Does anybody know how the sharpness works? It has both positive and negative values, but I've never heard of "negative" sharpness. What setting are you guys using? I'm finding that the sharpness introduces noise that I don't like very much and am using -2 but I need to experiment with more films...

Originally posted by Brian Fineberg
acually no I am just using the component through the BNC port....I dont have a dvi dvd player...and my cable box has a different dvi output than the PJ has input dvi-d vs dvi-i or somthing...so i wasnt able to have it connected that way

Brian,

You should be able to plug your cable box into the projector using the DVI port. Right now I have my satellite HD receiver plugged in. I am using a DVI-D cable. The projector can use a DVI-I cable but there are extra pins for RGB signals which are analog and which I am not using. DVI-D is only digital and that is what I'm sending. A DVI-D cable can plug into a DVI-I connector but not the other way around. If you have a DVI-I cable then you definitely need DVI-I connectors at both the cable box and FP end as there are extra pins in the cable.

John:)

Originally posted by jay_madrid
Does anybody know how the sharpness works? It has both positive and negative values, but I've never heard of "negative" sharpness. What setting are you guys using? I'm finding that the sharpness introduces noise that I don't like very much and am using -2 but I need to experiment with more films...

Right now my sharpness is set at 0 but I too am interested in the answer as I don't understand how sharpness control can be negative.

John

My thinking is that BenQ believes the 0 setting would be the ideal sharpness setting, and all other values are some offset from this ideal... either positive or negative offset. Positive being so sharp that halos are seen, and negative being so "unsharp" that blurriness sets in.

-T

Hey T-Bone,

Wouldnt you believe that I think 480i input into BNC provides a sharper picture than 480p, plus less cropping. Im not sure why it doesnt do as well of a job as 480p. Been experimenting with the two modes tonight and I think I definitely like 480i into BNC.

Is this what everyone observes as well?

EDIT: Something is wrong with the video height when plugged in this way. I'll try the RCA plugs with 480i and see what happens.

EDIT2: Replugged in the RCA and used 480i. No video height difference compared to BNC 480i but definitely shorter than 720p and 1080i in BNC. Wonder why that is..It is definitely sharper.

Originally posted by SpeedyHTPC
Hey T-Bone,

Wouldnt you believe that I think 480i input into BNC provides a sharper picture than 480p, plus less cropping. Im not sure why it doesnt do as well of a job as 480p. Been experimenting with the two modes tonight and I think I definitely like 480i into BNC.

Is this what everyone observes as well?

EDIT: Something is wrong with the video height when plugged in this way. I'll try the RCA plugs with 480i and see what happens.

EDIT2: Replugged in the RCA and used 480i. No video height difference compared to BNC 480i but definitely shorter than 720p and 1080i in BNC. Wonder why that is..It is definitely sharper.

I too have found that 480i through the BNC connectors provides a much sharper picture than 480P with the benefit of less cropping. I suspect that my crappy Philips 642 DVD player has alot to do with it but I have nothing to compare it to. So now I let the projector do all of the scaling and deinterlacing. I was hoping to purchase an upscaling DVD player with resolution controls to scale to 576 through DVI but am now questioning that strategy based on the 480i results through component. Has anyone tried this route and if so can you provide your thoughts on picture quality?

I haven't noticed the shorter video height as I use the DVI input for my HD off of the satellite. I'll need to run a comparison.

John

Well, I confirmed that the video is vertically squeezed using 480i in both inputs. So I couldnt stand wide stretch videos anymore, so I went back to 1080i in BNC.

You guys are killing me. I'll admit that I don't read every post and only occasionally check into this thread. However, I'm now reading that 480i is better??? Do you guys ever watch a movie with your pj and enjoy it? ;) I am of course joking...ours is in a dedicated HT and is only used 1-2 times per week for movies only.

I'm now using the Frank Costanza "Serenity Now" method with pretty good results: A couple of years ago, I went through three CRTs (two Sony and one Barco). I couldn't EVER leave them alone. That's why I bought my first DLP (X1) and now the 7800. It's my experience that constant tweaking will improve one area only to bring down another. It drove me crazy. I bought the 7800 knowing that it would not produce video perfection and I sleep well at night.

Let's all try it for one week...serenity now, serenity now, serenity now. You guys are all headed for Lloyd Braun territory: serenity now...insanity tomorrow;)

Actually..im not doing anything new. The 480i seems sharper but I have no idea why its vertical height is squeezed. This is my continued tweaking of the 7800 for a sharper picture.

I 110% agree with Jeff!

to eawch his own I guess.

Hey if youre saying quit posting I hear you 200%. You people dont have to read it do you?

If you arent interested in tweaking to get a better picture or any further adjustments, I dont really give a damn! If this thread isnt the place for it, fine by me!

Im sick of reading these posts and your lame replies. You dont have to friggin READ IT.

whoa relax!...we were just saying...I agre and think it is funny that it seems like no one is taking the time to enjoy their PJ. You KNOW it crops you KNOW it has other drawbacks...so just deal with them and stop complaining about them or go out and spend much more money to corerct these indiscernable setbacks. You dont have to get all defensive about it...now trying to tweak is fine and I do that as well...but you CANT stop the cropping...and when it is an inch or two I think you overlooking the advantage of a budget PJ.....an incredible picture with a ferw drawbacks...but what do you expect this is FAR from top of the line....spend over 10,000 THEN you have a right to complain about.

until then....relax!! someone was just stating their opinion!

Serenity now, serenity now, serenity now. My attempts at humor are sometimes misunderstood. I think Brian got my dry wit.

Here is more of my new projector philosophy: I try to upgrade every two to three years and buy new technology that is about to be upgraded by the manufacturer. That way, I get the good stuff w/o all the current bells and whistles for quite a bit less. I'm hoping that in a few years, we'll all be able to buy a new 3-chip DLP for <$3500. I also buy a new digital camera every two years and usually keep it </= $400. I have a 5MP camera now with a 10x optical zoom lens and lots of other nice features. That's about as good as lenses get until you get into digital SLRs. Problem is, I now have a pile of old digital cameras.

Geez, I turn my back for a few days, and a boatload of posts appear :)

Speedy, keep the posts/tweaks coming... it's better to have them than not.

As for 480i being sharper than 480p, that's a tough one. I never plugged anything into the component inputs... I've only used BNC. I can honestly say that my new Sony 875 480p DVD player is brighter and sharper than my old Sony 530D DVD player. And less motion artifacts.

Old Sony 480i Example: Cannot recall if I mentioned this before, but if you've watched Collateral Damage (starring Gov. Arnold), there is a scene where the camera is directly behind his head as he walks. Arnold's head moves from side to side, and as his head moves, his hair became "fuzzy" and lost detail. When his head stopped moving, hair was detailed. With my new Sony 480p, Arnold's hair is detailed when he walks in this scene... the 7800 had an issue (motion artifact). I no longer have the DVD, and never thought to check this scene with the Sony 875 on interlaced.

I have to say that I have not checked on cropping... not a big deal for me... I am concerned with color and blacks, and am happy with the 7800 in this area. We use our game room/theater for movies only, and watch about 4-5 films per week, so we have been taking time to enjoy it :)

-T

Hey all,

This has been a great thread, so I hope it does not become tinged with acrimony like some of the other threads. When I first bought this pj, a 7800 thread didn't even exist, so it's been great to see it grow.

Jeff -- I have the same problem with the dry humor. Sometimes it just makes people thirsty...;)

Speedy -- Love your posts, so please don't stop. Tweaking will make us mad, but I think for some of us it is part of the enjoyment.

Jeff -- Do you honestly think we wouldn't find anything to complain about with a 3-chip $30k 1080p machine....?:D

As for my own experience, which is with a Toshiba SD-9200 player (about 5 years old now, but the erstwhile top 'o the line), 480p is definitely better, much brighter and perhaps a tad sharper. As I understand it, component is only accepted through the BNC connectors.

This would suggest to me that the Toshiba's deinterlacer is better than the BenQs.

Sometimes my type of humor is better if you know me and it's conversational instead of in writing. Also, I'm sure we could all find plenty to complain about if we had $30k 3-chippers and they weren't perfect. I said <$3,500;) Then, we'd all be talking about the good old days when we had our great 7800s. Ahh, that 7800 was so good I once used mine as a sled in the snow and then watched movies on it under water. Why can't anyone build a pj like that anymore?

I use a Panny CP72 (5-disk version of the RP 82) and I've been very happy with it. I upgraded from a Toshiba 2700 two years ago. The old 2700 was artifact hell but had some really cool features that I like better than the Panny.

Originally posted by timjuliani
Hey all,
Jeff -- I have the same problem with the dry humor. Sometimes it just makes people thirsty...;)

Jeff -- Do you honestly think we wouldn't find anything to complain about with a 3-chip $30k 1080p machine....?:D

As for my own experience, which is with a Toshiba SD-9200 player (about 5 years old now, but the erstwhile top 'o the line), 480p is definitely better, much brighter and perhaps a tad sharper. As I understand it, component is only accepted through the BNC connectors.

This would suggest to me that the Toshiba's deinterlacer is better than the BenQs.

As I 've mentioned in earlier posts, I have the Sony 875 DVD changer that outputs 480p. In the past, I've noticed "jitter" with this player: meaning that sometimes the entire projected image appears to move up/down ever so slightly (fraction of an inch), and intermittently. It was only really noticeable when text appeared on the screen. So slight that I was willing to live with it.

However, last night was *real* bad... it appeared like the upper 1/2 of image was stable, and the lower half jittered downward slightly, then went back to its original. And of course, the whole image would jitter as well.

This only happens with 480p. 480i with the Sony 875, and my old Sony 530D, is stable. I am feeding the signal through my Onkyo 702, but I am skeptical that the Onkyo is the problem because I was feeding 720p from an HDTV OTA receiver through the Onkyo, and never noticed jitter.

In any event, I will troubleshoot later today by taking the Onkyo out of the loop.... and I suppose I can swap out the DVD player for a new 480p model (My 30 day return period has another 10 days on it).

Anyone ever hear/see this effect you your systems? Does it sound like it could be the 7800?

-T

T,
I assume your are using the BNC connectors. Mine don't fit very snugly at all and if you are using them, that could be the problem. Just a guess.

