Optoma HD70 picture quality when playing standerd dvd

shamsul72

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I've had a HD70 for a month the picture quality when playing HD material is stunning:thumbsup: but to be honest i'm not totally happy when playing sd dvd:thumbsdow , picture quality seems to be more on the poor side than good with most dvd's . I went to the stuff show in hammersmith where i saw a demo of the infocus IN76 , they showed both sd & hd material which was mind blowing:clap: . They played king kong sd dvd which looked jaw droppingly good i couldn't belive that it was sd dvd :eek: , it looked like HD to me.They were running the clips from a media box (pixal magic-mb100). I asked the rep that was doing the demo what size screen it was he said "It's a 2.5 metre".I also asked if the media box was doing the scaling or the projector, he said "the media box as it has a better scaler than the pj" . At that moment i was very interested in buying the infocus:smashin: , but after a couple of days i decided not to because i wanted to get a 1080p pj sometime next year .So i then decided to buy a cheaper pj as a stop gap which i short listed it to the HD70 , it has exellent vibe on the forum and also reviews were very good, so that was my mind made up:smashin: . Now that i have the HD70 + 90" screen i can't get the picture anywhere as close to the IN76 :mad: , i'm thinking if it's to do with the quality of the scaler on the pj as i've already mentioned about the demo using pixal magic, the guy said "it's a better scaler than the IN76" so in that sense the scaler on the HD70 isn't going to be as good as the scaler on the IN76 because it's a lot cheaper and they were using one that was better than the IN76 according to the rep . I asumed the scaler wouldn't be as good but i thought the picture can't be that far off from the IN76 , it's ok but nowhere near as goog as the IN76 . Dont get me wrong the HD70 is fantastic for the money :) it will keep me entertained until i upgrade to 1080p somtime next year . I'd be a lot happier if the pq on sd dvd was a bit better , most of the time it's soft and there's not much detail , but 1 paticular disc is stunning razor sharp and has exellent detail is STEALTH is there somthing special about that disc ?:rolleyes: . If anybody has any idea's about improving the pq for sd dvd it would be much appreciated :lease: and also if anybody knows if it is the pixal magic-mb100 that may be doing the magic then i may be tempted to get one .:smashin: Would a upscaling dvd player make any improvements ,any paticular players ? .
 
how good is your pc? try using the dvi out into the hdmi and use the pc to ouput the native res. A well setup pc can outperform any dvd player upto silly money. try that first to see what kind of pic u can get.
 
Projector central have stated that the new 1080p panny wins on SD quality against other 1080p models. You might want to check out the review on the front page.

Anim
 
What are you using to play your SD-DVD and what is your connection from that device to the HD70?
 
:hiya: I'm using a DAV-S550 av system with component output , I'm buying another dvd player with HDMI in a few weeks time :D . Any suggestions on which player ? . Will also connect laptop to pj and see if there is any improvement on sd dvd .
 
Hi Wasi,

What exactly is wrong with the image?Are the colours week and washed out with a poor black level or are you getting jaggies and other artefacts at the edges of objects?

Sometimes simply setting the contrast and brightness with a test disk can make a lot of difference.

Gary
 
Hi Everyone,:hiya: There's no problem useing HD material:thumbsup: ,it's sd material that's not that great it's exactly what you just said colours are weak and washed out:thumbsdow.I want to buy a new dvd player because the DAV is giving problems,i was thinking of the pioneer 696 would it go well with the HD70 ?. Sam
 
Colours being week and washed out could simply be the brightness and contrast set wrong, or the wrong gamma selection. They will probably be different to your HD settings so you will have to set them seperately. SD should still look pretty good on the pj though.

Gary
 
I know exactly what you mean, I went from a H27 to a HC1100 and the picture got....worse! well not all of it, for the most parts its better but it got a lot less sharp in playing 576p material.
strangely when outputting 576i it is sharper and better, and the 10 bit processing of the HC1100 makes this the best way for me to watch SD-DVD right now. so try interlaced.
BUT since I felt just like you, I borrowed a Denon 1930 that I connected through HDMI and let it upscale to the native 720p resolution that the projector has and WOW, there we had it! now it was fantastic! the denon gives the picture even more depth too, and the sharpness was great!

so the problem IS that these projectors really need to be feed there native resolution, and make sure there is no overscan or anything since everything but perfect pixelmapping gives you a blur to the picture.
 
I use a Samsung HD850 via hdmi and the image on my HD70 is fantastic with beautiful rich colours and great contrast.

Weak colours is not a issue that this projector has.

As Gary said. Are you sure that:-

1/ You've correctly set the brightness/contrast level of the PJ. Try using the THX optimizer on a Starwars DVD
2/ Have the DVD set to progressive scan.
 
