Originally posted by Scarpad
I picked up this mount from Dell to mount the optoma. It says in the specs that it supports projectors that need the M3 screw type. Reading the optoma Manual it says you need to use a nount that used M3 and has screws with a Max length of 6mm. I got the mount today and all the M3 screws included are 12mm . Is it just a matter of getting different screws? Here's the link. Thanks Guys you're helping alot !


http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0359432&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=2999&page=external



--- Yep , just grab some shorter screws , be sure to take into account how thick the mount is at the screw location ;) .

--------- Jason

I wonder If I can get these type screws at a Home Deport or should I be looking at Compusa?

Home Depot , Lowes , True Value , etc.

-------- Jason

Thanks Jason, while you're around let me ask you a question. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this resolution stuff. From demoing my PJ last night I'm not seeing a Huge difference between my HTPC at 800x600 and when it's at 1280x720. If I go the 800x600 route, Do I set the PJ at 16x9 and my THeatertek at 4:3. I'm only going by what looks correct on a 2:35 movie. Some ways the aspect ratio is way too squished...

Originally posted by Scarpad
Thanks Jason, while you're around let me ask you a question. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this resolution stuff. From demoing my PJ last night I'm not seeing a Huge difference between my HTPC at 800x600 and when it's at 1280x720. If I go the 800x600 route, Do I set the PJ at 16x9 and my THeatertek at 4:3. I'm only going by what looks correct on a 2:35 movie. Some ways the aspect ratio is way too squished...


-- If you want to use 800x600 [1:1 mapped] then Disable aspect ratio correction in Theater Tek and use 16:9 mode on the H30 .


-------- Jason

Originally posted by Scarpad
I picked up this mount from Dell to mount the optoma. It says in the specs that it supports projectors that need the M3 screw type. Reading the optoma Manual it says you need to use a nount that used M3 and has screws with a Max length of 6mm. I got the mount today and all the M3 screws included are 12mm . Is it just a matter of getting different screws? Here's the link. Thanks Guys you're helping alot !


http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0359432&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=2999&page=external

Most likely you'll want to use the flush mount, unless you have very high ceilings. I have a chief mount with the quick release feature also, good product well made. The studs in my ceiling run perpendicular with the screen. So it was easy to find the exact spot where the lens would be exact to the center of the screen.

I see some guys put up a plank of plywood stretching between two studs. This could be useful if your studs are running straight towards the screen. It would give you movement ability to center up the lens. I guess I could do something like that also, to give more movement up and back from the screen.

Good luck on and easy setup. I see you're running out to the hardware store to fetch 6mm length screws. We've all been there many times. You mignt want to grap some 4mm lengths also. I forget the exact distance you can go with the very small M3 screws. Maybe someone else that's used the M3's can give you an idea. I did something different and just used the tripod screw. Seem to remember something about the screw first gets hung up a bit but will go more with some pressure.

This Mount is a Flush mountt so it should work Fine I'm not so much worried about the mount being installed on the cieling my Brother in Law can do that for me it's placing it in the correct spot to get the offset correct. I know I have to about 15ft back to get the size image I want (52x92). I won't me mounting it for a bit and the screen probably will not be bought until sometime in early September.

I do have a question on the Zoom, were generallly is that kept and how often should you be monkeying with it?

As close to the center area as you can would be good. Although I don't see anything negative when using my near the max zoom. Same screen size for me and the PJ is 14' back. The zoom is a set and forget type thing. :)

Looks like you got the C07 firmware so you'll have just about a 12" offset.

Thanks guitarman and gottahavapj for your responses. I went out and read the Home Theater review which I think put me over the edge and I ordered the H30. I'm yet another one of those scared newbies going into debt for the dream of a cool home theater setup and the H30 seems like a great choice. I ordered a cheap screen, the 60x80 Draper Luma. I know it's nothing special but it's better than the white wall route, maybe. I justified my purchase thinking I can deduct some of it from my taxes for my side wedding video business, showing clients samples and the occasional photo montage at a reception, thats if I can convince the reception hall to turn the lights "VERY low". 400-800 lumens won't take much ambient light so that use probably won't work. Anyway, too much informaiton but I sure appreciate this forum and all the opinions. Forums like this have a huge impact in being able to make well educated purchases with the benefit of hundreds of folks real world experiences.

That's like a mat white I think. S/b great and that's a excellent screen size also. You'll have plenty of power.
Let us know how it works out?

Well, looks like I get to join the club of "more problems with my H30." I went downstairs tonight to watch a movie, and powered the unit up. Well, it tried to power up 3 times (buzzing, wheel spinning, fan going) and then gave up. The green power light stayed on, and the orange lamp indicator came on. (this combo isn't even in the manual)

I only have probably 250 hours on the machine...and I'm bummed. Mine's been a "buzzer" from the get-go, and I've been writing Optoma every few weeks and I keep getting the "we're looking into it" response. This last time, they didn't even write back, so I hope the RMA guys help me take care of this issue.

I love my projector...but this isn't a good sign. Sigh....

Originally posted by mjolson
When I enter these timings I get an 800x450 desktop centered within an 800x600 area. Windows still reports 800x600, as does the H30, however the desktop is clearly 800x450 (and razor sharp too!). If I set the H30 to 4:3 mode, I can move the image vertically (using Powerstrip) to match my screen - very handy! I don't understand why windows won't actually take the resolution, but for now it looks really good.

Having your projector at 800x600 4:3 is what you want so the projector is playing in its native mode. no scaling or dithering is done. Windows also might report 800x600 or 640x480 because the resolution is now controlled by Powerstrip rather than Windows resolution control. It is also very clear for my Windows desktop as clearly seen in my screen captures of my HT. I also still think that no cropping occurs using this way... ie since DVd resolution is 720x482 it is important to set your DVD software to "Native" resolution. Windows rescales the image to fit within the 800x450. When I see movies like the latest Star wars series it is super duper wide. 2.35:1 something like that. But if you use a hardware DVD player and pipe the signal to a 4:3 projector it does crop 30 lines vertically.

Originally posted by valkyrie
Well, looks like I get to join the club of "more problems with my H30." I went downstairs tonight to watch a movie, and powered the unit up. Well, it tried to power up 3 times (buzzing, wheel spinning, fan going) and then gave up. The green power light stayed on, and the orange lamp indicator came on. (this combo isn't even in the manual)

I only have probably 250 hours on the machine...and I'm bummed. Mine's been a "buzzer" from the get-go, and I've been writing Optoma every few weeks and I keep getting the "we're looking into it" response. This last time, they didn't even write back, so I hope the RMA guys help me take care of this issue.

I love my projector...but this isn't a good sign. Sigh....


--- Damn , sorry to hear that :( .

--- Let us know if it comes back to Life , my 2nd unit did after an orange led ;) .

--------- Jason

I'm still not sure I want to keep a unit that "comes back to life," haha. Unless Optoma has perfected "self-healing" electronics, that kinda scares me.

:)

Originally posted by valkyrie
I'm still not sure I want to keep a unit that "comes back to life," haha. Unless Optoma has perfected "self-healing" electronics, that kinda scares me.

:)


--- I know exactly how you feel , remember 3rd time was a charm for me ;) .

------- Jason

Boy reading alot of the messages here don't inspire this new Optoma User. I fired my new one up last night and played around for about an hour and a half. But tonight it got packed away while I worked on getting my HTPC hooked up to the receiver for 5.1 and DTS. That works fine now. i'm having someone over tommorrow to begin looking at my setup with some suggestions on Screen etc, i hope to have it installed Early September. I just hope it lasts. What's Optoma's warrantee anyhow?

Valk needs a new unit... and while you're at it- what would work better for you- 05 or 07? If mine burped for any reason right now- I would be beyond adamant that I got 05 again....

My two cents...

Good point, I hadn't considered the firmware. I think 05 will still be best for me (I'd prefer 09...or whatever it is that will give us the digital shift, but right now, I like the spill on the top...I've got everything sized and arraged with 05, why mess with it). :)

This is slightly off topic kinda. I'll be using Theatertek as my DVD Player. But I also want to dabble in the WMA Hi Def arena i.e. THe terminator Disk and Standing in the Shadows of Motown , which I have but have not watched yet. Also Microsoft has some Hi def clips on their WMA Website.

Playing these thru Windows Media Player (THeatertek cannot support these Yet maybe 2.0?) Would they look good if the desktop is 800x 600 and would the Optoma still be set to 16x9 mode ?

Also has anyone here played these and give me their impressions?
Also I understand the WMA format will not output thru the digital output of the soundcard and an analog hookup is required?

THanks Guys

Well, looks like I get to join the club of "more problems with my H30." I went downstairs tonight to watch a movie, and powered the unit up. Well, it tried to power up 3 times (buzzing, wheel spinning, fan going) and then gave up. The green power light stayed on, and the orange lamp indicator came on. (this combo isn't even in the manual)

I only have probably 250 hours on the machine...and I'm bummed. Mine's been a "buzzer" from the get-go, and I've been writing Optoma every few weeks and I keep getting the "we're looking into it" response. This last time, they didn't even write back, so I hope the RMA guys help me take care of this issue.

I love my projector...but this isn't a good sign. Sigh...

My H30 was sent back to Optoma last Monday. This is the 4th time I have had a H30 die on me. They would always just not power on anymore. I had finally come to the conclusion it was because my projector was mounted too close to the wall and I didn't give the vent enough room to breathe. There is only 3-4 inches between back of projector and my back wall. I have written all of this to Optoma to see if they can help me determine what is causing my problem. Hopefully they will be able to help. I love my H30 but it is frustrating when it doesn't come on.....which has happened alot.

Mike

Originally posted by Scarpad
This is slightly off topic kinda. I'll be using Theatertek as my DVD Player. But I also want to dabble in the WMA Hi Def arena i.e. THe terminator Disk and Standing in the Shadows of Motown , which I have but have not watched yet. Also Microsoft has some Hi def clips on their WMA Website.

Playing these thru Windows Media Player (THeatertek cannot support these Yet maybe 2.0?) Would they look good if the desktop is 800x 600 and would the Optoma still be set to 16x9 mode ?

Also has anyone here played these and give me their impressions?
Also I understand the WMA format will not output thru the digital output of the soundcard and an analog hookup is required?

THanks Guys
I downloaded the 720p versions of these and use them to show off. :) I have my PC's desktop at 800x600 and when you fire these up and expand it to full screen it letterboxes them with even size bars on top and bottom. I have not tried them in 16:9 mode on the H30 but would guess that they would not have the correct aspect ratio. Be aware that these clips require some horsepower to run. I've got a P4 1.7Ghz with 768mg RAM and a pretty decent NVidia card. About half of those clips have some stutter somewhere in them, especially dust to glory.

I hooked up my Soundblaster 2ZS card via the 5 multichannel analog outputs to my receiver. I was dissapointed to find that surround gaming didn't support a digital coax connection. I guess that when you're playing music CD's the SPDIF will work, not sure about surround movies though.

Cheers!

Yeah my AMD 2200XP may buckle with these but I'll give them a try. If you switch to a 1280x720 I would imagine the aspect ration would still be incorrect. I guess I'll concentrat on getting DVD's correct first.

I tried raising the res to 1024x768 and 1280x1024 and let the H30 scale it back. Your desktop kinda looks like crap when it's not 1:1 and I couldn't see that it improved the already impressive image...

The only things to do if you have power up problems is first unplug totally for a while to clear out the circuitry. Then if after that you have power supply or bulb problems you'll need a fix. Another thing to note is make it a habit not to have any signal going to the projector on start up. Wait until the PJ is warmed up and starts looking for a signal.

The H30 warranty is two years. About the C07 firmware. Any repaired older models will have to get reset and have the new firmware installed. They won't install the older firmwares.

Originally posted by Scarpad
Boy reading alot of the messages here don't inspire this new Optoma User. I fired my new one up last night and played around for about an hour and a half. But tonight it got packed away while I worked on getting my HTPC hooked up to the receiver for 5.1 and DTS. That works fine now. i'm having someone over tommorrow to begin looking at my setup with some suggestions on Screen etc, i hope to have it installed Early September. I just hope it lasts. What's Optoma's warrantee anyhow?

Don't let them scare you. :) Seems when a problem is brought up it makes you think all the projectors go down. One rotten apple doesn't?

They had a few bumps with the competing IF4805 but people are still buying it. Mostly you'll be lucky and have no problems.

Originally posted by guitarman
About the C07 firmware. Any repaired older models will have to get reset and have the new firmware installed. They won't install the older firmwares.
I'm crossing my fingers that mine does not need to go in for anything then as I would not like that change in image location....

Cheers!

Don't let them scare you. Seems when a problem is brought up it makes you think all the projectors go down. One rotten apple doesn't?

I will say this, Optoma has been very fast when I have sent a H30 in for repair. I am suppose to get a new unit this time. I have been guilty of having my source on before I power up projector and I bet I had my projector mounted too close to wall. I am going to make sure I am very careful when new one comes in this time.

Mike

"I have been guilty of having my source on before I power up projector and I bet I had my projector mounted too close to wall."

They write about the no signal in the manual of the H77 also. I think as the projectors warming up the sent signal could hang things up. Could be why some have had problems at start up.

Hello,

Those who have smearing problem please check
http://www.pbase.com/image/32732501
(tune brightness up to see it more clearly)

Verify that it is the same effect. If it is please send me PM or email.
I try to collect some data from it.

Please remember to specify:

1) Are you using PAL / NTSC.
2) Interlaced / Progressive -signal
3) Component/RGB/S-video/Composite
4) anything else you think might help to isolate the effect

I keep updates of this issue in the page where picture is located and this forum.

Thanks.

Hello MMika, having the same problem so I decided to connect up my projector to my PC and ran some DVD's from there. The picture looked amazing, I think I have finally seen what this projector is capable of and even more important the smearing effect was greatly reduced. I did notice it ever so slightly once or twice though.
I have since ordered a progressive player along with a component cable to see if this solves my problem.
I am hoping to get the same quality from my new DVD player as I did from my PC.

I'm expecting a new H30 tomorrow. I sent in my old H30 last week, (to their UK hq) because i had several problems....

---
Fault description:

- Image is flickering from bright to dark (and vice versa) very often when
using Composite(using
VCR), HDTV*(using XBOX with hdtv pack) and S-Video(Using VCR) .
* I have much less flickering with the hdtv input, but its still occurs
there as well.

- (VGA input) When background image is black/dark and for example the
letters on top are white, the
letters are flickering a bit.
I occured this problem just shortly before i sent the projector in. I
never noticed it before, so thats
why i found it very strange and put it in fault description.
I use a gold-plated vga cable, below 10meter length.

- The projector sometimes 'locks up' with a green bar when switching source.
I have an image of that here: http://malaguena.fiberworld.nl/IMG_8538.JPG

- As for 2 times now there has come a very strong burned smell out of the
airhole of the H30. Until this day i still don't know what caused it. I was
thinking some dust, but the smell was so intense (through the whole room)
that i think some little dust couldn't have caused this.

