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2200MP and HDTV - Still unanswered question.
I've read all the forums, searched on the internet, and conducted my own experiments with the same projector at work and still have not been able to come up with the answer to these questions. I would like to know the answers befor I buy it.
First of all let me say that it's not hard to see that the 2200MP is the best projector for the money anywhere. Quality is outstanding and price is unbelievable.
But there are still unaswered HDTV questions that belong to this projector. Dell advertises that the projector : "Supports full range of television and video standards, including NTSC, PAL, SECAM, and HDTV (480i/P, 576i/P, 720P and 1080i)"
"A 480p image is without question much sharper than a regular, NTSC broadcast, although it is only considered a DTV signal and not a true High Definition signal. 720p has 720 horizontal scan lines and is considered to be true HDTV." -- http://www.hdtvpub.com/articles/whatisdtv/benefits.cfm (if this is incorrect please let me know)
The questions are: If the 2200MP only natively supports 800X600 and a 720P has 720 horzontal scan lines and 800X600 resolution has only 600 horzontal scan lines so how can it be considered true HDTV? Does it use some kind of down-scaler to reduce the number of lines? If this is the case then is 420P the maximum native quality it can achieve? How does it support 1080i - almost twice the number of scan lines as the projector supports. How does the quality differ from a TV that natively has 1080 horzontial lines and more?
Any answers are appreciated! Thanks.
jingyenshiau
239 Posts
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March 6th, 2004 19:00
You did your homework. Cool~
Now here is your additional reading assignment: How Projectors Interpret Formats (http://www.projectorpeople.com/tutorials/projector-formats.asp).
Keep in mind that being HDTV "compatible" doesn't mean true HDTV. It only means there is a (sometimes compromising) way to scale the signal so you can view the image.
Message Edited by jingyenshiau on 03-06-2004 03:54 PM
jjmac1978
7 Posts
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March 6th, 2004 22:00
Execellent reading.
So from what I gather, because the width of the screen is the limiting factor, 1280X720 and 1920X1080 both have to be scaled down to 800X450 to fit on the screen at all. And as the article states 450 horzontal lines is less than the standard 480.
I can only assume this is the case becase the projector is driven towards computers and not home theatres. 800X600 is a 4:3 ratio that fits most computer monitors (and regular TV's). However this is not directly scalable to wide screen format meaning to fit a wide screen ratio (16:9) on 800X600 resolution there has to be 150 horzontal lines that go unused - the same predicament you have when watching wide screen on a normal TV.
In fact, 450 lines of resolution is the highest you can go with ANY wide screen format.
I may have to think about shelling out an extra $800 and bumping up to the 3300MP to go to XGA (1024X768) and be able to come a lot closer to true HDTV. I just don't like to be blinded by marketing junk - I want to know what I'm getting!
I guess you really do get what you pay for :)
Thanks a million! (or should I say 'Thanks $800'?)
jingyenshiau
239 Posts
0
March 7th, 2004 00:00
When you
(1) look at how much you may have to pay for a true high-definition large screen TV,
(2) account for the number of hours you will spend per week watching TV/movies, and
(3) calculate the cost of investing in a XGA projector as well as replacing bulbs,
you can sort of figure whether that $800 is worth it.
Salute to the smart shoppers!
jjmac1978
7 Posts
0
March 7th, 2004 05:00
Yeah I agree. But I have found some XGA projectors under the $1100 mark but the main thing holding me back is bulbs that are $100+ more expensive. Just gotta decide what I want more! It would help to be able to actually see the difference between HDTV @ XGA and HDTV @ SVGA coming from a small town I really don't have that advantage.
Also I've read some more about DLP versus LCD and it's very impressive what it can do. I'm wondering if because the 2200MP has DLP and such a high contrast ratio if it puts out a clearer picture than some XGA projectors with LCD.
Anyone have any experience with that?
mikekniner
10 Posts
0
March 7th, 2004 18:00
I have a dell 2200mp. HDTV looks amazing on this projector, I highly recommend but the amount of "lines" doesn't mean that the picture will be good or bad, I think it looks amazing and so do alot of other people.
jjmac1978
7 Posts
0
March 9th, 2004 23:00
The amount of lines is the resolution a particular screen/projector can have per image shown on the screen. The larger the number, the smaller the pixels in the picture - so naturally the higher resolution projecters cast a more clear picture than the lower ones.
I'm not saying that the 2200MP isn't a good picture, I'm just wondering how much better a 3300MP might be because of the higher resolution.
If there isn't that much noticable quality difference, I'll probably go with the 2200MP -- theres only going to be so many lines of resolution that the eye can easily distinguish from.
Imagine a making circle made up of 16 children blocks. It would be very blocky. Now imagine that same circle made up of 32 blocks exactly half the size of the first ones. It would be the same size circle, but less blocky because the size of the individual squares are smaller. Imagine 64 squares for the same size circle, 128, 256... As you can see the point at which the blocks are very small the circle starts to take a very round shape. Its the same concept with resolution lines.
But when we're talking pixels, we're talking blocks that are already the size of a pencil lead or smaller. I'm just wondering if the resolution is at a point where making the pixels smaller won't make that much noticable difference -- besides the fact it's not true HDTV.
silbi
6 Posts
0
March 15th, 2004 02:00
this article is quite old but it may be relevant nonetheless
http://www.projectorcentral.com/svga_xga.htm