I'm curious what has swayed you in the direction of the 4805.

Well, I've seen the 4805 several times, and up against a large number of very high end systems; it compared VERY well. The color accuracy and contrast ratio is superb (and don't believe the 3000 number on the H31 marketing info, they both have realistic ratios in the range of 2000:1). I haven't seen an H31 yet, but would like to before I make my final decision.

So far, it basically comes down to this list of items, for me:

1) 6500K color OTB.
Have heard the H31 has orangey reds...need to see for my self.

2) HTPC support
I want to use an anamorphic lense and will be doing all my scaling on a HTPC.

3) Throw ratio. (The 4805 being a bit longer)
This has an advantage of placement in my room, as well as for use with an anamorphic lense.

--Eric

Well, I've seen the 4805 several times, and up against a large number of very high end systems; it compared VERY well. The color accuracy and contrast ratio is superb (and don't believe the 3000 number on the H31 marketing info, they both have realistic ratios in the range of 2000:1). I haven't seen an H31 yet, but would like to before I make my final decision.

So far, it basically comes down to this list of items, for me:

1) 6500K color OTB.
Have heard the H31 has orangey reds...need to see for my self.

2) HTPC support
I want to use an anamorphic lense and will be doing all my scaling on a HTPC.

3) Throw ratio. (The 4805 being a bit longer)
This has an advantage of placement in my room, as well as for use with an anamorphic lense.

--Eric

Okay, that makes sense then. If your going the HTPC route then I can see why you would shy away from the Optoma since it has issues there. The orangey reds I have heard about but not seen. There is an H31 owner here in my town that I need to meet up with to check out the H31 in action. One thing is for sure, if you go with the 4805 you will get plenty of HTPC support from DaGamePimp and the other HTPC junkies over in the 4805 thread. It would be nice to put these two side by side but I can't float that kind of money so I have to rely on research and the impressions of individual users. Good luck with your choice. I think either of these units would be great.

dropzone7,

I was in your boat earlier this Spring. I had owned the X1 for almost 2 years and really felt that purchasing the 4805 would be very boring since they're both Infocus products. I already knew what Infocus was capable of. I didn't want to own one of their products 4 years in a row without tasting what the competition could do. I'm not sorry for switching to Optoma. I'm sure I would have been happy with the 4805 but I REALLY resented having to fork out more money to get that damned M1 cable. :mad:

If I had to do it all over again I would purchase the 4805 due to the HTPC problems associated with SOME H31s. However, it has worked out well for me because I upgraded to the H57 but it cost me more money to do so and I hadn't planned on that expense. So, if I'd had a crystal ball back in the Spring I would have just gone with the Infocus. That's my story. :)

Wayne

dropzone7,

I was in your boat earlier this Spring. I had owned the X1 for almost 2 years and really felt that purchasing the 4805 would be very boring since they're both Infocus products. I already knew what Infocus was capable of. I didn't want to own one of their products 4 years in a row without tasting what the competition could do. I'm not sorry for switching to Optoma. I'm sure I would have been happy with the 4805 but I REALLY resented having to fork out more money to get that damned M1 cable. :mad:

If I had to do it all over again I would purchase the 4805 due to the HTPC problems associated with SOME H31s. However, it has worked out well for me because I upgraded to the H57 but it cost me more money to do so and I hadn't planned on that expense. So, if I'd had a crystal ball back in the Spring I would have just gone with the Infocus. That's my story. :)

Wayne


Wayne, thanks for your insight. However, for someone with no interest in using a HTPC but rather an upscaling DVD player (I have the Zenith DVB-318) and possibly a HD-DVD player around Christmas time or early next year, would you still recommend the 4805? The thing I dislike most about my 4800 is the fan noise and the lack of detail in certain dark scenes. I'm hoping that either unit (H31 or 4805) would improve on my contrast and perceived black detail situation.

hey guitarman, can you ping wing again and see if they're still looking into the pc problems?

much ablidged

Wayne, thanks for your insight. However, for someone with no interest in using a HTPC but rather an upscaling DVD player (I have the Zenith DVB-318) and possibly a HD-DVD player around Christmas time or early next year, would you still recommend the 4805? The thing I dislike most about my 4800 is the fan noise and the lack of detail in certain dark scenes. I'm hoping that either unit (H31 or 4805) would improve on my contrast and perceived black detail situation.

either of the two will blow your 4800 out of the water in terms of contrast and brightness. if you EVER plan on using a pc for gaming or video, get the 4805. otherwise, if your destiny is a stand-alone player then you still have a decision to make. ;)

either of the two will blow your 4800 out of the water in terms of contrast and brightness. if you EVER plan on using a pc for gaming or video, get the 4805. otherwise, if your destiny is a stand-alone player then you still have a decision to make. ;)

Thanks billymac. If your statement about contrast and brightness is correct then I have a lot to look forward to whichever unit I choose. I am continually impressed by what my 4800 does and if that can be made better with the H31 or 4805 then I will be very impressed.

dropzone,

If fan noise is a real concern to you then you probably should consider the H31. From what I've read, the 4805 is slightly louder but people also usually don't consider it too bothersome in it's low lamp setting once the speakers are on.

Tough call on the blacks and contrast ratio. It's the same chip in both machines and they've both been calibrated to just over 2000:1 so it may be a toss up. All I know is, I haven't seen a 4805 in action but I owned the H31 and coming from the X1, the shadow detail was absolutely astonishing. There isn't anything left to the imagination in dark scenes unless the director intentionally wanted the scene to look dim.

The Optoma colors have really impressed me too. Since HTPC isn't a concern for you I'd seriously consider the H31. Mine was great with my LG7832/Zenith DB318 player. Now the H31 isn't as bright as the 4805 if that matters. So lots to consider. Either way you can't make a mistake.

Wayne

In other threads some folks have mentioned how the H31 looks soft with HD material (well, I've mentioned it anyway).

One thing I noticed is that through component with a Dish 6000 the colors really bloom which seems to destroy the sharpeness. By turning the color down to about -32 it seems to sharpen things up. I also think 720p is sharper than 1080i.

Is everyone actually satisfied with HD on their H31? I can't believe more people don't talk about it. I know HTPCs are the main topic here, but surely some people here are watching HD material...

Even with any tweaks the H31 remains softer than my X1 for HD material. That's using either component with a Dish 6000 or DVI with the Voom STB (which is still a great OTA tuner). DVI helps but there is still an inherent softness compared to the X1.

For whatever reason DVDs look sharper on it, though than the X1. I actually think DVDs look sharper than HD material on the H31.

I enjoy HDTV on my H31 greatly.
I have it connected via some beefy component cables and I watch it at 1080i.
I tried all the other settings and to my eye 1080i looks best.
Was watching Full Metal Jacket on InHD2 the other night, gruesome stuff.
I enjoy Discovery HD - something to watch with the kids.
I really like the various CSI shows in HD, especially the way CSI Miami looks, it's beautiful :)

I am currently watching dvd's from my HTPC over DVI-A. I use a 2.5x resize in ffdshow and @ 62 hz there is very little tearing.
I watch at 848x480x62hz.

I'd still like to see how it does with DVI-D from my PC but I figure I am probably getting pretty close to the same image now as those with nice stand alone dvd players.

Oh, and I can play Half Life 2 in widescreen too. @ 848x480 with all the visual goodness turned up high it's pretty nice. It was tearing like mad until I changed the refresh rate to 62hz.

Could anyone be kind enough to walk me through the steps in accessing the service menu? The way I'm interpreting Tom's initial instructions, I'm pressing Up then Enter, Up then Enter, Left then Enter, Left then Enter, Up then Left then Down on the unit itself (not remote) but to no avail. Mine's an H30a though, perhaps there's a different code... Any pointers much appreciated.

Damian.

I'm watching HD through my Dish 811 receiver. I ran a 25 ft HDMI cable with DVI adapters at both ends. The picture looks terrific at 2X my screen width, very sharp! I'm using 1080I, it seemed the clearest. Tonight we're watching "Troy" on HBOHD, my wife said "Oh yeah, thats the movie where Brad Pitt wears a skirt". Should be a lot of fun...!

Could anyone be kind enough to walk me through the steps in accessing the service menu? The way I'm interpreting Tom's initial instructions, I'm pressing Up then Enter, Up then Enter, Left then Enter, Left then Enter, Up then Left then Down on the unit itself (not remote) but to no avail. Mine's an H30a though, perhaps there's a different code... Any pointers much appreciated.

Damian.

up and enter twice at the same time
left and enter twice at the same time
Up, left, down at the same time once

Cheers Tom, much obliged :) I've just turned mine off for the night, but I'll give it a go tomorrow.

Only had the H30a for a day. Must say that I weren't as initially blown away as most folk seem to have been. But, that could be because it's far from my first projector :) However, I've spent a bit of time with Avia today and it's starting to reveal its charms. Don't want to tweak too much until the lamp life's nearing triple figures, but at the moment, I'm leaning towards the PC gamma 1 setting you finally settled on. Finding the greyscale to be a bit more accurate than film mode. Reading back, appears a lot of folk were put off this route when they noticed the whites are blown out without further digging. But like you I've found that just dropping the contrast setting easily takes care of this. Got mine at -18 through DVI, with brightness at +1. Passes the Avia black/white tests perfectly. I'm using the Oppo player with the new firmware, btw. No problems with over sharpness and shimmering anymore; puts out an incredibly accurate picture now. Not noticed any sign of macroblocking either, and I've circled through 480p, 720p and 1080i. They say it's usually display dependent, so must be another good deed the H31/30a takes care of for us ;) I've a Panasonic S97 next to it, and it's very much looking like the Oppo will be the keeper...

Just been doing a fair bit of aspect ratio testing if anyone's interested. Love the various zoom modes etc. Can see them all coming in very handy at some stage along the line. The only one I came a cropper on is 1.66:1 non-anamorphic. Does anyone know if there's any way of getting this right? Ideally, the small top and bottom black bars would be zoomed/masked out, and there'd be small black bars at either side. The best compromise I could find was the letterbox vertical stretch for non-anamorphic 1.85:1 films. But because the black bars on 1.66:1 are a little smaller than 1.85:1's', the actual image spills out an inch or two above and below the screen borders. Standard 4:3 mode seems to be the only way of keeping all information on screen without distorting proportion. But that's at the expense of having black borders all the way around the picture...

That's good to hear about the Oppo. How long is the DVI cable to the PJ, no sparklies?

Can one of you guys help me out here:

I ran throught he basic video calibrations on avia, stopping short of tweaking the individual color bands to account for red or green push (or pull). Black/White/Color adjustment...all went well.

Color seems calibrated correctly (all at the 65k scale) or at least close enough with the blue filter......and I made all adjustments in CINEMA mode. I dont have my numbers handy but I do remember setting gamma to ONE, I think it defaults to 2 or 3 in Cinema mode, which gave everything a hazy look in my room, but did bring out some shadow detail that I have now lost a bit of, but no worries.

Right now the picture seems VERy comparable to my Mits's black levels...if just a hair lighter overall......I never have felt like I'm losing any dark details...I think I might watch HELLBOY or VanHelsing or Nightmare Before Xmas tonight just to see some really dark movie at work.

Should I go ahead and adjust for Red/Green push if necessary? Will this totall throw off my Greyscale settings? How do I adjust for that......throw up a 100ire grayscale pattern and just eyeball the greys?

Tom I think you mentioned how to do this somewhere but I've since forgotton :(

All the info is in the very first post.

Re blacks and whites. With digital projectors and Avia you use the all black and all whites patterns in Video Adjustments, grayscales and levels, the two at the top. A tip to get absolute black is the go up to the screen and look close at the left moving bar making it as dark as possible where you can just barely make out the dither noise (or mirror movement). Whites you just bring back the right moving bar until it's just visable again.

In the same area there's a pattern called Black Bars & Log Step this is the Pludge pattern use this to delete color in grays using the tutorial in the first post.

Another thing doing the basic color adjustment with Avia you not only want the have the boxes to stop flashing, you also want the tones of the boxes below to match in color tone. Like for color you're looking at the far right and left area and down under the flashing boxes are the boxes you want to match in color.

Hmmm..well I got the boxes to stop flashing, and I can see the white bars in the lower left hand corner...tint is spot on and needs to adjustment but thats I guess normal for digital devices....I'll double check the colors.

I'll go back and re-read the first post...and print it out.

It looks pretty good now just doing the basics....I'll give it more "full tweak time" when I get the ceiling mount and recalibrate then, should be tuesday.

Thanks Tom.

Wayne, thanks for your insight. However, for someone with no interest in using a HTPC but rather an upscaling DVD player (I have the Zenith DVB-318) and possibly a HD-DVD player around Christmas time or early next year, would you still recommend the 4805? The thing I dislike most about my 4800 is the fan noise and the lack of detail in certain dark scenes. I'm hoping that either unit (H31 or 4805) would improve on my contrast and perceived black detail situation.

That was me when I bought my H31. I then bought a Momitsu V880DX because I wanted to do the holy grail of 854x480 pixel mapping (the Momitsu is one of the few dvi players that can do custom resolutions). But if you are planning to do 854x480, you might not have any success....I haven't. I loose quite a bit of pixels in this mode and have concluded (until someone else corrects me) that the H31 can't do 854x480 from a DVD dvi player when playing anamorphic content. The H31 seems to be trying to un-squeeze the 854x480 signal when it should just display the signal untreated. What the H31 needs to do this correctly is a 'Native' mode. The 4805 has a native mode, so it's probable that you won't have any problems with the 4805 @ 854x480.

I mention this all already from my post(s) on page 98 and 99 of this thread. Here is one of the posts:

Well, I got all excited about the Letterbox mode maybe working, I just tried it....

....and, no luck. The letterbox button has no effect at all....seems to only effect true letterbox material and since I was playing anamorphic, it probably wouldn't allow me to use it.

So, back to square 1, almost.

I say almost because I'm intrigued now that the 4805 has a native mode (besides the 16:9 mode). The H31 doesn't have this and I think maybe this is the problem when trying to do 854x480 with it.

I think the H31 in 16:9 mode is looking for anamorphic and when I send it the custom 854x480 or 848 (which I think is not anamorphic???), the H31 doesn't know to just pixel map it direct to the 854x480 panel. Instead, the H31 tries to un-squeeze the image, and the result in this case is some pretty major pixel cropping.

10 minutes later:
I just did a little test that might confirm this: I found an image on 5th Element that had a steady line in a scene right at the bottom of the projected image. I played and paused at that image on both the default 720x480 dvi setting and the custom 854x480 setting (which I loose at least 16 to 18 pixels at the bottom of the screen). And guess what? In the 854 mode the H31 is NOT cropping the actual anamorphic image, that line is there in both 854 and 720 modes.
So, it seems to be squeezing (or un-squeezing?) the image into a reduced part of the 854x480 panel (about 846x446). So aspect ratio is changed a little bit, but too small to notice. This might also explain why a larger percent is lost vertically (32+ pixels from only 480 lines) than width wise (only about 8 pixels from 854 lines). That says to me the aspect ratio was changed, especially since the actual anamorphic image from a scene in 5th Element showed no cropping of the Image , so the aspect ratio must of changed.
The main problem remains: Loss of way too many pixels.

I'm starting to think that the H31 needed a 'Native' mode in the 1st place, the mode that wouldn't alter the dvi image being sent to it.

Whatta you guys think? Am I one to something here?

Fleaman

The other interesting (I thought) question I asked was if stock default 720x480 mode on the dvd player is actually pixel mapped when the H31 is in 16:9 mode as the projector would be un-squeezing the 720x480 signal to 854x480, in effect, pixel mapping.

No one answered this (I'm surprised no one here knows?). Because if this is true, what advantage does one have with a dvd dvi player that can do 854x480 over a 720x480 signal that is un-squeezed? Because in theory, both these signals are pixel mapped.

Fleaman

That's good to hear about the Oppo. How long is the DVI cable to the PJ, no sparklies?Tom, is only a 5m cable but no sign of sparklies whatsoever.

On another note, just wondering if you could clarify what you mean by "Next PC gamma 1. Service picture area remains the same, just use the User Advanced RGB" in the below? By "stay the same", do you mean the service area changes made for Image/Film gamma 1 are the same for PC gamma 1 (plus the additional tweaks in Advanced RGB)? Of that the changes only need to be made in Advanaced RGB? Thanks Tom.

Damian.


For you guys using DVI here's the numbers for D65k

First in the service area setting up Image/Film gamma 1
Picture -
Gain Red 167
Gain Gr 158
Gain Bl 155

Bias Red 123
Bias Gr 125
Bias Bl 125

DLP's are all at 32

Next PC gamma 1
Service picture area remains the same, just use the User Advanced RGB

Red Contrast minus 2
Gr Contrast 0
Bl Contrast 0

Red Brightness 1
Gr Brightness 0
BL Brightness 1

For whatever reason DVDs look sharper on it, though than the X1. I actually think DVDs look sharper than HD material on the H31.


I have a Dish 811 into the H31 with DVI, and my DVD player into the H31 with component....

