Smurfin
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I'm knackered.
Decided at 11pm last night to move my living room around for a slightly different AV/projector set up, finished at 3am Then at 8am it was up and off to the local wood merchants and then Homebase, in the meantime my new 8' wide 16:9 screen arrived!
After much hammering, drilling, swearing, a couple of beers and lot of cigarettes...........it was done
So tonight I've finally settled down on the sofa, leaned back and watched my new toy in action
First of all, the essential viewing kit:
Sanyo PLV-Z1 (graphite grey, bought from www.nexnix.co.uk for £1296, 24 hour delivery and included in the price they did a dead pixel check which came up trumps).
Hoya FL-D filter
Skyworth 1050p PAL progressive DVD player
Van Damme component cables
8' 16:9 screen, 1.1 gain
Viewing was in a light controlled room (the screen pulls down over my living room window, which is exactly 8' wide and 16:9 in ratio, spooky huh?), seated 11' away from the screen.
First things first, I sat down to calibrate the projector using Avia. I've never used the disc before, but it's pretty simple (if tedious) to calibrate your system. My flatmate took one look at me staring through the blue filter, called me a "sad bastard", and went down the pub .
Anyway, down to business....
* Colours:
One word sums this up nicely.....vibrant. Colours are rich, nicely saturated without being overbearing, reds in particular are impressive (remember I'm used to DLP).
There's always one test which my old projector (plus u31080 via component interlaceD) used to fail miserably on - The "Warning" screen on many R1 DVDs. This is invariably in red, and whereas previously the "Warning" letters were plagued by jaggies...on the Z1 it's silky smooth.
Of particular note here is the Hoya FL-D filter, which was talked about alot when the PTAE-100 was all the rage. Strangely I've not seen much on this recently, but all I can say is....BUY ONE! I didn't think I needed it, but putting on part of Episode II (R1), the difference was immediate and compelling. Witness the meeting of the Jedi with Senator Palpatine near the beginning, where they discuss the threat to Amidala. The reds in the background are lush and rich.....and incredibly smooth. The hoya adds a little more warmth, and depth. Cracking!
* Contrast - Good black levels, again enhanced by the hoya, not as good as my old DLP but acceptable. Manages to retain detail even in shadows (witness pretty much the whole of Band of Brothers), could see no evidence of the blacks "breaking down" so to speak.
* Screendoor - hmm, now many may be thinking that this should be where the projector falls down but I am impressed. I was expecting (especially on an 8' wide image) something horrible, but what I saw was pleasantly surprising, even at 1.2 x viewing distance. Sure it's there, but to my eyes it appears only periodically (e.g some scenes of sky in ep6 Band of Brothers, the sky at the beginning of Toy Story 2), and even then it's not distracting.
I don't understand the reasons why, but the hoya definately seems to reduce screendoorconfused, and with a touch of de-focusing it's honestly not apparent to me. (even if this were a DLP projector I would still defocus slightly, as it gives a smoother, "filmic" image).
Bear in mind also that I've moved from DLP, where screendoor is pretty much non-existent, so you'd think I would notice it more. This was the main thing which concerned me about buying an LCD....in reality it's not an issue.
* Artifacts/banding.
No artifacts were visible (and believe me I'm used to seeing them!), there was NO banding on any source material - all I saw was rock solid, sharp as hell pictures [even on some non-anamorphic DVDs).
*Fan noise.
In eco mode it's nice and quiet, which is what everyone should be running this thing in, it's plenty bright enough in this mode.
In 15 hours running so far, the fan hasn't sped up once. In this period the PJ has sometimes been on for 5 hours continuously....and still no speed up.
Tonight though when I switched it off the projector was incredibly hot (Q for all other Z1 owners...is this normal as far as you know?). And of course, this was after the fan had cut out.
*Features
Well the 16:9 panel is a big bonus for this price, current panny owners will already be used to this, but an image with no light overspill is great news for me
The menus are a doddle to use, calibrating the projector is easy as pie, and it is incredibly flexible with the lense shift....VERY useful, particularly for those with awkward living rooms.
One thing I couldn't find however, was how to check the lamp hours, it doesn't seem to be in any of the menus
==========
Regarding specific viewing material, Band of Brothers episode 6 (Bastogne) looked amazing on the big screen. With everything calibrated properly, I was grinning when I sat down to watch this.
