AE700 - What Screen Are You Using :)

[jayfsee007]

I have had my AE700 for about three weeks now. I have it hooked up via SVGA to a HTPC with a Radeon 980 Pro Graphics card and the picture is nothing short of stunning.

It's my first projector and I've been extremely lucky with no dead pixels, no panel misalignment and no vertical banding.

Right now, I'm wavering between two screens with Pro's and Con's for both:

Grayhawk

Pros - Beautiful blacks, nice shadow detail, tends to hide mpeg noise or distracting film grain as it is a perfectly smooth surface.

Cons - Not as bright as other screens as it has a .95 gain. This is distracting in direct comparisson to other samples but may not be an issue in everyday use.

Firehawk - Solid blacks, good shadow detail, nice bright highlights.

Cons: Whites tend to bloom easily, Surface texture tends to make grain and mpeg noise more visable, tendancy to blow out whites causes scanlines to become momentarily visible.

Is there a road somewhere between the two? Any ideas on how I can better calibrate for the Firehawk?

What screen are you using? I'd love to hear some opinions.

PS: If you run the Panny through SVGA from a HTPC with the image custom scaled to 1280 X 720, you will die when you see how detailed and stable the image is. If you need any more info on how to do this shoot me an email :)

[apee]

I need to know how you ran Panasonic AE700 thru a computer ..please advise

[jayfsee007]

My setup is a 1.5GHZ Pentioun 4 with 640MB of Ram.
DVD Player is a Pioneer DVR108
Soundcard is M-Audio Revolution 7.1 with coaxial digital out running to a Denon 4802 for 7 channel surround
Graphics card is Radeon 9800Pro.

I downloaded a program called Rage 3D Tweak from the net. Do a google search. The program is free.
This program allows custom resolutions on your desktop. I have the following dual monitor setup.

Monitor 1 - Resolution 1280 X 720 at 60HZ - SVGA - The AE-700 Projector
Monitor 2 - Resolution 1280 X 960 at 60Hz - DVI - My Sony Computer Monitor

If you connect the projector ro the SVGA connection on the video card, all you need to do is go into the Main Menu>Picture and press Auto. This will cause the AE-700 to read the computer signal and automatically adjust the Horizonal and Vertical Shift, the Dot Phase and the Dot Clock.

For Sofware, I'm using Cyberlink Power DVD and Intrevideo WinDVD 2000 through Zoom Player as these seem to give the best picture.

[llamameat]

I'm using the HCCV screen and I'm pretty happy with it. I like the lack of a viewing cone, yet I didn't lose a noticable brightness compared to a white-wall (1.1 gain). It's not as aggressive with blacks but it also doesn't suffer from as much color shifting (not to mention it's cheaper).

THere's a minor "sheen" added to the image, but I stopped noticing it after 2-3 movies. Also, you should probably switch your ae-700 to DVI, as I noticed a contrast improved when i did this (it must take more advantage of the theoretical contrast limits of the device than VGA).

[jayfsee007]

Thanks for your response :)

I have considered using DVI but I've read extensive posts on the tweak thread about the AE-700 inability to do 1:1 mapping via DVI. I appears to crop pixels on the left and right side of the picture.

For this is the reason I ended up goung the VGA route as it maps perfectly.

I'd love to try a comparisson. I do have a 15 foot HDMI cable, but I'd need a DVI to HDMI adaptor and unfortunately they're not cheap.

I seems that there does not appear to be a screen that can help lower the black ceiling (for improved blacks) and yet not cause a drop in overall lumonosity.
The Firehawk has some of these qualities but it is very difficult to calibrate as the gain of 1.35 is very agressive. I find that the whites are consistently blown out and scan lines keep showing up.

I have a small sample of the High Contrast Matte White (the pull down version of teh HCCV) and have not noticed the sheen. What do you attribute this to?

[Duke107]

I'm a real newbie and have a 4805 coming, I,m reading about screens as the fp is one thing but seems the screen is just as tough to purchase, now I,m reading about computers conected to these fp. Can some explain to me why you have a computer connected to the fp? I thought a DVD player would be better? Maybe you can play HD content but where would that come from in the form of a movie?

[REL77]

because a computer is the best Scaler for a DVD player possiable. Check out the Home Theater PC Section of AVS. Plus talking on AIM at 92" will change you life..

[jayfsee007]

Hey Duke

Don't get freaked out by all cool possibilities your 4805 will give you.

I'd been reading the forum for over a year before I decided on a projector :)

From my limited experience, every part of the chain (screen, projector, cable, pc or dvd player, dvd transfer) has an incremental impact on the quality of the picture you end up viewing.

