CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

MikeEby · Last edited by MikeEby on Mon May 05, 2008 3:38 am; edited 2 times in total

I received my Box1021 via express mail. The unit is a well constructed device incased in sturdy extruded housing. The printed wiring board is built using modern surface mount technology with 3 connections, an RGB in/out (HD-DB15) and a 9 volt power supply connection. The unit also has an external adjustment for changing the level of gamma boost. I was only interested in this feature so I will limit the scope of this review to that subject.

My system consists of an Intel based HTPC equipped with an HD-DVD/Blu-ray combo drive, Asus/ATI 3850 video card and Powerstrip & PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 running Windows Vista Ultimate. The system is connected via Analog (DVI-A) directly to an NEC XG1351 projector with a 6 foot RGBHV breakout cable. Because I intended to do an A/B comparison I simply installed a short 2 foot VGA cable between the HTPC and projector placing the Box 1021 in the middle of the signal path then swapped cables for the comparison. For the permanent installations it is possible to attach the unit directly to a DVI-A/Analog adapter then connect the DVD-A adapter to the output of the video card.

Upon initial testing of the Box 1021 to the system the first thing I wanted to test was bandwidth using a 1:1 pattern, it was important to me the box did not degrade the signal to the projector. The bandwidth requirements at 1080p@72Hz are very high with a pixel clock in the 210 MHz range and is way beyond the rated specs of this projector but I still cannot afford any loss of signal quality. Below is the 1on1 off pattern. No noticeable degrading of the pattern is detected. In fact the ideal pattern should have equal brightness for vertical and horizontal lines and with the Box 1021 the brightness is much closer to equal. This was a nice unexpected side effect of the box.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

Now for some screen shots, all of the following shots were taken during the same session the camera set on full manual mode with no change in exposure settings during the session. No post processing other then resizing were performed on the images.

The first disk I reviewed was the Blu-ray release of Stanly Kubrick 1968 Classic “2001: A Space Odyssey”. One reason for choosing this over a newer release is I felt if the Box 1021 can bring out shadow detail in an older film then with a newer picture the results should be even better, the movie was full of dark scenes and I was delighted by the results but I must admit the differences are subtle and are more noticeable in a real life situation but I will point them out, I also recommend reviewing the images a room with low ambient light.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

Here the difference is obvious.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

To the left of the excavation with the Box 1021 you are able to see the surface of the moon in the shadows. There is also a hill present in the darkness to left with the Box1021.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

Here the difference is obvious.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

Notice the buttons to the right of Frank's head.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

More detail in the empty seat.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

Here the difference is obvious.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

More detail in the lower center.

Now what most consider the reference disk "The Fifth Element" Blu-ray second release.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

More detail on the left side of Leeloo's face.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

More detail in Korben's 5 o'clock shadow.

With Box 1021

Without Box 1021

More detail in back wall.

In short if your after a low cost analog solution to boost your gamma the Box 1021 is hard to beat.

Mike

**1080man** · Club Member Joined: 30 Oct 2007 Posts: 106

Mike, thank you for taking these excellent pictures. As I have earlier said, in my experience it is very difficult to capture well exposed shots from a display screen. You did an amazing and thorough job.

**kal** · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:02 am Post subject:

Nice shots Mike! I've added your review to the Box1021 order page and a link to your Gamma Boost screenshots from both the Box1020 and Box1021 order pages (since both boxes use the same gamma boost technology).

Kal

Nashou66 · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:24 am Post subject:

Looks good but i'd like to see the gamma curve for this from HCFR if you plan on doing the greyscale calibration, it looks like you might need to tweek it lower just a bit, Its hard to tell but you might have a bit of blue push in the mid IRE's. I'm sure you could tell more in person as we all know screenies are subjective but it does look nice ! this will help lots of people who need gamma control .

Athanasios

MikeEby · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:29 am Post subject:

Nashou66 · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:53 am Post subject:

Does it freeze on the 0 and 10 IRE's? Make sure you do not have the multiple readings for dark measures as that may make it take much longer reading.
Aslo if it does freeze put up the 100 IRE , that should "wake" it up. i had that happen to mine a few times during continuos measures but not during the
greyscale measuring.

Athanasios

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 4:25 am Post subject:

Nicely done. Great review. Thumbs Up

David_Web · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 384 Location: Sweden

Nice review.

Could you test the low level bandwidth and ringing patterns I posted in the test patterns thread?
Also the bandwidth pattern would be nice.

kschmit2 · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 7:59 am Post subject:

damn, white crush Sad

MikeEby · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject:

kschmit2 · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:42 pm Post subject:

Essentially the entire highlight range is affected.

Quite noticable e.g. in Leeloo's face, or the curtain behind Mr. Willis.

The gamma curve is only supposed to affect the lowest IRE range, but apparently boosts everything the way it is implemented here (it still has a bit more boost at the lower part, it just shouldn't affect the highlights)

MikeEby · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:36 pm Post subject:

David_Web · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 384 Location: Sweden

The way the curves look in the other thread you should not get white crush regardless how much you turn it up.

I don't know if this is the best implementation of black boost or not as I have not tested it.

I will however try the same thing with digital correction and see how it affects things and if it would be ideal and in that case I might have to get one as I would then avoid banding that would otherwise be seen with digital correction.

The brightness normalization was a nice side effect indeed. I wonder what is causing that and if it was intentional.

Could you try the patterns I made?

**ecrabb** · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject:

Gary M. · Guest

I wanted to update this thread for those reading this forum and thinking of trying XVues amazing pieces

there is no white crush introduced with the gamma control!! simple as that

I am using a HDFury2(set to RGB) connected directly to the 1020(BB on about 20 to 25%), feeding the Fury 4:2:2 YPbPr

-Gary

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4853 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4853 Location: Flower Mound, TX

zaphod · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:19 am Post subject:

i find it interesting that on the picture of Willis, the 5 o'clock shadow - with the box - is brought out more, so much more that it becomes more obviously make-up instead of actual shadow.

hmmm, could the box be too much of a good thing Wink

**kal** · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:00 am Post subject:

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4853 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Kal, the same can be said for shadow detail. Unless you are pro photographer, shadow detail is better in person than digital shots.

I'm not even worried about the clipping whites. I'm worried about the gamma curver being flattened. These devices can do that without careful calibration. It is effecting the curve, also boosting whites. Look at the fifth comparison shot "more detail in the seats"--look at the person in the background and the white surround--way worse with 1021.

But, back to leeloo. Forger blown whites. Look at her lips (thats more toward the middle on the IRE range)--the gamma curve is too flat. Her lips look worse with the 1021. Her right cheek assume these are posted because they are representative of what he is seeing on the screen. If so, either:
1) He needs to calibrate better with the 1021, or
2) The 1021 has undesirable side effects.

There is no free lunch, you can't modify the lower gamma very much without effecting something else.