DarbeeVision DVP5000S HDMI Video Processor with DARBEE Visual Presence Technology

A conflicted review. I had been reading about Darbee literally for years and wanted one of these to see for myself the effect.I use it on the output of my PS3 which goes into my Sony AVR (DN-1050).The product physically looks nice enough. It's annoying HDMI input and output is on opposite ends of the device, it just makes it ungainly.The effect:I totally see why people say it removes a haze from the image because that is precisely what it seems to do. It highlights highlights and does add more pop and depth information to the image.I settled on running it relatively low however, 20-25% on the Hi-def setting. Higher than this and I am too aware of the effect.It also does create the illusion of sharpening the picture although it is not sharpening the picture in the traditional sense.On my 55'' TV I can see the effect, its nice mostly noticeable on clothing and things like railings, facial hair but isn't ground breaking. Where its application really shines is on my HW40ES projector. I use min setting on reality creation and it is nice having it in films now and I wouldn't be without. Just tread a fine line of not cranking it too high.I have however had a few HDMI dropouts since installing the darbee and it only occurs on netflix from the PS3. When playing blu-rays I have had no problems. It is intermittent and impossible to predict, the screen goes black with audio loss for two seconds.I contacted Darbee and they didn't reply to me. They simply do not care as a company. For these two last issues I deduct a star.It's fine tuning for your setup, do not expect miracles as you will get none. If using on a TV I would only consider it at 55" diagonal sizes or above.I'd wait till its on sale @ £140 as I bought it at £159Edit it later transpired my Sony AVR hdmi board had failed so the dropouts may not have been from the darbee end. A lot cheaper now at £119! For this much why not.

The product itself works really well and adds a nice layer of selective sharpness. I'm using it on a Sony HW65ES projector with a 104" screen and it makes a significant difference. The great thing is that you can adjust the level of the effect in increments of 1% so can apply as much or as little as you like. Also has a very useful demo feature and split screen capability to see the difference without it switched on.However, one word of warning. A number of plug adaptors are provided to cover use in any country, BUT the UK adaptor is the only one that doesn't fit!!! I was lucky in that I have a US to UK transformer so had to use the US adaptor plugged into my transformer. Not ideal. I will be contacting Darbee requesting a replacement part.

I was thinking about upgrading my Optoma HD141x projector which is very good for the price but details were a bit soft. Instead I came across this Darbee unit and decided to give it a go. Easy to set up, I plugged my Roku streaming stick into the Darbee and into my projector and cranked on Netflix, the difference was quite noticeable, details in hair especially were greatly improved, and after playing with all the preset modes and manually changing the settings I found the best balance for my Optoma. I haven’t yet tried it with any other inputs but it has definitely improved the overall quality of the picture from my projector saving me the money of upgrading. Very happy with my purchase.

When it worked it did make the picture sharper and added more detail/depth to the picture. However, I bought it to run out of my Onkyo AV receiver into both my LCD TV and projector. But, my TV or PJ couldn't sync with it. So, put it between Xbox and AV amp and yes! Picture! However, and this doesn't make any sense?? The Darbee caused my Xbox to continuously sign me out.... So, had to return it.

Not really suitable for broadcast HD material as found it gives it an unnatural, overly processed look. It does introduce some additional detail to imagery but on particularly busy sequences such as foliage or crowd scenes in live sports it looked worse, far too busy than the original. I would describe using it for broadcast TV as if you had an additional dial to set your TV sharpness and contrast to 120%.Gaming however was a different story definitely gave the picture a bit more edge and pop but frankly wasn't enough of a big deal for me to justify paying over £150 so returned it.A nice idea and some people might enjoy the look but not for me.

Does improve non 4k content visually which is pleasing, especially older lower quality resolutions. The effect can be adjusted for personal preference. Not a miracle worker by any stretch and a bit expensive for what it is. Useful addition to those setups not yet upgraded to 4k.

Not impressed Video is ok but nothing to write homed about. Easy to install but poor set up instructions. Have problems with not detecting video signal. Seams to be ok for an old tv not the modern ones on the market now with 4K and arc Also there help desk is useless very slow to respond.My advice would be don't buy until they have a unit that is 4K compatible and fit for today modern technoligy

Works great with DLP projector.Adds that bit of depth.Having read many reviews I decided to go for this, having had it for a year it was good move and great addition to my projector set up.This isn’t for normal TVs or any new decent TVs.