I have SONY VPL-HS20 projector that i use with my HDTV box that i was connecting through component until I bought a new DVI cable. After i tried this DVI cable i noticed a difference in pic quality, especially black levels... using component black levels are way better than DVI. Any ideas why this is happening? I was assuming that DVI should be better connection that component or at least on the same level.

Hey guys, read this discussion, looks like new Samsung HD931 with DVI output has exactly the same problem.... before i was thinking that this could be my cable (im planning to get a different cable and compare) but now i think that is the actual pioneer hd cable box from time warner that does that.

I have noticed this kind of discrepancy between black levels before, lately on Samsung satellite receivers that output both component and composite video at the same time.

I would not be too worried about it, but rather look at this situation as requiring setup of black level (and other picture details) for each type of signal. If your display device is a Sony TV, though, you might have a problem: the Picture setting might not change when you change inputs. I have seen projectors where each input has its own setup.

In fact, maybe the DVI signal is correct and your previous signal is incorrect. Your projector has been adjusted to look good with the component signal, and since the DVI signal is different, it looks different. Whoops! What about different setups for different inputs? Could it be that the DVI image simply needs setup, and its factory settings are not the best?

Try this: turn the Brightness way up on the component input, then switch to the DVI input and see if the Brightness is way up. If it is, then all your inputs will be affected by the way you set up one of the inputs. Maybe you can store presets in memories.

There are a couple potentila problems here.

1. The projectors isn't calibrated for the DVI input.

2. There are 2 standards for DVI: PC and Video. They both have an 8 bit range which gives you 256 commbinations. To keep it simple, some devices use the PC standard which 0 represents black and 255 represents white. In video we have below black and above white signals, so for DVI to accomodate this 16 is black and I forget but white is around 235 or 240.

These differences can easily make one device look different thant the other through the DVI port.

Hope this helps

Bob

Thanks for suggesdtins guys. My projectors remembers each inputs settings and even each wide view mode. So its pretty flexible. I will just play with my settings and try to setup a pic. The only thing is sony has pre-defined pic. settings like (cinema, regular etc.) so i thought itd be better to stick with those since those setting were defined by the computer.