May 26, 2004

I  would like to add to my previous comment.  Even though the "Movie" choice from the setup menu gives a darker picture the "User" setup can be modified, and the brightness adjusted.  This did give a brighter picture. I  felt I  should add this comment. 

I was experiencing the same issue, It seemed great for bright movies but the contrast was poor for "dark" movies.  Here is what I did to fix it in my case.      I was using a 30ft  inexpensive S-Video cable to connect to my DVD player,  I moved the DVD player near the projector and switched to component or HDTV cables and it made all the difference in the world. 

DSkrivan

Sorry to hear about everybody's issues with their projector. I LOVE my Dell 3300MP!!!! A few things:

The connection type is a big issue. Try to use the RGB/DVI connections when possible. The component are nice but can not match the RGB/DVI. I use a 5m DVI cable connecting the projector to a Samsung DirectTV HD and compared it to the component connections and it truely is like night and day.

Screen type is another issue. A wall (even though white) will not produce the correct picture quality or give the image the best brightness. Screen are EXPENSIVE, so I recommend www.screengoo.com. They sell paint for your wall that produces a near perfect 'screen-like' image-I swear (search the net and you will see that other agree).You put in your projectore type, the ambient light of the room, and your ideal screen size and it gives you the correct paint to buy from them (usually a grey form of a digital base coat and a form of a grey digital topcoat). I have a 88 inch screen on the wall 4:3 and it only cost about $100 total!

Another idea, related to the previous item is ambient room light; just a little light makes a darker looking picture.

Lastly, try a calibration DVD using the "User Mode" color mode. I used the Sound & Vision one. It will really allow you to not only fine tune the image based on your set-up, but when you are done you will really see the benefits of your nice Dell 300MP.

Hope these tips help somebody.

Thanks for the post. Ares RGB and DVI the same connection? I  thought that Component video connection was the best option.

Raj

Most experts, of which I am not, would say that DVI and RGB/component are the same, and they really are. DVI is a 'pure' digital signal while RGB and component are the analog forms of that same digital signal. It is all personnal preference, I guess

I guess a little confusion arised from your last post when you recommend RGB/DVI. Since RGB means coonection for Red/Gren/Blue RCA Component Video. I think you were referring the pure digital DVI connection which will be a Cable terminated with M1-DA connector to DVI connector. M1-DA connects to Dell Projector and DVI will connect to the DVD Player source. Dell sells this cable separately.

Please make sure my understanding was correct.

When I was referring to RGB I meant the 15 pin connection, commonly called a VGA connection. Most HD receivers have a DVI, RGB, and Component connections. They call this 15-pin connector RGB because it is analog like the component connection, which has the wires red, green, and blue, thus the name.

So you are connecting the RGB (15 Pin DSub) connection at Source (Smasung Direct TV) and M1-DA connection at Projector. right!!

Also did you ever connected this RGB (15 pin DSub)  to a DVD player. My problem is that I also like to avoid Analog Componenet vdieo. So what I know that the only pure Digital output from DVD player is only the DVI output Only Samsung, Bravo and Momitsu are the ones having this nice feature. However there are issues with Dell for HDCP compliance. But it will be nice to know if any DVD player are coming with RCG (15 pin DSub), same like we connect our monitors with PC.

Thanks.

Actually, the new samsung DirectTV receiver has component inputs, so I run my xbox into the samsung receiver then out thru RGB to the projector. I set the receiver to 720p and the projector displays in 720p. It is not a true HD picture but it looks better than my progreessive scan dvd player in my other room. The Bravo D2 is the way to go if you use a DVI switch box (about $250) and connect the samsung via DVI**.

** side note- the samsung is HDCP compliant, however, directTV has not turned it on yet and probably won't do so for years so it functions very nicely; VOOM on the other hand....I have to use a M1 to component adapter to view their programming