Projector

[dave27605]

I recently purchased a projector with component connections. The way my home theatre is currently set up, I have had to run a 26' long component cable from my source to the projector (Dell 2300mp). That, is slightly longer than I need but the next size down was too small. Being new to the world of projectors I'm not sure just how good the picture I can expect should be. What I have at the moment looks great but can I make it better? If anyone can help I need some advice on the following;

1) The component cable I have is a 'Python', and the picture looks fine.That cost me about $25.00. If I used a 'Monster' cable, which costs around $100 for the same length will I gain any significant picture quality improvement or am I wasting my money?.

2) Will I gain any significant picture quality improvement if I rearrange things so that my source is within 5' of the projector? If so, should I use the cable that came with the projector or invest in a 5' 'monster' cable?

3) If I do move my DVD to within 5' of the projector I would probably need to run a 20' toslink cable to my receiver, would that impact my sound quality.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[BMXTRIX]

The cable you have is likely fine. If you want to try something rock solid, get RG6 coaxial cable and run that to your projector then terminate it with RCA connections. You can make it exactly the length you need and it makes everything pretty.

If you are using ANY keystone correction, turn it off and put the projector in the correct location to avoid keystone correction.

I am not overly impressed with the Dell which is quite clearly a business projector, which means if you got it for your home theater, you may be disappointed by it's lack of high quality image processors internally to deal with motion and color the way a home theater projector from a company who has been producing them for a while would. But, you should still be pretty happy with the image.

Now, if you send DVD to the projector, it will look decent, but the projector is not optimized for wide screen DVD's and you will have a loss in resolution on any widescreen material. But, with good source material, you will almost always have a better image. So, HDTV should give you the best image, followed by DVD, finally, all other TV then VCR. You likely won't be happy with TV/VCR quality images.

Monster cable is overpriced for what you get and RG-6 will do an excellent job if you want to try switching cables, but in my opinion, 95% of what you see on screen begins with a high quality image going to a good projector. The wiring may marginally improve things, but if you aren't happy now, the wire will not do it for you.