CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Hey,

I think I could have held out for a while longer with little troubles except for the fact that I built a huge hush box that took 2 people to remove and replace. I had a uni-strut based mount that was large and just built an oversized hush box around it. It was like a little projection room up there.

So,... when something needed to be looked at or re-seated like what happened here it took a while to get help taking the hush box down and putting it back.

Anyway,... VW60 will be delivered tomorrow and I'll put it up for and look at both. I will sell one of the two even if it's the VW60. The place I got it from was beyond hell to work with so I won't be sending back that much I know for sure.

-Brian

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

I would not give the G70 to the Church unless you want to become the "fix it, setup guy" who keeps it working.

I'm interested in hearing your comparison, if you end up parting out the G70 I could use a blue and possibly green tube.

Erik

ecrabb · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:45 pm Post subject:

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

It's here. (the VW60 that is.)

Looks good has all accessories and papers.

Off to start checking it out.

-Brian

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Wow,

Absolute black is a total fail.

I may need to keep investigating but using various recommended settings and also trying various settings myself the pj comes no where near black.

When it comes to the black bars or even a scene of space where there are stars the black level looks fine to me. Total fade to black though is much worse then I would have ever imagined or predicted. The opening few seconds are Cars were just sad.

That said... Every other aspect seems perfect. Convergence, Focus, Natural Color, Plenty of detail, No Chance of Burn In, Took half a minute to setup, Does 1080@24, It's wisper quiet, and it weighs nothing when you used to CRT FP's.

If you can do without pure black... you're all set. The question is only can you do without pure black. In my case,... I'm thinking I can... I'll need to spend more time and see if there isn't some way to get closer to Black because it's pretty pathetic how bright black is but othewise the image is very smooth, natural, and beautiful.

-Brian

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:15 pm Post subject:

Sigh. I wondered if you'd say that. That Cars scene is awesome, too. Worst case scenario. I don't think I'd be happy making the switch yet, either.

What's your screen size and material, Brian?

Have you noticed the dynamic iris doing its thing, yet?

SC

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Hey,

My screen is a MDF board from Home Depot. (Melamine.) It was only popular as a DIY screen for a week or so in between Parkland Plastic and Wilsonart varieties. That said... I still find it great and superior to the blackout fabric I replaced. The BO fabric screen was maybe better for acoustics though and maybe now if I went back to BO I could coax better black from the VW60.

My screen is 81" (72x40) and has a 3" velvet border all around. I'm happy with it but I'm concerned such a large and rigid surface may be harming acoustics.

By the way.... I think the hush box of the G70 must have been interfering with my surround sound speakers which are mounted very high. When I had the G70 down on a crate in the middle of the room it felt like I had surround sound speakers that just weren't there before.

The VW60 just can't be heard by me with a movie on. If I ran it with the "high" output mode the fan would get crazy loud then I would want to build a hush box all over again.

-Brian

EDIT - For those thinking "parts" ... I may part of the G70 but someone already asked about the tubes and I've sent pix so I may or may not have parts to sell soon.

ecrabb · Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject:

Brian, I don't remember how big your room is - on the small side like mine, IIRC - but, I wonder if you wouldn't be a little better off going to a bigger screen - say, at least 96" wide. The smaller screen was great for the G70, but you've got some brightness to spare with VW60, and going bigger would help with the black level issue.

As for the screen material, screw blackout cloth... I know you probably don't want to spend a lot of money right now, but check out Seymour AV... It's a tweak on an "awning material" like SMX, but unlike SMX, the guy still sells the material as DIY. You can probably build a nice 8' or 9' wide true-AT screen w/1.2 gain for under $300. It's a small Iowa-based startup - the guy's just up the road from me a half our or so, but I've never met him or talked to him. I just know a lot of guys started working with him when the SMX guy went big-time and quit selling DIY material.

http://www.seymourav.com/screens.asp

I'm very jealous of the quietness of the smaller digitals. Lowering the noise floor is actually my next big project... The hushbox and modding my Crown amps to reduce or eliminate the fan noise are top of the list.

SC