Notice most the people that really know their stuff won't give you a straight answer on questions like this. But you can be completely confident in the fact that this is my opinion, and I don't know what I am talking about.

I appriciate the input, you seem to be doing OK :). My thought is that if I really enjoy the projector setup over the next few months, chances are I'll upgrade. This is kind of an experiment to see how much I like or dislike the projector setup.

It seems that Carada screens are pretty reasonable, so I may just go the 16:9 route with that, with the idea that I'll probably upgrade (like you said). We'll see though...

Also, I can 3rd the Mike recommendation, they even called to confirm my address before it shipped, which was nice.

"My favorite stuff is sports, Boxing, Football, baseball. You see plenty of good material in 4.3. "

Depending on where you live you may not even have access to a 16x9 signal outside of DVDs. I know personally for me, of the major networks in my area only ABC broadcasts a HD signal, and the others have no plans to upgrade, ever. The law only requires a digital signal, so a lot of stations may take a while to change to start broadcasting in HD (be it 720p, 1080i or 480p).

NEO2000 that's too bad. I'm really surprised it was left without a signature. I think I recall my UPS driver saying, "wait this requires a signature" before he left. I can't believe the company would even ship it without requiring that no matter what.

Actually the law only applies to over the air signals. So cable companies don't even have to go digital. Its just the over the air signals that have to be digital. I had a guy at a AV shop tell me everything had to be HD by 2005 and thats why I needed a high res PJ. I knew that sounded fishy but figured he knew better then me. Googled it and found out he was just trying to get me to spend more money on me PJ! Argh Laddies.

Good one hikarate :) Yep you have to wonder how many times Tom and the other experts roll their eyes per day while people like you and me a handing out advice :D

I just finished my 4:3 DIY screen at about 2:30AM this morning (yawn) 64x48", 80" diagonal, 1x3 wood frame, blackout cloth from Joannes fabrics. Probably took me total about 3 hours cause I had to pry out 20 staples and start over once. Total investment was about $45. I think it turned out great but then I haven't projected on it yet :)

thanks to all those who contribute to the avs forum. the last projector i bought was the sony hs10. i got the info and research from these forums and i wasnt disappointed. i had all set up just as i wanted and then we moved...now i'm on theater #2...
i got my h30 thru dell yesterday...i ordered it hoping the delay was accurate cause we're still finishing the sheetrocking, but oh well...

i did a temporary setup in the guest bedroom to make sure all my equipment works...
my first thoughts...
picture is good, HS10 was a bit better. i noticed a couple things you guys have touched on... different formats raise and lower the image in 16.9. seems in LOTR the fellowship extended, the best 16.9 picture is actually in "native 4.3" ...wierd... the other 16.9 settings make everyone look short and wide.
the second thing is the heat output... this thing is hot!!! 15 minutes on a tabletop and i could've cooked dinner on it...

any others find the same thing?

Your DVD player is setup wrong. Go in the menu's and set display to 16.9 no matter if you use a 4.3 or 16.9 screen.

In the 30-45 minutes I had mine running yesterday I didn't notice it getting that hot. It sure did stink though. My wife came down the basement 3 hours later (I'm hiding it from her till everythings done) and she immediately said "what smells like burnt plastic?" :)

Originally posted by gottahavapj
Total investment was about $45. I think it turned out great but then I haven't projected on it yet :)

Well I think it looks amazing just on the wall. I am sure there are benefits to using a screen, but you have to pay for them ($$), thats the trick. I'm sure it will look awesome after you get your PJ mounted. I had to get a pull down since I am keeping my TV so the DIY solution wasn't an option. 45 bucks? Thats less than 1/10 my 84" screen price.
Man that just plain rules.

i'll run it thru some paces tonight... some to think of it, i might not have set the dvd player to send thru progressive... that might clean up some of the graininess. ive been trying to keep up with the posts, but did someone say that there is a new bulb manufacturer on board now so we shouldnt have to worry about the short bulb life?

Ya, same here exactly all counts...

neo, man I can't belive that!! I am so sorry.
I would ask to speak to the u.p.s driver himself and ask him "Where did you leave it?" or maybe "Are you a moron?"
This box is big and LOOKS valuble it says fragile and optoma all over it. NOBODY sane would just leave this on a step and walk away.
hang in there bud...

The new plastic smell is normal, it went away in a couple of hours totally. Allot of projectors manuals give warning on the first startup. The Z9000 & Z90's manuals have the warning.

I can't imagine the HS10 looking better than the H30. I've seen the HS10, just doesn't have the blacks. Plus the fact that you're losing 33% resolution by not having your DVD player setup correctly. Always 16.9 in display setup, this is how you take advantage of the anamorphic squeeze. That's with displays that handle the squeeze.
Your old 4.3 TV won't do it so there you setup in 4.3letterbox

hikarate-

I'm sure your Carada will out perform this here homemade thing. I just wanted to start low budget. There is some interesting stuff over in the screens forum where these guys are a bunch of little paint mixer, mad scientist types. I may down the road try painting that cloth screen with some aluminium looking paint that is supposed to just make the picture leap off the screen. They are trying to figure out how to eliminate hot spotting the last I checked. Then if I screw that up I just throw away the screen I got my use out of and buy a Carada. Who knows? I'll change my mind 20 times in the next year anyway :)

Originally posted by guitarman
The new plastic smell is normal, it went away in a couple of hours totally. Allot of projectors manuals give warning on the first startup. The Z9000 & Z90's manuals have the warning.
Thanks Tom- good to know...

Hehe , I was just about to say the same thing .

--- There is no way the HS10 looks better than the H30 [ I have seen an HS10 in action as well and it cannot compete IMO ] .

--- I think the Optoma H30 is ok out of the box but properly calibrated it becomes GREAT :) !

--- Looks like Infocus plans to take some of the H30's market-share with that MSRP .

-------- Jason

like i said... i come here for advise...this is where the big dogs play...of course the bigger dogs hang in the over 3500 forum, but not all of us are blessed with such wealth ;)

btw, i'm using parkland plastic 4*8 sheeting contact cemented to a 4*8 sheet of melamine...total cost $20... trim 11 inches off and you have 8 ft diagonal screen... of course thats info i got from avs a few yrs back... makes a great rigid screen...

and the mount is the ceiling speaker mount combo with the mud hawk plate... also from this forum....

this site has saved me enough to pick up the buttkicker LFE and amp this time... and i'm still a month from finishing the basement... dang

Actually Revans I think the H30 brought some of the over 3500 crowd here as well.

- Gotta, I have a Dalite HP, not a Carada, but I know what you are saying :)

"Looks like Infocus plans to take some of the H30's market-share with that MSRP ."

And the guys over in the 4805 thread can thank our little gathering for helping to keep the 4805 down where it was initially supposed to be. Just incase the IF marketing guys had any ideas. ;)

Tom ,
--- I am certain that IF plans to steal the H30's thunder with the 4805 .
--- The bad thing is that Optoma has to know this and yet we are still seeing low production shortages on the H30 .
--- I would think that Optoma would want to have the H30's rolling as fast as possible before the 4805 hits retail .

-------------- Jason

Wing's over there in TW right now. Bet they're working on their 852X480.

Originally posted by goillini
"As I stated regular TV is aweful blown up that big. So a wideVGA projector is perfect, of course more pixels would be better, but not for the price. Plus the DCDi will make TV look much better."

Maybe I'm incorrect but aren't DVDs and TV both 480i signals? I believe this is true which means if you have bad tv display it's most likely something with the signal source or deinterlacer. My point is simply that the 4805 is not a long term projector, as well as the H30. So why not take the cheaper one that's available now? If you wait on the 4805 you only run into more new projectors and more HD signal. In that case you might as well wait to get a WXGA DLP projector when they come down in price.

The TV standard is I believe 525 lines with 480 left over after bandwidth used for other stuff, simple explanation. Anyway, that's just the standard. TV broadcast over a cable never gets to you with nearly that resolution. Anyway, even dish network may be technically 480i, but their signal is so compressed it looks terrible blown up on the big screen. Actually TV that I was referring too is the digital cable/dish, it's really aweful blown up big, try it for yourself. Way to much compression artifacts.

4.3 Direct TV looks great on the HT1000 and very good on the H30. Compression artifacts are more active on my 16.9 RPTV.

I've been around 4.3 digital projectors for a while. Yes the NEC LT150 scaled 4.3 poorly and the Seleco HT200. The Sharp Z90 wouldn't hv been too bad if it didn't have such a stark screen door.

Big difference now with the HT1000 and H30. 120" diagonal 4.3 (I like it). :)

"The TV standard is I believe 525 lines with 480 left over after bandwidth used for other stuff, simple explanation. Anyway, that's just the standard. TV broadcast over a cable never gets to you with nearly that resolution. Anyway, even dish network may be technically 480i, but their signal is so compressed it looks terrible blown up on the big screen. Actually TV that I was referring too is the digital cable/dish, it's really aweful blown up big, try it for yourself. Way to much compression artifacts."

Perhaps it's time to upgrade to a superdish from dish network then? I have no experience with cable, I switched over from the dark side years ago, so I can't comment on their quality, but I have a hard time believing digital cable would look bad. I can say that the TV looks great to me on the H30 with my superdish. However you look at it though, with a quality tv signal you should get good image. I mean you can feed a bad SDTV signal to a plasma and it looks like crap that doesn't mean the plasma is bad at displaying TV .... right?

the old saying goes and it is gospel


crap in crap out , it is very simple ;)

the second thing is the heat output... this thing is hot!!! 15 minutes on a tabletop and i could've cooked dinner on it


yep- blazin' I didn't notice any smell but i did notice this boy got really, really hot to the touch- was on for maybe an hour.

rudee

Man... I was going to get on here and complain that FedEx wasn't able to deliver my package without a signature (a good thing) but that I now have to wait until Tuesday to even be able to pick it up... but then I read NEO's post and I'm gonna have to say he wins on the "well ain't that just a sh!tter" award.... Now I can't complain. I just hope its not broken.... On average, how many people have had to ship back their first H30?

i'll have to retract my 1st post... i was tired last night and forgot to set the dvd to progressive and switch it to 16.9... now with a bit of tweaking, it looks great. not leaps and bounds over the hs10, but it has better blacks so well worth the $. It looks great tom... thanks for steering us in the right direction....

now about those bizarre bulb failures and the strange amount of heat... does wing say anything about those two items?

Rich

Wow, my unit shipped yesterday (4/21). My original Dell order was 3/23. I cancelled it cuz I was paying full boat price. It did show as cancelled in my account status page. I then reordered on 4/15 got 10% off the 1399 and 0% interest till 2005 and it shipped on 4/21. It originally said "ship on or before 5/17". I'm stoked!!! It'll arrive tomorrow 4/23. I just bought Master & C. on DVD, so I'll watch that Friday evening. Oh yeah, the NFL draft on Directv, Sat., Nascar Talladega race on Sunday! Oh yeah and I have a 55" Mits....anyone want to buy it. haha

Question. These Avia setup DVD's, they have three kinds. One is real cheap. One is 49 bucks. One is very expensive. Which one do I need for home setups??

Dillinger ,
--- You want the $49 AVIA .
----- Jason

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
Dillinger ,
--- You want the $49 AVIA .
----- Jason

Isn't there anything more up to date? That was made in 1999? I have the video essentials, but it doesn't do much good for a digital projector.

Wow, I ordered my unit Monday 4/19 got 10% off the 1399 and 0% interest till 2005 and it arrived today. I wasn't expecting it for a couple of weeks. Then today the DHL guy pulls up to my house. It originally said "ship on or before 5/17". I have a 58" Pioneer....anyone want to buy it. I ordered the moakes screen and the Blaine mount that is available on ebay. I am excited! My first projector after sitting on the fence for about a year. After all I read, I felt this will be the projector to get until HD-DVD players are available and those affordable 1080P projectors!

As soon as I get everything set-up I will report back. A big Thank you to everyone on the form!

Originally posted by goillini
"The TV standard is I believe 525 lines with 480 left over after bandwidth used for other stuff, simple explanation. Anyway, that's just the standard. TV broadcast over a cable never gets to you with nearly that resolution. Anyway, even dish network may be technically 480i, but their signal is so compressed it looks terrible blown up on the big screen. Actually TV that I was referring too is the digital cable/dish, it's really aweful blown up big, try it for yourself. Way to much compression artifacts."

Perhaps it's time to upgrade to a superdish from dish network then? I have no experience with cable, I switched over from the dark side years ago, so I can't comment on their quality, but I have a hard time believing digital cable would look bad. I can say that the TV looks great to me on the H30 with my superdish. However you look at it though, with a quality tv signal you should get good image. I mean you can feed a bad SDTV signal to a plasma and it looks like crap that doesn't mean the plasma is bad at displaying TV .... right?

I'm not quite sure what you mean about a superdish, all dish network uses the same MPEG2 compression, I had the PVR. The darkside? Dish Network wanting $1000 for what my cable company gives me for an extra $10 a month is the dark side. Some channels like PPV look better than others. I imagine they get more bandwidth. I switched back to my local cable because they offer HDTV, DVR and hundreds of channels for cheaper than I was paying for 50 channels,. HDTV looks incredible, but unless you are blind, you can't tell me regular TV or dish network looks good at 100" or more. I guess if you sit 20 feet away maybe.

Originally posted by rsmith4321
Isn't there anything more up to date? That was made in 1999? I have the video essentials, but it doesn't do much good for a digital projector.

Avia's still pretty good, but you could get Digital Video Essentials for about $20.

I have had DVE for several months now and used it to set speaker levels but have never even looked at any of the video chapters :) Are there any that are especially useful with an H30 or other digital projector? Any tests that are not even worth attempting?

Thanks!

Mine finally shipped!!!! I feel like giving out the tracking number so that those of us who still haven't got it shipped can comfort themselves by checking on it every 5 minutes, but that may qualify as a "cruel and unusual punishment." :)

Thanks everyone, especially Tom, Jason, and Mike, for all your help.

Tom,

I was talking to Jason of AVS to dedice between the Matt White and HP and decided to shy away from HP because I wanted at least 30 degrees of viewing angle. Then I learned about the High Contrast Matt White (not HCCV, which you recommended against before).

Do you know enough about HCMW to compare it to plain Matt White in terms of constrast, color, and wave-resistance?

Thanks again.

what type of screen are you getting

lets say you are ceiling mount it or wall mounting it go with the cinama vision and if you are going with a pull down well that is a different story

"Do you know enough about HCMW to compare it to plain Matt White in terms of constrast, color, and wave-resistance?"

