Just as the HT300 was within grasp.....

[mart.stokes]

I'm fed up. I haven't bought a piece of AV equipment for over two years because I have been paying for double glazing, new bathrooms and a d***ed conservatory!

I've been good, I've been VERY good, I am even taking the wife on two decent holidays this year knowing that next year (2005) would be the year of the HT300!!!!

What has happened? The HT300 was £9k, now there are two models, the HT300 Xtra and the HT300 Link. The HT300 Xtra is £8k (nice!) but the HT300 Link is just SOOOOOOO sexy! The question I have is; why couldn't there be a compromise between the two? Why can't there be a model that contains the newer generation DCDi, a HDMI input, Brightness Burst etc. but DOESN'T have the £4k premium of the Link version? Oooh, I am SOOOOOO frustrated. This stuff isn't cheap to me, I can just afford it, but I struggle to justify it to myself so I want to get the best bang for my bucks. Why, oh, why isn't there a non-Link version of the Link? Am I being too paranoid?

Finally, I would like to know if the 8 degree optical shift is actually enough to enable you to mount the HT300 on a ceiling and still project without having to use digital correction? Looking at the stats in the HT300 manual you can only move the projector about 22 inches vertically from the centre of a (roughly) 7 foot screen (which is about 4 foot high) when projected from minimum distance. It's close but, without building some kind of mounting structure to hold the bracket away from the ceiling, I can't see it being done without digital correction OR HAVE I MISUNDERSTOOD THE MANUAL?

I saw the 3 chipper at the Manchester show, I sat down for about 15 minutes, not realising what it was and (because of its size and I was sitting behind it) I assumed it was a CRT machine because of the picture. Amazing! Shame about the £25k price (but it seemed worth every penny).

 

[RTFM]

Martin,

Quite a lot of questions there.
I'll do my best to answer some of them but not tonight as I'm off to bed.
Big day tomorrow. Going over to Sim2 UK to see the 3 Chipper for the first time. Now, where's that copy of Dark City.

Jeff

 

[ifx]

Martin,

I think that the compromise you are looking for might be the HT300XTRA my2004 recently announced.

I also saw the HT500 recently... I a word WOW!!

 

[mart.stokes]

Jeff, after reading other posts on this site I went straight to your site to have a look around. Once my wife has filled her boots with South Africa and Hong Kong (in other words, next year ) I suspect we need to talk face to face, any advice would be appreciated during the "planning and saving" phase though.

ifx, good call of yours because I SUSPECTED (but I had asked too many questions already) that the HT300XTRA had been fitted with HDMI given what was being said at the Manchester show. It was just that, until your post, I could find no evidence of this in literature.

 

[RTFM]

Martin,

The Sim2 500 Link 3 chipper didn't disappoint.
Myself and a couple of colleagues watched a wide range of material including Dark City, Finding Nemo, Fifth Element and Seabiscuit using HDMI from a Pioneer 868 DVD player.
The depth of colour, 3D dimensionality of the picture, sharpness, shadow detail and black level were exceptional.
My thanks to Alan Roser, MD of Sim2 UK. for taking time to dem the unit for us.

 

[Paul Hayward]

Hi Mart,

The outboard Digi-optic processor has the tremendous advantage of letting you plug in all your video inputs into a jazzy box positioned on your eqiupment rack while running a thin wire from the 'DoiP' to the projector. I have the HT300 in a ceiling lift and I have to run cables right up into the loft and then down through cupboards etc to the pj. Believe me this is a right royal pain!!! In addition to the wealth of inputs on the DoiP (over twelve) you have the security of knowing that you can upgrade processing hardware without needing to send the pj back for expensive re-fit, assuming this is possible. Hence the extra cost. I am very familiar with RTFM's setup which is absolutely first class and when I finally upgrade, it will be a projector with the DoiP because it makes life so much easier from an installation point of view.

With regard to the SIM2 HT300Extra, it will be coming out with HDMI and I would not be surprised if SIM2 offer an HDMI upgrade path to current Extra - DVI only owners. They are a company dedicated to supporting and improving their projectors after the sale in my experience. The Extra uses the same light engine as the iLINK, and so it would still be an excellent choice at around 8K. In a sense, you would probably end up using HDMI exclusively for DVD which bypasses de-interlacing and scaling issues anyway. So hardware upgrades could be a less important than you may think. But it is nice to have the option I must say. Good luck with your purchase. Having the HT300 has revolutionised my whole families view of watching film and TV!!!

Best Wishes,

Paul H

PS With regard to the 'brightness burst' function, the SIM2 boffins acheived a higher light output by implementing a more efficient light recyling system. Initially it was thought that this would provide adequate headroom for two brightness levels. In the end, they opted for a single brightness setting leaving the user to adjust brightness and contrast tailored to their own HT environment , which I do feel is the most straightforward and least gimmicky solution.