- The past weeks i regularly got the message 'Temparature Overheat' and
after that the H30 turned itself down/off. The max temperature in this room
(top floor of building) goes up to ~27 celcius.
Especially because i also noticed a burned smell 2 times i was very
concerned and thought this may be a result of that.
---

After investigating my unit, Optoma decided to swap the projector for a complete new one and is sending that to me today. I should receive it tomorrow. Big up for their quick warranty process. I hope the problems will be solved.

My H30 just came back from Optoma. I sent it in to fix the green bar problem. Everything works great now and I just love the picture. The only thing with the new firmware fix is, that it makes the lens mask cut off about an inch at the top of the screen. Will Optoma make a new lens mask to fix this problem?

Can someone explain the 3 zoom modes in the projectors Menu? Do these ever have to be changed depending on the format of the movie watched. So if I set my THeatertek for 4:3, set the PJ to 16x9, then when I watch a 1:85 DVD I would utilize a Zoom mode?

Or do I have this all wrong ?

Originally posted by Scarpad
Can someone explain the 3 zoom modes in the projectors Menu? Do these ever have to be changed depending on the format of the movie watched. So if I set my THeatertek for 4:3, set the PJ to 16x9, then when I watch a 1:85 DVD I would utilize a Zoom mode?

Or do I have this all wrong ?
I never use them... I think when you do you're cropping picture information somewhere.

Why would you have Theatertek set for 4:3 and the H30 set for 16:9? Realize I know nothing about that app other than what it is used for :)

Cheers!

Originally posted by MickB
My H30 just came back from Optoma. I sent it in to fix the green bar problem. Everything works great now and I just love the picture. The only thing with the new firmware fix is, that it makes the lens mask cut off about an inch at the top of the screen. Will Optoma make a new lens mask to fix this problem?
That's interesting... any one else with 07 firmware experience that?

Originally posted by gottahavapj
I never use them... I think when you do you're cropping picture information somewhere.

Why would you have Theatertek set for 4:3 and the H30 set for 16:9? Realize I know nothing about that app other than what it is used for :)

Cheers!

Good question I've been getting alot of different answers. I'm just so confused on the proper settings. When I use the 16x9 mode on the Projector the size of the image just does not look right. They don't look like they are in the proper ration a 2:35 film looks way too thin and a 1:85 film does not look as large as it should. I just cannot seem to find the proper combination of ratio settings. The 4x3 native looks more to me like what the picture size should be and I know that mode adds additonal Height to the image. But it would make sense to me that the player would run the anamorphic dvd at 16x9 mode so it out puts unsqueezed. Then the 16x9 mode of the projector would squeeze that to a proper ratio. Meanwhile you would get the proper looking ratio. But this does not seem to be the case. This is made harder by the fact that my PJ is not mounted yet and I'm using a temp screen.

Re the lens mask and C07, It may be that you have to angle the lens mask a little. I could find a sweet spot were there was no shadow effect. You're probably finding it harder because the 16.9 image is now where most of the shadow was.

Perhaps hooking up your DVD player temporarily will give you the proper image dimensions for each mode which could help when you go back to the PC. I'll measure my percentage of 4:3 screen height in each mode for each type of movie... wait- that'd be about Monday before I'd be able to do that and you'll have it figured out by then :)

Well I did do this from a cheapy (Cyberhome 301) DVD player I tried both 4:3 LB and 16x9 mode and still 16x9 on the projector did not look right. I'm going to hook the PC back tonight and see what I can do.

I keep my DVD player in 16:9 mode and switch the projector between 16:9 native and 16:9 depending on the movie I'm watching. 16:9 native crops a few pixels from the side of the image in order to make it a little larger vertically. This can make a 2:35 movie not look quite as "thin" as you mentioned above.

Well I want to keep the aspec ratio I'm used to how 2.35 look but I don't want to distort them unnaturally with the native mode. Still it almost look like the 16x9 mode is compressing a move that is not squeezed animorphically. It looks like what you would see when you play a non anamorphic Letterboxed DVD on you're player in 16x9 mode before you would use your tv's zoom mode to stretch it back to the right ratio. If you own any of the non anamorphic Star Trek movies 5,6 or 7 try them and you'll see what I mean.

Originally posted by Scarpad
Well I did do this from a cheapy (Cyberhome 301) DVD player I tried both 4:3 LB and 16x9 mode and still 16x9 on the projector did not look right. I'm going to hook the PC back tonight and see what I can do.

This was the correct way for setting up a DVD player, 16.9 and the PJ using 16.9 800X450.

What firmware do you have? C03 doesn't have letterbox support for NA movies. Maybe you tested the DVD player with a NA movie and you have the C03 firmware.

Anyway absolutely all Enhanced movies would look correct with the player set to 16.9 and the PJ set to 16.9, with any firmware.

No it was anamorphic I'm going to hook the PC up again tonight and at 800x600 I'll set Theatertek to 16x 9 and the PJ at 16x9 and see what happens. Tonight is also going to be my first go with Avia before I watch another flick . Wish me Luck (I hate Looking thru Blue and Red Filters!)

I just use the blue filter. The red you use once to seen if you have red push which you won't on the H30.

Many posts and this is strange you haven't seen a natural aspected image for widescreen movies yet.

With a simple DVD player this should hv been a lock.
Now I'm confused :)

Jason uses HTPC maybe a search of Jason's posts can turn up some settings. I'll look around

I checked to give you a perspective. My 4:3 screen is 46" tall. A 2.35 movie image is 27" tall in 16:9 and 29" tall in native 16:9. This corresponds to 58 and 63% of the screens height respectively. I don't know if that will help you or not but may explain why it looks thin. I'm guessing you can tell though whether an image is not displaying in the proper aspect by how people look, etc.

Cheers!

Originally posted by Scarpad
Well I want to keep the aspec ratio I'm used to how 2.35 look but I don't want to distort them unnaturally with the native mode. Still it almost look like the 16x9 mode is compressing a move that is not squeezed animorphically.

This should not be the case with either mode. Neither one should distort the picture for any anamorphic widescreen DVD. 16:9 displayes the correct ration whether it's 1.85 or 2.35:1. Native 16:9 simply chops off 27 pixels off each side horizontally, but holds the correct aspect ratio and does not distort the image. Make sure the DVD player is set for 16:9.

Just curious - what are H30 owners using for screens?

I'm just about fed up with DIY, I've tried several of the DIY gray paint formulas and in the end just went back to plain old white (Parkland actually). I'm about ready to just go ahead and plunk down on an HCCV or CV and be done with it. Don't get me wrong, the DIY thing is fun, but when you add up all the paint, rollers, brushes, and surfaces (not to mention lost work time browsing the screens forum!) - I could have just purchased a "real" screen in the first place!:confused:

Any comments? What are people using, and does the H30, with it's already decent black levels, really need a gray screen?

Can't help you there... I'm on a DIY blackout cloth screen :)

OK Spent about Six hours tonight on the bulb, tweaking and we watched the anamorphic version of "A Bug's Life" I kind of gave up with Avia and VE. There's a bug in Avia (At least on My PC) where it get's stuck on the menu, it's probably a defective disk or just one that is overused. VE is just a pain to navigate. After screwing with it for 45min I gave up and eyeballed it. I think I git it the best it can look short of getting into the service menu. I ended up with the Brightness down to -34 and the contraast up to a plus 35. Sharpness got bumbed down to +28. Gamma looks best on 2 as does Color Temp. The advanced Adj I left at 0 although about a +20 0n Blue Brightness does look better to me.

"A Bug's Life Looks great but animation does on any set. I then previewed a bunch of various disks including Fifth Elemen, LOTR, Die another Day, Planet of the Apes (For an Older Fillm comparisons) and while they all look great I'm yet to see them get that 3D like effect. I think the thing might need to be grayscaled adjusted for that to happen. Still It looks pretty nice for a DLP projector.

As far as the aspect ratio, I'm telling you to my eye 16x9 native looks correct to me or at least as correct as it came. I think I'm just not over my Mits WS where an Overscan 1,85 image fills the screen and a 2:35 is thinner but not by much. But if I measure my 2:35 image it is around 28" so that seems right it just does'nt look right to me, not yet at least. I'm witholding final judgement until I get my Permanent Mounting for both PJ and Screen.

What I really need is Guitarman to fly out to Massachusetts to give it a looksee. What about it Tom comin east any time soon?

Originally posted by Scarpad
I ended up with the Brightness down to -34 and the contraast up to a plus 35.

Shows you how much these things differ - with my HTPC I ended up with brightness at -4 and contrast at 2 using AVIA patterns.

Originally posted by Scarpad
OK Spent about Six hours tonight on the bulb, tweaking and we watched the anamorphic version of "A Bug's Life" I kind of gave up with Avia and VE. There's a bug in Avia (At least on My PC) where it get's stuck on the menu, it's probably a defective disk or just one that is overused. VE is just a pain to navigate. After screwing with it for 45min I gave up and eyeballed it. I think I git it the best it can look short of getting into the service menu. I ended up with the Brightness down to -34 and the contraast up to a plus 35. Sharpness got bumbed down to +28. Gamma looks best on 2 as does Color Temp. The advanced Adj I left at 0 although about a +20 0n Blue Brightness does look better to me.

"A Bug's Life Looks great but animation does on any set. I then previewed a bunch of various disks including Fifth Elemen, LOTR, Die another Day, Planet of the Apes (For an Older Fillm comparisons) and while they all look great I'm yet to see them get that 3D like effect. I think the thing might need to be grayscaled adjusted for that to happen. Still It looks pretty nice for a DLP projector.

As far as the aspect ratio, I'm telling you to my eye 16x9 native looks correct to me or at least as correct as it came. I think I'm just not over my Mits WS where an Overscan 1,85 image fills the screen and a 2:35 is thinner but not by much. But if I measure my 2:35 image it is around 28" so that seems right it just does'nt look right to me, not yet at least. I'm witholding final judgement until I get my Permanent Mounting for both PJ and Screen.

What I really need is Guitarman to fly out to Massachusetts to give it a looksee. What about it Tom comin east any time soon?


Settings sound similar to mine. I'am also in the high 20's on the plus side for contrast and low 20's for brightness, Same gamma & color temp. Use the RGB's prudently and start with the low end of the gray scale leaving the high end alone if possible. Low end = RGB-brightness. With you busted Avia maybe you can get to the Pluge pattern it's in the basic settings menu "half grey w/steps". Here's where you look for color in the shades of gray.

Asking about screens. The budget screens that work well are the Dalite model B pulldowns with the High Power material (pretty near $200). Or even cheaper the model B mat white and half the price. Both of these don't show waves too easily in a non-tensioned pull down. The HP being the best.

If I were going fixed screen I get the material and nail it to a frame. Probably pick HCCV.

First Impressions---

I got my h30 last week and a couple of you guys wanted to know how I liked it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try it out until this week on Monday night. (Had to visit my father last weekend.)

Had some problems Monday and wanted to give it another shot before I posted any impressions. Anyway, watched a movie last night and everything's ok.

Monday: Took awhile to get past the NO SIGNAL screen. Then watched some hdtv (Olympics and CSI). The picture out of the box was good. (I'm comparing everything to an Infocus 4800.) But-- every couple of minutes the image would digitize and turn green.

Gave up on hdtv and watched part of a movie, and everything was great. No digitizing or green picture.

Last Night: watched Mad Dog and Glory. Beautiful (Uma, of course, but also the image)! Whenever we watched the 4800 we were always aware of artifacts and, therefore, that we were watching a PROJECTOR. The difference is that with the h30, there were no visible artifacts. We could watch the movie and--- unless we actually tried to be aware of the projector-- completely forgot about it.

Thanks, guys, for all you help and leading me to the h30. Now, I have to be sure that Costco will take back the Infocus.


--Steven

Sounds good, hope you get your HDTV to come in better. I do pretty well out here in the East Bay for HDTV. If you need any tweaking help just ask. The Avia tuning dvd s/b be enough for a start.
enjoy

I have an Avia disk and have plenty of time this weekend to play around with it. I'll also try some hdtv and see what happens. Maybe the weirdness was only because the projector was adjusting to its new home (?)

I'll let you know. This afternoon a bike ride. Tonight movies and I'll try hdtv. In SF we have Comcast.

Quick question on Avia tuning and contrast setting. No problem using the disk to adjust brightness, but I can't see the white moving bars at any contrast setting. I'm using an HTPC with a Radeon 9800 and Theatertek - all picture settings at default. BTW: if I use the Colorfacts test patterns, I can easily adjust it so that all the rectangles are visible but I end up at -10 or so contrast setting. If I used the colorfacts brightness pattern, I would be at about +2 to see all but the darkest rectangle. Doesn't seem right to have to be at +brightness / -contrast??

Any ideas?

current settings:
film/cinema
gamma 2
color temp 2
white peak 0
sharp 28
bright -4
contrast +2 (left it here since I can't get if figured out)
advanced - all at 0

Originally posted by Scarpad
As far as the aspect ratio, I'm telling you to my eye 16x9 native looks correct to me or at least as correct as it came. I think I'm just not over my Mits WS where an Overscan 1,85 image fills the screen and a 2:35 is thinner but not by much.

16:9 native does give you the correct aspect ratio, you're just not seeing all of the picture. Did you check out the Avia widescreen pattern to check the overscan? You may indeed have greater overscan on your Mits.

Quick question on Avia tuning and contrast setting. No problem using the disk to adjust brightness, but I can't see the white moving bars at any contrast setting.

Hmm, I don't have a problem seeing them with a DVD player. You should be able to see them with the HTPC. Maybe Jason can help here.

Originally posted by MikeSRC
Hmm, I don't have a problem seeing them with a DVD player. You should be able to see them with the HTPC. Maybe Jason can help here.

Yes, I tried an old DVD player also and I could see them - I wonder whats going on with the HTPC?

Originally posted by mjolson
Quick question on Avia tuning and contrast setting. No problem using the disk to adjust brightness, but I can't see the white moving bars at any contrast setting. I'm using an HTPC with a Radeon 9800 and Theatertek - all picture settings at default. BTW: if I use the Colorfacts test patterns, I can easily adjust it so that all the rectangles are visible but I end up at -10 or so contrast setting. If I used the colorfacts brightness pattern, I would be at about +2 to see all but the darkest rectangle. Doesn't seem right to have to be at +brightness / -contrast??

Any ideas?

current settings:
film/cinema
gamma 2
color temp 2
white peak 0
sharp 28
bright -4
contrast +2 (left it here since I can't get if figured out)
advanced - all at 0

Avia for digital projectors, under the available Avia menus choose the on just below basic patterns. Think it's called (Video Test Patterns).