Will be borrowing a samsung HD850 from a friend tomorrow and will use the THX optimizer and hopefully see an improvement . Will let you know of the result.
 
The outputs from each player can vary a little, so that's why it's important to set the levels correctly. If you swap players over and see an improvement, it may simply be that the 'better' players outputs match the projectors current settings. If you'd calibrated those settings to the 'old' player you may have actually seen very similar results. Brightness adjusts the black level, and contrast adjust the white level. They're there for that reason and a test disk is the only way to set them correctly to your DVD player. It's the case for both analogue and digital connections, even though in theory a digital connection shouldn't need it.

Gary
 
Try these picture settings when you get your Samsung HD850. This is what I have mine set to.

These are for HDMI.

Select cinema mode.

Contrast = 16
Brightness = -1
Colour = 0

Degammer = Film
Brilliant Colour = 4
TrueVivid = 0
Colour Temp = 2

Now in the RGB gains section

Red Gain = 6
Green Gain = 5
Blue Gain = 6
Red Bias = -14
Green Bias = -12
Blue Bias -13
 
Any update. Did you manage to hold of the Samsung HD850 + hdmi cable and try my settings?
 
Sorry guy's got called away on an emergency:oops: ,anyway I got hold of the samsung HD850 + HDMI cable connected it to the PJ and used the THX optimizer and what can i say NOTHING my jaw just hit the floor. The image was fantastic there was nothing i could complain about.My friend who's HD850 i borrowed was just SHOCKED by the size and PQ . It came down to the dvd player at the end i was using my old DAV-S550 , which i assumed was fine for the job, but as the saying goes "ASSUMPTION IS THE MOTHER OF ALL **** UP'S". My friend was so impressed he placed an order for a HD70 while we were still watching clips of films. I would like to thank everyone for there input in helping me enjoy my HD70 especially to CYBERHEATER and GARY ............. Thanks................SAM.............p.s Can't wait to get a 1080p projector.
 
Fantastic. Did you have a chance to try out my settings yet. These are the settings published by 'Art' after he calibrated his HD70 to d65k. They do look really awesome.

And in terms of the DVD player. I'm super picky when it comes to image quality and have gone down the HTPC / Nividia pure drivers route but nothing i've tried beats the Samsung HD850 + Optoma HD70 combination. A match made in heaven :)
 
Do you use the samsung to upscale or the PJ ? . I will try those settings tonight.
 
So the HD70 and SD material is mostly down to a good matching player rather than a poor pj scaler. Thats good to know. HD70 just made it back onto my xmas list :D

The AE100 is still going strong tho :eek: (insert jinx here)

Anim
 
So the HD70 and SD material is mostly down to a good matching player rather than a poor pj scaler. Thats good to know. HD70 just made it back onto my xmas list :D

The AE100 is still going strong tho :eek: (insert jinx here)

Anim

Anim, The HD70 + Samsung HD850 is an awesome combination. The very best image i've ever had in my home. :D
 
Tried the new settings from CYBERHEATER the image is super . I really didn't think it could get any better but it did , alot better in fact unbeliveable .I'm going to order the SAMSUNG HD860 but before i do, i just wanted to ask is that any different from the HD850 and do they play DVD-DL ? , as it doesn't mention on spec sheet .
 
Dont know whether i'm asking in the right thread forum but i've got the new Panny Ax100. I've used the Pioneer Dv370 and have been unbelievably dissapointed with the image. Funnily enough my XBOX 1 produced a better quality image!? I'm now considering whether to go for the Samsung which upscales to 720 or 1080 via HDMI. Well its between this and the Sony 76h which everyone is raving about. HAving read this thread i'm slightly biased in favour of the Samsung. Any views?
 
Dont know whether i'm asking in the right thread forum but i've got the new Panny Ax100. I've used the Pioneer Dv370 and have been unbelievably dissapointed with the image. Funnily enough my XBOX 1 produced a better quality image!? I'm now considering whether to go for the Samsung which upscales to 720 or 1080 via HDMI. Well its between this and the Sony 76h which everyone is raving about. HAving read this thread i'm slightly biased in favour of the Samsung. Any views?

I've never used a Sony 76h but I have used a shed load of DVD players and I built a purpose built Home Theater PC with Theatertek software dvd player/ nvidia purevideo drivers etc... and the Samsung looks better.
I'm super critical of my video and I no longer worry about the DVD side. The samsung takes care of it.
 
Funnily enough i've been advised to consider going down the HTPC route for premium quality. I dont see the point since i'll end up spending hundreds going down that route in circumstances where an 80 quid dvd player may more than do the job equally as well if not better. I'm biased in favour of this player... mind you i spend 2 hours reading the sony players thread, needed a pint straight after!
 

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