Topic: HT Projector advice

[ricky]

Hi kato,already talked with bote and told him you'll bug him with calibration. Sadly my laptop only has vga output so to save money ill just buy vga-vga cable since my panny has vga input.vga cable, 25ft at p700 and 50ft at p2000. and yung laptop ko mini plug out lang so ill buy miniplug-rca cable pa din for audio.resolution of my laptop luckily is at 1280x720 and bote suggested i install power dvd6,is this ok? Bro i dont have broadband connection only dial uo and my laptop hAS optional remote control so ill just be getting that too for less than 2t fyi my laptop is sony vaio vgn-fs690p and just using it for pinoydvd lang

[Kato]

Hi Ricky,

Thanks for telling Bote about me, hiya lang ako to bother him talaga

You're so lucky that your Vaio's native resolution is exactly 1280x720! It's actually 720p HD ready na Perfect with a VGA-to-VGA hook-up with your Panny Tapos may remote pa! The mini stereo jack to RCA is what I use too, pwede na rin I just saw an ad somewhere here of someone selling a PCMCIA Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS soundcard (http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=204&product=10769) only around 6K, I think. Perfect yun if you're very critical of audio.

Ok yung PowerDVD 6, it's a great player and can play almost anything, plus it was built for the purpose of watching movies talaga. Cool din yung karaoke feature niya hehehe VLC Media Player (www.videolan.org) is also good since it's free, can play almost any disk or media file too, efficient and is very light weight, though it doesn't have the extra features of PowerDVD.

If you don't have any HD videos ready to play with, let me know, burn kita ng DVDs with DivX HD and WMV HD videos.

Cheers!

[ricky]

thanks again kato, honestly i dont have any hd materials with me as of now so if you'll lend me some ill gladly appreciate it. as for the sound card,should i get this and install in my laptop? Bote said that i dont need to upgrade my sound card since my rotel will do that for me he will be at my place on wednesday around 5pm in case you want to meet him.

[Kato]

Hey Ricky, sige burn kita HD video DVDs. About the sound card, it really depends on the on-board sound processor of your laptop. Since your laptop will essentially be the audio source, much like any other external audio source (DVD/CD player, turntable, etc.), your Rotel (which is "wow", by the way), in theory, should benefit from being fed by a good audio source through digital coaxial or optical inputs (from a good sound card) as opposed to RCA stereo inputs (from a regular sound card). In actuality though, the difference between using an advanced sound card vs. an on-board sound processor may be negligible, possibly as what Bote may have felt. I have also yet to hear if there's indeed a huge improvement or difference.

It'd be great to meet you guys and learn some more stuff and specially checkout your HT setup, but I may not be free this week Where's your place, just in case? I'm from QC (Scout area), by the way.

Cheers!

[ricky]

Thanks in advance bro for the hd material, as for the sound card yes he mentioned that there's no big improvement from using a good brand from a regular on board one except maybe if I am planning to attach a 7.1 multi media directly to my laptop. And he said too that i just need to get the mini plug to rca cable to connect to my my processor's digital coax input for the audio part.

Im here in mandaluyong city,but you are lucky kasi Bote works near scout area lang so mas madali kayo magkita.

[Kato]

Hey Ricky, cool! Buti na lang... muntik ko na bilhin yung Audigy! tsk tsk tsk impulsive talaga.

What exactly does Bote do pala? He seems very passionate about audio/video setups ah.

By the way, pardon me kasi off topic... would you know of a "real" good on-location RPTV technician or know anyone who could recommend one? No good leads sa repair services forum eh. Anyway, kasi the story behind the AE900 is this... Once upon a time, sabay kami ng dad ko bumili ng RPTV (almost 2 years ago), same model (Sony Wega KP-FX43) then lately, nasira yung sa kanya, then research kami kung ano maganda ipalit... with him ending up with a new AE900, which I was planning to get din (sana). Kaso he gave me his RPTV kasi ayaw na niya and ipagawa ko na lang daw. Sayang naman kaya now I'm stuck with 2 huge identical RPTVs, making it harder for me to convince wifey to allow me to get my beloved AE900 I can almost hear her say: "Dami mo nang TV, laki-laki pa, tapos you want a projector pa???" Kakaguilty tuloy! Parang napakaluho ko If only women truly understand us men and what makes us tick, right? (justifying pa eh) Kaya ayun, desperate ako paayos, para dispose ko, para get ako AE900!

