Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Projector

A friend of mine has been playing around with a Z2 and a Colour Analyser. The results are not pleasant.
It seems that you can have colour accuracy or contrast, but not both.

Armin2,
The HT500 Link has been shown among other places at CES 2004. If you want to see a good 3chip DLP, check it out, but do it in person.

DCDI in itself does not make the PJ much more expensive (the chip is included in very cheap gear nowadays). What I emphasize is that new impressive gear as M and others will use HDMI. HDMI has a better precision per color than DVI. And that lets the stream be sent in 12bits instead of 8bit as the DVI limitation. The stream itself may only be 8bit per color, but when the processing is done and the player sends it out, you will get beneficial results with 12bit output instead of truncating to 8bit (again).

If you find the sims are very dim, you might have used a bigger screen than it was meant to drive. It has about 800~ ANSI lumens so size it accordingly.

Let me enlighten you on some of the strengths of the Sim2 PJ:s:
1. 8000hours lamp life (lamp at 50% brightness), no other manufacturer comes even close to this rating and many units have already reached 9k+ hours and still not blown or whatever other lamps usually does).
2. Remote input LINK source station via fibre optics. NO SIGNAL DEGRADATION regardless of room size, a feature of the optical fibre runs. HDMI, upgradeable processing and inputs as they are introduced to market. That means, when some fancy or upgraded HDMI rev 2 appears, you can upgrade. When fancy processing/scaler arrives you can upgrade. No NEED to upgrade optics box just because you need better processing/inputs. This saves $$ for the people that wants the latest and greatest connectivity and processing!
3. Long throw lens as standard, no need to pay big $$ for it.
4. Least amount of visible dithering and other digital artifacts of any single chip DLP.
5. Actually looks decent and comes in several color hoods, everything from Ferrari red to gun metal.

If you know these things, sure pick a Sharp, but I'll see your PJ at eBay next year ;-)

Edit: HDMI on G9x sends out 12bits precision not 10bit.


[This message has been edited by crion (edited 01-20-2004).]

[This message has been edited by crion (edited 01-20-2004).]

Armin,
I cannot think of a good reason why to spend the extra 6K indeed. I was pleasantly suprised when we hooked up the BenQ the first time. It was the first digitalo i saw out of the box with a decent picture.

But since 3 chips DLP were named, i assumed (wrongly) that there was perhaps a 'sky is the limit' budget.
Perhaps someone shopping for the Maranzt price tag will not believe what the Benq can do for 13rd of the money.
With the Service codes you can also tweak an immense number of parameters, so my friend who sells HT solutions is quite happy with the BenQ at the moment.

Jaco


[This message has been edited by jaco (edited 01-18-2004).]

If its for a family/ living room, IMHO sky is the limit budget doesnt really matter because I think its more of a lifestyle product and thats where the plasmas really do very well. They are relatively large and they are bright.

If its a dedicated room, then its a completely different story.

Has anyone any experiance of the InFocus ScreenPlay 4800 or 5700. I have been told by my local dealer that these are very good projectors and I'm waiting to demo them.

The price of these is �1200 / �3000 recpectively Im more intrested in the 5700 as this is comparable in pricew to a Plasma.

I have Lowve Aconda CRT 32" which I think gives an excellent picture, probley the best 32" I've seen used with a 598(non prog) and 568.2. All the plasmas I've seen just dont compare to the quality of this CRT they may 'look good' but dont perform especialy with broadcast stuff (TV / Satalite).

With the projector I would possable keep my CRT and use the projector for DVDs therefore
I would probley have it on a table behined me and remove when not useing it, as there any down side to this, would a cieling mount be bietter?

Any thoughts, Skooby

I have a Screenplay 7200, higher resolution than the 5700 mentioned but otherwise the same.

I used to own a Sim HT300 but it was dim and noisy by comparison - I'm happier with the Infocus unit although it's more plasticky.

I tested DVi on the projector & compared it to analogue component from my 598 - there was little if any difference in quality, although the DVi player (a Momitsu 880) was rubbish. I'd love to try the HDMI output from a G98 though...

I think I paid about UK�3700 for the Infocus 7200. Currently I believe the BenQ 8700 is the cheapest (same spec) HD2 projector in the UK. I am certain however that the new low cost LCDs (Panasonic & Sanyo) are well worth a look too.

Regards

Paul

There are some very good reviews of projectors on this site: www.htprojectors.com

There is speculation on the 'AV Science Forum' that Apple is about to enter the projector market (as part of the Macintosh 20th anniversary celebrations) -
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=354755

I have seen both the Infocus 4800 and 5700 into action. Depending on your visual preferences (4:3 - 16:9 respectively) they are both excellent value for money and performance. I bought the 5700 and am very pleased with the result. I use a standard fixed 16:9 113" screen, and the Denon DVD-A11 most of the time (RGB) or a Pioneer 2900 LD (S-Video) or Sat (Composite). All video interconnects are Supra http://www.jenving.se/. They all produce excellent pictures with the 5700. I have yet to test the DVI connection between the Denon DVD and the 5700.

Costas

Have a look at the Runco range. My dealer is big into both SIM and Runco and rates the latter, higher.

so, summing-up, from a perspective of balancing future proofing with maximising the specs of current models the issues to consider include things like:

1) DVI input (HDMI preferred, especially in a Meridian discussion)

2) native 16:9 ratio

3) QUIET operation !

4) good price / perfomance

Picking-up on #4 for a moment, the models that have been mentioned in the thread so far include (in � order)

Sanyo PLV-Z2 �1439
Benq 8700 �4457
InFocus Screenplay 7200 �4999 (5700 is 2999)
Marantz VP12S3 �6899
Sim2 HT300 �8999
Sharp 12000 � lots ? (price not found on UK website)

Which represents a huge range of abilities and, in some AV circles, its not fair to compare a �1400 model with a �6900 model. However the projector market is changing very rapidly indeed so would those that have seen these beasties consider that the price ranking reflects their relative strengths, in other words is the Marantz �2.4k better than the Benq which is �3k better than the Sanyo ?

Not related to price is NOISE. Are any of these actually quiet enough to prevent distraction during a film ? (I'm not sure what 30dB actually is - are we talking about pc fan noise ? this level of noise is enough for me not to consider a htpc so I'd certainly find that racket above my head problematic...)

ian