CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Question for those really up on this.

I rarely go to the theater because I have mine Smile

. But wife recently talked me into a couple movies and now I'm curious.

I thought the current state of the digital cinema world was DLP machines (from Barco, Christie, etc) where all at 2K resolution and Sony LCoS machines were at 4K. Were there DLP machines of worse than 2K deployed previously?

The reason I ask is because I have never seen a movie in a theater that was using a digital until a few weeks ago. We have a new AMC by us (opened 5 weeks ago) that claims to be all DLP. We went to see a scope movie there and it looks as good as it can get in a theater (with ambient lighting and all). This was simply the best presentation I have ever seen in my life in a theater. I thought "wow, there is something to this digital cinema."

Then this weekend, we went to see another movie (1.85:1). It also was DLP. But it was awful. We sat in our preffered spot again and could see SDE from hell. My wife asked me why the picture looked "hazy". I told her it was the SDE. We had to move almost to the back row to not see it. Also, the fade to blacks were terrible--more like a fade to light gray--way worse than film. This theater was built a little over 1 year ago so the DLP in it would have been over 1 year old.

So, obviously DLP CR has gotten better in the last year, but I didn't know resolution had. Has the resolution gotten better? What was it over a year ago and what is it now?

Thanks.

dbaisey · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:05 pm Post subject:

Heres is a link I had http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9325

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

dbaisey · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:38 pm Post subject:

On a good note the Dallas area gets about 15 of these in compliance with the servers being used. Dont know if Highland Village is one.

Most likely depends on what the servers are sending at the time. Most early were 3 DPL but the media being sent was crap to great. Doug

Link to NEC DLPs http://www.nec-pj.com/products/dlpcinema/index.html
http://www.necam.com/DC/NC2500S.cfm

gcom007 · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject:

Digital certainly has its strong-points and the lack of wear and tear over time that prints suffer from definitely is a big strike against it, but I'll never get over a great film presentation. There's just something about it that the digital can't quite capture. If it's CG stuff like the Pixar flicks, that's one thing but for live action material, film still does it for me. It's for the same reason why I still play vintage Fender amps. It's why vinyl still sounds better to me. It's why we still have CRT's. Something about that analogue warmth. Digital just seems a little too perfect. Call me crazy...and I'm 24...it's not like I'm trying to cling to my youth or anything. And I mean no offense by that, I'm just saying, no one could pose that argument against me.

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

gcom007 · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:38 pm Post subject:

GLHS377 · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 7

i had some bootleg techno and dance tracks that actually sound waaay better on warbly old car tapes than on the original CDs when i finally tracked them down.

i'm not a huge fan of all the resolution. well, i am, but i post the counterpoint of making for a lazy mind. when nothing is left to the imagination, the stories told leave little to dwell on, and loose their power. translates over to video games VERY well. most new games, while they look amazing, are junk. decent enough graphics, excelent sound/music and more story make for a better experience in my book. and isn't that what we're after?

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:39 am Post subject:

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

All those pixels in brilliant gray. Sweet.

GLHS377 · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 7

lol! the omni.. it's in the garage. getting a new roof and koni 8611 inserts, rollcage, G body brakes etc etc etc. it's fully built 2.5l/568 and not really a streetcar anymore. i winter drive my STi. it's REALLY good with snows. cars are kinda my business tho.

these were bootlegs of european stuff waay back in the early 90s when you just couldn't get that kind of music in usa. and nobody had even heard of these djs. let alone were they signed to anyone. so actually, it was all legal, even though that never occurred to me or the friends i got them from at the time. i dunno, is Curt hard on bootleggers?

new games really don't interest me, i'm still waiting for starcraft2. i was ready to send my 8800 gts back(got solely for supreme commander. went back to TA anyway) and use my old ati card as it was having massive problems doing overlay on the secondary monitor. however more pixels saved it! all problems went away when i used my bros dualink 30"lcd(which is absolutely ridiculous for desk use) and used the secondary as analog out for the ampro(3300, just got it from Curt, waiting on a new B neckboard, but the other tubes look GREAT! lol!).