In that menu choose grayscales, here you use the full screen black pattern at the right top of that menu and on the left top of the menu the full contrast white moving bars pattern.

Start with the black first, find the spot where the left moving bars disappears and then bring it back a click till the bar re-appears, delete the H30 on screen menu also because it adds light and you'll get a better read on what you need. You can do the same procedure for the contrast pattern.

For the color and tint Guy says focus on the center of the flashing boxes because your eye can be fooled by the outer flash of the box. Outer boxes for color, inner boxes for tint.

Sharpness is good a 28, that's about where we all put it.

I've seen the problem of no moving white bars for contrast and it's usually a problem with the DVD player. You might try lowering the RGB-brightness in the advanced settings equally, it may help. Take a look at the Pluge pattern also. It's in the basic setting menu, called Half gray w/steps. Each shade of gray to white shouldn't have any color tint to it. Use the RGB's prudently to fix. RGB-bright for the darker steps/ RGB-contrast for the lighter steps. Look at these after you first tuned the basic's.

(Lets say you see a red tint in the top white and light gray boxes, first start by adding blue and green contrast, if you need more delete a click from the red. ) Same deal with the dark boxes but you use the RGB-brightness there.)

I do this with every machine and different signal, like interlaced, S-video, Progressive. I always take a look at a gray steps pattern to see how it looks. You want it to be dark grays to light and whites with no color tint. After a while you'll get to be an expert on this and know what the steps pattern should look like. (budget mans grayscale tuneup).

Have fun, :)

Thanks Tom - I'll try your suggestions. One question- tint, I don't see that setting. Perhaps that doesn't exist when using a PC?

It tint doesn't show up then it's not allowed for that signal. Usually there with s-video and composite.

Ok , for an HTPC you need to use ColorTemp 1 and Gamma 1 { Film Mode } , this will get you as close to accurate as you can before any other color/contrast/brightness adjustments .

--- Remember that ColorTemp 1 is actually 7500k and ColorTemp 2 is about 9500k on the H30 [ which is way too high - I liked it at first too but after seeing the ISF'd H30 image there is no comparison ] .

--- Then for the best calibration you want to leave master Contrast and Brightness at ZERO and use the Advanced Color controls as they are more accurate .

--- This method is more difficult but it will give the best image in the end ;) .

--- If you cannot get things dialed in this way then a trip into the service menu might be in order [ just be careful - review the thread for do's and don'ts ] .

--- Remember that the HTPC source will give the best results with the H30 , no other DVD player will compare once you have the H30 calibrated properly . I have Zero dithering with my HTPC [ even standing right at the screen ! ] and I bet almost no other source will give you results like that [ none that I have tested did ] .

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

Originally posted by MMika
Hello,

Those who have smearing problem please check
(tune brightness up to see it more clearly)

Verify that it is the same effect. If it is please send me PM or email.
I try to collect some data from it.

Please remember to specify:

1) Are you using PAL / NTSC.
2) Interlaced / Progressive -signal
3) Component/RGB/S-video/Composite
4) anything else you think might help to isolate the effect

I keep updates of this issue in the page where picture is located and this forum.

Thanks.

Just sent you a PM

I have long been reading this thread and finally felt compelled to register and post a big thankyou for all the information I have gleaned from this thread.

The C07 update has proven very beneficial to me and it is something I probaly would never have discovered if I hadn't read it on here.

As you can tell, I too have the smearing problem and will be interested to see if it becomes recognised by Optoma, who so far for me have proven to have extremely good customer service.

The H30 is my first projector and (excluding the problem above) I am very impressed, if the problem above is resolved, I'll be a very happy man (as opposed to a happy man :D )

I think I still have a long way to go configuring the contrast / brightness / colour, to achieve anything close to the screenshots on the first page, but i can't help just watching movies rather than callibrating.

" I think I still have a long way to go configuring the contrast / brightness / colour, to achieve anything close to the screenshots on the first page, but i can't help just watching movies rather than callibrating."

I'll take that compliment! :) I thought the original screens shots looked pretty good myself. thx

Those were taken day one on a stock machine with just a quick Avia tuneup.

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
Ok , for an HTPC you need to use ColorTemp 1 and Gamma 1 { Film Mode } , this will get you as close to accurate as you can before any other color/contrast/brightness adjustments .

--- Remember that ColorTemp 1 is actually 7500k and ColorTemp 2 is about 9500k on the H30 [ which is way too high - I liked it at first too but after seeing the ISF'd H30 image there is no comparison ] .

--- Then for the best calibration you want to leave master Contrast and Brightness at ZERO and use the Advanced Color controls as they are more accurate .

--- This method is more difficult but it will give the best image in the end ;) .

--- If you cannot get things dialed in this way then a trip into the service menu might be in order [ just be careful - review the thread for do's and don'ts ] .

--- Remember that the HTPC source will give the best results with the H30 , no other DVD player will compare once you have the H30 calibrated properly . I have Zero dithering with my HTPC [ even standing right at the screen ! ] and I bet almost no other source will give you results like that [ none that I have tested did ] .

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

Thanks for the tips Jason. I figured out my problem with the contrast - the Theatertek default contrast of 105 is a tad too high. Lowering to 100 and the white bars are now visible.

The strange thing is that, when adjusting RGB Brightness/Contrast as Guitarman suggests (using the gray steps) I really have to lower the red contrast and brightness to get what I would call "neutral gray". Perhaps my perception of neutral is more of a cool gray. The picture does look good, but I think I'm ready to try some more advanced calibration (probably SMART III). I hate knowing "it could be better":)

I know you ended up with the 4805 (perfect D65 out of the box), but I really like the H30 so far and want to maximize it's potential - on the cheap of course.

Does anyone know what this white peaking does technically? With RGB settings, brightness, contrast, color etc., I cannot imagine what white peaking does that you cannot do with any of the other settings. Or does it create some sort of other-than-linear contrast?

Originally posted by mjolson
The picture does look good, but I think I'm ready to try some more advanced calibration (probably SMART III). I hate knowing "it could be better":)
Hey, Hey, Hey!! :) I'm less than 4 hours from you and get down there occasionally.... I will read up on Smart III again but howsabouta cost sharing type thing if that doesn't violate a user agreement? There's other Mn'ers lurking around here to...

Cheers!

Originally posted by gottahavapj
Hey, Hey, Hey!! :) I'm less than 4 hours from you and get down there occasionally.... I will read up on Smart III again but howsabouta cost sharing type thing if that doesn't violate a user agreement? There's other Mn'ers lurking around here to...

Cheers!

Unfortunately, the user agreement limits it to a single projector - you have to buy additional projector licenses for each extra projector.

I'm a little concerned that it's a "generic DLP" version - we'll see how that goes. That said, it's a pretty good deal - the light meter alone sells for about $120. The application is a spreadsheet, but it's obvious that a TON of work went into it, and the guide is well written. I suspect support is top notch also. I thought about just buying the meter and trying to DIY, but seeing the spreadsheet and instructions makes me really happy I didn't try. (why re-invent the wheel, right?). I also thought about the Colorfacts Pro rental for about the same price, but wanted something that I can keep and use over the life of the projector.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Unplug?

The user manual says that after turning off the projector it's safe to unplug it. Does that mean that you SHOULD unplug it when you're not watching?

thanks
Steven

Only if you don't ceiling mount and have a cat. :D

Originally posted by mjolson
I'm a little concerned that it's a "generic DLP" version - we'll see how that goes.

Would the Optoma H56 version be suitable for the H30?

Originally posted by utente
Unplug?

The user manual says that after turning off the projector it's safe to unplug it. Does that mean that you SHOULD unplug it when you're not watching?

thanks
Steven

Tech said it's ok to shut off with the remote and leave it in Standby for normal use. If you're leaving town for a month he said it wouldn't hurt to unplug.

Unplug?
No ceiling mount, but no cat. Not leaving town for a month, so I guess that standby is just fine.

thanks

mjolson,

"The strange thing is that, when adjusting RGB Brightness/Contrast as Guitarman suggests (using the gray steps) I really have to lower the red contrast and brightness to get what I would call "neutral gray"." "

That's just great. "You've just taken your first step into a larger world."

Try increasing the opposite colors for balance. Like if you moved red to minus 10, make it just 5 and increase Blue & Green to 5 each.

And you're alright now. If you're seeing color in the gray steps and figured out how to take it out, you're all set. Take a look at a movie like the Fifth Element and freeze a close up facil shot. Fine tune with RGB's then go back and look at the pluge pattern, see if grays are still good. Face tones look a golden red when tuned right.

Here's a shot of leeloo where after I finished eyeballing a good grayscale. Maybe I was lucky but when we tested it with colorfacts I had a flatlined 6500k.

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h30lee14.3.jpg

Originally posted by Mike Versteeg
Does anyone know what this white peaking does technically? With RGB settings, brightness, contrast, color etc., I cannot imagine what white peaking does that you cannot do with any of the other settings. Or does it create some sort of other-than-linear contrast?
Since noone seems to know the answer I thought I'd provide the answer myself :) Found it at http://www.optomahometheater.com/howto/guide_d.htm. There's a lot of info here, much more than on its European counterpart (who charge twice as much for the H30, makes you wonder what they do with all that money). Here's what white peaking does:

"White peaking control on an Optoma projector varies the amount of time that the projector uses the transition spots on a color wheel to enhance brightness. On a red- green-blue - red-green-blue type color wheel, Optoma projectors can vary the time the DMD chip spends in the transition space between colors. Boosting the overall brightness this way will affect the projector's color saturation levels. Optoma suggests leaving the white peaking level at zero unless extra brightness is needed."

Interesting eh? Guess the H30 is an RGBWRGBW projector after all, although the W may be a lot smaller than on a genuine RGBW projector.

On one of the Optoma's menu is an option for auto lock, does anyone know if this will lock the projecting from signal searching. i.e if I decide I'm always loading an analog 800x600 signl from my HTPC can I lock this in the projector. Right now when the PC is booting it goes thru several different resolutions causing the projector to lose signal lock and search several times. I'm afraid this could lead to issues. Has anyone running an HTPC run into problems stemming from this?

Originally posted by mjolson
Unfortunately, the user agreement limits it to a single projector - you have to buy additional projector licenses for each extra projector.

I'm a little concerned that it's a "generic DLP" version - we'll see how that goes. That said, it's a pretty good deal - the light meter alone sells for about $120. The application is a spreadsheet, but it's obvious that a TON of work went into it, and the guide is well written. I suspect support is top notch also. I thought about just buying the meter and trying to DIY, but seeing the spreadsheet and instructions makes me really happy I didn't try. (why re-invent the wheel, right?). I also thought about the Colorfacts Pro rental for about the same price, but wanted something that I can keep and use over the life of the projector.

I'll let you know how it goes!
Shoot! I look forward to hearing your experience....

Have a great day all!

Originally posted by Mike Versteeg
Interesting eh? Guess the H30 is an RGBWRGBW projector after all, although the W may be a lot smaller than on a genuine RGBW projector.

No, there are no "white" segments. I suspect the it's just the variation in of time specnt in the transition space. Less time in transition means more light getting through.

Originally posted by mjolson
I'm a little concerned that it's a "generic DLP" version - we'll see how that goes. That said, it's a pretty good deal - the light meter alone sells for about $120.

I'll let you know how it goes!

You might be able to e-mail Steve and see what he recommends for the H30. He's also occasionally on this forum. I'd be interested in your results as well.

Originally posted by MikeSRC
No, there are no "white" segments. I suspect the it's just the variation in of time specnt in the transition space. Less time in transition means more light getting through.
Hi Mike,

I have to disagree. Optoma says "Boosting the overall brightness this way will affect the projector's color saturation levels. Optoma suggests leaving the white peaking level at zero unless extra brightness is needed". That means the higher you set white peaking, the brighter the image but the less colour saturation. That means they are referring to light being passed between the RGB segments, which basically has the same effect as having several (small) W segments. So the way I see it setting it to minimal creates a true RGB pj, setting it to max creates the equivalent of an RGBW projector (more precisely a RwGwBw projector, where the small 'w' refers to a relatively small segment or gap).

Mike

Originally posted by Scarpad
On one of the Optoma's menu is an option for auto lock, does anyone know if this will lock the projecting from signal searching. i.e if I decide I'm always loading an analog 800x600 signl from my HTPC can I lock this in the projector. Right now when the PC is booting it goes thru several different resolutions causing the projector to lose signal lock and search several times. I'm afraid this could lead to issues. Has anyone running an HTPC run into problems stemming from this?

I use the auto lock, the projector will just look for the signal button you pressed like RGB, S-video, composite. Like if you're watching HDTV over RGB and it drops out it will only seek out the RGB signal.

Originally posted by Mike Versteeg
So the way I see it setting it to minimal creates a true RGB pj, setting it to max creates the equivalent of an RGBW projector (more precisely a RwGwBw projector, where the small 'w' refers to a relatively small segment or gap).

Mike

You're right Mike. I read the description too fast. However, I wouldn't designate any gap as "white", which gives the wrong impression. Here's a picture of the color wheel I posted 'way back in this thread.

H30 Color Wheel (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/colorwheel.jpg)

There's a very narrow "clear" area between colors, so I guess that's what they're talking about

Originally posted by MikeSRC
You're right Mike. I read the description too fast. However, I wouldn't designate any gap as "white", which gives the wrong impression. Here's a picture of the color wheel I posted 'way back in this thread.

H30 Color Wheel (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/colorwheel.jpg)

There's a very narrow "clear" area between colors, so I guess that's what they're talking about

Bottom line it's recommend for HT to set the white peak to zero. I have it on the H77 also and noticed some white crush posturing in white clouds. Move the white peak back to zero and the scene was perfect. For a second I got a look at the smearing effect. ;)

The white peaking is on the new machines and it will make white/bright white. But watch out for white crush.

Could this be a somewhat effective countermeasure as your bulb starts to dim toward the end of it's life? Maybe boosting the white peaking by one click could get you a little extra brightness albeit at the expense of color saturation.

:) I don't think the H30 will ever be dim. Wing says if you want you could use white to number 3 but no more. If you see white crush in some scenes like I mentioned lower it and re-check the scene.

The white peak makes white bright white it doesn't effect the darker colors.

HDTV breakup--

Last week I set up my new h30 and posted my initial impressions. DVDs are great. When I tried hdtv every few minutes the picture would break up (digitize) and then would be replaced by a green screen.

Tried it again yesterday, and the same thing happened. I tried sdtv for a few minutes and it was ok (i.e., didn't break up). Only tried it for a few minutes, and maybe didn't wait long enough to see if it would break up.

Anyway, it seems to me that it's the cable hdtv broadcast, since the projector only displays whatever signal it receives (?).

Anybody else have the same problem? If it's the cable feed, there's probably no fix.

thanks,
Steven

Originally posted by guitarman

The whith peak makes white, bright white it doesn't effect the darker colors.
Ahhh so that won't work.... Thanks!