I decided to try the PC route for a couple of reasons;

1) For my projector (AE700) it was possible to use the PC to map DVD's to the exact resolution of the panels (1280 X 720).

2) The AE700 has a tendancy to crop pixels when hooked up to a DVD player via HDMI.

3) Scaling on a DVD Player to 720p will involve a degree of over or undersan and this makes pixel to pixel mapping practically impossible.

4) When you use a PC to play DVD's you can try many different software players and then use the one that you like best.

5) You can use the PC to pay Windows Media HD DVD's. I've dabbled in this and the picture is fantastic.

6) It was a fun project and the picture I get is scaled beautifully and just looks fantatic for DVD.

That said... I believe that if you hook your 4805 to a $200 - $300 DVD Player with upscaling capability, the picture will look great.

Take your time choosing a screen. Get samples form all the major suppliers and try them all out before you decide on what you want.

Good luck.

[Duke107]

I have a computer with a video out radon 7800 card can I connect this to a 4805 if someone knows, Also I have a Sony Precision Prog Scan NS725P DVD player and hope this will work well.

Anyways I know this is the screen forum so I will head your advise and not jump at the screens, I would thing vendors would let you return these for other screens until you find the best for your circumstance as long as the trial perod was short.

[JimP]

Duke107

I think you'll find that screens are not returnable. Would you really want a screen that someone else returned?

[Duke107]

Well I was thinking for a night or two only but yes it is prob an unrealistic expectation on my part. Problem is, it's like the fp, there seems to be many products that don't perform as well as they prob should for the price. I am now leaning towards making a screen from what I have been reading, seems many have had very good results and the posibility of a pull down not hanging perfectly straight is a concern, albiet I could buy the screen fabric and mount it to a frame.

[Wakefield103]

Anyone using a AE700 with a Cinema Vision screen?

[rday1960]

so did i waste money buying an upconverting dvd player when i could havejust used my pc? i did hook up to my pc and liked the image. i didnt tweak but out of the box i thought it seemed a bit too sharply focused.also, the pc is pretty loud. could i just use my nearly slent laptop.oh yea...so far iv only projected on a dirty wall.after i get my high def satalite reciever il think of what i want for a screen. im thinking fixed as i dont want the shaking of a pull down.id rather just buy a simple cheap board and then get some sort of high end screen once i figure out which is best. one thing id like to know from those using compuers , do you run the sound thru a audio reciever ? also does anyone use an audio/video reciever so they can hook more things up via component or dvi?

[lawrenjame]

I have a Da-Lite Model C High Contrast Matte White that I shoot with a Panasonic AE700. I am no expert by any measure. I have not compared this screen with any others, so I can't talk about that. I can only say that I thing the image I get is really good. My screen doesn't seem to have any waves or other artifacts. Maybe another screen would give a better image, but I don't really care. What I have is really, really good. I am not interested in spending a lot of time and effort to try to figure out what is the "ultimate" combination. I picked this combination and I like it. The screen is inexpensive enough that, if I want to fiddle around trying demo patches of other materials, I can and I could then buy another screen. But for right now, for the $250 or so that I paid for the screen, I am very happy. All the friends that have come over to watch movies or HD tv are really impressed also.
In summary, there may be better screens but it is very difficult to decide which one to choose for your setup. The screen I have was inexpensive, so I could replace it if I want to. I decided to go with what Da-Lite recommended to me (HCMW) as I'd rather make a mistake with a cheap screen than make a mistake with an expensive one. Lastly, I like what I have and I have no current plans to change anything.

This advice is absolutely worth every penny that you paid for it.

Bill the Dog

[jmb295]

rday1960,

If you take a trip to the htpc forum and take a peak around you'll see you can get a better image from your pc than from your upconvert dvd player. But it is more involved to setup than plugging it in and turning it on. Once you get it up and running it can work just like any remote controled device, but might take a good amount of tinkering to get to that point.

I'm currently considering the AE700, this will be our first FP and will be an upgrade from our current rptv. Does anyone have any comments on the Draper M1300 screen material, I have found a 106" one on dell that can be had for around 400.

[llamameat]

lawrenjame, I made similar choice with the HCCV. I really like the perm screen with pro-trim, and if down the road i want to try something else, i can easily mod the frame to take the raw material, but i think i made the right choice for my tastes anyway (help for blacks but not aggressive enough to hurt brightness + no cone).

[wiredman]

I already had the Vutec 110" 16x9 matte white screen. I'm still using it with the AE700. I thought about trying the Vutec SilverStar per Jason (AVS) but I didn't know if I should spend the money. Any suggestions?

[JustinS]

I am going to buy a Perm-Wall Da-Mat. I haven't set anything up yet at home but I demoed against the other Da-Lite options and liked the matte white best.