CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Spanky Ham]

Spanky went and bought a digital!

Going back and forth between the Atlanta and Latin America (aka Miami), I decided to look for a cheap digital. I found one on Craigslist for $400. It is a Marantz VP4001 1280x768p dlp. It comes with a 5 speed wheel. The seller used it for an art exhibition one time and it has sat in the box ever since. So far, I have to admit that I am impressed. Set up time was five minutes. Well, maybe ten, since I had to look for the HDMI cable to plug in between the Directv box and the pj. Does the on/off cr and motion resolution still suck? Ummm, yes! I only notice the motion issue on faster moving scenes. Anyway, it is not bad for a $400 digital. I am going to try to stop into VDC and check out the LED pj. Hopefully, Scott will let me bring this in and do a comparison.

[stefuel]

OK, I'll be the first to reply.
SPANKY HAS BEEN SPANKING IT TO MUCH AND IS GOING TO GO BLIND

[tse]

[Spanky Ham]

Scott,
I understand that this isn't apples to apples, but it would be an interesting comparison between a bulb and a LED.

I am planning on heading to Atlanta either the end of next week or the week after. I hope you are available. I will give you a PM.

[macgyver655]

[CZ Eddie]

I'm using the Marantz VP4001 in my living room right now. I bought it brand new and it's got 2200 hours on it right now. It's a very very good 720P digital projector. Originally selling for many thousands. If you search AVS, you'll find many who compared it with the JVC RS1 when that first came out. And most said it looked just as good, or better.

There is only one issue with this model. They have a very slight bowing at the bottom of the image when ceiling mounted.

There are three iris modes. You'll get very good contrast from the lowest setting. But it became too dim after just 400-500 hours, so I had to move to the medium setting. Which also started getting too dim about 1500 hours. The contrast is "decent" at the medium setting.
Neither settings are CRT level, but the lowest setting is among the best you'll find with digitals.

There is a power & fan mode setting in the menu. Make sure to set both to "low", as both affect the fan noise.

You can replace one of the three fans with a "silent fan". But something about the electronics are too finicky to allow all three to be replaced. But it's quiet enough in the low setting that you won't notice it from a few feet away.

[Spanky Ham]

I have it in the eco mode and change the iris depending on the material. I have it mounted on a shelf, so the bow isn't an issue. I may look into changing the fan, but right now it is sufficiently quiet.

As for a comparison with the JVC, I think that is a stretch. It probably has more accurate colors, but it is 720p and the on/off isn't that great. While the on/off is good, it isn't good enough. I just watched Fringe tonight and the lack of on/off stood out.

I am glad you got at least 1500 hours out of yours. I plan on trying to get mine to last until Cedia 2011. Of course, this will depend on my work situation. I had planned on getting my CRT set up soon, but we will see.

[CZ Eddie]

Wow. I just took down my Da-Lite high power so I could use it with my CRT projector. And in its place, I put up a blackout cloth screen. I had to go from medium iris to wide iris just to get the same brightness. HUGE difference. This projector is useless at 2200 hours with a typical gain screen. I knew the high power wasn't as good with ceiling mounted projectors as floor mounted. But they still offer waaaay more gain over something like the ~1 gain blackout cloth.

[CZ Eddie]

Btw, don't forget to set the overscan for horizontal & vertical on the projector to -30 for both items. This makes a big difference in sharpness for me.

EDIT: At least for viewing text. Any sort of underscan or keystone will make you lose text sharpness.

[Spanky Ham]