I'm thinking about buying a Benq 7800. My DVD player is a 1998 Pioneer 606D--pre progressive player. Will the Benq do all of the scaling and conversion to progressive that is necessary? I realize this is a relative question. I mainly watch DVD's. No cable. Should I buy an Iscan or a new DVD player to complement this projector? What is the best bang for the buck? What is simply duplicating technology?

Jeff:

Thanks for the tip, and yes, I am using the BNC inputs... I did not check the connections yet.

I did, however, connect the Sony 875 to my older 480p-capable 53" Sony XBR RPTV. No jitter. Damn! Granted, the 53" 4:3 RPTV screen is much smaller than the 110" 16:9, but I think I would have seen the jitter if it were present.

I'll have to do more troubleshooting later today when I turn on the 7800...

-T

Originally posted by JamesE
I'm thinking about buying a Benq 7800. My DVD player is a 1998 Pioneer 606D--pre progressive player. Will the Benq do all of the scaling and conversion to progressive that is necessary? I realize this is a relative question. I mainly watch DVD's. No cable. Should I buy an Iscan or a new DVD player to complement this projector? What is the best bang for the buck? What is simply duplicating technology?

Yes, the 7800 will scale all incoming signals to 576p.

More than likely, an new 480p DVD player will perform better than what you have now... you won't know for sure until you buy the 480p player because not all players are created equal. In my case, I prefer a 480p input over a 480i input. But I believe some her prefer 480i over 480p. This is all very hardware dependent.

I do not have an upconverting 720p DVD player with a DVI connection, so I cannot address it. Perhaps someone else can.

An IScan might be an option if you have more than one source to convert. Keep in mind that since you watch mainly DVDs, you may want to forgo the IScan and stick with either a 480p or 720p DVD player because using the IScan introduces extra (unnecessary) conversions in the analog domain.

EDIT: Even though an IScan might have extra conversion steps, might be better than a 480p player. Again, very hardware dependent.


-T

So the 7800 does not convert a 480i signal to 720p?

Originally posted by JamesE
So the 7800 does not convert a 480i signal to 720p?

No. Its a matterhorn chip (1024 x 576). It converts everything to 576p.

-T

But if I were to buy a Denon 3800, it could output 720p to the Benq. I seen the Denon's for around $900. Is there a big difference between 576P and 720p?

yes, about 144 vertical pixels :)

I pumped true 720p OTA HD into the 7800 for a short time. It looked fantastic. Looked much, much better than 480p DVD, as is expected.

There is only so much resolution in a DVD, and upconverting it to 720p in a DVD player certainly reduces pixelation, there is still only 480 lines of data. Will a 720p DVD player output donwconverted to 576p by the 7800 look better than a 480p DVD outout upconverted to 576p by the 7800? Probably, but mainly because the connection will be via DVI and is a pure digital connection.

-T

T-bone,

Thanks for the input. So much of this is so subjective without being able to a-b the products. I am going to have to look around and find someone in Montana that can show me a comparison.

Originally posted by JamesE
T-bone,

Thanks for the input. So much of this is so subjective without being able to a-b the products. I am going to have to look around and find someone in Montana that can show me a comparison.

Good luck with that. I had to buy mine sight unseen. Not a dealer in the whole Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

I suspect that the majority of us bought sight unseen. It will probably be easier to find an Infocus 5700 to demo than the Benq. It's not the same projector but uses the same chip and will produce "similar" quality - actually I've heard the Benq is slightly better...

I've compared the 5700 to my 7800 and I'd have to agree that the 7800 is better. Now, the disclamer...I wasn't able to compare them side by side. I've seen the 5700 in three high-end HT stores in custom rooms and every time, I've seen SDE from the moment I walked in. I think some of these stores intentionally do this so you'll go into the next room where the 7200 or the Runco or Marantz was playing. Oh, I forgot to mention that I did the comparison after buying the 7800 which I also bought sight unseen.

I had the good fortune to A/B compare a 7800 with the 8700. Source was a Denon 5900. DVDs used were of Superbit quality (5th Element) and honestly IMO the difference between the two was very slight at approximately 2X screen widths back. Not enough for me to justify the significant difference in price. If everyone here agrees that the 8700 is a fine unit then what you are getting with the 7800 is at least 90% of the video performance for a lot less money. This unit will do me fine for the warranty period at least and until 720P units come down in price to the same level (it's starting to happen) I will not be upgrading. Watching the Superbowl on the weekend in HD was simply the best experience I've had with this projector and made me realize what a bargain it really is!

John:)

Since I returned by OTA HD receiver long ago, I decided to lug the ol' Zenith VCR up to the theater. Connected a set of rabbit ears, and then routed the video cable to the 7800.

Had the zoom mode on that crops the top/bottom of image. I was pleasantly surprised... the 110" picture looked pretty good. We get great reception in the house.

Now I better get the VCR out of there before my wife/kids waste my precious bulb life on NTSC sitcoms :)

-T

I am planning to buy a pe7800 to replace my Sanyo Z2. I have a question about the way the various inputs would work in my situation. I have a stand alone Tivo that would be connected by S-Video (no problem). Then I have a Panasonic RP-62 DVD player that would require the BNC input in order for me to use a 480p signal (correct?). And then I have a High Definition DVR cable box that outputs at 1080i. The HDMI output on this box is not activated, so I assume that I am supposed to use the Y Cb Cr input (correct?). The BenQ manual says this input is for 480i. Can I assume it will work correctly for 1080i as well?

I also would welcome any comments from anyone who has seen both, on how the PQ of the pe7800 compares the Sanyo Z2 or Z3.

Tom

Tom,

If using component, 480p/720p/1080i must be connected to the BNC component input. The Y Cb Cr component input is for 480i.

-T

Originally posted by T-Bone
Tom,

If using component, 480p/720p/1080i must be connected to the BNC component input. The Y Cb Cr component input is for 480i.

-T

That is what I was afraid of.

So without DVI this projector will not accommodate one 480p (DVD) and one 1080i (HDTV) input.

I am also very concerned about the fan noise from this projector. My Z2 is table mounted, less than a foot from my primary viewing position. The Z2 is pretty quiet on low lamp (the spec is 26dB), but I find it too noisy when the lamp is set to high. Can anyone comment on the fan noise from their 7800.

Tom

the fan noise really is a non factor...I have it shelf mounted directly above my head and I cant notice it at al!!

Brian

Originally posted by TCroly
That is what I was afraid of.

So without DVI this projector will not accommodate one 480p (DVD) and one 1080i (HDTV) input.

I am also very concerned about the fan noise from this projector. My Z2 is table mounted, less than a foot from my primary viewing position. The Z2 is pretty quiet on low lamp (the spec is 26dB), but I find it too noisy when the lamp is set to high. Can anyone comment on the fan noise from their 7800.

Tom

You can accomodate with one component input by using a good quality receiver that has two component inputs and one component output. I have it wired like this to my 7800 although I also have my DVI port wired directly from my HDTV Sat receiver. I prefer this connection as the picture is slightly better - no D/A conversions to contend with.

Regarding the fan noise I have the projector mounted above my seating position on the ceiling and the fan noise in low mode is unobtrusive although you can hear it in silent passages if you really try. In high fan mode it is too loud.

John

Originally posted by johnny_marin
You can accomodate with one component input by using a good quality receiver that has two component inputs and one component output. I have it wired like this to my 7800 although I also have my DVI port wired directly from my HDTV Sat receiver. I prefer this connection as the picture is slightly better - no D/A conversions to contend with.

Regarding the fan noise I have the projector mounted above my seating position on the ceiling and the fan noise in low mode is unobtrusive although you can hear it in silent passages if you really try. In high fan mode it is too loud.

John

Thanks for your replies.

I don't think I will replace my $1000 AV receiver for one with component switching just yet. So I guess the only way to make this projector work for me would be to buy a new DVD player with a digital output (HDMI or DVI) then I could use the BNC connections for the 1080i HDTV stuff and the digital input for DVD. Or are some of you guys happy with DVD picture quality from 480i?

John,
I thought this projector had only one lamp level? And the manual is ambiguous on lamp life. In one place it stated that the projector will not function after the lamp has exceeded 1500 hours, but in another place it says 2000 hours

Is there anyone who is using the 7800 in a table mount setup that could comment on fan noise. The spec that is listed for this projector says less than 32dB and that is potentially too load for me. since my first projector, a Panasonic LC75u was rated at 30dB and I thought that it was much louder than my Z2 which is rated at 26dB.

Tom

Originally posted by TCroly
Thanks for your replies.

I don't think I will replace my $1000 AV receiver for one with component switching just yet. So I guess the only way to make this projector work for me would be to buy a new DVD player with a digital output (HDMI or DVI) then I could use the BNC connections for the 1080i HDTV stuff and the digital input for DVD. Or are some of you guys happy with DVD picture quality from 480i?

John,
I thought this projector had only one lamp level? And the manual is ambiguous on lamp life. In one place it stated that the projector will not function after the lamp has exceeded 1500 hours, but in another place it says 2000 hours
Tom

Tom, when I mentioned low mode I meant the fan running in low mode. The fan will speed up depending on room temperature.

Regarding DVD at 480i that is exactly how I have it hooked up to the projector through the BNC connectors. Through much testing the last two months I have found that the projector deinterlacer does a much better job than the DVD player I have. I am actually in the process of repairing a Panasonic RP56 just for the 480i output. I haven't tried any of the upscaling DVD players though.

John

John

Originally posted by TCroly
I am planning to buy a pe7800 to replace my Sanyo Z2. I have a question about the way the various inputs would work in my situation. I have a stand alone Tivo that would be connected by S-Video (no problem). Then I have a Panasonic RP-62 DVD player that would require the BNC input in order for me to use a 480p signal (correct?). And then I have a High Definition DVR cable box that outputs at 1080i. The HDMI output on this box is not activated, so I assume that I am supposed to use the Y Cb Cr input (correct?). The BenQ manual says this input is for 480i. Can I assume it will work correctly for 1080i as well?

I also would welcome any comments from anyone who has seen both, on how the PQ of the pe7800 compares the Sanyo Z2 or Z3.

Tom
You could run the DVD player to the 480i input which would then de-interlace the DVD signal. Run you DVR to the BNC's. Or you could buy a component switcher to do switching to your BNC inputs. My receiver only has 2 component inputs and I really need a third. So I'm looking for a component switcher so I can hook up an xbox, camera, or whatever I need to hook up.

Fan in low mode is unobtrusive. It kicks into high mode every once in a while, but generally only for a few minutes and then goes back to low mode. High mode is louder than I like, but is still acceptable. It is proabably similar to the sound of my old Infocus X1.