Total wave machine just like Video Spectra, :)

That's if used in a non tensioned pull down. If you getting a pull down screen stick with HP or mat white.

Sorry to interupt everyone. Just wanted to announce my good and bad news. I just got my H30 today (yea!). I was very anxious to hook it up and get it set up. I unwrapped it, put it in its place, hooked up all the cables and switched it on. Then I popped in The Fifth Element and began to watch. A little ways into the movie I started noticing the dreaded rainbow effect. I tried to ignore it to no avail. I saw them wherever I looked (and felt them in my head). I must be super sensitive to them. I wouldn't be surprised if my new glasses had something to do with it (I have a massive astygmatism correction). It's weird since I haven't noticed rainbows much until I had these new glasses. I even tried other movies and shrinking the picture size with no luck. Alas, I am forced to take the fork in the road back to LCD (anyone still looking for an H30?). I have to say that I am very upset. On the up side, the picture quality is great. Exceeds my old L300 that I had by a long shot. Those of you who aren't sensitive to seeing rainbows take a chance on this PJ. You WON'T be dissapointed.

Just had to share the news.

Thank you. Matt white, 80x60 pull-down, it shall be.

I wish I could afford a fixed screen, but the budget is < $200. :(

Sorry you had rb Anubis

deepdiscountdvd has a good price on Avia, and pretty much every other dvd you could possibly want.

Clamrade,
Check this post by jw15851 in the screens forum concerning Dalite HP:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=261808

I didn't know about that thread when I ordered my HP, but luckily Tom guided me the right way. Not that Jason is wrong about the 30% cone, but it is nowhere near as drastic as an RPTV, and if you never are in the cone in the first place (high ceiling mount), it is really a nul issue as the fall off rate after you exit the 30% is barely noticeable. Good screenshots and even a video pan. Considering this nearly eliminates waves, I think it is a great choice. Also Tyg has some high end screen comparisons and he threw in the HP, it did extremely well against screens more than twice its price.
The 30% cone sounds scary, but I think that thread will calm your nerves.

BTW guys, I got my screen hung! Now I just have to wait and see if my house comes crashing down or not. I think I got both screws in the joists. Hopefully have this baby up by the weekend :)

Wow! Great info. I think I am sold on the HP. Thanks.

Greetings all- I'm typing this in REALLY big letters as I just hooked up the PC temporarily to the H30 to test VGA connection. Having trouble getting component from my DVD changer to go through the adapter that came with the H30 into a VGA switchbox... hmmmm.. I'll fight with it.

Even a stinking VCR tape via composite looked OK to me tonight. I really must not be fussy. :)

.

Originally posted by MikeSRC
Avia's still pretty good, but you could get Digital Video Essentials for about $20.


Digital Video Essentials is indeed much cheaper. Is it as good as AVIA, though?

PLEASE, PLEASE... Can anyone post an image of H30 working with a HTPC or with a computer at 1024 pixels???

Or with an HDTV 720p

Please is the only i need to see for buy one...

OK. Back with some brief impressions and a couple of questions. To start, as a first time FPj owner, it is quite impressive how far things have come in a relatively short time. From the first time I walked into a "personal home theater" demonstration, I knew I wanted to set one up for myself. While I am a couple of years away, I got the H30 to experiment with and become my theater pj until an eventual - "sub 3500" upgrade.

The pj out of the box is quite impressive. Throwing an 80" or so image across the bedroom was entertaining as I sampled a variety of DVDs. And this is on an off-white wall. I can imagine after tweaking and providing a better screen, the image will be that much better.

I only have a couple of concerns. One is that I did get a bit of rbe. I believe it was due to the picture being a bit large for my viewing distance plus we were shooting onto the left wall and doing some rather extreme off-axis viewing. I don't anticipate it being a considerable problem but will see as things go forward.

The other thing is I couldn't get through several minutes without the pj reporting "lost signal" before dropping to a black background with a green bar across the top. No amount of resynching seemed to help and the only recourse was to power down, wait for the bulb to cool/reset and try again. It did this four times on my old Tosh 480i component output DVD player.

I will dig back through this thread, but has anyone else had this problem?

The only other thing special about this setup was that I was simultaneously feeding a composite and audio out to my TV in the room for sound since I don't have any speakers set up yet. Also I was using regular AV cables (Yellow/Red/White) instead of "component" cables, but they are pretty heavy gauge. I will probably try to omit the second feed to the TV first, but I will need an audio solution...

Well off to vacation shortly, but I will try to follow this thread while I am away.

Take care all,
cyph

Hey guys,

Does the "lost signal" green bar problem have anything to do with having a signal coming into the PJ before the PJ is warmed up? It says in the manual to always turn on the H30 first. I am just wondering if the folks who get this problem have a live signal coming into the pj before it scans the inputs?
Hey my ceiling didn't fall in last night, I think my screen is up for good :)

With the H30 one can either use the component adapter at the projector or near the dvd player.

What is the best way to go:
25 ft 3 way component cable?
25 ft vga hq cable?

By the way, I ordered the http://www.peterfinzel.de/ test dvd and while it is german it doesn't fit everybodies language skills, it seems to me a very good and the best structured dvd test I have seen. (tried avia and dve). Cost me some 22 euros
I am no profesional but the DVE menu structure is sooo bad...

Total wave machine just like Video Spectra,



the video spectra is a good material but if you get the Video Spectra i would get it only in the model c , you agree tom

I was up until 2:30 a.m. watching the H30 on a white wall. I took it out of the box and hooked up PS2. I played Need for Speed on PS2, watched Blue Crush, a black and white movie and some 4:3 TV via cable. No rainbows and a great picture. I can't wait until I get everything hooked up proper and calibrated with Avia. The 4:3 High Power pull down screen is a tempting idea.

Hi,

I know there are few posts about xbox with H30 but i need straight answers asap and i hope u can help me.


1. I have optoma H30 connected to my Xbox vid Microsoft Advanced HD pack (component).
2. I changed the region of the box from PAL to NTSC (pal doesnt support component).
3. I activated 480p/7x0p/1080i support in the msdashboard.

Somtimes the picture is DUAL but only in the xbox menus. After few secs i get msg lost signal and then after resync the pictures is normal. All games i tested worked and its better Q compared to S-video.

BUT how do i actually now that 480p or 7x0p is sent to the H30 ? I have seen some other PJ´s actually showing status on the screen on signal they get but on H30 it just shows resolution 60hz and mode 49. Anyone who can explain these different "modes" like mode 49? What do they mean?

So conclusion :) How do i verify the type of signal sent from my XBOX to H30 ?


thanks!

I finally got component from my DVD changer working this morning. The picture looks definitely more muted and soft than the same DVD image via svideo when I switch back and forth. Is that normal or does my Onkyo DVD changer just suck? :) I'm hoping I can do a custom user setting to brighten up the image a bit via component. Or perhaps I should just calibrate with DVE and shut up. :D

clamrade ,

--- I think the Favorite among most HT users is still AVIA even though it is a bit older than DVE . I know I prefer AVIA ;) .

__________________

colecconsolas ,

--- Please do not base a purchase upon a screen-shot [ the real image is much better ] ;) .

__________________

cyph ,

--- Try some real component cables and see if you still get the drop-outs .

--- You also might want to try the SOURCE LOCK function on the H30 and see if that helps [ it is defaulted to OFF ] . I do not have this issue so I cannot verify if the Source Lock will help but it is worth a shot ;) .

__________________

vjren ,

--- Best would be a HQ VGA cable at that length (25') IMO [ or use 3 x RG6 for your component cables ] . Or a HQ Component to VGA cable to avoid the adapters .

__________________

zsh ,

--- I get the double image from the Xbox from time to time as well [ as soon as the actual game starts it goes away ] . This is a Sync problem of some sort but I have not figured out a 100% Fix for it yet .

--- My H30 shows what resolution is coming from my Xbox along with the Hz and Mode # . I will have a look today and report back what the Mode #'s are so that you can tell which resolution you have [ from the Xbox ] .


__________________

gottahavapj ,

--- Each different input type will require calibration :) .


__________________


------- Jason

Originally posted by DaGamePimp

zsh ,

--- I get the double image from the Xbox from time to time as well [ as soon as the actual game starts it goes away ] . This is a Sync problem of some sort but I have not figured out a 100% Fix for it yet .

--- My H30 shows what resolution is coming from my Xbox along with the Hz and Mode # . I will have a look today and report back what the Mode #'s are so that you can tell which resolution you have [ from the Xbox ] .
Jason

ok great...waiting for ur answer :)

ps. Does anyone know if there is some secret status window in service menu which gives a more detailed information about incoming signal? ds

Originally posted by zsh
ok great...waiting for ur answer :)

ps. Does anyone know if there is some secret status window in service menu which gives a more detailed information about incoming signal? ds

Basically, if you have the Xbox set to 480p in the dashboard, and the game supports 480p, it's going to be outputting 480p. If your H30 was not high definition the picture would be really messed up, but since you can see the picture fine you know you are getting HD. Remember to set the Xbox to widescreen as well. Just to make yourself feel better try setting the Xbox to 480i, you should notice a slightly softer or less crisp image.

"Video Spectra i would get it only in the model c , you agree tom"

I would stay away from Video Spectra with any non tensioned screen. It's the way it reflects that will show waves when video is shown on it. Severe waves in any light material, daylight scenes etc.

The green bar problem, I get the green bar lock up when switching from HDTV to Analog TV. Not every time but plenty of times. Another member here gets the green bar lock when switching between a progressive scan signal to non progressive. I told Wing about this problem and they'll be trying to duplicate it in Taiwan this week.
I'm not sure if it's a large number of machines that have this problem. You can test your machine by switching back and forth several times between HDTV and Analog TV, or if you have a DVD player where you can switch between 480p and 480i.

Originally posted by clamrade
Thank you. Matt white, 80x60 pull-down, it shall be.

I wish I could afford a fixed screen, but the budget is < $200. :(

Some here are really against the Video Spectra, I'm only had mine for a few months, but I notice very little waves and I love the picture. Anyway, I think the wave problem is much better if you only use a 16:9 screen or roll your 4:3 up some. Not as much area to get wavy. Or if the waves are really bad, I haven't tried it, but you probably could cut the screen off the roller and staple it to the wall. If your brave enough to try.

rsmith4321 ,

--- Good Point , I always assume that people understand the Xbox will not scale the game to whatever is selected in the Video menu [ the games will only display with what they have been programmed to display - which for most games is 480p ] .

--- Although there are hacks for many 480i only games to get them to display in 480p if you have a modded Xbox ;) .

--------- Jason

"I finally got component from my DVD changer working this morning. The picture looks definitely more muted and soft than the same DVD image via svideo when I switch back and forth"

How about trying switching between progressive and interlaced on the player with that component hookup.

It could just be the Onkyo has poor progressive scan. Like the new Pioneer 563a is said to be soft. I tried the low priced sharp player with DCDI is it was very soft. There's a ton of loser DVD players out there. :)

Hey, I'll be testing the Phillips Q50AT later today, it's supposed to be super sharp but had glitches in early production that supposedly were fixed via firmware and the newer models.

I'll let u know it's got DCDI and is around $100.

Tom:
I am interested in your review of the Q50AT as well, but is that price correct?


KB

Originally posted by guitarman
Hey, I'll be testing the Phillips Q50AT later today, it's supposed to be super sharp but had glitches in early production that supposedly were fixed via firmware and the newer models.
I'll be interested to hear what you think about it, Tom. I saw one of the first models and if they fixed the problems, it's got a great picture.

I'll let u know it's got DCDI and is around $100.
I thought it was closer to $200. :confused:

I know of at least one online retailer that sells the Q50AT for a little over what Tom stated was the price .
--- Oh I forgot to point out it is Factory Reconditioned at that price ;) .
------ Jason

Also found the refurbished units around Tom's price. This might be just the ticket as apposed to the so many cheapie progressive units out there.


KB

That makes sense then. Factory reconditioned units are often more reliable than new ones since they've been checked out more completely. That could be a pretty good choice since the Q50 originally sold for over $400.

I might have to pick one up myself. ;)

Tom- thanks for the tip- I did tried it with the progressive switch in both positions and that didn't seem to make a difference for the muted, softer colors. If the progressive switch is off on my DVD changer- is the H30 deinterlacing through the component/VGA input or is it just showing 480i then? I forget.

Jason- I think you're right. I got a lotta adjusting to do. :D

Thanks all for the help. Got my Panavise yesterday. Time to start cutting sheetrock (YIKES!) to run cables through and ceiling mounting today.

Cheers!

This is not a good control but i was switching from component progressive to interlaced last night - i liked the colors from the interlaced a bit more. I was using a jvc s62 . I didn't notice any softening.

Now i should say i haven't calibrated with avia yet and i was watching some odd Muppet (Kermit's early Swamp Days???) with my son-

Nothing scieintific about the switching- it was getting late- i was tired and he wanted to actually WATCH the movie so my switching back and forth was cut short. Imagine that someone wanted to watch a movie on the big screen?

I'll have more time this weekend to mess and calibrate with avia.

We need to really find a good dvd player to mate with the H30. I don't think my jvc is doing a great job now.

Tom- let us know what about the phillips- Is it available retail?

rudee

Gheesh I forgot who I bought it from at first. I got it from an ebayer but called the co direct. It was $99.95, I'll get better info.

The JVC should be ok shaprnes wise. GottaPJ, yes the H30 was doing the deinterlacing when you swithced to 480i. If must be the Mpegs of the Onkyo not being too good. Let's see how improved this farouja Phillips is.

Originally posted by gottahavapj
.. got component from my DVD changer working this morning. The picture looks definitely more muted and soft than the same DVD image via svideo ... Is that normal or does my Onkyo DVD changer just suck?

Whatever the difference in processing (on the DVD player or the h30) between the svid and componenet inputs, is likely causing the softness. Are you deinterlacing using the dvd player over component, that is are you send out a progressive signal? If so, it is likely the mitsu's deinterlacer sucks. tom (guitarman) reports that the h30's deinterlacer is quite good. It is possible that it betters your mitsu in deinterlacing. If not, maybe the analog outputs of the DVD player sucks (compared to svid?). Or maybe the H30 is doing some further processing (scaling?) to your component that isn't happending with svid. Though this seems unlikely. (16:9 native vs. scaled?)

I dunno. Someone here will know the answer.

I would stay away from Video Spectra with any non tensioned screen. It's the way it reflects that will show waves when video is shown on it. Severe waves in any light material, daylight scenes etc.


so even if you keep the screen pulled down all the time you will still get the waves ?

