2200mp video settings and display

I don't have this projector but I've been doing a lot of research - maybe some of this information will help you.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF FIRST (EASY ANSWER AT THE END)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

480i (4:3) is regular TV

480p widescreen(16:9) is DVD or DTV quality

720p widescreen(16X9) is HDTV

1080i widescreen is also(16X9) HDTV

The 2200 MP cannot display true 480p/i, 720p/i, or 1080p/i in widescreen mode because the projector only supports 800X600 resolution. That means in wide screen mode the widest the screen can be is 800 which leaves only 450 lines of resolution. The projector basically resizes wide screen to fit resulting in a loss of quality.

Since regular TV format (4:3) is only 640X480 resolution, this is the only format this projector can natively support (without resizing).

The p/i is progressive/interlaced. The difference is the speed at which the image can be displayed to the output device. TV's in the past were not able to display images at relatively very high speeds so the image basically had to be split up into two parts - half the image (every other line) in 1/2 a frame, and the other half of the same image (the rest of the 'every other lines') in the next 1/2 frame. This is called interlaced.  As technology advanced the speed at which a device can display a picture increased. Progressive scan basically instead of displaying half the image twice a frame, it displays the entire image twice a frame resuliting in less flicker, brighter image, and more fluid movement.

Most DVD players can output in progressive mode, but according to Dell's website ( http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/acc/2200MP/en/about.htm) this projecter also has a hardware deinterlacer. That means it can take an interlaced signal and convert it to progressive. (it does this by putting together the two 'every other line' images and displaying them twice a frame)

Muliple posts around here state that people have problems when setting their DVD players to progressive scan mode. There seems to be a mysterious green line that appears in progressive scan mode then disappears when the DVD is switched to interlaced or pictures appear blurry or a little distorted.

I'm not sure why this is since the projector claims to support progressive scan. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the projector is set to use its internal hardware deinterlacer no matter what signal and gets confused when a progressive signal is sent to it and then it tries to decode the already decoded signal.

It seems to me though, if the projector is using a hardware deinterlacer to produce progressive scan from an interlaced signal, it shouldn't be any different than getting a progressive scan signal straight from the device. (If this is wrong please let me know, anyone)

This is all, of course, in theory because I don't actually own the projector yet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Going by the other posts and research, the EASY ANSWER to your question is three parts:

A) Since all widescreen formats will boil down to the same resolution theres no sense in worrying about what resolution the signal is coming from the DVD at.

B) Set the DVD player to NOT be progressive scan (turn progressive scan off) because even if it's an interlaced signal the hardware deinterlacer should take care of that.

C) enjoy your movies.

Thanks very much for the info!  I think alot of people (and I was one of them) think they need to have progressive scan to get the best possible picture.  But after reading your comment and looking into it a little more, it shouldn't matter (right?).  The deinterlacing hardware (also known as line doubler's) the Dell comes with actually waits for the interlaced odd and even numbered lines (1/30th of a second) and displays them both at the same time, therefore giving you a progressive scan image.  At least this is what I understand after reading more about it.  So maybe leaving progressive scan off is best.  Let the deinterlacer do it's job without adding more to complicate it.  It sounds like the complications people are having with a progressive scan DVD player.  I'm convinced to turn progressive off now, knowing my picture will be just as good or better.  Thanks for your help.

BTW, I just posted a question regarding 16:9 ratio's.  If you have time, take a look, maybe you can help me with the answers.