[ricky]

We are both engage in the ink manufacturing business, competitor nga lang(friendly naman ) but he is 2 decades my senior LOL yes he is very passionate with audio-video stuff and he likes researching for the coolest gears,sadly nga lang he is more into digital photography right now together with PARC as for the tv repair, i only bring my gears sa beta system repair center located at reigna regente st cor recto ave in manila.(sorry i accidentaly erased the number) you can just ask phone number sa pldt and inquire about their home service,just be ready for the model and damage kasi alam kagad nila what to repair once they know the model,they are that good and very reasonably priced. Sorry po mod OT na.

[Kato]

Hey thanks pa rin Ricky. Hanapin ko na lang sa directory.

Sorry mods, off topic sobra, di bale bait naman kami eh. Mods, baka may marecommend rin kayo repair man? Peace!

[kefq]

Bro Ive been reading your post and its very informative. Ive tried downloading some HD trailers from Divx Digest from my laptop and will try to connect it to my Sony VPH1271Q CRT Projector. Sayang lang my laptop can only go for 1024 X 768 could have maximized my Sony's 1600 X 1200 resolution. I also saw the Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS and was hoping to get it to enable my laptop to output at least 5.1

How do you plan to connect your laptop with your AVR without having a sound card with spdif out and get a 5.1 sound? I already have a baby plug to rca connector for my laptop's line out but it is only stereo.  :'(

[Kato]

Hi Kefq,

I connected my laptop using a mini stereo jack to stereo rca adaptor and used a Monster Cable stereo cable to hook up with the A/V receiver. Depending on the A/V receiver, the audio fed through the stereo inputs should be decoded automatically. That also depends on the audio codecs installed on your laptop to handle DTS, AC3, stereo, etc. A good codec pack that I use is the K-Lite Codec Pack (www.k-litecodecpack.com) which has all or most of the codecs I can think of So a DivX movie encoded with a 5.1 DTS audio layer should come out "as is" through your A/V receiver (same goes with AC3, stereo, etc.).

You can also try getting the Audigy PCMCIA sound card posted in the Buy and Sell forums here for 6K para SPDIF or digital output na talaga. I think it's a good buy, but try to haggle a bit more hehehe

I've tried using my desktop PC's on-board sound card (7.1) which has digital optical out and it worked perfectly too. I just haven't made any serious side-by-side comparison though since I don't take on-board (hard-wired into the motherboard) sound cards seriously. So I'm not sure how big a difference there is between an ordinary sound card and a real good sound card in terms of audio quality after being fed into an A/V receiver. If you get the chance, please share your experience

Cheers!

[kefq]

Thanks Kato for the advice. .will try to download the k-lite codec, am currently using div-x codec. There is much work to be done in my HT setup, hopefully I will be able to set it up as I envisioned it to be (dami gastos  ). I am thinking of getting a generic dvd player I saw at Park Square which has a Faroudja DCDi and a vga out of 1080i. For 2.5k bucks I think its the most economical way to play HD movies compared to other upscaling DVD players that cost 4x more.

[Kato]

Hi Kefq, 2.5K for a Faroudja-based upscaling DVD player is a steal. What generic brand is it and where in Park Square did you find it? Although it may be okay for revitalized viewing of current DVD's, PQ still won't be as good as true HD video talaga. This is because the "upscaling" is artificial and more into the tune of using mathematical averaging of adjacent pixels with algorithms determining whether the pixels belong to edges or to gradients or to solids, etc. But still, for 2.5K, who would dare complain? Sana may DVI or HDMI out din...

[kefq]

Kato,

The brand is Kevler saw it in Electronics Depot in Park Square I besides Blade outlet. I'm not sure if it has HDMI
or DVI out. I agree, this really is a steal for its price, I will probably get one this month 

[Kato]

Does it play DivX/XviD din kaya? I'll check it out din

Thanks Kefq!

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[MAtZTER]

VGA cable at 50 ft, di kaya degraded na yung signal? May VGA out kasi yung DVD player ko.

And based from my experience with my bedroom TV, the PC input (VGA cable) performed better than an upconverting DVD player (HDMI). So I am keeping my HTPC options open.

[Munskie]

VGA cable at 50 ft, di kaya degraded na yung signal? May VGA out kasi yung DVD player ko.