HD material is SO much sharper, and has MUCH more pop. Even my 60 year old parents notice it right off the bat, and the DVD looks sharp as well...just not near as good as HD.

Hey Mr. E,
I'm waving at you from northern Michigan. Can you see me???

I checked my bulb hours before I left town. Gosh, I've got 668 hours so far. I think I got my pj in March. I really should try and get a second bulb before something crazy happens like a price hike. My picture still seems to have the same fresh brilliance as when it was new. I've been watching dvds on my Sony 17" lcd computer monitor lately, and I must say that I do prefer the look of my H31.

As far as the sharpness and SDE vs. the 4805, maybe the 4805 did have a slight edge with sharpness. But maybe it looked that way because of the increased brightness, which might make SDE more visible as well. I could easily live with either pj, but the blacks and colors of the H31 won me over. It's nice to see the thread return to the subject of calibrations and setup of the H31.

Damien,
I think Tom meant that you should make changes in the service menu first, then switch the pj to PC mode, with the gamma set to 1. The service menu changes that you made should hold, just make the user advanced RGB changes. Right, Tom?(Oh,and thanks for the Avia adjustment suggestions...very helpful).

So, the Oppo is looking pretty good, huh? How is it at 1080p?

jedi!

I didn't think we'd hear from you 'til after your return to the show me state.

Yes, I can see you. What are you doing wearing polka dot spandex biker shorts holding a fishing pole?! :D

Welcome to our extreme heat and humidity. How do you like it. If you arrived in Michigan before Friday, I'm sure you are well aware what I mean (unless it's cooler up north). Same in Ontario. Real muggy. Supposed to be around 31 degrees celsius/89 fahrenheit today and with the humidity it may feel even hotter.

Yes, the HTPC talk has cooled (maybe frozen?) and the thread has taken on other topics of interest.

Enjoy your teaching assignment!!

Wayne

Okay, that makes sense then. If your going the HTPC route then I can see why you would shy away from the Optoma since it has issues there. The orangey reds I have heard about but not seen. There is an H31 owner here in my town that I need to meet up with to check out the H31 in action. One thing is for sure, if you go with the 4805 you will get plenty of HTPC support from DaGamePimp and the other HTPC junkies over in the 4805 thread. It would be nice to put these two side by side but I can't float that kind of money so I have to rely on research and the impressions of individual users. Good luck with your choice. I think either of these units would be great.

This is my first post in this web page. I must admit there is a phenomenal quantity of very solid information. I really appreciate the effort you gentlemen present - especially Guitarman. This is fabulous!

After several hours of very educational reading, I have some questions...

I plan to use a PC for my source. Could you gentlemen provide links for the issues regarding this? I have a an ATI Radeon 9800 card that could be applied, but I am certainly open to other video cards too. Anyhow, a link to the PC discussion would be great!

What are the PC issues surrounding the H31. I'd kinda figure a DVI input is... a DVI input? Does the H31 only suffer problems when other input cables are used? A link here would be great too. I am sure these comments are present, but they are quite buried.

Thanks in advance.

Dave Ellis

Dave,

There's no way you could have missed the discussion about this if you've read this thread through. :)

I'd say to go to page 75 or so of this thread and you'll find lots of complaints about the HTPC issue. I think that we've kind of moved past it now and people generally don't want to hear about it anymore UNLESS someone comes up with a fix for the problems, THEN you'll see it discussed probably almost exclusively on this thread.

In a nutshell, some H31s have not been able to receive a digital signal (DVI) from an HTPC. If you buy an H31 and it exhibits this problem, it appears as if you'll never rectify it. The other problem is one of tearing in the image. This is present even on an analog feed from computers (VGA).

The bottom line is if you buy an H31, it may or may not work with a computer digitally. You puts down yer money, and you takes yer chances! :)

On a brighter note, several newer members of the 'H31 club' have reported no problems syncing with a computer so the problem MAY have been solved but caveat emptor applies here so beware that you could be one of the 'lucky' ones.

Read about this before you decide.

Wayne

Damien,
I think Tom meant that you should make changes in the service menu first, then switch the pj to PC mode, with the gamma set to 1. The service menu changes that you made should hold, just make the user advanced RGB changes. Right, Tom?(Oh,and thanks for the Avia adjustment suggestions...very helpful).

So, the Oppo is looking pretty good, huh? How is it at 1080p?
Hi jedi35, yeah I'm pretty impressed the little Oppo so far. Well, I think so anyway! I've still not calibrated my H30a anywhere near to satisfactory levels, so I suppose it's difficult to make any definitive judgements on what's feeding it just yet. The only thing I found a slight issue is that the colours looked a bit too hot for me. But there's options aplenty to de-saturate in the Oppo menu should it be needed. And it could've easily been my H30a settings, which are far from properly tweaked just yet. It can't do 1080p though; not sure where you got that info from? Be nice if it could, but 1080i is as far it goes for now. It does do 540p however, which the H30a seemed to think was 1080i. Anyhoo, am gonna put it up against a S97 and Pioneer 668 (basically, a DV-59AVi without 720p or 1080i) over the course of this week, and decide which one to keep. I need to pick up a longer DVI cable first of all, though. Looking to require a good 7.5m/25ft by the looks of things. Well, either that or lots of new speaker cable...which would work out even more pricey than another DVI lead. If the Oppo can hold a sparkly-free signal over that length, think I'm leaning towards it over the other two at the moment. The Mediatek/Faroudja is a killer picture combo, espesh as the H30a isn't sensitive to the macroblocking...

I have a Dish 811 into the H31 with DVI, and my DVD player into the H31 with component....

HD material is SO much sharper, and has MUCH more pop. Even my 60 year old parents notice it right off the bat, and the DVD looks sharp as well...just not near as good as HD.

I wish my setup looked like that. Just curious, what Dish network HD channels are you watching? Do you have the Voom channels from the 61.5 sat? Because that's mainly what I've been watching and referring to in my posts. It could be an issue with the Voom channels themselves. I'm so bored by the rest of the HD lineup that I haven't bothered to watch anything else in HD for a while. Mainly just OTA network channels and the Voom lineup on Dish. OTA using the Voom box is definitely sharper than the Voom channels on my Dish 6000, though. They're still not as sharp as what I see on my X1, though.

I suppose if the H31 was my first PJ I wouldn't complain but since I know HD can be better on an even cheaper projector it's kind of a disappointment.

In some cases the extra resolution of HD is apparent but there is still a fuzziness to the image... or some type of haze over the screen with HD that I don't have with DVD. No amount of tweaking will get rid of it. Even though the resolution is lower with DVD there's no "film" over the screen like I get with HD even when more fine detail is apparent... DVD still looks better to me on the H31. To my eyes, DVD just has more "pop". With my X1 I'd make the exact opposite statement. I've used HD with component through the component inputs on the H31, through DVI using the Voom box and also with a component to DVI adaptor through the DVI input (oh, and I used a component-to-VGA adaptor mated with a DVI-to-VGA going through the DVI input). No matter what cables I use it still isn't the same as what I get with my X1, and still has a fuzziness compared to DVD. Maybe it's just my particular H31, but for the life of me I don't see how anyone could miss what I"m seeing.

I just wonder if it has something to do with scaling, since the native resolution of the H31 matches that of DVD and not of HD. I wish someone else who still has a Voom STB (using it with OTA HD) could go to the setup screen and toggle back and forth between 720p and 1080i. 720p always looks a lot clearer (if you've seen the Voom HD setup screen you choose which resolution based on the clarity of the text on the screen, and 1080i is really fuzzy and out of focus compared to 720p). Even at 720p on the Voom box it still lacks the clarity of either resolution on my X1. That's using DVI for the OTA channels (which aren't compressed like the satellite channels so they should look good). With my X1 using component through the VGA adaptor, the picture is sharper, so while using DVI may be an advantage on the H31 it's still not what I'm used to on the X1.

I have no complaints whatsoever about watching DVDs on the H31, though. I don't see how they could be any better. We also have a 65" CRT RPTV and DVDs on the H31 look better than it, even at a much larger size.

I'm curious what has swayed you in the direction of the 4805. I think the Audioholics review of the H31 was what made me favor the H31. I have not opted for either yet but they both are strong contenders. I think I would prefer the much quieter fan of the H31 and the overall look of the unit itself. Also the menu system and aspect ratio features are nice. The contrast is also great if you believe the numbers and claims of the owners. I guess another reason I'm leaning more toward the H31 is that I already own the SP4800 and I'm kind of anxious to try something besides Infocus. I know the 4800 and 4805 are miles apart from one another but I still think giving another manufacturer a chance might be a good idea for me. I would be interested in your thoughts.

For me at least, all else being equal, the thing that has swayed me away from wanting the 4805 is the fan noise. A local retailer has one, mounted high on the ceiling, and I found the fan noise too loud for my likings. The H31 is supposed to be quieter, so it has my vote right there. Of course, there are possible issues with the H31 that doesn't make it a clear-cut choice either. Although I will likely grab the H31 anyways. Maybe. We'll see.

Don

Hey Wayne,
Yep, I arrived about a week ago, and now have an internet connection. I'm sorry that I brought the midwest heat and humidity with me. It followed my car. Things feels a lot better now, however.

Damien,
Sorry dude. I think I confused the Oppo with the NeuNeo player, which is the first to do 1080p. My bad. Anybody have this player?

The other interesting (I thought) question I asked was if stock default 720x480 mode on the dvd player is actually pixel mapped when the H31 is in 16:9 mode as the projector would be un-squeezing the 720x480 signal to 854x480, in effect, pixel mapping.

No one answered this (I'm surprised no one here knows?). Because if this is true, what advantage does one have with a dvd dvi player that can do 854x480 over a 720x480 signal that is un-squeezed? Because in theory, both these signals are pixel mapped.

Fleaman

The answer for this is pretty straight forward, at least as to what advantage one has with a dvd player that can scale to 854x480. The answer is related to the quality of the scaler. Since the actual resolution on a dvd is 720x480, and the actual resolution of the H31 is 854x480, SOMETHING has to scale it to 854x480. Either the dvd player does it beforehand, or the projector does it afterwards. If the dvd player has a better scaler than the pj, then that's the advantage of the dvd player. If the pj has a better scaler than the dvd player, then the answer is that there is no advantage.

Now this doesn't address the freaky results you are getting when the dvd player is set to 854x480, but your theory is as good as any, and at least has some logic to it so might be exactly what's happening. But hopefully it answers your pixel-mapping question!


Don

The answer for this is pretty straight forward, at least as to what advantage one has with a dvd player that can scale to 854x480. The answer is related to the quality of the scaler. Since the actual resolution on a dvd is 720x480, and the actual resolution of the H31 is 854x480, SOMETHING has to scale it to 854x480. Either the dvd player does it beforehand, or the projector does it afterwards. If the dvd player has a better scaler than the pj, then that's the advantage of the dvd player. If the pj has a better scaler than the dvd player, then the answer is that there is no advantage.

Now this doesn't address the freaky results you are getting when the dvd player is set to 854x480, but your theory is as good as any, and at least has some logic to it so might be exactly what's happening. But hopefully it answers your pixel-mapping question!


Don

Well, the actual resolution of Anamorphic dvd's is 854x480 after un-squeezing the 720x480 dvd. This is the reason for 854x480 displays (like the H31 and 4805).

Since every anamorphic dvd has to be un-squeezed to be watched, my question is:

1. Isn't Anamorphic 720x480 still 1:1 pixel mapped to a 854x480 display?
2. If true, and if assuming the Anamorphic scaler in both the dvd player and projector is identical, then there should be no difference between sending the H31 720x480 with the H31 in 16:9 mode or sending the H31 854x480 and letting the dvd player do the Anamorphic processing?

BTW, I have yet to get the H31 to accept a 854x480 image cleanly. At this point I believe the H31 needs to have a ' Native ' mode like the 4805 does. The 4805 guys run their projectors in the ' Native ' mode when sending it 854x480 and this (I assume) allows to display the 854x480 image without further processing/scaling.

It might be a design flaw of the H31 to leave out this ' Native ' option. Surprisingly, the H30 had a 4:3 native mode and a 16:9 native mode, but the H31 seems to have no Native mode option.

Which means, sending it a 854x480 image will never work (1:1 pixel map) on a H31.

Fleaman

I wish my setup looked like that. Just curious, what Dish network HD channels are you watching? Do you have the Voom channels from the 61.5 sat?.

I have the Voom HD channels on Dish along with the regular Dish HD channels and Shotime and HBO HD. While at times some shows on the Voom channels lack a bit of pop, for the most part well over 90 % of all the Voom channels are MUCH sharper and cleaner than even my newest DVD movies. Old movies on the Voom movies channels at times have a bit of softness to them.

Since you are having problems with your VOOM box and your Dish 6000, I can’t say for sure that your Dish is faulty, because at least your over the air HD channels should still look fantastic. The only thing I am doing different then you is I am using my Dish 811 as my receiver for both DISH and OVA. I do have my box set to 1080i and the H31 scales the image perfect. I would recommend buying a new OVA HD tuner at Wal-mart, just to test how it looks with your H31. If there is a BIG improvement, I would recommend upgrading to an 811 on ebay for 150 bucks, or spend a bit more and get a HD DVR. Then you can just return the tuner back to Wal-Mart (keep your receipt and box) This way you can test if it is your H31 or your HD tuners. If it still looks like crap, then I hate to say it, but I think maybe your H31 is faulty, because no one on God’s green earth would look at my HD programs and not love them.

The H31 in low lamp mode is virtually silent.

In High-Altitude mode the fan noise is noticible but probably turns into "White noise" while a movie is playing IF you notice it at all. Of course room dimensions will affect this.

IF you have an AC or something running in the background I doubt even high fan would bother you, but low fan on the H31 is about as silent as you can get with a Fan, IMHO.

I have the Voom HD channels on Dish along with the regular Dish HD channels and Shotime and HBO HD. While at times some shows on the Voom channels lack a bit of pop, for the most part well over 90 % of all the Voom channels are MUCH sharper and cleaner than even my newest DVD movies. Old movies on the Voom movies channels at times have a bit of softness to them.

Since you are having problems with your VOOM box and your Dish 6000, I can’t say for sure that your Dish is faulty, because at least your over the air HD channels should still look fantastic. The only thing I am doing different then you is I am using my Dish 811 as my receiver for both DISH and OVA. I do have my box set to 1080i and the H31 scales the image perfect. I would recommend buying a new OVA HD tuner at Wal-mart, just to test how it looks with your H31. If there is a BIG improvement, I would recommend upgrading to an 811 on ebay for 150 bucks, or spend a bit more and get a HD DVR. Then you can just return the tuner back to Wal-Mart (keep your receipt and box) This way you can test if it is your H31 or your HD tuners. If it still looks like crap, then I hate to say it, but I think maybe your H31 is faulty, because no one on God’s green earth would look at my HD programs and not love them.

I'm not saying mine actually looks bad with HD, it's just not what I'm used to on the X1, and considering the X1 is supposedly the inferior PJ of the two I find it disappointing. I actually also have a Directv HD receiver (Samsung) and it's not any better with OTA (D* doesn't do that great a job with their sat HD channels either) so I think it's the H31 at fault here. I doubt anyone would look at it and say there's something wrong with the projector but it's just not what I expected for a projector that's supposedly an upgrade from my old one.

I do think the H31 puts out a nicer DVD picture than my TV (Toshiba 65H81) but when comparing the HD picture it's far inferior to the HDTV. I just think it's something to do with scaling, and the fact that I've been spoiled by the sharp picture put out by my TV and my X1. If I didn't have those to compare it to, I suppose I'd be happy...

Anyway, it's not that major a problem anyway since what I mainly watch with the PJ is DVDs. My next PJ will definitely be 720p or better, and by then I expect there to be more HD channels available, so this will tide me over until I can get something with the resolution to really display HD the way it should look.

In High-Altitude mode the fan noise is noticible but probably turns into "White noise" while a movie is playing IF you notice it at all. Of course room dimensions will affect this.

probably yet another total newbie question, but I haven't seen anything mentioning exactly what 'high altitude' mode is supposed to impact. I'm currently at 3740 feet aboce sea level- does this qualify as 'high altitude' as far as the PJ is concerned?

Anyways - my H31 arrived 3 days ago - I set it up OOB and watched an episode of Corner Gas projected into the cupboard in the computer room. Connection was from DVI to VGA hooked to DVI adapter. No comment on quality due to trapezoidal picture on a chocolate wall :eek: - put PJ away in anticipation of this weeks house move. Looking forward to trying again in some form of rectangle in the new place, followed by some actual calibration hooked to an HTPC. :)

High altitude will allow you to run the fan at high speed while still using the bulb at in econo mode. Better cooling

I run mine in high altitude mode all the time. The fan is quite a bit louder this way, but it isnt noticable at all when watching movies. I imagine this should signifigantly increase the bulb life, because the projector is clearly a lot cooler after a 3-4 hour session.

I also upgraded the firmware on my panny S97 and cant believe how good a DVD image I am getting with this combo, simply stunning.