The manual says:
"The projector can be installed on a ceiling ... But the settings are only working with the 1080i, 720p, 525p and 625p input signals and the input signals from DVI terminal"

So, with pe7800 isn't it possible to use a ceiling mount, if DVD player is connected to PE7800 only through component RCA jacks (input signal PAL: 625i / or actually 576i)?

There should be no problem ceiling mounting the projector. The settings for flipping the image are found on the Installation menu (bottom of the main menu. From there select Mirroring. The second choice is "ceiling front" if I remember correctly.

This has nothing to do with what you are inputting - component, DVI, S-video, etc. It also won't matter if the DVD is direct or through a receiver, the same is true for cable/satellite) Bottom line - plug in your sources, hang the projector, flip the image and enjoy! -art

Has the cropping problem on the 480p input ever been resolved?

I did some searching, but couldn't find anything conclusive.

I have no DVI capability, nor a DVD player that can upconvert (have a Panny XP30).

If I was to acquire a 7800, am I doomed to a cropped pic @ 480p?

Fleaman

fleaman,

Unless Speedy says otherwise, you are doomed :)

I A/B'd 480i and 480p last night via the BNC inputs... sure enough, 480p has mild cropping.

-T

I posted in this message (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5129190#post5129190) that 480p with my Sony 875 DVD player was unstable.

Jeff suggested I check cables, and I did. They were snug. 480p from the 875 worked flawlessly when connected to my Sony XBR RPTV, so I figured it was either the RG6 cabling to the 7800, or the 7800 itself. AV guy installed RG6 when we built the house... length of each cable is 22 feet.

Anyway, I think I've determined the problem tp be the 7800, but I need confirmation from you guys. Noticed the other night, and tonight, that when I start the 7800 and immediately feed it 480p, the image is jittery. BUT, If I watch a movie first, feeding in 480i, then switch to 480p, the image is NOT jittery.

Seems like after the 7800 warms up, it's fine. The only other link in the system is the RG6 cabling, but RG6 would not cause this behavior, would it?

Oh yeah, this is my second Sony 875... swapped out the first one because of an audio issue. So both the old and new 875s had jitter with the 7800.

Thanks...
-T

T,
That sounds like it could be a problem with either the pj or even the DVD player. It could be an issue with that combo of 7800 and Sony DVD. I'd say the easiet thing to do is try a different DVD player before you take down your pj. Maybe, you could borrow a friend's or even try one from someplace that will let you demo one...maybe the place you bought the Sony will allow you to try something else and exchange it if that is the problem.

I've never had any jitter with mine. I use a Panny CP72.

Good luck.

A real basic question: I understand you can feed progressive signal only through BNCs. BNC cable came with 7800 has HD15 terminal to 5 BNCs. Do those progressive DVD players have HD15 connection?

I want good quality, but don't want to go with upscaling one then I need a DVI switcher and probably another new DVD player when those HD DVD player comes out in the near future. Furthermore, I'd wait till 7.1 digital reciever with full DVI switching to become more affordable.

Anyway, I want to have progressive signal at minimum cost. What kind of cable do I have to order from bluejeanscable for 15ft run? And while at this topic any recommendation on decent progressive DVD player that works well with 7800.

Thank you.

mich5,

You should have received 3 component to BNC connectors with your 7800. You can wire RG6 component cables and use the BNC connectors for your progressive signal, no need for the HD15 cable unless you are using a computer with HD15 video card output.

I have found that 480i works best through the BNC connectors (it will accept 480i as well) with my present DVD player. I am also looking for a good 480p player as well but the deinterlacer/scaler combo in the 7800 seems to work the best together rather than having the DVD player do the deinterlacing IMO.

John

johnny_marin,
I need about 15ft of that 3 component to BNC cable. Do you know where I can get them? Bluejeanscable site does not show them. Thanks.

Originally posted by mich5
johnny_marin,
I need about 15ft of that 3 component to BNC cable. Do you know where I can get them? Bluejeanscable site does not show them. Thanks.

mich5,

Again, I ask you did you not receive 3 RCA to BNC connectors with your projector? If you did all you need is straight RCA component RG6 cables which you can purchase very easily. The RCA connector on the component cable fits into the BNC connector supplied with the 7800. That is how I have wired up my component cables. I also made my own component cables by buying RG6 cable in bulk and Canare RCA connectors which I crimped onto each end of the cable.

John

Originally posted by Jeff Hovis
T,
That sounds like it could be a problem with either the pj or even the DVD player. It could be an issue with that combo of 7800 and Sony DVD. I'd say the easiet thing to do is try a different DVD player before you take down your pj. Maybe, you could borrow a friend's or even try one from someplace that will let you demo one...maybe the place you bought the Sony will allow you to try something else and exchange it if that is the problem.

I've never had any jitter with mine. I use a Panny CP72.

Good luck.

Took me long enough (I was lazy), but it's the PJ... connected a 480P Xbox game directly to the rear of a non-warmed up 7800, and still jittery. BenQ is shipping a new unit out Monday, and it'll arrive Wednesday.

Gotta love the 1-year swap policy!!

-T

I had the Sony 875 DVD player (returned 2 units because of shabby build quality), and now I have the Yamaha DVS550. When the 550 outputs 480p, I cannot adjust the the 7800 picture settings like contrast, and brightness.

Let me back up a bit.... when I set up the 550, I used Avia to calibrate the 480i signal. Saved settings in locations #1, #2, and #3. Looked very nice!

Then I switched to a 480p signal to calibrate with Avia, but all 3 memory location appeared to be set to the factory defaults. And modifying the settings had no effect on the image. BTW, the 480p image looked great... I used Avia to verify that contrast, brightness, and color was set properly, and they were... even though I could not adjust the settings.

Lastly, I switched back to 480i, and all 3 memory locations had the proper values that I saved when calibrating 480i.

This normal??

-T

Good news T.

Originally posted by T-Bone
Took me long enough (I was lazy), but it's the PJ... connected a 480P Xbox game directly to the rear of a non-warmed up 7800, and still jittery. BenQ is shipping a new unit out Monday, and it'll arrive Wednesday.

Gotta love the 1-year swap policy!!

-T

Happily enjoying five months and counting with this projector. Given the proper environment, there's no beating front projection. I honestly have very little interest in going out and buying a ticket for a movie anymore. Getting psyched up for some hi-def March Madness!

Replacement arrives today... yippee... BenQ only shipped the PJ without a bulb and accessories. Would have been nice to get a new bulb too, but I really can't complain... wait, I just did :)

-T

Originally posted by T-Bone
I had the Sony 875 DVD player (returned 2 units because of shabby build quality), and now I have the Yamaha DVS550. When the 550 outputs 480p, I cannot adjust the the 7800 picture settings like contrast, and brightness.

Let me back up a bit.... when I set up the 550, I used Avia to calibrate the 480i signal. Saved settings in locations #1, #2, and #3. Looked very nice!

Then I switched to a 480p signal to calibrate with Avia, but all 3 memory location appeared to be set to the factory defaults. And modifying the settings had no effect on the image. BTW, the 480p image looked great... I used Avia to verify that contrast, brightness, and color was set properly, and they were... even though I could not adjust the settings.

Lastly, I switched back to 480i, and all 3 memory locations had the proper values that I saved when calibrating 480i.

This normal??

-T


No, it's not normal... received the replacement 7800, popped in my old bulb, and it looks damn good. I can adjust my settings when feeding it 480p (I recall being able to adjust the settings with 480p and the Sony, so I guess the PJ broke not too long ago).

-T

Good for you man! Now, que up a few flicks for the weekend.

Johnny_marin,
Sorry for the way overdue reply, been busy with drywalling and stuff. I checked and I have them. The thing was I thought component-BNC was a cable, not connector type. Also, I though H and V needed to be plugged in somehow. Thanks a lot for clarification.

For those curious, I have posted some prelim "review" information on the new BenQ 7700. I got my eval unit late yesterday, and am just getting started. You can read my first notes here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5441397#post5441397

I know how to get into the service menu (Speedy posted in this thread for that)... once I am there, which menu settings are used to adjust vertical and horizontal overscan?

Thanks...

-T

it's been a while since i've posted...
I've had this projector for about 6 months now. Although I must say at first I was very impressed with the picture, I can't seem to get over how soft the image looks. At 102", I'm not talking about an overly large screen size.

I know we've spoken about this in the past, but I'm surprised there isn't a lot of complaints about how soft the picture is.

Now maybe it's my DVD player. I orginally was sending 480i in, then switched over to a progressive scan DVD player with Faroudja processing. The picture still looks soft. It's just almost blurry.

I don't notice it in close up shots, but wide pan shots are very blurry. Does anyone else see this or is it just me?

That said, do you have to be using an upconverting DVD player with this PJ to get the best picture?

I have not tried 480i into the BNC connections as someone mentioned. Maybe I will try that.

Just looking for feedback on this particular issues after 6 months of use.

I bought mine back in Oct and haven't really noticed any changes in the pq. I use a Panasonic CP72, which is the 5-disk version of the RP82. We also have a 96" wide 16:9, 1.0 gain screen and I really find it much easier to watch than with the old X1. Also, I used to see the occasional rainbow with the old X1 and I nor any of my family have ever seen one with this pj. I've even tried some the tricks that make you see them and still haven't. Also, our room is 100% light controlled in our basement with no windows. I used the Sound & Vision disk to calibrate since I didn't have Avia.

Greetings,

Idog, regarding the softness of your projector, when I reviewed the 7800 a year ago, I noticed the same thing. It definitely appeared soft - particularly on shots with lots of small detail. You tend not to notice on a closeup of a face, for example.

On the other hand, I found it to be dramatically sharper with a good Hi-def signal (1080i) off of my cable box.

I found 480p thru the BNC's to be the best from either of my DVD players, but never tried any of the DVD's that can output 720p. Obviously that means reprocessing up to 720 and then back to 576, so the results are likely to have more artifacts, but it might be worth a try.

At the very worst, the way prices are falling right now, you can always wait another year or so and move up to a 720p DLP - probably for significantly less (by the end of 2006, I expect 720p DLP's will start around $1500 - you gotta love technology. Meantime, its still one fine projector. Enjoy!

