For the past 3 years, I have been using the 950/755 combo, along with a Denon 2900 DVD Player in my media room. I have a Sharp ZV-10000 projector (Early DLP) and a 92" Stewart Firehawk Screen.

This setup has worked really well, however, after watching a lot of HD material on my plasma and LCD tv's, I would like to try to get beyond 480 resolution in my media room.

The Sharp projector will support DVI input, although I currently have component video input via the Denon DVD.

Obviously I can upgrade to an upconverting DVD player, and that is where my questions arise for the forum gurus.

1. Will an upconverting DVD player make the positive change I am looking for in this setup?
It seems like it would...

2. Oppo or Denon DVD player? The Oppo 981HD seems like the choice for the $$$...

3. Will an HDMI to DVI cable make a noticable difference over the component input with either brand of DVD player?
The cost of a 45 foot HDMI with a DVI converter will cost as much or more than the new DVD player if I land on Oppo. I need this much cable to hide it and keep my wife happy...

Gents, thanks in advance for the input/advice. I have followed the forum since 2003 and you all have been a tremendous help.

Best,

gb

A good upconverting player probably would be a positive change (especially with an older projector that may not have as good an internal scaler as some newer displays offer), and the OPPO players are certainly high on the list of good upconverting players. The one catch is whether the projector's DVI input is HDCP compliant - if it is, then the 981HD would be a good choice, but if it isn't you'd need to go with the 971H (which doesn't include HDCP, allowing it to work with older displays that lack HDCP compliance). I couldn't find anything that indicated either way, but your manual probably says. Both players use the Faroudja chip, so you'll need to make sure you calibrate carefully with a DLP because of the Faroudja chip's tendency to highlight macroblocking.

An HDMI or DVI source (for your purposes it doesn't matter which, the video signal is the same with either) will support a digital signal path from disc to DLP - which is in itself digital, so you avoid any D/A conversion. With a 45 foot video cable, you want to get a good one - that's at the upper limit of the cable length supported by the format, so you don't want a cheap one that won't work.

G:

Thanks a bunch. The cable will cost as much or more than the DVD player, for a good quality cable of this length. I have used ImpactAcoustic.com in the past.

Do you recommend another source for good quality (and long) cables?

I will check the HDCP issue with Sharp.

From your response, I assume I will see a difference in using the HDMI/DVI input vs. the component input, with all things being equal?

I am trying to keep my significant investment as current as possible and this seems to be a worthwhile upgrade when I weigh the costs.

The Outlaw 950/755/M-200 combo, along with the full compliment of Paradigm Speakers (2-Studio 60's, 2-Studio CC v2, 2-Studio ADP's, 1-2200 SW) have been amazing. I followed some of your very early posts, and appreciated the advice on this setup. There are times I am tempted to upgrade my pre-amp, but I don't see the benefit at this point.

Thanks again.

gb

make that "impactacoustics.com"..

Gonk:

Here are some of the Sharp Specs:



Native 720p High Definition Panel

is compatible with 1080i and 720p signals.


Switchable High Contrast/High Brightness Mode

optimizes picture quality based on ambient light conditions.


DVI with HDCP

DVI with high definition content protection terminal ensures compatibility with next generation high definition set top boxes.


CV-IC 2 System ll

Sharp’s proprietary 2nd generation video scaler circuitry up-converts standard signals to the native HD resolution of the projector.


Optical Lens Shift Function

allows for one full screen height of lens shift adjustment

I think with that the Oppo 981 is the call??

Yeah, I'd lean toward the 981HD since you have HDCP. I'll poke around a bit for some other good sources for long DVI and HDMI cables, post something later this evening (after the daughter goes to bed).

I've used Blue Jeans Cables with good success in the past (all of my component video cables came from there), and their DVI and HDMI cables are priced pretty nicely - the 50-foot HDMI to single-link DVI cable should work well with the 981HD and your projector. If you're pulling through a difficult path, I'd pull from the projector end (HDMI connector is a good bit smaller than a DVI connector). Monoprice also had a growing following and a 50\' HDMI-to-DVI cable . There are also the cables tested by Secrets (although the price tags for some are pretty far outside the realm of our discussion) and Kris Deering\'s look at some Accell HDMI products (although they don't seem to have a DVI-to-HDMI cable and the prices are again moving toward the higher side of the scale).

Gonk:

Thanks for the advice. I owe you a massive Cab..

I ordered the Oppo 981 this morning and a 50-foot HDMI to DVI cable. I will keep you posted on the outcome.

I have 2 questions that I am pretty sure I know the answer to already, but here goes..

1> Will the image quality improve with a digital connection (HDMI, DVI, or HDMI to DVI) versus the component video connection?
>>>I assume the digital signal will be improved but the by how much?

2>Is any signal degradation when hooking a male HDMI to male HDMI cable into a female HDMI to male DVI connector?
>>>I assume little or no loss here???

Thanks again for all you do, and if you are ever in CO look me up.

Regards,

gb

1. How much benefit will be had from moving to DVI/HDMI over component depends on the devices in question. With my HD cable box and my CRT display, the two are indistinguishable - but then again, HD cable boxes (especially ones from the time period that mine dates back to) had a bad rep for not implementing digital video output well. In your case (a modern source component using digital source material, connected to a display device that is itself inherently digital), the DVI/HDMI route offers some definite signal path advantages, with the absence of a video DAC being the most significant benefit.

2. Since we're talking about digital data here, you should either get the signal to the destination or not get it there. Adding connectors to the signal path in a long run like this offers a small opportunity for just enough extra resistance to yield signal loss, but that's just as true of adding simple cable length. I'm guessing that you're thinking of an HDMI-to-DVI adapter at the projector and an HDMI-to-HDMI cable, and I would expect that to work just as well as an HDMI-to-DVI cable.

Gonk:

2 Oppo 981HD DVD players arrived today, and the difference is amazing!! I am awaiting a 50' HDMI cable for the media room player, but I connected the other player to a 3 year old 1080i 42" Panasonic plasma monitor and the upconversion (versus the Denon DVD players 480i output)is impressive. To make this work I ordered an HDMI switching unit from Monoprice, was much less inexpensive than the other sources, and the build quality is very solid.

Thanks again for your help here. I will provide another update once my media room unit is functional.

Best,

gb

Cool! Glad to hear that you like it, I've really been pleased with mine.

Gonk:

Oppp 981 #2 has been hooked up in the media room with a 50 ' HDMI cable without any noticable signal loss and the improvement over the Denon 2900 is dramatic.

We watched The Illusionist last night and did notice some odd shaped images in the black space particularly in scenes filmed at night or in the shadows. Is this the "Macroblocking" that you mentioned earlier that arises with upconversion chips and DLP projection?

If so, do you recommend recalibrating the projector with my calibration disc, and again if so, is does this happen just with the color black?

As always, I appreciate you advice.

Thanks,

gb

pardon the "is does"...

& make that "your advice"

My proof reader is a moron!

What you describe does sound like macroblocking, and the best place to start is with calibrating your display. Macroblocking does generally show up on solid dark surfaces.