Studio Experience 2HD out of the box

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  • Lex
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Apr 2001
    • 27461

    Studio Experience 2HD out of the box

    This is more a first impressions post than a full review. I'll give a basic comparison of what I was using to this PJ, realizing this is about a 1K more expensive unit.

    The View Sonic 4:3 800 X 600 LCD pj I own is a nice little entry pj. It has some really nice functionality about it. For example, all the buttons on top have backlighting so you can see them easily in the dark. Not a big thing if your use the remote most the time anyway. However, the power on and off is just in front of the power LED,so it's still easy to find with the lights low really.

    Size wise, the 2HD is about 1/3 larger in overal size. A little wider, a little taller, more substance. This can actually be a benefit for table mounting, as it makes the pj more stable with the additional weight and size.

    The menu system isn't quite as easy to use as the View Sonic. Why? The View Sonic allows you to cursor across the menu almost identical to how Lexicon does it. The 2HD requires you to arrow across to what you want, then press a separate "select" button. Ok, it's just a 2 button sequence vs 1. A small thing. However, the remote on the 2HD has the 4 primary keys lighted with the press of a button on the side. This does make it fairly easy to use, and it's a nice size. Not to small, not to large.

    Getting to real function. I can see the power of this PJ in the menu. There's a lot of settings there! I have not began to tweak it at all at this point. I simply took it out of the box, connected it up and used the alignment settings to get things going.

    1. There's a scroll wheel for up and a scroll wheel for down on the lens control. This means elevating the feet on the pj becomes more of a moot point. It's just not that necessary with the full vertical control of the beam.

    2. The lens is a two piece mechanism. Hold it "deep down the throat of the lens, and you adjust the zoom (in and out for fine size adjustment). Turn just the outter rim of the lens and you adjust the focus. That's easy enough.

    I had to do a bit of leveling, adjust the zoom and focus, then a small keystone adjustment to get things pretty well aligned. Quick and easy. I never even referenced a manual.

    Initially, I turned on 5th Element Superbit just to see what this thing was really capable of. It immediately impressed me with it's black levels. They just seemed so much richer than my View Sonic. Increased contrast was apparent from the get go. Bruce Willis became almost 3D in his apartment. Colors were vivid, detail excellent right down to the acme scared complexion of the laboratory scientist that rebuilds Lee Lu. Details on the wall etchings in the temple were extremely detailed, as was the hair on the Professor as he leaned over examining the hyroglyphics.

    It's sharp and it's crisp, Make no mistake, you need a great source to see this projector in it's full glory. Inferior sources will be shown for what they are, due to the heavily detailed nature of the image. In short though, the contrast, blacks, and excellent resolution of 480p makes this projector image rival what you might see on a high end RPTV quality wise, but still have an image that's in my case, 84" wide.

    The fan is so quite on this projector as to be almost non existent. Excellent. Lens cover slides down easily over the front, and your good to go. You don't get a lot of cables or accessories with this projector. Frankly, my ViewSonic came with a soft case like a computer case, almost completely full of cables. But then, I didn't want cables here, I wanted a top notch projector, and I believe I got that.

    More later, just wanted to get something on paper as starters. Oh yeah, I am running Tigress component video as my connection. Though it does have DVI. I may have to try a DVI cable someday, to investigate building them. As well, I can check out some of this technology since I do have 2 displays that accept DVI, and at least one source to deliver the signal. (DTV box)

    Lex




    Cable Guy DVD Collection
    Doug
    "I'm out there Jerry, and I'm loving every minute of it!" - Kramer
  • Sonnie Parker
    • Jan 2002
    • 2858

    #2
    Congrats Lex! I'm tickled pink that you like your 2HD.

    I'm excited to hear the 96" diagonal screen has a good image as that's probably close to the size I'll be using.

    So... any dead pixels, screen door, vertical bands?






    SONNIE

    Cedar Creek Cinema

    DVD Collection

    BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

    Comment

    • George Bellefontaine
      Moderator Emeritus
      • Jan 2001
      • 7637

      #3
      Hey, Lex, I bet you'll be watching a lot of dvds on this baby. :T




      My Homepage!
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      Comment

      • Lex
        Moderator Emeritus
        • Apr 2001
        • 27461

        #4
        Sonnie, it is a fantastic unit, no doubt. I've not seen any dead pixels, nor for that matter any screen door effect. I didn't really get up close to examine, but my View Sonic I did see the occasional "grid" effect of screen door, even from 14 feet. It wasn't often, but occasionally it was there.

        After my trial viewing of the beginning of 5th Element, I watched a little TV on it. (Friends). It wasn't to bad at all. I then watched an entire movie on it, "Terminal Velocity". It was a great viewing experience. No screen door in the approx 2 hours of film.

        To wind down late last night after the movie, I watched 30 minutes of HDTV Discovery channel. It was a special of the Croc guy in Australia. Beautiful stuff.

        As a clarification on the dial the lens up and down. 1 wheel actually does all up and down. Another wheel controls side to side. This is good because you basically just point the pj at the screen, and adjustments take care of the rest.

        More to come.
        Lex




        Cable Guy DVD Collection
        Doug
        "I'm out there Jerry, and I'm loving every minute of it!" - Kramer

        Comment

        • Andrew Pratt
          Moderator Emeritus
          • Aug 2000
          • 16507

          #5
          Glad you like it doug! For these PJ's use the lens shift as much as possible over feet or electronic image adjustments as you'll end up with a nicer image if no keystone is needed.