Originally posted by guitarman
I use the auto lock, the projector will just look for the signal button you pressed like RGB, S-video, composite. Like if you're watching HDTV over RGB and it drops out it will only seek out the RGB signal.


Ok I'll enable it next time I use the PJ, Now I forget is there a signal button on the remote?

Originally posted by MikeSRC
You might be able to e-mail Steve and see what he recommends for the H30. He's also occasionally on this forum. I'd be interested in your results as well.

I did that prior to ordering the package. He commented that both he and customers were having great success with the DLP version. I'll probably have it this week sometime - we'll see how it does.

For calibration efforts like mjolson is planning- do you guys use just one setting like User2 to make all the changes and leave the others at their factory preset levels? I know when I first fired mine up I noticed that the cinema setting had been heavily massaged at the factory but User1&2 were all zeros. I used User1 to store my changes made with DVE and then used User2 to strike a balance between those two. No matter what I watch- one of those three settings yields a pleasing image.

Are you guys doing/planning something similar or am I off my rocker? :)

Steven to fix the green bar problem with HDTV you have to get an RMA from Optoma and they will fix it. I had sent mine in a week ago and everything works great now.

Nick, I don't think he's locking up. Seems like the signals dropping out. With lock up he'd have to shut the pj down to fix.

Hey Steve, Make sure the Comcast box is set to 1080i & 480i for 4.3. On my Comcast box 5105 I hv to go int the service area to set. I hit the power and menu buttons on the receiver and the hidden screen appears. There you can change from 480p, 720p, 1080i.

What works best with the H30 is 1080i & 480i for 4.3SDTV. Plus on the PJ put the signal lock on.
Let us know how it's going.

Mick and Guitarman-

Thanks for your help. I'll try changing the settings on the cable box. If, after trying everything, it does turn out to be the projector, it's rma time.


--Steven

You have a new projector. Take a look under the User 1 menu there's an added option for Yuv,RGB. Switch those around, see what happens.

Green bar lockup is something different and has been taken care of some time ago. You're having signal loss, I'd look first the the cable box wire to the projector. What are your wire hookups?

Just great. Had about 250 hours on my bulb and now all I get is an orange light :mad: :mad: :mad: I have tried unplugging it and turning it back on, but nothing. Super. Yesterday I spill juice inside my reciever and it goes to crap, and now my projector goes to crap.

Anyways, I take it I am due to give Optoma a call eh?

You could try a re-seat of the bulb. I hope it hasn't been over 90 days. Soda and amplifiers right, I aced a 100watt Marhsall top like that.

I recieved it in mid April. But 5 months and not even 300 hours!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I hope optoma can work with me some how, cuz any product that doesn't last for even a 1/8th of its tested life is unacceptable.

By the way, what do you mean by reseating the bulb?

Originally posted by jigrillo
I recieved it in mid April. But 5 months and not even 300 hours!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I hope optoma can work with me some how, cuz any product that doesn't last for even a 1/8th of its tested life is unacceptable.

By the way, what do you mean by reseating the bulb?

I had this happen to me too. After 120 hours. In finnish forum we had handfull of people reporting the same. The bulb-light just went orange (lightning failure) and bulb needed to be replaced. Some people even reported having 2 failures.

My quess is that there were bad batch of bulbs and optoma is aware of this (hopefully). I think you should not worry about it. They propably just replace it for free anyway.

-mika

Re-seating by taking it out and replacing it to make sure the contacts are cleaned.

That would be something if you get another bulb. Lets us know how it goes.

Something new about any solution for the smearing effect ?


--Genesabas

Originally posted by genesabas
Something new about any solution for the smearing effect ?


Unfortunately not yet. I've had few reports from people using PAL. (RGB and Y/Pb/Br). Many are very disappointed about the effect.

I have sent information to Optoma via my Finnish dealer who has connections to optoma england service.

I just purchased digi-tv-box (DVB-C) which I am using via S-Video and so far I cannot see any smearing in the picture with it.

-mika

Originally posted by jigrillo
I recieved it in mid April. But 5 months and not even 300 hours!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
That really, really, really stinks :( I hope they can work something out for you.

Originally posted by MMika
I had this happen to me too. After 120 hours. In finnish forum we had handfull of people reporting the same. The bulb-light just went orange (lightning failure) and bulb needed to be replaced. Some people even reported having 2 failures.

My quess is that there were bad batch of bulbs and optoma is aware of this (hopefully). I think you should not worry about it. They propably just replace it for free anyway.

-mika


I'm really starting to wonder If I made a mistake with this PJ seeing all these reports of the Bulbs going belly up after 300 hours when they are rated for 2000 min. I can't afford to be buying bulbs every 6 months.

Concerned

On the other hand I've put over 500hrs on two different H30's, total 1,000 with no problems. Evey line of projectors can have a few bulb's blow. Nature of the beast. Hell the Sharps had thousands that flickered. I haven't heard of a huge amount of bulb problems with the H30. No more than a dozen and there's hundred's of guys here that own the H30.

So I called optoma and I need to send it in. I guess I will have to pay for shipping.

Anybody know if I have to send in the case and the power cord? Should I send it in its original box?

Just use the case and original box, no accessories, no cord, remote etc.

They need it to check for any type of problem. Prepare to get the C07 firmware with the low offset. Great if you're using a 16.9 screen.

Thanks Tom....So right now I have my projector ceiling mounted. Will my picture be higher or lower on my wall?

Originally posted by jigrillo
Thanks Tom....So right now I have my projector ceiling mounted. Will my picture be higher or lower on my wall?

If the projector is celing mounted (upside down), the picture will be higher. I wa s the first to notice this when I got my C07 back in June. It actually helped me out with my setup.

Yes, with C07 you're not forced to flush mount and can setup easier for no Keystone. If you want your screen lower just use an extension.. I figure the new offset is 12" down or up from the center of the lens.

I can't believe this. It just came back from getting the green bar fixed and now no bulb. This is now the third problem since April. I have about 250 hours on my bulb and now all I get is an orange light I have tried unplugging it and turning it back on and nothing happens.

I will give Optoma a call tomorrow. I hope they can work something out. I cannot see paying $400 for a new bulb when the projector has been hardly used. If I had 1000 plus hours I would feel a bit better about it. Not happy, but, better.

I had thought about upgrading to the H77 next April now I am having second thoughts.

Wow... How about reseating the bulb Mick? I can see where new owners and those considering the unit are gritting their teeth. I think like Tom says though- the problems represent a very small percentage of the units out there.

Good Luck! :)

Originally posted by jigrillo
So I called optoma and I need to send it in. I guess I will have to pay for shipping.

Anybody know if I have to send in the case and the power cord? Should I send it in its original box?
That is good news and good service...

"problems represent a very small percentage of the units out there"

I know but it's a bugger when it's your projector. Remember I had 3 HT1000's in a row with dead pixels. With all the projectors I've had I've never had a bad bulb. I had dead pixels also on a AE100.

When you're trying to reset by unplugging. Try an overnight unplug and see what happens. Or at least for 15mins or more.

I can't believe this. It just came back from getting the green bar fixed and now no bulb. This is now the third problem since April. I have about 250 hours on my bulb and now all I get is an orange light I have tried unplugging it and turning it back on and nothing happens.

I have had this happen 4 times with 2 different H30's. It was never a blown bulb its just that the projector wouldn't power on. Unplugging it never helped even for days. I sent my H30 to Optoma 2 1/2 weeks ago and I am suppose to get a new one. I am going to make sure to not have a source on before I power up projector but if this problem happens again I will be forced to sell the H30 and go with something else. This projector puts out a great image but it obviously has some bugs.

Mike

Well just after I got after I posted my question here about returning my H30, on my ride home my car gets rear ended. So I spill juice in my reciever, H30 blows out, Hurricane Frances is planning on ruining my beach vacation this weekend to miami, and now my car is busted all in a 4 day span. This is a direct assault to all my manly possesions.:mad: :mad: I must of angered one of the female gods on mount olympus.


By the way does optoma have an upgrade option? I had to painfullly watch a movie last night on my 36" CRT, but had gotten so used to fan noise that I had forgotten how nice it was to have true silence during a movie. I wouldn't mind paying a little more now for the H77.

Holy!!! Well never mind the H77, I just saw its $9000 MSRP:D
Well a H56 would still be nice.

Originally posted by mbw23air
I have had this happen 4 times with 2 different H30's. It was never a blown bulb its just that the projector wouldn't power on. Unplugging it never helped even for days. I sent my H30 to Optoma 2 1/2 weeks ago and I am suppose to get a new one. I am going to make sure to not have a source on before I power up projector but if this problem happens again Mike

Ok. Now you got me worried. My bulb or PJ went to orange "lighting failure" and I had it repaired among the greenbar-bug. It started slowly so that it wouldn't boot at the first time but second or third (I believe it tries 4 times to boot and then gives up). Finally after 120 hours it didn't start at all. Just tries 4 times and then the orange-light. Unplugging or waiting won't help.

Now after 80 hours from repair It has again done this twice. Won't start first but second or third. I'm gonna be REALLY pissed of if I see the orange-light again. :mad:

Anyone got any idea what does it mean? I know it's not the actual lamp failure. Manual says it's "lighting failure" but what the heck does that mean? Do they replace something in the PJ or just bulb?

-mika

Originally posted by guitarman
"problems represent a very small percentage of the units out there"

I know but it's a bugger when it's your projector.
I agree completely. I hope no one thought I was trivializing their difficulties.

Well, I got my H30 back from Optoma after my lamp issue. Quick turnaround, 2 shipping days from when they received it (they had it Friday, I had mine today, Tuesday). Looks like I got a new projector, but they put it in the same box with my old supplies (I sent everything back).

They do have good service, I'll give them that. Hope all the problems get resolved with the other problematic units here.

Originally posted by jigrillo
By the way does optoma have an upgrade option? I had to painfullly watch a movie last night on my 36" CRT, but had gotten so used to fan noise that I had forgotten how nice it was to have true silence during a movie. I wouldn't mind paying a little more now for the H77.

Yes they do:

http://www.optomausa.com/warranty/trade_in.asp

Hey Valk, didn't you have a buzzer? How's the new one?

Bulb strike failures happening? Are you guys leaving the projector in standby when not in use? I do

Wing said only full power off when you go on a long vacation.

I've had several proejctors that didn't fire up once or twice when I was using them. Never thought anything about it as they would start 99.9% or the time.

If your bulb won't strike hardly ever, it sounds like a power supply problem. Which is good becuase that's covered with the two year warranty.

Originally posted by jigrillo
Well just after I got after I posted my question here about returning my H30, on my ride home my car gets rear ended. So I spill juice in my reciever, H30 blows out, Hurricane Frances is planning on ruining my beach vacation this weekend to miami, and now my car is busted all in a 4 day span. This is a direct assault to all my manly possesions.:mad: :mad: I must of angered one of the female gods on mount olympus.

Yow, talk about a kick in the groin. Sorry to hear that. Hope the H30 fix is a quick one.

After spending some more time with the FL-D filter, it's starting to grow on me. It definitely helps with the green color accuracy as well as depth of blacks, with a small trade-off in brightness. I don't know if it's something that will show up on a screen shot, but I might try that out this weekend.

Just got my H30. It's my first projector. Dialed in the best picture and color I could get. I am struggling a bit. I think I was expecting too much. I'm comparing the picture to my Sony CRT and thought it would be the same. I do have all the lights off and used some Avia patterns to dial in the settings. Asking a projector at this price point to be as bright and clear and contrasty as a CRT is too much I think. After getting the screen and ceiling mount and the projector it seems other options like DLP TV's or big CRT's and the like might be an option to consider as well given that they are often HDTV resolution and ambient light is not as much a problem with them. They are smaller in screen size I know but I find myself trying to make my screen smaller to increase the punch and brightness so the screen ends up being smaller anyway to please my tastes. The screen I purchased was pretty cheap, a vinyl draper pull down matte at $150. Can I improve the punch a lot with a different screen? That's about the only way I have left to deepen the picture other that making it very small. The performance isn't bad mind you I just think I am realizing a projector, at least at this price, will not completely equal CRT performance. I want my cake and want to eat it too.

"After spending some more time with the FL-D filter, it's starting to grow on me"

Ah ha! new it. I was wondering if my effort advising to check one out went down the tubes.

RobRoy, you may want to try out an FLD-Day filter for the fun of it. Oh projector people can't make their PJ's look like a tube TV. We're in a different camp, we call it film like and totally immersed in the large picture. I have an HDTV tube tv, it's a toy. :)

Anyone wondering about Optoma's upgrade policy here is the response I got after asking about their policy.


Our upgrade policy is for projectors that are not being manufactured, not working, and basically older models. The most one could receive from an upgrade is $200.00 towards the purchase of a new unit. If you have a current model projector, the upgrade policy would more than likely not be to your advantage.

So there goes that idea.

Originally posted by jigrillo
Holy!!! Well never mind the H77, I just saw its $9000 MSRP:D
Well a H56 would still be nice.


The H56a is a nice upgrade and they're going pretty cheap. Here's the internal filter Wing developed. It gives much better color and I'll bet it helps the contrast also.

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h56afilter.jpg

They'll be some great things coming after Cedia. I can't say what but they'll be some interesting readings in a few weeks.

Originally posted by guitarman
They'll be some great things coming after Cedia. I can't say what but they'll be some interesting readings in a few weeks.

I'll be there first thing next Friday to find out. :D

Tom, do you know if Wing will be there? I've spoken to him on the phone but I'd like to meet him.

Yes he will be there. He said he might get over to the AVS party.

Great. Hopefully, they'll be debuting their answers to NEC's new lost cost projectors.

Cost me $30 to ship this thing to California with insurance. I hope they at least replace the bulb.

Morning all! Our beloved thread looked as though it might slip to page 3 of the thread listings and we just can't have that :)

Have a great day!

Originally posted by jigrillo
Cost me $30 to ship this thing to California with insurance. I hope they at least replace the bulb.

The shipping isn't too much, it's the insurance. .85cts per hundred with UPS. Too bad they don't pay for shipping both ways but no other company does. If we could just cut that insurance off of there. ;)

Hey count your blessings if you get a new bulb. I'd like to hear about it, that would be too awesome. If so Optoma is winning over everybody with this kind of customer care. good luck

Optoma has won me over as a customer! I told them I was very unhappy with my H30 because this is the third problem in 4 months of ownership with my unit. To my surprise they arranged to have UPS pick-up my H30 and they are going to send me a new one. That was the kind of service I was hoping to get from them. I just hope with this new unit, everything will work right from the start.

Originally posted by MickB
Optoma has won me over as a customer! I told them I was very unhappy with my H30 because this is the third problem in 4 months of ownership with my unit. To my surprise they arranged to have UPS pick-up my H30 and they are going to send me a new one. That was the kind of service I was hoping to get from them. I just hope with this new unit, everything will work right from the start.