anyhow, i think the higher resolution will be good for reducing the antialiasing effects and i think is an easier thing to do than to work on getting really crazy blacks. offcourse, theres more detail there now, that you can afford to lose some of it to irises and other dilatory light reduction. so it's probably a really good thing in the end.
i know i hated my temorary DLP projector, and maybe i would've liked it more if it had more than 1024x768 res. but probably not.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:01 pm Post subject:

GLHS377 · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 7

wasn't nightmare before christmas all stop motion and film? not digital at all? thats bizzare! maybe their scalar was junk or setup wrong?

recordign concerts is legit i think. well, depending on the venue and the lawyers. with technology the way it is today, you gcould get really good recording equipment that fits in a hat..

you can PM me or email or Im me if you wanna talk cars. i'm buildign a lightweight 450whp ls6 s14 with a lot of carbon as a business show car.. so the omni and it's pile of parts is still waiting. Razz

i've noticed serious quality gained by playing say, gran turismo4 thru the analog PJ vs the digital(with either dscaler or it's internal scaling). especially using Dscaler!
i drive my 3300 at 1600x1200 @70hz. i've only actually tried 1920x1200 really quickly, as i was just mirroring displays till i tried this stupid huge monitor, which led me to use the nview manager, which isn't actually all that bad. the ati software sucks, but, BUT, theres alterante drivers! the OMEGA drivers, which rock hard!

i dunno if there's nvidia omega drivers, but i was about to kill with the dscaler not working on the second display due to a HW non-supported overlay on 2nd output. but now it works magically. i have only changed the displays from an FP2001 and DLP over DVI to the HP3065 and ampro. i can't wait till i get the B neck card in today! it'll be nice seeing those proper ampro colors. focus seems amazing as 10pt font is very legible without straining. i'm only using a 7' screen tho. which is plenty for us. actually if our BG800 hadn't died, i'd still be running 1440x1050, which many people will tell you is way too high for a BG800. but it wasn't. till it died.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject:

Ahhh games. I was playing space invaders (1977 version ) on my wall 10 feet wide off the Ampro 4000 the other night. Fun.

As for the Nightmare Before Christmas, It was an IMAX remaster. Converted to 3D. Not sure where they went wrong but I suspect there are 2 different projectors in use there. Maybe Disney is using LcOS and IMAX DLP??

ecrabb · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject:

OK, I had to look that up. I'm not an import guy, so I didn't know what a an s14 was... So, guys are putting 450HP V8's in a 240sx's? Wow, that must be a hell of a quick little car if you can get it hooked up. What are you getting on it for tires? Are you tubbing out the rear?

OT, I wonder if some of the difference from one digital presentation to another is due to differences in lenses for different aspects.

SC

GLHS377 · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 7

right now it's on 245/45/17 RT615s on 17x9s all around, but by the end of the project it'll be on 17x10/11s all around and minimum 295s. tho i'm trying to keep weight down. i'm already going to be lighter than stock 4cyl by several hundred lbs(target weight of 2500lbs wet) with the brake and drivetrain mods i've done(7.25" triple plate clutch, small 2pc multi piston calipers and rotors, alum knuckles, carbon sunroof, light lights etc). it's still an inexpensive project.
but getting VERY off topic!

back to projectors!!! how does one convert a standard film to 3d? it sounds innacurate.. is it shading based?

Joust · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:13 pm Post subject:

I don't need to crowbar a V8 in my 1988 Toyota Supra. it has the stock inline 6 with a turbo.
simple mods and Voila. 400HP.
i had another last summer that was 500HP but it has a few more mods. mostly Piggyback computer stuff and boost controller.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:04 am Post subject:

You know Joust a 360 Chrysler V8 will drop right in a Supra with the adaptor kit....

Joust · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:11 am Post subject:

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:15 am Post subject:

Because the Chevy V8 won't fit. lol