other detail on a metal watch really went from appearing a little soft to looking crisp. Going up to '2' was overkill for my taste and I also noticed that distance shots (such as an Adele concert) looked odd on the higher setting.

Has anyone with a Darblet compared the two options? Kind of wondering if what the Oppo does is enough for me, given I didn't like the next setting up?

Yes, I did this comparison when I still had the Darblet. Setting the Oppo 93's sharpness to +1 gives a natural looking enhancement that makes the image appear to be sharper and more detailed, without adding undue artefacts. As you also observer, setting +2 is too much.

Switching the Oppo to sharpness 0 and using the Darblet instead gave, to my eyes, a less pleasing result, no matter how the Darblet was set.

My conclusion was that anyone using an Oppo 93/95 player does not need the Darblet if they desire this enhanced effect - all they need to do is set the Oppo sharpness to +1 and they will have created a similar, but arguably more pleasing, effect.

The Oppo also has some form of Contrast enhancement control in that same menu and it is instructive to set that up one notch too and observe and compare the result with the Darblet.
 
Interesting news on AVS wrt to the price increase tomorrow (to $349). Apparently Darbee is forbidding any dealer to sell the units at less than $349 (the MSRP). Seems that this isn't applying in the UK where they are being sold for less than the (American) MSRP, allowing for taxes, VAT, carriage etc. Here's the link:

Darbee vision darblet news of price hike

Moral is: buy TODAY and beat the price increase.

Its illegal to have price maintenance in the UK. dealers can sell for whatever they want.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom