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Got a chance to check out this unit:
http://www.christiedigital.com/Products/products.asp?Port=2&ProdPartNo=38-VIV501-01
My impressions to follow. Some notes though. This was a short test just to check out the suitability of this unit as an HT projector. My standard of reference is the PLV-70 as this is what I have (Studio Experience 20HD version) and can most meaningfully contrast it with. Second, its component input uses RCA jacks, and my run terminates in BNC’s, so all my impressions are restricted to the DVI input, which limits it in the ways noted, and possibly in other ways I was not able to observe. Third, the unit was not calibrated beyond the basic contrast and brightness adjustments I noted, and therefore may (and probably can) perform significantly better than I was able to observe. Screen was a 120” da-lite highpower. Viewing was all over the room.
Anyway, observations on the physical unit itself. It is tiny. Anywhere you can put a dinner plate, you can put this thing. It has a nice charcoal gray rough (think heavy sandblast) finish kind of like 120 sandpaper (not as rough). Case is magnesium. This is a rebadged (and recolored) ProjectionDesign F1 SXGA from Norway. According to the Christie rep, you will only see it from them. They will not, however, be carrying its XGA little brother.
It is exceedingly quiet. Subjectively stated, half as loud as my 20HD. And the pitch is not higher, so it is not an obtrusive noise by any means. Accessories-wise, comes loaded. Slip cover, remote, composite and audio cables, VGA cable AND a DVI cable (a good one), detacheable power cord. Also comes with a spiffy plastic case extension that sort of extends the body of the PJ to conceal the connection panel (which is the entire rear of the unit). With a ceiling mount, this would completely hide the snakes from view as they go up to a ceiling penetration. Manual is sparse, but hexalingual and clear enough. Second manual for the RS 232 control and command set. The remote is a nice tiny thing as well. About 1” wide and 5” long, tapered smaller at its tail end. Cannot speak to its useability though, as the little rocker wheel did not seem to function so I resorted to the case mounted duplicate controls. This unit has traveled a bit, so I would not fault the manufacturing quality, it has probably seen some abuse.
Controls – focus is the forward most bezel ring, zoom the rear. Throw of the stock lens is very nearly identical to my Sanyo as far as screen width (obviously height is different since this unit is SXGA and mine is WXGA). I am told an optional 1:1 lens can be had for this unit, which could be pretty spiffy for RP applications. Buttons on the top are laid out a little more for style than function, but OK to use. Rear panel connectors are good. No BNC as noted, but everything else, 2 VGA standard 15 pin type, a DVI (which has an odd shaped metal ring housing, beveled both ways, that looks right side up but is actually upside down causing me a moment’s confusion as to how my DVI cable could be reversed from what I needed), Svideo, composite, USB, RS232. Focus is manual, which is unfortunate as you cannot nail it perfectly without binoculars or an assistant.
The unit is evidently intended for fixed installation situations, hence its plethora of inputs and controllability. Consequently, it is built very well, and unfortunately, priced to match ($15K list). As to whether it is worth it for HT type duty, I am not optimistic.
My viewing experience. As noted above, my BNC-component feed did not allow me to test this unit with component input. While I could have done so with composite, I didn’t bother as that would not have given any real meaningful conclusion. Consequently, my conclusions are with respect to the DVI input, which was fed the 720p signal from a Bravo D1 DVI equipped DVD player. The unit would not accept the 1080i signal this player can also output (image appeared briefly, distorted, then the PJ began cycling inputs looking for a good signal). The 480p setting on the D1 also caused problems, although the image at least displayed. Regardless, I don’t believe anything I saw was a result of using the 720p setting, as they were not scalar type issues.