My only problem with the PJ so far is that the setting for "source lock" keeps switching itself to "ON", it has become a bit of a pain in the ass.

Otherwise, this PJ is dynamite, hats off to Optoma.

Okay, I spent a good 4-5 hours doing a comparison of the Oppo and Panasonic S97 on my new H30a/31 last night, so thought I'd share my findings.

First off I'll start by saying I'm finally won over by the H31. It arrived on Friday and, to be honest, I spent most of the weekend been gutted by what I thought was not a patch on what this epic thread had taught me to expect over the past few months. The simple reason for the ecstatic turnaround...I unplugged the Oppo and hooked up the S97 that had only previously been fed through my 32" telly. Simply put, the S97 annihilated what I had been seeing with the Oppo. Immediately, the difference was night and day. Colours, contrast, detail, brightness, blacks - it all just fell straight into place. All I could do was...well, smile and breath a sigh of relief. It was now everything, if not more so, than I was hoping for.

Anyhow, I didn't want to give up on the Oppo just yet. All those glowing forum posts and Secrets accolades can't be for nothing, right? Well, after much faffing about, I finally discovered that you need to pump the Oppo's own brightness setting way up to get it to look decent. At least with the H31 anyway. I've got mine at +5 to match the same calibration settings as the Panasonic S97 in Avia. Well, for blacks and whites anyway. As no matter what I tweak on either the Oppo or H31, I can't seem to get the colours right. Blues and reds are perfect in Avia on the S97 (can't test greens as the only green filter I have to hand is the knackered one that comes with DVE. But eyeballs good enough for me), but reds are a fair bit off on the Oppo. And regardless of how much I mess with the red contrast and brightness on the H31, or the saturation on the Oppo's own controls, can't get the flashing boxes to disappear in Avia. And whilst they don't eyeball disastrously or anything, they clearly exhibit the much touted 'orangey' appearance mentioned by other H31 owners. The S97's reds are perfect, however. In fact, colours in general are much richer than the Oppo's, with or without Avia's confirmation. In fairness to the Oppo, can't help but wonder whether the brightness increase is causing the lack of saturation. But in any event, turning the brightness back down to zero still didn't render colours as nice as the S97. Oh, and I nearly forget to mention the 'underscan' problem. The Oppo puts out a picture a good few inches smaller than the S97 or 2 Pioneers I've now also tried through my H31. It's not for lack of pixel-cropping either - we're talking 3 or 4 inches all the way around. This has also been reported as occurring on the Infocus 4805 in the Oppo's own master thread.

So, just really a word of advice if anyone's considering teaming their H31 with the Oppo. Unless I'm doing something blindingly wrong or have landed me a lemon of a unit, can't say I recommended doing so at the moment. At least in light of comparison with the S97 or until the above flaws are fixed. Which is a shame as want to love the Oppo. The Mediatek is a near perfect MPEG decoder, and DCDi is and always will be a necessity to me because of the material I prefer (foreign cinema and anime). Maybe somebody else'll will have better luck with one than me...

This is my first post in this web page. I must admit there is a phenomenal quantity of very solid information. I really appreciate the effort you gentlemen present - especially Guitarman. This is fabulous!

After several hours of very educational reading, I have some questions...

I plan to use a PC for my source. Could you gentlemen provide links for the issues regarding this? I have a an ATI Radeon 9800 card that could be applied, but I am certainly open to other video cards too. Anyhow, a link to the PC discussion would be great!

What are the PC issues surrounding the H31. I'd kinda figure a DVI input is... a DVI input? Does the H31 only suffer problems when other input cables are used? A link here would be great too. I am sure these comments are present, but they are quite buried.

Thanks in advance.

Dave Ellis


the reality is that the H31 doesn't work flawlessly with a pc for video and gaming and optoma doesn't appear to really be doing anything about it. if you're set on using a pc with a projector as a front end, i'd look at another projector.

Dave Ellis,

HTPC? looks like they're batting 50/50
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=549134

I added this link in the first post if anybody ever wants to resurrect the HPTC thread.

So, just really a word of advice if anyone's considering teaming their H31 with the Oppo. Unless I'm doing something blindingly wrong or have landed me a lemon of a unit, can't say I recommended doing so at the moment. At least in light of comparison with the S97 or until the above flaws are fixed. Which is a shame as want to love the Oppo. The Mediatek is a near perfect MPEG decoder, and DCDi is and always will be a necessity to me because of the material I prefer (foreign cinema and anime). Maybe somebody else'll will have better luck with one than me...


Just one question...what kind of connection are you using with these players? DVI?

I am setting up a front projector for the first time. An Optoma H31. Is it better to move the projector back and have the zoom all the way "in"? Or move the projector closer and have the zoom "out"?

the reality is that the H31 doesn't work flawlessly with a pc for video and gaming and optoma doesn't appear to really be doing anything about it. if you're set on using a pc with a projector as a front end, i'd look at another projector.

Thanks a bunch!

Dave

Dave Ellis,

HTPC? looks like they're batting 50/50
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=549134

I added this link in the first post if anybody ever wants to resurrect the HPTC thread.

50/50 is only whether or not it syncs digitally

NOBODY has solved the tearing issue

Is Projector Central's listing of the H31 offset as 35% correct?
Also, how much does using keystone mess up the image with the H31, is it minor or major?

I'm trying to decide on my first PJ and after doing a lot of research I'm seriously considering the H31. I will be using it primarily to play Xbox (and Xbox 360). I will also be watching DVDs on it. I have a couple questions though...

1. Is the Xbox a good DVD player in terms of picture quality or will I want to upgrade to a better DVD player in order to take advantage of the H31's full potential?

2. One of my few concerns with the H31 is its resolution. Will I only notice the difference in picture quality between the H31 and other projectors that have higher resolutions if I am sitting relatively close to the screen, or is the difference in detail noticeable even at normal viewing distances?
Also, if I were to project a screen with the H31 that is 20% smaller than a screen being projected with an H57 (that has about 20% higher resolution), will the quality of the picture look similar, or will the H57 still have a noticeably better picture due to the higher resolution?

3. Another of my concerns with the H31 is rainbow effect. How common is it for people to see it on the H31? More importantly, how common is it for people to get nausea/a headache from it while watching the H31's image? I've heard of people getting headache or nausea after just 10 minutes with a DLP projector and if this is the case with the H31 it would definately be a deal breaker.

I know this post reeks of noob and I apologize. Also, I'm sure at least one of these questions has already been addressed in this thread but I have only gotten a chance to read through about 10% of it so far, so bear with me. :o

Well, the actual resolution of Anamorphic dvd's is 854x480 after un-squeezing the 720x480 dvd. This is the reason for 854x480 displays (like the H31 and 4805).

Since every anamorphic dvd has to be un-squeezed to be watched, my question is:

1. Isn't Anamorphic 720x480 still 1:1 pixel mapped to a 854x480 display?
2. If true, and if assuming the Anamorphic scaler in both the dvd player and projector is identical, then there should be no difference between sending the H31 720x480 with the H31 in 16:9 mode or sending the H31 854x480 and letting the dvd player do the Anamorphic processing?

BTW, I have yet to get the H31 to accept a 854x480 image cleanly. At this point I believe the H31 needs to have a ' Native ' mode like the 4805 does. The 4805 guys run their projectors in the ' Native ' mode when sending it 854x480 and this (I assume) allows to display the 854x480 image without further processing/scaling.

It might be a design flaw of the H31 to leave out this ' Native ' option. Surprisingly, the H30 had a 4:3 native mode and a 16:9 native mode, but the H31 seems to have no Native mode option.

Which means, sending it a 854x480 image will never work (1:1 pixel map) on a H31.

Fleaman


Well, I'm no engineer, so I guess I can't say anything "official", but logic and reasoning tells me that since every anamorphic dvd has to be un-squeezed to be watched,

1. Yes, to produce the proper aspect ratio on an anamorphic 720x480 rez dvd on a fixed pixel 854x480 display, 854x480 should be considered a 1:1 pixel map with the source dvd. Sounds very reasonable. (assuming that made sense of course!)

2. Assuming both the dvd player and H31 have identical scaling, then there wouldn't be any advantage to using one over the other as far as scaling goes.

As far as the H31 doing wonky things with 854x480 rez, I don't know if I would go as far as saying that 854x480 will never work on an H31. The people with HTPCs that have managed to get 854x480 or 848x480 working haven't reported the type of problem you are describing. But it does sound like something funky is happening in your situation. Is there a button on the remote for choosing a 16:9 ratio or a 4:3 ratio? I wouldn't imagine the H31 would automatically know which aspect ratio you are sending it. Would something like that help? I'm just shooting in the dark here, not having one yet, but if it is messing with the aspect ratio, maybe there is a way of tricking it. Hopefully you find something that works for you!


Don

4. Does anyone know if I will be able to hook my Xbox up to the H31 with an X2VGA+ High Def pack and a VGA cable? I guess basically my question is whether or not the H31 has a VGA input

4. Does anyone know if I will be able to hook my Xbox up to the H31 with an X2VGA+ High Def pack and a VGA cable? I guess basically my question is whether or not the H31 has a VGA input

The H31 comes with a DVI-VGA adapter.

Also, you asked about Xbox DVD playback - IMHO it's a terrible DVD player.

Keystone doesn't seem to mess up the image to me. I used about 5 numbers with the H30 and H31, then I'd just fill the screen with the squared up image and didn't notice anything.

Min zoom/ max zoom doesn't matter, I'd find a neutral spot for mounting to give yourself some room. Plus the further you're back the more the offset.

I was under the impression that the offset was just a percentage of the image height...the distance of the projector should not affect the offset, as long as the image thrown is the same size

In the case of the H31, there's a 37.5% offset, so the offset is 37.5% times the height of the image thrown.

-Neil

Yes, its sort of a trick of the eye I think. If you leave the PJ in one place and alternate the zoom, the "offset" appears to change as the image size increases/decreases. The image doesn't just Grow/Shrink, it grows and shrinks and also moves "upwards" or "downwards" depending on how your PJ is oriented.

I think at maximum zoom the image offset isn't 37%.....perhaps at minimum zoom its 37%, but I thought for SURE I would never be able to ceiling mount my H31 due to that requirement and my low ceilings.

But at maximum zoom the image offset doesn't appear to be nearly as bad as I had thought. So I ordered a Panavice and we'll try it out, I think I might be able to get it to work.

I thought the image was lowering when I backed up the PJ, you may be right I didn't account for zooming down. Anyway use a spot where you still have some movement with the zoom in or zoom out.

Yes, its sort of a trick of the eye I think. If you leave the PJ in one place and alternate the zoom, the "offset" appears to change as the image size increases/decreases. The image doesn't just Grow/Shrink, it grows and shrinks and also moves "upwards" or "downwards" depending on how your PJ is oriented.

I think at maximum zoom the image offset isn't 37%.....perhaps at minimum zoom its 37%, but I thought for SURE I would never be able to ceiling mount my H31 due to that requirement and my low ceilings.

But at maximum zoom the image offset doesn't appear to be nearly as bad as I had thought. So I ordered a Panavice and we'll try it out, I think I might be able to get it to work.

Ah you were using a table mount setup? You should see the H27's table mount setup or I should call it a floor setup. I had to have the projector flat on the floor to align with my screen, which starts down at near ceiling level.

Thanks for the input Mjolson. I guess I'll probably want to invest in a better DVD player when I get the H31. I'll probably end up getting one of the ones that have been mentioned in this thread, such as the Panasonic S77.

Although as far as a DVD player goes I really don't know what to look for so I guess I'll have to do some more research... :(

Oh well, it will be worth it when I have picked out all the right equipment and have it set up and running! :)

I think at maximum zoom the image offset isn't 37%.....perhaps at minimum zoom its 37%I have a 10ft throw distance, and at maximum zoom I get around 84" diagonally. The top of the image shifts between 2-3 inches between min and max zoom in that position. If you think about it, the "top" edge of the chip would have to be PERFECTLY aligned with the optical centerline of the lens assembly to not shift at all when zooming, and there would have to be zero offset. All in all, a couple of inches is really not bad at all.

"I'll probably end up getting one of the ones that have been mentioned in this thread, such as the Panasonic S77. "

Get the 97 if you can, all reports I have read say it is the better player. I have never seen the 77 but I do own the 97 and can say without hesitation that it is awesome.

"I'll probably end up getting one of the ones that have been mentioned in this thread, such as the Panasonic S77. "

Get the 97 if you can, all reports I have read say it is the better player. I have never seen the 77 but I do own the 97 and can say without hesitation that it is awesome.

Yeah, good luck finding one though. These things are like hens teeth and if you do find one they want a premium for it.

I'm probably going to get an upconverting player to go with my H31 also. It sounds like the clear favorite is the Panasonic DVD S97S, if I can find one. So let's see if I've got this straight:
Since the H31 has a DVI-I connection, I would need either an HDMI/DVI-I cable, or an HDMI/HDMI cable, and I would use an HDMI/DVI-I adapter on the projector end. Right?

If I can't get an S97S, is the S77S the next best choice, or are there other models I should consider? I'll be using a 25 foot cable.

Just one question...what kind of connection are you using with these players? DVI?Foxdvd,
DVI to DVI with the Oppo, HDMI via. adapter to DVI with the S97. Currently only a 5m/15ft cable, but I've ordered a 25ft one otherwise I'd have had to shift my hifi rack and invest in a load of new speaker cable. Fingers crossed the 2.5ft extension in distance doesn't result in the dreaded 'sparklies', though I can't see that happening with S97 at least, and that's looking to be the keeper now.

Tom,

Don't suppose you got round to re-ordering another Oppo did you? Be interested to hear if you had better luck than me in geting it to look right with the H31...

Damian.

Get the 97 if you can, all reports I have read say it is the better player. I have never seen the 77 but I do own the 97 and can say without hesitation that it is awesome.

Thanks for the tip biglyle. So it is looking like my setup will be something like this:

Optoma H31, Panasonic S97S (connected with HDMI adapter to DVI), Xbox (connected with X2VGA+ and VGA cable) and Pioneer SE-DIR800C headphones (I have a Sony 5.1 HT setup but I live in an apartment and tend to watch movies/play games late at night). I think it should be a pretty good setup for my first PJ, but being as inexperienced as I am (read: noob) I am open to any suggestions.

One question about the H31 though... if I were to project a smaller image with the H31 by moving it closer to the screen, will it look as sharp as a PJ with higher rez such as the Panasonic AE700? The reason I ask is because a large screen size isn't as important to me as a sharp image, and one of my concerns about the H31 is its relatively low rez

berserker 97...

I think Fry's in Downers Grove has the S97. You might want to call them first. On the way you can stop by and see my H31 with the HP screen and Dennon 1600 over component. I think it's awesome.

If I can't get an S97S, is the S77S the next best choice, or are there other models I should consider? I'll be using a 25 foot cable.

Both Tom and I pointed out the Tosh 5970 (the one with the funky remote). Tom also likes his Bravo D2 (but w/ shorter cable I believe). The Zenith 318 passed muster too. Prolly a half a dozen others if you read through this thread.

Yes, I tried the Panny S97 and was disappointed. I like the LG/Zenith player better.

I just watched the attack scene in 'Pearl Harbor' last night via the LG7832/ZenithDB318 and it was IMMACULATE!

Wayne

The Bravo D2 was the other one I was looking at. So now I'm pretty much between the D2 and the Panny S97... arrrggg so many choices!

berserker 97...

I think Fry's in Downers Grove has the S97. You might want to call them first. On the way you can stop by and see my H31 with the HP screen and Dennon 1600 over component. I think it's awesome.

I'll have to check out Fry's. Unfortunately, I'm headed out of town for a wedding this weekend.

I'll keep you in mind, though, and thanks for the tip!

I'd heard about the Bravo D2, and the need for a short cord. I've been reading through plenty of threads lately, and it's difficult to keep all the information straight. Sure do appreciate everyone's input, though, especially those of you who keep answering the same questions for us...

I just read something that really worries me, which is that brighter PJs are typically ideal for gaming. I plan on doing a lot of gaming on whatever PJ I get, so I am worried about the H31's relatively low number of lumens. Granted, I will be playing in a room that is almost completely dark, but the post I read suggested >1000 lumens for gaming and I also read a review for the Boxlight Raven projector which has 1600 lumens and is said to be ideal for gaming. Problem is that the Raven is supposed to be mediocre for DVDs (which I will also be using the PJ for) and is 4:3 as opposed to 16:9 (which is what I would prefer).

Does anyone do any gaming with the H31? If so, are you satisfied with the brightness level?

For those of you interested in the Panasonic 97s connected to the H31...

I have used this combination ever since I got my H31 projector and love the picture quality. I know some here have stated that they were not impressed with the Panasonic 97s, however it is very important that you upgrade the firmware on the DVD player. This makes a world of difference. I compared the firmware upgraded 97s with my other players (Bravo D1 via DVI, Denon 1910 via DVI and an older Panasonic RP62 via Component) and the 97s hands down won the contest in picture quality. The next best DVD player for picture quality was the Bravo D1 however like Tom I could not get a signal over a long length of cable. With the 97s I am running a 45 foot length of HDMI cable to the projector and have never had an issue. For those of you looking for a great player to use with the H31 I highly recommend the Panasonic 97s, just make sure to upgrade the firmware when you get your unit. The free firmware upgrade is available over in the DVD forum here in AVS.