Originally posted by zsh
ok great...waiting for ur answer :)

ps. Does anyone know if there is some secret status window in service menu which gives a more detailed information about incoming signal? ds

i tryed 2 games, the one in 480p reported as MODE 49 and the other one which was 720p reporter MODE 79. If anyone can find out "mode translation" please post it here...

Tom............

The normal gain on the High Power screen is 2.8 I believe.... do you know how much of that you lose if you ceiling mount the projector?

Steve

i think you get around 1.something ,because when i tested the big samples i had better gain when the pj was cabinet mounted

When I saw the HP at the Canuck shootout we were dealing with projectors that were all table mounted... which put the HP at it's best.

However, in my HT the projector will be ceiling mounted so I will be losing part of the HP's capability.

At the shootout I actually felt the Carada Brilliant White (1.4 gain) was the best bang for the buck of the manufactured screeens.... the Vutek SilverStar was stunning..., but so is the price!

If the HP drops to something near the Carada with a ceiling mount I will go with the Carada as it does not have as narrow of a viewing cone as the HP.

Thanks,

Steve

If the HP drops to something near the Carada with a ceiling mount I will go with the Carada as it does not have as narrow of a viewing cone as the HP.


Steve bingo that is what i would do ;)

Originally posted by zsh
i tryed 2 games, the one in 480p reported as MODE 49 and the other one which was 720p reporter MODE 79. If anyone can find out "mode translation" please post it here...

This would be interesting, but it really doesn't matter, everything is output from the projector in 480p, so really there is no point in using 720p or 1080i from the Xbox. It's just scaling it down anyway.

rsmith4321 ,

--- While the H30 does have to scale down the output I can tell you that it does look better with a 720p source vs. 480p [ especially from the Xbox ] . Now 1080i does not look too hot IMO and I even turned it off in the Xbox video modes but 720p looks great [ with those games that offer it ] .

--- I found the same to be true with my HD receiver regarding the H30 [ 720p looks better than 480p and 1080i looks worse than 480p ] .

------- Jason

Carada isn't confirmed on how or if it will pick up waves on a non-tensioned pull down model. If they have one. Allot of it has to do with how the screen reflects. So since there's no history, it's a gamble.

Ceiling mount and HP cuts the 2.8 down to about half. Which could be better because the H30 is already very bright.

tom Steve is looking for a fixed frame ,if i remember correctly and the caradas are very nice and the material when tensioned is great

When you go fixed you got a ton of options.

Hey I got a letter from Optoma Marketing about a mistake on the lit remote price. It's $59.95 not $49.95 for first time buyers. Wing first told me $59 and Harvey thought $49, he was mistaken. I don't imagine many are going the upgrade for sixty bucks just to have a light anyway.

boy that VuTec SilverStar is a nice screen eh' .

-- Local friend here is a VuTec dealer and he has a 5' diagonal Perm-Wall demo screen . The image just jumps off that screen , very vivid colors and bright (but not too bright) .


-------- Jason

agree with you on that one , people should just invest on a universal remote that could do everything you need ( right mike :D )

boy that VuTec SilverStar is a nice screen eh' .


jay it is nice but $$$$$$ , but i heard they will be coming out with a silver star that is more flexible ,

Anybody have any information on NEW shipment of H30's [ at Optoma in Ca. ] ?

--- I was told a couple weeks by CS and it has been a week so I was hoping they might have a ship date from Taiwan or something more solid .

--- Thanks ,
---- Jason

I recently setup my new HT with my brand new H30. Despite the lower resolution, it is a definite upgrade from my NEC LT150. Whereas background details on the LT150 had somewhat muted colors, the H30 provides excellent saturation to the entire picture. The picture is also waaaaaaaay brighter (although this might have something to do with the bulb in the LT150 having 900 hours). The Optoma is not as quiet as I would like (I am very picky about this) but the fan noise is much less intrusive than the NEC. I was really happy with my LT150, especially after doing the clear segment mod, reducing light spill with tape over the lens area, and adding a Hoya filter. The Hoya filter definitely improved the picture on the LT150. Not only does it help the colors and bump up the CR, but also reduce the digital look (pixelization, graininess) of the image. While watching Matrix Revolution on the H30 the other night, I noticed quite a bit of graininess and noise on some of the darker backgrounds (almost looked like a swarm of flies). I'm hoping a Hoya FL-D filter will eliminate or reduce this. I still have quite a bit of tweaking to do. Could someone explain to me what the difference is between the 16X9 setting and the 16X9 native? I'm feeding the projector a progressive signal from a Panasonic RP56. Which projector setting would be better to use?

"I was told a couple weeks by CS and it has been a week so I was hoping they might have a ship date from Taiwan or something more solid ."

I just talked to them and they do have some on hand. But they're probably from the last shipment. When I first asked if the new shipment came in they said no. I talked to Robert in the Tech area.

"almost looked like a swarm of flies"

This is dithering, the mirrors are still active. Use Avia and lower the projectors Blacks/brightness level till black is black/mirrors off.

I tried the Hoya FLD-Day with the H30. First I thought is was good but later preferred the projector without it.
Still plenty of color and blacks without the Filter tweak.

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
rsmith4321 ,

--- While the H30 does have to scale down the output I can tell you that it does look better with a 720p source vs. 480p [ especially from the Xbox ] . Now 1080i does not look too hot IMO and I even turned it off in the Xbox video modes but 720p looks great [ with those games that offer it ] .

--- I found the same to be true with my HD receiver regarding the H30 [ 720p looks better than 480p and 1080i looks worse than 480p ] .

------- Jason

I'm not saying your not right, perhaps there is a factor I don't see. But I can't imagine how it could looks better, because the component cables are having to carry more wasted information for 720p. It seems like you would get the best quality from a 480p signal. But if it looks better it just does, who knows.

rsmith4321 quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by zsh
i tryed 2 games, the one in 480p reported as MODE 49 and the other one which was 720p reporter MODE 79. If anyone can find out "mode translation" please post it here...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This would be interesting, but it really doesn't matter, everything is output from the projector in 480p, so really there is no point in using 720p or 1080i from the Xbox. It's just scaling it down anyway.


Originally posted by DaGamePimp
rsmith4321 ,

--- While the H30 does have to scale down the output I can tell you that it does look better with a 720p source vs. 480p [ especially from the Xbox ] . Now 1080i does not look too hot IMO and I even turned it off in the Xbox video modes but 720p looks great [ with those games that offer it ] .

--- I found the same to be true with my HD receiver regarding the H30 [ 720p looks better than 480p and 1080i looks worse than 480p ] .

------- Jason

i have to agree...it looks much better in 720p then 480p IMHO.

But wait a second...did i missed something here? According to manual H30 should fix / is compatible typ 480p/720p and 1080i. Whats this talk about raping the output to 480p :mad: :mad: :mad:

Originally posted by jeff442
I recently setup my new HT with my brand new H30. Despite the lower resolution, it is a definite upgrade from my NEC LT150. Whereas background details on the LT150 had somewhat muted colors, the H30 provides excellent saturation to the entire picture. The picture is also waaaaaaaay brighter (although this might have something to do with the bulb in the LT150 having 900 hours). The Optoma is not as quiet as I would like (I am very picky about this) but the fan noise is much less intrusive than the NEC. I was really happy with my LT150, especially after doing the clear segment mod, reducing light spill with tape over the lens area, and adding a Hoya filter. The Hoya filter definitely improved the picture on the LT150. Not only does it help the colors and bump up the CR, but also reduce the digital look (pixelization, graininess) of the image. While watching Matrix Revolution on the H30 the other night, I noticed quite a bit of graininess and noise on some of the darker backgrounds (almost looked like a swarm of flies). I'm hoping a Hoya FL-D filter will eliminate or reduce this. I still have quite a bit of tweaking to do. Could someone explain to me what the difference is between the 16X9 setting and the 16X9 native? I'm feeding the projector a progressive signal from a Panasonic RP56. Which projector setting would be better to use?

I was going to say the same thing, it sounds like his brightness is set way to high. Even if you don't have a avia disc, just turn down the brightness until you don't see this effect anymore. The THX test on many DVD's works pretty well for this.

Originally posted by zsh
i have to agree...it looks much better in 720p then 480p IMHO.

But wait a second...did i missed something here? According to manual H30 should fix / is compatible typ 480p/720p and 1080i. Whats this talk about raping the output to 480p :mad: :mad: :mad:

Wow, if you don't know this, you really need to read my FAQ :) Or do some reading over at projectorcentral. A quick answer, the resolution of the PJ is 800x600 800x450 in 16:9. Why do you think there are 10,000 PJ's?

zsh ,
--- Just because it is compatible with 720p and 1080i does not mean that it can actually display them with no scaling .
--- the H30 is only a 480p PJ in native 16:9 mode and 600p in native 4:3 so you can see there is no way it can do 720p in a native fashion .


--------- Jason

rsmith4321 ,

--- Actually the THX calibration on many DVD's is usually way off and will give different results based upon which dvd you use to calibrate from .



------- Jason

ohhh wtf...

i just red ur faq...and ¤"#%R#OTER ohh well....now i am sad :(
Is this "physical" "feature" or is it something that can be fixed with software upgrade? First this "hidden" part of the "output picture" and then firmware which fix it only in the USA and not europe and now this crap. I have noone but my self to blame....should have gone for plasma instead.


ps. great faq btw.

thx J & R

"I have noone but my self to blame....should have gone for plasma instead."

The only plasma you are going to get for anywhere close to twice as expensive as the H30 is EDTV, which is the same 480p. Not to mention a lot of the cheaper plasmas have hideous deinterlacers and SDTV looks really poor. For 4 bills you can get a true HDTV plasma or projector, and I'd still rather have a projector. That being said comparing the H30 to a HDTV ready projector or plasma is pretty much apples and oranges.

Originally posted by goillini
"I have noone but my self to blame....should have gone for plasma instead."

The only plasma you are going to get for anywhere close to twice as expensive as the H30 is EDTV, which is the same 480p. Not to mention a lot of the cheaper plasmas have hideous deinterlacers and SDTV looks really poor. For 4 bills you can get a true HDTV plasma or projector, and I'd still rather have a projector. That being said comparing the H30 to a HDTV ready projector or plasma is pretty much apples and oranges.

i didnt try to compare plasma to H30 or any other PJ. I just said I personally should have gone for plasma. Have like 3 meter between the walls and on such short distance the quality of picture beats the size, so i think plasma would be better (and far more expensive) in my scenario. But as i said my fault...i didnt do the homework before ordering H30 (which is btw great pj except some small irritating things ;) )

zsh,

I think you should consider yourself lucky. You bought a great pj for not doing any research. Just consider this a stop gap PJ and then you can get your dream HD system later. Thats what a lot of us are planning. Or if you still have time to return it you could always go throw a lot of money at one of the current High Res models. I'll tell you what, everytime I don't do research and buy something, it doesn't turn out to be like the H30, would be closer to that fisher price pj thread from a few weeks ago...

I just got a quick look at the new version of the H30. Lens mask does make a clear difference in light spill and no fuzz around the edges or any other negative aspects I could see. The remote is backlit in red, so it may or may not be an improvement to most. The remote is a non-issue since I use a Pronto, but now you can definitely use it in the dark. I didn't have time to check operation of the new firmware yet.
I am also wondering if the H56a will have the lens mask as well. It has a different lens, so the H30 mask will not work.
Now I have to go see what Projector Central has to say about the H30, like I really care... I can see for myself that it looks incredible for the money.

Ok...here's funny:

Built a 92"x52" screen and had problems with it twisting. Added 3 vertical braces. Stood it up; upper left corner curves inward around 6", lower left outwards 2", top right is find (I'm holding it), bottom left maybe an inch inward. Considering doing some corner bracing but not sure if I shouldn't just redo the corner brackets (new brackets and larger).

The punchline is that the DIY screen is perfect for wall mounting. I'm planning on free hanging this sucker from exposed rafters in the garage, thus anything askew is like keystone gone horribly wrong.

Given I'm free hanging this sucker, does getting a Dalite Model B sound like a better solution suspending from the rafters by chain?

Speakers don't arrive until monday so I'm seeing great images, just no dialog or music. LOL :)

I am also wondering if the H56a will have the lens mask as well. It has a different lens, so the H30 mask will not work.

the h56a does have a lens cap but i don't know how available it is [


see it here http://www.optomausa.com/public/Product_Accessory/75-86510-001.asp

Given I'm free hanging this sucker, does getting a Dalite Model B sound like a better solution suspending from the rafters by chain?


It sounds easier :).

Two more questions now that I'm positioning my H30...

1) On screen, but not within the projected movie, I have a stuck pixel about halfway up on the left side. It doesn't interfere with the movie, but the single stuck pixel kinda bugs me.

2) My H30 has an acceptable fan level when it's in tabletop mode. I tried ceiling mounted mode and turned the H30 over to determine where I'm going to mount this. Instantly, the fan/exhause system made a whining noise which persisted until I turned it back over to tabletop position...don't know how to explain it, but it's not there when table mounted and it increases the noise level pretty good (enough where I'd notice it during quiet scenes in movies since it resembles a high pitched whine).

Anyone else notice a change in the type of fan/exhaust noise/loudness when moved from tabletop to ceiling mount?

that strange , because what i remember of mine is that it was the same , and the thing i love about optoma is the no dead pixel policy ;) just call them and than get a new one .


with my h56a the fan speeds up when i have my pj in cooling down mode

Fan/exhaust sound difference too when flipped over? Or did you just exchange it due to the stuck pixel?

sorry i should of worded it better no nothing was wrong with my h30 ,what i was trying to say is that the different sounds does not sound normal , that is all i was trying to say


and like i said before there no dead pixel policy is great

I got a high pitched whine in table top position once. I have only had it turned on 4 times, 3 out of 4 it was just the fan, and when I did get the high pitched whine it went away. Wasn't in ceiling mount position though, so maybe it doesn't have anything to do with it. Might just be the fan breaking in. If it persists you might want to get it checked out, but with a dead pixel you can just get a new PJ anyways.

BTW my Dalite Model C with CSR doesn't retract even. It is about 1 inch short of the case on one side. When full rolled out it appears there is a 1/16 difference in the screen distance from the case. I am thinking maybe this 1/16 difference is equating to an inch after it is rolled up and that is why its happening. Anyhow I posted to the screens forum, hoping I'm not the only person to ever have this problem, but with my luck I am, definitely couldn't find anything with searches. Oh well, I'm gonna try and hang my pj tonight.

Gottahangmypj!

