CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[benareeno]

Seems to me that the 480p picture may be superior in some way.

Very hard to explain, but when watching a blu-ray at 480p, it really looks nice and solid. 1080i also looks nice...but perhaps, not quite as nice.

I know this is not the sharpest EM projector...but the image is really very sharp. By far the sharpest EM focus image I have ever seen. Perhaps since it is a true HD master, then viewing it at 480p may not be a bad thing.

At the very least, 1080i and the extra detail it supposedly brings...is not that big of a difference. In fact, it may just appear slightly noisier.

Keep in mind, my observations are slight...but definitely there. And I post this because I feel most people here are resolution obsessed.

The only reason this even happened is because I reset my blu-ray player...and it defaulted back to 480p. I was thinking how nice the picture was and I went in to check the resolution and was shocked to see 480p!!

I will try 720p tonight...but it may be too much bandwidth for the Barco.

[joatmon]

720p works perfectly on mine. I find 1080i slightly better then 720p, but i have to overscan to 5% in 1080i to get around the image wrap I get with 1080i.

What feeds your 708? Mine is connected to an HDFury2 via RGBHV.

[benareeno]

I'm doing component video directly from a blu-ray player.

I should try a different player and see if the results are different. Perhaps different players have different levels on their video output.

[Spanky Ham]

What kind of bluray player do you have? It may be the VP in your player is better w/ p than i.

Also, you just might prefer the look of p or i.

[CasetheCorvetteman]

I found a simular issue on my 9PG, ( 576p here though ) but not on my XG.

DVDs are in either of those two resolutions ( depending on region ) so if the scaler isnt up to the task it may just look as nice without scaling.

[km987654]

[benareeno]

all true...and I've even owned other 708's....and this one is very sharp. I would say it's at least as sharp as a Marquee...I know...not easy to believe, but I think it is sharp. I have heard the p16's were sharp, but seeing is believing.

Not as sharp as an XG by any means...I would not go that far

I tend to think that higher resolutions often mean more picture noise...I'll do some more experiments and see if I'm crazy. At the very least, I would say 480p is as good as 1080i, and that might go for some of you as well.

Resolution is not the key to a good picture

[km987654]

[ecrabb]

This doesn't surprise me. As you lower the resolution, MTF goes up. When MTF goes up, so does perceived contrast, which is also linked to resolution. So, yes - the picture does appear sharper, but it's a shaper version of a lower-resolution image. That's in contrast (excuse the pun) to the softer higher-resolution 1080i image. So, pick your poison: A low-res high-res, or a high-res low-res.

One other thing to double-check. I don't know about the Barco, but on Sonys, it loads a different set of picture parameters along with a different memory slot. So, part of the "punch" you're seeing could be different brightness/contrast settings. Even if it's the same, you could counter some of the difference by bumping the contrast for a bit more punch with the 1080i signal.

I'll also point out that what you're observing has everything to do with electronics and lenses, and not the tubes. On my G70, which also has P16's (a different variant, perhaps?), 480p looked horrible compared to 1080i or even 1080p. 480p resulted in super-sharp scan lines about the size of Crayola crayons, easily visible from at least double the screen width.

SC

[joatmon]

[benareeno]

That's possible...i have a lesser lense than you do. I have color filtered hd6's. Not as sharp as hd 145s which you likely have. Maybe this is a good thing...maybe not.

[mx83toy]

I was getting some awesome images out of mine when i didnt know about hdcp so my blurays were outputting at 480p at the time and yes it was clears as!!! funnily enough there isnt a big difference at higher rezes as stated it starts going a little soft at 1080I Curt has always said these will look best at 720P though i haven't put much time in doing a 720P setup yet... Ive been greedy and go straight for 1080I
I think i might spend a bit of time on a 720P setup tonight and see what i can get out of it... 576P looked great too BTW... and the little cine 7 has been a very impressive machine for a ac es 7"er im almost starting to doubt that my 8110 AC EM Marquee will do much better but i got it so i'll be giving it a crack in a few weeks....

[benareeno]

does yours have p16's in it?

I would think it will equal the sharpness of a stock marquee if it does.

Would love to hear your observations.

[mx83toy]

not to sure to be honest... i'll double check tonight... but here a a couple screenshots i took these are direct iphone and not even cropped only reduced to 25% of size

[mx83toy]

Screen is a 200 dollar china special that's 2 Meters wide!!! (6 foot for metrically challenged)

[CasetheCorvetteman]

[mx83toy]

Yep I believe they are the same bar the colour corrected 4 d 145's

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Not the same, but at 480p or 576p, the difference will likely only be seen in the corners.

[mx83toy]

Ok so I done a quick 720p setup and yeah it's sharper and I can see more detail in the background it's like there is more info being pushed out the projector ??? I might work on 720p for a day or two so I can go back and forth but preliminary tests are quite promising... Bigger number in this case seems to be getting out performed on my setup... Think it's got something to do with the the higher bandwidth the projector uses to lock to 720p over 1080i??? Either way I'm getting a pretty dam good image for a quick setup this cine 7 just keeps on giving!!! Honestly going to be a shame to retire it soon... I'm going to need to find it an apriciative home...

[joatmon]