Out of the box: It has an interesting little arrangement of feet. A pop out front foot and then threaded rear feet to adjust aim. It also requires mounting offset so that the lens is several inches below (in tabletop mode) the screen to avoid having to use digital keystone adjustment (which it has both vert and horiz.) I mounted it to prevent the need for keystone fixes. First thing I did was pop in Avia and adjust brightness and contrast per the moving bar patterns. Then popped in SW Ep II AOTC since it is the best quality image out of the D1 due to the all digital media path. First thing I noticed was the black level was bad. And by bad, I mean far worse than my 2300 lumen LCD PJ with a 900:1 CR. Now this is a DLP PJ, with a contrast ratio of 800:1 or 1000:1 depending on mode, and at 3000 lumens (which drops to 2100 if you take the 16:9 rectangle in the middle of the SXGA field and throw the rest away), it should have been at least equal. Also, even though test patterns showed fine, there was horrible posterization and clipping in the whites. So back to the menu I go. Another aside, as in many PJs, when using the DVI input, many of the adjustments are disabled. On this one, brightness, contrast, a scaling option and freeze frame control, and finally a 3-choice gamma setting are the picture options. In the advanced menu there were also color temp and sharpness. I noted at this point that the gamma was in the high brightness setting. Changing this to the video setting and recalibrating seemed to help quite a bit (there is also a third setting – photographic). The Christie rep had also explained that the unit was 3000 lumens with a 800:1 CR, that to attain its 1000:1 value the lumens dropped to 1900. This is not achieved through lamp economy, but rather by changing the timings/use of the 7 segment wheel (RGBRGB-white) he says the unit has.
Anyway, now recalibrate, and the PJ is in theory reduced to a 1330 lumen equivalent for 16:9. Blacks are better but still slightly worse than my PLV 70. Also should note at this point that in high brightness mode, the rainbows were AWFUL. I have always considered myself to be sensitive to them (one reason why I have an LCD), but these were shockingly bad. Merely shifting my view from one side of the screen to the other produced glaringly obvious distracting fringes. After switching gamma settings and recalibrating, they were much abated. This tends to confirm the rep’s statement that the higher brightness mode utilizes the white segment more heavily. Anyway, in video gamma mode, the rainbows were still noticeable and objectionable to me, which only reinforces my satisfaction with my choice. I do think this unit is probably a poor performer in this respect though, when I have viewed other PJs (sharp 9000, Marantz S2), while visible, the rainbows were not unwatchable to me for the short durations I spent.
Next – color. Sad. In both modes the colors on this unit were very washed out. The contrast between it and the Sanyo was literally the difference between a faded photograph and a newly printed one. Poor saturation, poor accuracy. Yellows were greenish and drab. Reds were weak and orange. Again, we are back to the question of DVI. The general assumption is that through DVI you SHOULD get accurate color with no need for adjustment, but I don’t believe a projector that had this much design effort put into it (at this price) could perform so poorly in this area, so I have to conclude it is a mismatch in the output of the D1 with this unit, or they overlooked this assuming DVI would only be used as a data input.
More confirmation – there was a tearing problem. The image had a diagonal discontinuity in it starting from the top middle of the image (so possibly the upper right corner of the panel) and traveling down at roughly 45 degrees to the bottom left corner. This does not appear on my PJ, so it is an artifact of this one (same cable was used). This triangle of the image was offset up and over by 2 pixel rows. Only noticeable when crossing geometric shapes or lines. Reinforces my theory that they didn’t get all the bugs out of the DVI implementation.
OK, so the good. Resolution and related stuff (fill factor, screen door) absolutely trashed my Sanyo. Between 18% higher resolution across its width and the superiority of DLP to LCD, if this thing had equivalent contrast and and color to mine, it would have been a thing of pure beauty. Pixels completely invisible from more than 5 feet away on a 106” wide image. This is the nice thing about this unit: its resolution. I am not aware of another single chip DLP with SXGA, so I can only conclude they are using a chip intended for one of the big 3 chip units and modding it for their purpose. This might explain the contrast lag as those implementations are nowhere near the level of the better single chip PJs’ specs.
So concluding, barring someone doing a comprehensive test of this unit with more input choices and actual measurements, have to conclude it is a pretty poor candidate for an HT user, even one with severe space limitations and a need for high brightness. Hope someone can provide more input on its performance with component.
One thing it did make me appreciate - I now understand the passion for the DILA units which approximate the smoothness of better resolution with superior fill factor, but without rainbows. Start banking pennies for the sucessor to the JVC 150CL and SX 21 I guess. Right Dean?
