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"The biggest change to the DPX-1300 is its video processing.”
“The Realta HQV (for "Hollywood Quality Video") processor is a direct descendant of the professional video processors from Teranex. I reviewed one of those megabuck processors together with the Reference Imaging CinePro 9x Elite 9-inch CRT projector back in 2002. This projector/processor combination produced the best standard definition images I have ever seen on my projection screen—and at roughly $115,000 for the package, anything less would have been a letdown. The Teranex processor alone checked in at $49,500. Still, the memory of those images is an unmatched benchmark that haunts me with every digital projector I see. “
“Silicon Optix acquired Teranex in 2004, and since that time has managed to port the Teranex video processing elements most significant for home theater into the far more affordable and compact Realta HQV. The Realta is a fully field programmable gate array processor (future improvements can be downloaded to it in the field) that performs its manipulations at the pixel level. It employs greater than true 10-bit processing and is said to capable of over one trillion operations per second.”
“With my usual scaling torture tests,the DPX-1300 performed nearly flawlessly. It will come as no surprise that it turned in pristine performance on Silicon Optix´ own HQV Benchmark DVD. It sailed through the tests, including the assortment of odd video cadences than no other projector has ever passed through unscathed. I also saw no problems on an additional disc of real-world material that Silicon Optix sent along for the test. But the projector also performed superbly on an old Faroudja test DVD. It sailed through all the tests there as well, including an unflagged 3:2 pulldown sequence, which it locked onto immediately.”
“It´s hard to convey the experience of watching the DPX-1300 to those who haven´t seen it in action, and even if you have there´s less than a 50-50 chance you´ve seen it at its best. As easy as setup is with most any digital projector, there are enough adjustments on the Yamaha to tempt a dealer, even with the best of intentions, into a skewed setup. When I first saw the Yamaha in a Silicon Optix demonstration at the 2005 CEDIA EXPO last September, it blew me away. It was, without a doubt, one of the best, if not the best video display at the show.”
“On high-definition material the Yamaha often compelled me to sit down and watch program material that I normally wouldn´t bother with. Anyone for A Cinderella Story, which has been playing recently on HBO HD? I thought not. Some may find it a sweet updating of the old Brothers Grimm warhorse, others a vapid teen romantic comedy. It´s a little of both. I came in part way through as I was surfing across my cable system´s HD channels for some likely evaluation material, and was taken in by the visuals. It´s a relatively easy-on-the-projector piece of fluff. But it´s also full of visual detail, particularly in the scenes that take place at a high school Halloween dance and the car chase that follows. These are the darkest sequences in this brightly lit film, and the Yamaha handled them beautifully. I also discovered to my surprise, in fact, that the car chase was shot within a few miles of my house! Even in the scenes´ dim lighting I easily recognized several of the storefronts and street signs I drive past several times a week.”
“On a wide variety of HD television series, from Lost to CSI:
Miami , the DPX-1300 did far better than hold its own. It´s surprising how well photographed the best TV dramas are these days, and the quality was clearly visible on the Yamaha.”
“If you were to line up all the DLP projectors we´ve reviewed in the past couple of years, this is the one I´d choose to watch. The Yamaha DPX-1300 is the real deal.”
Highs
Outstanding picture quality
Unsurpassed scaling and deinterlacing
Click here to view entire review.
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