PS Have a few beers, and even if you still notice the bit of softness, you probably won't care! -art

Idog,

I too noticed softness using the component inputs. But I switched over to the BNC inputs and fed a 480i signal from my cheap DVD player and this helped a bit. 480p though is significantly softer to my eye. HDTV though is plenty sharp - American Idol looks fabulous on this projector.

My theory is that the scaler has some difficulty in UPSCALING DVD resolution to 576. It has to create additional resolution and in that process it seems to soften the picture. I want to try an upscaling DVD player to see if this is the case but haven't made up my mind yet on which one to get yet. Has anyone else tried this setup and what was your results?

John

I've also had my 7800 for around six months and I've been very happy with it. I feed PAL DVDs via DVI from a Samsung 935 and don't find it overly soft, but I don't project a very large image either. I've been meaning to hook up my HTPC for ages to see how it does, but I'm happy enough that I really can't be bothered... The few NTSC DVDs I have also look great, for example the CSI season three disks.

I also have never seen a rainbow where I did occasionally with the X1.

What I would like to know is why the projector is so damn big and heavy. Every time I walk into the room and see it hanging on my wall I find myself wishing for something a bit less obtrusive.

My biggest gripe continues to be the lack of automatic source selection...

I forgot to mention that I also use the BNC connectors. Maybe that's why ours doesn't seem so soft.

Originally posted by Jeff Hovis
I bought mine back in Oct and haven't really noticed any changes in the pq. I use a Panasonic CP72, which is the 5-disk version of the RP82. We also have a 96" wide 16:9, 1.0 gain screen and I really find it much easier to watch than with the old X1. Also, I used to see the occasional rainbow with the old X1 and I nor any of my family have ever seen one with this pj. I've even tried some the tricks that make you see them and still haven't. Also, our room is 100% light controlled in our basement with no windows. I used the Sound & Vision disk to calibrate since I didn't have Avia.

Thanks for the feedback...
I'm going to try 480i into the BNC inputs and see what happens. If that doesn't improve things, maybe I will try an upconverting DVD player. I dont have hi-def cable hooked up. I'm sure that looks great.
If anyone has suggestions on upconverting DVD players, I'm all ears! :)

I had a Denon 1910 which upconverted to 720p or 1080i. I mainly purchased to see the improvement offered by DVI over component video. What the upconversion did eliminate the cropping issues highlighted by SpeedyHTPC. I personally did not notice any improvement in PQ from DVI over component. Unless you classify PQ improvement by less cropping, which is a reasonable thing to do. For full disclosure, I have read several articles from reputable resources (e.g. not forum boards but print media) that DVI does offer improvement over component. As far as fuzzy, I'm not seeing this problem. I'm using a DA-Lite HCCV screen.

I hooked up my old PaniRV80 DVD 480i player through the BNC connectors. It says the signal is YUV60. Anyone know what that means?
First impression is that it IS less soft than 480P through BNC.

I'm confused though...doesn't the BNC connectors assume a progressive scan input, thus bi-passing the internal scaler? If this is true, then the internal scaler isn't being used here. Is it true that the internal scaler is used only through component inputs?

Originally posted by idog1969
I hooked up my old PaniRV80 DVD 480i player through the BNC connectors. It says the signal is YUV60. Anyone know what that means?
First impression is that it IS less soft than 480P through BNC.

I'm confused though...doesn't the BNC connectors assume a progressive scan input, thus bi-passing the internal scaler? If this is true, then the internal scaler isn't being used here. Is it true that the internal scaler is used only through component inputs?

My recollection is that YUV60 is an interlaced signal. As for the BNC inputs, those inputs assume nothing... they'll accept either 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, or 1080i.

The internal scaler is almost always used... the native rez for the display is 576p, so all input signals not 576p must be scaled.

Interesting that you say, and others have said it to, that the picture is softer with 480p. I find the opposite. Using the Sony 875 and Yammy 550, I find 480p to be sharper... and with 480i, I see motion artifacts (moving objects blur), whereas with 480p, these artifacts are not perceptible.

Maybe I have low rez eyes :)

-T

hmm...
so if I get an upconverting DVD player, I can still use the BNC inputs and it will convert it to 576P?

If I plug in 480P into BNC, it says 525P, so I just assumed that it wasn't
scaling the pic up to 576P. Is that not the case?

Any thoughts about sending either 720P or 1080i via BNC? I assume that would be the best pic (other than using DVI)

- Yes, if you plug an upconverting player into the BNC inputs, the PJ will convert the signal to to 576p.

- I had the same question about "525" months ago... NTSC consists of 525 lines... some are synch lines, and the remaining 480 lines are data (visible to the viewer). So anytime the PJ shows an input as 525, it's the same thing as 480p. In fact, when I had my Yammy 550 DVD player set out 576p, the PJ showed a "625" in the lower right corner.

EDIT: No matter the source signal, all input signals are converted to 576p.

- My DVD player outputs 480p, and the only time I saw 720p/1080i on my 7800 was when it was connected to an OTA HDTV receiver via the BNC inputs. Looked great... but that is expected since the the source was true HDTV.

As for sending 720p/1080i from a DVD player, that is a different matter. Only a few players output those signals over component, the reviews are mixed. Some people cannot differentiate between a 720p signal from a DVD player (via component), and a 480P signal from the same DVD player (via component). Others can. Most agree that 720p from the player via DVI is better than 480p over component.

Hope this helped.

-T

T-Bone,
Thanks for the feedback. I can only imagine that 576 lines must look better than 480 lines, so i may try an upconverting DVD player.

There is a Zenith (I know, Zenith - yikes) that can output 720P and 1080i via component or DVI. I may pick up the player (cheap off ebay these days) and try component as I dont yet have a DVI cable set up.

Either that or I'll set up DVI and run it through that.

My current DVD player outputs 480P with the Faroudja DCDi chip, and to be honest, I think it just softens the pic even more, so I have turned DCDi off.


I will post my findings soon

Thanks
Idog

Dang, you guys are making me want a new DVD player. I'm still happy w/my Panny CP72, but always have the upgrade bug. I figure I still have until Oct, 2006 before I'll consider upgrading the 7800. It'll be 2-yrs old then. I almost upgraded my amp section. My HK 7200 went into self protect mode due to a single strand of speaker wire touching something. That was an upgrade I wasn't ready to make and I'm glad I found my problem (would've cost me a couple thousand).

I have a question about the 7800 that perhaps someone can help with. I've had it for about five months, and it's been installed for three months. I'm generally very happy with it in every respect. I use a Panasonic DVD-S97S upscaled to 720P through DVI. I'm such an amateur that I don't have a screen yet (just an off-white wall) and I haven't calibrated a darn thing on the projector or the DVD player. Everything looks and sounds great, though, except the topic of my question.

It's apparent at other times, but the best example I have is when the Star Wars introduction scrolls up the screen at the start of each movie. The letters seem to flutter, especially as they advance farther up the screen. I don't know what any of these common problems look like: vertical banding, dithering, artifacts, etc.; so maybe this is one of them, but I'm not sure. I've at least tried switching the DVD player's output to 480P and 1080i and there was no change to this effect. Unfortunately, I don't have another player or projector, so switching one out to try to isolate the problem isn't an option.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Originally posted by jake1
I have a question about the 7800 that perhaps someone can help with. I've had it for about five months, and it's been installed for three months. I'm generally very happy with it in every respect. I use a Panasonic DVD-S97S upscaled to 720P through DVI. I'm such an amateur that I don't have a screen yet (just an off-white wall) and I haven't calibrated a darn thing on the projector or the DVD player. Everything looks and sounds great, though, except the topic of my question.

It's apparent at other times, but the best example I have is when the Star Wars introduction scrolls up the screen at the start of each movie. The letters seem to flutter, especially as they advance farther up the screen. I don't know what any of these common problems look like: vertical banding, dithering, artifacts, etc.; so maybe this is one of them, but I'm not sure. I've at least tried switching the DVD player's output to 480P and 1080i and there was no change to this effect. Unfortunately, I don't have another player or projector, so switching one out to try to isolate the problem isn't an option.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jake1,

Try 480i out of the component outputs on the Panny into the BNC inputs and the component inputs of the 7800. This eliminates the deinterlacer and scaler in the DVD player. If the letters look the same on the Star Wars intro then it's either the DVD itself or the projector. Can you check the DVD on another display? If so, then you could eliminate the DVD and deduce it is the projector's scaling and deinterlacing. The problem with your setup is that you are scaling the picture twice (once in the DVD player and once in the FP) due to the different resolution (576p) of the 7800. I don't think this is a good thing but others can chime in and prove me wrong. That is why I have held off purchasing an upscaling DVD player. The best ones to try would be the Momitsu 880DX or Bravo D2 where you could customize your resolution to map 1:1 with the FP. Anyone have this setup?

John

I'm using component through the BNC inputs. I did notice that 480i was sharper than 480p through my Yamaha DVD-C920 (Panasonic clone) DVD player. The 6.5Mhz resolution patterns showed the correct vertical lines with 480i but it was a gray blur with 480p. However, when I clicked AUTO in the PC&HDTV menu on the 7800 - Viola!- it adjusted the phase value and now 480P is just as sharp as 480i was. 480P also eliminated the jittery lines in the zone plate patterns.

Also, I also noticed that adjusting the frequency can reduce the cropping on the right side of the screen. I used the progressive scan horizontal position adjustment on my DVD player to correctly center the image.

Using standard and service menu adjustments I was finally able to eliminate the black crush and white peaking problem I was having as well. All the ramped test patterns now show correctly. Unfortunately, the image is not as bright as I would like it.

Hope this helps some of you. This is my first post to this forum, but I've been reading the forum for the past few years.

Originally posted by GJohnson1712
I'm using component through the BNC inputs. I did notice that 480i was sharper than 480p through my Yamaha DVD-C920 (Panasonic clone) DVD player. The 6.5Mhz resolution patterns showed the correct vertical lines with 480i but it was a gray blur with 480p. However, when I clicked AUTO in the PC&HDTV menu on the 7800 - Viola!- it adjusted the phase value and now 480P is just as sharp as 480i was. 480P also eliminated the jittery lines in the zone plate patterns.

Also, I also noticed that adjusting the frequency can reduce the cropping on the right side of the screen. I used the progressive scan horizontal position adjustment on my DVD player to correctly center the image.

Using standard and service menu adjustments I was finally able to eliminate the black crush and white peaking problem I was having as well. All the ramped test patterns now show correctly. Unfortunately, the image is not as bright as I would like it.