--- Yep , Awesome Customer Service ... no doubt about it !

--- However the sad part is that so many are needing to use it :( .

--- CS could be much worse though , we could all own Sony's :D .


---------- Jason

"However the sad part is that so many are needing to use it"

Most things have been found out. Like the bad bulbs, early CW-bearing, Sync-lock. I think they're running out of problems about now.

How's it going with the 4805? I know Ryan had a bad first one. Sometimes when I peaked over there there was allot of picking at things. You ok?

A TWO part question for Guitarman: In a much earlier post you mentioned the level of detail (especially in dark scenes) of the H30. The scene in Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf is dragged by the Balrog down the Mines of Moria, you mentioned that the detail was very impressive, being able to see the sides of the mine as Gandalf is flung down the chasm. I think you mentioned that not too many DLP projectors were able to show this level of detail in dark scenes. My first question is, would the HT1100 be able to resolve these dark scene details equally well? My second question is: does the H30 (or the HT1100 for that matter) exhibit motion artifacts of any kind? I'm referring to something like the color wheel or the electronics somehow not being able to 'keep up' with the fast action going on during parts of a film. A kind of 'blurring' phenomena I guess. I can't say that I see anything like this on my current CRT front projector, a lowly Zenith Pro851x. Fast motion in a movie is never a concern with this CRT projector. I'm moving to a condo next year and with space constraints and all, I'm looking to go DLP. Most of my viewing (say 90%) will likely be DVD with possibly 'some' HDTV sprinkled in. I suppose your answer(s) will cause me to buy either the H30 or the HT1100. No pressure , Guitarman, but you are unquestionably the expert on these two projectors. Thanks.

-Mike

i just picked up the H30 my self, and so far so good (me thinks!), I've got alot of work to do in terms of getting my images as good as the ones guitarman posted . I'm gonna be getting a copy of Avia, and hopefully I'll get such detailed images too.

i do have a newbie question (most likely a billion more to come), but what's the difference between 16:9 and 16:9 native? basically I see the 2 options on the remote but don't know what the difference is, can anybody help out here? thanks!!

all in all i'm pretty happy with the h30, monster's inc looks amazing on it.... drool....

Originally posted by hsbc
i do have a newbie question (most likely a billion more to come), but what's the difference between 16:9 and 16:9 native? basically I see the 2 options on the remote but don't know what the difference is, can anybody help out here? thanks!!


16:9 gives you a true 16:9 ratio on the display, but because the chip's a 4:3 chip, you lose a little vertical resolution (800 X 450). Native 16:9 gives you full vertical resolution (480), but chops 27 pixels off each side of the image, resulting in 800 X 480 (854 X 480 being 16:9).

cool thanks,

what are most people here using? any reason why?

4:3, 4:3 native? 16:9, 16:9 native?

What setting you use depends on whether you have a 4:3 or a 16:9 screen. I have a 16:9 screen, so I use the regular 16:9 mode most of the time and occasionally use Native 16:9 with some 2.35:1 DVDs to fill more of the screen.

Originally posted by movienutt
A TWO part question for Guitarman: In a much earlier post you mentioned the level of detail (especially in dark scenes) of the H30. The scene in Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf is dragged by the Balrog down the Mines of Moria, you mentioned that the detail was very impressive, being able to see the sides of the mine as Gandalf is flung down the chasm. I think you mentioned that not too many DLP projectors were able to show this level of detail in dark scenes. My first question is, would the HT1100 be able to resolve these dark scene details equally well? My second question is: does the H30 (or the HT1100 for that matter) exhibit motion artifacts of any kind? I'm referring to something like the color wheel or the electronics somehow not being able to 'keep up' with the fast action going on during parts of a film. A kind of 'blurring' phenomena I guess. I can't say that I see anything like this on my current CRT front projector, a lowly Zenith Pro851x. Fast motion in a movie is never a concern with this CRT projector. I'm moving to a condo next year and with space constraints and all, I'm looking to go DLP. Most of my viewing (say 90%) will likely be DVD with possibly 'some' HDTV sprinkled in. I suppose your answer(s) will cause me to buy either the H30 or the HT1100. No pressure , Guitarman, but you are unquestionably the expert on these two projectors. Thanks.

-Mike

Every DLP I have seen has motion blur during fast camera sweeps (including the H30). Fortunately, it has never really bothered me.

Good point, you should see the motion artifact with some LCD's. It's sorta like trailing pixels. :)

The NEC should be able to show plenty of detail in the blacks.

Originally posted by hsbc
cool thanks,

what are most people here using? any reason why?

4:3, 4:3 native? 16:9, 16:9 native?

I use a 120" 4.3 screen so I always use 4.3native and 16.9native.

Do like Mike does if you have a 16.9 screen. You'll notice 16.9native for a 2.35 movie on a 16.9 screen that the image is shifted up a little, but you get about 5inches more diagonal size in the image. The H30 is the only projector that does this increased image size. Once you've seen it, the scaled 800X450 looks small.

Optoma has won me over as a customer! I told them I was very unhappy with my H30 because this is the third problem in 4 months of ownership with my unit. To my surprise they arranged to have UPS pick-up my H30 and they are going to send me a new one. That was the kind of service I was hoping to get from them. I just hope with this new unit, everything will work right from the start.

Ok, I had felt the same way about their customer service but I had a problem today. They have had my projector for 3 weeks now and I havent heard anything so I called Optoma. The girl in tech support said, "OH, didn't anyone call you"...."No" I said...she said "We were waiting for your response and credit card info to order a new lamp cause your projector was fixed but you need a new lamp"...I told her of just getting projector back from repair 2 weeks before from them and that I have had the same problem 4 times and NEVER has the lamp light come on. She then went and talked to surpervisor and said "We can replace lamp for cost"...I said.."Let me speak to supervisor."...I spoke to a very nice gentleman named Thomas and he is going to research all of my repairs and see what they have done each time. He also said if lamp dies within 90 days it is replaced for free. I have sent my H30 to Optoma for repair twice within the last 90 days and 4 times overall now and they even gave me a new unit at the end of May. So, I am upset but I am hopeful that I will get all of this straightened out with them. Like Ive said in the past...I absolutely love the image this projector produces but I've had way more trouble than I couldve imagined. I will report back next week once I find out what they are going to do.

Mike

Thanks, Guitarman.

-Mike

Mike,
It's still a hard choice between the HT1100 and the H30. There's a big difference in the prices. Most videophiles would say get the high resolution, 90% DVD use or not.

Decide on which one yet?

"Decide on which one yet?"
______________________________________________________

Not yet, but when the time comes (and the funds allow) I'd lean to the HT1100, and see how finicky the anamorphic lens is to set up, but I guess that would be a whole other thread. Thanks again for your comments.

-Mike

NEC let me try their Optimorph with my HT1000, it was excellent. The picture got brighter and High Def became awesome.

That reminds me. Doesn't the HT1100 come bundled with an anamorphic lens? Is it the Optimorph? Secondly, what's the degree of difficulty in setting it up? Thanks.

-Mike

Well... It probably had to happen as I was sometimes mouthing off about how perfect my H30 was.

For about the last three days I can no longer get the projector to turn on via a remote. I have a Harmony remote I bought from Mike that turns on everything (receiver, cable box, DVD player) when I push the button for an activity but will not turn on the H30. The Optoma remote will not turn the projector on anymore either. I just replaced the batteries in the Harmony a couple of weeks ago so I know they're good, it turns on and operates everything else fine. I replaced the batteries in the Optoma remote just for giggles also and got the same. I try aiming the remotes right at the sensor 6" away from the unit- no joy. The projector will turn on fine when I press the flashing green power button on the unit itself. I tried pulling on every key on both remotes to eliminate a stuck key and couldn't find anything unusual. I have noticed the "turn lamp off" banner coming up sometimes now like would happen when you push the power button once. This has happened before but seems to be happening more frequently now.

Weird... Anyone have any ideas or run into this before?

Thanks!

I've been having the same problem in the past (remote won't switch H30 off) and reported it to Optoma UK. They said the knew of the problem and were working on it. Never heard from them again. Since then the problem slowly went away and now (knock on wood) all works fine.

Thanks Mike.... I hope mine just goes away then as well. Perhaps that is one we can blame on solar flares or something. :) I can give it a little time since I can easily reach the power button on the unit but I don't want it this way permanently.

Cheers!

That's pretty strange. Since it seems to be a problem with the H30 itself (not the remote), try unplugging it for awhile and see if that helps.

Try aiming at the front/back sensors also. Maybe one of the PJ's IR's went out. The unplug is a good idea also.

Originally posted by movienutt
That reminds me. Doesn't the HT1100 come bundled with an anamorphic lens? Is it the Optimorph? Secondly, what's the degree of difficulty in setting it up? Thanks.

-Mike

It's easy to setup. Fits perfect and locks with allen screws. First you focus with the lens on loose then lock it down. Pretty cool also becuase it flips away for full screen 4.3 if you want. It's still expensive though. :)

It seems that I have all the reported problems.

My remote has also behaved EXACTLY in the same manner. Two evenings with no "power on" from remote (had to do it from machine), and tonight it behaved normally. Strange...

and irritating, I should stop reading this forum. I seem to get same problems with slight delay. :mad:

I had the remote problem with my last unit. Happened twice. I unplugged the H30 both times, and the remote then again responded.

I'm now convinced that Microsoft makes the H30's operating system, because there seem to be a number of issues that an "alt-ctrl-del" always seem to fix!

:)

Thanks for the input... I'll try the unplug thing overnight. I didn't realize there was another sensor other than the one in front by the lens. I'll find the location of the other one and try that to test Tom's theory.

Easy on Microsoft there Valk :) They pump a lot of money into your local economy and into my bank account. :D Things have been pretty good with XP

Cheers!

Originally posted by valkyrie
I'm now convinced that Microsoft makes the H30's operating system, because there seem to be a number of issues that an "alt-ctrl-del" always seem to fix! :)


--- LOL

--- But I have to agree with gotta , M$ has been much better as of late and I do luv XP . I find that many people blame M$ for issues that are not always related to the OS [ other software created the problem in the OS or many have hardware related issues that cause crashes and they blame the OS ] . I do feel that no single person should have that much $$$ however , come on Bill ... share the luv buddy :D .

--- I too had the remote issues by the way and it went away for a while but then came back just before I shipped off my second H30 to Optoma for replacement . The third H30 has had no remote issues other than it just is not very responsive .



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

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
--- LOL

--- But I have to agree with gotta , M$ has been much better as of late and I do luv XP . I find that many people blame M$ for issues that are not always related to the OS [ other software created the problem in the OS or many have hardware related issues that cause crashes and they blame the OS ] . I do feel that no single person should have that much $$$ however , come on Bill ... share the luv buddy :D .

------------- Jason
Good points Jason... :) I remember the first time I saw Unca Bill at a product expo following a company meeting. I was grabbing a cold one from a tub and someone grabbed a water off the table a of couple feet away. I turned and looked and it was him. The first thought that flew into my head was "My God- you look even geekier in person than you do on T.V. :D In fairness- the charitable giving level of his foundation is phenomenal.

Sorry mods for the OT. Cheers!

Just watched "Hero" last night on the H30. Wow, what a feast for the eyes. I'm going to try and get some screen shots, both with and without the FL-D filter just to see if the difference will be noticeable in a screen shot.

hmmm...Is this the Jet Li "Hero" is this available in another region or is this a boot?

My H30 is still unmounted I'm trying to get the guys who are ordering my screen and mounting my Projector to get things going only a few more weeks until Star Wars!

Yes, it's the Jet Li "Hero" that's currently in the theaters. It's also not a bootleg. It came out a few years ago in China and has been available on region free Chinese DVDs for over a year. Until Miramax released the movie here, you could even buy it from U.S. retailers, but now it's only available from online stores that are based overseas, or on Ebay. Mirmax acknowledges that a lot of people can still get the DVD, but it's best seen on a big screen and was the #1 movie anyway. The head of Miramax stated that he thinks people who have only seen the DVD on a small screen will want to go see it in a theater. There are many versions as well, so you have to be careful about which one you get. The extended versions you might find are of lower quality.

This film would make any projector look good, so it's really nice with the H30.

Mike
Lots of colors I assume. So you're a happy camper with the FLD lens? You know when I used my first FLD filter with the LT150 I never like how it darkened the image. But no prob with the H30 because it's so bright all the time, lens or no lens. But with the color red and DLP's the FLD and the H30 make a good match. Surprised we haven't heard from others about the filter. No one likes change. ;)

I also just watched Hero 2 days ago,It looks incredible on the H30.
Hell everything looks great on the H30 :D

And i havent even got a screen yet,Just using a diy blackout cloth setup.

I am leaning towards spending the extra cash for a 4:3 Carada wall mount screen,And building a nice masking setup.

Anybody out there using a Carada?

What are some of the best looking movies to watch on the h30?

Ive watched Fifth Element(superbit)countless times already heh.Finding Nemo is another i can't seem to stop tossing in.Anything CGI looks great.

More of a dvd player forum question but whats a prefered stand alone player to hook up to the h30?I know i should grab one with that chip in it that i can never remember how to spell lol.
Denon make anything under say $700 that looks any good(dont mind buying used)

I can't seem to find the info,I know its in this thread but how should i clean this?If i remember correctly its sealed pretty good in there and i just need to put a vacume to the intake side once and awhile?

And how often do you all clean the lense?Do you prefer to use air or that lense cleaning material,Or both?

What to watch next :D

DVD players You can still find them, the Panasonic RP82, XP30, XP50, Denon 1600. I've had all four at one time or another and I really like the menu system of all of them which is exactly the same. All have the best Mpeg coder & Faroudja chip.

If you hv trouble finding one of these, the Zenith 318 may be ok, though I've heard it has some hiccups.

Movies, anything with dark scenes a spectacular color for the H30. Like Master Commander, LOTR for dark details, H30 loves these kind of movies. For color the Austin Power movies are good. Gold member has a great demo for sound and color in the opening sequence.

Use an eyeglass cleaner and soft glass towel every month or when ever the lens looks pretty dusty.

I'm glad you're getting a 4.3 screen. I was just reading the 4805 thread and a new user said he mainly watches DVD's and allot of Music Video's. He bought the wrong projector. You can't beat a full screen Music Video on the H30. Or a Classic movie either and this is major, believe me. :)
enjoy

Shoot..A local HT place had a denon 1600 2 months ago...hmmm time to take a drive.

I am using a HTPC now..it looks INCREDIBLE,But i am getting too much tearing effect that alot of pc's have.I am noticing it way too much now,It was nothing on a tiny 17'' monitor..But now i see it everytime it happens and drives me nuts.

