What 's your set up?

[Dave Harris]

I thought it might be interesting to know what equipment our members are using for video projection.....

Here the projector is a NEC LT-260 - Terrific.
Sound Amp/Dolby Decoder is Sony V 444-ES
Speakers- 5 channnel MKs THX
Screen: Same Masked 12 x 8.5 used for film.
DVD player: Philips 727

Lately I'm showing about 3 movies on DVD for every 16mm screened.

What are you running? How much DVD do you screen compared to film?

[Ken Horan]

I use an InFocus X-1 DLP Projector driven via component output from a TEAC DV-H350 player which produces a superb film-like image. My audience does not know the difference although I can certainly tell it is not film. At this point I feed the stereo audio into my stereo system for standard 2 channel sound with a sub-woofer. The results are very good. I use the same screen I use for 16mm projection. I project about 2 DVDs for every 16mm film I show.

[Steven Sigel]

I've got a Sharp PG-M20x DLP projector (bright!! 1900 lumens)
Yamaha Receiver (I forget the model)
Cambridge Soundworks Speakers
Infinity Subwoofer
Running DVDs from my laptop at the moment (see other post).

Picture holds up quite favorably to film -- 16mm is still nicer, but you can't beat the price tag on a DVD -- it's hard to justify big $$ on a film print when you can get the DVD for $20 -- I think it all depends on how much you want to "own" the film (16mm) rather than having a "Viewing copy" (DVD).

[Mark Todd]

Nothing very flash, just a few years old sony CS2 and a budget mico classica 20 DVd player putting out 4 pin svideo and sound wise an old stereo amp, possibly valve and 4 speakers around the room. Does me.
The picture is Liquid crystal display 1.5 million pixels you can hardy see, Can`t see the dead one at all except about a foot away from the screen. 600 ansi lumens and to be honest I find the picture that good I`ve had film that wasn`t this good.
Also I like the dpthy feel to the picture but as I`ve said in another forum we in the UK are lucky as we have pal which is just abit better than NTSC. Should see the R2 version of Zulu.
In fact if any of you chaps have multi region, buying UK discs would step your picture up anotch, worth a thought.
best Mark.
PS. 7 odd feet wide, 4/3

[Evan Chase]

As everyone must know by now, since I am always raving about it, my home theatre consists of an In-Focus X-1, an RCA progressive scan DVD player, Pioneer 100w home theatre amplifier, Akai reel-to-reel audio tape machine, cassette player and 35mm slide projector for intermission slides. Until a few months ago I had a 16mm projector set up, but have since taken it out.

Recently I bought the Panasonic DVD Recorder with 80 gig hard drive and LOVE it!! I can record blocks of rare TCM or Fox Movie Channel films on XP, then go back and decide which ones I want to transfer to DVD on SP and they look as clear as if just recorded right off the satellite. (Direct TV)

I have been buying Paramount (Universal Home Video) 1930s and 40s DVDs of the Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Burns & Allen pictures and the transfers and quality on those old films is BREATHTAKING---I used to collect 35mm and they look awfully close to that!!

[Ken Horan]

Evan,

I see you have the Panasonic DVD recorder w/80G HD. I am considering this model too. The idea of recording first to a hard drive and then dubbing to DVD is a good idea. How do you like this machine? Do the DVDs it records play O.K. on other players? Do you notice any extra pixelation (digital artifacts) when you record from TCM ? I also have an InFocus X-1. I think it is great! I am using it more than 16mm lately. I find that using any of the video inputs (S-video, composite, component) give great results over the computer input.

[Evan Chase]

Ken,

I already had a Panasonic DMR, E30 dvd recorder, so now I have a second unit.

There is one shortcoming to the hard drive model: when you record to the hard drive and then later try to record to a dvd from it, you have to make a "playlist" to transfer--you can't just start running the hard drive and record as you go--like a vcr. Honestly, I don't know how you could cut commercials or intros. It may be possible, but I don't know how its done!

So what I've done is dub from the hard drive unit to my other dvd recorder--and I get great results--especially if you want to cut commercials or play certain parts of the recording. For best results, I record to the hard drive at the XP--highest speed, then dub on DVD to the second machine at SP.

My picture quality has been very, very good with no appreciable loss of quality. Of course you need a very good source, like satellite tv.

[Michael Coffin]

Sharp PG-M20X DLP projector (as Steve says, 1900 lumens is mighty bright!).
Sony 200 watt digital Dolby 5.1 amp and speakers
200 watt RCA subwoofer

The DLP projector is driven by a Pentium 4 2GHz computer with 120Gig of high speed disk, 512Meg of high speed DDR RAM, an an ATI All In Wonder 7500 video card (with built in TV tuner, optical digital dolby 5.1 out, 64Meg DDR RAM on the card - it's a screamer!). The card supports DVI to DVI connections directly, but I needed to go DVI to Analog in order to use some of the scaling features of the Sharp PG-M20X and size my images appropriately.

My latest addition is a Focus wireless keyboard and mouse (a single integrated unit) with a 30 meter range! This allows me to take the keyboard and mouse into the screening room and run everything from there (most wireless keyboard/mouse units have about a 2-3' range!). Still breaking it in, and the jury is out, but it appears to be working OK - the mouse is just a little more sluggish than I prefer.

-Mike

[Evan Chase]

Compatibility with other dvd players from Panasonic dvd recorder:

Ken,

Don't record the full 2 hour SP disc--try to keep it 100 minutes or under--if possible.

Use TDK media--I've also had good luck with Memorex.

Make sure the disc is totally CLEAN before recording.

Most media made in Taiwan will give you trouble too often.

[Steven Sigel]

Hey Mike --

What did that Computer set up cost you? Did you buy it pre-built, or built it yourself?

I'm also wondering if you could plug a second DVD drive into it to run region 2 dvds.... Not sure if the software would deal with it or not...

[Bernhard Benet]

Here is my video setup:

Sanyo PLV 70 projector connected via DVI to:
Samsung 165 Settop box connected via firewiere to:
several D-VHS including D-Theater capable VCR's and 2 Japanese Victor BS HD capable VCR's with AAC audio decoding. I have over 1000 ATSC and BS HD tapes in my collection:

http://www.tpitravel.com/tradehdlist.html

Audio: Outlaw processor, and standart cinema speakers.
Screen: MDC about 5.8 ft high and 14 ft. wide with continuous side masking, can go to any required aspect ratio. I use for for film as well as video.

For DVD's I use a P4 computer running at 3 ghz via DVI connection, and I use windvd, but I hardly watch DVD's anymore.

I actually have 2 setups like this, one in my summer home. Both feed a dedicated theater and in one of them I also have a 35mm projector with 3000m spool tower and a 16mm projector in the booth.

bb