This was my first attempt at inverting the projector. Tabletop mounting never made the weird sound. As soon as I start turning the projector over, the sound starts and continues to persist until placed back in tabletop position. I figure I'll test out my new speakers monday when they arrive and then give Optoma a call to RMA the unit.

Tom............

As the High Power screen is designed for a Table Top projector and set up to bounce the light back to the source....

What would happen if you ceiling mounted the projector and then took a fixed frame HP and hung it upside down?

Steve

Steve ,

--- The problem with that is the HP reflects down normally so inverted it would reflect upward [ could be a nasty effect if you have white ceilings - which most of us do ] .
--- I considered doing just exactly what you stated so I looked into it a little while back ;) .

**** Please note : the above comment could be wrong as it was many months ago that I read about the different screen options ****

--------- Jason

I thought the HP was retroflective and reflected light back to the source from any angle. So light from the side goes back to the side, top to top, etc.. I never ready anything about it sending light back towards the bottom by default. Thought projectors mounted behind people at eye level was the ideal, not tabletops.
Didn't know inverting it would have any effect whatsoever.
Did you guys read this somewhere or get that bit of info from real world experience?

I was just ruminating......... trying to think of a way to make the HP work for me with a ceiling mount........ I have no idea how Da-Lite actually manages to send the light back to the source ... whether it is based on reflection angle or what... maybe I will write Da-Lite and ask them.

Steve

Hmmm ... well I could be wrong with my above comment but I could have sworn that this is what I read about the HP [ now it might be that I am thinking of another screen as it was many months ago that I read that ;) - sorry if the statement is in-correct ] .

------- Jason

Report....

I received my H30 in great condition. Constructed a make shift ceiling mount and fired it up. As everyone stated before, it is great out of the box. I did some minor tweeking and played Paul McCartneys latest DVD. My neighbors came by for a few brews. I can say, they loved it. I do too, much better than that X1 I tried. I'm watching Gladiat** right now. Great black detail, the movie has broken into the the lighter scenes. I love the color. Thanks guys!!!

BTW. I did get an "A" model w/ the mask and backlit remote.

Don

I have read most of the posts on this thread, but I still have doubts. Can people explain to me why people are SO excited over this projector that does only 800x600 and even less in 16:9, when there are true HD options like the AE500 and the Z2 for a few hundred extra dollars. Other than LCD vs DLP preferences, I cannot find a reason to not spend the little extra cash for the 1280x720 PJs

Don't most people on this forum have some kind of access to HD material at 720p or 1080i either now or in the near future? Even watching DVDs upscaled via the newer inexpensive players (Zenith DBV813, Momitsu 880 etc) look significantly better at higher resolutions (720p, 1080i) that this projector can't do.

Does this SIGNIFICANT lack in resolution not bother more people? Half the information in those HD feeds are going to waste as so to say....

Originally posted by Jonathann_K
I have read most of the posts on this thread, but I still have doubts. Can people explain to me why people are SO excited over this projector that does only 800x600 and even less in 16:9, when there are true HD options like the AE500 and the Z2 for a few hundred extra dollars. Other than LCD vs DLP preferences, I cannot find a reason to not spend the little extra cash for the 1280x720 PJs


Blacks....Colors......Blacks......Colors.......Blacks....... .Colors

Steve

or so I have been told by everyone that owns one!

Jonathann_K ,

--- Well truth be told the H30 has been put head to head with the Z2 that you mention and came out on top overall by most everybody that has compared them [ the Z2 and AE500 are almost identical in image performance ] .

--- While I would agree that if most of your viewing is HD then the Z2 or AE500 should be the better choice but when it comes to overall image quality the H30 bests both of those PJ's .

--- I have seen both the Z2 and the AE500 [ actually was able to compare a Z2 to the H30 directly ] and can tell you that neither of them has the depth of image that the H30 has . The H30 also has less SDE than either the Z2 or the AE500 even though it is only an SVGA PJ [ vs. 720p native ] . When it comes to Black level it is NO CONTEST IMO , the H30 wipes the floor with the Z2 & AE500 [ the H30 actually does black as well as most anything under $3K - well except for a used CRT ;) ] .

--- I really like the Z2 and even considered it for a while but after comparing it directly to my H30 I am very happy with my choice [ my friend that owns the Z2 agrees the H30 throws the better image ] . We did compare some HD material and while the Z2 does show fine details better the H30 was honestly not far behind [ we both thought the Z2 would trample the H30 here ... we were wrong ;) ] .

--- So take my little testimonial as you will :) . I am no H30 fan-boy either as I have had my share of problems with the unit [ just as almost all digital PJ's have ] , as a matter of fact I might be leaving the H30 user group when the IF-4805 hits ... but only if it out-performs the H30 ;) .



--------- Best Wishes ,

------------- Jason

Woof... I just finished one of the most frustrating days in memory. Everything I had thought through for weeks if not months went awry in getting this thing ceiling mounted and displaying properly on the screen, wow! I just need to go to bed, wake up tomorrow with a fresh attitude and get back at it. None of this is the fault of the H30, just it's owner :)

Jason- that pic that you had of the Panavise shown in "low profile position"- put a disclaimer in there that the arm of the mount should run in parallel with the light beam if you're going to try that. Since my screen is at a slight angle in the corner, and I wanted to mount the Panavise with screws into ceiling joists- I tried mounting the Panavise so that if you were looking at the H30 from above with the mount on top (ceiling mount config) I had the 9" Panavise aimed out towards the front right corner of the H30 in "low profile mode". BIG MISTAKE!!!!!! I must have tightened and loosend the Panavise thumbsrews a hundred times. Each time it would sag just enough to make the image skew on the screen like the projector was tipped slightly. I tried to compensate so that is would "sag" into position, no joy. Suffice it to say that you need to keep this thing on plane in all aspects to make this mount work. Not sure if that is obvious to the rest of you but I sure learned the hard way. I'll be tearing down the mount and repositioning it as well as realigning the screen mounting tomorrow. Cursed angled mounting...

And then there's the "surprises" behind the sheetrock while trying to run the cables behind the wall using fish tape. Again- no joy.. ARGGHHHHH!!! I'll get there and laugh about this someday. Just not today :)

Why the hype? You don't need more than 800x600 unless you have HDTV. If, like myself, you are a black level and black detail nut, you cannot watch an LCD projector.

The H30 is bright enough to use with my grey screen, and simply gives the best blacks I have seen in an entry level projector. The colors are very good too.


Steve

hey guys

just wondering if people could post there menu numbers like the image mode and type as well as contrast and so on. also maybe screen type and what firmware. thanks guys i would really like to try some of your picture settings.

cheers

"I have seen both the Z2 and the AE500 [ actually was able to compare a Z2 to the H30 directly ] and can tell you that neither of them has the depth of image that the H30 has . The H30 also has less SDE than either the Z2 or the AE500 even though it is only an SVGA PJ [ vs. 720p native ] . When it comes to Black level it is NO CONTEST IMO , the H30 wipes the floor with the Z2 & AE500 [ the H30 actually does black as well as most anything under $3K - well except for a used CRT ] . "

I think Jason makes some really good points here. I think most people don't want to strain to see what's going on in a movie like "The Hulk", they also like the plasma like colors the h30 throws out. My best suggestion is look at it yourself. I spent a great deal of time looking at all different kinds of projectors and plasmas, and personally for me the h30 looked the best in my price range.

The other factor I would bring up is the falacy of HD. Since there is no one standard for HD you end up with a lot of 1080i and little 720p. For those of you who have seen 720p signal on a true 720p device, you know that it blows 1080i away imho. I would even go so far as to say a 480p signal on a 480p device looks extrememly close in quality to 1080i. Progressive signals just looks better to the eye. Granted deinterlacers are getting better every day, but true progressive signal is still much better. What does this have to do with the h30? Well the h30 is a 480p projector. Much like EDTV plasmas it can through out a very good signal. Go look at an EDTV at Best Buy and compared it to a HDTV. Quality EDTVs look very close. The human eye can only pick up so much resolution, before the difference is negligabile. Sure the bigger you make the screen the more flaws you will see, but most people don't have a 200" setup. Considering ABC is one of the only stations to broadcast in 720p you can't really even take advantage much of the resolution a 720p device has over a 480p device, since 1080i has to be converted and imo the 1080i signal is inferior to 720p. All this being said the point as was trying to make is, I know too long, right now there just isn't a lot of 720p signal that's going to look great on HDTV. Sure you can see 1080i, and ocassional jaggies around your football, thanks CBS, but a 480p projector does a pretty decent job of displaying this as well. Personally I'll wait until WXGA projectors drop in price, the tv stations decide what they want to broadcast in, and the MPA releases blue laser DVDs before I buy a true HD projector. Otherwise who knows if you'll be happy.

Gotta,

before you cause yourself too much stress. Remember that you could always buy the 6" version and see if it makes a difference. Maybe the added weight is pulling it down. Also, I got the version with knobs instead of allen wrench, if you did that as well, might be that we end up needing the 6" allen version like Pimp got. Either way, the cost of buying 2 of these mounts is still cheaper than buying pretty much anything else out there.
I'm gonna be hanging mine today, also off center, so I'll let you know how much the sag problem is for me and if I can overcome it. I put it up just as a test yesterday and did see the same problem, but wasn't trying to align with the screen yet.
Also, did end up putting drywall anchors in those other 2 holes, it was pretty tight without them, but there was a bit of a shake to it, the 2 anchors fixed that up.

Edit: What I mean is you wouldn't have to remount, the 6" would attach to the ball joint on the 9" so you could just buy the 6 inch and try it on your existing mount. Should have made that clear, didn't know if you had considered this option. I am sure I am in for the same experience in just a few minutes as I try to align my pj with the exact same mount that you have...

Don't contribute much to H30 thread but like to check in to see how long before DaGamePimp comes over to buy a SP4805 ;-) (and NO I do not have a special prerelease pipeline even for friends!) Unlike other dealers I refrain from beating up on what I do not sell. Seriously I hope you get one that works - would drive me nuts too stare at a movie screen with nothing playing!

I had a customer in yesterday and we put up the Video Spectra (1.5g white) up against the High Power (2.8g white). We had to be way off angle before the VideoSpectra looked brighter, and the HighPower was insanely bright if your head was on projector angle. Did not make scientific measurements - but someone else on the forum did and found that 15 degree angle off centerline from projector to screen was what matched the Video Spectra.

I suspect the Canuck shootout a number of people were outside viewing angles even if HighPower was floor mounted - did they let you mill past to check out viewing angles or was everyone seated?

BTW Jason if you refering to my Vutec SilverStar - not a dealer I just got it with my Infocus kiosk! Makes things look somewhat decent even under heavy flourescent lite. I think they are great for wide viewing angle requirements - but at $$$$ - don't think many buyers (at least in this forum!)

Trade Secret - a good way to avoid the cost of a fixed screen $$$$ is to build the frame yourself and just buy the material for low $$$- most manufacturers will finish the material to your specs (snaps, borders, grommets, velcro, etc.). Of course some dealers do not like to advertise that as they would rather sell a screen! Since low cost pulldown screens are usually materially challenged - this is a great way to get the surface your install needs if you are an avid DIY (and think the guys in the DIY screen forum have been sniffing too many paint fumes lately)

hikarate-

I certainly wish you better luck than I had. Wow! I was about ready to throw something at about 2AM after about 2 hours of fiddling with little adjustments. You make a good point on the 6 inch version, that might make the difference. My plan at this point is to take the stinking mount down and move it over 1 joist (16") to the left. I can then do the "low profile, low ceiling" mount method that Jason had the picture of and have the pipe of the Panavise run parallel to the light beam like in his picture. I think this will work much better as then the slight sag when you let go of the projector after tightening the thumbscrews is only a single dimension one. Meaning there is no tilt involved in the sag if you know what I mean. That I found unworkable no matter how many attempts I made. Of course moving the projector 16" to the left gives me the pleasant oppotunity of re-hanging the screen at a slightly different angle as well. Newbie lives and learns :D

Cheers!

One thing that I wanted to note, was that if you don't have AVIA or any other calibrating tool, I suggest you pick one up. The settings that I have after AVIA are very different from the default settings that the H30 comes with. The other projectors that I have demoed didn't have as drastic a change to the settings that the H30 had. You will notice a nice upgrade in image quality after you calibrate with AVIA.

Originally posted by krasmuzik

Trade Secret - a good way to avoid the cost of a fixed screen $$$$ is to build the frame yourself and just buy the material for low $$$- most manufacturers will finish the material to your specs (snaps, borders, grommets, velcro, etc.). Of course some dealers do not like to advertise that as they would rather sell a screen! )

FYI -- Carada does not sell fabric only.... Da-Lite does... not familliar with others.

Steve

gottahavapj & hikarate ,

--- Sorry if you are both having issue with the 9" Thumbscrew model PanaVise :( . I obviously cannot comment on that model as I have no experience with it but I had no such issues with the 6" Allen-key model . When I tighten down the allen-key model it stays where I put it [ has not budged a bit since I mounted it and I have people walking around on the floor above it ] . I did have a feeling that the thumbscrew version would not get as tight [ or at least a fear of tightening it too much and breaking off the plastic tightening wings - NOTE : posted below the wings are actually metal ;) ] .

___________________________

krasmuzik ,

--- Ah , I thought you had mentioned selling the VuTec , my bad - sorry ;) .

--- My H30 is still functioning actually but it has had a couple more power up 'hiccups' since my first power up issue about a week ago ;) .

___________________________

jigrillo ,

--- Yep , what I have been saying ever since I got my H30 ;) . Out of the box is nice but properly calibrated brings the H30 to another level :) .


__________________________


-------- Jason

That makes sense about Carada - my understanding is they OEM the fabric themselves and just make the frame for high quality at internet direct pricing.

DaGamePimp,
sorry for the confusion - I would pickup Vutec line - but when people see they can get the Da-Lite HighPower at 10% the price - makes for a hard sell! If Da-Lite ever made a Grey HighPower - that would be some serious SilverStar competition.

I heartily agree on calibration DVD's - they are not that hard to learn to use and they are 10% the price of an ISF guy! If the projector has greyscale within 10% - then skip the ISF unless you need the last 10% (there go my ISF sales....) But most consumer sources have variant voltages so you need to dial in at least the contrast/brightness or the projector looks severly wacked. I had not closely watched the SP4800 for a while and thought it was looking nasty compared to the SP5700 (as in why I am I selling this POS!) - then I realized the mass public must have been tweaking my finely tuned controls. (Not you - Jason!)

