CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2645 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Im interested in buying one of these projectors and I want to know how good it is for movie usage (this will be its primary use).

I still have my CRT projectors and will continue using them, but I haven't seen a decent digital yet (and I dont count the VPL-BW7 I have as decent at all).

Any major cons of the VW50 besides the bulb? Razz

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

It is ok, but there are much better digitals out there. I am guessing you have found one for next to nothing. I wouldn't pay more than $700 for one. Actually I wouldn't buy one at all unless it was really cheap.

ecrabb · Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:45 am Post subject:

The BW7 is a bottom-of-the barrel entry-level 720p 3LCD budget projector with sub 1000:1 contrast. It's In no way is it representative of what even machines at the lower-end of the mid-range like the VW50 are like.

Conversely, the VW50 was $4999 when it came out four years ago. With SXRD and dynamic IRIS, calibrated contrast is down in the 10000:1 ballpark. It's going to be superior to almost any CRT in every regard save for absolutely black (on/off contrast). ANSI contrast, resolution and sharpness, and brightness are all going to be better than any CRT.

But, like Spanky said... As decent as it is, there's much better... The VW50 is nearly five years old... Of course, that's why you can find them for well under a grand.

Not to bag on CRT - Spanky's gonna give me sh*t for this - but if my G70 blew up and I had to replace it... If I had my choice of a really nice G90 for $700 or the VW50 for the same price, it would be a tough call for me at this point. I'd love a nice 9-inch machine, but otoh, I like audio and I'd love to have a nice, small, quiet projector on the ceiling that didn't destroy the noise floor in my room... That I could hang by myself... And light up a 9-foot wide screen much brighter than my G70 lights up my 8-foot screen.

SC

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2645 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Well I decided to buy the VW50, I got it for $528.99. I feel thats a fair price for the projector.

My only question about it that I have left is what is the color depth of SXRD? The main reason I chose this projector was for the lack of screen door effect, 1080p, and from what I have read SXRD is supposed to have better color than LCD/DLP?? but I havent seen any specs to verify the actual depth of the VW50...

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5321

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2645 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

For the price I paid for the VW50 I'm curious on how much life the bulb has as well. We'll see!

Mainly wanted it for portability and outdoor viewing in the summer. The color is my big concern. (One reason I never liked DLP, because after the bulb started getting past 60% the colors just got way too out of wack for my taste)

I feel that if the VW50 has good color, it will make up for the rest of its short comings.

Ill post pics too when I get it (should have it by Friday) Very Happy

CIR Engineering · Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 6:53 pm Post subject:

I don't think highly of the VW50 and I have extremely extensive experience with them. I have two here right now and I got a beta unit months before Sony released the projector way back when. This projector does not throw an image anywhere near as good as a well setup CRT 8" or otherwise. It's a fine digital projector for the price you paid, but it is by no means reference digital. The sub $2000 new Epson projectors smoke the VW50 at this point after calibration.

Regarding the colors, the gamut is HUGE and ridiculous being obnoxiously super blown out in red and even more so on green. The CMS is not usable on board the VW50 as it does not follow any logical rules in its implementation. The response of the color saturation and decoder are both also nonlinear so even an outboard CMS can't fix this design.

All that being said the VW50 will throw a surprisingly nice eye pleasing image. When we moved into our present house my wife and I were short on cash and since I had an extra VW50 laying around we used that as our primary TV in the living room for a while. It sat on our coffee table and shot onto a piece of blackout cloth on the wall. That went on for three years at average six hours a day. In that time two beers spilled directly into the unit and also a glass of water. Opened it up and dried it out all three times and it still runs Smile

craigr

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4901 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4901 Location: Flower Mound, TX

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12026 Location: Fort Collins, CO

I think probably everybody assumed Craig was talking about 8" *EM* projectors. ES projectors aren't even in the discussion these days.