As far as the connections go - I am using a 45 foot PCCABLES HMDI cable.
I am using a PCCABLES HDMI/DVI adaptor to connect to my H31.

Here is a picture connection set up:

Here is a screen shot - I have posted it before but some of you new H31 owners may not have seen it.

Jefftaz, Is your screenshot taken at 480p, 720p or 1080i? I assume it's 720p or 1080i if your using the HDMI connection. I see the S97 does 480i via component. Have you tried this to see how the H31 handles the deinterlacing?

I just read something that really worries me, which is that brighter PJs are typically ideal for gaming. I plan on doing a lot of gaming on whatever PJ I get, so I am worried about the H31's relatively low number of lumens. Granted, I will be playing in a room that is almost completely dark, but the post I read suggested >1000 lumens for gaming and I also read a review for the Boxlight Raven projector which has 1600 lumens and is said to be ideal for gaming. Problem is that the Raven is supposed to be mediocre for DVDs (which I will also be using the PJ for) and is 4:3 as opposed to 16:9 (which is what I would prefer).

Does anyone do any gaming with the H31? If so, are you satisfied with the brightness level?

My son and I are amazed at playing XBox on the H31, in a dark room, even with the lights just dim, it is a wonderous sight to be blasting away or driving around on such a large screen..

If you have controlled light, there is absolutely NO problem.

Wait, I'm still trying to figure out how he got a shot from The Incredibles thats filling his 16:9 screen when the movie itself is "shot" in 2.35:1..?!?! Is that using one of the ZOOM modes on the Projector or the Player itself!?!?!?!

PS: For gaming the H31 is fine, only its native resolution would ever be a problem, and if you sit too close to a big screen you'll most likely see rainbows with your eyes darting around (your eyes move around a picture muchmore than they do in a film, but as long as you sit a sufficient distance away you'll be ok).

I'll have to check out Fry's. Unfortunately, I'm headed out of town for a wedding this weekend.

I'll keep you in mind, though, and thanks for the tip!

I'd heard about the Bravo D2, and the need for a short cord. I've been reading through plenty of threads lately, and it's difficult to keep all the information straight. Sure do appreciate everyone's input, though, especially those of you who keep answering the same questions for us...

Right I would have to buy a 30' boutique DVI cable to get the D2 to work, short cable ok. Add the Oppo to the list of excellent DVI players for the H31. I got one yesterday and no hitch with the 30' low end cable. Excellent picture quality. Guy Kuo (Avia) posted just now he checked the Oppos scaling ability (480p) with Avia Pro and the Oppo scales better than his Optoma H79. So even though you can't pixel match with the Oppo you be ok because the Oppo's scaling is better. I talked with Oppo about adding 854X480, if they do then you'll have the option for 1.1 zero scaling.

Tom, glad to hear your 2nd Oppo worked out okay with the H31. After comparing mine with an S97, I thought it fell somewhat short. The colours were substantially weaker, with reds being the worst offender. Were the default settings a suitable match to your already calibrated H31? I had to pump the Oppo's own brightness to +5 to bring it into line to what I'd calibrated my H30a at with the S97. Have you checked the colours with it in Avia? Again mine were perfect with the S97, but reds were out no matter what I did with the Oppo. And what about the underscan? There were a good couple of inches to spare all the way around my screen with the Oppo unless I zoomed in a little with the H31...

How has the H31 and bulb reliability been for the H31? Have there been many reports of early bulb failure or other problems? Thanks.

"The colours were substantially weaker, with reds being the worst offender"

Right on the red. I had to do some tweaking with the H79 but the H31 looked ok with it's tuning as is. Ofcourse I used colorfacts with both projectors at one time. I re-did the H79 but the H31 didn't look too off. I'll get around to running CF on the H31. I did use the players brightness, contrast, saturation. I had no black bars with Avia until I tweaked the players contrast & brightness, plus there's no projector color control so I used the saturation to get the blue bars right. It worked out excellent, stunning picture quality.

herbster,
If you're looking for the XBox to put out a component signal over a vga cable(using a dvi adapter), the the H31 should be ok handling it without the tearing that pc users are seeing. But, if a true vga signal is put out, then you'll be in trouble. The H31 simply is not able to handle a pure vga signal without tearing whether it's coming from a pc or any other device. I got tearing with my Iscan DVDO line doubler(vga output to dvi adapter) when set to vga, but component over vga was fine. It has a switch that I can use to toggle between the two.

Thanks for the help RBurnthorn, HeadRusch and jedi35.

For gaming the H31 is fine, only its native resolution would ever be a problem, and if you sit too close to a big screen you'll most likely see rainbows with your eyes darting around (your eyes move around a picture muchmore than they do in a film, but as long as you sit a sufficient distance away you'll be ok).

I may not be able to sit very far away because my apartment isn't very big but I can just make the image smaller, right? Which, I would imagine, would also make the image a little sharper and brighter for gaming. How do I avoid using its native resolution?

But, if a true vga signal is put out, then you'll be in trouble.

This is the adapter I was planning on using.

http://www.x2vga.com/

It seems like it is pure VGA, so it probably won't work with the H31? :confused:

Right on the red. I had to do some tweaking with the H79 but the H31 looked ok with it's tuning as is. Ofcourse I used colorfacts with both projectors at one time. I re-did the H79 but the H31 didn't look too off. I'll get around to running CF on the H31. I did use the players brightness, contrast, saturation. I had no black bars with Avia until I tweaked the players contrast & brightness, plus there's no projector color control so I used the saturation to get the blue bars right. It worked out excellent, stunning picture quality.
Cheers for the advice, Tom. I'll have another mess with mine later today. What brightness, contrast and saturation settings did you eventually end up with on the Oppo itself, then? I'd like to get mine to match to the S97 with my H30a, I really would. For one it plays all my DVD-/+R's. The S97 won't play my Ritek G04 -R's or MCC003 dye +R's, though does seem happy with CMC and Fujifilm dye -R's.

A word of warning, though - I've now seen macroblocking with both on my H30a :( If you're tight on your blacks and whites in Avia, then you'll probably not even notice it. Even a notch too high on the brightness, or a few notches too low on the contrast seem to encourage it. What I've seen has been nowhere near as bad as some have reported it, but I've definitely spotted it in the odd low-level lit background and fade in/outs. A kind of blocky, greeny contouring effect. No probems with random colour splurges or anything, however.

Damian.

I may not be able to sit very far away because my apartment isn't very big but I can just make the image smaller, right? Which, I would imagine, would also make the image a little sharper and brighter for gaming. How do I avoid using its native resolution?


Uh, you don't :)

The projector has a fixed panel resolution. The H31 has a 854x480 panel, this means it is a 480p device. Perfectly suited for 480p DVD's and 480p gaming.
But if your game runs at 720p or 1080i on an Xbox or PS2 (or Xbox 360 or PS3), then the image will be down-converted to 480p. It'll still look good, but as good as it would look at 720p or 1080i since this projector doesn't have the physical number of pixels (or mirrors in this case) to fully resolve the image its being fed.

Thats the problem..some people are resolution junkies, and dont want to see their game at 480p if they are supposed to be able to run it at 720p or 1080i.

Those people either step up to the more expensive 720p DLP players or the 720p LCD panels, which aren't as expensive, but have their own set of quirks and issues.

Thanks for the help RBurnthorn, HeadRusch and jedi35.



I may not be able to sit very far away because my apartment isn't very big but I can just make the image smaller, right? Which, I would imagine, would also make the image a little sharper and brighter for gaming. How do I avoid using its native resolution?



This is the adapter I was planning on using.

http://www.x2vga.com/

It seems like it is pure VGA, so it probably won't work with the H31? :confused:

If you get this adapter, you can just use a vga/dvi adpater which would work just fine, but personally i believe component works great with an xbox and the H31, also dont worry about the lumens, it is bright enough, also how far back do you plan on sitting? and how far back will the pj be? more than likely you wont have to worry too much about sde, unless if you are sitting right next to the screen and can touch it, but otherthan that, you should be fine, also another thing is, when using the vga with the xbox and the h31, you might experience tearing with that connection, but not positive, well hope this helps you out.

Arty

Cheers for the advice, Tom. I'll have another mess with mine later today. What brightness, contrast and saturation settings did you eventually end up with on the Oppo itself, then? I'd like to get mine to match to the S97 with my H30a, I really would. For one it plays all my DVD-/+R's. The S97 won't play my Ritek G04 -R's or MCC003 dye +R's, though does seem happy with CMC and Fujifilm dye -R's.

A word of warning, though - I've now seen macroblocking with both on my H30a :( If you're tight on your blacks and whites in Avia, then you'll probably not even notice it. Even a notch too high on the brightness, or a few notches too low on the contrast seem to encourage it. What I've seen has been nowhere near as bad as some have reported it, but I've definitely spotted it in the odd low-level lit background and fade in/outs. A kind of blocky, greeny contouring effect. No probems with random colour splurges or anything, however.

Damian.


+five on the brightness
+ one on the contrast
+ two on the saturation

These gave me no black crush (Avia's moving black bars became visible again) no color decoder probs - all were level. The saturation enabled me to have calm boxes with the blue bars pattern plus bottom box tones matched up.

I viewed some movies this morning. Excellent color satuation, gone is that Magenta push. The Oppo is a keeper. :)

+five on the brightness
+ one on the contrast
+ two on the saturation

These gave me no black crush (Avia's moving black bars became visible again) no color decoder probs - all were level. The saturation enabled me to have calm boxes with the blue bars pattern plus bottom box tones matched up.

I viewed some movies this morning. Excellent color satuation, gone is that Magenta push. The Oppo is a keeper. :)Glad you like it, Tom. It's that Faroujda chip - as long as you've a display that doesn't exasperate that macroblocking bug, these players just cannot be beat :) I re-hooked mine back up again today and after switching between it and the S97 on the same scenes, came up with the exact same Oppo settings as yours for the closest match of the two. There's not a lot in it now really, but for me the Panasonic still edges it and is gonna be the keeper. Is just that little bit crisper, and colours are just a tad more natural whilst still having a touch more punch. But it's nice not to have a layer change, I must admit :)

Damian.

If you get this adapter, you can just use a vga/dvi adpater which would work just fine, but personally i believe component works great with an xbox and the H31, also dont worry about the lumens, it is bright enough, also how far back do you plan on sitting? and how far back will the pj be? more than likely you wont have to worry too much about sde, unless if you are sitting right next to the screen and can touch it, but otherthan that, you should be fine, also another thing is, when using the vga with the xbox and the h31, you might experience tearing with that connection, but not positive, well hope this helps you out.


Thanks for the help Arty.

I guess if I get the H31 I will probably just go with the component connection for my xbox, and DVI for the Bravo D2 or Panasonic S97 I get. I don't want to risk getting any tearing.

When I use the projector in my living room it will be a throw distance of about 12' and I will be seated 10' away, with a screen size of about 83" diagonal. I'm also considering using the projector in my bedroom, but the farthest I can sit back there is 7 feet, and I can only put the projector as far as 5 feet away from the screen, unless the H31 has horizontal keystone correction in which case I can put it about 8 feet away, but according to projectorcentral.com's projection calculator the image would actually be too bright at this distance. So I'll probably just use it in the living room.

Glad you like it, Tom. It's that Faroujda chip - as long as you've a display that doesn't exasperate that macroblocking bug, these players just cannot be beat :) I re-hooked mine back up again today and after switching between it and the S97 on the same scenes, came up with the exact same Oppo settings as yours for the closest match of the two. There's not a lot in it now really, but for me the Panasonic still edges it and is gonna be the keeper. Is just that little bit crisper, and colours are just a tad more natural whilst still having a touch more punch. But it's nice not to have a layer change, I must admit :)

Damian.

I cheated though. After I got the basics right I used colorfacts to re-do the grayscale. ;)

You know I put a tuning service deal in the displays for sale area, already have a couple of takers. Could be a way out for excellence. :)

Thanks for the help Arty.

I guess if I get the H31 I will probably just go with the component connection for my xbox, and DVI for the Bravo D2 or Panasonic S97 I get. I don't want to risk getting any tearing.

When I use the projector in my living room it will be a throw distance of about 12' and I will be seated 10' away, with a screen size of about 83" diagonal. I'm also considering using the projector in my bedroom, but the farthest I can sit back there is 7 feet, and I can only put the projector as far as 5 feet away from the screen, unless the H31 has horizontal keystone correction in which case I can put it about 8 feet away, but according to projectorcentral.com's projection calculator the image would actually be too bright at this distance. So I'll probably just use it in the living room.


I use the component for the Xbox and can't believe how nice it looks.

Has anyone had audio sync issues on the H31/Oppo combo?

I'm gpod. I put the oppo at 20ms. No sync problems

Thanks for the help Arty.

I guess if I get the H31 I will probably just go with the component connection for my xbox, and DVI for the Bravo D2 or Panasonic S97 I get. I don't want to risk getting any tearing.

When I use the projector in my living room it will be a throw distance of about 12' and I will be seated 10' away, with a screen size of about 83" diagonal. I'm also considering using the projector in my bedroom, but the farthest I can sit back there is 7 feet, and I can only put the projector as far as 5 feet away from the screen, unless the H31 has horizontal keystone correction in which case I can put it about 8 feet away, but according to projectorcentral.com's projection calculator the image would actually be too bright at this distance. So I'll probably just use it in the living room.

At those distances in both the rooms should be fine for viewing distance, you shouldnt really see any sde, the pj will work in your bedroom also, but the brightness issue, you can easily tone it down, you'll probably find that even in the living room you'll have to tone down the brightness for movie watching/game play(darkened room) One thing you could do is tilt the pj up more and use keystone in your bedroom if you wanted to go back to 8 feet. For the most part, you'll be fine and i'm pretty sure you'll be happy where ever you use it.

Arty

I have the Oppo/H31 combo (High Power screen). No problems. Love it ! Most satisfying electronics purchase I have ever made.

Sheesh you have all the stuff I have, what's the world coming to. ;)

enjoy

Jefftaz, Is your screenshot taken at 480p, 720p or 1080i? I assume it's 720p or 1080i if your using the HDMI connection. I see the S97 does 480i via component. Have you tried this to see how the H31 handles the deinterlacing?

Dropzone,

The screenshot I took was with the S97 set at 720p output.
I have not tried the 480i over component with the S97 yet.

Wait, I'm still trying to figure out how he got a shot from The Incredibles thats filling his 16:9 screen when the movie itself is "shot" in 2.35:1..?!?! Is that using one of the ZOOM modes on the Projector or the Player itself!?!?!?!

Headrusch,

I zoomed in with the projector. You do lose some picture quality when zooming however as the screen shot shows the picture is still very sharp and shows great detail. The H31 is a great projector.

The Oppo is a keeper. :)

Tom,
I noticed in your calibration offer post that you have quite a few players - is there one that you prefer?

Mike

Yeah I love the Oppo :) for DVI, the Denon 1600 for analog.

Hey guys, I'm really leaning towards buying the H31 but had a couple questions that I couldn't find the answer to searching the forum.

1. How's the SDTV on the H31 compared to the 4805? I know SDTV isn't very good on any projector, but is there a noticeable difference between the two in displaying SDTV?

2. I noticed it mentioned that there's no air filter to clean on the H31. Is that correct, and if so, what type of maintenance is required other than the occassional lamp replacement?

3. Is the air intake in the back and it exhausts in the front or is there side venting as well? I'm trying to figure out the air flow to see if there'd be any issues with having it in a 18" or 24" side enclosed opening.

Thanks for the information!

Yeah I love the Oppo :) for DVI, the Denon 1600 for analog.

Good answer - the players I'm most considering for my H31. Now the $64K question: PQ only, which goes to the deserted island?

-Mike

We should be making use of the DVI input for DVD, jmo

Oppo's got the Faroudja chip, deinterlacing is excellent I checked it. Movie after movie I don't notice what they call Macro blotching. So far so good

Yeah Tom, I use the Denon 1600 over component with my H31 and HP screen and love it. No marcorblocking here to speak of. I gave the digital domaine a shot this weekend and tried a panasonic S97 through DVI to compare to my 1600 to see if I could eek out some more performance. I found that it did produce a slightly sharper picture which I liked but of course this made the SDE a little bit more apparent. There was a bit of blocking which improved after the firmware update but still there a bit over DVI and the picture in spots is a little noisier. The colors did pop a bit more and slightly more red, reds. The picture was brighter which I liked too but the 97 was putting out too high IRE there was no way to properly set contrast levels within specs, It was blowing out the high end and the THX shadow for below black was funky having artifacts. However, I did not yet adjust the contrast and brightness settings within in the player and I understand the levels can be reigned in by doing this. Will give this a shot tonight. I would like to give the Oppo a shot sometime but I'd have to mail order that bad boy and I'm not as likely to return it if I am not pleased so we'll see...

