I have had my projector basically finished for the past few weeks but haven't had a lot of time to fiddle around with it. At first I watched dvd's through my N6 unit, but when I experimented with a direct pc hookup I found the image to be much better and the screen door effect was considerably lessened. But I am wandering, basically the biggest problem that I am having is that in movies like LOTR it is to dark. It is not a lighting problem because everything else looks great. I have done a lot of adjusting on the lcd and the nvidia display properties, but has anyone found a good dvd-player program that produces a nice image?

my 512N looks great .... and I can honestly say that my picture quality appears sharper and of higher quality on darker scenes. One in particular is the scene in ROTK where frodo, sam, and golem climb the long stair case leading towards the cave with the big spider.

So ..... what are your brightenss and contrast settings set at. Turning the contrast all the way up (or down there is no particular polarity with contrast adjustment) will yeild a completly dark picture when it shouldnt be. Turn everything to default settings (on monitor and in DVD playback software on your PC) and see what the dark scenes look like then.

Just as an aside, what settings are you using on your 512N? Have you done any PC setting changes?

What video card and capture card are you using?

Sounds to me like you need to adjust your gamma and contrast. Try using one of those monitor adjustment programs or websites. Your contrast might be too high, or your gamma might be set too low. Try experimenting with each, but I'd try the gamma first. You don't want to have to reduce contrast if you don't have to.

ive got the same monitor and with the adjustments available in most video cards, you can adjust the properties of the overlayed image ( dvd, movies etc...) try running PowerDVD and adjust the settings in it too. after tweaking it looks a lot better.

EDIT

also look into a program called Powerstrip http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm

its got lots of nice settings for adjusting your video card settings, ie color, gamma, oc, etc....

PowerDVD is good but you should try WinDVD 6. The best by far. I think other forum members will agree with that.

Hey thanks for the great input, I quit my job yesterday so I had some time to play around with my projector today. I adjusted the contrast and brightness with the nvidia software, I have an ti4200 in my htpc right now. I finally was able to get a good image in the dark scenes. So everything is looking pretty good. I downloaded the trial version of WinDVD6 platinum version, and I am thinking about buying one of them, but is there much of a difference between the two versions?
Also for those that have the 512, have you noticed a line that goes through through the screne just above the middle?

no notice of a line there ......

WinDVD is not superior to PowerDVD .... In fact I like powerDVDs interface much better, however WinDVD has a built in Gamma Control that PowerDVD does not have. And gamma control is our Best friend.

It really all depends on your video card, and if you can modify the video layer as another person mentioned. If you can modify it with drivers/card software, then your PowerDVD image could look better than a WinDVD image. The Situation is just different for everyone.

cough*bittorrent*cough

First rule of bittorrent: never talk about bittorrent.

I have the Benq 557s v2 and the skin tone on peoples face is red on this monitor...has anyone noticed this?All the software powerdvd and wmp all give red face and cant adjust it,but with windvd trial version no tweaking the skin tones are white more normal.

The greatest thing since NAPSTER first came out 7 years ago (or however long)