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I've seen a fair bit of discussion on this board about the HD2K and thought that I would drop a subjective opinion in for everyone to absorb. I'm pretty technical, and chose the HD2K for a number of reasons my head worked out. (A) It's 3-chip DILA system offers some pretty obvious immediate benefits - superior color rendition, full Hidef, less space between pixels for a more realistic image, perfectly adequate light for my home (I estimate near 700 Lumens) (B) the Faroudja 1010 scaler is (as far as I'm concerned) simply the best on the market (C) At only 13 pounds, I can mount the thing any old way I want.
I compared it to the Sony Qualia (and also, incidentally to the brand new Sanyo HiDef projector (I think it is the HD10, something like 5,000 lumens).
OK - that's pretty much all the objective considerations out of the way - here's where I get emotional.
I am completely and utterly gobsmacked by this projector. There is just no other way to put it in so few words. I have had it almost 3 months now (unit #13, apparently :-) and everyday, something else surprises me (pleasantly, of course).
First of all THE SPEED! I never expected it to be so fast! I don't know what the rated latency is, but it absolutely makes the Qualia and the Sanyo look like old-fashioned toys. Forget about the fact they all three have the same 1080 resolution, when it comes to moving pans or action scenes, the other two are completely shown up by this unit. Only after you have seen the JVC do you realize how badly the other two are handling fast movement. They end up with all kinds of flickering and you can "see" the frame movement, if you know what I mean.
Second, it's a lot brighter than I expected. I set up a 92" horizontal space, intending to order a positive gain screen. I held off on the order, as I got about 35 footlamberts off the PLAIN WALL instead of the expected 27. I am now going to wait until I move into my new place in January and will go for closer to a 120" horizontal sceen.
I can see why Phelps has a hard time moving back to CRT. Although the CRT probably moves a bit faster, those I've seen don't have near the clarity and sharpness at full 1920x1080.
OK - so all of the above probably is still too objective. How do I like it? It is the most fantastic piece of kit you could put in a home. It astonishes me everytime I use it. For DVD material, I mostly use PAL discs, except where something new is out on NTSC first. The upscaling is utterly phenomenal. On some material, it actually looks like the source was 720p. For HiDef material, I am using JVC DVHS decks. Anyone that prefers to hold out for HiDef DVD can suit themselves, but you are missing something VERY special. "Man on Fire" on DVHS is just another of the recent releases that SOOO utterly suits this projector. I also use HD material from Satellite.
You become totally absorbed in the picture - even to the point where you sometimes realized that you have watched a totally rubbish movie just because it was a really nice transfer ("Vertical Limit"comes to mind).
Some points on use - feed it what comes off the disc or tape, native. ie. on DVD material, send the proper interlaced signal, as the Faroudja box does a FAR better job of deinterlacing and scaling than your own DVD player could.
Second, the projector only accepts a 1080p signal in, either in 50 or 60 phase. The trick to watch is that the scaler will output whatever phase it is fed (regardless of the resolution of the source). You must manually set the projector for which phase to expect in from the scaler, or you will get an "out of range" error. This foxed me for an hour the first night.
If you can't control the lighting properly, then you should consider setting it up as a rear projector. But if you can swing this price range for any unit at all, you should buy this projector! Stunning. Anyone who comments on it without seeing it is missing a great opportunity. Believe me.
Oh - and BTW - anyone in the market for a new subwoofer or two MUST listen to the B&W PV1 (Pressure Vessel 1) - It's amazing.
I compared it to the Sony Qualia (and also, incidentally to the brand new Sanyo HiDef projector (I think it is the HD10, something like 5,000 lumens).
OK - that's pretty much all the objective considerations out of the way - here's where I get emotional.
I am completely and utterly gobsmacked by this projector. There is just no other way to put it in so few words. I have had it almost 3 months now (unit #13, apparently :-) and everyday, something else surprises me (pleasantly, of course).
First of all THE SPEED! I never expected it to be so fast! I don't know what the rated latency is, but it absolutely makes the Qualia and the Sanyo look like old-fashioned toys. Forget about the fact they all three have the same 1080 resolution, when it comes to moving pans or action scenes, the other two are completely shown up by this unit. Only after you have seen the JVC do you realize how badly the other two are handling fast movement. They end up with all kinds of flickering and you can "see" the frame movement, if you know what I mean.
Second, it's a lot brighter than I expected. I set up a 92" horizontal space, intending to order a positive gain screen. I held off on the order, as I got about 35 footlamberts off the PLAIN WALL instead of the expected 27. I am now going to wait until I move into my new place in January and will go for closer to a 120" horizontal sceen.
I can see why Phelps has a hard time moving back to CRT. Although the CRT probably moves a bit faster, those I've seen don't have near the clarity and sharpness at full 1920x1080.
OK - so all of the above probably is still too objective. How do I like it? It is the most fantastic piece of kit you could put in a home. It astonishes me everytime I use it. For DVD material, I mostly use PAL discs, except where something new is out on NTSC first. The upscaling is utterly phenomenal. On some material, it actually looks like the source was 720p. For HiDef material, I am using JVC DVHS decks. Anyone that prefers to hold out for HiDef DVD can suit themselves, but you are missing something VERY special. "Man on Fire" on DVHS is just another of the recent releases that SOOO utterly suits this projector. I also use HD material from Satellite.
You become totally absorbed in the picture - even to the point where you sometimes realized that you have watched a totally rubbish movie just because it was a really nice transfer ("Vertical Limit"comes to mind).
Some points on use - feed it what comes off the disc or tape, native. ie. on DVD material, send the proper interlaced signal, as the Faroudja box does a FAR better job of deinterlacing and scaling than your own DVD player could.
Second, the projector only accepts a 1080p signal in, either in 50 or 60 phase. The trick to watch is that the scaler will output whatever phase it is fed (regardless of the resolution of the source). You must manually set the projector for which phase to expect in from the scaler, or you will get an "out of range" error. This foxed me for an hour the first night.
If you can't control the lighting properly, then you should consider setting it up as a rear projector. But if you can swing this price range for any unit at all, you should buy this projector! Stunning. Anyone who comments on it without seeing it is missing a great opportunity. Believe me.
Oh - and BTW - anyone in the market for a new subwoofer or two MUST listen to the B&W PV1 (Pressure Vessel 1) - It's amazing.