And based from my experience with my bedroom TV, the PC input (VGA cable) performed better than an upconverting DVD player (HDMI). So I am keeping my HTPC options open.

  me too, naiintriga ako sa HTPC na yan....kasalanan lahat ni Kato to...hehehe Joke!! .....but seriously, at least we have options on how to experience true HD content.......

[MAtZTER]

Mas maganda picture quality bro.

HTPC is also one of the reasons I acquired my Rotel 5 channel amp, for future HTPC use.

[Munskie]

Mas maganda picture quality bro.

HTPC is also one of the reasons I acquired my Rotel 5 channel amp, for future HTPC use.

sounds really interesting...its like the panny ae900 saying that its not living its life to fullest if your not using me for true HD content......that's why im also kinda researching na rin into HTPC.....

[MAtZTER]

I actually have a strong hunch that by the time we will be enjoying HD formats, the AE900 will be replaced by a higher model with 1080p resolution -which is actually the full (bitrate) potential of HD and HDMI cables. So upgrade time again. 

[Kato]

  me too, naiintriga ako sa HTPC na yan....kasalanan lahat ni Kato to...hehehe Joke!! .....but seriously, at least we have options on how to experience true HD content.......

hahaha Once you've tasted HD, it will be hard to look back and enjoy 480p just like before. Then you'll crave for more HD content.

[Kato]

VGA cable at 50 ft, di kaya degraded na yung signal? May VGA out kasi yung DVD player ko.

And based from my experience with my bedroom TV, the PC input (VGA cable) performed better than an upconverting DVD player (HDMI). So I am keeping my HTPC options open.

Yeah, nothing beats the upscaling and deinterlacing capabilities of a computer. Video quality will still depend on the processor strength and video card.

[kefq]

Kato I agree downloaded a 1080p clip from microsoft the other day and was very impressed with the detail, sharpness of the image. Tom I will get myself a Kevler DVD player the one I was telling you  . Were you able to check it out?

[Kato]

Hey Kefq, I also saw the Kevler DVD player at Electronics Depot in Galleria but wasn't able to test it there. The salesmen weren't familiar with it. A Faroudja-based player looks too good to be true for under 3K ;-) Let us know how it fares

[MAtZTER]

If you guys are looking for a HD movie, get TERMINATOR 2 Extreme Ed. its got standard def format and a 1080p hi def format that can be played on a computer. I ordered one of these thinking it was 1080p, sa PC lang pala pwede.

[ricky]

Hey Kefq, I also saw the Kevler DVD player at Electronics Depot in Galleria but wasn't able to test it there. The salesmen weren't familiar with it. A Faroudja-based player looks too good to be true for under 3K ;-) Let us know how it fares

Bro i was able to see this player this afternoon and yes it has a print of dcdi faroudja and a vga output with 1080i sticker but when i read the manual there's no mention of either,even the vga output was never shown in the connection instruction  I was really tempted to buy it to try it out since its only 2.6t so i offered the salesguy to buy it if i can return it if im not  fully satisfied and he agreed but he then added that i cannot refund the money just change the item
Pagging bro kefq review naman dyan

[yakisoba]

any news regarding the DVD player? may HDMI or DVI output ba siya?

[kefq]

I was about to buy this the other day but became a bit hesitant on the last minute. Can a 2.6k dvd player incorporate a Faroudja DCDi which is mostly available in high-end upconverting DVD players (Too good to be true?) I also browsed the manual and as what ricky said, there is no mention of this upconverting feature. Neither can I find information on the net   and the menu looks exactly the same with those other generic dvd players in the market. Ended up buying a cable amplifier with a 60db gain from them since it was highly recommended in another thread (para di sayang gasolina and parking  )

If I buy this, will anyone be willing to test this with their Panny AE900 so we can come up with a good review . If it does not meet our expectation then I'll just probably replace it with any of their items.

[kefq]

Much better kung share tayo bro ricky so we can buy one unit and connect it with a Panny AE900  . If we are not satisfied at least 1.3k lang exposure natin. Then we exchange it with other electronic items. Just my thought since we are both eager to get one 

[ricky]

Much better kung share tayo bro ricky so we can buy one unit and connect it with a Panny AE900  . If we are not satisfied at least 1.3k lang exposure natin. Then we exchange it with other electronic items. Just my thought since we are both eager to get one 

ok with me bro, and we can try it here at my ae500 since wala ako ae900 eh Kato baka you want to be the third guy para 875 na lang exposure ng bawat isa? and we test it sa ae900 ng dad mo