Hope this helps some of you. This is my first post to this forum, but I've been reading the forum for the past few years.

GJohnson,

I have to try that Auto suggestion as I found 480P blurry with jittery lines while 480i is sharp so I am running 480i now.

I don't think I have the option of the progressive scan horizontal adjustment on my DVD player. I'd like to be able to adjust the overscan on my 7800 as my satellite HD box puts a colored line either at the top or bottom of the screen on certain HD channels. Any idea on how to do this if at all possible?

I'd also like to know you brightness and contrast values as I have a DVD player that does not pass BTB so I can't properly setup the black level.

Thanks for the post and welcome aboard!

John

For all of you who have this projector set up with an HTPC what kind of hardware and software are you using?

John,

Here is what I have for brightness and contrast. I was able to tweak my settings a bit more and now the dimness is gone. Black and white levels are still good.

Regular menu - Display settings
brightness +30
contrast +22

Service menu - HD ADJ/YPBPR format
brightness +65
contrast +131

Service menu - DLP
brightness +0
contrast +49

Greg

Oldstryder,

Though I have both the 7800 and an HTPC in a different room, I've never bothered to hook them up. Why you ask? Because the 7800 looks great with component or DVI output from my DVD player. When I had an Infocus X1 I played around with the HTPC but I got tired of the hassle and bought a decent amp/dvd combo and would never go back. For music I use a Squeezebox to stream over a wireless network so all I've lost is gaming/internet on the projector...

All that said, one of these days I'll hook the PC up just to see if there is some improvement. There are powerstrip settings for this projector floating around somewhere...

Jay_madrid,

the reason I'm thinking of using an HTPC is that sometimes I watch some PAL DVDs on my computer which are not recognized by my NTSC DVD player. I certainly agree with you that the projector produces a very nice picture via component cables from the DVD player.

I have been searching for the best DVD player to match up with the 7800 since I bought it and I may have found it.

I just hooked up the Oppo upscaling DVD player via DVI to the 7800. I have to say I can see a big difference over 480P or 480i. The picture is sharp. My main complaint with the 7800 was the overall softness of the PQ, so if you have the same concern I would recommend you try this DVD player. It seems to be a very good match for this PAL based PJ.

I have looked at it in two different modes - 720P, which looks great, and also 576P, which is the 7800's native resolution. The Oppo will play Region 2 PAL discs, and you can set the output to PAL and 50Hz. You can hear the color wheel change speeds. So at 576P (reads as 625P), it's 1-1 pixel mapping and the 7800 does not need to re-scale anything (which is a good thing b/c I'm not convinced the 7800 has a great scaler). The picture is awesome.

I need to play around some more with these two DVI outputs (it also has 1080i but I haven't tried that yet) but for PAL discs, I'm setting the output to PAL and running at 576P. For Region 1 DVD's, I'm upconverting to 720P and the PQ is great.

I recommend people trying out this highly rated DVD player. I researched many upconverting players and decided to go with this one mainly b/c of its region free capability and ability to output at 576P. Now none of the upconverting players are perfect and this one is not without flaws -- there is a slight lip synch problem from time to time that Oppo is creating a firmware upgrade to fix. There is also a slight shift to the left when you change to 720P. Not sure I would call it a cropping issue, the picture just shifts so you need to adjust it back on the PJ (not a big deal to me but thought I would mention it). More importantly, there is no macroblocking issue of any kind that I have seen and it has the Faroudja chip. This is a big problem with other upconverting DVD players with the Faroudja chip - denon, samsung, etc.

This is the third DVD player I have tried with this PJ and it's the best so far. I'm not trying to sell the Oppo, but the softness issue is well documented in this thread. If you're looking for the best DVD player for this PJ, the Oppo might be it. Try it and return it if you don't like it!!

You do not achieve 1:1 pixel mapping with PAL movies on this projector. PAL movies are recorded at 720x576 and your projector displays at 1024x576. If there was 1:1 pixel mapping then you'd only be able to see the movie in the middle of the screen and it would be squished.

Nothru22.
You're right...it isn't 1:1. So that said, what do you think would result in the best picture? Changing the output to PAL and going with 720P, or keeping the output device at NTSC and going with 720P. Not sure it makes a difference. Either way, the pic is excellent.

Does it make any difference between 50 and 60Hz?

Definitely run PAL at 50 hz and NTSC at 60 hz when your projector supports displaying them natively with no conversion. As to whether to run the DVD player at 576p or 720p, I'd guess 576p would actually be better because it's matching the horizontal resolution, but it might scale the missing information for the vertical better at 720p. Eyeball it, and you tell me.

I've been watching movies with the Oppo for the last week. PAL based DVD's look great at 576P output. NTSC discs I think look the best at 720P.

Playing an NTSC disc at 576P (setting the Oppo output to PAL) doesn't look good. Horizontal scaling issues...the Oppo will only output to 576P when the display output is set to PAL. When it's set to NTSC, the options are 480P, 720P, 1080i.

So for both formats, the pic is very clear and sharp. The softness of the 7800 has gone.

My only decision point now is to continue to buy NTSC discs or just buy Region 2.

I highly recommend this player for the 7800.

Idog,

I too am looking for an upconverting DVD player and the OPPO is on my list. Now that the new firmware is out for the OPPO I hear the picture is stunning, no more shimmering and the sharpness control has been fixed. Can you tell us if the picture in the PE7800 is improved over what you see now and that the shimmering is gone? Also, is macroblocking an issue?

I have over 300 hours on my FP and have loved every minute but I'm always looking for the holy grail :D

Thanks, John

As a relatively new owner of an "old" technology projector I wanted to take this opportunity to share my impressions and experiences in looking for and ultimately choosing a projector.

First of all, I want to say that I am quite happy with the 7800. No, it's not perfect. I can see some scaling or deinterlacing artifacts through the 480i inputs (especially with Star Wars IV A New Hope). I will be connecting my progressive scan player in the next couple of weeks, so I can see if that improves things. And if you sit too close < 1.7 screen widths or so, you can see the pixel structure. However, other than that, the picture is a good with DVD as I could wish for.

In fact, (and here is the main point) playing the same demo scenes that we used when shopping the local establishments, the picture on this relatively inexpensive, older technology projector at home, was better than the 720 chip machines that we saw in the stores. The take away message is that the set up of the projector is more important than what kind of chip set (or technology) the projector uses.

We spent nearly as much on the screen (Stewart Firehawk 92") as we did the projector, and I honestly believe that the screen has as much impact on the image as the projector itself. We only went to one store that had a projector showing on a Firehawk, and that was the best looking set up that we saw, and we were ready to duplicate that set up at home (720 chip set) at home for a cost of $2000 more than what we ultimately spent. But in the end, we ended up with the projector and screen for less than the cost of the other projector itself, and we don't regret it. The colors, dark scene details (once the sun goes down), image smoothness (except for the above mentioned scaling artifacts) are as good as we could hope for.

In a related vein, we atteded a home show with 14 very expensive homes, half of which had projector based home theaters. With one exception, the ones that used the Firehawk (3 of the 7) had the best looking picture. The set up that looked better was actually a Stewart Rear Projection screen with a Sony HS10. (Definitely the way to go if you want a large image that you can see with ambient light, provided you have the space to the rear)

So there it is. The simple fact that you have (or buy) a projector with more pixels doesn't guarentee that you will have a good looking picture. We saw many examples of poorly set up projectors in stores whose business it is to try and sell them. Makes you wonder.

Chuck (Lurker and absorber of information)

John,
I have upgraded to the new firmware and the shimmering issue seems to be resolved. I have never seen any macroblocking issues with the Oppo. The Sharpness setting is defaulted to OFF now, although some like it set to LOW. The Picture is great.

Although PQ is subjective to some degree, I do feel there is an improvement over a standard 480P DVD player. The softness that plagued this unit has gone.

The one thing that is present, that the new firmware didnt fix, is the picture shift issue. I'm still not calling it a cropping issue with the 7800, but it does require you zoom out a tad. A nit really, but worth mentioning.

I suggest you try it out. If you buy it through Amazon, you can return it within 30 days so if you dont like it you dont need to keep it. I think you'll be happy with the results. Just make sure you get a quality DVI cable. I'm running a bettercables 30' and it's fine. Call Jason at AVS if you need a cable.

If there is a way to improve this already very good PJ, this is the one option I would consider.

If you decide to try it, let me know what your impressions are.

quick question for anyone still reading this thread :)
if you have a DVD player with a DVI output, and a Hi-Def cable box with a DVI output, how do you connect both to the PJ? Do you need a DVI switch?

Yes, it would seem to me that you would need a switch. The only other option would be to run the cable box component outputs to the RGB inputs of the 7800. You should still be able to get a high def feed from the cable box that way.

In my set up, my DVD player doesn't have DVI, so I am able to run the cable box DVI to the PJ. It looks pretty good that way with the box set to output 1080i.

Chuck

One of those Gefen or Dtronics DVI switchers is required for two separate DVI feeds. I will require one if and when I purchase a DVI DVD player as I am running my satellite through the DVI input.

John

Thinking of getting the Oppo DVD and using my Samsung in the bedroom. Are those of you using it with the PE7800 happy with it?

Jay

I have had great results with the PE7700 it really improves sharpness at the 720P native res through the DVI-D cable.

Hey if youre saying quit posting I hear you 200%. You people dont have to read it do you?

If you arent interested in tweaking to get a better picture or any further adjustments, I dont really give a damn! If this thread isnt the place for it, fine by me!

Im sick of reading these posts and your lame replies. You dont have to friggin READ IT.


Was this your last post?
Did you go into closure b'cause of the treatment you felt you received?
Come on man, I really enjoyed all your findings with the menues, it would be interesting to hear your opinion on the PJ now after a couple of months.

Wow, my thread is back! I'm sure the 7800 is probably long off the market, so this may be the end of the line for the 7800 thread.

I don't come around here too much anymore. However, I'm still subscribed to a few threads and they go away for a while and then come back. I don't really tweak anything in the HT since it's all finished. Our HT is completely dedicated and everything is enclosed. That's one of the reasons I don't care to do any tweaking. I know speedyhtpc was a tweaker and got a little miffed after a few comments. As for the 7800, I'm still happy with mine and I've had it since Oct, 2004. Once I installed it and adjusted it, it's been just fine. I should probably get a ladder and at least clean the lens. I figure around the end of 2006, I'll go into the pj market again. The 7800 is my 5th pj (lcd, crt, crt, dlp, dlp). I plan to spend less than $2500 on the next one and if the technology continues as it is, I'll have a pj that is twice as good.