To see what i mean,Just open up any fps game and move the mouse side to side.you get horizontal lines that tear the image,Or just open a folder on your desktop and drag it to the side and watch the edges of the folder.

Some people dont have this,but its been on every single pc i have ever sat in front of.And i know alot of gamers,Some people don't even notice it.But i sure do.

I'm not sure what type of Carada material to get though,I have total control over lighting,Although sometimes i dim the lights VERY low above the seating area.

I'm watching all the LORT movies back to back next weekend..that should be something.

You can use a group of materials with the H30, there's no limitations. You could go .08,1.0, 1.1, 1.3 gains, the pj has just the right level of brightnesses to cover any of these gains.

Originally posted by MikeSRC
That's pretty strange. Since it seems to be a problem with the H30 itself (not the remote), try unplugging it for awhile and see if that helps.
Unplugged the H30 overnight after finally watching Kill Bill Vol 1 (great look to that one) last night. I plugged it back in just now and my Harmony remote now turns it on fine.

Thanks for the tip Mike (and Tom) :)

Cheers!

And thank you Microsoft ;)

See...I told ya. :)

hehehe :)

This is gonna be deja vu for some of you

I watched my first movie with my new 16:9 screen set up last night (spider-man superbit version), everything looked pretty amazing with a few hopefully minor issues.

This goes back to some stuff I read earlier on in the forum, about there being noise in the dark parts? For me, watching spider-man, some darker scenes were fine and looked really good, while other scenes were horrible, all that was noticeable was the noise on the screen. It was most noticeable in 2 sequences, first one when peter is taking out the trash and is talking to MJ in the back yard, the other is near the end, during the tram sequence.

The noise is a blueish grey colour. Now I've read that this is fixable in the service menu, does using the service menu void the warranty at all? The blacks were pretty black, but the level of noise on some shots were very distracting. It seems totally random which scenes will have it, some dark scenes will have the noise, while some won't? If there are any other suggestions please feel free to pass em on.

Welcome hsbc...

What kind of screen did you get? (gain, etc.)

Do you have a calibration disk such as AVIA or DVE?

In the early days we were backing off the DLP brightness in the service menu a few clicks but I think it's been determined that you should be able to get the same results in the advanced adjustment menu. Since some scenes have noise and others do not, realize there may be a little compromise necessary.

I'll let the true experts chime in if you could answer the questions above to provide more background. :)

Cheers!

Thanks gottahavapj, this forum is a wealth of knowledge for pjs... errrr.. not pajammas, proje... arghhhh you know what I mean!!!!!

My screen is pretty low budget, made it my self, bought some projector fabric that yields from 1.0 - 1.03 of a gain. and stretched it over some foamcore.. like i said, pretty low budget (cost about $60USD).

I do have the AVIA disk, havn't had a chance to use it yet though, I've only had time to callibrate according to those THX tests on DVD's.

Originally posted by hsbc
I do have the AVIA disk, havn't had a chance to use it yet though, I've only had time to callibrate according to those THX tests on DVD's.

Tom's played around with the settings more than anyone else outside of Optoma (and I'm not so sure about that either ;) ). Here's a few of Tom's posts on the subject to get you started:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3950986#post3950986

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3996871#post3996871

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4179457#post4179457

Here's some "Hero" screen shots, with the FL-D filter. So far, I haven't been able to get one without the filter that looks any different on my PC monitor, but I'm going to try a few more.

Girl Fight (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_1.jpg)

You Go First (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_2.jpg)

Surrounded (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_3.jpg)

Screwed (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_4.jpg)

Walk On Water (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_5.jpg)

A Few Arrows in the Air (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_7.jpg)

You're seeing dithering. Minimize dithering by lowering brightness levels. Might be as simple as the user brightness. Or you can lower the Avanced RGB-brightness equally or go in the service menu and lower RGB-brightness in a few areas.

Service area,
ADP if you're sending a progressive signal, the service picture menu also has RGB, & DLP has RGB. I'd start with the advanced adjustments first and if not good enough then try picture/RGB in the service menu or ADP/RGB. The adjustments in the service menu effect any signal you use while the advanced users will just effect the one signal.

After making changes take a look at the Avia Needle Pulse pattern to see that there's no color tints in the Gray to White steps in the upper part of the pattern. If it's not dead on grays to white make final changes with the user advanced adjustments.

Example - you see red/pink tint in the light gray/white.
R-contrast -2
G-contrast +2
B-contrast +2

If you see green in the dark grays/black
R-brightness +2
G-brightness -2
B-brightness +2

You see how it works, color in the light grays you use the RGB-contrasts

Color in the dark grays you use the RGB-brightness to fix.
enjoy and get good at it. :)

I've edited the grayscale asjusment tips to my first post, so if anybody's ever looking for it or asking it's a quick find.

Originally posted by MikeSRC
Here's some "Hero" screen shots, with the FL-D filter. So far, I haven't been able to get one without the filter that looks any different on my PC monitor, but I'm going to try a few more.

Girl Fight (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_1.jpg)

You Go First (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_2.jpg)

Surrounded (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_3.jpg)

Screwed (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_4.jpg)

Walk On Water (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_5.jpg)

A Few Arrows in the Air (http://www.surfaudiovideo.com/graphics/hero_7.jpg)

Looks good, nicer contrast and still easy to see detail in the blacks. So what happens when you take the filter off? lol

Thanks for those Mike... Hero looks like eye candy deluxe :)

Originally posted by guitarman
You see how it works, color in the light grays you use the RGB-contrasts

Color in the dark grays you use the RGB-brightness to fix.
enjoy and get good at it. :)
Good points Tom- I had forgotten about this morsel...
Here's a quote from the Optoma "how-to" guide describing the adjustment in the user advanced adjustment menu that confirms this:

"Just like the overall contrast and brightness controls, the RGB brightness control allows you to adjust the amount of each color in the DARKER scenes, while the RGB contrast controls the amount of each color in the BRIGHTER scenes. It is a bit counter-intuitive so the user should be especially aware of this phenomenon."

Thanks as always Tom for your good info...

Cheers!

Only source that allows me ZERO Dithering is an HTPC so expect to have some dithering if you walk right up to the screen with almost any other source [ this is normal for DLP projection ] . Dithering should not bother you at proper view distance however so if it does then you require further calibration .

--------- Jason

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm gonna try this stuff tonight, curse my none light controlled room....

I think I can handle some dithering, but the shots i saw it in were pretty bad. picture a character in the middle of the screen, he's nice and clear but everything around him is dithering, making noise, buzzzing, looking like fuzz etc.... like crazy

I'll keep u guys posted, thanks again!!

Oh, and I'm not seated up close, I'm seated about 2 times the screen width away...

and my dvd player is my xbox with component cables.

Originally posted by hsbc
Oh, and I'm not seated up close, I'm seated about 2 times the screen width away...

and my dvd player is my xbox with component cables.


--- There-in lies your problem ;) .

--- The Xbox is sub-par as a dvd player [ while I do like it better than several very inexpensive dvd players that I have used/tested it will not get you good results - even once it has been modded and made to playback in progressive ] .


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

Good catch Jason... I forgot to ask that very important question...

Cheers!

Thanks for all the help on this, I did some calibrating tonight, it's alot better than it was yesterday. I'm gonna have to stick with my xbox for now, So I've gotta figure out how to get the best picture I can with it.

"You're seeing dithering. Minimize dithering by lowering brightness levels. Might be as simple as the user brightness. Or you can lower the Avanced RGB-brightness equally or go in the service menu and lower RGB-brightness in a few areas."

guitarman, why is it necessary to lower the RGB brightness equally? I found when i lowered the RGB brightness equally the image got darker (dithering went away) but I was loosing alot of detail as well.

as of now, all I've done to get rid of the dithering is lowered the blue brightness to -10, and left the R and G at -1. All in the advanced options. The dithering is gone, but the blacks seem to have a bit of grey in them.... maybe this is one of those trade offs gottahavapj was mentioning? any thoughts?

Hello everybody,

Any news about the smearing effect, I see this effect , will there be a new firmware fixing this?
Does somebody know if Optoma are working on new firmwares?


Greetings from Spain

Wow!
It's nice to know I am not alone in the Universe.
As far as dithering, I had read nowhere that DVD players were responsible for that phenomenon, so I didn't consider my dithering problem as a reason for upgrading my DVD player. Unfortunately I also get dithering over my PC and Playstation, so that made me decide not to upgrade my DVD player just yet. Everything I read about it said it was a shortcoming of DLP.
Using a Sony 5 Disc changer right now, can't remember model, but its not the progressive one.

Anyhow I have my H30 pulled down in table top mode for the moment and went back into the Advanced menu and set the brightness back to 32. I never really understood the advanced settings for brightness vs. contrast, so I will go in and use Avia with this in mind and see if I can use this to fight the dithering problem. All I have ever been able to do is get a compromise between dithering and shadow detail. The Spider-Man movie is probably the worst DVD I have for this. Some shots are purely amazing like the slow-mo Spitball at the beginning, and then the horrible dithering during the final battle. If I find a trick to fix it for me I will post it here, hope you do the same. Glad to see you guys still tweaking this thing, I guess that never changes.
-Later

Originally posted by hsbc
Thanks for all the help on this, I did some calibrating tonight, it's alot better than it was yesterday. I'm gonna have to stick with my xbox for now, So I've gotta figure out how to get the best picture I can with it.

"You're seeing dithering. Minimize dithering by lowering brightness levels. Might be as simple as the user brightness. Or you can lower the Avanced RGB-brightness equally or go in the service menu and lower RGB-brightness in a few areas."

guitarman, why is it necessary to lower the RGB brightness equally? I found when i lowered the RGB brightness equally the image got darker (dithering went away) but I was loosing alot of detail as well.

as of now, all I've done to get rid of the dithering is lowered the blue brightness to -10, and left the R and G at -1. All in the advanced options. The dithering is gone, but the blacks seem to have a bit of grey in them.... maybe this is one of those trade offs gottahavapj was mentioning? any thoughts?

Welcome back there Mr. Karate :)

Originally posted by genesabas
Hello everybody,

Any news about the smearing effect, I see this effect , will there be a new firmware fixing this?
Does somebody know if Optoma are working on new firmwares?


Greetings from Spain

Wing the tech here in the US told me he didn't work with PAL and users should contact the techs in their area of Europe.

I think I've got the dithering thing close to solved now, but have you guys seen this before. Basically, on some dark shots, not all... there will be these "vertical bars" almost that make up the image? I've attached a pic that I've taken...
This pic is a bit extreem, I remeber when watching this particular shot the bars were most noticible on the left side of the screen.

This wasn't as bothersome as the dithering since it didn't appear all the time but I still would like to know what it is. is my projector a dud, or is this sorta thing normal with DLP again?

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Originally posted by hsbc
I think I've got the dithering thing close to solved now, but have you guys seen this before. Basically, on some dark shots, not all... there will be these "vertical bars" almost that make up the image? I've attached a pic that I've taken...
This pic is a bit extreem, I remeber when watching this particular shot the bars were most noticible on the left side of the screen.

This wasn't as bothersome as the dithering since it didn't appear all the time but I still would like to know what it is. is my projector a dud, or is this sorta thing normal with DLP again?

Thanks again for your thoughts.

The thing that cuts down the dithering the most for me is setting Gamma to 1 instead of 2. This pretty much darkens the image in general, but it sets dithering to barely noticeable. I haven't seen the bars before, that might be a source issue. Haven't been around the forums in a while though, maybe someone else knows.

Also how long are your cable runs? VGA and Component. I have very long ones that may be the source of all my problems, if you have long cable runs that might be what is causing your too. Now that I think about it, I think those bars you are seeing may be the cables, or some type of line interference. Does your VGA cable have ferrites (this is a magnet coil at the end of the cable to block line noise?
I'm running:
50' VGA to 12' Component to 3' Component.
Tried 25' VGA in place of 50', couldn't tell a difference, so kept the 50' since it was already layed out. I think anyone will tell you either of these runs are too long though, so if I cut it down to 12' I may actually see a difference, but haven't had that option yet.

Dell Dropped the price of the Projector by $149 so I emailed them and they issued me a credit even thou I bought it 2 weeks ago. Now if I could only get a screen and get it mounted and hung.

Hikarate,
Several users (myself included) have successfully removed (noise) dithering by setting in service menu: DLP brightness (all) to 29 and DLP contrast (all) to 30. Try this, it will save you a lot of time if it works.

Good thinking hikarate... I have not seen that verticle bar scenario hsbc. Perhaps you could try a shorter cable run or even just a different cable. Do you have a long power cord running right next to your signal cables?. I would say my 25' VGA cable is of medium quality. It was ~$45 from Cables To Go. I would not accept that picture.

I'm using monster cables for the xbox I'm using the component cables, as well as the optical cable for digital sound. they're both about 10Ft long.

As for being magnetically shielded cables, I'll have to do some research on that.

about my set up, I've got my xbox on the floor, about 1.5 feet behind it is the power bar that the pg and xbx is connected too. I guess the power cord runnning next to the signal cable would be the power cord for the projector, and the power cord for the xbox.

the only shorter cable i have is a S-video cable, I can try that and see what happens.

That vertical bar thing appears sometimes in dark scenes, I would really like to get rid of it.

thanks all

Originally posted by Vierimaa
Hikarate,
Several users (myself included) have successfully removed (noise) dithering by setting in service menu: DLP brightness (all) to 29 and DLP contrast (all) to 30. Try this, it will save you a lot of time if it works.

I forgot how to get into the service menu again. Can some provide me that info.

Originally posted by Saturn_AD
I forgot how to get into the service menu again. Can some provide me that info.

Using the buttons on the projector, press:

Up + Enter (at the same time) , push them twice

Left + Enter (at the same time) , push them twice

does using the service menu void the warrenty at all?

Originally posted by hsbc
does using the service menu void the warrenty at all?
Not that we're aware of... just be careful what you touch in there. :)

This if from good ole Ryan's (:)) FAQ:

"Optoma H30 Service Menu : [ On the H30 controls not the Remote ] Up + Enter (at the same time)-hit it twice /-> Left + Enter (at the same time)-hit it twice /-> First service menu screen should pop-up /-> Then Up + Left + Down at the same time for FULL service menu access [ Use at your own risk - Please DO NOT use the ColorWheel / Factory Reset / ADP adjustments ]."

I see his last post was over a month ago. He must have gotten tired of blithering idiots like us :D

Oops, forgot the final step (Up + Left + Down at the same time). Thanks gotta. ;)

Thanks guys!!!!! I waited this long to look into getting that speckled dithering in the blacks up to now. But I have been happy with my unit.

cheers

Hmm, I will give the DLP settings a try, thanks for the suggestion.
Honestly I will be impressed if it works. It seems to me all these different options to change settings seem to have the same effect, just different menues to make the change in. I believe if I lower these DLP Brightness and Contrast settings, then go into the standard menu and move Brightness and Contrast up, then the dithering would come back. I mean I can get rid of dithering by moving Contrast up or Brightness down in the standard menu.
Anyhow, just thinking outloud, glad to hear it worked for you and others, I will definitely give it a try tonight, that is something I haven't done before.


