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

That is a very good question.

Well that you off the Xmas card list!

Originally, M was to use an ISCO lens. They now have moved on to Schnider and it's due out during the 4th quarter here in the US. Retail is $12,000.

Let me be clear - the projector is pretty damn hot (though I have big reservations about its source input capabilities based on the published spec sheets). On the other hand, the processor is not state of the art. I hope that changes.

Are you saying that every unit is hand optimized by Mr Phelps, wow that be nice. Lets hope this unit does 1080/24p.
Second how could you compare Ruby and Pearl to this PJ . Only if Mr Phelps could hear this.

Every unit is optimized using Phelps' process at the Huntingdon factory in a process that M and William built. This process takes about 8 hours. Every so often (I think it's quarterly) a line unit must be sent out to William to insure they are still meeting their requirements for calibration. If not, then they have to correct their errors.

Cheers,

Jay and all thanks for the info. While there are better processors out there, I don't think you are getting a bad processor in Faroudja, so this is still a very nice package. I bet as time goes on they will make improvements here as well. Id like to be able to get 24P too.

In several years when I replace my PJ the key thing for me will be 2.35:1 native.

best regards,
Jerry

The unit can't do 1080p24, but it works with 1080p48, so there's nothing to worry about.

As John pointed out already, each unit is optimized the same way that William would do it. The optimization is also availble for JVC projectors, but you have to send the unit to William.

As far as the comparison between the Meridian and a Ruby goes, the Meridian wins out of the box (since it's already optimized). Of course the Ruby can be optimized as well and in my opinion, it's the better performer in the end. I'm not sure if Williams Ruby mod is available yet, he keeps reporting strange things such as red sparkling on the DVI input which I have yet to see (over 30 Rubies so far). But he might be biased since he has always favored JVC and probably makes more money with it. Can't blame him for that. Personally I'd put my money into a Ruby + Lumagen combination and have that optimized (which will probably take much longer than 8 hours though).

If you sit here and tell me the Ruby is better then what Meridian/Faroudja offers , you must smoking some highend dope. I guess you're selling Rubys for a living.

I'm not selling Rubies for a living, I'm just interested in the best possible quality at whatever price. I've put alot of work into the Ruby to make it look as good as possible. Shading withing 1%, custom gamma curves, changed the way the iris works, corrected primaries and so on and so on.

Performance wise, it's the best up to a certain screensize. I'd say 10' wide scope with an ISCO III lens works perfectly. I've also had several demos of the HD10k and the Meridian and they're just not as good as an optimized Ruby. Out of the box without touching it is another story. You should really put these projectors side by side and compare with the right material. I'm usually using my broadcast HD master of 5th Element since the colors are so nice.

The Meridian package alone is useless to me, I'm a videophile just as much as I'm an audiophile and anything that will not do 48Hz is absolutely useless for me. So you at least have to match the headpiece with some processor that provides 1080p48. Meridian is well aware of this issue, as I've talked to them before and they even see my point but they just can't offer it at this time.

I've used 1080p for many years now, with 9" CRT. The Qualia was the first digital projector that really impressed me and I could live with. After that came the Ruby that even improved the Qualia (closer to CRT on/off CR again).
Of course I'm far away from what I really want, ideally I'd like to have a 3-chip (can't stand 1-chip artifacts) projector that gives me 10000:1 native and is bright enough for a 25' wide scope screen. Guess I'll never get that...

Perfection is not availble, so I have to take the best I can get. Of course once something better is availble, I'll replace whatever I have now. The new DPI 3-chip 1080p DLPs look very nice and I'd like a closer look. At 5000:1 and 2500 ansi lumens, they're not bad and the price of $42k is fair (street will probably be around $35k). It's definitely something I'll check out soon.

Oh and btw... Mark, if you're reading this. This might be the projector for you. Wouldn't put much money into a 1-chip anymore.

Stephan - are you implying that the projector (not the processor) will accept 1080p48 but will display it internally at 60Hz?

Sort of puts in perspective how good value a second user CRT really is.