The Perfect Vision
Vidikron Model 70 Additional Notes and Technical Ratings
Adjustment Notes | Test Discs | Technical Ratings
Adjustment Notes
Pre-calibration, the projector had elevated black and white levels, causing whites to be slightly clipped and blacks to be washed out. There was a significant amount of edge enhancement and image filtering, but this was defeatable by adjusting various parameters during the calibration process. The projector has a mechanical aperture adjustment that allows the calibrator to achieve a light setting that more closely meets system standards for various screen sizes. I set the aperture for a peak light output of 16 foot-lamberts.
The grayscale calibrated quite nicely; however, it went toward green on the very bottom end, which is likely caused by the peak light level being brought down to where it should be. The color space could be improved, but it could not be made completely accurate. The projector will do 1:1 pixel mapping, though it crops one pixel at the bottom.
Test Discs
On the HQV Benchmark DVD, the detail pattern looked good, though there was a bit of unevenness in the finest vertical lines. Jaggies were virtually nonexistent on low-angle diagonals and the waving American flag. There is no noise-reduction control, but noise wasn’t much of a problem at all. It took more than one second to pick up 3:2 pulldown at 480i, which is fairly slow. Interestingly, jaggies were a bit more visible on the HQV Benchmark HD DVD, and the finest lines in the resolution test flickered a bit, which indicates less-than-stellar deinterlacing.
On Microsoft engineer Stacey Spears’ test HD DVD, there was no Moiré distortion in the pixel-phase test with CineWide engaged, indicating that 1:1 pixel mapping was preserved. I also saw a bit of flicker in the finest lines in the burst patterns, verifying the deinterlacing problem I saw on HQV Benchmark. The projector’s processor never seemed to pick up 3:2 pulldown at 1080i, which was occasionally evident in Spears’ montage of images—for example, the diagonal edges of the safety glass at a hockey game showed some jaggies.
Technical Ratings
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