Right I would have to buy a 30' boutique DVI cable to get the D2 to work, short cable ok. Add the Oppo to the list of excellent DVI players for the H31. I got one yesterday and no hitch with the 30' low end cable. Excellent picture quality. Guy Kuo (Avia) posted just now he checked the Oppos scaling ability (480p) with Avia Pro and the Oppo scales better than his Optoma H79. So even though you can't pixel match with the Oppo you be ok because the Oppo's scaling is better. I talked with Oppo about adding 854X480, if they do then you'll have the option for 1.1 zero scaling.

Sounds good, I'll start checking out the Oppo as well as the Panny 97.

Or should I wait to see if Oppo might be adding 854 x 480? Don't know much about pixel mapping, although I think I understand the concept. Usually hear about it in conjunction with HTPC. Do any of the stand alone players offer the ability to do this? It sounds like the way to go, if possible. And if they add it would it just be a firmware upgrade, or would it be a new player?

Olah everyone...wow I got some catching up to do.

Olah everyone...wow I got some catching up to do.

You sure do! It's been so long I forgot what it was I asked you! Welcome back! :D

Oppo has a 30day return policy, the only thing you'll lose is the shipping fee's. But at this point in time I don't see anything you won't like.

OK, based on the Oppo's features and support, I think I'll give it a try.

One last question (for now): I'll need a 25 foot cable. Should I get a DVI-D/DVI-D cable, or an HDMI/HDMI cable and use adapters (or a DVI-D/HDMI, since I only need to pull one end through the pipe). I don't think I'll have any problem pulling the DVI plug through my 2" PVC pipe, but if it's all equal the HDMI would definitely have no problem. And would the HDMI be a better cable for future use?

Thanks for the tip towards the Oppo. I'd probably be plenty happy with either player, but it'll be easier to get and the features are nice (region free, etc).

Tom

i am new to overheads, just sold my RPTV and wife has asked me about an overhead saw for 1299.00 that the H31 might be a good entry level Projector for me, what should i look out for was hoping to run it on my HTPC that i have i use a Myhd130 for OTA high Def and dvd upscaled playback. my room is small about 12 feet from wall to wall. send any advice or suggestions please. Thank you

OK, based on the Oppo's features and support, I think I'll give it a try.

One last question (for now): I'll need a 25 foot cable. Should I get a DVI-D/DVI-D cable, or an HDMI/HDMI cable and use adapters (or a DVI-D/HDMI, since I only need to pull one end through the pipe). I don't think I'll have any problem pulling the DVI plug through my 2" PVC pipe, but if it's all equal the HDMI would definitely have no problem. And would the HDMI be a better cable for future use?



I went with the 25' HDMI cable from monoprice (cheap) with adapters. Seems more future-proof to me (and easier to install).

Heyyyyyy. In case anyone cares besides me, I made some comments about the S97 compared to my Denon1600 over component. It turns out, after the unit was turned off overnight the blowout of the IRE levels went away. Weird. Now it's hard to find much wrong with the picture except there is more mosquito noise than my Denon. Maybe the firmware upgrade didnt fully take till it sat for a while. I've heard of this but now I have experienced it, even though it doesn't make much sense.

Robroy, I had to adjust contrast to -1 and brightness to +1 on my S97 in order to properly display the below black signals on THX or DVE and avoid white crush.

Moe

Has there been any discussion on ceiling mounts for the H31? Looking for something cheap. What are you guys using? I have 8 ft ceilings fwiw.

Tom

i am new to overheads, just sold my RPTV and wife has asked me about an overhead saw for 1299.00 that the H31 might be a good entry level Projector for me, what should i look out for was hoping to run it on my HTPC that i have i use a Myhd130 for OTA high Def and dvd upscaled playback. my room is small about 12 feet from wall to wall. send any advice or suggestions please. Thank you


Everybody has different stuff for HTPC so about 10guys couldn't get there's working, each one had something different. Another 8 guys got going with no problem. The H31 is a great machine but you should be prepared to use it with basic HT equipment incase the computers a no go. You could also try an Infocus 4805 which is similar, hptc users have had perfect luck with the 4805, it think.

Has there been any discussion on ceiling mounts for the H31? Looking for something cheap. What are you guys using? I have 8 ft ceilings fwiw.

A multi-adjustible Panavise will set you back less than $40 bucks. It screws into the Tripod Mount at the base of the H31, since the H31 is really small and really light, its a sturdy enough mount for most applications, and its about as entry-level in terms of pricing (while still getting a good quality mount) as youre going to find.

does the infocus have good specs...searching now

Tom, I take it there is no news about the htpc from your Optoma contact?

I've tried mine with several pc's but they all have nvidia cards, my neighbor has a new mini mac with dvi output and I plan to ask her if I can either borrow it or bring my pj over & see if it can find the Optoma digitally :)
Those Mac mini's are cute! :cool:

I'm about to start doing some adjustments and have a basic question.

I'll be using an Oppo player feeding DVI to both a H31 and DLP TV. All three devices can be
adjusted in some fashion, with the H31 having the most options. So just considering brightness, contrast, color and tint, in which order should I start the tweaking (using DVE)?

And if also using a HTPC via DVI to the PJ, would that change anything?

And if also using a HTPC via DVI to the PJ, would that change anything?

Yes, you "may" get better PQ with a HTPC, but at the cost of a vertical line periodically scrolling up or down your screen and/or tearing. I have HTPC / DVI / H31 and do not recommend it.

From what I've read the Oppo should give you a decent picture.

With the Oppo work on brightness and contrast with DVE. If you have problem like black crush in the brights use the players brightness to delete the black crush.

I say black crush because the moving black bars with Avia couldn't be seen no matter how I moved the projectors brightness. Using the palyers brightness control brought the moving bars out, then I could use the PJ brightness to dial in the correct black level.

Ok, I guess I'm about to give up on ever getting digital from my htpc to my H31.

So, I assume my PQ will be about the same if I convert from my DVI-I to component (right?) so I could order a converter and connect up the htpc via component and then connect my hdtv cable box via DVI-D so that I would have some use of the digital on this baby.

Does this sound like a good choice?

I have a DVI - VGA converter, is it easy to make up a component cable from a VGA cable? (I have lots of those too) I don't suppose it's something easy like the red, green & blue wires is it?

Optoma Canada/U.S.A. tearing fix??

I received an email from Optoma Canada today about the tearing issue with the H31. They claim that Optoma U.S.A. has solved the tearing issue. They have asked me in light of this if I would like a brand new H31 or a brand new H57. Apparently the H57s are now shipping again. I opted to stay with the H57 as I just don't trust that the situation is truly resolved. So, tomorrow they're shipping me a new H57 and then on Thursday or Friday I'll be sending them back the loaner H57 which I've been using since May. Anyway, here is the email which they sent me and the attachment that outlines the alleged fix for the tearing. Interestingly enough it appears to include a way to pixel map @ 1:1 but you all can be the judge of this information



Hi Wayne,

It's Will from Optoma again. Just got a message from our tech. team in US that they have solved the H31 tearing problem. Just wondering if you still want to go ahead upgrade the H31 to H57, or fix the problem with H31.

Please see attached the instruction to sync the H31 with the DVI video board. If you wand to stay with H31, we will send you a new H31 and you can just return the H57 loaner back. If you want to upgrade to H57 anyway, we will send you another H57 as talked before.

Please reply my e-mail to confirm.

Thanks.

Will Xing
Optoma Technology

The USA engineer mgr told me he had someone working on HTPC. This looks pretty hopeful. If it works and is 1.1 that will put the H31 a step up.

Well I am currently running forceware 71.89 so I will go find 77.71 or whatever they were using & see about this.

I am a bit confused about selecting the mode on the H31 - how do you do this (other than pressing DVI-D on the remote)?

Nvidia only has version 77.72 now, this will have to do...

No sure but on the H79 if I keep hitting the DVI button it selects different reads, one is DVI/rgb

Rick,

I can't help you myself on your mode selection question because the H57 that I have is different but it would seem that you are correct in that pressing the DVI-D button on the remote is probably what they mean.

Wayne

yes, that must be it

there is no "flat panel display" in my display menu

This Is great news for the HTPC, i should find a pc with nvidia graphics card so i can try it out... cause if it does do 1:1 without my streching, i just might have to get a new graphics card that is a nvidia instead of a matrox :D

Arty

billymac,

Where are you man? What do you think about this latest news?

Don't make me PM you. :D

Wayne

I loaded the forceware 77.72 driver and I still do not get any detection with the H31 set on Digital RGB (DVI-D).
It shows up as an "Analog Display" and I can feed an analog signal to it and see it when the DVI-A button is pressed.
I don't get any tab in my Nvidia properties for "Digital Flat Panel Settings" - is there any way to turn that on?

Yes, this does seem like good news from Optoma. I hope it works. I hope to build a pc with dvi in the next few months.

Optoma Canada/U.S.A. tearing fix??

I received an email from Optoma Canada today about the tearing issue with the H31. They claim that Optoma U.S.A. has solved the tearing issue. They have asked me in light of this if I would like a brand new H31 or a brand new H57. Apparently the H57s are now shipping again. I opted to stay with the H57 as I just don't trust that the situation is truly resolved. So, tomorrow they're shipping me a new H57 and then on Thursday or Friday I'll be sending them back the loaner H57 which I've been using since May. Anyway, here is the email which they sent me and the attachment that outlines the alleged fix for the tearing. Interestingly enough it appears to include a way to pixel map @ 1:1 but you all can be the judge of this information



Hi Wayne,

It's Will from Optoma again. Just got a message from our tech. team in US that they have solved the H31 tearing problem. Just wondering if you still want to go ahead upgrade the H31 to H57, or fix the problem with H31.

Please see attached the instruction to sync the H31 with the DVI video board. If you wand to stay with H31, we will send you a new H31 and you can just return the H57 loaner back. If you want to upgrade to H57 anyway, we will send you another H57 as talked before.

Please reply my e-mail to confirm.

Thanks.

Will Xing
Optoma Technology

This is good news, but do they have a more general fix for all HTPC cards? Or at least ATI cards? I recently bought a ATI radeon 9600 pro, and do not wish to purchase a new video card. Can you ask Will to try out some ATI cards too? Or if he could find a setting using powerstrip would be great! :)

I waiting for a solution for the H31 and HTPC before making any decisions to buy.

This is good news, but do they have a more general fix for all HTPC cards? Or at least ATI cards? I recently bought a ATI radeon 9600 pro, and do not wish to purchase a new video card. Can you ask Will to try out some ATI cards too? Or if he could find a setting using powerstrip would be great! :)

I waiting for a solution for the H31 and HTPC before making any decisions to buy.

Just to let you know, i have a ati radeon 9600 pro, and it works wonders with the H31, but just to let you know, with ATI cards you CANNOT get true 854x480 the reason is the horizontal frequency timings are a multiple of 8, whereas NVIDIA cards are a multiple of 2 i believe, You can set it to that resolution but you will end up having streched pixels on the right side, but might i add, the picture is soo much clearer and brighter :D Hope this helps you out some, but I think the HTPC problem lies more so in the hand of the H31, thinking the first couple of batches that ever came out are somewhat different, if its firmware or what not, but not sure, but the ones that have been shipping out recently seem to be working fine with DVI-D, well this is what i see at least, hope this helps you out.

Arty

PS I might be able to help you with the powerstrip settings on the 9600 pro, just give me pm and i'll help ya out.

Dandiodati,

Will Xing was just reporting on what information was given to him. Apparently this data has come straight from Optoma U.S.A. so Will wouldn't be the one to request this from. I think that Arty has made some good points and could help you out though.

jedi,

Turn off the heat will ya!! :D

rbastedo,

Rick, unfortunately your experience confirms my suspicions about this alleged fix. I hope that it is really 'the fix' but it doesn't seem to be in your case anyway. Your unit is still under warranty. I'd demand that Optoma replace your unit until you get one that works with DVI-D. It seems that the newer ones work now for the most part. I think the early purchasers were dealt a bad hand in this due to assembly line batches that were kind of corrupt.

Contact your dealer and TELL them your unit must be replaced and don't stop pestering them until they come through for you. This has gone on long enough and you shouldn't have to put up with it. I didn't and I ended up with an H57. :) Not too shabby and it works with an HTPC digitally.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne, I think you are right.
I sent in an email to services@optoma.com and am waiting to hear a reply.
I really don't want to be without a PJ for any length of time, but I suppose it's time to give up on this unit & try a different one.

amen to that, as in trying another pj

Do people still get tearing with the latest batch of H31 projectors?

Arty13,
Do you get tearing with the 9600 pro? Is it worth getting an nvidia card since you can not get 1:1 with the ati card?

Dan

Sorry Mister E,

I tried to get the St. Louis heat to go back home, but it just won't leave me alone. It follows me wherever I go. Too bad that you Michigan guys have to suffer with me. Hehe...

I've had my H31 hooked up to my HTPC for about a month now. Thus far I have experienced the tearing as described. I have found that by turning down the Hardware Acceleration (on the slider under the troubleshooting tab), DID greatly reduce the tearing.

On the Desktop display I have not noticed any tearing, nor when playing PC games, the tearing only becomes apparent when watching movies.

I'm not convinced that this issue isn't something to do with the video rendering process that NVIDIA is using?? as well as a possible timing issue..

My system is an AMD Athlon 1800, Nvidia FX5200, DVI-D connection.

TH

thehuntsouth, I'm pretty sure that ATI users also see the tearing with the H31 - if I'm wrong then I am sure someone will let me know :)

I saw it pretty bad in Half Life 2 set at 848 x 480 @ 60hz. When I changed to 62hz it was decreased by about 95%.

I can't get DVI-D to work at all. So far zero response to my email for support sent yesterday.

How can I change the scan rate? The Nvidia driver gives me 60hrtz as the only option for the DVI-D display.

TH

I may be mistaken (since I never have been able to get DVI-D to work) but I had to add resolutions to get this working. I added a custom resolution including non standard refresh rates. So - for instance - I added 848 x 480 @ 62hz and then after it accepted the new setting I selected it in the "Screen Resolutions & Refresh Rates" page.

Rick,

Maybe you should try calling Optoma and also is it possible for you to contact whomever sold it to you and perhaps get them to help or is it strictly between you and the manufacturer now?

Wayne

The dealer I got it from is good for returns within 30 days (if I read their policy right) and then they want you to go to the mfg - they actually want you to try & work it out with the mfg first under any circumstances, which is the reason I've been trying to go through Optoma.

Do people still get tearing with the latest batch of H31 projectors?

Arty13,
Do you get tearing with the 9600 pro? Is it worth getting an nvidia card since you can not get 1:1 with the ati card?

Dan


Well Dan, the tearing issue is for every card, but you can nearly get rid of it by tweaking settings like with powerstrip, i think i do have tearing, but its not noticable at all, it even might be the movie and not my fault, but the tearing that i see only does part of the screen and yeah... its hard to describe but its not like the tearing you are probably seeing, so in the end its just tweaking your graphics card, personally i would get a nvidia card if you are looking for a new one... thats your best bet... hope this helps.

Arty

I sent my email again to every conceivable address @optoma and Paul replied.
He is being a middleman between me & the tech people, you know like: "they said to try this, try that, by the way you should be using a dvi-d cable". Hopefully when I tell them I've tried everything they can think up and some other stuff they will just issue me an RMA number.

Good for you Rick! Keep at them. As you can see, the response you got is 'same old, same old' but it's a start. Now that you have a contact you're 'in' and can build on that. I eventually worked my way up to the Director at Optoma Canada by being persistent but pleasant.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne, that's the plan this time around.
Paul has asked me all the standard questions, today it was if my HTPC was off the rack or home built & what it was made of. I answered that I've been building custom PC's for 15 years for businesses and for home users and that I built this one and gave them a list of the parts & pieces. He also wanted to know the length of the cables I have tried. He said he has 2 engineers working on this for me...

Sounds like you've got it going on Rick! :) This is good news. You really need to impress upon Paul I think that you'd like to send in your pj in exchange for a brand new one since the newer ones seem to have the problem licked. This is what I did initially in my conversations with Optoma Canada and they agreed to an exchange. However, for me, it didn't matter as the second unit did exactly the same thing as the first but this was back in April/May and we haven't heard of any/many reports about the problem from new purchasers.

Eventually they will have to agree to this for you. You're the customer. You aren't happy. The least they can do is exchange it. Of course, if they come up with a fix for your present unit, all the better but there hasn't been a fix yet other than the technical service bulletin which I posted that didn't help you out at all.

Anyway, finally things are happening for you and I'm glad. Hopefully you'll be posting how DVI-D looks on your H31 within a short time. Then you can tackle the tearing. :( Oh well, one problem at a time, eh? ;)

Wayne

Thanks Wayne, I appreciate your advice.

At least over DVI-A the tearing isn't really an issue for me any more.
When set to 848x480@62hz the tearing is virtually gone.

In 4 1/2 months I have seen RBE once for a split second in some deep jungle scene between some palm fronds. Now the tearing is becoming almost as rare as RBE.

