Sharp XV-Z2000 mini review + screenshots

Nascar in HD (more waves :-( )

Nascar in HD (notice the waves? :-( )

Grey's Anatomy in HD (the compression in HD cable broadcasts drives me bonkers!)

LOTR ROTK (std def dvd upconverted to 720p)

LOTR ROTK (std def dvd upconverted to 720p)

I Robot (std def dvd upconverted to 720p)

Viks helped me to finally install the new 106" screen. Luckily the wall mounts were just about a perfect distance apart to hold the screen. After living with the new projector and the new screen for some time I have to say I have mixed feelings about the new setup. The larger screen size does create a more immersive cinematic experience. After performing some basic calibration, the picture quality is very good with standard definition DVD and very good with high definition cable..good color saturation, good blacks, etc. much in line with the numerous reviews and forum feedback. However, the things I'm currently struggling with 1) The Sharp, ironically, is less sharper than my previous Toshiba via DVI 2) the larger screen exacerbates the softness as well as any source artifacts/anomolies 3) the new screen has waves due to it's larger area and lack of tension at the edges which distorts the image on brightly lit scenes ..tension screens are $$$..(see Nascar HD shot).

Given our living room dimensions, there are not too many other solutions that work well for us today. Most front projectors today come with an HDMI connector which I really do not like in terms of phyisical ruggedness. There is no method to lock the HDMI cable in securely like DVI. My old Toshiba had it's HDMI port fail several times. This was a huge reason why I went with the Sharp. Like many things in life, it's about tradeoffs . When it comes down to it, I think I can live with the shortcomings of the Sharp til the 1080p front projectors comes down to a reasonable price in which I will of course get the upgrade bug. For the cost, it really is an outstanding value. But who knows, I may also change my mind in near future and return the Sharp for another solution. Re: the screen, I need to scratch my head on that one. Maybe I can figure out a cost effective solution.

While the Sharp + screen have their shortcomings, my picture shots also do not help much as I took the shots by hand and was fiddling around with the ISO settings which probably added noise to the photos.