CIR Engineering · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:08 pm Post subject:

CIR Engineering · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:15 pm Post subject:

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2645 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

When I made the decision to buy the projector I knew that for the price, it wasn't the newest, latest and geatest. Compared to the digitals I have owned and seen, it will probably blow them away. If it isn't CRT quality its not a huuuge deal. Thats a big expectation to live up to for young technology Wink

as long as the thing doesnt crap out on me in 6 months to a year and I can get a few years out of it im happy. I would much rather have the latest JVC than the old tech Sony, but hey, you get what you pay for, and JVC is still $1000+ (way more than I want to spend on any digital Smile

)

When I get the damn thing Ill post some screenshots so we can all dispute the PQ of it some more Smile

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

Jeremy,
That is the thing. Not knowing its history makes it a crapshoot. Digitals are more fragile than CRTS. That being said there are a lot of digitals that were made that are still going strong. While you may be fine, I also wouldn't be surprised if it had a problem.

Dave,
Both Crabb and I went to Cedia. I think most of the mid to higher end consumer pjs were on par with CRTs. The expensive digitals I would say definitely have a lot of advantages. CRT still wins in motion and on/off. Have you seen any digital pass the motion resolution test?

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:25 pm Post subject:

Even the motion thing is kind of overblown... It's critical in visualization and simulation applications - especially with 3D... But, most of us aren't doing simulation or visualization from workstations at 120hz, or even PC gaming... Most of us are just watching 24fps-source video production - something any recent digital can handle with more than adequate temporal resolution.

No on/off... Yeah, CRT is still awesome, and even the best digitals are just OK to good. But, again... What are you willing to sacrifice for great on/off? Crap noise floor in your room? Sub-par ANSI (intra-scene) contrast? Of course, the CRT has easy repairability and likely inexpensive long-term TCO...

It's up to each person to decide. If you're still happy with your setup, your room, your CRT... Probably not much reason to change. If you want a bigger screen, a quieter room, or a brighter image, the equation changes.

It will be interesting to see what all the digital guys I'll have in my theater say in a few weeks... Most of them have probably never seen a really nice CRT setup, or really great on/off for that matter. Several of them have pretty nice setups, a couple with slightly larger scope screens, too... So, they do have some sense of a good image. It'll be fun to see their reactions to real, completely dark, can't-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face, blacks. That's the one thing I think I'd really miss, even though I'd get some great things in return... Well, that and the "35mm film-like" image that no digital makes.

SC

km987654 · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:29 am Post subject:

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12026 Location: Fort Collins, CO

9" ES?? What's that, an Ampro 4000? No, I guess your info says Barco 1101. Didn't know there was such a beastie.

Good ES machines are still entirely watchable. Your 9" ES may be exceptional. But people are comparing digitals against G90s. I don't think even your Barco could compete in that arena. Against an 8500 or G70, *maybe*, but only if it's a whole lot sharper than the ES sets I've seen.

mp20748 · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 2:48 pm Post subject:

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2645 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Well the VW50 is on the way. I see that this has sparked a CRT vs digital debate (which it was not intended to be Razz

) but really I wanted to know if it would be good for average usage.

Since I have gotten my answer (multiple times Smile

) I can say I will only be using the VW50 for my secondary purposes, which is computer, game consoles, and TV.

The only reason I even bought the thing was because it can be setup quick to make a big screen anywhere, and look half way decent in the process.

As for my theater, I will be with CRT for a long long long time. I have gotten too used to the silky smooth motion of CRT that no digital display compares. That is the biggest thing to me that I notice. When I use my 9PG Xtra or XG1100 to watch a movie or play a video game, the picture is unbeleivable! (A good setup CRT should be Smile

)

I have excellent corner focus, great sharpness, the CRT color quality, and the lack of noise in the picture that digitals have so often.

In my honest opinion, if anyone is a true hardcore movie lover, or theater enthusiast, a CRT is a must. I have gotten compliments of the PQ from my CRTs time and time again saying "Wow that looks so much better than the theater", or how much better it looks than anything they have seen.

CRT is the misunderstood tech of the modern days Smile

, I will always enjoy it, but having the convenience of digital doesn't hurt either Wink