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Eug · Oct 18, 2007, 01:20 AM

That pic was during the day, with light streaming in. I never watch on that thing during the day, but yeah, I'll be getting curtains hopefully by the spring cuz the sun sets late in the summer.

Here are the black levels at night.

P.S. You can see the screen door, because it was a closeup pic of the screen from a couple feet away.

Montezuma58 · Oct 18, 2007, 09:48 PM

Originally Posted by Eug

I'm getting a Carada Criterion 16:9 fixed screen, somewhere between 86" and 88". (Luckily they do custom sizing for no extra cost. ie. Their sizes are 84 and 88", but they'll do an 86" or 87" for the same price as an 88".)

However, I'm waiting for the fabric swatches to arrive, before I get the screen. They have an option of grey, white, and brilliant white, with gains of 0.8, 1.0, and 1.3 respectively.

One of the best things about Carada is that they have many more standard sizes available than other makers. 96" was just right for me. With most other companies I would have had to choose between a 92" or 100" or pay a big premium for a custom size.

here's a pic of my set up:

BTW, I ran the Transformers HD DVD through this thing yesterday. Nice... even on my bare wall.

I received my copy today but I won't get to watch it until tomorrow night.

Sanus is great. Projector People is great too.

I have no experience with Sanus. But Projector People is a great company.

If I lower it 2 more inches, the projector will be only 6'1 off the ground though, so I'm hesitant to do that.

That is the biggest reason I did not get a Panny(at the time the predecessor to the model you got). The top of my screen is limited due to my wall not being full height. The projector would of been even with the top of my head when standing. In my case the large built in offset of a DLP worked to my advantage.

The Godfather · Oct 18, 2007, 11:38 PM

I hope to have enough disposable income to justify an HD projector. Someday...

Eug · Oct 18, 2007, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by The Godfather

I hope to have enough disposable income to justify an HD projector. Someday...

If you can afford a Mac, you can afford a projector.

Seriously though, you can pick up some half decent projectors these days for around $1000, or even lower if you go used. One famous DLP, the Sharp XV-Z12000 MK II started with an MSRP of $11000. Now you can buy them new for $1500. And my Panasonic 3 LCD model is only $1300.

Eug · Oct 22, 2007, 12:47 AM

I'm seriously considering the DIY-paint idea again. I really would like a screen, but Carada doesn't have a lightly grey screen. I got the swatches, and their Brilliant White looks washed out, and their High Contrast Gray is way too dark. The Classic Cinema White is OK, but I might prefer something a bit greyer. So, I'm considering just getting a paint called, appropriately, Sherwin Williams Gray Screen, which is very close to Munsell N8 grey.

CharlesS · Oct 22, 2007, 01:00 AM

Originally Posted by Eug

If you can afford a Mac, you can afford a projector.

Not really - it's more like this: if you can afford a Mac, you might have been able to afford the projector before, but now you can't because you spent your money on the Mac.

Eug · Oct 23, 2007, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Not really - it's more like this: if you can afford a Mac, you might have been able to afford the projector before, but now you can't because you spent your money on the Mac.

Hey I didn't say you bought the Mac.

Being able to afford one doesn't mean you bought one.

BTW, I've finally painted my wall, with a paint called Sherwin Williams Gray Screen (7071). Considering it's very similar to Munsell N8 neutral gray, I'd say that's a pretty appropriate name.

Despite being a grey screen, with my setup of having the AX200U at less than 9' from the screen and only an 88" image size, the whites are quite bright using this colour, yet darks remain dark. In fact, even in Cinema 1 mode, I found the fabric swatches I got from Carada of more traditional 1.0 gain matte white and 1.4 gain white screens too bright. Whites on these fabrics looked glowed strongly, which I didn't, and black levels just weren't that good. This was using my projector's lower power Cinema 1 mode too so it's not as if I was blasting the AX200U in torch mode or anything. I could adjust things down somewhat, but it wasn't easy to do it without affecting the colour balance and contrast. (I didn't try using an ND filter though.) I also tried Carada's 0.8 gain gray fabric, but it was way too dark. It's too bad they didn't have something like an N8, which is a nice in-between compromise, because I'd still prefer a real screen, especially since my wall surface isn't perfect, and of course, I'd prefer having a black-out border to the screen, and would also prefer being able to paint the rest of the wall whatever colour I want. (I could do that and just leave the centre screen area the grey colour, but IMO that looks kinda strange.)

I think colour balance is pretty good out of the box with this neutral gray as my screen. However, it's not absolutely perfect yet so I have more calibration to do.

P.S. The Panasonic PT-AE2000U is now out. This 3-LCD projector is supposed to be a stellar 1080p projector, with superior blacks and contrast. It's priced at $2699, which is a little over twice the cost of my 720p AX200U.

Eug · Oct 26, 2007, 10:53 AM

Well, I finally hooked up my HD cable box to the thing. OMFG it looks like crap on a 90" screen (from 9' away).

Most of the HD channels are infested with digital artifacts. I could see them on my 42" LCD, but they didn't bother me that much because I often only could barely make them out on some material. Now they're absolutely clear and in your face.

Some of the Discovery Channel HD nature stuff looks OK, and actually there is also an HD demo channel that looks pretty good, but even then it's easy to see the digital artifacts.

With an HD DVD source, the artifacts simply aren't there (or if there on some titles, they're very mild).

A big projector image really, really magnifies any defects in the image.

Uncle Skeleton · Oct 26, 2007, 11:24 AM

Who's your cable provider?

residentEvil · Oct 26, 2007, 11:37 AM

cable artifacts do in deed suck. the compressed images are pretty bad most the time; specially in fast scenes and in fire/black/fog scenes. had them both on Dish and cable...

still awaiting my combo HD player...

Uncle Skeleton · Oct 26, 2007, 12:26 PM

Rain and snow are also hard for video compressors

residentEvil · Oct 26, 2007, 07:53 PM

even if consumers could choose true ala cart cable/sat stations, even for a premium, they would still be so damn compressed that there will always be artifacts. oh well. some day.

i'm giving u-verse a try end of december...i've heard of "fewer" compression problems depending on location. but still, the feed sent out at the head end is the problem. i'm not getting my hopes up, but i have no problem giving it a try as i'm not in any term/contract with cable right now. i won't go back to to Dish (i may try DirectTV though once they offer the HD only package/service...look for that 2nd quarter of 2008).

The Godfather · Oct 26, 2007, 08:17 PM

Would these artifacts still show in Verizon FiOS HD programming?

Eug · Oct 26, 2007, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

Who's your cable provider?

Rogers cable (in Toronto).

Note that actually some SD channels with certain shows actually look better. Much lower rez, but no artifacts.

However, when there's a great HD feed, it's indeed glorious.

Unfortunately, great HD feeds are not the norm.

Originally Posted by residentEvil

cable artifacts do in deed suck. the compressed images are pretty bad most the time; specially in fast scenes and in fire/black/fog scenes. had them both on Dish and cable...

Yeah, I was watching a PBS HD feed from Buffalo. It showed a flowing stream... of rectangular blocks.

Ugh. But then the next show was OK.