          Comment

          • Trevor Schell
            Moderator Emeritus
            • Aug 2000
            • 10935

            #6
            Congrats Lex!!

            Glad you received your 2 HD.
            If you are happy with yours , then I am sure that I
            will be dazzled by mine (compliment for you,notice that :P )
            Anyways,,I am hoping to get mine set-up this up coming week.
            On Monday I will find out the status of my screen. Up to that time though,
            I will be rearranging my speakers and Audio rack to make room
            for the projector.




            Trevor
            My HomeTheater S.E.
            Sonically Enhanced
            C5
            Trevor



            XBOX 360 CARD

            Comment

            • Sonnie Parker
              • Jan 2002
              • 2858

              #7
              Well I finally got my 2HD up and running and I'll share my first impressions. I won't get as detailed as Lex because pretty much what he says is what I've witnessed as well.


              I ceiling mounted my 2HD which was kinda fun figuring out that mount (this is my first PJ). The first thing I did was adjust the lens shift to center the image and zoomed the image to about 98-100". Of course I had to focus the image and set it for ceiling mount so the pic wouldn't be upside down.

              The only picture quality adjustments I made were closing the iris and switching to cinema mode. Everything else remained as was out of the box.

              One word on pic quality: AWESOME!

              I can't imagine anyone whining about this picture quality (some have in some other places albeit they are the extremely critical).

              No SDE, VB, or anything that distorted the pic that I could see from my front row seating position. If I got within about 8-10' of the screen I could begin to see SDE only in occasional scenes.

              We demoed Finding Nemo and David Gilmour in Concert and both were stunning for DVD... a noticeably better pic than our Toshiba 65" widescreen RPTV.


              I'm almost scared to break out AVIA for fear that I'll mess up the image but of course it would be easy to reset everything to 0.

              I did snap a couple of images but in the dark and my el cheapo digital camera combined didn't make for what I was seeing so I won't post them yet.

              Needless to say I am honored to be in the 2HD club and over joyed with what I see.

              A winner indeed!

              I can't wait to get the HDTV satellite receiver connected and test HD.






              SONNIE

              Cedar Creek Cinema

              DVD Collection

              BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

              Comment

              • Glen
                Senior Member
                • Dec 2003
                • 867

                #8
                Looks good Sonnie!

                I hope to join the 2HD club some day as well. For now I'll just have to sit back and live it through yours and Lex's reviews.

                Comment

                • George Bellefontaine
                  Moderator Emeritus
                  • Jan 2001
                  • 7637

                  #9
                  So nice to see all you new front projection guys having fun and enjoying what I have been enjoying for well over 10 years now. :T




                  My Homepage!
                  My Homepage!

                  Comment

                  • Sonnie Parker
                    • Jan 2002
                    • 2858

                    #10
                    Thanks Glen and Daddy-George!

                    Daddy-George... 10 years ago (actually about 12 years ago) we were just getting use to a Sony 61" RPTV. Gosh what scan lines I do remember. I also remember having to get use to the big screen. This PJ doesn't seem to have that effect on me for now but I haven't sat down and watched an entire movie yet either. Of course there are definitely no scan lines to worry about.






                    SONNIE

                    Cedar Creek Cinema

                    DVD Collection

                    BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

                    Comment

                    • Lex
                      Moderator Emeritus
                      • Apr 2001
                      • 27461

                      #11
                      SDE? VD? I mean VB What are these acronyms Sonnie? Also, what did you mean by closing the Iris?

                      I'm glad your enjoying yours now, the room looks great, your fortunate to have your own space now! :T Good comments on your take on the 2HD.

                      I've been disappointed by some DVDs on the 2HD, especially made for TV shows like Friends, Frazier, but it's not the projector or the player, it's the source material. With my setup now, combining the Samsung DVD-HD1000 with the 2HD, it's gonna tell the story on the DVD quality. There is no hiding inferior authored DVDs! But when the quality is good, it shines like nothing I've ever experienced before.

                      Lex




                      Cable Guy DVD Collection
                      Doug
                      "I'm out there Jerry, and I'm loving every minute of it!" - Kramer

                      Comment

                      • Sonnie Parker
                        • Jan 2002
                        • 2858

                        #12
                        SDE is Screen Door Effect.... I have to get as close as 7 feet to start to see it. Our ears are at about 13-14' when seated so it's definitely not a problem.

                        VD is... well you know!

                        VB is Vertical Banding.... some people with the Z2 had mentioned they had seen some VB but no VD.

                        The Iris lever is on the left side of the lense as you look at the front of the 2HD while the Zoom lever is on the right. The Iris increases and decreases the contrast. I have it fully closed because it seems to give it a little more of a film look to me. You can adjust it until you like what you see.


                        I checked yesterday and I have no dead pixels.


                        I also got my satellite receiver connected and HD is stunning. Even many of the SD channels look good via component which was not the case with my Toshiba RPTV. Of course I'm not stretching the SD either which I'm sure helps it to be better. Some of the poorer SD channels don't look so hot but they are watchable.


                        One thing I really like about this PJ is the AUTO input ability. Only one connection to the PJ from my Rotel 1066. Whichever input on the 1066 I choose is automatically projected. No having to switch inputs as I do on the Toshiba RPTV. They should have this feature on all TV's.


                        I watched parts of Lord of the Rings and Monsters, Inc., yesterday and was impressed again. But HD was the real ticket.






                        SONNIE

                        Cedar Creek Cinema

                        DVD Collection

                        BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

                        Comment

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