I love the 16:9 screens but 80% of our viewing is of 4:3 material from the dss satellite. So my main question on this trip was how does the 4:3 picture looked when stretched to fill the 16:9 screen.

I first auditioned Toshiba widescreen, and found that their TheaterView 1 and 3 distorted the picture as to make it unwatcheable for us. The TheaterView 2 mode, which zooms in and crops the top and bottom provided the least amount of distortion but lost a great deal of picture content. The cropping could be raised or lowered so that, at least, the tops of the heads werre intact, but much bottom info was lost. The Wide mode for anamorphich dvd was, of course, outstanding. So I was left wondering if I could live with a 16:9 set, based on my viewing habits. I do NOT like the look of a smaller 4:3 image on a 16:9 screen with the side bars.

But we then saw the new Pioneer Elite Pro-700HD 65" 16:9. It has 5 stretch modes, including the one for anamorphic. Well, one of them (the name of which now esacapes me but wasy to find by just watching) was amazing. The distortion, if any at all, was neglible. there was no loss of any top or bottom information. It means that one could watch 4:3 programs in a full, stretched mode to fill the screen, without seeing short, stubby legs or wide, squatty people. It definitely was many cuts above the Toshiba. And the Pioneer was bright enough to view in the fully lit room that it was in.

The Pioner set sells at my dealer for $7500 delivered ($8500 SMRP, they say.) Certainly it's pricey, but probably one of the very best hdtv ready, 65" 16:9 sets out there. I've read posts on the Digital Theater Forum about a "ringing" problem with these sets, but didn.t audition it long enough to see what difference it might make. The set was great at filling the 4:3 image to the 16:9 screen size. And the 65" was just right, given my 15' viewing distance.

But, then came the surprise.

In between these viewings, we were treated to an audition of the Dream Vision DL500 faront projector. This uses the latest generation Texas Instruments single chip DLP technology.

The picture was outstanding, watching the dvd of The Mask of Zorro, blown up to fill the width of the 100" screen. With dss movie sources, the picture was still sharp, but improved when brought down in size to 65"-70".

The fan noise was minimal--in fact, I couldn't hear it all with the projector set on a table about 3-4 feet behind us, and only noticed it when the projector was moved a few feet in front of us to help reduce the picture size. It hardly lost focus. Amazingly, at just 10 pounds with little set up configuration, we moved the projector here and there, tilted up or leveled flat, and the picture was outstanding. It sells for $6000, with the screen the dealer was using (don't know what it is) for another $1200.

It got me to rethink the purpose of my home theater room. The hugh dvd picture was incredible and maybe, this should be my focus.

The advantage of the Pioneer Elite rptv, as I see it is that it can be used in a brighter room, it can stretch a 4:3 picture to fill the 65" 16:9 screen, and it's hdtv ready. The disadvantage is it's fixed size, although it is large.

The advantage of the DLP projector is the ability to watch 4:3 or 16:9 at any size that the screen will accomodate, and it's low profile and light weight. And by using a pull down screen, it will have the least impact on my room, which serves as my high end music room. The screen can come down in front of the wall of large house plants that I use to buffer the front wall, and can be easily stored out of the way. Although I couldn't stretch a 4"3 image, I certainly could enlarge it. Sounds like a tweaker's delight.
The disadvantage is the need to put blinds on all the windows for daytime viewing hours.

It's a tough call, right now, for me but I'm leaning toward the DLP projector. Of course, I would have to save $$$ for another year with 2/2000 being the target date. There will probably be a next generation model by then.

Has anybody else seen the newest DLP projectors? I'd appreciate any feedback.

Thanks to all involved in this new site. I always felt that Francis was a failure as a moderator on his site. There's absolutely no reason to allow the garbage flames.