The only thing I wish I had now is Digital RGB. I plan to order in a couple different video cards this week then sell whatever doesn't work for Digital RGB to my H31 (assuming one of them will work). I think I'll get a ATI 9800Pro and a 6600GT and see what happens. I know I can order / receive / test these before Optoma pulls the trigger & sends me out a new unit. After testing the new ones that will make 5 video cards tested with this PJ, if DVI-D does not work with any of them I guess that means something. :)

5 different video cards!? Wow. I think that if it was going to work it would have after trying out three cards but I'm sure you're curious to try a couple more and it will add to your ammunition when confronting Optoma.

I know when I was having the same problem as you I tried two NVidia cards and one ATI. I tried NVidia's PCX GeForce 5300, BFG 6600 GT, and ATI's X700 Pro. The 6600 GT wouldn't work at all. The other two worked for a few days then lost the signal.

I'm glad that you have the tearing under control. Unfortunately, if you do get DVI-D to work, the tearing may be more noticeable than with VGA but hopefully this won't be the case for you assuming you eventually solve the syncing problem.

Good luck and let us know if one or both of the cards work.

Wayne

I was just thinking about the list of hardware I've tried / will try with this H31 & for the sake of the ridiculous here it is:

Motherboards:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Asus A7V266
Epox 8RDA+
Asus P5P800

CPU's
two different AMD 1700+ cpu's
P4 Prescott 3.0 with 2 MB cache

Video Cards

BFG 5900
NVIDIA 5200
NVIDIA ti4200
NVIDIA 6600GT (coming soon)
ATI 9800Pro (coming soon)

Not counting all the different ram & other HW I've mixed & matched.
If it doesn't work with the final two video cards then the only other thing I can think of is to try it with my neighbors Mac mini (she is gone on vacation, might return in the next week) :)

I was watching a movie this evening when about an hour into the movie the projector went dead. I purchased it on 7 April 2005 and it has about 90 hours on it. I let it cool for an hour and checked the bulb and it looks fine. The thing is dead, the power light does not even flash when I plug it in. No other lights are lit at all. Anyone else had this happen? I remeber reading on this thread that Optoma gives refurbs for warrent? Is this true?

Hey, Just had an idea for getting 854x480 using Powerstrip, not sure if it will work, but its worth a try... well here it is...

close powerstrip
open your pstrip.ini file in your powerstrip dir.
look for the area where it says [custom resolutions]
and type this...
848x480=848,31,112,105,480,6,8,23,33934,2310
854x480=854,16,112,112,480,6,8,23,33936,7
then close the file
open powerstrip and on the slider choose 854x480, and click apply
then if it is still saying 848x480 click on advanced option and change the front porch of the horizontal to 31 or 30 and click okay... if this doesnt work read this and try it that way...
http://www.entechtaiwan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17

and if that doesnt work, copy your pstrip.ini file to somewhere safe, and try using my pstrip.ini file :D and just hope it doesnt crash :D

Arty

Question, do all Optoma projectors have the same mounting screw layout?
I know at some point I will want to upgrade to a high definition projector, I do not want to have to buy a new ceiling mount as the holes are already drilled in the ceiling for the Optoma H31 mount that I purchased. I am hoping that a projector like the H57 would be able to be mounted with the set up I already have.

Jeff,

I can answer that question for you. I have one of Mandarax's mounts originally built for the X1. Back in April when I purchased the H31, I took the mounting plate that screws onto the projector and had a machine shop drill extra holes in order to accommodate the H31.

Then in May, I upgraded to the H57 and took the same mounting plate to the same machine shop and had them put in 3 more holes so that it could fit the H57. I now have a mount that will work with all three projectors. :)

Perhaps you could adapt your present mount to fit the H57 or some other projector. I had absolutely no problem adapting the plate from the H31 to the H57 configuration.

Wayne

Thanks for the reply Wayne! Sounds like I will be ok.

ok...
i recently purchased a 4805 but it came with a dust blob and there is a noise coming from the power supply so i have to exchange it to costco anyway and since id have the lifetime return blah blah blah ive been thinking about the h31 again recently.
DOES IT or does it not now work with DVI-D without tearing?

normally id just try it but pretty soon im going to have to buy a mount. the ones for the 4805 are cheap, h31: expensive. plus, if i buy one, i wont be able to return it, and i dont want to eat any money.

can someone pm me if the new ones DO in FACT work with ati/nvidia cards???

it does not

ok i was just reading all this stuff about how they were fixing it or something? i dont know, its just ive heard blacks on the h31 are better and it has a real dvi port. this means i would not have to buy an nd2 filter or a m1-dvi adapter, making them both the same price in my eyes.

AndrewZorn, take a look at this thread too.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=549134

The poll is running 50/50 with half of the responders getting it to work at all over DVI-D.
Tearing is another issue.

well if it tears it mind as well not even sync in my mind

i dont know its just the other day the h31 was kicked up to #1 budget projo on PC, not that it means a lot, but i was wanting (and still do want) the h31 until i heard about the dvi issue. i dont care about pixel mapping too much, i just want the best image possible... and that does not sound possible with the h31, at least right now.

somehting i have got mixed results on is what if i have a DVI to component adapter? like if i connect the htpc via component to the h31, could that look better than the 4805 on dvi?

will hdmi devices (ie, PS3) work on the H31 without any problems?

The H31 has a new friend, the Optoma Graywolf. The picture is excellent using this combination. Someone said it in the screen forum but the Graywolf really does hide the SD even more. I think it was someone with the 4805. :) He's right

I just watched AVP with this combination plus my Bravo D2 decided to work with it's 854X480 custom setting also. The Bravo is still ify though with my $59 30' cable. I have to get a real cable soon. I see DC has a $299 deal on a Fiber optic one this week, or maybe an Ethereal.

Time to stop messing around with this cheap cord. I got some dropouts with the Oppo so I cleaned both DVI ends with a tooth brush and alcohol, it worked. Worked for the Oppo and half worked for the Bravo.

The H31 has a new friend, the Optoma Graywolf. The picture is excellent using this combination. Someone said it in the screen forum but the Graywolf really does hide the SD even more. I think it was someone with the 4805. :) He's right

.

Tom,
It looks like it's time for another round of screen shots. Please.

AndrewZorn, this is totally an issue with HTPC's not any other kind of input.

In my case there's no need for a converter, I get DVI-A just fine through my DVI-I cable. Of course if you buy a DVI-D cable expecting (like I did) to get DVI-D and it doesn't work then you will have to get a DVI-I cable to get DVI-A to work.

Resizing with ffdshow @ 2.5x using Zoomplayer Pro with VMR9 Renderless does make the dvd playback very nice.
Better than I've seen with any dvd player, even over DVI-A.

Tom,
It looks like it's time for another round of screen shots. Please.

For sure, next time I'm setup I capture some clips with the Graywolf.

Resizing with ffdshow @ 2.5x using Zoomplayer Pro with VMR9 Renderless does make the dvd playback very nice.
Better than I've seen with any dvd player, even over DVI-A.

Now you're cooking. OK, rbestedo, time for show and tell. Please educate us (step by step) on how you get this. BTW, which codec are you using? WinPlayer, PowerDVD, ATI DVD, what?

heh... yeah I haven't only been in this forum... AVS also has a great HTPC forum!

First I figured out resizing is very cpu intensive.
Upgraded my PC to a P4 with 2 megs cache running @ 3.4ghz with HT.
1 GB PC4000 ram
Video card: is important to have a good one, but no need for top of the line. I am currently using a BFG 5900.

Windows XP Pro
Zoomplayer Pro

ffdshow
Dscaler5 audio & video codecs
Default Video Renderer: VMR9 Renderless

Configure ffdshow
check Dscaler filter - on that page Dscaler Filter checked & path to FLT_ffdshow.dll entered

Resize & Aspect
Multiply by 2.500 (YMMV)
Keep Original Aspect Ratio
Resize Always

Overlay
Output: just YV12 checked & High Quality YV12 to RGB checked
These are held over from some previous settings before I got VMR9 Renderless working. I don't know if they make any difference to my current view.

The new version of ZoomPlayer Pro has VMR9 Renderless working without any trouble (on my system). I couldn't get it running before.
I also haven't tried resizing any higher yet - but I am now curious to see how far it will go.

I don't do any Sharpen or Blur or any of that, I just want to send the PJ as much as I can & let it work the magic.

I have the superbit Fifth Element here, so I just put it on & tried a 3.5x resize.
It got a bit choppy, so I tried 3.25x, not quite perfect playback so down to 3.0x.

There's the sweet spot.

Right at the point where the ship crashes killing the Fifth Element & they get the hand & then reconstruct her.

Very Very Nice! :)

3x resize is good.

Guy Kuo (Avia) posted just now he checked the Oppos scaling ability (480p) with Avia Pro and the Oppo scales better than his Optoma H79. So even though you can't pixel match with the Oppo you be ok because the Oppo's scaling is better. I talked with Oppo about adding 854X480, if they do then you'll have the option for 1.1 zero scaling.

Got my Oppo yesterday, wrestled the HDMI cable through my PVC pipe, and got it working late last night. Tonight I'll dial in the settings and really get a chance to check it out. Nice looking player, very sleek and slim. I'll probably put some black tape over those blue lights, though. And the remote is pretty cheap and not very ergonomic; can't wait to get it programmed into my MX-500 (best remote ever).

Looks like I should set it to 480P with the H31, right? I guess it makes sense not to scale up in the player and then back down in the projector... If/when I get a true HD display I'll be able to take advantage of the upconverting benefit.

Now I'm just trying to resist jumping at the Grayhawk screen... Man, just when you get satisfied with one thing you want to upgrade another!

Tell me about it...I got the freebie Elite screen dialed in, but now I'm SOOO tempted to go 106" with the GreyHawk.....I know the image will improve too, but I *JUST* got this all set up! :D

Maybe in a month or two! 106" means re-dialing in the projector, moving the mount, etc..OY! :D

you may also want to try the $20 nvidia decoders as well

combined with a newer 6XXX series card, you can take advantage of the hardware acceleration in the card and combined with VMR9 the picture is pretty sweet

the second you enable FFDSHOW for resizing however, you're bypassing the hardware acceleration and strictly using software which utilizes more cpu

Got the 6600GT today.
No Digital RGB - no detection of the H31 at all but it does feed Analog RGB out if I hook up a DVI-I cable. Nice video card, wish it would see my H31.
I should get the 9800Pro tomorrow, we will see if that does the trick.

Rick,

If the 9800Pro works can I come to the party that you'll almost surely throw? :D

Wayne

Wayne, there's no joy in mudville :(

A late trip to the post office provided me with my 9800 Pro.

I have the latest Catalyst drivers installed but it only sees the PJ as a "Default Monitor" and only with Analog. Nothing at all over DVI-D.

Unless someone can give me some pointers about connecting to a digital display using ATI 9800 Pro & Catalyst drivers when the PJ doesn't register with the graphics driver then I guess I'm sunk.

Well, you sure have tried. Your H31 is a dud with HTPCs via DVI-D. Both of mine were as well. They either work or they don't. Time to exchange it for another one. Let Optoma know that you'd like to try another unit. Tell them that you'd be happy to allow them to troubleshoot your H31 if they wish. But in return you expect a 'loaner', preferably a brand new H31. Then if the projector they send you does work with DVI-D, let them know that they can keep your old H31 because you like the new one and would like to retain that. They should be happy with that arrangement because it solves your problem and gets you off of their back at the same time. :)

Ask them if they'd move you up to an H57 for a reasonable upgrade fee. :) Ahem, I know someone who got a deal like that and is very happy. :D

Wayne

I tried this in a separate thread, but I'm still confused. I get blurry pan shots with my H31, over 1080i HDTV and, to a somewhat lesser extent, with DVDs. Is this normal? Is this a DLP problem? What can I do to cure this, filters, calibration, etc.? Thanks for any info you can give, other than the blurry pans this PJ is terrific!

That would absolutely drive me nuts!

I've never seen anything like what you're describing on any of the projectors that I've owned including the Infocus X1, the H31 (two of them) and the H57 that I'm currently using. And they're all DLP.

Do you have any opportunity to observe another H31 in action to test for this anomaly? Perhaps a showroom or someone you know who lives nearby and owns the H31 willing to demo it for you?

There are vertical as well as horizontal pans. Does it show either way? One instance of a vertical pan that come to mind is in the movie 'The Italian Job' where the camera moves up to the sky and then comes down over the mountains.

Wayne

After searching for "blurry pans" in this forum I found that many people have experienced this problem, with several different PJs. It's most likely source related, I plan to experiment this weekend to determine what is actually happening. I'll compare dvd's and HDTV, with both interlaced and progressive modes, and sample all HDTV resolutions. I'll also check my calibration numbers while watching a blurry pan to see the effect. Finally, I'll pick up Avia Pro, as I hear it has tests for blurry text, etc., that may be useful. One way or another I'll cure this!

After searching the internet for Avia Pro I think I'll skip that, can't spend 1/3 the cost of the PJ for calibration discs!

Ask them if they'd move you up to an H57 for a reasonable upgrade fee. :) Ahem, I know someone who got a deal like that and is very happy. :D

Wayne

Funny, I know someone who got a deal like that too! :D The PJ looks great too! Wayne was kind enough to invite me over to the Mystery Theatre a couple weekends ago and played The Italian Job for me. If that's an indication of what the H31 will be like, I'm hooked! The picture was good, the sound was good, and the movie ended up being rather entertaining!

After searching for "blurry pans" in this forum I found that many people have experienced this problem, with several different PJs. It's most likely source related, I plan to experiment this weekend to determine what is actually happening. I'll compare dvd's and HDTV, with both interlaced and progressive modes, and sample all HDTV resolutions. I'll also check my calibration numbers while watching a blurry pan to see the effect. Finally, I'll pick up Avia Pro, as I hear it has tests for blurry text, etc., that may be useful. One way or another I'll cure this!

This will be interesting to see how you make out! One thing I have always noticed with pans on large screens are "jumpy pans"... I think this is more due to the relatively low frame rate of movies than anything else tho. Pretty much ANY pj I have ever seen has had this - big landscape shot going left to right, the picture "jumps" a distance from frame to frame looking very choppy. If I get real close to a normal sized tv I can see this as well, but from a normal viewing distance on a 27" tv you would never notice it. I never hear much comment on this, but it's one thing that I have always viewed as being a trade-off when going to a big screen.

I have found one way around it tho, and that's using WinDVD 6s TrimensionDNM! It generates extra frames between the dvd frames to make everything very smooth! You get extremely smooth pans with it, but it also makes things look almost computer generated, since we aren't used to seeing high-frame rate movies! My last pj died just after I got it, so I haven't had much chance to watch many movies with it :( I've seen it on a friends Infocus as well, and I do kind of like it. Some people really like TrimensionDNM, some people really hate it. I haven't watched enough to decide yet whether I would want to watch all my movies with it. If you have the chance to try it in your quest to get around blurry pans, try it and see if it helps! You do need quite a beefy machine to run it properly tho!

Don

aren't the blurry pans a function of the actul focus of the camera used to shoot the scene and you're just seeing a normal effect (really large, so more easily seen)?

i see it to, but it doesn't bug me anyWHERE close to the tearing the H31 has with PC video

i don't think you'll be able to "tweak" that out, but good luck ;)

Just thought I would do a FYI. Just bought an Optoma H31 and with a 25' DVi-D cable it is working correctly with my HTPC. Although I just booted it up due to the fact it is in my bedroom. Windows screen appeared and I shut it down from there; hopefully I will be able to get a chance to truly test it out. I thought I would let some of you know. If you need any additional information let me know and I can grab my computer information.

Andrew
BTW thanks guys I read almost all of the h31 threads and decided to purchase it.

Good luck with the new addition Pitbully, it's a great PJ!! Let us know all your thoughts after you get the H31 set up.

I am eager to find out wheather anyone been able to use H31 without any problem (no tearing) with HTPC. Please let us know of your experience Pitbully.

Although the HTPC issue is a lingering concern, I am anxious to hear from more users that are simply using DVD players, either upconverting or otherwise. More screenshots would be nice and just overall user impressions. I'm still on the fence but the H31 is at the top of the pack right now. It just seems that the thread has become nothing but HTPC troubleshooting which is fine for you guys but lets also hear about other aspects of this projector please... ;)

Before everybody jumps in to say how important it is that HTPC works with this projector, let me just say I KNOW. If I was using HTPC I would be the first one on the phone to Optoma and would hound them until it was fixed. I did a similar thing with Infocus and now I'm in their Dead Pool. :D

There is 106 pages and not all of them are about htpc. I think you need to go browse some of them. That is how I came to buy one yesterday read and research. If that means going through 100 pages... It's up to you to take the initiative. There are more then enough threads to make an informative decision. I wouldnt rely on screenshots, they never do a pj justice.