BB
http://www.christiedigital.com/Products/products.asp?Port=2&ProdPartNo=38-VIV501-01
My impressions to follow. Some notes though. This was a short test just to check out the suitability of this unit as an HT projector. My standard of reference is the PLV-70 as this is what I have (Studio Experience 20HD version) and can most meaningfully contrast it with. Second, its component input uses RCA jacks, and my run terminates in BNC’s, so all my impressions are restricted to the DVI input, which limits it in the ways noted, and possibly in other ways I was not able to observe. Third, the unit was not calibrated beyond the basic contrast and brightness adjustments I noted, and therefore may (and probably can) perform significantly better than I was able to observe. Screen was a 120” da-lite highpower. Viewing was all over the room.
Anyway, observations on the physical unit itself. It is tiny. Anywhere you can put a dinner plate, you can put this thing. It has a nice charcoal gray rough (think heavy sandblast) finish kind of like 120 sandpaper (not as rough). Case is magnesium. This is a rebadged (and recolored) ProjectionDesign F1 SXGA from Norway. According to the Christie rep, you will only see it from them. They will not, however, be carrying its XGA little brother.
It is exceedingly quiet. Subjectively stated, half as loud as my 20HD. And the pitch is not higher, so it is not an obtrusive noise by any means. Accessories-wise, comes loaded. Slip cover, remote, composite and audio cables, VGA cable AND a DVI cable (a good one), detacheable power cord. Also comes with a spiffy plastic case extension that sort of extends the body of the PJ to conceal the connection panel (which is the entire rear of the unit). With a ceiling mount, this would completely hide the snakes from view as they go up to a ceiling penetration. Manual is sparse, but hexalingual and clear enough. Second manual for the RS 232 control and command set. The remote is a nice tiny thing as well. About 1” wide and 5” long, tapered smaller at its tail end. Cannot speak to its useability though, as the little rocker wheel did not seem to function so I resorted to the case mounted duplicate controls. This unit has traveled a bit, so I would not fault the manufacturing quality, it has probably seen some abuse.
Controls – focus is the forward most bezel ring, zoom the rear. Throw of the stock lens is very nearly identical to my Sanyo as far as screen width (obviously height is different since this unit is SXGA and mine is WXGA). I am told an optional 1:1 lens can be had for this unit, which could be pretty spiffy for RP applications. Buttons on the top are laid out a little more for style than function, but OK to use. Rear panel connectors are good. No BNC as noted, but everything else, 2 VGA standard 15 pin type, a DVI (which has an odd shaped metal ring housing, beveled both ways, that looks right side up but is actually upside down causing me a moment’s confusion as to how my DVI cable could be reversed from what I needed), Svideo, composite, USB, RS232. Focus is manual, which is unfortunate as you cannot nail it perfectly without binoculars or an assistant.
The unit is evidently intended for fixed installation situations, hence its plethora of inputs and controllability. Consequently, it is built very well, and unfortunately, priced to match ($15K list). As to whether it is worth it for HT type duty, I am not optimistic.
My viewing experience. As noted above, my BNC-component feed did not allow me to test this unit with component input. While I could have done so with composite, I didn’t bother as that would not have given any real meaningful conclusion. Consequently, my conclusions are with respect to the DVI input, which was fed the 720p signal from a Bravo D1 DVI equipped DVD player. The unit would not accept the 1080i signal this player can also output (image appeared briefly, distorted, then the PJ began cycling inputs looking for a good signal). The 480p setting on the D1 also caused problems, although the image at least displayed. Regardless, I don’t believe anything I saw was a result of using the 720p setting, as they were not scalar type issues.