No problem Jason and thanks for the feedback. I would have gotten the 6" if they had it but it was going to be another 7-10 days and they told me I could have the 9" for the same price. As a side note- the thumbscrews themselves are the same metal as the other pieces of the mount and they are quite large. I think I can (and did) generate some substantial force on those hummers with no problems. I cant't really envision putting more torque on those things than I did with the obligatory little allen wrench that comes with the products. I think it's just a case of asking to much of the mount to put it in the position I tried. I think if I eliminate the sideways travel it will work fine. Thanks for the feedback...

OK- Probably a REALLY stupid question here. I bought DVE about 6 months ago and have only used it for surround audio tuning, never even looked at the video chapters :rolleyes: Jason mentioned the other day about calibrating all the inputs separately which I definitely see the need for. My question is- "How do you calibrate svideo and composite when your calibration disk is DVD??"

I don't think anyone bothers with composite, you can't polish a turd.
As far as S-video, just run your dvd player to your PJ through an S-video cable. If you aren't planning to use S-Video then no need to calibrate it.

anyone play pc games on h30? i'm debating on it and a benq 6200

Originally posted by hikarate
I don't think anyone bothers with composite, you can't polish a turd.
As far as S-video, just run your dvd player to your PJ through an S-video cable. If you aren't planning to use S-Video then no need to calibrate it.
Yep- good points hikarate. And I never have tried polishing a turd, :D so can't answer that one either.

How's your mount working out?

Also- I was just looking in my DVD changers setup menu today and it appears to have almost as many video configuration options as the H30. I also noticed that changing an item like contrast a couple of clicks seems to make substantially more change in the image than two clicks of the H30's settings. Where is it best to make the changes? The H30 has fairly muted and soft colors via component (progressive or not) compared to svideo. Is it best to just leave the DVD changer flat?

Thanks!

gottahavapj ,
--- I hope you get it to work out with the Panavise ;) .
--- Does your DVD player not have S-Video and Composite outputs ? But as hikarate stated if you are not going to use the inputs then do not concern yourself with it :) . If you are only using a VHS Player from a Composite connection then you just need to do it by eye [ proper NTSC calibration here would not do much good anyway IMO ] .

--- Leave the DVD changer at defaults other than the Black Level setting [ if it has one ] . For best results most players should be set to the lowest Black Level setting .

_______________________________________

memize ,

--- I am a hard-core gamer and I can honestly say the H30 does great with PC games but if that is your main interest and will be your Primary use [not HT] then I would suggest the BenQ 6200 with XGA resolution .


___________________________

------- Jason

thx jason, games aren't my primary concern but i like the fact that the games will look great when i frag :)

Originally posted by Jonathann_K
I have read most of the posts on this thread, but I still have doubts. Can people explain to me why people are SO excited over this projector that does only 800x600 and even less in 16:9, when there are true HD options like the AE500 and the Z2 for a few hundred extra dollars. Other than LCD vs DLP preferences, I cannot find a reason to not spend the little extra cash for the 1280x720 PJs

<Snip>

Does this SIGNIFICANT lack in resolution not bother more people? Half the information in those HD feeds are going to waste as so to say....

Please, anyone correct me if I'm wrong:

LCD projectors in general have a much more apparent screen door effect than DLP's...given the same resolution.

SOoooo, LCD's would need to be a higher resolution than a given DLP to come even close to the same apparent SDE as a lower resolution DLP.

And within the LCD and DLP projectors out there, some manufactures do a better job hiding the SDE than others.

The word is that the Optoma H30 @ 800 x 600 does a very good job with SDE (thinner/lighter pixel squares) than just about any other DLP projector out there (800x600)...giving the effect of more apparent resolution than the specs of 800 x 600 would normally indicate.

The Z2 being a LCD needs its high resolution to even think about competing with the H30 (on SDE).

Then there’s the black levels, etc.

So, howda do?

:D

Fleaman

hey guys

sorry to bug but could you guys please post your h30 setting like image mode and type as well as number settings like contrast, gamma, color temp, RGB contrast and brightness ect... it would help me out alot

thanks

oh and screen type

Basic setup should be.

Cinema in the picture menu,
gamma 2

Color blacks & whites will all be different per setup, dvd player, wires etc
Best u can do here is bring the brightness back until a black sport coat is black but you can still see the lapels.

Setup the other Picture mode menu
Film
White peak zero
Color temp 2 = 6500k

Hi,
first of all thanks Tom, Mike, Jason, and many other contributors to this thread!

Now that I'm waiting for Mike I'm going to find a good progressive scan player,
what about Kiss DP-1000, with new Sigma Designs EM8550 scaler (from Milpitas too...)
and new Philips DVP-900SA, with Faroudja.

Mauro

Originally posted by Mauro_it
Now that I'm waiting for Mike I'm going to find a good progressive scan player,


Tom, how's that Philips Q50? Did you get it yet?

This is Philips I refer:
videohifi.com/9_VictorTan_eng.htm

I think Kiss is sold only in Europe, but I didn't found any review of Kiss scaler vs Farouja

anyone here use their H30 with Time Warner Cable? I just got my replacement h30 from optoma and plugged it into my current setup which is:

1) HDTV cable box to VGA switch (output through components using the h30 adapter).

2) HTPC connected to VGA switch as well and then both to the projector.

The HTPC and the normal SDTV viewing works fine with the projector. However, whenever I switch to an HDTV channel like Discovery HD (in the 700s for Time Warner) I get a signal lost sign on the projector and all I get is sound. This is very weird because all I did to sent the projector to optoma was unplug it and didn't mess with the rest of the system.

Any ideas out there?

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
gottahavapj ,
--- Does your DVD player not have S-Video and Composite outputs ? But as hikarate stated if you are not going to use the inputs then do not concern yourself with it :) . If you are only using a VHS Player from a Composite connection then you just need to do it by eye [ proper NTSC calibration here would not do much good anyway IMO ] .
------- Jason
Duh! Thanks Jason and hikarate for helping out the thick headed one....

hikarate- did you get your Panavise mounted today? Curious if you tried any of the side offset that gave me such fits last night...

Cheers!

I just checked the status on my RMA H30 repair, and I discovered that Optoma received my H30 on the 22nd, and swapped it out with a new unit and shipped it out the door on the same day. The new unit is scheduled to arrive on Monday. Less than a week turnaround, from Minnesota to California and back again.

Now, that's what I call service! :D

Hey Guys,

Actually no mount work today. I have been running Polk RM6000 for the last couple years. I got an idea to upgrade my center with a Polk R20 bookshelf (Thought I would just try it out and see.)

Well it didn't make much difference but...
I got 2 R20s for the price of 1 at CC and they were 30% off no less.
And I was going to try out the CSi4 but they were out of stock and gave me the CSi5 for the same price.
So right now I am gonna try out the R20s as my fronts and the CSi5 as my center. I only have a HK 120 though so don't know if it can push all these speakers. Not to mention I still have the 8" sub from my RM6000 setup. So I am really stuck in the middle with a funny looking system and no more money at the moment. I figure the R20s will be good for surround when I eventually upgrade and the CSi5 I have always loved the sound of, but was always out of my price range. I can hopefully get some fronts that timbre match it at Christmas.
Anyhow, I am going to try and mess with my mount finally tonight, but have just had a crazy weekend so far. I got speakers hanging all over the sides of my TV stand. It looks quite funny, but at least I can try them out and see how it goes. Still got 30 days to return the stuff. Should be fun!

Johnny Bax ,

--- Lucky dawg , I am still waiting on a phone call from Optoma as to when to ship out my H30 [ and I had my RMA done before you did as I recall - I was told not to ship until they had more units available ] .

-- Now I am getting a little upset with Optoma , Tom even stated that Robert said they had some units there even though a new shipment had not come it yet [ so where is my phone call :( ] .

-- I mean if they have units sitting there shouldn't they go for RMA's first ?

-- I guess I have to call them back on Monday and see what the deal is . I was honestly expecting more from them after all the positive CS reports [ Robert was great on the phone ] .

-- My dilemma here is that if Johnny was able to get a new unit shipped back out already even though his RMA was right after mine then how is it that they can tell me there are no units available .... GRRRR !!!

-- I guess this luck of mine with the H30 just continues ... ;) .


--------- Jason

With reports of all these "new unit" replacements, I'm beginning to wonder what Optoma is doing with the returned H30s. I'm sure they are not dumping them. And it's not legal to refurbish warranty returns and sell them as new either. So....???

I rma'ed for a orangelight lamp failure a week or so ago. Canada
I have my mother come for the weekend and suddenly yesterday, just after power-up, it just goes orange shuts off with proper cool down. I wait a bit turn it on and watch it very close, it runs for about an hour and then it (with no temp warning) orange lights and powers itself down again.
Well I didn't know what to do I checked all cables turned source lock on and switched to economy mode.
It ran the rest of the evening.
I believe this is a power supply problem and Will Xing said if it had anymore problems he would ship me a new one, well we will see now I guess..
:eek:

My RMA was fantastic, I sent it to them on Monday, new one shipped out on Wednesday and I got it this Friday. And it has the new firmware.

Can someone confirm with me if they are running their HDTV from a cable box with component outs to the H30 via the component-to-vga adapter?

I am running my comcast HDTV cable box with component outs to the H30 via the component-to-vga adapter. It looks better than regular cable, but, it is not HDTV looking. I have been watching the NBA playoffs at about 102" dia. on my white wall. This is a great little projector. The whole family is happy.

Good for you Johnny Bax.
Jason- they got some 'splainin' to do for you. It's times like this that I bet the manufacturers curse the forums because it allows customers to share CS details like this in ways that weren't remotely possible 10 years ago. All the free sales work they get though, especially in the H30's case, more than offsets it I suspect.

Off subject here but- hikarate talks about his Polk speakers above and has mentioned in the past he was happy with them. Down the road I want to start upgrading the really cheap Onkyo units that came with my HTIB and was considering Axioms. Anyone (especially you Canucks) have any experience with Axioms? What's everyone else using that they're pleased with?

"Tom, how's that Philips Q50? Did you get it yet"

It's minty and I'm still testing. It played the Galaxy Quest Intro perfectly, no stutter. Roof top jaggies were gone on Star Trek Insurrection. Vertical lines in large blocks of the color red were smoothed out also. It did hiccup in the middle of a movie but played many others perfectly. So like I said still testing. Oh the picture is very very sharp, almost too sharp.

I'll do some research in the DVD forum about firmware and setup tips. This one is a refurbished unit that was made Sept 2000, but just refurbished. It is physically a solid machine, more high quality over the cheapo's I've got lately. I like the menu's and the coaxial/optical outputs plus the sound.
So far pretty good for $99.95.

Honestly I am about to give up on the H30 [ after all my bad luck ] even though I am almost certain that the 3rd unit will end up being flawless . Once I get the new one shipped back to me it will probably go un-opened and tossed up on sheesh-bay :( .

-- I really like the image this PJ produces and it has been very enjoyable to watch for the 100 or so hours of use but some things are just not meant to be I guess ;) .

--- The H30 really is a great little PJ and I am sure nobody else will experience the many issues that I have had .


------------- Jason

"My H30 is still functioning actually but it has had a couple more power up 'hiccups' since my first power up issue about a week ago"

What new hiccups so I can talk to Wing about it?

I'd say I'll see you in the 4805 forum. But I'm going to pass on the 4805. Baseball seasons here and now I need a 4.3 projector. Gotta thank them for the firmware upgrade.

What's really a drag Jason is you only put in 100hrs and you're bound to take a hit on resale. I figure you may get $900.

so what is going on everybody is going to start defecting :eek: ,you still don,t know nothing about the 4805 and how it will be like?



why don't you guys just grab a h56a like mine or get the info. 5700



but the bottom line is you have to be happy with your purchase i guess ;)

Honestly I am about to give up on the H30 [ after all my bad luck ] even though I am almost certain that the 3rd unit will end up being flawless . Once I get the new one shipped back to me it will probably go un-opened and tossed up on sheesh-bay .

Jason:

No one can blame you for giving up on the H-30, but i really think you should try one of the new units before you do that - because as you know, most of the h-30's pioneers had some kind of problems with it, and so far (touch wood! may the evil eye have no power! ) it's looks like it is better with the new units.
you know, this thread wouldn't be the same without you - we can't afford losing you for the 4805 thread ;)

Ariel

Well let me find some wood to firmly knock on but mine has been flawless so far.
Not a single miss on synching with any signal.
Pretty darn good picture right out of the box without calibration.
No whines when turning it upside down as others have mentioned.
Remote although very cheap has never missed a press of a button.
Really flawless so far.

Boy :) Have I ever jinxed myself now :D. I imagine I'll be posting a premature bulb failure this week after that review.

Cheers!

I'll probably be getting rid of mine as well, but for different reasons.

The H30 is my first projector, and while it's worked flawlessly, it doesn't seem to be the right solution for me. It was meant for my new loft that I'm currently building, but after living with a projector for a few days, I don't think it will meet my day to day viewing needs. I believe there will be too much of a battle against ambiant light, not to mention it turns out that my new place would require a fireplace redesign to place the screen where I want it. That all being said though, the H30 has done nothing but impress me during night time viewing hours...

I am glad I went thru the process of testing the projector in a temporary home setup before doing a permanent setup at the new place... I'm not so pleased about probably having to lose a few bucks to do that, but it's to be expected :)..

Light and any projectors don't mix. You want to get the most contrast you can so it's lights out.

Mark check out the Sony Wega LCD RPTV. Or a Toshiba RPTV.

Originally posted by guitarman
Light and any projectors don't mix. You want to get the most contrast you can so it's lights out.

Mark check out the Sony Wega LCD RPTV. Or a Toshiba RPTV.

Yup, and I guess I knew that going in. I was planning on getting some heavy duty blinds, but between that and the fireplace issue (which is a new), I began to think I was biting off more than I could chew and it wasn't worth the effort... However, there is this part of my mind that wants to do a dual setup. Esp after watching Master and Commander last night at about 100". :)

The question is, I was looking plasma, and can my finances cover both a plasma AND a projector? Time will tell.. I did look at the Sony LCDs last night, and while they look nice, I don't have a decent place to put it.

Tom ,

--- Just the same basic things on power up that I described before . I got the vertical bars once more and the Orange Temp light again [ but then a Power reset fixed it ] .

--- I cannot imagine a Brand New in the box H30 would only get $900.00 , I am confident that several hundred more would be a more realistic amount since they are difficult to get and cannot be found for that price at any online retailer ;) . Now for me that will still be a couple hundred lost but hey ... another lesson learned ;) .

