Ravenous

This may sound a bit odd but I was recently at my uncles watching his semi new projector and things look pretty awesome on there. Day After Tomorrow and Star Wars Ep III looked pretty cool. But when we were watching Cursed (that awful Ricci movie about werewolves) I saw a really ugly picture. The blacks were off and pixilated and alot of stuff was grainy. I thought this was odd since it was a new movie. Its made me rethink getting a projector becuase Id hate to pop on one of my favorite movies like 13th Warrior, or Ravenous and see that it look like absolute shit. I would regret getting a projector because it would make some of my favs unwatchable.

jfoobar

Actually, no. Get a decent upconverting DVD player and even bad transfers look watchable.

Sdallnct

No and in fact having a PJ has me watching more movies and more tv (I know not necessarily a good thing).

Yes, something look better on a PJ then others. And it even gets more specific with which PJ you get (some do a better job with blacks then others, some are more bright and can handle ambient light better, etc). However, this is true about any display devise, not just PJ's.

Yes, I wish my X1 PJ did a little better with the really dark movies like LOR's. But it does not make it unwatchable by any means. It is still MUCH more enjoyable then watching on my 35" tubed tv.

The only thing I don't watch a lot of on my PJ is SD TV thru Dishnetwork. I watch a lot of DVDp movies and a lot of HD. Love it.

cajun_junky

Is is possible that he did not have the projector properly setup/calibrated? I am also thinking about a pj down the road and was just curious.

Josh Z

Since getting a projector, I definitely have had to re-evaluate some discs that I previously rated highly. However, the trade-off is more than worth it.

Slayer2005

That's why I have a CRT projector. Cursed looked pretty great on my CRT projector. Not sure how it would've looked on my digital projector. Not nearly as good as my CRT, I know that much.

I haven't regretted ever watching a show on my CRT projector. Infact, for awhile I almost had to pinch myself, because I could barely believe the quality and immersiveness I was getting with a 9ft screen.

BTW, which projector does he have? That could explain everything. All projectors are not created equal. Give us the model. For all we know he has an crappy old LCD business projector.

awmurray

This is quite possible. In the past, when I've bought TVs, the factory setup has been at least somewhat passable. But, on my projector, it was way off. Every setting was way off: sharpness, color, brightness, etc.. In particular, the bright level was so high it was unbelievable. Even simple calibration using the a THX optimizer from a disc that has it works wonders.

Slayer2005 is right, too. The model would help determine what the probable cause is... Like what is the native resolution and the contrast ratio. I've got an LCD projector with 700:1 contrast ratio (that was good when I bought it-- now they get much higher) and I'm satisfied with the black levels.

Two other big things are anamorphic video and progressive scan. You should be feeding the projector at least a 480p signal from an anamorphic DVD to get the best results. I assume he was watching Cursed in anamorhpic widescreen (not the fullscreen version).

The bigger the image, the less forgiving the PJ will be to a poor DVD transfer.

And don't even try to watch cable on one (in my experience). DirecTV or Dish is watchable-- but noticeably lesser quality than DVD.

EDIT: To answer the question: I've never regretted watching a show on the PJ, but I have regretted that the studio didn't put out a proper DVD release.

Spiky

This is pretty much it. Assuming the PJ itself is not causing artifacts, and it's set up properly, bad discs are still bad discs.

But now anything nasty is bigger. For example, say the original Highlander or most of the James Bond discs, the first couple minutes make you want to shut it off, with 3" blobs of horrible grain jumping out at you.

But if you get into the movie, you'll get over it and it will still be better than a smaller TV.

Sdallnct

Excellent examples Spiky! I love Highlander, especially the first movie, and boy is really is a terrible transfer which I didn't realize till I threw it on my PJ. But I still feel more of the "movie experience" with it then the "better" picture on a smaller tv.

Ravenous

Is this the new Anchor Bay HIghlander?

Thats what Im afraid of, seeing a movie I love on the big screen and just being turned off at how ugly it looks. I gotta admit though, when at the movies alot of stuff seems bad too. COlors washed out, blury at times, shaking, etc. THe movies are pretty bad over here..