 Re: DLP Projectors, Dream Vision Revisited - shelly 17:17:38 3/10/99 (0)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - John Hendry 00:59:12 3/09/99 (0)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - Rich 07:52:14 3/07/99 (9)

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 Re: DLP Projectors, Dream Vision Revisited - shelly 17:17:38 3/10/99 (0)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - John Hendry 00:59:12 3/09/99 (0)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - Rich 07:52:14 3/07/99 (9)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - shelly 17:15:08 3/07/99 (8)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - mtrycrafts 23:21:36 3/08/99 (7)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - shelly 17:11:53 3/09/99 (1)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - mtrycrafts 10:09:14 3/10/99 (0)
 I agree....that's strange..... - John Hendry 01:41:56 3/09/99 (4)
 Re: I agree....that's strange..... - mtrycrafts 13:54:38 3/09/99 (3)
 Re: I agree....that's strange..... - shelly 09:03:21 3/10/99 (1)
 Re: I agree....that's strange..... - mtrycrafts 10:13:39 3/10/99 (0)
 Now that's even stranger..... - John Hendry 01:19:24 3/10/99 (0)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - Rod M 07:45:03 3/07/99 (1)
 Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - mtrycrafts 23:12:28 3/08/99 (0)

Boy, is this one impressive performer, given its $6000 price.
Mtry, I don't know if you auditioned this unit but the circles were circles and there weren't any noticeable jagged edges on white stripes. Are you sure that both the dvd and projector were in anamorphic mode with The Mask of Zorro?

I check vertical lines, like the moldings in As Good As It Gets. Perfectrly straight. Fleshtones. Acurate. No oversaturation of colors. The contrast, brightness, color saturation et al controls on the projector were all less than one half of their range.

There were momentary waveylines, similar to what I get on my Toshiba tube with window blinds, checkered pattrns, etc., baut they never took away from the movie.

I requested that non anamorphic movies be shown to eliminate the best possible picture that the anamorphic presented. We had the picture at about 100 inches diagnal, which would be about a 7 foot wide screen.
There was the lighter frame around the movie, and this could be eliminated on the sides by filling in the picture to the black edge of the screen. But It was present on the top and bottom. It's affect was to take some of the contrast of colors away from the picture. We increased the caontrast a tad to compensate.

With Dish Network sattelite transmission, the picture, obviously, wasn't as sharp as the dvd. So we zoomed in to about a 70-75 inch screen equivalent, and things sharpened up considerably.

Unfortuneastely, it has only an s-video and computer interface input. The dealer's technician is working on building an RGB to computer interface (the horizontal, multipin type whose name/number escapes me) to allow for the hookup of future progressive scan output, or even a line doubler (don't know if opne would work with the Dream Vision once the appropriate cable connection could be made. the dealer said that he waas told that it would work. Who knows?)

Whatever shortcomings this projector has, and those of the DLP technology, are minor to me, given its price. Certainly, this second generation chip from TI has elevated the single chip dlp projecator above the pack of first generation single ship projectors.
For now, I'm sold. ($6000 is still a lot of $$$$.)

Personally, I prefer the old standby CRT projector to any of the newer technologies. Although it's more difficult to set up and not nearly as bright, its picture quality more closely resembles the film experience (especially with a quality external line doubler).

The Sony VPH-D50Q can be had for $8000. Add an external Faroudja doubler (LD200 or VP201) and you'll forget all about any of the other technologies. It does anamorphic, scans up to 64K (so it's ready for HDTV), and it will take the progressive output of a DVD player (if these ever get released).

The convenience, ease of setup (plug and play basically) and increased light output, and lower overall price are very important factors for me. I realize that I will be far from a great setup but will have a very good one instead. The demo I saw was great, and I know for certain that I no longer want a rear projection tv. I can't imagine that 65 inches looks small to me now.

But I plan to audition some CRT's (and LCDs) this coming year, and to search the archives and Deja News to gather more information about front projectors. I had always skipped over these posts in the past.

But what's more important is that my wife just LOVED the large size screening, and is excited about this purchase. She already helped decorate and smooth the sound of our music room with wall hangings, plants and drapes (curtains). The music room is indeed spaceous, handsome and relaxing She even said that she would help pay for our new home theater (she earns more than I do). I feel blessed to have this kind of support for my hobby (addiction).

>>>>I always felt that Francis was a failure as a moderator on his
site. There's absolutely no reason to allow the garbage flames.<<<

Unfortunately, IMO, he is only interested in page hits and ad displays. If flames increase the count, so much the better. Did he ever moderate at all? The only posts I think he deleted were references to this site, hehehehe ;)