Out of the box: It has an interesting little arrangement of feet. A pop out front foot and then threaded rear feet to adjust aim. It also requires mounting offset so that the lens is several inches below (in tabletop mode) the screen to avoid having to use digital keystone adjustment (which it has both vert and horiz.) I mounted it to prevent the need for keystone fixes. First thing I did was pop in Avia and adjust brightness and contrast per the moving bar patterns. Then popped in SW Ep II AOTC since it is the best quality image out of the D1 due to the all digital media path. First thing I noticed was the black level was bad. And by bad, I mean far worse than my 2300 lumen LCD PJ with a 900:1 CR. Now this is a DLP PJ, with a contrast ratio of 800:1 or 1000:1 depending on mode, and at 3000 lumens (which drops to 2100 if you take the 16:9 rectangle in the middle of the SXGA field and throw the rest away), it should have been at least equal. Also, even though test patterns showed fine, there was horrible posterization and clipping in the whites. So back to the menu I go. Another aside, as in many PJs, when using the DVI input, many of the adjustments are disabled. On this one, brightness, contrast, a scaling option and freeze frame control, and finally a 3-choice gamma setting are the picture options. In the advanced menu there were also color temp and sharpness. I noted at this point that the gamma was in the high brightness setting. Changing this to the video setting and recalibrating seemed to help quite a bit (there is also a third setting – photographic). The Christie rep had also explained that the unit was 3000 lumens with a 800:1 CR, that to attain its 1000:1 value the lumens dropped to 1900. This is not achieved through lamp economy, but rather by changing the timings/use of the 7 segment wheel (RGBRGB-white) he says the unit has.
Anyway, now recalibrate, and the PJ is in theory reduced to a 1330 lumen equivalent for 16:9. Blacks are better but still slightly worse than my PLV 70. Also should note at this point that in high brightness mode, the rainbows were AWFUL. I have always considered myself to be sensitive to them (one reason why I have an LCD), but these were shockingly bad. Merely shifting my view from one side of the screen to the other produced glaringly obvious distracting fringes. After switching gamma settings and recalibrating, they were much abated. This tends to confirm the rep’s statement that the higher brightness mode utilizes the white segment more heavily. Anyway, in video gamma mode, the rainbows were still noticeable and objectionable to me, which only reinforces my satisfaction with my choice. I do think this unit is probably a poor performer in this respect though, when I have viewed other PJs (sharp 9000, Marantz S2), while visible, the rainbows were not unwatchable to me for the short durations I spent.
Next – color. Sad. In both modes the colors on this unit were very washed out. The contrast between it and the Sanyo was literally the difference between a faded photograph and a newly printed one. Poor saturation, poor accuracy. Yellows were greenish and drab. Reds were weak and orange. Again, we are back to the question of DVI. The general assumption is that through DVI you SHOULD get accurate color with no need for adjustment, but I don’t believe a projector that had this much design effort put into it (at this price) could perform so poorly in this area, so I have to conclude it is a mismatch in the output of the D1 with this unit, or they overlooked this assuming DVI would only be used as a data input.
More confirmation – there was a tearing problem. The image had a diagonal discontinuity in it starting from the top middle of the image (so possibly the upper right corner of the panel) and traveling down at roughly 45 degrees to the bottom left corner. This does not appear on my PJ, so it is an artifact of this one (same cable was used). This triangle of the image was offset up and over by 2 pixel rows. Only noticeable when crossing geometric shapes or lines. Reinforces my theory that they didn’t get all the bugs out of the DVI implementation.
OK, so the good. Resolution and related stuff (fill factor, screen door) absolutely trashed my Sanyo. Between 18% higher resolution across its width and the superiority of DLP to LCD, if this thing had equivalent contrast and and color to mine, it would have been a thing of pure beauty. Pixels completely invisible from more than 5 feet away on a 106” wide image. This is the nice thing about this unit: its resolution. I am not aware of another single chip DLP with SXGA, so I can only conclude they are using a chip intended for one of the big 3 chip units and modding it for their purpose. This might explain the contrast lag as those implementations are nowhere near the level of the better single chip PJs’ specs.
So concluding, barring someone doing a comprehensive test of this unit with more input choices and actual measurements, have to conclude it is a pretty poor candidate for an HT user, even one with severe space limitations and a need for high brightness. Hope someone can provide more input on its performance with component.
One thing it did make me appreciate - I now understand the passion for the DILA units which approximate the smoothness of better resolution with superior fill factor, but without rainbows. Start banking pennies for the sucessor to the JVC 150CL and SX 21 I guess. Right Dean?
BB
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