Slayer2005

That's usually because of a poor projection setup and/or a bad print. Not to mention that film projection has a lower contrast ratio than many of the newer home theater projectors.

BTW, you never mentioned which projector you were referring to in your original post. It might help, because you may have been viewing a poor projector (in comparison to the better ones).

Spiky

I meant the original DVD of the original Highlander. I believe it claims THX on it, the biggest joke in the history of THX. The Immortal Collection, or something like that, is a newer disc that is better, and possibly the only one available right now. This movie isn't in great shape, you can't expect it to look like LOTR, and shouldn't even be in the same sentence as a Pixar DVD. But the original disc is always in the top ten of worst discs ever.

DthRdrX

I'll throw my vote in for "The Hitcher" as it was the last dvd I couldn't watch on my big screen.

The first Highlander was probably my first bargain bin dvd ever, at 6 dollars. It looked so bad on my smaller sets that I never even tried it on a larger one.

Ravenous

My uncles projector is a brand I cant recall. Hes told me but damn if it doesnt stick. I keep thinking I heard Kenwood but I dont think they make projectors do they? To describe it, its a projector with the DVD player built in to it. It also has speakers that you have to hear the movie with. Totally blows if your use to 5.1 like me. Its basically like a boombox with a PJ in it.

It looks like my PJ is on hold for a bit but let me ask specifically how these movies look.

Ravenous
The Edge
13th Warrior
Braveheart
Armageddon

Does anyone here own these movies to view on their PJ? Any complaints or is it all good? The non anamorphic movies are my main concern as Ravenous is like this and its one of my top 5 movies

Sdallnct

I have watched Braveheart and Armageddon on my PJ and they look fine.

Bit I think you are only looking at half the issue; there may be some DVD's that don't look as well on a 100" screen or on a given PJ. However, there are likely just as many movies that look better on a 100" screen or on a given PJ. In fact, you may find that you enjoy many movies that you have written off in the past on a PJ.

But even with "bad" dvd's that look terrible on a PJ, like the original Highlander Movie, there are scenes that really stand out because it is on a PJ. When they have the wide angle shots of the "Scotish Highlands" when he runs with that bull, and even the finale fight scene all really draw me into more on the PJ then a smaller TV.

GreenMonkey

Nothing looks awful on my X1. Sometimes it strains with black scenes, dithering is annoying...but it's still way better than a puny little TV.

Faroudja-driven Zenith DVB-318 DVD player + Infocus X1

In fact, some folks at my work on the night shift with me watch movies on the computer. But I can't bear to watch a movie on the puny 21" CRTs and computer speakers...I would always rather watch it on the projector at home.

Ravenous

Well thats good to know. Though I already watch everything on a 47' Panny so its far from being real small.

I had a question on the screen of the projector, but I my have to put it in the IYO thread.

Slayer2005

Ok, I'm fairly certain the projector he has is the Optoma MovieTime projector. It's probably the most expensive 480p projector around. It's probably the best 480p digital projector you can get; it's even better than the 4805. It requires more calibration though. Also, the iris may not have been on and that would help darker scenes.

Still, there are bound to be the occassional DVD that doesn't look that great, especially poorly mastered dark films. These dvds tend to look much better on a CRT projector, because they can do blacks far better than the digitals and they have a silky smooth picture which hides flaws better. They also do not have pixels so there is never any screen door effect.

Again, calibration of the MovieTime was most likely at least a little off and the iris may not have been on at all. Either way, no dark film like Cursed will look as great as it does on a CRT projector, including the cinema.

awmurray

I would assume you could turn the speakers off (or volume all the way down) and use the audio out jack to route to your receiver/pre-amp. I would be shocked if this was not possible...

They look fine to me it's just that anamorphically enhanced transfers are noticeably better.

I'm guessing that your Uncles PJ has the brightness set too high (just a guess). When the PJ is new and the lamp is at full intensity, it is even more noticeable. Need a pluge pattern like this to test it-- available on any of those THX optimizer discs like T2.

