Truth In Advertising?

[setite]

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Sharp_PG_Series-Notevision_PG-B10S.htm

That projector claims a native of 800x600 but a max of 1400x1050. I see alot of the projectors I've been looking at in the 720p native category that claim 1280x1024 with "intelligent resizing" which is not so far fetched as 800x600-1400x1050. Also out of curiousity what do I need to fully enjoy HD. Do I need 1280x720? I know technically I dont need anything but I reallt dont know what the most important factors are. Should I be more interested in quality over specs?

EDIT: Also, I see the sanyo plv-z2 being sold alot... how does it stack up to the plv-z3 and plv-z4, and i pose the same question for the panasonics ae500, 700,900... specs go up... but what about the prices... plv-z2 looks like its definitely a good price for a starter... but is the plv-z3 truly is a much better option... id rather dish out a little more

[Lex]

Good questions. I don't like deception either. The Ed TV crap always seemed like a deceptive way to be able to describe HD capablity only by downconversion. What's that about anyway? Does the TV have the lines of resolution or NOT for cripes sake?

480P set is considered Enhanced Definition, instead of progressive scan capable I guess, maybe one of these other guys more hip on the numbers game can comment on that.

I would go for a native dot space of at least 1280 X 720 for true 720P without downconversions. Yeah, sure someday we will be at 1080P, but my thoughts on that are, 720P can be soooo good, the differences will not be worldly in terms of what our eyes can differentiate between. The Z2 or Z3 would do quite nicely.

[George Bellefontaine]

Although 480p vds will look okay on an 800 x 600 projector, Like Lex says I would definitely go with 1280 x 720. That extra res makes even a poor dvd transfer look okay, but the main thing is you will be HDTV ready. Prices today on 720p lcd and dlp projectors really easy on the pocketbook.

BTW, that Sharpvision PJ is a discontinued model and is really more suited for the boardroom than your home theater. Plenty bright but has lousy contrast ratio. I'll bet it has a noisy fan, too.

[Brad Waite]

Hi setite,

Technically, the HDTV spec support 3 simultaneous streams of 16:9 480P, but most people refer to HDTV as being 720 or 1080.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Very few business projectors look anywhere near as good with video sources as true home theater projectors. Contrast, color accuracy, motion artifact reduction, scaling and optics are a few things that are greatly improved when you get a projector designed for home theater. Also, all current HT PJs are 16:9 native, whether LCD, DLP or LCoS/DILA/SXRD.

2. Resolution is not the most important part of a picture. I don't have the reference in front of me, but according to SMPTE, contrast is perceived by our eyes/brain the easiest. Resolution is 4th or 5th, if I recall. To illustrate this point, we had the 720p Z2 sitting next to an 480p Infocus 4805 during a projector shootout we hosted last June. Out of the 50 or so people in the room, everybody preferred the 4805 over the Z2. We showed DVD and HD material, and the better contrast on the DLP gave an overall much better image. Our full shootout review can be found here.

And in regards to your question on specs, most mfg aren't giving true specs. You can use them as a comparative guide, usually, but not gospel. That being said, there have been some improvements in LCD panels over the last few years. Contrast is *almost* up to where DLPs were about 4 years ago.

Most mfgs are also using variable irises to enhance the contrast specs. The true contrast rating of a projector is determined by how it handles the ANSI checkerboard pattern without any iris tricks. The variable iris can indeed make the overall viewing experience better, but don't believe these 10000:1 contrast ratio specs.

[Andrew M Ward]

1920x1080 is right around the corner for flat panel technology and coming down in price fast in projector land...

Just a thought...

You know there is already a DVD player that will scale DVD to 1080P (Classe') ....

more 2 cents

[setite]

awesome. thanks for all the speedie replies. I think I may actually go with the panasonic ae700 because it may be the cheapest one I can get with 2.00:1 zoom and it seems to be a good projector. But I still dont get how they claim a max resolution that is higher than the native. in my experience with pc monitors the native is what it displays 1:1 in pixels, so how does a plv-z3 claim 1280x1024 through intelligent resizing and the ae700 claims 1920x1080, assuming that they all play 1080 shouldn't they all claim that max resolution, or does the ae700 do something special.