I do wonder what's out there on the DVD player market. I'm still using my trusty Panny CP72.

I've been happy with my 7800 and am poking around on the forum as I think I could sell my pg for what I paid for it (buy in US, sell in UK). The problem is I don't see anything else interesting for under $2k. I think I'll wait until some sort of HD format wins out and then upgrade both source and projector.

jay,
I've been wondering if there is anything out there better for under $2500. I don't come to AVS too much these days and only when a thread I'm subscribed to gets a reply. I think I'll stick with my plan and wait until the end of 2006 to start looking. If any of you 7800 owners out there upgrade let us know.

I'm very happy with the Oppo via DVI to the 7800, upconverting to 720P. Picture is very sharp. Much sharper than 480P.

What is the "Oppo"?

check out my posts in this thread a couple pages back...its a upconverting region free dvd player. there is also an Oppo post with a lot of info on it.

Hate to resurrect old thread, but this thread seems to have richest info on PE 7800... So...

I am looking for a way to add ND3 filter to 7800. What size/thread should I get? Any good source online?

What I am thinking is to use Brilliant White from Carada with ND2 filter. Anybody doing this?

Thanks.

Don't know how you are going to get an ND filter in front of the lens since it is recessed. If you are successful please post it here.

On another note, I had a strange incident with my FP last night. I turned it on as I always do and it went into a 3 red light flashing mode. Immediately I thought that the bulb had expired (only 550+ hours). Checked the manual and it said that the temperature sensor was reading a high temperature. Since my projector is on the ceiling in my basement theatre room (rather cool actually) and noone had been in it for at least a day I thought this odd. I tried to power down but the only way it would work was to pull the power cord for a minute and when I plugged the projector back in it went into a cycle down mode and powered off to standby. I then went and turned it on again with the remote and it powered up with no problems. It also powered down with no problems.

Has anyone had this happen to them as well? This is the second time I've had a glitch (the first time many months ago the fan would not shut down when the projector was powered off). Should I be concerned?

Thanks, John

John,
Mine did that the first time I turned it on. It has never done that since and It's over a yr old. I don't know how many hours it has but I'd say less than 500.

Thanks Jeff. It's working fine now - watched the Grey Cup (Canada's Super Bowl) yesterday in high def and it was spectacular. Incidentally it's easy to check your hours in the projector main menu screen under Environment (I think).

Other than that the projector has worked flawlessly and still throws a nice bright picture. I read under another thread that lamp brightness on many projectors seems to diminish quickly (after a few hundred hours) but I haven't noticed much of a dropoff and I am close to 600 hours - still going strong.

John

We're still happy with ours and I think the picture is as good as ever. I was planning to start looking for an upgrade in 2006/2007 and this one should be fine until then. As for hours, I just never bother to check the display. Before getting into DLP projectors, we had a couple of CRTs and I was always tweaking. My first DLP was an X1 and then the 7800 and I never feel the need to tweak anymore after calibration. I figure we've watched 1-2 movies per weekend which would only be a couple of hundred hours. We didn't connect the satellite to it so there are not opps for HDTV.

Hate to resurrect old thread, but this thread seems to have richest info on PE 7800... So...

I am looking for a way to add ND3 filter to 7800. What size/thread should I get? Any good source online?

What I am thinking is to use Brilliant White from Carada with ND2 filter. Anybody doing this?

Thanks.

I've got a PE8700 which hasn't any filter thread, so I just put on a 55mm filter and fixed it with Blu-Tack.

Just curious... I have an HDTV STB, and I see on page 25 of the 7800 manual that THROUGH mode (found in the ASPECT menu option) does not scale HDTV signals... it just "compresses" the image to fit full screen for 720p signals, OR projects images as 1/2 size for 1080i signals.

I always use the ANAMORPHIC mode with HDTV material, and the manuals states that images are "scaled" in this mode to fit full screen (for both 720p and 1080i).

Questions:
1. Anyone ever see a difference in PQ between these 2 modes?
2. I thought since the native rez of the 7800 is 1024 x 576, then every images had to be "scaled" to that resolution, which is contrary to the definition of the THROUGH mode.

-T


PS Not a lot of activity in this thread... still a great player though... 500 hours after 1 year, and still looks fantastic.

Just curious... I have an HDTV STB, and I see on page 25 of the 7800 manual that THROUGH mode (found in the ASPECT menu option) does not scale HDTV signals... it just "compresses" the image to fit full screen for 720p signals, OR projects images as 1/2 size for 1080i signals.

I always use the ANAMORPHIC mode with HDTV material, and the manuals states that images are "scaled" in this mode to fit full screen (for both 720p and 1080i).

Questions:
1. Anyone ever see a difference in PQ between these 2 modes?
2. I thought since the native rez of the 7800 is 1024 x 576, then every images had to be "scaled" to that resolution, which is contrary to the definition of the THROUGH mode.

-T


PS Not a lot of activity in this thread... still a great player though... 500 hours after 1 year, and still looks fantastic.

T-Bone,

I have always kept the mode in ANAMORPHIC as this is the only mode that scales to the full 16:9 resolution for HDTV. Remember, every HD resolution has to be scaled to the projector's native resolution. I never understood what the THROUGH mode did for this projector. I feel this mode probably was meant more for the 8700 as it's native resolution is HD.

I'm still tweaking my projector and having fun with it. This projector is a tweaker's dream as there is so much available. This also could be dangerous in terms of screwing up the settings. I have about 670 hours on the original bulb and the brightness is still excellent on my 1.3 gain screen. I went and upped the DLP brightness setting in the service menu to 0 to compensate for the bulb aging. At this point I feel the bulb aging will be minimal to it's expected life span of 2000 hours (I read somewhere that most of the lumens loss is in the first 500 hours).

Since I don't have the tools necessary for a true ISF calibration I have been using some of the settings posted here to try and tweak the picture. I now have a Panny S97S DVD player and use it's HDMI output at 480p for DVDs. I still have an RP56 that I use for component as I think it is superior over the new Panny. I tried 720P and 1080i using a manual switch box but the dreaded sparklies appeared so I am looking for a good electronic switcher at the moment.

I find HDTV (using DVI) from my Sat receiver is excellent although the brightness and contrast settings need to be tweaked (whites too hot and blacks seem to be crushed). I would love my satellite company to provide a channel running a settings loop so that I could properly calibrate this input. It seems the DVI settings from the DVD player use the proper gray scale for film whereas the sat receiver does not.

Anyone still with a 7800 have you had your inputs ISF'd (specifically the DVI input) and if so could you post your settings here?

Thanks, John

Resurrecting an old thread...

Just curious: anyone with the 7800 upgrade it yet for a different PJ?

Have had mine for 16 months (800 hours on bulb), and recalibrated it last night using a interlaced signal from a Sony DVD (was using progressive) over a component connection. I noticed that the picture is not as soft with interlaced than when feeding it a progressive signal (as others have stated here).

Almost like getting a new PJ :). Geometry and color uniformity is still great. And there is no need to replace the bulb just yet. HD from my Sony HDD250 looks spectacular, as always.

-T

Still have mine. I haven't even looked at anything new. However, I would like to get a new DVD player. I'm still using the Panny CD72. Has anyone kept up with DVD players? What would be the ultimate <$1000 DVD player?

Still have mine. I haven't even looked at anything new. However, I would like to get a new DVD player. I'm still using the Panny CD72. Has anyone kept up with DVD players? What would be the ultimate <$1000 DVD player?

< $1000?? I'd go with a Tosh HD-DVD for $500... I read that it in addition to spectacular HD images, it does a very good job at upconverting standard DVDs. There is a very long thread titled "Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD - First End User Reports!" in the HD-DVD forum. I read 90 pages of it. There is 91 as we speak.

-T

Thanks T,
I've not been active on the forum for a while and I'm just not in touch with what's new. I'll check it out.

Well, I got one today, yes two years after it was released, however I came across it at Newegg.com for less than $800, so I thought I would try it out. Let me first tell you that I have not been this impressed since I first saw a football game in HD. I haven't even calibrated it or tweaked it and it looks phenomenal and I do not use this word lightly. The blacks are impressive and the colors are super bright. I am having a hard time telling the difference between this and my true HD Mitsubishi DLP TV. If I look hard enough I can tell the difference, but I have to look real, REAL hard. Anyway, I just want to thank this forum because without it I wouldn't have even considered this projector. I was originally looking at the PE7700, the Sony HS51 and the Sanyo Z4. Probably the biggest thing I noticed is the lack of SDE. I have looked at a lot of projectors and that has always been my biggest complaint. At roughly 80 some inches and back about ten feet I cannot see it. Even when I move closer I still cannot see it. Anyway, this is a phenomenal projector, especially for what I paid for it.

I could go on forever, but I do have a few questions:

1 - I notice on non-HD programs I get a little digital artifacts going across the top. Is this due to the overscan?

2 - I am using a Panoview Greywolf with a 1.8 gain. This is a grey screen and so far I am extremely impressed with the price/performance of this screen. However does anyone have any opinions on this screen or another screen for this projector?

3 - I am going to go back through the forum and look at the some of the setting that people have put their projectors at, however does anyone have any suggestions that I may overlook?

4 - Does anyone know of a DVI/HDMI switch that has more than one output to be able to chose between displays? I still want to be able to use my regular TV for basic viewing.

Ok, I am going to go back to watching my new projector. I feel like a little kid on Christmas, lol.

Kemical

Congrats! You got a great buy on it. I got a deal when I bought mine but I still paid $2k for mine. Your questions:
1. I can't speak about HDTV, we have a plasma in a TV room outside the HT
2. I went with a white acoustically trasparent screen with a 1.0 gain
3. I used a calibration disk which helped with our setup
4. I'm still using my Panny CP72 with a progressive connection. I'm looking at new DVD players now. T-Bone recommended a new Toshi HD DVD player.

Im still impressed with ours after all this time. Before this, I had three CRTs and then I bought an original X1 which turned me to DLP. For me, the pj, my speakers and my HK7200 are the only things I haven't considered upgrading.

What's the best resolution to match up with this projector? Math wise I would think 1080i since it fits 540p easily, however does anyone have an opinion on this?

Also, has anyone ran into the problem of having a single blue line at the bottom of the screen? It went away after I changed resolutions from 1080i to 720p and then back, any thoughts?