I believe the latest re-release of Ravenous was anamorphic. If anyone can confirm, great... otherwise I'll research it and update this post. I couldn't find it by a simple search on the net (or here), but I know where I can find it.

Ravenous

Wow, I cant beleive my uncles is one of the best because I gotta say I wasnt too impressed. Maybe he hasnt calibarted anything yet but Im not too sure becuase he never brought it up, Ill have to ask him, especailly about the iris. Though I dont get the whole iris thing. I take it as the eye so how can it not be on? And youre saying a CRT (this isnt the same as LCD right?) projector is better than DLP? This may make me rethink everything since the 4805 isnt as great as the Optoma. I believed it was better.

awmurray, I recall seeing a thread on this forum that the Ravenous was the same release as before but diff art. I looked on Amazon but nothing is said. If you find anything out, let me know! Also, which release is that THX optimizer on? I have never used it and maybe I should.

awmurray

Finally found it on movieweb.
It says the one released 9/6/05 is enhanced/anamorphic:

It was very hard to find any mention of it one way or the other... Usually Widescreen review comes through, but not in this case. I don't know whether to trust movieweb or not, but I thought it was supposed to be enhanced on the 9/05 release (it is also enhanced for other regions, too).

Here is the Amazon link .

EDIT: Here's a link for the THX optimizer tests. It is on quite a few THX ceritified DVDs including Toy Story 1/2, The Incredibles, Terminator 2 (the one with the metal case), and possibly the new Star Wars discs.

Josh Z

Home theater projectors are not plug-and-play devices. To get the best out of them, you have to do a fair amount of research and a lot of work setting them up and calibrating them. It sounds like your uncle probably didn't do any of that, and as a result isn't getting a very good picture.

Slayer2005

No, CRT and LCD are nothing a like. An LCD projector doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as a CRT projctor. CRT is the most mature technology and the only one that is capable of true black or anything near it. CRT is the biggest bang for your buck, but they aren't for everyone.

Last night I watched High Tension (a dark horror film) with my new red backlighting and even with the back lighting it looked stunning. The blacks are so inky black during dark scenes, it's absolutely awesome.The reason it can do this is because it doesn't use a light bulb that is always on like DLP, LCD, the Cinema, etc. They use 3 Cathode Ray Tubes. The quality from CRT can often make you feel like you're looking at a $25,000+ image. This film wouldn't have looked half as good on the 4805. The 4805 is capable of looking impressive at times, but CRT is breathtaking, especially with dark films.

The colors are cream of the crop and it's essentially like a 3-chip DLP when it comes to colors (actually, the whole point of 3-chip DLPs is to get CRT like colors). The DLPs that are in 99% of home theaters are single chippers that use a spinning wheel to simulate having 3 seperate images for Red, Green & Blue (while this works, it's not as good as actually having three seperate image for red, green & blue). CRT has three seperate tubes for red, blue and green which is why the colors are so amazing.

BTW, an iris on a projector is used to cut down light spill. It lowers overall brightness, but lowers the darks more than the whites, effectively raising the contrast ratio.

The Infocus 4805 has a contrast ratio of 2000:1. My $700 CRT has a contrast rating of 15,000:1. Probably a bit lower after calibration, but still pretty darn high compared to a large majority of digitals (including the ones in the $30,000+ range). It has a smooth filmlike pixel free image with superb contrast and amazing blacks in dark scenes that give 3D like depth to the images. I pretty much stopped using my new 4805 within a few days after buying it and went back to my CRT.

This is a CRT (of course they do not all look the same):



CRTs though are not plug and play (at least not until you get them setup).

CPA-ESQ.

is this High Def?

Slayer2005

Yes, it's capable of HD in 720p or 1080i since it has no native resolution and is not a fixed pixel device like digitals. It can also do other refresh rates. For HD I'd recommend an 8" EM focus CRT, preferrably an LC unit. Mine is a low end CRT, but the quality is still stunning. There are much better CRTs out there for great prices and their prices will only continue to fall as the decent digitals get cheaper and cheaper.