The night scenes in the snow-covered forest were stunning to view, and I could sum it up with 2 words: "3-D" and "filmic".
Toy Story 2 was pin-sharp (as one would expect)...and most importantly I saw none of the artifacts which plagued recent DLP viewings (and on my old PJ). Great stuff
I also popped in Die Hard R1 (ultimate edition) and was amazed (yet again) at how good the picture was! Smooth and filmic were the words which sprang to mind. Wonderful.
===============
Overally, I'm chuffed at this purchase (I ordered blind, wasn't prepared to run the risk of importing a PTAE-300, probably doesn't help hearing of recent 100's shutting down after a couple of hundred hours ), as you can all probably tell
An amazing picture, great features, and it's cheap. What more could you ask for?
Well actually I could ask for more. In an ideal world I would want zero screendoor, and "black" blacks. But hey, we don't live in an ideal world, this isn't a 100kg CRT projector, this is a budget £1300 PJ, bang for the bucks gives GOOD blacks (for LCD) and very few issues with screendoor.
I know the big question for alot of people out there is how does this compare to the PTAE-300?
Well I've seen them both in action now, but I couldn't comment with any real conviction on the differences between them, unless they were running side by side.
Disclaimer aside, my wholly unqualified observations (as much drawn from memory than anything else, and you know how deceptive that can be) would be as follows:
* Fan noise on the PTAE-300 is quieter, not much but noticeable, this is both projectors running in eco mode.
* Contrast - impossible without viewing under the same conditions.
* Screendoor - the PTAE-300 has the edge on this one, but again until viewed together its difficult to quantify
* Sharpness/image clarity - I won't comment except to say that I think the Z1 will have the upper hand here Alot depends on the source equipment though.
* Reliability - hmm tough one
One thing I WOULD love to do is sort out a Cambridge projector shootout (be after Xmas now though). Sykes has already mentioned it to me (he has a PTAE-100) but we need someone to bring along a PTAE-300. Anyone out there got one and can travel to Cambridge? LMK pple!
Cheers
Matt
Decided at 11pm last night to move my living room around for a slightly different AV/projector set up, finished at 3am Then at 8am it was up and off to the local wood merchants and then Homebase, in the meantime my new 8' wide 16:9 screen arrived!
After much hammering, drilling, swearing, a couple of beers and lot of cigarettes...........it was done
So tonight I've finally settled down on the sofa, leaned back and watched my new toy in action
First of all, the essential viewing kit:
Sanyo PLV-Z1 (graphite grey, bought from www.nexnix.co.uk for £1296, 24 hour delivery and included in the price they did a dead pixel check which came up trumps).
Hoya FL-D filter
Skyworth 1050p PAL progressive DVD player
Van Damme component cables
8' 16:9 screen, 1.1 gain
Viewing was in a light controlled room (the screen pulls down over my living room window, which is exactly 8' wide and 16:9 in ratio, spooky huh?), seated 11' away from the screen.
First things first, I sat down to calibrate the projector using Avia. I've never used the disc before, but it's pretty simple (if tedious) to calibrate your system. My flatmate took one look at me staring through the blue filter, called me a "sad bastard", and went down the pub .
Anyway, down to business....
* Colours:
One word sums this up nicely.....vibrant. Colours are rich, nicely saturated without being overbearing, reds in particular are impressive (remember I'm used to DLP).
There's always one test which my old projector (plus u31080 via component interlaceD) used to fail miserably on - The "Warning" screen on many R1 DVDs. This is invariably in red, and whereas previously the "Warning" letters were plagued by jaggies...on the Z1 it's silky smooth.
Of particular note here is the Hoya FL-D filter, which was talked about alot when the PTAE-100 was all the rage. Strangely I've not seen much on this recently, but all I can say is....BUY ONE! I didn't think I needed it, but putting on part of Episode II (R1), the difference was immediate and compelling. Witness the meeting of the Jedi with Senator Palpatine near the beginning, where they discuss the threat to Amidala. The reds in the background are lush and rich.....and incredibly smooth. The hoya adds a little more warmth, and depth. Cracking!