If anyone has "The Usual Suspects", check 2 scenes for me.
+++++++++++++++++++
POSSIBLE MOVIE SPOILER
+++++++++++++++++++
I can't imagine anyone not seeing this movie yet but just in case...
.
.
.
.
.
.
1. Kaiser lights up his lighter at the beginning of the movie. Its a close up on his black trenchcoat (Background) With the lighter in front. Right before he kills Keaton Get dithering and pixelation issues with this.

2. Stephen Baldwin (McManus) under the lamp getting questioned. I get a haloing effect around his face. Same problem I reported with Finding Nemo when I first got the PJ.

If everything looks fine for you, mess with Contrast and Brightness and tell me if going higher or lower causes a problem. That might help me narrow down what is causing my problem with these 2 scenes. These 2 scenes are what I try to balance. it seems a setting that fixes one, makes the other worse.


Anyhow, thanks for listening guys, I am sure all my problems are caused by my own ignorance, glad to have people to listen to me rant. Also looking forward to getting my H30 setup again. Maybe I can weed out some of my long standing problems with all these new folks playing with the PJ.
Hey Gotta, looks like I better get my posting in overdrive if I want to stay even with you like the old days :)
(Don't worry Tom just kiddin)

"Hmm, I will give the DLP settings a try"

The DLP RGB's seem easy because every machine from the factory has these all at 32. Wing said it's ok to try here but that the Picture or ADP rgb's might work better.

We have three locations of RGB's in the service menu.

ADP for progressive scan only.
DLP covers all signals
Picture covers all signals

Then there's the Advanced RGB's which work for individual signals.

Since the factory seems to like to keep DLP all at 32, I'd try the ADP or picture RGB's or just the Advanced user RGB's.

Make sure you write down the factory defaults in the service area and just concentrate on the RGB-brightness. It might be a good idea to have Avia going with the Pluge pattern or needle pulse steps (freeze it). Take a look at the grayscale of the steps pattern. But before that use the Avia all black moving bars pattern while you're lowering the RGB brightness in the service area. Set it to the spot where the left moving bar just re-appears.

Let us know how it's going.

PS just thought of something to why use the service RGB. Remember early on some users couldn't get black deep enough by lowering the user brightness all the way to zero. So using the service black area you'll get more control on making blacks deep and fixing the dithering. Put the user brightness to factory or middle before starting.

Hey guitarman, any thoughts about that pic that I posted earlier on page 335?

gonna try out a few things now, like a different cable or move the power cable away from the video signal (this one seems tuffer since the signal cable and power cables are so close together on the pg and the dvd player).

thanks for all the suggestions so far.

The interferance bars, yeah It's a cable or hardware problem. Try different inputs, composite, s-video, try even a different electrical outlet. Try another DVD player also.

What about all the green I see on Avia on the video samples. Like when they are explaining how to set contrast and they show contrast going up and down on the screen. When the screen is black on my Avia disc I see a lot of green to it. Is this my PJ or something with the disc. I'll give the DLP thing a try still, but I can't see where it will have a different effect than using the regular contrast and brightness menu. If I turn one down and the other one up or vise versa, should have the same effect on the picture. Worth giving it a shot anyways, tried everything else.
What about the Gamma Setting of 1, I know you went back and forth on that for a while Tom what Gamma did you end up with? Any problems with using Gamma 1 that I am not aware of, I mean other than a darker picture.
Thanks as always!

--- Gamma 1 and Color Temp 1 are what should be used for proper calibration . Gamma 1 is very close to Film gamma and Color Temp 1 is the closest to 6500K (at 7500K) .


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

Hey Fellow Optoma Owners I have a question for you. I stil have'nt gotten a screen or the PJ mounted (Trying to get the guys who will be doing so going on that) I was going to order a Da-lite 45x80 Screen. But I've been debating if I should go with a 4x3 screen instead? I'll be using this for DVD Exclusively. And the majority of what I watch is Widescreen. However I do watch the occasional Classic film. With a 4x3 screen do you pull it completely down when viewing WS material and fully for 4x3 or is it always fully extended. Because of the room size and the throw of the PJ they recommended no larger than 45x80 as it is the image would be towrd the floor, would a 4x3 be doable or would it be too low to be watchable?

Originally posted by hikarate
What about all the green I see on Avia on the video samples. Like when they are explaining how to set contrast and they show contrast going up and down on the screen. When the screen is black on my Avia disc I see a lot of green to it. Is this my PJ or something with the disc. I'll give the DLP thing a try still, but I can't see where it will have a different effect than using the regular contrast and brightness menu. If I turn one down and the other one up or vise versa, should have the same effect on the picture. Worth giving it a shot anyways, tried everything else.
What about the Gamma Setting of 1, I know you went back and forth on that for a while Tom what Gamma did you end up with? Any problems with using Gamma 1 that I am not aware of, I mean other than a darker picture.
Thanks as always!

Re green, you have to take a look the grayfields in Avia to see if you see green in the dark gray to black. If so in the advanced user RGB push up the R-brigtness and B-brightness a couple of clicks, maybe also pull back the G-brightness a couple.

I always use gamma 2, color temp 2. Pick what looks best for your projector and then tune with Avia. After that take a look at some gray patterns and look for any color you may need to get rid of. I like the needle pulse or pluge pattern for spotting color in gray.

Originally posted by Scarpad
Hey Fellow Optoma Owners I have a question for you. I stil have'nt gotten a screen or the PJ mounted (Trying to get the guys who will be doing so going on that) I was going to order a Da-lite 45x80 Screen. But I've been debating if I should go with a 4x3 screen instead? I'll be using this for DVD Exclusively. And the majority of what I watch is Widescreen. However I do watch the occasional Classic film. With a 4x3 screen do you pull it completely down when viewing WS material and fully for 4x3 or is it always fully extended. Because of the room size and the throw of the PJ they recommended no larger than 45x80 as it is the image would be toward the floor, would a 4x3 be doable or would it be too low to be watchable?

You'll have a screen height distance of 60" vs 45". Figure an offset of 12" for either a 4.3 or 16.9 screen with the new firmware. Remember with the new firmware the 16.9 image is at the top of a screen. At least until the new firmware comes out adding digital shift.

With a 45"X80" 16.9 screen 4.3 material will be small. I wouldn't want to give up a full screen 4.3 especially at that size. But I view allot of network and most important Music Video's & many classics.

Personally speaking the H30 has the great capability of show you a full resolution 800X600 picture so why cheat yourself, make use of it. You won't lose a dime of real estate with 16.9 movies. Actually you can gain something for 16.9 movies and HDTV you can use the 800X480 aspect/resolution.

Hope it works out for you.

Originally posted by DaGamePimp
--- Gamma 1 and Color Temp 1 are what should be used for proper calibration . Gamma 1 is very close to Film gamma and Color Temp 1 is the closest to 6500K (at 7500K) .


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

Thanks Pimp. I haven't tried those, always had mine set at 2 and 2 before. Seeing that changing to Gamma 1 almost eliminated my dithering problem, maybe switching to color Temp 1 will make things even better. Definitely is going to take some pop and punch out of my picture, but if it fixes my problems it will be worth it.

I do prefer the 16x9 native (800x480) mode over the 16x9 I imagine with a 16x9 screen I'd have the image shooting off the top if I go that route? So from what your saying the 60x80 is mandatory for 16x9 native mode?

Originally posted by guitarman
take a look at some gray patterns and look for any color you may need to get rid of. I like the needle pulse or pluge pattern for spotting color in gray.

I'll give that a try Tom thanks, I have a really hard time with the grayscale stuff. Seems I tweak it until I get confused what color is gray anymore. Then I go to watch a movie and everyone has a purple face or something. Definitely gives me fits.

Purple means blue is the gray. For this look to the darker grays and use the brightness RGB controls.

Yes to use native 16.9 a 4.3 is best. You'll get 5inches more diagonal with your HDTV and widescreen dvd's.

You can get away with using 16.9native on a native screen with just 2..35 dvd's. Though the image raises up a few inches so it's not centered.

Originally posted by hikarate
Thanks Pimp. I haven't tried those, always had mine set at 2 and 2 before. Seeing that changing to Gamma 1 almost eliminated my dithering problem, maybe switching to color Temp 1 will make things even better. Definitely is going to take some pop and punch out of my picture, but if it fixes my problems it will be worth it.
Ya- I agree with Jason here. I have always been on gamma 1 since going to 2 just gives me to much dithering. I used to be on color temp 2 all the time until Kras (and Jason) were extolling the virtues of color temp 1 being closer to 6500K. When I first went to color temp 1 I thought things had to much of a red push. In the advanced adjustments I made a very small change- something like dropping the red one click and raised blue and I think green one click. Facial tones still had a little red to them but I remember Tom and I think Kras saying they should be a little red. I'm used to it and loving it now.

As a side note- I think I am starting to see a slight dimming of the bulb at ~620 hours and will start playing around with a few things to compensate when the extra punch is needed. Certainly not a dim picture or anything, perhaps not quite as bright though as at ~100 hours when I watch the same movies.

Cheers!

I Just talked to the person I was using for an Installer and with a 4:3 screen would literally be on the floor so I guess I'm sticking with 16x9. My other problem now is I got the quote for the job and it's alot more than I expected. For Hanging the screen, mounting and adjusting the projector and running cables in my drop cieling I'm looking at about $480 ($60 and Hour) plus the materials probably another $300 or so for cables and screen. $800 is alot more than I expected or want to spend so I fear I might be tackling this myself. I'm just afraid I'm not going to be able to mount it properly for the best image. I'm bumming right now !

I want to see if I have it straight here since it looks like I might be self installing. I looked up on optoma's site and calculated the throw distance based on the 45x80 screen I will be using. THe Minimum is 11.7 ft and the Max is 14.2 ft. I interpret that as being the minumum distance at the maximum zoom and the maximum distance at the Minimum zoom. Is this correct?

Offset being 12" I interpret as I have to come down 12' from the top of the cieling for the mount. Now when I'm mounting my screen how do I know how far down I need to mount the Brackets for the screen? Do I just mount it as close to the cieling as possible ? Do I try to go Dead center with the screen and dead center with the projector ?

Sorry if these are stupid questions. I can follow explicit directions but interpreting many different options is tough So any help is appreciated...

Scarpad-

We'll help ya man :) I have a total of ~$60 and ~3 hours labor invested in my DIY blackout cloth screen that is 48x64" 4:3.

What are the dimensions of the room? Be sure to include height as that is the most critical dimension.

Your throw range for that size screen is correct, perhaps try mounting in the middle of that range unless an obstruction prevents it. Then you have the most flexibility for zooming to the screen edges with different sources.

You are incorrect on the offset. The 12" down is a rough estimate of verticle drop from the center of the lens to the top of the image for a typical throw range like yours. If your ceilings are low like mine (6'9") you want the projector mounted as close as possible to the ceiling. I don't recall if you already had a mount or not- if you don't, take a look at the one in my gallery. Jason (dagamepimp) found this security camera mount that works great with the H30. I got mine for I think about $28 including shipping. I made some mistakes in mounting that one that I could steer you clear of.

There is also a screen to lens alignment trick I ran across in another thread that I thought was absolute gold. I have adjusted my screen position twice and still don't have it absolutely perfect. Had I tried that trick- I would have had it perfcect from the start. I think I made my error in not taking into account that the lens is at the far edge of the projector and I was centering the entire projector to the screen. Here's the tip: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4274263#post4274263

Anyway- more later.... Scarpad- you can do this, we can help :D

Cheers!

The best way to start with your 16.9 screen is to mount it where your viewing eye is 1/3 up from the bottom of the screen. Then you mount your PJ so the image falls in the center, you may need an expension type mount like the Panavise which is cheap. Or one of the premium mounts. With the new firmware the offset is average and about 12" down from the center of the lens. Get out the measuring tape tonight to get an idea of where things will fall.

Minimum 11.7' is how far the lens needs to be from the screen, no zoom.

Originally posted by gottahavapj
Ya- I agree with Jason here. I have always been on gamma 1 since going to 2 just gives me to much dithering. I used to be on color temp 2 all the time until Kras (and Jason) were extolling the virtues of color temp 1 being closer to 6500K. When I first went to color temp 1 I thought things had to much of a red push. In the advanced adjustments I made a very small change- something like dropping the red one click and raised blue and I think green one click. Facial tones still had a little red to them but I remember Tom and I think Kras saying they should be a little red. I'm used to it and loving it now.

As a side note- I think I am starting to see a slight dimming of the bulb at ~620 hours and will start playing around with a few things to compensate when the extra punch is needed. Certainly not a dim picture or anything, perhaps not quite as bright though as at ~100 hours when I watch the same movies.

Cheers!
About the use of gamma and color temp. Wing said generally use gamma 2 and color temp 2 for 6500k. The projectors electronics and tunups are different. I'd suggest you look at the brightness or detail in blacks and how the colors look with each color temp to find what's best for your machine. Like you want red but not too much red, same for cool/blue. With the two machines I've had gamma 2 and CT 2 looked best. All the screen shots at the first post were these settings.

So take a look and see what's best for your H30.

Originally posted by gottahavapj
Scarpad-

We'll help ya man :) I have a total of ~$60 and ~3 hours labor invested in my DIY blackout cloth screen that is 48x64" 4:3.

What are the dimensions of the room? Be sure to include height as that is the most critical dimension.

Your throw range for that size screen is correct, perhaps try mounting in the middle of that range unless an obstruction prevents it. Then you have the most flexibility for zooming to the screen edges with different sources.

You are incorrect on the offset. The 12" down is a rough estimate of verticle drop from the center of the lens to the top of the image for a typical throw range like yours. If your ceilings are low like mine (6'9") you want the projector mounted as close as possible to the ceiling. I don't recall if you already had a mount or not- if you don't, take a look at the one in my gallery. Jason (dagamepimp) found this security camera mount that works great with the H30. I got mine for I think about $28 including shipping. I made some mistakes in mounting that one that I could steer you clear of.

There is also a screen to lens alignment trick I ran across in another thread that I thought was absolute gold. I have adjusted my screen position twice and still don't have it absolutely perfect. Had I tried that trick- I would have had it perfcect from the start. I think I made my error in not taking into account that the lens is at the far edge of the projector and I was centering the entire projector to the screen. Here's the tip: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4274263#post4274263

Anyway- more later.... Scarpad- you can do this, we can help :D

Cheers!

