DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - shelly - Video Asylum

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DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9

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I began my main home theater shopping for a large screen rptv to do double duty in my Gallo music room. I have reservations about placing a large box between my spreakers, but want a larger, better home theater than what I now have.
I love the 16:9 screens but 80% of our viewing is of 4:3 material from the dss satellite. So my main question on this trip was how does the 4:3 picture looked when stretched to fill the 16:9 screen.
I first auditioned Toshiba widescreen, and found that their TheaterView 1 and 3 distorted the picture as to make it unwatcheable for us. The TheaterView 2 mode, which zooms in and crops the top and bottom provided the least amount of distortion but lost a great deal of picture content. The cropping could be raised or lowered so that, at least, the tops of the heads werre intact, but much bottom info was lost. The Wide mode for anamorphich dvd was, of course, outstanding. So I was left wondering if I could live with a 16:9 set, based on my viewing habits. I do NOT like the look of a smaller 4:3 image on a 16:9 screen with the side bars.
But we then saw the new Pioneer Elite Pro-700HD 65" 16:9. It has 5 stretch modes, including the one for anamorphic. Well, one of them (the name of which now esacapes me but wasy to find by just watching) was amazing. The distortion, if any at all, was neglible. there was no loss of any top or bottom information. It means that one could watch 4:3 programs in a full, stretched mode to fill the screen, without seeing short, stubby legs or wide, squatty people. It definitely was many cuts above the Toshiba. And the Pioneer was bright enough to view in the fully lit room that it was in.
The Pioner set sells at my dealer for $7500 delivered ($8500 SMRP, they say.) Certainly it's pricey, but probably one of the very best hdtv ready, 65" 16:9 sets out there. I've read posts on the Digital Theater Forum about a "ringing" problem with these sets, but didn.t audition it long enough to see what difference it might make. The set was great at filling the 4:3 image to the 16:9 screen size. And the 65" was just right, given my 15' viewing distance.
But, then came the surprise.
In between these viewings, we were treated to an audition of the Dream Vision DL500 faront projector. This uses the latest generation Texas Instruments single chip DLP technology.
The picture was outstanding, watching the dvd of The Mask of Zorro, blown up to fill the width of the 100" screen. With dss movie sources, the picture was still sharp, but improved when brought down in size to 65"-70".
The fan noise was minimal--in fact, I couldn't hear it all with the projector set on a table about 3-4 feet behind us, and only noticed it when the projector was moved a few feet in front of us to help reduce the picture size. It hardly lost focus. Amazingly, at just 10 pounds with little set up configuration, we moved the projector here and there, tilted up or leveled flat, and the picture was outstanding. It sells for $6000, with the screen the dealer was using (don't know what it is) for another $1200.
It got me to rethink the purpose of my home theater room. The hugh dvd picture was incredible and maybe, this should be my focus.
The advantage of the Pioneer Elite rptv, as I see it is that it can be used in a brighter room, it can stretch a 4:3 picture to fill the 65" 16:9 screen, and it's hdtv ready. The disadvantage is it's fixed size, although it is large.
The advantage of the DLP projector is the ability to watch 4:3 or 16:9 at any size that the screen will accomodate, and it's low profile and light weight. And by using a pull down screen, it will have the least impact on my room, which serves as my high end music room. The screen can come down in front of the wall of large house plants that I use to buffer the front wall, and can be easily stored out of the way. Although I couldn't stretch a 4"3 image, I certainly could enlarge it. Sounds like a tweaker's delight.
The disadvantage is the need to put blinds on all the windows for daytime viewing hours.
It's a tough call, right now, for me but I'm leaning toward the DLP projector. Of course, I would have to save $$$ for another year with 2/2000 being the target date. There will probably be a next generation model by then.
Has anybody else seen the newest DLP projectors? I'd appreciate any feedback.
Thanks to all involved in this new site. I always felt that Francis was a failure as a moderator on his site. There's absolutely no reason to allow the garbage flames.

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Topic - DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - shelly 17:49:09 03/06/99 (14)

Re: DLP Projectors, Dream Vision Revisited - shelly 17:17:38 03/10/99 (0)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - John Hendry 00:59:12 03/09/99 (0)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - Rich 07:52:14 03/07/99 (9)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - shelly 17:15:08 03/07/99 (8)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - mtrycrafts 23:21:36 03/08/99 (7)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - shelly 17:11:53 03/09/99 (1)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - mtrycrafts 10:09:14 03/10/99 (0)

I agree....that's strange..... - John Hendry 01:41:56 03/09/99 (4)

Re: I agree....that's strange..... - mtrycrafts 13:54:38 03/09/99 (3)

Re: I agree....that's strange..... - shelly 09:03:21 03/10/99 (1)

Re: I agree....that's strange..... - mtrycrafts 10:13:39 03/10/99 (0)

Now that's even stranger..... - John Hendry 01:19:24 03/10/99 (0)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - Rod M 07:45:03 03/07/99 (1)

Re: DLP Projectors and 4:3 stretch on 16:9 - mtrycrafts 23:12:28 03/08/99 (0)

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