Thanks,
Kemical

What's the best resolution to match up with this projector? Math wise I would think 1080i since it fits 540p easily, however does anyone have an opinion on this?

Also, has anyone ran into the problem of having a single blue line at the bottom of the screen? It went away after I changed resolutions from 1080i to 720p and then back, any thoughts?

Thanks,
Kemical

I have mine set-up using 1080i with HD over satellite on the DVI input (a little sharper than component) . I find the picture looks sharper than 720p set in the sat receiver. You should experiment with this and your results may differ. My view is the scaler in the 7800 does not do as well with 720p source as with 1080i source.

I have a single pixel reddish line at the bottom of SOME HD channels. This is due to overscan and I have not been able to find a solution other than using a black border to minimize the effect. It would have been nice to have an overscan setting in the projector firmware but there doesn't seem to be that option.

Also, go back into this forum and the PE8700 forum to try some of the settings people have used. I did and I am happy with the tweaks suggested. Although this projector is old by today's standards, Benq to their credit, provides a multitude of picture adjustments which is a tweakers dream come true. The only problem is the manual does not provide much in the way of clarification.

John

I have mine set-up using 1080i with HD over satellite on the DVI input (a little sharper than component) . I find the picture looks sharper than 720p set in the sat receiver. You should experiment with this and your results may differ. My view is the scaler in the 7800 does not do as well with 720p source as with 1080i source.

I have a single pixel reddish line at the bottom of SOME HD channels. This is due to overscan and I have not been able to find a solution other than using a black border to minimize the effect. It would have been nice to have an overscan setting in the projector firmware but there doesn't seem to be that option.

Also, go back into this forum and the PE8700 forum to try some of the settings people have used. I did and I am happy with the tweaks suggested. Although this projector is old by today's standards, Benq to their credit, provides a multitude of picture adjustments which is a tweakers dream come true. The only problem is the manual does not provide much in the way of clarification.

John

Thank you John,
I found the 1080I to be the best also. To get rid of the line on the bottom try switching the resolution output from the HD sat reciever to 720p and then back to 1080i. This gets rid of mine for whatever reason. I agree it would have been nice if there was a setting for overscan, but what projector is perfect. :)

I have been looking through the previous posts for setting and have found some good posts on this. This projector is phenomenal and looks as good as my HDTV that I have. Anyway, thank you again for the response, I know this forum is just about dead, so I do appreciate any help. Now, I just have to decide on a screen.

Kemical

We watched movie last night and at the end I decided to check the hours. I was very surprised to see only 265 hours on the clock.

I cannot recalibrate until next week since I lent out my copy of Avia. Anyway, I was monkeying around with the DLP setting (normally set to zero) by adjusting to +2, thus making the image brighter. I liked the result. I put it back to zero until I get my Avia disc back. Note that I have a bit more than 800 hours on the bulb.

Question:
If I bump up the DLP setting a couple of notches to make the bulb brighter (in order to offset bulb age/dimming), then go ahead and use Avia to calibrate contrast, brightness, etc, will the calibration negate the bumping up of the DLP setting?

Thanks...
-T

I guess the answer depends on how much dimmer your bulb has gotten from your original calibration. This projector definitely struggles with contrast, so I've used the memory settings to handle the various levels of brightness required. For example, I was playing Call of Duty 2 last week and I was having a terrible time seeing all of the Natzi's, so I created a new memory setting for Xbox that amps up the contrast and brightness while leaving the standard settings for more discriminating viewing.

What's the best resolution to match up with this projector? Math wise I would think 1080i since it fits 540p easily, however does anyone have an opinion on this?

Also, has anyone ran into the problem of having a single blue line at the bottom of the screen? It went away after I changed resolutions from 1080i to 720p and then back, any thoughts?

Thanks,
Kemical
I was running 720p but I've switched to 1080i as I get a little more detail in HD pictures.

What DVD players are you guys running now? I still have my Panny CP72. However, I keep looking at the Toshi HD and the Oppo. I just can't see how I would be disappointed in that Oppo compared to the CP72. The 72 and the RP 82 were the real deal in their day but the Oppo performance is a no brainer at $200 and its less expensive than my old Panny
jh

My DVD player is dying. I'm looking at getting the OPPO OPDV971H. My questions are: 1) The Oppo has a DVI-D and the PE 7800 has a DVI-I so do I have to get a cord that has a female DVI-D to a female DVI-I? Can you recomend a source for the cable? Are there problems using the OPPO OPDV971HD with the PE7800 because of the OPPO having HDMI?

Thanks,

Jim

My DVD player is dying. I'm looking at getting the OPPO OPDV971H. My questions are: 1) The Oppo has a DVI-D and the PE 7800 has a DVI-I so do I have to get a cord that has a female DVI-D to a female DVI-I? Can you recomend a source for the cable? Are there problems using the OPPO OPDV971HD with the PE7800 because of the OPPO having HDMI?

Thanks,

Jim


I use a cable from blue jean cable Co it's a DVI-I on my Oppo player to my PE7700. The DVI-D cable does not have the extra pins that carry the RGBHV the Oppo does not use those pins to send the digital signal to the BQ anyway. Hear is an article that explains DVI a lot better than I can.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_4/feature-dvi-hdmi-hdcp-connections-11-2004.html

So will the DVI-D cable that comes with the OPPO work with the PE7800?

My DVD player is dying. I'm looking at getting the OPPO OPDV971H. My questions are: 1) The Oppo has a DVI-D and the PE 7800 has a DVI-I so do I have to get a cord that has a female DVI-D to a female DVI-I? Can you recomend a source for the cable? Are there problems using the OPPO OPDV971HD with the PE7800 because of the OPPO having HDMI?

Thanks,

Jim

I wouldn't waste my money on old technology. Wait for a superior winner from the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray wars and buy a HD player.

So will the DVI-D cable that comes with the OPPO work with the PE7800?

I use a 7.5M straight DVI-D cable from my SAT receiver to the 7800. No problems. The difference between DVI-I and DVI-D is the analog pins are missing. A DVI-I cable plugged into the OPPO and the 7800 will work fine as the video signal is being carried on the digital pins.

John

Does anybody else have sync problems watching tv? When the program changes the proj often loses sync for 5-10 seconds which is very annoying. It happens when switching scenes in certain programs such as CSI or when switching from the program to a commercial. I assume that the problem is related to changes in the frame rate or something like that.

I'm in Europe watching PAL from a digital OTA receiver but I also had the problem with analog tv.

Any ideas as to what I can do?

Anyone know about the Oppo HD that uses the HDMI output?

Anyone know about the Oppo HD that uses the HDMI output?


Go here for a review on the Oppo players. http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/index.php

Kemical

Thanks for the links. I'm ordering the OPPO971H. It's not perfect but, I don't want to spend a lot of money on a regular DVD player when I am going to be upgrading in to HD in the next 2 years--or whenever they get the politics worked out.

Jim

I cannot recalibrate until next week since I lent out my copy of Avia. Anyway, I was monkeying around with the DLP setting (normally set to zero) by adjusting to +2, thus making the image brighter. I liked the result. I put it back to zero until I get my Avia disc back. Note that I have a bit more than 800 hours on the bulb.

Question:
If I bump up the DLP setting a couple of notches to make the bulb brighter (in order to offset bulb age/dimming), then go ahead and use Avia to calibrate contrast, brightness, etc, will the calibration negate the bumping up of the DLP setting?

Thanks...
-T
In case anyone was wondering, the DLP setting had no effect on the brightness and contrast settings for Avia. I ended up bumping DLP from 0 to +2, and it looks better. Tried +4, but that affected overall image contrast, so I set it back to +2.

-T

For example, I was playing Call of Duty 2 last week and I was having a terrible time seeing all of the Natzi's, so I created a new memory setting for Xbox that amps up the contrast and brightness while leaving the standard settings for more discriminating viewing.

I dont think dim bulb would cause that. A dim bulb would cause everything to go dark, not just the Natzis.

I'm using DVI. There is a setting in the factory menu that adjusts for gamma. I've used this to bring out some dark areas without having a grey background.

My blacks are slightly "lighted" I feel this is the only way this PJ will show the calibration bars from my DVE.

In case anyone was wondering, the DLP setting had no effect on the brightness and contrast settings for Avia. I ended up bumping DLP from 0 to +2, and it looks better. Tried +4, but that affected overall image contrast, so I set it back to +2.

-T

I think my DLP is set to -2 from the 8700 thread and it worked well for me. Since Im in a dark room, DLP at +2 hurt my eyes after a while. I think +2 was default for me.

Thanks for the links. I'm ordering the OPPO971H. It's not perfect but, I don't want to spend a lot of money on a regular DVD player when I am going to be upgrading in to HD in the next 2 years--or whenever they get the politics worked out.

Jim

Its kind of hard to see the difference between an upconverted SD DVD on the HD-A1 vs a true HD DVD released now on this PJ because of the soft picture of the PJ. But you can see it if you try to look for it.

I would not buy the Oppo now simply because the HD-A1 does a better job than any upconverting DVD player out there.

I got my OPPO today. Haven't spent a lot of time messing with it. When I first turned it on and watched a film, I thought it was a little fuzzy. Nothing special. Then I set the resolution to 1081i. The picture looked great. I'm thrilled.

Jim

I have found 1080I works best for me also, however I have not had a 1080p source. Does the Oppo output 1080p and have you tried that setting to see if it would work and how it looks?
Thanks,
Kemical

I tried turning up the brightness on the projector but, it wouldn't respond. Is there a special way of accessing the brightness control?

You'll be even more "thrilled" to see the HD dvd player(s) on the BenQ 7800.

It does not support 1080p - only 1080i.

Brightness always worked for me on all inputs. It is the hidden menu that has brightness controls that only manipulate the inputs they are designed for.

With HTPC I have found that 1280x720 seems to be a sweet spot for higher than native resolution. For some reason Vista had this resolution available and I picked it. Looks better than native.

With HTPC I have found that 1280x720 seems to be a sweet spot for higher than native resolution. For some reason Vista had this resolution available and I picked it. Looks better than native.


Cool. I am actually thinking of putting a HTPC together. What TV tuner card did you decide to use and is it HD? Also, do you have any outside video sources hooked to your HTPC such as DirecTV or Cable?