___________________________

Joe ,

-- I just saw the H56 yesterday but I have no desire to spend that much on a PJ right now ;) [ about 3x what the H30 sells for here in the US ] .


________________________

Ariel ,

--- While I certainly agree that the newer units are probably better I just do not know if I am still willing to take the risk .

--- Thank you for the kind words :) .


______________________________

gottahavapj ,

--- I hope your H30 goes the distance and you have nothing but enjoyment from it :) .

_______________________________

markusg ,

--- sorry to hear it will not work out for you but glad to hear you liked the image ;) [ at least in the dark ] .


_____________________________-


-------- Jason

Mark, I have a fireplace behind my screen. Just use L-brackets and a pull down High Power screen.

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/highpower.jpg

"I cannot imagine a Brand New in the box H30 would only get $900.00 , I am confident that $1200.00 shipped would be a more realistic amount"

I came up with $900 because I think most people are getting the PJ at 10% off, i did. Plus you have to factor in the warranty issue. I don't think you can transfer it. I valued the warranty at $300. To help your sale you should state in the add that you will be available if any warranty issue arise. Not a great selling point to advertise though.

Plus you'll have the ? on the buyer. Don't let a buyer use Paypal. I'm going through a nightmare right now on a high end Turntable I sold on Ebay. The buyer claimed shipping damage and when he thought UPS would discard and I would refund with insurance, he switched all the high quality parts with an older model he had. Ins didn't cover, I got the package back and got my surprise. Be careful.

Originally posted by guitarman
Mark, I have a fireplace behind my screen. Just use L-brackets and a pull down High Power screen.

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/highpower.jpg

Don't tempt me :).

I think the pull down would be an excellent idea for night time use, but it's not something I'd want to have to use all the time for asthetic reasons. I'm building a loft in something of a modern/minimalist way where I don't want a lot of visible gear, I want things to sort of 'dissapear' when I'm not using them. The pull down would be great for when I want to watch a movie... however that would still leave me with needing to buy a plasma (expensive) or another stand alone tv (not in the design plan for furniture placement) for daytime viewing.

Suffice it to say I'm picky. The loft is my first major project where I get to pick how I want things, so I'm trying to get it exactly the way I want, and not go bankrupt doing it :). I'm trying to avoide the typical 'big box in the corner with all seating facing said box'.

However... a plasma for daytime viewing and the H30 with a pulldown for night time sounds very nice. :)

Thanks for the suggestion.

"something of a modern/minimalist way where I don't want a lot of visible gear,"

lol, you saw my picture. You think my HT area might be a little over crowded? :)

"Don't tempt me"

You know Mark, there's a statement

"how you gonna keep them down on the farm after they've seen Pari"

I couldn't imagine living without a front projectors 100" image. You'll be sorry!

Originally posted by guitarman
"Don't tempt me"

You know Mark, there's a statement

"how you gonna keep them down on the farm after they've seen Pari"

I couldn't imagine living without a front projectors 100" image. You'll be sorry!

Tell you what, I'll show that picture to the interior designer and just tell him to 'make this'. I think it will suit me perfectly :).

Seriously though, if it wasn't my only room, I'd totally be the first to have a room full of gadgets, computers and HT gear to the point where you wouldn't be able to walk... Actually, I used to have one of those rooms.. it took me 3 years to downsize :).

Where the hay is Jason? I thought he would blast me for sure for undervaluing his new H30. :)

Well I am not digging my 50' s-video cable. Surprise surprise.
Anyhow, once I get my 50' VGA I will try it with component and see how it looks. Other then that I might have to move my AV rack to the back of the room, not really so much of a problem, as it is just a lot of work I have to do over.
I had to take the CSi5 back (Cry), it was just to honking big. I know speakers can't get too big, but this one was for my room. So I got a CSi3 for 25% off and keeping the R20s for mains. That will have to do for me until Chistmas when I can update my receiver and Sub.

That Panavise mount is not good for off center alignment like Gotta mentioned. It will work ok as long as everything is kept in line and your mount position is exactly correct, but don't plan to use it to adjust for misaligned pj mount. Thats what me and Gotta did and it just isn't a great solution for that. I have my image on the screen but its a bit crooked at best. Probably going to get that mount from the guy on E-bay that everyone seems happy with, but will have to live with this one for a while.

Tom [ get the flame suit on ;) ] ,

--- If that is indeed true then you have not just under-valued my (soon to be new) H30 but any second hand sales of the H30 in the future [ okay actually Optoma has done it ] .

-- Well I certainly hope that is not the case , even with a brand new unit , but if it is then so be it . If I cannot get what is a fair asking price for the PJ then I guess it goes someplace as a charity donation . My issue with the H30 is not regarding the image but of serious build quality problems [ which become more obvious every day that we hear of more people having problems ] . If I were the only one here having problems then I would certainly stick it out and keep sending em' back until I got a good one , however I am far from being the only one with problems [ which compound daily ] .

-- I see Optoma's tactic is to discourage second hand sales if that is indeed the policy .

---------- Jason

hikarate ,

--- Sorry the Panavise mount did not work out for you either but you should be specific and state it as being the 9" model as I have had no issues with the 6" [ it holds the H30 in place no matter how it is adjusted ] .

-- I had the PJ sitting off to the side with the 6" mount and it did not budge until I loosened up the bolts [ not that this helps you at all now :( ] . I also tried it in the 'Low Profile' mode and it held just fine [ although I could not line up to my screen in that position as I have 8' ceilings ] .

-- Did you work the ball sockets around as I had suggested to get rid of the excess paint ? Maybe it is not holding because of some paint chips in the socket area [ worth a look ;) ] .

---- Best of Luck ,
------ Jason

hey guys

i have the panavise 9" allen bolt style mount and i can move it how ever i want even off center. once i reef on those bolts it doesnt move. i have had good luck with mine.

cheers

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
Tom [ get the flame suit on ;) ] ,

--- If that is indeed true then you have not just under-valued my (soon to be new) H30 but any second hand sales of the H30 in the future [ okay actually Optoma has done it ] .

-- Well I certainly hope that is not the case , even with a brand new unit , but if it is then so be it . If I cannot get what is a fair asking price for the PJ then I guess it goes someplace as a charity donation . My issue with the H30 is not regarding the image but of serious build quality problems [ which become more obvious every day that we hear of more people having problems ] . If I were the only one here having problems then I would certainly stick it out and keep sending em' back until I got a good one , however I am far from being the only one with problems [ which compound daily ] .

-- I see Optoma's tactic is to discourage second hand sales if that is indeed the policy .

---------- Jason

-- deleted

Hey Pimp,

Actually I replied to Gottas post early and mentioned possibly purchasing the Allen wrench version. I should have been cleary on my post though considering the size of this thread. Avoid the thumb screws.
Toronto, good to know someone had luck with the 9" allen version as well.

I would like you both to verify that you have been able to actually align the lense to the screen with these mounts in an off center position. There is a big difference from moving it around and having it hold a position, and actually trying to align a screen in these positions. My experience with the thumbscrew version makes it appear as having the allen version won't fix the problem, but if either of you have actually been able to line up a lense with this mount off center, I may just buy the 6" allen version and swap out whatever parts I need.

I did remove all the excess paint before using the mount.

so, I finally went to pick up my H30 at my parent's home.

I set it up with a crappy Apex DVD player and projected "Pirates of the Carribean" on a bare wall.

OH. MY. GOD.

This is better than I hoped for. No rainbows, super sharp, colorful and rich picture and pretty damn good brightness with ambient light in the room. There is a problem with reds, as what should be a block of red appears as a series of red lines, but I think that may be the crappy DVD player...

My HTPC is sort of dead right now as I got a bum motherboard from newegg, but I'll see how the XBOX does tomorrow.

All I can say is THANK YOU to all the great people on this board that steered me towards this purchase. Awesome.

-geoff

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
Well that is great but was not my intention by saying I would probably end up tossing the new H30 up on e-bay . I know stating you are selling something in the forums is not allowed and I did ask yipchunyu to delete his post so I hope I did not just get myself in trouble here at AVS by making a comment :( .

-------- Jason

Jason, sorry for my careless mistake. I just too excited and forgot the rules. Anyway, would u pls pm me for discussion?

"This is better than I hoped for. No rainbows, super sharp, colorful and rich picture and pretty damn good brightness with ambient light in the room"

Another surprised customer. :)

Ocasional Red Lines?
You had you're player running interlaced. The PJ on board deinterlacer does at rare ocasional times introduce vertical red lines in color red letters like the WARNING at the very beginning of DVD's. But there can be red sequences which won't show these lines. These all disappear with a progressive scan player if they bother you.
You can see the red lines appear in the Matrix Revolutions scene where the Malvengie (spelling) is wearing a very red shirt (the meeting at the disco club)

yeah, the red shirt was full of lines, as well as Buzz Lightyear's red laser stuff at the beginning of Toy STory 2. My htpc will fix all of that i am sure. Can't stop watching stuff on it though... :)

g

Well, I got the home theater ready this weekend. Made a custom mount and hit it pretty well on the nose (thanks to all, especially Mike for the measurements).

I powered on the H30 to test things out. First, I'm pretty amazed at how good it looks. Nice, right out of the box. A few gamma, contrast and brightness adjustments - even better. I'll do a full Avia calibration later.

But....one problem. There is a noticable "buzzing" noise from the projector. Is this normal? It's a lot louder than I expected (i.e. didn't pass the girlfriend asking "is it supposed to make that noise?"). I'm a bit concerned. Any advice? I'll have to play some more with various settings. Right now, I have all the signals fed through my Iscan Pro and into the projector via the VGA output. I'm getting a subtle "wave" in the image that may be coming from the scaler. I bought it origianlly to help with TV signals, but I may bypass it entirely if the Pixelworks chip is up to par, and then feed the DVD directly to the projector.

Thanks to all for the help, I hope I can figure out the buzzing, because I'm pretty impressed so far.

hikarate ,
--- Well I went to bat here for ya and tried out an Off-Center shift with the mount and within about 5 - 10 mins I had perfect geometry on my screen [ only difference is it was shifted to one side ;) ] .
--- I am not sure that I understand your issue as it does not seem to make any difference here with my mount . I can leave the mount centered or shift left/right and it makes little difference other than shifting my image side to side on the screen .
--- I must not be trying the same thing as what you & gotta are having the issue with :( . This is how I understand it : Your lens is centered to your screen but the mount is shifted to one side so that you can bolt to a beam . Maybe you just did not have precise enough measurements [ I was able to get lens center & screen center within 1/8 of an inch after checking my final set-up ] .


------------ Jason

Thanks Pimp,

I am going to buy a 6" allen version and try swapping out the screw clamps. They should be interchangable between the 2. I think the thumbscrews are the main problem. Thanks for checking that for me. If nothing else at least we know for people to steer clear of the thumbscrew version.

Perfect stuff.... I think I will wait for hikarate to be the guinea pig for that but that sounds very workable. We're still at under $40 for a workable mount.

Jason- thanks for checking that and you do understand our issue. It is just that I get things lined up properly, crank on the thumbsrews as hard as I can and then when you let go of the projector there is a SLIGHT sag of perhaps 1/16". That sag causes the picure to raise about an inch or so on the screen and more importantly it tilts it a little. I try to compensate for this by lining up the picture on the screen about an inch below where I want it and with (in my case) the left side of the projector (and image) slightly higher. I then crank everything down, let go, slight sag, no go... I can just never get it quite there. Perhaps I will try it again tonight as I made those 50 or so attempts after midnight Friday night and was getting so pissed it had little chance of working.

Thanks for checking and thanks hikarate for verifying.

No problem gotta,

I am done messing with those thumbscrews, my fingers are killing me. I was barely able to run my new speaker wire:)
Anyhow, What you described is my exact problem, bit of sag and a bit of tilt. I can adjust for it by tighting a little high and compensate for the tilt but it never works out perfectly. It sounds like the Allen wrench allows you to get that extra torque to avoid this problem. If Pimp says it works I am sure it will. I'll order mine today and let you know when I get them.
Thanks again Jason for going through the trouble to check this out for us.

On a side note, do you guys use a UPS with your PJs or just a power strip.

I had a spare Monster Cable HTS surge protector come available when I rearranged some gear. I'm just using that although I don't think I would ever buy another of their products. If I had the available coin a UPS with power conditioning would be ideal.

I got the allen version coming 2nd day air. So should no more on Wednesday.

Originally posted by guitarman
It did hiccup in the middle of a movie but played many others perfectly. So like I said still testing. Oh the picture is very very sharp, almost too sharp.

I'll do some research in the DVD forum about firmware and setup tips.

Yeah, the knock on the Q50 is that is has occasional freeze ups. If the latest firmware takes care of that problem, it could be a great low cost solution for use with the H30. Thanks and keep us posted, Tom.

Got more hours on the H30 now and I'm really enjoying it. It will be interesting to see how the 4805 compares, but I can't see it being any better with component inputs. The DVI may be a different story though.

Put in my order today from Dell Canada.. :) Says two units arriving in Toronto on Thursday.. supposedly one is mine.. so hopefully early next week!

Time to play the tracking game.. check order.. reload.. reload.. reload..

I'm coming from a DIY projector using a ripped apart LCD monitor and a retrofitted OHP.. so I've got high expectations.. but I have what I consider pretty low quality image from my DIY so it won't take much to impress me.

-rep

Originally posted by hikarate
I got the allen version coming 2nd day air. So should no more on Wednesday.

Ya... I await that with baited breath. I was convinced after we've discussed this now for a few days that I could get my Panavise perfect with just a few more attempts, after all it's not 2AM on Saturday morning and I'm not dog tired and half in the bag :) I went over there- loosened up the two thumbscrews and shifted it up into the garden spot, allowed for a little bit of sag and presto! no go... Thought- heck with this, I'll just swing it down about 1/2 way to where I had it last, at least that will be a little better. Got it in position, gave a good twist on the thumscrew and felt it go loose as I had stripped the thumb attachment off the set screw. Great! :mad:

hikarate- please PM me as to where you got yours and the details. They didn't have stock on 6" white last week at the place I got mine.

Cheers!!

But....one problem. There is a noticeable "buzzing" noise from the projector. Is this normal? Mine had a faint buzz sound that went away. Probably the color wheel loosening up.

Mike,
The Q50 has now played a ton of stuff perfectly and it's picture quality is looking very good.

Everybody's noticing how good the projector looks right out of the box. So you know, Wing the Product Engineering Manager said in Taiwan the have very sophisticated color calibration equipment much better and faster than the Colorfacts he has here in California.