Hello Dropzone7:

It has been a consensus (sp4805 might disagree) that without the HTPC issue Optoma H31 is the best projector in this category (after calibration). If you are not using a HTPC I don't see any reason why you are waiting on the fence. Just go ahead and buy it. Ofcourse, any projector in this category will have some issues (screen doors blah... blah...) but Optoma H31 is the best your money can buy right now. But again like any projectors you have to keep your finger crossed about the blub life and other issues.

I am supposed to receive my SP4805 today. Pitbully, let me know your experience as soon as you can so that I can return it unopened.

There is 106 pages and not all of them are about htpc. I think you need to go browse some of them. That is how I came to buy one yesterday read and research. If that means going through 100 pages... It's up to you to take the initiative. There are more then enough threads to make an informative decision. I wouldnt rely on screenshots, they never do a pj justice.

Yes, I have read every bit of it thanks. :)

Hello Dropzone7:

It has been a consensus (sp4805 might disagree) that without the HTPC issue Optoma H31 is the best projector in this category (after calibration). If you are not using a HTPC I don't see any reason why you are waiting on the fence. Just go ahead and buy it. Ofcourse, any projector in this category will have some issues (screen doors blah... blah...) but Optoma H31 is the best your money can buy right now. But again like any projectors you have to keep your finger crossed about the blub life and other issues.

Thanks boolda, I agree but it's not just me that has to be convinced. My wife does not see a thing wrong with the SP4800 we have had for 2 years now. I have been very happy with it but the upgrade bug strikes!

DZ, you need to bring your wife over for a viewing :D

DZ, you need to bring your wife over for a viewing :D


I know I know. Stinking bridal showers and weddings are ruining my summer weekends! Did you finish your room? The last pictures I saw looked like you were almost there.

Hello Dropzone7:

It has been a consensus (sp4805 might disagree) that without the HTPC issue Optoma H31 is the best projector in this category (after calibration). If you are not using a HTPC I don't see any reason why you are waiting on the fence. Just go ahead and buy it. Ofcourse, any projector in this category will have some issues (screen doors blah... blah...) but Optoma H31 is the best your money can buy right now. But again like any projectors you have to keep your finger crossed about the blub life and other issues.
i would have bought, and still want the H31, but HTPC is a must

Same here Andrew. I want HTPC compatibility at any cost, which promted me to order 4805 in the first place. If now only Pitbully confirms that 480p works perfectly with the new series of H31, I'll be very pleased to return my 4805 (thought I'll lose around ~30 in return shipment :() . Hope everything works out fine for Pitbully.

Hey, new member here.

I'm getting ready to build a HT in a new house I'm buying, and the Optoma H31 is tops on my list for a projector, but I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to ceiling mount it.

I noticed Optoma sells/recommends a Bering ceiling mount. Is it any good? I've seen the threads on DIY mounts, which I'm still considering doing. Does the Bering mount have as much adjustability as a good DIY mount? I'm a little skeptical of spending $200 for a ceiling mount when I could maybe build one just as good. But then again, after living in apartments for years, I have *no* tools (saws, drills, etc) to build one with, so maybe dropping $200 on a ceiling mount to get started would actually be cheaper and faster.

Any ideas?

BTW, I've been doing a lot of research on these forums, and the list of components I've come up with, if anybody would care to critique my list, are:

Projector: Optoma H31
Screen: Graywolf 92"
DVD: Oppo OPDV971H
Receiver: Arcam AVR300
Speakers: Package from Ascend (7.1 - CMT340s for F/C/R, CBM170s for surround, and STF1 for sub)

The room is about 12' by 18' with 8' ceiling, and will be completely light controlled. I'll only be using it for movies - no "normal" TV viewing, nor audio. Also, no PC inputs, so the problems the H31 has with DVI from a PC won't affect me.

Regarding the Arcam, I'd actually love separates, a nice processor/controller and amp. But the ones I've looked at are way outside my budget. But the AVR300 has gotten such good reviews, I'm willing to go with a receiver-class product in it's case.

Any thoughts appreciated - thanks!

Hey, new member here.

I'm getting ready to build a HT in a new house I'm buying, and the Optoma H31 is tops on my list for a projector, but I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to ceiling mount it.

I noticed Optoma sells/recommends a Bering ceiling mount. Is it any good? I've seen the threads on DIY mounts, which I'm still considering doing. Does the Bering mount have as much adjustability as a good DIY mount? I'm a little skeptical of spending $200 for a ceiling mount when I could maybe build one just as good. But then again, after living in apartments for years, I have *no* tools (saws, drills, etc) to build one with, so maybe dropping $200 on a ceiling mount to get started would actually be cheaper and faster.

Any ideas?

BTW, I've been doing a lot of research on these forums, and the list of components I've come up with, if anybody would care to critique my list, are:

Projector: Optoma H31
Screen: Graywolf 92"
DVD: Oppo OPDV971H
Receiver: Arcam AVR300
Speakers: Package from Ascend (7.1 - CMT340s for F/C/R, CBM170s for surround, and STF1 for sub)

The room is about 12' by 18' with 8' ceiling, and will be completely light controlled. I'll only be using it for movies - no "normal" TV viewing, nor audio. Also, no PC inputs, so the problems the H31 has with DVI from a PC won't affect me.

Regarding the Arcam, I'd actually love separates, a nice processor/controller and amp. But the ones I've looked at are way outside my budget. But the AVR300 has gotten such good reviews, I'm willing to go with a receiver-class product in it's case.

Any thoughts appreciated - thanks!

I would go DIY for the mount. There are lots of good ideas here on the forum ranging from about $10 on up to over $100. I bought my current mount for a different projector on Ebay for about $30. It has been great and with a few new drill holes in the base plate I could probably use it for the H31. Regarding your list of components, with the exception of the receiver which I'm not familiar with, this is EXACTLY what I want to do. The Ascend speakers will rock from what I hear. However, for your size room I don't think your going to need 340's all the way around the front sound stage. Personally, I would go for a center 340 and then do 170's for the rest of the room. Your room sounds about the same size as mine and Ascend users I have spoken with agree that a front sound stage of all 340's might be a little overkill for that size room. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing but I just think you will be more than okay with 170's and a 340 center plus you will save some money for other things like that mount and cables, etc. Good luck.

dropzone - Thanks for the info! I'll have to look into the Ascend speaker sizes a bit more then. I do like to listen to movies at high volumes, and where I'll be living up in the mountains won't be a problem (no close neighbors). But I don't want it to be overkill, so I'll check into the smaller speakers. If I left the center the 340, though, do you think there'd be a problem with an unmatched F/C/R set?

Regarding the receiver, the things I've read about the AVR300, both here on these forums, and others, is that it is not like any other receiver-class product out there. I originally wanted separates, but the kinds of "good" separates I want are way outside my budget, but I'm going with the AVR300 because it's in my price range, and the reviews have just been stellar.

Thanks,

- LoneAspen

DZ: Yea its getting there (but very functional), I just kind of stalled due to vacation and the heat oh yea and Battlefield 2. :D Next stage is recessed lighting, running speaker wire, ceiling mount the H31 and alot of time spent in the 120 degree attic. I think I can wait til it cools down in the 70's again.

The H31 is a great little PJ.

Regarding it's troubles with HTPC use there are some few of us that very loudly complain about it. That's because we bought the thing with the plan of running movies to it from our HTPC and then (in my case) battled it for nearly 5 months trying everything (so far 5 different video cards & several cables & 3 different PC's etc) and lots of tech support etc and still it's not right.

That being said, watching HDTV over the H31 is fantastic.

Playing DVD's from my PC over Analog DVI at 3x resize is also fantastic.
I can't imagine any DVD player matching what I see although I haven't seen the Oppo or the others mentioned in this thread. I guess it could be better but I just don't see how.

I love this H31. I am still pushing to get DVI-D to work and let me tell you this, if I get a replacement unit and DVI-D works but I can't get the tearing to go away with DVI-D I'll most likely go back to DVI-A with no tearing.
I spent hours messing around with refresh rates & Powerstrip etc and now I can watch movies without the tearing. I have seen RBE once on this thing, so briefly I wonder if it really was RBE or maybe just some artifact on the film transfer. That's about how rare tearing is now as well. I can't remember the last time I saw any.
I suppose I should switch back to 848x480 @ 60hz and see if it is still there, maybe it goes away after a certain burn in time?

To summarize:
1.) H31 is great.
2.) HTPC use is challenging with the H31.
3.) There are ways of making the H31 work with HTPC without tearing.
4.) If you can't get DVI-D working it will still work over DVI-A with a DVI-I cable and probably look better than any stand alone DVD player IMHO.
5.) It's a keeper. ;)

LoneAspen,

I've only had my H31 for a couple months, but I love it. Just got an Oppo, so far so good. My receiver is a Denon, I think the model number is 2803? And I have a 5.1 Ascend system (4 170's and a 340 center) which I just upgraded to 7.1 by adding 2 340's for the front left and right. I thought about just going for 2 more 170's, but decided why not beef it up in front. Doesn't seem like overkill at all. And an HSU VTF-3 sub, which is just killer.

Just putting the finishing touches on the theater (drapes, etc.), and then I'll be posting some pictures.

Same here Andrew. I want HTPC compatibility at any cost, which promted me to order 4805 in the first place. If now only Pitbully confirms that 480p works perfectly with the new series of H31, I'll be very pleased to return my 4805 (thought I'll lose around ~30 in return shipment :() . Hope everything works out fine for Pitbully.
Let me know how you want me to test it. I am new to HTPCs and just built mine the other day so if you want to give me a quick run through I have the machine up and running in the basement. Had to carry the 21" as the 14" is vga and wouldnt go into advanced settings :( I dont have powerstrip FYI and it is an ATI video card off the top of my head. Going to go watch fast and the furious on it now.

DZ: Yea its getting there (but very functional), I just kind of stalled due to vacation and the heat oh yea and Battlefield 2. :D Next stage is recessed lighting, running speaker wire, ceiling mount the H31 and alot of time spent in the 120 degree attic. I think I can wait til it cools down in the 70's again.


I heard that. I got in my attic last weekend to wire up 2 more speakers for 7.1 and I almost passed out. I had to reach way out into the eaves of the roof and there was nothing but hot air up there. Kind of like sticking your head into an oven. I threw my clothes away after that. Four bottled waters later I was back in the land of the living. I'm not going back up there until November at the soonest! Be careful! :eek:

I spent about 3.2 seconds in the attic.... That was too long.

Well I am seeing tearing in 1080i forced as it seems the screen is duplicted in half. I tried other resolutions and I couldnt go above 1360 by 768. I was also able to go and the resolution at 856x480 and it seemed to work with no tearing for the 20 minutes I was watching Fast and the Furious. Guess now I need to find a Zenith dvb318 in Canada. If you need anything else let me know.
I still need to set up the projector properly as it seems I dont have all the settings as in the instructions.

See particularly resolution 848x480 at 60Hz and 856x480 at 60 Hz. If you see no tearing in any of these two resolution my 4805 is going back unopened :)

If you see no tearing Pitbully then PM me about the dealer you got the projector from. I want to make sure I get one from the same lot.

Hi,
I read messages on this forum before making my recent PJ purchase, so I thought I'd share my experience with a new Optoma H31 + 100'' screen from ApexDigital. I'll eventually post some pics and blog about it at my website.

Initially ran the H31 with an Oppo DVD player because I read the reviews. I ran into trouble on several rental DVDs that played with my older Toshiba DVD player. Oppo service guys say they've been receiving complaints from customers of Blockbuster DVD rentals -- something about the way they print their DVDs. Anyway, the Oppo went back and I spent a little time getting a direct computer to H31 link going. Its now fully operational and working well.

Computer:
MSI mobo with Intel 2.4GHz P4 running Win XP SP2.
Two video cards: ATI All-in-wonder Radeon 9600 (first A-I-W that lets you run in dual screen mode, but neither of them in DVI), and a cheap Sapphire Radeon 7000 PCI. So I went totally ATI.
Use new ATI Catalyst control panel and drivers, version 5.7

I've been able to drive the Optoma H31 in at least two ways:
1) Off A-I-W card via S-Video cable
2) Using DVI-to-DVI from Sapphire Radeon PCI card.

The Catalyst control panel is quite nice. The H31 was detected in DVI mode and I set it to (from memory) 848x480 px res with 32 bit color and 60 Hz refresh. It was easy to drag whatever video player I want into the H31 focus area, go to full screen, and play DivX, XviD, DVDs, etc. My MSI mobo allows direct optical audio link to my amp (long cable that traverses my living room from Amp by screen to computer by H31). The DVD picture looks as good to my untrained eye as the Oppo, but then again the ATI video cards are very nice and even offer interpolation settings.

At native res settings for output using DVI, the H31 has a very clean picture of my computer desktop. My background image is a satellite image of the Earth, and I could see very fine details and excellent text rendering on dialog boxes.

My H31 may need a little tuning to properly align the colors -- at least that's the way it looked on a movie with the Oppo. Can't find the proper menu or setting to do that. Will start hunting around for some color calibration pics to run off my computer.

I also got the same package, only I purchased mine about 2 months ago. Question: Did your ELITE screen arrive slightly off-kilter?

By that I mean, the first time I rolled down the screen I said "ok...its a screen...black borders....no surprises here", but when I rolled it up I noticed the metal bar at the bottom of the screen hangs about 2" lower on one side of the screen than the other....ie: one side doesn't roll all the way back up to the case, its attached to the roller at a slight angle I guess.

No worries, I just adjusted the hanging of the screen unit to compensate and make it flat again (since its only about 2" its not noticible) but was just curious if you had seen the same thing on yours.

I love this PJ...after dialing it in with AVIA I can't believe the picture, and thats coming out of a standard 480p projector via component.

My ELITE screen seems OK except for some wrinkling. This is my first screen so I'm not sure if that's normal, and when I play movies I don't notice it. We always keep the movie screen unrolled, but I looked at the black borders near the bottom bar and they seem balanced.

WTKatz, are you sure your signal is DVI-D? And do you face occasional tearing?

Received, Installed & tested a new 6800 video card today.

No DVI-D on it.

Going to have to email Optoma again. :(

In response to one of the posts above asking about the Oppo -- I am using the Oppo and H31 combination w/ a 92" High Power Model B screen (20' DVI cable). Had this set up for about 2 months. The results have exceeded expectations. No technical issues at all. Hooked everything up, adjusted some settings and started watching movies. I am very happy.

Everyone who has come over so far has been amazed by the picture. The guys usually ask how much....jaws drop and HT plans begin when they learn that the entire set up including screen, DVD, and cables was less than $1500. Already convinced two of my friends to go the projector route instead of plasma/big screen TV.

Best thing about this set up is that I have been able to simply watch and enjoy movies without thinking about the equipment/picture during the movie.

Love the Oppo by the way, its a great machine. Smooth transport, fast, reads well, and even sounds great through the stereo RCA's listening to CD's (DH Labs Silversonic BL-1). Folks on this forum forget that the Oppo is only $200. I compared the Oppo (DVI) to both an older Sony single disk and JVC progressive scan player (component). The difference was pronounced but only through DVI -- really the only way to go with this unit.

Have any of the H31 owners tried out the Optoma Greywolf screen yet?

Thanks boolda, I agree but it's not just me that has to be convinced. My wife does not see a thing wrong with the SP4800 we have had for 2 years now. I have been very happy with it but the upgrade bug strikes!

I upgraded from an X1 to the H31. For DVDs, I think the H31 is most definitely an upgrade (I don't care about HTPCs though). But for HD, it's a disappointment. The X1 puts out a sharper picture with HD. I'm not saying it's terrible, and most here seem pleased with it, but it's disappointing that it's a step down from the X1. My HD sources are a Samsung Directv HD receiver, a Dish network 6000 receiver, and a Voom receiver for OTA channels. I've used both DVI and component (with the Voom box) and DVI makes little difference. The picture still isn't what I'm used to with the X1. Many here rave about what a big improvement DVI makes over component, and I really have to take it with a grain of salt based on my experience.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy the H31 if I was very concerned about watching much HD. For watching DVDs though, it's a nice improvment, and worth it if you have a big collection of movies or rent them on a regular basis.

I upgraded from an X1 to the H31. For DVDs, I think the H31 is most definitely an upgrade (I don't care about HTPCs though). But for HD, it's a disappointment. The X1 puts out a sharper picture with HD. I'm not saying it's terrible, and most here seem pleased with it, but it's disappointing that it's a step down from the X1. My HD sources are a Samsung Directv HD receiver, a Dish network 6000 receiver, and a Voom receiver for OTA channels. I've used both DVI and component (with the Voom box) and DVI makes little difference. The picture still isn't what I'm used to with the X1. Many here rave about what a big improvement DVI makes over component, and I really have to take it with a grain of salt based on my experience.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy the H31 if I was very concerned about watching much HD. For watching DVDs though, it's a nice improvment, and worth it if you have a big collection of movies or rent them on a regular basis.

