Dell 3200 MP Video Projector

[Chris D]

There's been a bit of talk about this projector on other parts of this forum, so I thought I'd bring it here and get people's thoughts.

It seems to be a decent projector, XGA resolution. I've always had a real good experience from Dell, as I buy all my computers through them.

The biggest hangup for me on this model would be the inputs, as it has "one M1-DA connector for analog/digital/component/HDTV signal and mouse". So no DVI. I don't even know what this connector thing is, but you'd have to get an adapter just to plug in component cables.

One question I have is that it says "Native XGA Resolution with auto sync to UXGA (1600 x 1200)". What does this "auto sync" thing mean? That it will accept and then downscale input video up to UXGA to display it at XGA?




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[JonMarsh]

Yup. Almost all the projectors will sync and downsample one to two resolutions higher than the native resolution, in varying format. Interesting question might be, will it take RGB or component 1080i HDTV and down covnert? A lot of newer (two years or so) biz projectors will do that, and obviously any HT projectors should. Though you only wind up with nominal 1024X576, it looks better than you might expect, because this is a close match to the Chroma (color) resolution of HDTV 1080i, which is 1/2 the luminance (nominal black and white pixel) resolution of 1920X1080i. So yeah, with color signals, like alternating cyan and magenta, the best res you can get from HDTV is 960 lines (vertically).

It does down convert analog HDTV, and the claimed contrast ratio is excellent- anyone know what kind of color wheel setup? (the HT DLP's use a six window wheel with no clear section; better color, less rainbows). but doesn't have DVI, the price is attractive. It does sound like it uses a multimode custom connector with a breakout cable for mouse, video (InFocus has done this often, also. Reasonable for Biz, not as nice for HT). An interesting unit, though I'd think long and hard about the future uses before investing. If the DVI/DCMPI thing comes to fruition, all of us with analog high res inputs may be somewhat left out in the cold.

This strikes me as being akin to a poor man's NEC HT1000; that should be taken as a compliment, in case there's any confusion! :W

~Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[Dean McManis]

Yeah, the 3200MP does seem like quite a bargain.

In most projectors (digital and analog) the highest resolution that the display can sync to is usually called the addressable resolution. And the important spec to look for is the native resolution which is the actual number of pixels that the panel(s) have, rather than the highest resolution that can simply be input and synced to.

And then, as Jon mentioned, for 16:9 HD material that has to be translated to the 16:9 proportion of a 4:3 panel (1024 X 576 for XGA, 800 X 450 for SVGA), but the cropped XGA resolution still looks great with an HDTV source.

-Dean.

[Trevor Schell]

Are there any reviews of the DeLL 3200 MP?
I am definately SWEET on this one too!!




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Brandon B]

From what I know ( ), you guys ought to hold off a bit, as there IS going to be news in September about products due in early '04 that will bring nicer machines into your reach. If nothing else, the news itself will probably net you a price break.

Also, the laser PJ has been confirmed over at AVS, it is Kodak showing it.

BB

[Chris D]

For what it's worth, guys, Dell just started a sale of 10% off software and peripherals, which brings this down to $1799.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"