Z3 Picture Quality

C

CyberJockey

Guest
Just recieved my Z3 on Friday - firstly thankyou to everyone for their recommendation - it was a great deal and I am really happy with it.

As a Newbie, I have a couple of questions:

I am really happy with the picture quality playing DVDs through my existing Sony player. However, through the threads their is a lot of discussion around enhanced picture quality with progressive scan DVD players and ones with HDMI out put (the Samsung 850 seems a potential good buy). I know it's a tough question, but how much improvement would I see?

PS2 Connection. I have also connected my PS through the standard connectors provided. Again the picture quality is good, but I notice some blurring or colour bleeding, especially around stationary icons e.g. the country flags on Pro Evolution Soccer. I have tweaked some of the settings and have improved this slightly. However, I anyone out there has any tips, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks
 
You would be far better building yourself a home theater pc, the quality you can get from a pc is amazing and can only be rivaled by the most expensive dvd players, you can knock a shuttle system together for about 350 quid and use it to play all your media (windows media center edition is a very good front end). As far as the ps2 is concerned for the best image you need to get a ps2 component lead (about 10 quid from ebay)
 
I use the smasung hd850 with my Z3 and the picture is very good via HDMI and upscaled to 720p.
I also use the ps2 via component leads and again the picture is way better that with standard composite leads.
I also use colour filters on the Z3 to remove the blue from the blacks and this makes a big difference.
 
Thanks Gingerone & Fallwood - I will try the PS2 Component leads. Do you have any tips on the settings, or shall I leave them pretty much as standard?

Fallwood - I already have a Media Centre PC (it's bulit into me flatscreen TV). Trouble is it's in the lounge and the projector is in another room. It will be interesting to see what quality I can get once I get the Xbox 360 when it's released as it has a built in Media Centre Extender connected by wifi. Have you heard anything about picture quality through the extenders?

Gingerone - what coulr filters do you use and where could I get them from?

Sounds like the Samsung is also a good bet.

Thanks
 
CyberJockey said:
Sounds like the Samsung is also a good bet.
I've just got the Samsung 850HD to connect to my sanyo Z3.

I currently have it connected via component but when my 5 metre HDMI - HDMI cable turns up thats probably what I'll be using.

I'll let you know what its like when the HDMI cabel arrives.

Just one point on the Samsung 850HD Player - it can be multi-regioned but the NTSC / Pal switching isn't automatic - this means if you want to watch any Region 1 DVD's you need to manually go into the samsungs menu and set it from Pal to NTSC (and then back again for your next region 2 disc). I've had Pioneer players in the past and this was automatic so this is a bit of a pain if you watch a lot of Region 1 discs.
 
I agree about the PAL/NTSC issue its a real pain.
As for the filters and settings, check RONE's sanyo Z3 Smart thread it's got all the settings and info you could possibly need.
 
Thanks Guys - looks like I will be investing in the Samsung then.

I have also ordered the component leads for my PS (£8.90 delivered - thank god for Ebay) and I have just taken a look at ROne's thread and will be trying his settings also.

Many thanks for your help - it is much appreciated.
 
Go for a pc its better than a £1000 dvd player...
 

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I too would recommend a pc running ffdshow, especially if the Z3s onboard scaler is as poor as the one in the Z2.
 
Yup definitely use a(your) PC instead of a player, and buy those filters too - the result is an absolutely storming image.
 
anyone know how an apple powerbook would do as a source for a z3 - via dvi??

better than a sony dvp-f250 via component?

would a powerbook do a better job than the oppo dvd player that's so well received?

thanks
 
Just recieved my component cables and have connected them to my PS2 and Z3. I cannot get a signal through them. :(

I did get a very jumbled picture for a brief second, but it cut out and now I get nothing.

I have tried both sets of component ports on the Z3, made sure the connectors are attached properly, restarted the PS2 and projector etc.

What am I doing wrong? Any one have any ideas? Could it be the cable? - I would be surprised if these were faulty, but I don't have any other devices with component inputs to test the cables.
 
OK - scratch my last plee for help. I have changed the Component settings on my PS2 and it's nowing working fine - I am such a newb. The picture quality is superb :thumbsup: - thanks for the advice.

Looks like I need to make a decision between a PC and a DVD player now though :rolleyes:
 
I'm stuck between building a PC and getting a Samsung HD850 to go with my new projector (when I order it) too.

I can't see a way of making a PC for less than about £400, though, which is quite a bit more than I budgeted for, which probably means the decision's made for me!
 
benjiP said:
anyone know how an apple powerbook would do as a source for a z3 - via dvi??

better than a sony dvp-f250 via component?

would a powerbook do a better job than the oppo dvd player that's so well received?

thanks
I've got a G4 ibook, that I could use to play DVDs through a projector..

Anybody know if it's much cop?
 
The screenshots are from a infocus 7200 projector running 1080p. I have a friend who got a pioneer dvd player for around £750 but sold it as his pc was better :D . I was going to get a scaler a new dvd player etc but thought getting a pc might work out cheaper in the long run. When blue ray settle's down i might just be able to buy a blue ray drive and slot it in pc i already have a dvd player running excellent with theatretek and that cost £20 :lesson: had fingers burnt with buying expensive dvd players and it isn't going to happen when blue ray is sorted.
I bet if i took my pc into a top home cinema retailer it would blow all the top notch dvd players out of the water with picture quality and sound [got a stonking sound card for £45 reduced from £80]. Believe me if you don't want to get ripped of and suckered in again go for a quality pc.
 
Doesn't the IF 7205 only run 720p? Do you mean its running 1080p and downscalling to 720p?
 
Guys

I'm looking at the DVD/PC option at the moment as well, the one thing that puts me off having a PC in the same room is the extra fan noise. What do you guys do about that?

Many Thanks
 
lateshow, i use an Antec Sonata case and although not entirely quiet it does a very good job, plus mine is quite far from my seating position, i.e i hear the pj and not the pc. You can also get very quiet fans for the pc which is what i have done.
I agree with Martian1 by the way, i used to buy expensive dvd players, but not again and hope that once hd arrives i can just slot a drive into the pc.
 
Well I've just bought a shuttle, and it's very, very quiet indeed - id recommend buying a fanless gfx card to get the most out of it, so I might struggle when HiDef rolls around, but for now it's almost silent, and plays everything thrown it's way, more successfully (in terms of picture quality) than any set-top player I've seen.
 
spikerules said:
Doesn't the IF 7205 only run 720p? Do you mean its running 1080p and downscalling to 720p?
Definitely downscaling the 7205 cant display 1080p.
 
Yep have to downscale but pc does it so sweet.. :smashin:
 
I run an Aopen XC-Cube - spec below, plays everything well up to 720p :)
 

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