Epson 8700UB LCD Projector First Look

[jostenmeat]

Thanks man. You know, about this discussion on dynamic range with lumens, I was thinking of scenes with more dramatic shifts in brightness. The first one I thought of is a foreign movie called White, where in one scene it's basically underground, very dark, and the immediate next scene is on frozen ice in bright sunlight.

Then I thought of Star Trek too, and particularly the opening. I agree that movie is definitely reference. I rarely watch the "making of", and while this was no exception, I did hear that he used models as much as possible.

I still think that Kill Bill 1 and 2 might look better though.

Now you're making me want a RS50 too. Hahaha. I so don't want to know how much it costs.

 

[ComradeBrehznev]

Since video processing is relatively cheap these days, does this pj [and similar] let me specify my screen shape and then have it filled regardless of the source shape? Why doesn't that also work with anamorphic/ why is a different lense required [it must be way cheaper to rescale the image digitally]. e.g. I may want to watch a 2.4:1 movie correctly proportioned to fill my 1.78:1 screen vertically, the sides be damned. Alternatively can I watch it correctly proportioned but filling the screen horizontally and the top and bottom black bars be damned?
thanks!

 

[BMXTRIX]

Since video processing is relatively cheap these days, does this pj [and similar] let me specify my screen shape and then have it filled regardless of the source shape? Why doesn't that also work with anamorphic/ why is a different lense required [it must be way cheaper to rescale the image digitally]. e.g. I may want to watch a 2.4:1 movie correctly proportioned to fill my 1.78:1 screen vertically, the sides be damned. Alternatively can I watch it correctly proportioned but filling the screen horizontally and the top and bottom black bars be damned?
thanks!

Most projectors do this. The 'zoom' function will zoom in and crop off the edges. This is very much frowned upon (be damned!) as you are losing a fair bit of video information that is on the edges of a 2.35:1 frame when you force it to fit 1.78:1 (16:9). It is far more typical to leave it set to 16:9 mode and have black bars above/below the image.

If you have a 2.35:1 screen, you can manuall zoom in to fill the 2.35:1 screen and have the black bars fall of the edge of the screen. This is very effective, but a manual operation. Also, you lose light from the projector as you zoom in.

So, people go to anamorphic lenses which will typically cost well more than the projector for a VERY good lens. Then you need a sled to move the lens in front of/away from the front of the projector easily. Then you still need the projector to scale the image properly so that the lens can widen it for 2.35:1. The advantage is that you are using 100% of the available resolution of the projector and capturing more light output for your screen.

But, I would say that in five years or so, we will start to see a serious influx of 2560x1080 projectors which will do 2.35:1 aspect ratio natively.

 

[basspig]

I'm not with you on the lumens thing. Our eyes need time to adjust from bright to dark and it can cause eyestrain and headaches to put to much light on screen. A theater is not the real world and I don't want to feel like I actually just turned the lights on crazy bright, then turn them back off again while using my projector. The only reason for more lumens is to compete with ambient light in the room, and at that point I've already lost my black levels so it hardly matters what the projectors does with black levels.

I'll stick with a dark theater area and 17 lumens per square foot.

What size screen do you have? It looks big, but I didn't read through everything to find a size. If it's 120" diagonal 16:9 image, then that's 43 square feet, and at best with the IN82 you may get just under 30 lumens sq/ft with the projector in the worst possible mode it can be in (dynamic, iris open, worst contrast, poor color reproduction). Still, very high. But, in standard mode, at medium image quality, it's more like 15 l/sf on the same size screen. At best quality, best contrast, it's more like 6 l/sf!!! That doesn't take into account lamp decay. All numbers are pulled from Projector Central's review of the IN82 projector. It is possible, if you have a light meter, that you are getting more out of it, but if you are just going by the numbers, and/or your screen is smaller than it appears, then it could be completely different.

The important thing, is that brightness can hurt the experience more than most people understand. The dark room is the key, the contrast of the projector is the next. Color reproduction comes in next. Absolute best projector I've seen is the JVC RS50 on a 106" diagonal screen. Completely floored me when I first turned it on with Blu-ray.

My feeling is I like more dynamic range than movies currently provide. I shoot high dynamic range footage, but it often looks dim compared to Hollywood stuff, but it's more faithful to the real life conditions. I preserve the highlights, but to see the shadow detail, the projection needs to be bright.

I once calculated about 59-63ft lamberts with my current setup. The screen is 154", but my room is only 32' long and I can only get the projector 13' back from the screen, which is in front of some very large speakers, so the image projection is only about 98" or so right now. Everyone comments that it's very bright. When I go to see a movie in a commercial theater, I find myself straining to watch, because I find it way too dark. Same thing when I visit friends who have HTs with projection. The only thing that provides similar brightness is a LCD monitor with the backlight maxed out. Yes, I do relate to your complaint about eye strain with too bright a projection.. in fact I experienced it when watching movies where we go from an indoor scene to bright daylight outdoors. I have to squint for a few seconds til my eyes adjust. But it's like that in real life, only worse. And that's in economy or normal bulb power. It's even brighter in 'high power' mode. For the color temp, I use 'native' and also use the 'brilliant color' mode, which greatly increase the brightness over the other modes.

It's perfectly fine, but I do hope that one day I will find a unit that can fill my 2.35:1 screen, corner to corner without me needing a lens and knocking out another support pillar. The IN82 must have been designed for a cafeteria sized venue, because even at the widest end of the lens, the image expands at a lazy rate with distance. Ideally, it wants to be 20' from my screen in order to fill it.

I'm probably in the .05% of theater viewers who want realism to the degree of real life.. sound in excess of 140dB for explosions, and brightness to 100,000 lux when the sun is in the frame!