Thanks,

Kemical

I have the ATi HD Wonder and I have Comcast cable with HD. I have no idea how to get it working together. I can only see OTA HD. For what it is worth, does not look anything near having my comcast STB directly hooked to the 7800 via DVI. But I was not using Vista so I didnt try 1280x720.

My HTPC now is really used for LimitedSharpen/SeeSaw and DVD video when my HD-A1 cannot play it.

Other than 8700, what pj from BenQ share the same frame with 7800? I am considering to buy replacement bulb for 7800 or buy 8700 when the price became less than $1k. My 7800 has about 900hrs. It got dim somewhat but still strong.

Where is the best place to get 7800 replacement bulb? Quick search only showed $350 for best price which is quite high. How many of you have replacement bulb in hand? Would it be wise to get it now or wait another year or two to have the current one die? My concern is by that time it'd be much more expensive (since now it is vintage item) or worse can't locate any...

The way I set up 7800 in drywalled hushbox prevents me to go with other PJs at the moment, although I can rip off the box and rebuild it if I have to... It's gonna suck big time. So, my idea of getting 8700 in a year or so (probably with one replacement bulb to cover 4-5 years total), as kind of an upgrade, using existing mount and setup.

What do you think?

Other than 8700, what pj from BenQ share the same frame with 7800? I am considering to buy replacement bulb for 7800 or buy 8700 when the price became less than $1k. My 7800 has about 900hrs. It got dim somewhat but still strong.

Where is the best place to get 7800 replacement bulb? Quick search only showed $350 for best price which is quite high. How many of you have replacement bulb in hand? Would it be wise to get it now or wait another year or two to have the current one die? My concern is by that time it'd be much more expensive (since now it is vintage item) or worse can't locate any...

The way I set up 7800 in drywalled hushbox prevents me to go with other PJs at the moment, although I can rip off the box and rebuild it if I have to... It's gonna suck big time. So, my idea of getting 8700 in a year or so (probably with one replacement bulb to cover 4-5 years total), as kind of an upgrade, using existing mount and setup.

What do you think?

If you like the picture and do not want to upgrade then just buy another bulb. The 8700 uses the same bulb so you would have to spend more money for a small improvement in picture quality. Also, the 8700 is a shorter throw and you would have to move your mount and hush box forward for the same screen size. A real upgrade would be to the 8720 but that is quite a bit more money. Or buy another bulb and wait for the 1080p projectors to come down in price in about a year or so. That would be even more of an upgrade.

John

I have my eye on the Mits HC5000. I'll give it about a year to come down in price.

Thakns for the replies.

Well, the only thing is the way hushbox is made. Whatever the future PJ that I will want later, I have to have very low profile mount to go with and very close spec with 7800 in a throw and vertical drop from the ceiling, unless I want drywall dust in my theater again. Not going to happen anytime soon. :)

I also forgot about 8700's shorter throw. Thank you for reminding me that. It looks I'd better stick with 7800 probably another set of bulb and if the second dies then I will look for a PJ that fits my bill. By that time, HD DVD player will come down in price too.

Any good places to get the bulb?

I have my eye on the Mits HC5000. I'll give it about a year to come down in price.

Jeff,

Still have your 7800? I have about 1200 hours on my original bulb and even though the bulb has dimmed somewhat the picture still looks great. I too am looking to skip the 720P projectors and wait for 1080P in about a year. My warranty will have run out (gotta love that 3 year warranty!) and I can move the projector to the bedroom to make way for 1080p. At almost twice the resolution the picture should be quite a step up. I too am looking for a new bulb and welcome any suggestions as to the best places to purchase.

John

John,
I do still have mine and like you, I'm still happy with it. I have not replaced my bulb so I don't know where to suggest looking.

As for the 1080P pj, I have to upgrade my DVD either to HD or Blu-Ray. That's the next big decision.

Other than 8700, what pj from BenQ share the same frame with 7800? I am considering to buy replacement bulb for 7800 or buy 8700 when the price became less than $1k. My 7800 has about 900hrs. It got dim somewhat but still strong.

Where is the best place to get 7800 replacement bulb? Quick search only showed $350 for best price which is quite high. How many of you have replacement bulb in hand? Would it be wise to get it now or wait another year or two to have the current one die? My concern is by that time it'd be much more expensive (since now it is vintage item) or worse can't locate any...

The way I set up 7800 in drywalled hushbox prevents me to go with other PJs at the moment, although I can rip off the box and rebuild it if I have to... It's gonna suck big time. So, my idea of getting 8700 in a year or so (probably with one replacement bulb to cover 4-5 years total), as kind of an upgrade, using existing mount and setup.

What do you think?
I purchased a replacement bulb a few weeks ago. I've still got several hundred hours to go, but I didn't want to risk blowing a bulb watching a big game with some friends. If you can get $350, that's a good deal. Since I'm a Benq reseller, I just ordered mine from the warehouse.

Hey guys,
Are any of you still subscribed to this thread? I still haven't bought a new DVD player yet. I still want an unpconverting model to replace my Panny CP72. I guess the Oppo 971 with it's DVI output is still a good option for this PJ?

I got my Oppo 9/16/06. I’m still very happy with it. For the price it is a great DVD player.

Thanks James,
I went to the Oppo site tonight and found that the 971 was upgraded to the 981 which is overkill for the 7800. The site said the only place that may have any 971 models left was Amazon. I went there immediately and bought one with free shipping. Now I need to go to AVcable.com to buy a 25' DVI cable.

The Oppo 971H came this week. I'm going to connect it today via a 25' DVI D cable I bought from AVCable.com Amazon still has a few of these left.

Now since this pj is out of production and this thread is nearly 2.5 yrs old...it's time...

Hey Jeff,

I am about to retire my unit also. It was a great ride but instead of replacing the bulb for a second time, I decided to get the Mits HC3100. It should show up sometime next week. I am thinking of using my BenQ as an outside projector with my popup camper this summer :) . I might set it up to game with on my computer also. I still have 500 hours or so left on the bulb so it should work good for both of these.

Geek

Geek,
I think I've read some good reports on the 3100. Good luck to you and I'll look for a review of it once you get it. A couple of years ago when I got the 7800, I almost kept my old X1 for the same type of outdoor use. I wonder how it would look to project onto snow? :)

Need some help here. If you still have your PE7800, can you please let me know if your PJ shows the entire grayscale plunge on DVE or anything like it? Plus please let me know how you are connecting the PJ, DVI to DVI, HDMI to DVI , component, etc? I'm using HDMI to DVI and its showing black crush.

Need some help here. If you still have your PE7800, can you please let me know if your PJ shows the entire grayscale plunge on DVE or anything like it? Plus please let me know how you are connecting the PJ, DVI to DVI, HDMI to DVI , component, etc? I'm using HDMI to DVI and its showing black crush.

Hear is an article that talks about HDMI to DVI and the loss of BTB ..........the whole article is good but the last few paragraphs I believe relate to your possable problem. :)


http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_4/feature-dvi-hdmi-hdcp-connections-11-2004.html

I still have mine. I connect it to an Oppo 971H via DVI.

DVI is an 8 bit RGB signal, while HDMI can be 8 bit RGB, or 8 bit, 10 bit, or 12 bit YCbCr. If you have a DVI source and DVI display, there will be no problem. If you have a DVI source and an HDMI display, again, no problem. If however, you have an HDMI source and a DVI display, the below-black video information may be lost in the translation. There is a bug in the Silicon Image HDMI transmitter that pops up when converting YCbCr to RGB. The HD TiVo and Pioneer 59AVi do not have this problem.

Thanks checklst. This seems to be the problem I had from the get go. I could never dial in the grayscale on the PJ correctly.

Is there any way around it? I think a video processor but then why not a new PJ.

I tested the same PJ with a component outputting Panasonic RP-82 dvd player. It too could not show btb. The article says a problem with HDMI to DVI but now Im going strictly component and the PJ still cannot do btb. I called Benq and they said the projector is too old.

Yet another alternative may be to get the SCART cable for my PS3. I'm thinking going from YCbCr to YCbCr in the Benq may help with this?

Lease expense would be a Oppo 971H player, I have one and it plays DVD's vary well (upscale) nice and sharp over a DVI. The Oppo has DVI out.

I like the resolution of my new HD DVD ,but I believe all are HDMI..........it's to bad HD players don't come with DVI also..........the 720P projectors really look good at that res.

Maybe the Oppo would get you by for the next 9 months to a year, by then 1080 PJ's might be in the 2 grand.

Thats when my 3 year warranty on my BQ PE7700 will be up. Although at my HT seating distance and 110" diag max screen size (on my wall) a 1080 pj has vary little image quality change over a 720P machine, maybe a few % so the price will have to be right for me to jump.

It's all about screen size and where you butt is planted if the extra res is noticeable. :)

Time for a new PJ..soon. Probably the HD80 or when prices come down lower. Not in a rush to get it but the Benq is annoying as hell. It was brighter, more res, but everything else was worse than my X1.

Well I decided to stick with my PE-7800 for one more bulb, which is only my first replacement bulb, I changed the bulbs and my PJ still wont work, I get some crackling sound after a few seconds of power up, it works fine until the bulb starts to pull power about 3 seconds into the warmup... I thought I was F'ed but luckily still have just under 60 days on my warranty, sure am glad I didnt wait longer to buy the replacement bulb........ Im gonna stick with this PJ for a couple more years Im still happy with the PQ at 121" as you know HD looks so good on this thing I sometimes wonder if its really 576...

I agree, they do look really nice in HD. I'm still using an Oppo 971H with my old Panny CP72 as backup. I was going to upgrade but just lost the desire to do all the research.

Time for a new PJ..soon. Probably the HD80 or when prices come down lower. Not in a rush to get it but the Benq is annoying as hell. It was brighter, more res, but everything else was worse than my X1.

Im curious as to what you mean by, The BenQ is annoying as hell??? I dont quite get your meaning

Long time for me between posts, but our 7800 just hit 873 hrs tonight. I know that's pathetic considering it's 4yrs old. I come close about once per year to buying a new one. I'm sure I'm missing out on some great <$5k pj out there, but it just isn't that important these days.

only 873, LOL, I just had to put a new bulb in mine at about 1800 hours.. it was just getting to dim and to dark to enjoy anything even with the brightness maxed out, So I bought a new bulb and its like a new PJ again, I think when this bulb wears out I will look at some new PJ's but that will be another year or two.

About 1200 hours on mine... and 4 years old too. Had to tweak the brightness a year ago... still works great!!

-T