Wow! This is a surprise. I do have HD cable and an HD PVR so that is important. I have been impressed by my SP4800/X1 and it's ability to handle HD content. I have never tried anything but component since the projector does not accept DVI but I have heard similar comments about DVI not being much of an improvement if any over component. I would say that my viewing is about 70% DVD and 30% TV right now. I would hate to go backwards with the quality of my HD viewing. Just out of curiousity, what resolution were you using for your HD material? I set my cable box to output everything at 1080i, even SD material and that seems to work best for me. Also, it keeps from having to resynch as I surf from true HD channels to the regular SD channels. I might have to rethink that H31 if HD content will not at least be equal to what I have now. Thanks for the comments.

The H31's appear to be better calibrated at the DVI in, this may account for much of the noticeable improvement over the component in. There were a few (or one?) who had calibrated the component and dvi ins and after that, didn't notice much of a difference (or not as much) between the inputs.

I myself don't want to waste time calibrating an input that I will never use, but on my unit it is obvious that the DVI in was much better calibrated out of the box than the component in. And yes, out of the box the DVI in looked much better.

Also, the H31's are known to be 'soft' compared to the 4805. The 4805 camp claims the optics are better on the 4805, hence the sharper pic. But then some notice more screen door on the 4805 too. Whether the H31's soft pic was intentional (to soften SDE) or not I wouldn't know.

BTW, most of the 'softness' that I notice seems to be in the movie/film content, not from the H31. When I put up 'The Incredibles', it is sharp as a knife, not at all soft, I can't even imagine it being sharper. Remember that some like to slightly de-focus the pic to better hide SDE w/o affecting overall pic focus. I've tried that and it does work, surprisingly....but I tend to still adjust for best focus, screen door and all.

Fleaman

Optoma just contacted me and asked me to send in my H31 and as many of the video cards I've tested as I can send with it. This is great news.

They would send me a loaner if they could charge it to a credit card, they would charge me for the loaner and I can't do that right now so they offered to send me an older model "for free". At least I'll have something to watch while they test my H31.

WooHoo!! :)

Rick,

This is very positive indeed. Eventually you should either end up with an H31 that works with a computer or an upgrade like I did.

Keep us in the loop. :)

Wayne

Wow! This is a surprise. I do have HD cable and an HD PVR so that is important. I have been impressed by my SP4800/X1 and it's ability to handle HD content. I have never tried anything but component since the projector does not accept DVI but I have heard similar comments about DVI not being much of an improvement if any over component. I would say that my viewing is about 70% DVD and 30% TV right now. I would hate to go backwards with the quality of my HD viewing. Just out of curiousity, what resolution were you using for your HD material? I set my cable box to output everything at 1080i, even SD material and that seems to work best for me. Also, it keeps from having to resynch as I surf from true HD channels to the regular SD channels. I might have to rethink that H31 if HD content will not at least be equal to what I have now. Thanks for the comments.

The H31, to my eyes, looks significantly better using 720p than 1080i. 1080i is very soft, where 720p is only mildly soft when compared to the X1. For those with Voom STBs, the setup screen where you choose which resolution to go with helps show the difference easily. But just watching regular HD channels it's easily apparent which is sharper. I'm almost sure it has to do with the H31's scaling ability. DVDs at 480i or 480p are sharper than the X1 IMO.

Again, I'm not saying it looks bad, it's just softer than the X1. But you still get better black levels and contrast. For HD sports, though, that doesn't seem to make as much difference as with movies, and I prefer a sharper picture.

Seeing as you will use it for 70% DVDs, it would still be worth getting the H31 to me. Just don't go in expecting that using a DVI cable will sharpen the picture and make the night-and-day difference that some talk about here.

I wish you could test one out for a week or two and make your decision. So many (me included) get a new projector and rave about it when we first get it, failing to see its flaws in all the excitement over getting a new toy. I think that explains some of the comments in this thread about how great this projector is with HD.

Optoma just contacted me and asked me to send in my H31 and as many of the video cards I've tested as I can send with it. This is great news.

They would send me a loaner if they could charge it to a credit card, they would charge me for the loaner and I can't do that right now so they offered to send me an older model "for free". At least I'll have something to watch while they test my H31.

WooHoo!! :)

What older model? an H30

The H31's appear to be better calibrated at the DVI in, this may account for much of the noticeable improvement over the component in. There were a few (or one?) who had calibrated the component and dvi ins and after that, didn't notice much of a difference (or not as much) between the inputs.

I myself don't want to waste time calibrating an input that I will never use, but on my unit it is obvious that the DVI in was much better calibrated out of the box than the component in. And yes, out of the box the DVI in looked much better.

Also, the H31's are known to be 'soft' compared to the 4805. The 4805 camp claims the optics are better on the 4805, hence the sharper pic. But then some notice more screen door on the 4805 too. Whether the H31's soft pic was intentional (to soften SDE) or not I wouldn't know.

BTW, most of the 'softness' that I notice seems to be in the movie/film content, not from the H31. When I put up 'The Incredibles', it is sharp as a knife, not at all soft, I can't even imagine it being sharper. Remember that some like to slightly de-focus the pic to better hide SDE w/o affecting overall pic focus. I've tried that and it does work, surprisingly....but I tend to still adjust for best focus, screen door and all.

Fleaman


You know what it is. The lens on the H31 is very much like the H30 the curve of the lens makes the area around each pixel thinner. If they're seeing more screen door it's more likely the curve of the lens is magnifying the area around each pixel. Like the Sharp series the area around each pixel is magnified. I saw this with the VGA Z90. That's why I was thrilled when I first viewed the H30. I saw a very thin pixel grid much like the Seleco VGA HT200 I had. In the VGA world we need as much help as we can get.

Optoma just contacted me and asked me to send in my H31 and as many of the video cards I've tested as I can send with it. This is great news.
WooHoo!!

I suggest you keep atleast one video card with you. So that you can test you cable with it when the loaner comes. That way you can get rid of the last doubt in the link.

right, I already got rid of the 6600gt and I think the 9800 Pro is sold

I think they want the 6800 so I will likely put the 5900 back in my PC & send out the 6800.

Optoma just contacted me and asked me to send in my H31 and as many of the video cards I've tested as I can send with it. This is great news.

They would send me a loaner if they could charge it to a credit card, they would charge me for the loaner and I can't do that right now so they offered to send me an older model "for free". At least I'll have something to watch while they test my H31.

WooHoo!! :)

You should tell them that you need to charge THEIR credit card for the video cards you are sending them to try and solve THEIR problem. What if they mess those up?

Yeah, I would be PO'd if they screwed up my brand new 6800 - I want to keep that one.

On the other hand, if I get an H31 that works correctly out of this deal then I guess I will have finally got what I originally paid for (nearly 5 months ago).

There's no real way to come out ahead, only the possibility to come back from behind & maybe break even if I can sell the video cards for about what I paid.

Last two time I turned on the H31 it had dim picture and after a little while the orange light came on and image disappeared. In about 2 minutes with the fan running the projector cycled to the flashing green led. I waited another 5 minutes and turned it on and it worked ok.

Anyone else experience this? Is this a bad omen that bulb is faulty. Oh yes forgot to mention the bulb has less than 100 hours on it.

If it is a problem, it will fail in the next few days or weeks. I probably is just a glitch. Dennis

False start, I've had that on allot of projectors. Mainly becuase I unplug them and they're not in use allot. I think it's best to leave the H31 in standby.

Tom..buddy how many of these things you got lying around the old walk-in humidor anyhow!?!?! :D

I've tried allot of projectors, then sell them off eventually. I just have a few around right now. If Optoma lets me try out the Movie Time and H78 then I'll be better stocked up. But those I don't keep for ever, when I'm done testing and questions have died down I'll send them back. Unless it's something I really like then I'll have to buy it. :)

Can't wait for these 1080p machines I'm hearing about, someone just said word will be out around January.

Fun hobby

WTKatz, are you sure your signal is DVI-D? And do you face occasional tearing?
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The signal is definitely DVI-D and after further inspection, there is very infrequent tearing at the 480 res.

Thanks WTKatz! Look at the HTPC and H31 thread "Pitbully" has got a perfect picture out of H31 at 856x480@60hz. How long is your DVI-D cable?

hmcewin,
My H31 went into lamp warning mode once when I had low hours on the bulb, and I even got funny pastel colors (when I shouldn't have )a couple of times at startup. I think the pj just experienced quirks, or maybe got a slight static shock, as things were pretty dry in the house when I first got it. I now have almost 700 hours on the bulb, and haven't had a problem for quite some time.

Mr. E,
Are you enjoying this cooler Michigan weather right about now? It figures, since I'm only here for another week. Just my luck...

Hey Guys,

I'm rather new to this so please excuse my possible ignorance in advance. I just got my first proj (H31) about two weeks ago and am having a great time with it. Well, almost. I have one problem which seems to crop up every ten minutes or so when watching the projector. There seems to be a vertical line of pixels on the left side of the screen that often gets messed up. It's hard to explain except to say that some pixels either turn red during a dark scene (on just one line and not all of the pixels on that line at the same time) or white after a bright scene. The pixels move upwards ( I guess becuase that is they way the wheel is turning ). I thought at first it may be my dvd player but it wasn't as the same issue comes up while watching digital cable. My dvd is hooked up through component and the cable box via s-video.

Does anyone know what this could be? Have I explained the issue clearly enough?

I find this rather distracting and would like get this gremlin worked out so that I can fully enjoy my new setup.

Other than that everything is great. DVD's are awesome. Cable sux but I'm sure that is due to the feed being fed by S-VIDEO. I have to pick up a new cable box that has component out soon.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
E :(

Eathan,

Strange....Some suggestions (I'm no expert, some ideas):

Try to lift the ground on the pwr cord of the H31, use one of those ground lift adapter plugs or a pwr strip that has a 2 prong wall end plug, etc. You might have a ground loop (but it would be a strange manifestation of it).
----

Try doing a factory reset in all the main menus. There is a 'reset' option at the bottom of each of the 4 main menus.
---

In the 'Image' menu go to 'Signal' page and adjust the horizontal setting a click or 2 left or right to see if it cuts off those pixels. It could be that your image is just 1 pixel side off center.
--

Oh, and don't do these all at once, try and test after each attempted 'fix'.

If all else fails and you still don't have it fixed by Monday (hopefully someone else here can help), call Optoma Tech support.

Good luck.

Fleaman

jedi,

Going home so soon? Where does the time go? Yeah, we've had a miserable run of humid weather but it's currently really pleasant.

Hope you've got your Blues tickets 'cause the NHL's starting up again in a couple of months. :)

I've bought the Oppo DVD player and I'm comparing it with the LG/Zenith this weekend. So far I've tried s-video to my crt rptv with it and it was surprisingly nice. I've also sent it to my H57 via component @480i (the Oppo doesn't send progressive signals through component cables) and the image was VERY film like. Naturally it was much better than the LG/Zenith's 480p. The real test will come when I compare the two players upconversion capabilities.

Wayne

Wayne,
I hate to say it, but I'm not much of a hockey fan. I've never been to a Blues game. However, I do enjoy seeing hockey in hd every now and then. Actually, I've watched things like nature shows on DISC HD that I never would have watched in SD.

I'm really interested in your tests of the Oppo, since you and I have the same dvd player. I know that others claim that the Oppo is great, but we both know that the Zenith player is also great, and you are able to see them together in a controlled test. Let me know what's going on.

I'll be glad to be back home next weekend. I haven't had a great time teaching here this summer, and I may not be interested in coming back next year. I really do miss my home and my H31.

jedi,

If you can get a ticket you should try to take in a game sometime. Nothing like being there in person. :) Even if you're not a big fan, the atmosphere is really something.

Too bad about your summer not being the best. :( Nothing but what a few good movies on the H31 can't fix eh? :D

I've been doing extensive AVIA calibrating with the Oppo this weekend and it's a keeper. I do think that it bests the LG/Zenith at 480p (not hard to do :) ) and also in upconversion. The LG/Zenith is no slouch that's for sure and up until now I hadn't seen a better DVD player but this Oppo renders a smooth filmlike very pleasing image in all resolutions.

I'm particularly impressed at how it displays 4:3 video based material @ 480i. Anything progressive is stretched by my H57 so I prefer to utilize 480i through component and let the H57 do the de-interlacing which it does superbly I might add. It stays in the proper aspect ratio and I've never seen a DVD player show video as well as this Oppo. And the quality of a particular DVD which I watched today was poor and not very well handled by either my HTPC or the LG/Zenith. On the Oppo is was almost as good as an anamorphic DVD!

Pop over to my H57 thread jedi and read my more extensive review of the Oppo on the last page. I still like the LG/Zenith player because it upconverts over component. Very handy. But this will be my main player now. I've tried the Toshiba upconverting player and also the Panasonic S97 and I believe that the Oppo is better than all of them.

Wayne

Wayne,
I checked out your other writeups for the Oppo on the H57 thread. Good reading. I'm now excited about getting the Oppo. Too bad that it still has a slight pixel cropping problem on the right side, although not as bad as the LG/Zenith player. Perhaps a future firmware update might fix this. Is this the player that might have the 854 x 480 rez added later? Tom mentioned this about one of the upconverting players.

I remember Tom saying something about that jedi. It may be the Oppo. So you're thinking of getting it? I don't think that you'll be disappointed. :)

Tom also said that he had trouble getting a signal out of a 30' DVI cable from the Oppo but could do it from a 15 footer if I'm not mistaken. I'm getting flawless images from my 50' Ultralink DVI-D cable from the Oppo. The same cable that I used to use ;) from my HTPC. Now my HTPC is once again sending signals to the projector through my high density VGA cable which doesn't really look all that much different that the DVI cable did.

Wayne

Tom also said that he had trouble getting a signal out of a 30' DVI cable from the Oppo but could do it from a 15 footer if I'm not mistaken. I'm getting flawless images from my 50' Ultralink DVI-D cable from the Oppo.

Wayne

I'm using my Oppo/H31 with a cheap monoprice 30' HDMI cable with adapters. Not signal problems at all.

-Mike

I have a 30' MP DVI cable that didnt' work. The 15' MP DVI cable solved all my problems with switching projectors and dvd players.

OK, then I should be ok with my 5 meter dvi-d cable. Tom, is it the Oppo that might get our H31 native rez added, or was it another player? It might be awhile before I can pop for the Oppo. I have several car repairs lined up to milk my pockets, and my Krell monoblocks have been been fixed and the repair bill is waiting for me...

OK, then I should be ok with my 5 meter dvi-d cable. Tom, is it the Oppo that might get our H31 native rez added, or was it another player? It might be awhile before I can pop for the Oppo. I have several car repairs lined up to milk my pockets, and my Krell monoblocks have been been fixed and the repair bill is waiting for me...

From what I understand 720x480 is native for the H31's 854x480 resolution. Anamorphic dvd's get stretched from 720 to 854. DVD's are not 854 Horizontal natively, so they all have to be stretched. Either the dvd player scales it or the H31 scales it, but 720x480 is still a native resolution (it's the 480 vertical that is native).

I have a Momitsu V880DX that I can do 854x480 custom resolution on and I can't notice any difference between the 854x480 and the stock 720x480 settings.

If you're scaler in the DVD player is much better than the H31, then there might be some improvement by sending the H31 854x480 from the DVD player.

Fleaman

The guy at Optoma told me today he is trying to get me an H30 as a loaner.

Is the throw & mounting about the same as the H31?
If I can slip it into my ceiling mount & watch as is then it will be a good enough loaner.

The guy at Optoma told me today he is trying to get me an H30 as a loaner.

Is the throw & mounting about the same as the H31?
If I can slip it into my ceiling mount & watch as is then it will be a good enough loaner.

Depends on the firmware. The last one (C07 I believe) displays 16:9 content in the top part of the 4:3 area instead of the bottom. If you get that firmware then it should be very close in terms of offset and throw. If you get an older firmware (C05) you're going to have a problem.

-Mike

Depends on the firmware. The last one (C07 I believe) displays 16:9 content in the top part of the 4:3 area instead of the bottom. If you get that firmware then you should it should be very close in terms of offset and throw. If you get an older firmware (C05) you're going to have a problem.

-Mike

This is correct!

Plus the H30 doesn't have DVI and the odds are the OTB calibration will be way off.

Might buzz too.

Fleaman

oh joy...

BTW, I doubt very much that it will have the older C05 firmware. Optoma won't send out even a used projector w/o updating the firmware. Only if you send in an H30 and request them to NOT update the firmware is a way to get it.

So, at least the offset with the C07 firmware will be very similar to your H31.

Fleaman

Hi All,
I did not see this in this thread…
I just ordered a Panasonic S77 to go with my H31. I want to order a HDMI to DVI-D cable. Is this a male to male cable? I know the H31 end needs a male and I want to order a cable, but I don’t have the S77 yet.

TIA

- jl

Hi all,

I just ordered HD from comcast and I purchased the h31 about 1.5 months ago. I didn't think they would get HD service to my house any time soon.

Now I'm in the quandry of HD on a projector. Will it look great on the H31? Should I spend another $1k and get something else (that's a lot of money)? Or should I wait a while, watch HD on my LCD and get an HD PJ in year or so?

What do you think?
Thanks.
-r

I watch Comcast HDTV on my H31 all the time - looks fantastic!!!

Make sure you get the Comcast PVR, record HDTV.