* Contrast - Good black levels, again enhanced by the hoya, not as good as my old DLP but acceptable. Manages to retain detail even in shadows (witness pretty much the whole of Band of Brothers), could see no evidence of the blacks "breaking down" so to speak.
* Screendoor - hmm, now many may be thinking that this should be where the projector falls down but I am impressed. I was expecting (especially on an 8' wide image) something horrible, but what I saw was pleasantly surprising, even at 1.2 x viewing distance. Sure it's there, but to my eyes it appears only periodically (e.g some scenes of sky in ep6 Band of Brothers, the sky at the beginning of Toy Story 2), and even then it's not distracting.
I don't understand the reasons why, but the hoya definately seems to reduce screendoorconfused, and with a touch of de-focusing it's honestly not apparent to me. (even if this were a DLP projector I would still defocus slightly, as it gives a smoother, "filmic" image).
Bear in mind also that I've moved from DLP, where screendoor is pretty much non-existent, so you'd think I would notice it more. This was the main thing which concerned me about buying an LCD....in reality it's not an issue.
* Artifacts/banding.
No artifacts were visible (and believe me I'm used to seeing them!), there was NO banding on any source material - all I saw was rock solid, sharp as hell pictures [even on some non-anamorphic DVDs).
*Fan noise.
In eco mode it's nice and quiet, which is what everyone should be running this thing in, it's plenty bright enough in this mode.
In 15 hours running so far, the fan hasn't sped up once. In this period the PJ has sometimes been on for 5 hours continuously....and still no speed up.
Tonight though when I switched it off the projector was incredibly hot (Q for all other Z1 owners...is this normal as far as you know?). And of course, this was after the fan had cut out.
*Features
Well the 16:9 panel is a big bonus for this price, current panny owners will already be used to this, but an image with no light overspill is great news for me
The menus are a doddle to use, calibrating the projector is easy as pie, and it is incredibly flexible with the lense shift....VERY useful, particularly for those with awkward living rooms.
One thing I couldn't find however, was how to check the lamp hours, it doesn't seem to be in any of the menus
==========
Regarding specific viewing material, Band of Brothers episode 6 (Bastogne) looked amazing on the big screen. With everything calibrated properly, I was grinning when I sat down to watch this.
The night scenes in the snow-covered forest were stunning to view, and I could sum it up with 2 words: "3-D" and "filmic".
Toy Story 2 was pin-sharp (as one would expect)...and most importantly I saw none of the artifacts which plagued recent DLP viewings (and on my old PJ). Great stuff
I also popped in Die Hard R1 (ultimate edition) and was amazed (yet again) at how good the picture was! Smooth and filmic were the words which sprang to mind. Wonderful.
===============
Overally, I'm chuffed at this purchase (I ordered blind, wasn't prepared to run the risk of importing a PTAE-300, probably doesn't help hearing of recent 100's shutting down after a couple of hundred hours ), as you can all probably tell
An amazing picture, great features, and it's cheap. What more could you ask for?
Well actually I could ask for more. In an ideal world I would want zero screendoor, and "black" blacks. But hey, we don't live in an ideal world, this isn't a 100kg CRT projector, this is a budget £1300 PJ, bang for the bucks gives GOOD blacks (for LCD) and very few issues with screendoor.
I know the big question for alot of people out there is how does this compare to the PTAE-300?
Well I've seen them both in action now, but I couldn't comment with any real conviction on the differences between them, unless they were running side by side.
Disclaimer aside, my wholly unqualified observations (as much drawn from memory than anything else, and you know how deceptive that can be) would be as follows:
* Fan noise on the PTAE-300 is quieter, not much but noticeable, this is both projectors running in eco mode.
* Contrast - impossible without viewing under the same conditions.
* Screendoor - the PTAE-300 has the edge on this one, but again until viewed together its difficult to quantify
* Sharpness/image clarity - I won't comment except to say that I think the Z1 will have the upper hand here Alot depends on the source equipment though.
* Reliability - hmm tough one
One thing I WOULD love to do is sort out a Cambridge projector shootout (be after Xmas now though). Sykes has already mentioned it to me (he has a PTAE-100) but we need someone to bring along a PTAE-300. Anyone out there got one and can travel to Cambridge? LMK pple!
Cheers
Matt