Each projector is basically ISF'ed in each signal type to give you 6500k. Use color temp (2).

So what all the new users are seeing is a display that's got a dead on 6500k Grayscale. For anybody who hasn't seen a perfect grayscale, now you know what it looks like. Pretty sweet!

I've flatlined my RPTV to 6500k and the picture tones on the H30 are identical.

That's good news Tom. I will not have to spring $300 for an ISF calibration.

Hi guys,

Just curious if I am doing something wrong or if this is the way it is supposed to work. I have my DVD player set to 16:9
when I cycle thorugh the different modes with the PJ, the 16x9 and 16x9 native both have black bars on the top and bottom. I am mainly concerned with the black bars at the bottom. I was under the impression that Animorphic DVDs did not have black bars, is that wrong? They have black bars but just smaller ones?

Basically I had planned to have a felt drop cloth to pull over the screen for 16x9 images. If I am going to have white screen at the bottom of the image though there really isn't a point in doing this is there?
Of course this means I would be in the same boat if I had purchased a 16x9 screen, so nothing lost, just don't see a benefit in adding the drop cloth for the top of the screen, if there still is going to be white screen below the image. (When I say white screen below, I am referring to the black bar, which in essense is the absents of color, so the white screen is what is seen as the black bar)

I guess the only purpose of the drop cloth would be to even up the image so the black bars are even, instead of having all that extra screen above the image.

Mine had a faint buzz sound that went away.

How long does this take? The buzz is pretty aparent, almost like being too close to a transformer. I'm thinking it may be a grounding issue, too. I have less than an hour on the projector, so I can't draw any firm conclusions yet, though.

Thanks.

You could use the mask for 1.85 widescreen dvds, but when you view a 2.35 dvd you'll get the black bar at the top & bottom of the screen. You could re align the upper mask to black out the upper bar.

The zoom could be used also but not recommended.

Right, always set your player to 16.9 so the projector can do the squeeze.
I get from your post you're using a 4.3 screen, good idea if you are, you can use the 16.9native and 4.3native aspects.

"How long does this take? The buzz is pretty aparent,"

I couldn't hear it, many years of Rock & Roll with Full Marshall Stacks :)

My wife pointed it out to me, I had to put my ear up to the projector to hear it. Can't say how long it took to go away, but it is gone now.

Thanks Tom,

Just wanted to make sure I hadn't forgot something and was causing the bars due to some configuration issue. yeah the image looks bigger with the native settings. I threw in Titanic (non-animorphic) for my fiance and I have to say windowed looked the best imho. If I am not messing with a drop cloth I have my choice of all the modes. Otherwise it would be a big pain since 16x9, 16x9N, and Windowed all appear at different heights on the screen. I guess as long as the room is fairly dark it doesn't really matter, and the lense mask seems to make things quite a bit darker itself. I guess that light spill brightens up the room enough to be bothersome.

Originally posted by hikarate
I threw in Titanic (non-animorphic) for my fiance and I have to say windowed looked the best imho.

I just had this happen last night also. I threw in Pearl Harbor just to show a friend the picture. In 16:9- native and regular the people looked short and fat. I ended up in Windowed which then looked perfect, weird. I'll have to go back and reread that "anamorphic for dummies" article again :)

The image is basically always at the bottom of the screen for me and the position of the top of the image is what changes for each mode. I have considered the same type of thing as hikarate is considering (since we're doing absolutely everything in parallel) where I have my 4:3 screen suspended about 10" from the ceiling using "invisible picture hanging wire" which is basically just thick fishing line. That wire runs from small hooks in the ceiling that I purposefully bought large enough so that a small dowel about the size of a pencil or a little larger would fit in. I thought I would then cut about 3-4 64" wide pieces of felt to about the right height to mask the screen in the different modes and have the dowel sewed into the top of the flannel. Then I just hang the appropriate masking "curtain" from the hooks at the start of the movie. I hope to someday gets pics posted when I get done.

In 16:9- native and regular the people looked short and fat.

You may want to make sure your DVD player is set to output 16:9 too. When the DVD player outputs to 4:3 and the projector is set to 16x9, the image you describe will result.

Cheers.

Originally posted by valkyrie
You may want to make sure your DVD player is set to output 16:9 too. When the DVD player outputs to 4:3 and the projector is set to 16x9, the image you describe will result.

Cheers.
I was sure I had changed it once I switched permanently to the H30 but I will verify. Thanks!

Thanks Tom (& Mike) from another thrilled H30 buyer!
My H30 arrived Friday and 1st opportunity to try it out was Sat. night. I quickly propped up a recently glued Parkland against the newly painted dark red wall and put the H30 on the coffee table. Pulled the old Toshiba DVD player and receiver from the RPTV plus front speakers and sub. Fired it up with original Italian Job - very cool - great colors - everybodies impressed. Sunday afternoon I find the DVD player was still set on 4:3. I fired up Nemo and went through the THX setup. Wow, even better when the aspect ratio is right. (BTW - I saw my first RBE on the THX circle, but none in the movies)
New basement carpet is coming Saturday, so I'll be taking the temporary setup apart and then putting things back more permanently. I'm waiting on a BO'd Zenith DVB318 DVD player that has the Faroudja chip and apparently upscales to 1080i on DVI and component - sounded like a good match for the H30. Then a new receiver and speakers - where will it stop?
Thanks again to Tom! ;-)

Originally posted by DaGamePimp

--- Leave the DVD changer at defaults other than the Black Level setting [ if it has one ] . For best results most players should be set to the lowest Black Level setting .

------- Jason

As in "lighter" blacks?

My Panny XP30 choices are 'Lighter' or 'Darker' blacks. I've had it on Darker for my TV, but you think that it should be on 'lighter' blacks for the H30?

Why is this?

Fleaman

The Panny manuals recommend that your use the "Darker" setting with a component output, but really that's only if you have "Progressive Out" off (ie: outputting 480i). It's my understanding (from the Secrets reviewers), that with 480p it doesn't matter what you have it set at. I have mine on "Lighter".

Replacement H30 arrived off the brown truck 15 minutes ago. A quick setup and she's looking beautiful, no green push.

Got my fingers crossed that the bulb lasts longer than 50 hrs this time!

Jason, hope you get your's soon.

I was going to get the H30 but came across a great deal on the H56A. Am I going to see the difference? I finally saw the H56 and loved it. Is there anything I should know or does the H30 blow it away? The H56A has DVI but not HDCP, does the H30?

Originally posted by valkyrie
How long does this take? The buzz is pretty aparent, almost like being too close to a transformer. I'm thinking it may be a grounding issue, too. I have less than an hour on the projector, so I can't draw any firm conclusions yet, though.

Thanks.

I have buzzing also. It is solid and consistant. I would say it is even distracting until I get pulled into whatever I am watching. A few times I have been thinking about a hush box. Of course, people with ceiling mounts might not notice, but I have it shelf mounted, a couple feet behind my head. The buzzing started at around the 10 hour mark. I am at about 70 hours now. I wouldn't be surprise if it were a power issue.

fleaman ,

--- Lowest black level setting as in Darker not Lighter ;) .

--- Mike is correct with his observations as I have came across a player or two that looked better on the Lighter setting or did not make any difference at all with 480p . If in doubt just use the Darker setting ;) .

_____________________

Johnny Bax ,

--- Still no phone call from Optoma as of yet . I was trying to give them the benefit of another day to make the call but it looks like I will be making the call :( .

--- I bet when I call they still tell me they have no units available .

*** Update : Put in the Call to Robert [ since he is the one that has handled my RMA ] at approx. 2:30pm [ got the ole' voice Mail ] and as of 5:00pm no return call . ***


________________________

------ Jason

so nothing about new Sigma Designs EM8550 scaler on Kiss DP-1000 ??

and what about Philips-963SA, same Faroudja than Q50?

Thanks,
Mauro

Who's using a KVM. Any recommendations?

Originally posted by wiredman
I was going to get the H30 but came across a great deal on the H56A. Am I going to see the difference? I finally saw the H56 and loved it. Is there anything I should know or does the H30 blow it away? The H56A has DVI but not HDCP, does the H30?

Depends how good the deal is. ;) At twice the price of the H30, I might go with the H56A, but not at almost 3 times the price. The H56 has higher resolution and a great picture.

The H30 does not have a DVI input.

mike is right i had the h30 and now i have the h56a and there is a difference in the pic and the screen door is actually thiner and tighter then the h30 , but the h30 screen door is excellent and the h56a is brighter and the h56a has the power switch on the side of the unit and also the cool feature i like is the fan while the movie is on you can not hear it but when you shut down the lamp the fan goes in to super speed :D and the bulb cools down very quick and then just turn it off.


the only con. so far is that it did not come with a case , but that is no biggie


so either way you go you will be happy h30 if you want to save some bucks or the h56a if you are getting a deal on it


ps : to be honest i would of kept my h30 if it was not for a great deal i got for the h56a .;)

The other thing you need to consider about the H56A is the throw distance. It has a completely different lens than the H30.

If you have a small room and want a big picture... better check out the settings on ProjectorCentral.com and see if it will give you the size screen you want in the room you have.

Steve

at around 15ft back i am getting a 92x52 screen size with minimal zoom :)

That's about right Joe..

PJC's projection calculator show that the 56 can throw a 92 x 52 image from a minimum of 15.3' lens to screen to a max of 18.4' lens to screen.

That was my problem... I wanted a 96" x 54" minimum image, but my room is only 15'10" wall to wall. By the time I get the projector mounted and leave room for connections the front lens distance to screen is only about 14' which left me with too small of an image for my particular room.. :-( Wah!

Steve

yes i remember Steve . but i guess your still doing your home work huh :)

Always doing homework Joe.............

However, I had a PJ shipped from the nice folks at PP in florida earlier this afternoon.

Finally made it off the fence and ordered something..., probably will do a Homer (DOH!) in a few months when more new stuff is out.... but such is life.

My plan is to get the the pj... set it up... and other than a few calibration questions.... try to ignore the AVS projector forum for at least a year!

Steve

awwwww you got a benq didn't you 8700 or +


it is ok because this is the best thread on avs and the folks here are supper great .


ps and quick learners ;)

Evan Powell finally posted his review of the H30. He just confirms what all the owners here already know. Here's the summary:

Overall, after calibration adjustments the picture quality on the H30 is stunning, and certainly one of the best (if not THE best) you can find in this price range. Blacks are solid black, shadow detail is very good, color saturation is excellent. Furthermore, the 4x color wheel will substantially reduce or eliminate DLP rainbow artifacts for those sensitive to them (more on this below).

http://www.projectorcentral.com/optoma_h30.htm

yes no surprises there ;)

Wow, 450 calibrated lumens for the H30, thats as low as the X1... :(

He is basically saying the screen door is the same as the BenQ 6100...Mike, do you agree?

I would of liked him to compare the Benq 6200 vs the H30. They are about the same price. They project the same image size (close anyway) It would be nice to know if reduced pixelation and added brightness compensate for the lack of saturation and added rainbows...

The 700 lumens of the BenQ 6200 should make Superbowl parties possible with enough light to dip the chips. Don't know about 450 of the H30 though...

No wonder the saturation is superior on the H30, 4X color wheel AND almost half the lumens output...

Yea, Joe you guessed it...........

went for the +

Steve

solid build unit (metal i think and nice and bright )


the only problem is trying to get used to the purple color thing ;)

DaGaPimp, did you have any pics of your HTPC on the H30?

DaGaPimp, did you have any pics of your HTPC on the H30?


this should be ok ,jay's a bud

here are jays super shoots of the pj and htpc connection


http://home.comcast.net/~jlcburg3/wsb/html/view.cgi-photos.html-.html

Take off the thumb screw on the Panavise and you have an allen. No need to go buy an Allen mount if you have the Thumbscrew. Just pull them off. I cancelled my order Gotta...
Takes a 3/16th wrench btw.

Originally posted by Marco T
He is basically saying the screen door is the same as the BenQ 6100...Mike, do you agree?


Yes, they are the same in that regard.

Darn, PC got their review out before mine. ;)

MikeSRC & New Teq Joe,
I guess the H30 is GREAT but the H56 is better.
Thanks for your info. I was told the only way I will be able to tell it's an H56A is to look at the bottom of the unit. Is this true? The H56 is locally a great deal I can't pass up.

HI Ho Stevo,
My distance is about 17'-18' so the H56 sounds like me. Thanx!

I finally got mine, of course the box looks like it had been through a war and the tape was busted open on the top. But everything seemed fine inside. I also had a fingerprint on my lens, I guess they aren't to careful when they package these things. Does anyone know what is a good way to clean the lens without scratching it?

At least they ship it inside it's carry case which is a good idea as flimsy as the box and tape are. I got all the new accessories, I think they quality of the remote if great, you that complain must not have used the credit card remotes that come with most projectors.

By the way, I did notice a couple of halos around the fish at times in finding nemo, but I think it was coming from the DVD player, I don't know, but it still looked beautiful. I notice less eye strain so far than I had with other units, and I've only seen rainbows in test patterns, not in video.

Does anyone know what in the world the 16:9 native mode is doing? I assumed it would just open up the full 480 lines instead of cropping to 450. But it does more than that, it crops off the right and left side, more like a slight zoom of the image. Why wouldn't it be the same as 16:9 standard, in other words 16:9 would be 800x450, 16:9 native would be 800x480. Does anyone understand what native mode is doing?

Well so far the PJ is great, just needs better packing. I even noticed some scuffs on the back, I don't think Optoma is real careful with these things when packing them. Oh, one other thing, I've never felt a projector get as hot on the bottom as this one does. Almost to the point of burning my hand. Perhaps this is why the bulb are blowing out.

wiredman the h56a should also be marked on the box and the bottom of the pj, cosmetically looks the same but it defiantly different from the h56 and the h56a has a stronger lamp .


is it better than the h30 probably ,but like i said before the h30 is a hell of a pj and the pic is very good for DVD's .


so either way you go you can not go wrong ;)

rsmith4321 yes i noticed it with my h30 to it does get hot
:)

Originally posted by new teq joe
this should be ok ,jay's a bud

here are jays super shoots of the pj and htpc connection


http://home.comcast.net/~jlcburg3/wsb/html/view.cgi-photos.html-.html

wow thats amazing, are those on a white wall?

Rsmith,
The halos are an effect when they are in the ocean. Supposed to be plankton glowing around them or something. If you switch to the fish tank scene everything is crystal clear.
BTW I saw the exact same effect on my monitor at work, so know its part of the movie and not a sign of anything wrong. Sorry to cause any confusion.

