Darbee Darblet

[gadgtfreek]

Well, when this little device first came out I shrugged and rolled my eyes. I felt we were heading into another area like most of those useless video enhancements you are supposed to turn off on displays and blu-ray players.

Some time has passed now, and the darn thing is getting good reviews from a lot of respected people, and I have seen almost zero unhappy owners. A shipment is expected this week and Im trying to get one, they have a new FW version installed that fixes an RGB output issue. I still remain skeptical, but it's easy on and off so comparison should be easy to see if it works.

A Plug and Play accessory to enhance your HDMI video entertainment. Darbee Visual Presence™ (DVP™) technology establishes a fundamental breakthrough for image realism. By embedding 2D and 3D pictures with depth information, a new visual experience is born.

Images actually help you to see them better.

Enabled by parallel processing in a single chip, DVP™ represents the next gneration of computational image processing for depth and realism. Your eyes will thank you!

Darbee Visual Presence | Computational Image Enhancement Technology | Embed Depth and Realism in 2D Images | A Revolutionary and Patented Image Enhancement Discovery

 

[gadgtfreek]

Spoke with AVS Sales, Im all set. New shipment arrives 8/1 to 8/2, so I should have it next week. It'll be an easy setup, pretty much everyone is using the same mode and 40-50% setting. Im just gonna throw that mode on and use 45%.

 

[dfergie]

Interesting, let us know how it works!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Well, so far Josh Z at HDD, Widescreen Review and a well known calibrator have all spoken well. And they say it doesnt alter anything calibration related like color and grayscale, so thats good too. According to Darbee, more of them are going to be reviewed, maybe Home Theater Mag will get one.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Kris Deering from Home Theater Mag just responded at AVS, to someone who has said negative things about the Darblet without ever seeing it in action. Sounds like more positive news, and I'll guess we will be seeing it in HTM soon.

Darbee vision darblet

With the Darblet properly dialed in it looks nothing like the processing shown on the website. That is a pretty poor example of how it can look and is more representative of turning on the most aggressive mode to its highest level. With the right settings the results are vastly different with a far more subtle effect. The Darblet is definitely not a sharpening tool in the traditional sense and acts NOTHING like the detail enhancement or sharpness settings on a display. I just completed a review of the Darblet and many of my sentiments and concerns going into the review based on the information on hand and their website were very almost identical to what you've expressed here. But my thoughts on the matter now are completely different and I'm glad I gave the Darblet a look.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Shipped. Should have Sat/Mon

 

[gadgtfreek]

Buyer beware. There is currently some form of handshake issue between the Darblet and Lumagen VP's. If I understand it correctly, they are in contact with each other and Lumagen may issue a FW update.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I like it so far. I cant get the results to show in a pic, but Ive been pausing food shots on Food Network and peoples faces. When going from off to HD Mode 50%, it snaps things more into focus, and seems to give colors more gradiation. I think that is what helping to make the image stand out a little more. Some parts of the screen it has zero effect, but with an up close shot of someones face, the hair gets more depth and detail, as well as their skin. Pretty neat.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Found another good still to try out. Watching Aliens on Cinemax right now, and there was a good spot where Hudson was on screen, from waist up. I paused it, and the Darbee ON really sharpened up his entire image, especially uniform and helmet detail. Another cool thing it did was bring out more detail in the camo on his Marine armor. With it off, the camo seemed to be more of a blend of the same color, but when you turn it on, the darker splotches stood out more from the lighter colors, so it looked more like real camo. Pretty neat. Once again, I currently like the effect, but not sure it's worth $269, and I wonder if they market the software/hardware to be built into later devices like AVR's.

 

[tigerfan33]

What about sports and bright outdoor HDTV scenes? How big of a difference with/without?

 

[gadgtfreek]

gonna take some time to eval.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ok, now for the problems. While watching some dvr'd recordings, on channels that might show more compression, the edginess that the Darbee creates really asses up the image IMO. I actually had to cut it off on several shows, to improve the PQ. Now, I've read it may not be for all sources, then some say it is, but the last thing I want is something I have to start watching a show with, to determine whether it needs to be off or on.

So, it surely isnt one size fits all with my plasma (Ive heard the results are more geared to large projectors because of the way the inherently display images, and thats from a Jeff Meier and others), and Im not sure I wanna deal with cutting it on and off as needed. Little more work than Im interested in

So, as of now, I may not be keeping.

 

[tigerfan33]

Yep. More I read the more it seems to be for large screen projectors with short throws. The demo I saw on YouTube was amazing the amount of detail that it did show from off to on.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yepp. Thats what the pro calibrators I talked to told me before I bought it. Im not too familiar with projectors, but the issue the introduce is both helps by JVC's E-Shift, and then the Darbee seems to help as well.

 

[tigerfan33]

Just got mine yesterday.
Feed it to my fp and it really sharpens the pic without the artifacts.

As previsiouly stated, these are really made for fp. I tried it on my LCD and plasma first with minimal results.
Put it on a 110" screen and it begins to sing!
Is it a game changer like sd to hd? No. Does it sharpen image and give deeper depth to the pic? Yes

Am I keeping mine? You bet your bottom dollar!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Hometheater.com

 

[Tampa8]

My results using the Darbee on my 55" LCD LG TV....

Very nice improvement. I do not buy any of these type gadgets/enhancers but creditable reviews made me try it. Once you get the best setting, for me seems to be about what most are saying - 50% Game (Or 50% HD) it does not look artificial or over processed. Grass, people's facial hair or imperfections, designs on ties or clothing, background trees all have more detail and stand out more.
It won't make a bad source look better, in fact most likely will make it look worse. But from Dish, or Blu-ray, and even my Roku I feel it does what it says it will. In certain scenes it can be "Wow" in others not so noticeable. But turn it off and you can see how much detail it adds.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am getting interested the the Darbee...

Have there been any updates? Anyone else have one? What do you think? I might just pick one up.

 

[primetimeguy]

Just enjoying mine. Convinced a buddy to get one for his 110" screen after I let him borrow mine.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Mine just arrived, my wife surprised me at lunch with it. (I have the best wife).

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