jadasion

So my bro-in-law has a ScreenPlay 4805. I was watching LOTR: Return of the King the other day and noticed when scenes of distance, like when they are showing a scene in which they are horseback riding toward the mountains, the figures of them are not sharp at all. They are distinct but not crisp in clarity. I can not see there faces. Now the projector is setup about 15' back from the screen. No matter what I do with the focus nothing helps. There is a 50' component cable from the dvd player to the projector. I know that is longer than recommended so could it be causing that problem? If so, are there any such things as componenet cable boosters so I can boost the signal? I can't shorten the cable because of all the fishing that was required to hide the cable so any suggestions would be great!

Thanks!

X

I think a 50' component cable is really pushing it.

I would expect more than just distant pictures are fuzzy. You should do some resolution tests with a calibration disc such as Avia and see what's going on.

I haven't run into any component video extenders. They may exist but I'm not sure that would be the best solution. Probably going digital (DVI) would be the best solution.

Spiky

There are distribution amps for component cable. 50' ought to be fine un-amplified if it is good cable, though. For good coax that isn't too far. For DVI, it is probably too far without an amp.

Are you sure the fuzzy isn't just on the disc and you aren't used to it with such a big screen? The big screen really opens your eyes to mistakes or issues with DVD mastering. Even LOTR isn't going to be absolutely perfect in every pixel every frame.

Definitely try a test disc for focusing the PJ and testing whether you have a problem. Grab a THX movie (Pixar, Star Wars, etc) and use it's setup screen if you don't have Avia or Video Essentials, I think THX includes a resolution/focus screen. Once it is set properly, don't change it again.

jadasion

Thanks guys! I'll try it out when I get back to their place and let you know what the outcome is.

Brian Shannon

I would check the projector calibration or settings before condemning the cable. I know that my Sharp 10K has several menus for tweaking and that does not include the service mode or even the advanced mode with software.

Sdallnct

Could it be the quality of the DVD player?

On my X1 I notice the same thing when whatching DishNetwork SD TV. The barley ok pic, goes just plain bad on far away or wide shots. Yet when I switch to DVD (not that great of a player really) or OTA HD, problem is solved.

I actually also think part of my problem is I'm running my Dishnetwork receiver thru a Tivo. Going to do some experimenting and pull the tivo out of the loop and see if that helps.

GreenMonkey

You may be seeing:

1) Screen door effect, which is more apparent on these types of scenes
2) The limits of DVD compression - these things become visible when blown up so large.

Lethal Nemesis

How big of a picture are you projecting and what is the viewing distance from the screen? The lack of detail could just be the limitations of the pj itself. I have the 4805 and I'm projecting a 106" and sitting only about 10-11 ft away, which does not follow the recommended 2x seating distance guideline for this projector (I can't sit any farther back due to room restraints). The 4805 only has a native resolution of 480 lines, so your "problem" could be due to just sitting too close to too big of a picture.

heavywear

Never noticed this on my 4805, I was using a 25' rgb but now use a DVI. I'm projecting onto a 92" screen

Spiky

Well, for god's sake don't look for artifacts or other issues. You'll ruin your enjoyment. Seriously.

Sdallnct

Well I had some time today and fired my dishnetwork SD receiver directly into my PJ. It was no better then when going thru my Tivo. I thought the tivo was messing with the image, but it is just the SD dish receiver. Like the OP on distant or wide scenes it is especially bad. Switchin over to my DVD player or OTA HD, solves the problem.

Now, I had to hook the dishnetwork receiver thru composit video. I have ordered a long S video to try that as well, but would be surprised if it made a huge difference.

Spiky

It ought to make a noticeable difference going to Svideo, if DirecTV is any indication. Not as much as going to DVD or HD, but certainly worthwhile.

Sdallnct

Well currently my set up is:

Dishnetwork SD receiver S video out to s video in on Toshiba tivo/dvd player (there is no component out on the dish receiver).

Toshiba SD-H400 Tivo/progressive scan DVD player component outs to components in on by H/K HT receiver.

Voom OTA HD receiver component outs to components in on H/K HT receiver

H/K receiver component out to component in on X1 via break out cable.

I kind of hope it doesn't make a differenct going to s-video on the dish receiver directly to the PJ. I really want to keep a DVR (tivo) in play, but if the Toshiba does in fact hurt the quality, I got to find another higher quality DVR.

Dish just switched over to MPEG4, but not sure I want/need that unless the SD is higher quality. Basically my issue is the SD of dishnetwork. I love the image I got on,

OTA SD
OTA HD
DVD