Originally posted by rsmith4321
Does anyone know what in the world the 16:9 native mode is doing? I assumed it would just open up the full 480 lines instead of cropping to 450. But it does more than that, it crops off the right and left side, more like a slight zoom of the image. Why wouldn't it be the same as 16:9 standard, in other words 16:9 would be 800x450, 16:9 native would be 800x480. Does anyone understand what native mode is doing?


800 X 450 is 16:9. When going to 800 X 480, it has to crop the sides of the picture to get the proper aspect ratio, since it can't display 854 X 480 (which would be 16:9). So, what it's doing is cropping 27 pixels off each side of the image.

BTW, Optoma ships the projector to distributors in its original box, without any additional packaging, so that why they usually look a little beat up.

I don't know that I can bear to get rid of mine.. I'm too attached...

I'm thinking I may go with a dual setup... The question is how to cable for such a setup..

I'm going dual myself. I've got a 55" Mitsubishi RPTV that I'm going to be using for daytime and non-critical viewing and I've ordered a pull-down 45x80 inch screen for using the H30 with movies and the occasional HDTV. I currently use an Inday 4 input component video switch and noticed that they also sell a 4 output component video distribution amp. I've ordered one and plan to use it to connect my equipment to both displays at once. They make a similar distribution amp for s-video as well, but I'm not planning on using any s-video only devices with the H30.

I finally got my H30 on Friday and have played around with it over the weekend. I'm just using it with the out of the box settings, but so far I am impressed. I've currently got a bed sheet screwed into the ceiling to serve as a temporary screen and am using a mish mash of cables to connect my equipment to the H30 (a stereo a/v cable -> 3 cheap RCA y-splitters -> the component cable that came with the x-box hi-def kit -> optoma's component adapter -> dreamcast VGA box used as a gender changer -> a short VGA cable). I'm sure the picture can only get better once my new cables and screen arrive :)

I used a ladder and a table to build a "tower" that would place the H30 at the height it would be ceiling mounted and then made measurements on the sheet to figure out my screen size. I'm getting a 45x80 matte white model B with 30" of drop at the top (ordered from AVS). With my projector about 11ft back and using a 9" panavise on my 9ft ceiling I'll be able to project onto this screen without having to tilt the PJ or use keystone. This will also manage to clear the bottom of my ceiling fan which is a couple of feet in front of where the H30 will be mounted.

My new cables, pana-vise, and component video distribution amp should be arriving this week and hopefully the screen will make it the week after.

Weirdman congratulations you scored.....

That is probably why they do not all have the same lens setup.... none of us have exactly the same size rooms to deal with.

I am just glad there so many more choices now than there was 6 and a half years ago.

Steve

Ok, after removing the thumbscrews I was finally able to use the panavise mount. I would not consider this rock solid, but it is much easier to get a position locked in and tighten the screws tight enough to keep it from moving. I can still manually move the pj right or left, but it doesn't sag when I do this now. I think the extra torque the wrench allowed is what makes this mount workable.
I thought I had ghosting but after running through Avia and turning down sharpness things are looking very good. I might actually be able to live with this 50' S-video cable afterall. I haven't watched anything since I adjusted contrast and brightness. What I did look at prior to this came out very dark (Buffy DVD). Finding Nemo finally looked better than it did on my wall the other day.

Having a problem lining up the bottom left corner. The other corners are good but can't find the angle that gets everything lined up. Part of me things my screen is a bit crooked, thats why I have the roll up problem. Anyhow, I got plenty more work to do as far as tweaks go.

Thanks a lot guys for all the assistance. If I can get a PJ installed then anybody can do it. I'm also dropping my screen in front of me old 36" Dview. Argh Laddy.

"Evan Powell finally posted his review of the H30. He just confirms what all the owners here already know. Here's the summary:"

Evan got so carried away he forgot to put the H30 on the recommended list. :)

Hey Markusg, Can't part with it heh, I told you.

"How they gonna keep em down on the farm after they've seen Pari"

Originally posted by MikeSRC
800 X 450 is 16:9. When going to 800 X 480, it has to crop the sides of the picture to get the proper aspect ratio, since it can't display 854 X 480 (which would be 16:9). So, what it's doing is cropping 27 pixels off each side of the image.

BTW, Optoma ships the projector to distributors in its original box, without any additional packaging, so that why they usually look a little beat up.

Yea, that is what I thought it was doing too, but it's not, bring up a test pattern and have a look. In fact, it's not at all the proper aspect ratio in 16:9 native, it's somewhere in between 4:3 and 16:9. There should be no difference in cropping on the sides from 800x450 to 800x480, why would there be. The picture should just be a bit larger on the top and bottom. But it crops a significant amount from the sides when in native mode, it's like it zooms in some on the image. That doesn't improve the aspect ratio, it makes it worse. So it must be loosing some resolution on the sides that it shouldn't be. I don't understand it.

Anyway, did you ever get one shipped to you with the tape broke on it. It's such a small amount I can understand how it could be, everthing inside looked untouched however. Oh and do you have any recommendations for cleaning the fingerprint off the lens?

As far as adjusting the projector. I notice blacks looked really red. I don't know much about adjusting color, but I found a great improvement turning the red brightness down by about 10. Has anyone else noticed this? And would it be better to make this adjustment in the service menu, I haven't played around in there yet.

Mine didn't come with component cables. Did everyone else get component cables?

rsmith4321:
Did you try adjusting the color temperature presets.
I prefer a cooler picture instead of a warm red so I switch it to "3". The other 2 settings are too reddish for me as well.

Originally posted by rsmith4321

As far as adjusting the projector. I notice blacks looked really red. I don't know much about adjusting color, but I found a great improvement turning the red brightness down by about 10. Has anyone else noticed this? And would it be better to make this adjustment in the service menu, I haven't played around in there yet.

Just got my H30 mounted and it is a little late, but some comments...

Blacks: Yeah, my black background is very red. If I change to interlaced component (from progressive component), then it goes away. So, Progressive component out of my Panny XP30 gives a very red black, even with the color temp on the H30 set to 3.
I tried turning the red bright down to -10 and while it did seem to cure the black background red problem, I did notice that some faint reds didn't show up. Well, I guess some time calibrating is in order, but I don't really like my DVE so I think I will wait until Avia shows up and try that disc.

Screen: I'm using a 60x40 foamcore poster board that appears to me as a nice flat white ($7 from my art store 1 block away, walked it home!). Well, I do see 1 hot spot and it is the reflection of the projector light beam (from the H30). My screen is a little high, the bottom being about eye level (can't lower it anymore). If I stand up a little to make my eyes level with the middle of the 16x9 image, then the reflection (hot spot) of the projector beam is move into the light spill area above the 16x9 image...and then no more hot spot.
I guess it is not normal to see this hot spot from the projector beam? I don’t see any other hot spotting other than from the projector beam.

Back to blacks: Is it unrealistic for me to expect the blacks to be as black and the light spill above the 16x9 image? Not only is my black reddish (the light spill above the 16x9 image is black/gray), but it is nowhere close to the black level and smoothness as the black light spill area. But maybe that is not possible as those mirrors are inactive during the 16x9 modes??

In summary the image is bigger than I ever had at about 52" wide (I'm only sitting about 9- 9 1/2 ft back), but it still doesn't seem to have the colors and contrast correct using my 27" TV (right below the screen) as a benchmark. Even playing around with the red levels....it helped but I think I must go deeper into the calibrations when I get Avia.

Playing it in interlaced from my Panny H30 solves the reddish black background problem, but still seems off (colors, contrast) compared to my TV.

Well, it's my 1st projector and I never have messed with video calibrations before (as I have had only a 27" TV), so it looks like I will have to tweak it until it compares to my TV in the colors, etc. If that is possible??

Hmmm..

hikarate: They don't come with component cables. They come with s-video, composite and VGA cables. No component.

Fingerprints: My guess would be camera lens cleaning cloth (micro-fiber stuff).

BTW: All you guys (Mike, Jason, etc.) have been a great help! Thanks:)

Fleaman

Red push:

Actually, now I'm not so sure interlaced did anything to the blacks coming up as red. Switching back to progressive and back to interlaced, I think it may be about the same, still red.

I'm so tired now I should get some sleep....

If anyone has this red level problem on the new firmware and has already done a full calibration, it would cool if you can post your results as I have to wait until darkness (with summer coming up and daylight savings is later and later) and my Avia disc (next week probably) and for now just have the red brightness to -10 as rsmith4321 mentioned.

I thought my foamcore poster board was a gain of 1.0 (being flat white?), but being I can see the projector beam as a slight hotspot, maybe not.
Guess I will have to get some of that Behr Ultra Pure White...

Fleaman

Tom, would you agree with Evan Powell's review to limit the screen size to 90"? I have been viewing 106" on a wall and it is very captivating. Once I sell my RPTV I will set up the optoma. I was thinking of getting screen material only of the 52X92 High Power from AVS and attach it to the wall.

I am very impressed by all the good reviews of this PJ, though i think i won't buy one since it seems to me the buildquality is sad. kk the service is good, but when i buy a PJ a dont want to have the risk it the orange light pops up. I have seen to many with bulb problems or remote problems or other problems you had to cope with.
I am wondering wich PJ you peeps were waiting for that can maybe match this PJ film quality and has a longer life..

Greetz Lars

After the auto power down issue I had I have been running with no problems cross my fingers.
I was still worried and emailed will xing and explained he had said if it happens again I would get new projector.
he replied
"I'm sorry for the H30 defective again. I checked our record that last time the problem was lamp defective only. We changed a new lamp and the "no light up" was fixed. I don't what happened this time. Please help check the lamp if possible. Or you have to return the projector back for service again.

For properly operate the projector, when you turn off the projector, make sure the to keep the fan on until the fan full stop, then turn off or unplug the main power. Otherwise the lamp or other parts could be easily damaged.

Regards.

Will"
looks like he is backtracking on giving me a new one, like he said, even though the waranty says any failier in thirty days could get a new projector.
I recomend that anyone with problems demand a new one and wait.
Also what is this crap about unplugging it every night. If this is so why is it not covered in the manual, this sounds stupid.

I also think this (unplugging after use) is ridiculous. If I had to unplug all my HT devices ervery time after using them I would probably soon find myself another hobby :P

I first would like to hear of one good reason to unplug before I would do so.
Normally leaving a device in standby only extends its lifetime (as compared to unplugging).

Regards,

Ronald

Originally posted by rsmith4321
Yea, that is what I thought it was doing too, but it's not, bring up a test pattern and have a look. In fact, it's not at all the proper aspect ratio in 16:9 native, it's somewhere in between 4:3 and 16:9. There should be no difference in cropping on the sides from 800x450 to 800x480, why would there be. The picture should just be a bit larger on the top and bottom.

800 X 480 would not give you 16:9 (16:9.6 actually), so if it doesn't crop the sides, it would have to stretch the image vertically. I don't remember it doing anything different than that, but I'll take another look.

Anyway, did you ever get one shipped to you with the tape broke on it. It's such a small amount I can understand how it could be, everthing inside looked untouched however. Oh and do you have any recommendations for cleaning the fingerprint off the lens?

I've seen them with the tape slightly broken, but not all the way across. As long as the projector and accessories were taped in their plastic bags there should be an issue. I use Kodak lens cleaning paper and some photographic lens solution, but there's a cleaner and paper recommended by Guy Kuo here (http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/formulamc.html).

Oops I didn't mean mine didn't come with component, I meant that it didn't come with a VGA cable.
I couldn't tell if this was only Europe model, or should I have received a VGA cable? There is a picture of one in the manual.

"unplugging it every night"

Wing said deleting the electro is a good idea if you live in a high power surge area or electrical storm area. Otherwise for day to day user you can use the standby with no problem. But if you're going out of town for a week or two, then you should disconnect.

Re Evan and his small screens. I can shrink the image down to 90" diagonal and can't see a difference in brightness or color saturation vs a 106" diagonal image.

hikarate-

How did you get your thumbscrews off the Panavise? Just pry them off with a screwdriver or something? I assume it is then the standard allen screws underneath?

I did not get a VGA or component cable in my accessory kit, only the VGA to component adapter.

Cheers!

Only the Euro (SCART) models come with a VGA cable .
-- My H30 did not come with Component cables , just S-Video and Composite [ plus the Component to VGA adapter ] .
_______________________________

For those having a red push issue :

--- Most new Lamps will have a red push for the first 100 hours or so of use so take this into consideration . It should be able to be corrected from the Service Menu as well if it is there with all input sources .


____________________________

-------- Jason

Originally posted by MikeSRC
800 X 480 would not give you 16:9 (16:9.6 actually), so if it doesn't crop the sides, it would have to stretch the image vertically. I don't remember it doing anything different than that, but I'll take another look.
[B]

I've seen them with the tape slightly broken, but not all the way across. As long as the projector and accessories were taped in their plastic bags there should be an issue. I use Kodak lens cleaning paper and some photographic lens solution, but there's a cleaner and paper recommended by Guy Kuo here (http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/formulamc.html).

I guess you meant to say there shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the suggestions. Anyway, I know what you are saying. But if you think about it, going from 450 to 480 lines would not really stretch the image, just reveal more of it. Giving a improper aspect ratio, but not a problem for 4:3 screens. The cropping on the sides would still be 54 in either mode. But it crops much more of ths side in 16:9 native. I still like this mode, and maybe I'm just not understanding something right. But I can't see why just to reveal the cropped pixels from 450 to 480 why any different cropping would take place on the sides of the image. But it's significant. The only possibility is perhaps, in 16:9 normal mode, maybe it compresses the 854 pixels into 800 instead of cropping them. In other words not using 1:1 pixels. I don't know. Check out some test patters and see if you can figure out what it is doing.

Again, as far as the red push, any recommendations for how to correct this in the best way? And why do these PJ's seem to come set so poorly from the factory? Even Projector Central mentioned that significant adjustments were needed. It seems like with a digital device like the TI DMD you could have the same settings for every projector, there should be common settings that would be perfect and just need tweaking for different DVD players or something. But it seems like each projector comes needing widly different settings to work properly.

Color problems,

See Evan's format for adjusting color, he had a green bias problem.

"On our test unit, we boosted red and blue contrast to +15, reduced green contrast to -8, raised red and blue brightness to +11 and reduced green brightness to -11. "

Evan used a good format to better the grayscale. Notice how he increased the level of the opposite color to about double of the color he needed to decrease.

He did balance the lower end or brightness equally though. Try that format for your red problem. Have the red contrast lowered and increase the blue and green by double the amount.