Anybody Test This New DVD Back-up Procedure?

[nwg]

Since I watch all my movies at 80 Inches on a projector any compression shows up and renders the movie unwatchable.

They can't be very good DVD with good bitrate to start with. I can get perfectly good results at 50% on my old model projector (also 80" screen). These would be PAL with higher bitrate than NTSC.

My old computer (XP 2000/512MB RAM) did DVD-RB jobs in 12 hours. It still takes up to 6 hours with Procoder and a AMD 64 3700/2GB RAM.

[toomanycats]

I guess it what your used to. If you still using the Panasonic AE-100 with 858 x 484 resolution and are satisfied with that you would be able to tolerate 50% compression. My Sanyo is 1024 X 768 (PLCXW-15) and I will be upgrading as even though the screen door effect is not as great as on your Panasonic, I still notice it on my Sanyo (mostly on the white sections of playback). I use a Zenith DVB-318 which upscales to 1080i and the Sanyo accepts that signal and produes a slight better picture (even though the Sanyo is not 1080i on the vertical). I had a TV repair shop for 8 years and my eyes have become very discerning (too much so) so the slight artifacts bother me. Judging by what you sound system is I believe you know what I mean. I really like the B+W speakers but am surprized you went to a solid state amp from a valve amp. I use a Sony surround amp for Home Theatre but I use 1960 Scott LC290 with the matching pre-amp for music.

[nwg]

Even though the Panny AE100 is years old. It still produces a excellent picture. I won't be upgrading to a HD Projector until HD-DVD takes off more and while discs are cheap (as low as £12). The hardware is to expensive. I expect to be in HD in a few years.

I haven't had much experience with upscaling and HD but one thing you don't want is upscaling then downscaling. Upscaling players are a waste if the TV/projector already does it. Also, the scaler in the display device will usually be better than a DVD player. I can feed a HD signal into my AE100 but it will downscale to the 854 x 480.

The valve amp while had good sound wasnot practical for my needs (I had my computer running on it). It also made my room very hot and it is usually hot anyway. I had a different Technics amp and separates 20 years ago and decided to start another Technics stack. The amp actuallys suits the 601's very well. I also get comments from people who have valve amps how surprising good it is.