I got a chief mount when i bought the projector. It's a universal mount, when they guys looked at it they said it would work but might need to get chopped. I can send my eact measurements tonight but the room is roughly 11x22. Where the projector is to be mounted there will be a beam that drops down in front of it about 6 inches so it needs to clear that. My Cielings are about 7 ft. I'm attaching some images one will show the beam and the projector will be in back of that. The other shows where the scren will be mounted which is in front of the RPTV. As it is because of the offset the image will be low and I doubt I could utilize a 4:3 screen. THe installer also recommended against a 52x96 screen for that size room given the PJ is a 800x600.

Here's another view

One More...

Originally posted by guitarman
The best way to start with your 16.9 screen is to mount it where your viewing eye is 1/3 up from the bottom of the screen. Then you mount your PJ so the image falls in the center, you may need an expension type mount like the Panavise which is cheap. Or one of the premium mounts. With the new firmware the offset is average and about 12" down from the center of the lens. Get out the measuring tape tonight to get an idea of where things will fall.

Minimum 11.7' is how far the lens needs to be from the screen, no zoom.

So is it better to go with the minimum distance or the max or somewhere in between?

I have the H30 at a point where I use almost max zoom and don't see any difference in the quality of the picture vs medium zoom. Usually people recommend the middle area. You can clear that beam easily with a small extension on the chief mount. I use a chief also. Worst case you use a little keystone if you have a problem.

7' ceiling, figure 18" down on the offset with the extension, that leaves you 66", with a 45" tall screen the bottom view area will be 21" up from the floor. Not bad you'll be viewing close the the 1/3 up area.

Re screen size, you should use the two times screen width to determine size. If you didn't hv the front row seats you could fit a 92" wide screen. How close to the wall are the front row seats?

I have a couple of questions after seeing the pics (nice room by the way)

1) Is 7' the height of the ceiling in front of the beam or behind it? If it's the height behind it and the beam drops 6" and the H30 has to mount under that- you better hope you have no over 6 footers like me sitting under the projector. Stand up- bonk..

2) I noticed your gear in the shelves on either side of the RPTV- will the screen cover these up? You could have issues with remotes if it does.

Cheers!

Originally posted by guitarman
About the use of gamma and color temp. Wing said generally use gamma 2 and color temp 2 for 6500k. The projectors electronics and tunups are different. I'd suggest you look at the brightness or detail in blacks and how the colors look with each color temp to find what's best for your machine. Like you want red but not too much red, same for cool/blue. With the two machines I've had gamma 2 and CT 2 looked best. All the screen shots at the first post were these settings.

So take a look and see what's best for your H30.


--- I agreed here at first regarding the H30 looking better at Gamma 2 and ColorTemp 2 but I can tell you that after a proper ISF calibration using Gamma 1 and ColorTemp 1 there is no comparison in image quality . Consider that ColorTemp 2 is actually up at 9500K [ at least it is on my 3rd H30 - which is certainly the best of the 3 units that I have had ] .
--- So I guess if you like the Plasma 'Ultra-Bright' look then by all means calibrate to what-ever gives you that 'POP' [ just keep in mind you will not have an accurate image ;) ] .


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

But we can't go by your one machine. Have to use a general area to start. Wing did say color temp 2 and gamma 2 in general. With my H30 2 & 2 looked best.

Users should see what's best for their machine. Find a moderate point and tune with Avia.

Originally posted by gottahavapj
I have a couple of questions after seeing the pics (nice room by the way)

Thanks.

1) Is 7' the height of the ceiling in front of the beam or behind it? If it's the height behind it and the beam drops 6" and the H30 has to mount under that- you better hope you have no over 6 footers like me sitting under the projector. Stand up- bonk..

2) I noticed your gear in the shelves on either side of the RPTV- will the screen cover these up? You could have issues with remotes if it does.

Cheers!

Well I just dispensed with the crew that was going to do the work for me. $800 (With Screen) to mount the PJ and Screen seemed a tad much for a projector that I bought for $1050. So it looks like I'm committed.

I took some measurements. The Suspended ceiling where the screen will be mounted is 7Ft high. The Drywall stucco cieling where the PJ will have to go is about 7 1/2 Ft High. The Beam that drops down in front (see pics above) is about 7 1/4 in.

The pics I posted are a bit old. The First row of seats have been replaced by Lazy Boys. The Platform theater seats have been pushed back. Right now the Lazy Boys are 10ft from the screen the Theater seats First row is about 13ft back. Yes If anyone sits in the theater seats they will probably have to be careful not to hit their head. Unfortunately nothing I can do about this, it was'nt initially designed with a PJ In mind. I don't have guest too much .

The Mount I bought is a Chief MSP-DCC9000 Universal it ranges from 12.63 inches to fully Extended 21.63. I'm thinking about Mounting a Piece of MDF on the cieling to reach the cieling Studs, I will mount the PJ Mount to it.

So things I need to figure out:

How far down from the top of the cieling will I need to mount my Screen ?

How Far From the cieling (Including the MDF Width) do I need to Drop the PJ Mount, is there enough length on this mounting bracket? Do I need an Extension? And if so where do I get one ?

The Screen is going to be bracketed to my Entertainment unit with 6" Brackets. I have to mount those where the studs are in the center so I figure I need to hang that first. Then How do I figure out where I mount the PJ. I know the throw distance but what about the side to side measurement? Do I shoot for rough middle then adjust with the keystone?

To answer the equipment question I have remot e Sensors for my HTPC Keyboard and Snapstream Remote. With a 45x80 screen My Reciever remote is still usable. Can I go 52x96 or is this too big? (I Like Big) on the 45x80 screen I borrowed I could not see screen door.

I really apreciate all the help you guys can give your helping me save $500 bucks.

You would want the PJ as high as possible. At 14' back a 92" screen would be ok. The Lazy boys are to close. Measure the center lens and down 12" to find where the top of the screen will be.

Since you have the PJ why not have it running and hold it at the spot it will be mounted at. See where the light hits the top of a screen.

Originally posted by guitarman
But we can't go by your one machine. Have to use a general area to start. Wing did say color temp 2 and gamma 2 in general. With my H30 2 & 2 looked best.

Users should see what's best for their machine. Find a moderate point and tune with Avia.


Tom ,

--- So you are saying that the ColorTemp settings are different on every H30 ?

--- Since Gamma 1 is very close to Film gamma then I would think this should be similar on all units as well [ seems like this is what they were shooting for ] .

--- I would think this would be one area that would be consistent , unless they do not have any standardized calibration process for the presets .


----- Jason

Originally posted by guitarman
You would want the PJ as high as possible. At 14' back a 92" screen would be ok. The Lazy boys are to close. Measure the center lens and down 12" to find where the top of the screen will be.

Since you have the PJ why not have it running and hold it at the spot it will be mounted at. See where the light hits the top of a screen.

the 45x80 is a 92" Diag screen do you mean this one Tom ? The 52x96 would be a 106 diag. The guys who came to look at the install felt the optoma would be too washed out with a 52x96.

I don't have a screen yet I've yet to order.

It's like that with most projectors, they're each a little different.
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/ifrgb.jpg

They should just tune to what looks best. Or pick up Smart III for $275.

Actually we got a very nice gamma curve at 2 and 3 also. :)

Scarpad,
That chief mount has a minimum of 12.5". The chief I have will flush mount and If I need I can just use different sized extensions. Anyway your just 5" down from the obstruction so you may be ok.

Scarpad-

I agree completely with Tom- mount the PJ as high as possible while still having the image clear the beam. If that ceiling is 7 1/2 feet and the Chief is minimum 12.63"- that puts the bottom of the mount at under 6'6" without any MDF board etc. If the ~4" projector hangs under that its down to 6'2" which is 1" less than where my big 'ole melon reaches :) I would not want to take a chance on anyone bumping that. Higher the better.

I have always thought that mounting the projector first made more sense but after reading the trick I referenced above- I'm not so sure about that anymore. Is there a way you could temp mount the screen or have it sitting on milk crates in order to place your projector? Then you could use the two X method above to place a line on the ceiling that you line the lens up with. Making absolutely sure that your lens is perfectly perpendicular to the exact center of the screen is more important than the vertical placement. You can get away with a little PJ tilt or keystone but the other should be perfect. Keystone will not help you if you're off horizontally.

Originally posted by gottahavapj
Scarpad-

I agree completely with Tom- mount the PJ as high as possible while still having the image clear the beam. If that ceiling is 7 1/2 feet and the Chief is minimum 12.63"- that puts the bottom of the mount at under 6'6" without any MDF board etc. If the ~4" projector hangs under that its down to 6'2" which is 1" less than where my big 'ole melon reaches :) I would not want to take a chance on anyone bumping that. Higher the better.

I have always thought that mounting the projector first made more sense but after reading the trick I referenced above- I'm not so sure about that anymore. Is there a way you could temp mount the screen or have it sitting on milk crates in order to place your projector? Then you could use the two X method above to place a line on the ceiling that you line the lens up with. Making absolutely sure that your lens is perfectly perpendicular to the exact center of the screen is more important than the vertical placement. You can get away with a little PJ tilt or keystone but the other should be perfect. Keystone will not help you if you're off horizontally.


This is why I was going to get the thing mounted I'm pretty confused right now and i have to tsay I'm a bit out of my element when it comes to allighment, azmuth,yaw, pitch etc. I just don't see how I can mount this that it won't hang down a significant amount to clear the beam as it's projecting the image down.
Getting the screen mounted first would probably be the wise move. The question still stands will 52" by 96" be too big for the projector or will I get a reasonable image from that large of screen.

It would be tough to flush mount this as it need to reach across 16" Studs in the cieling..

Originally posted by Scarpad
This is why I was going to get the thing mounted I'm pretty confused right now and i have to tsay I'm a bit out of my element when it comes to allighment, azmuth,yaw, pitch etc. I just don't see how I can mount this that it won't hang down a significant amount to clear the beam as it's projecting the image down.
Getting the screen mounted first would probably be the wise move.
I would use Tom's suggestion above of holding the projector upside down and running at about the height and position of where you think the projector will go to get a feel for where the screen should go. I would then mount the screen somewhat temporarily and do the string trick to get the exact lens line for the projector mounting location.
The question still stands will 52" by 96" be too big for the projector or will I get a reasonable image from that large of screen.

It would be tough to flush mount this as it need to reach across 16" Studs in the cieling..
If you use the old rule of thumb of sitting 2X screen width for SVGA projectors you would need to be 16' back. I think the 10' seating of the lazy boys is going to be screen door city. If the chairs can't move back (row taken out?) I would seriously consider a smaller screen.

I'm beginning to think I'm cursed. I received my H30 back from a dead bulb issue last week, but just finally had the time to put it up in the new HT (added twin sofa's and a riser while the H30 was away). Now, when I'm watching a completely black screen, I see two spots on the screen (on my 8-foot screen, they're about a hands-width diameter when I walk up to the screen). I've tried cleaning the lens with a lens-cloth, but they're both still there. They only really show during black scenes. Could this be dust?

Uggg...I'm just getting depressed now. By the way, this is my 4th unit, and they have all been buzzers. I decided to live with that, but now a dead bulb in 250 hours, and what appears to be dust inside the chassis. I really must be cursed!

Guess it's time to call Optoma again....

:(

Hey Valk,

4 buzzers, huh. Guess I did the right thing by keeping my original buzzing unit. Sorry to hear you've had so many problems since I left! Hope you can get this stuff resolved.

Not sure if this has been told before, but there is a buzzing sound coming from my H30 ONLY when I am using a dimmer for some spotlights in the same room (but different extension). Apparently the H30 is very sensitive to noise on the power line and somehow makes it audible. When I switch of the dimmers (= when the movie starts), the buzzing goes away too. Perhaps this helps some of you.

Valkyrie I had those spots on my original H30 and had to send it back to have Optoma get rid of them.

Man Valk :(

I'm no actuary or anything but I'm thinking the odds of getting four buzzers in a row are really slim. Do you have any dimmers or anything like Mike mentions? I wonder if it would be possible to try a power conditioner from a store that has a liberal return policy...

Good luck!

Guys I've been givin some though on building a screen. Looking at my pictures above does this seam feasible? I'd like to build a 45x80 that would swing up and latch to my suspended ceiling when not in use. Whatcha think?

The sad thing is, guys....I've tried all that, I've got the Optoma guys stumped. I have a line conditioner. I've turned off EVERY circuit in my HOUSE except for the H30 one. I've tried power strips, UPS's, checking grounds, you name it. The power line checks out (to the best of MY abilities, anyway). My guess is that there's something in the neighborhood (it's an early 1900's house) causing the noise, and I'll just have to live with it. I already proved on my last unit that I could take it to another house and have it be quiet. I just can't figure out why there's noise...

MickB, thanks for the info. I was hoping that wasn't the case, but it looks like this one is going back for #5. I just hope Optoma picks up the shipping since this is a brand new one from them...

Good idea you can get a fixed screen. But they're expensive, that's why many go DIY. The H30 is a blasting powerfull little projector and it won't be washed out on a 106". I've seen it. :)

4 buzzers Valk somethings up with the Electro in your neighborhood maybe. After warranty the dust blobs can be cleaned on your own. Now under warranty you might as well have the factory do it. How do you like the C07 firmware?

Originally posted by Scarpad
Guys I've been givin some though on building a screen. Looking at my pictures above does this seam feasible? I'd like to build a 45x80 that would swing up and latch to my suspended ceiling when not in use. Whatcha think?
I built mine out of blackout cloth and 1x3's that were extensively braced. That cloth comes in (I think) 54" widths so as long as you height is less than that you can do it. I assume as it is just flat- matte white canvas type material that it is about 1.0 gain. If you're interested I'll post some pics I took during assembly and links to the several sets of plans I kind of merged.

As far as swinging it up I think you'll need to be pretty inventive there. I saw one pic of someone doing that but the top of their screen was right against the ceiling so it was a hinge type thing. Your screen will not be mounted with the top against the ceiling given your projection challenges.

Originally posted by valkyrie
I already proved on my last unit that I could take it to another house and have it be quiet.
Ya- I think there's your key. I don't know what Optoma could do for you in that respect either... Ouch.

How do you like the C07 firmware?

It seemed to work well. Less keystone for my application. I can't tell if I like the light spill below the screen now, for some reason it seems a bit more noticable. The one thing I really noticed on this new unit was that the zoom was different (which I thought was odd). I built my screen so that the zoom ratio was just about in the middle of the throw range, so I'd have some play once I went to install it (built the screen while I waited for Dell to ship those H30's way back when). When I put this unit in, even at the lowest zoom, I was getting a bit of over-wash on my screen borders. It wasn't a huge deal, as I had 4" borders for that reason, but I was just surprised that this unit would be different.

(BTW, I checked the SW zoom too, that was set to minimum).

So you're saying you were all setup with mid zoom and now no zoom at all has the image still wider than the same screen setup? That's something we have to find out about. Wing said the image would be a little better with C07 being the 16.9 image falls in an even sweeter spot on the lens.