I'm using a Sony DVP-NC685V. I've never run the projector at anything other than 480p. Sadly, I don't have a 2nd DVD player to hook up to the projector for testing.

Can you change the resolution on your dvd player?

Another thing to try is; try a different connection, like s-video or composite, yes it will look worse, but it is only for testing.

Can you change the resolution on your dvd player?

Another thing to try is; try a different connection, like s-video or composite, yes it will look worse, but it is only for testing.

I don't think I can change anything other than to from 480i to 480p. I'll try the s-vid connection tonight and see if that changes things.

Hi guys,

Sorry, I haven't been by in awhile. Concerning the hanging of dark fabric on the walls near the H31, I'm a big fan of this. I've even gone to the extreme of draping dark cloth over my screen at ceiling level, and running it from one side of the room to the other. I was getting a huge reflection off my bright ceiling, and things improved greatly when I did something about this. Yes, can you tell that I live alone? If you are worried about too much black cloth showing on the side walls, you can do what I did. I got some curtain rods and installed them on my side walls going out into the room about 6 feet or so. I attached curtain hooks to the fabric so that I can pull back or extend the curtains whenever I want. This way, you can cut down on having so much black in the room when you are not watching the pj.

yobo,
Was it you that said that the H31 is not sealed, and that you are worried about it collecting dust inside? I believe that the H31 has a completely sealed light path, so the vents don't mess with that. Tom, am I right about this?

yobo,
Was it you that said that the H31 is not sealed, and that you are worried about it collecting dust inside? I believe that the H31 has a completely sealed light path, so the vents don't mess with that. Tom, am I right about this?

I think the light path is sealed, but that doesn't eliminate dust blob potential. I've had it on my H31 and found that I can get lucky by taking the lamp out and using an air can to blow it out. Sometimes it gets worse (more or bigger blobs!), but I just keep trying until they are gone.

I also had what appeared to be a hair somewhere in the light path...you could see it fluttering a little. After a couple of tries, I managed to blow it out.

I've also blown air into the side vents. Just don't do it when the unit is on!

Fleaman

Hi guys,

Sorry, I haven't been by in awhile. Concerning the hanging of dark fabric on the walls near the H31, I'm a big fan of this. I've even gone to the extreme of draping dark cloth over my screen at ceiling level, and running it from one side of the room to the other. I was getting a huge reflection off my bright ceiling, and things improved greatly when I did something about this. Yes, can you tell that I live alone? If you are worried about too much black cloth showing on the side walls, you can do what I did. I got some curtain rods and installed them on my side walls going out into the room about 6 feet or so. I attached curtain hooks to the fabric so that I can pull back or extend the curtains whenever I want. This way, you can cut down on having so much black in the room when you are not watching the pj.

yobo,
Was it you that said that the H31 is not sealed, and that you are worried about it collecting dust inside? I believe that the H31 has a completely sealed light path, so the vents don't mess with that. Tom, am I right about this?
So that sounds like a tunnel of fabric? Is that right? I'm trying to picture it in the mind.

____wall________[door]__[window] :p
| 6 feet
|____fabric________
|
|
|screen _________ x (pj)
|
|____fabric________
| 6 feet
____wall________

I was admiring the mitsu Hc3000's and noticed they had a sealed light path and that somehow immediately seemed qualitatively 'better' than unsealed. I really LOL have no idea what that implies except what can imagine. :)

fleaman,
I guess I've been lucky. I have almost 2000 hours on my H31 and don't have any dust blobs. The bulb is dimming, but the pj still has lots of punch.

yobo,
Actually, the screen end of my theater looks like a video "temple". I forgot to mention that I attached the fabric going over the screen to the ceiling about midways across, so there is a steeple look. I think it's kind of cool, kind of Oriental, but that's just me. I live alone, so it doesn't matter. This also avoids the possibility of the fabric eventually drooping down into my image. I need to borrow a digital camera and take some pics for posting.

New to the forums here.

My wife just gave me an H31/100 " inch Elite 16:9 matte white screen combo for my birthday, and I'm looking forward to getting everything set up.

For sound, I bought an Onkyo TX-SR573, Athena Point 5 speakers, and an Athena AS-P4000 subwoofer.

For video, I will be using a Philips 727 DVD player. This will be a dedicated DVD projector (no TV watching), with the occasional Gamecube hookup.

I purchased a mount from mountdirect and I was wondering if I should use the extension or will the H31 tolerate being closer to the ceiling (I think it's about 4 inches clearance).

Love the forums here - lots of great info!

yobo,
In looking at your diagram of my room, I wanted to make sure that you understand that the fabric I've hung from the curtain rods are directly on my side walls, so there isn't a narrow tunnel effect as you suggested. Rather, it's kind of a giant shadow box.

Welcome Abner,
The more the merrier. Congats on such an excellent gift. The large offset of the H31 should make it ok to ceiling mount it close to the ceiling instead of using an extension in an average installation. But you'll have to tell us more about the setup for someone to let you know for sure.

Damn baby you're so hot! :D

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4216/dscn22370ie.th.jpg (http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn22370ie.jpg) | http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/6127/dscn22384yx.th.jpg (http://img522.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn22384yx.jpg)

It definately blows out some heat. My wife loved it as the room we have the PJ in is usually colder than the rest of the house.

Speaking of hot, I've gotten a few temperature shutoffs lately, right when I've turned the H31 on. This is puzzling, since it happens before the pj gets up to normal temp., which is pretty hot. Could this be a malfunction? Does the room temp. have anything to do with this? I don't let the ac run much while I'm gone, so the room is at 84-86 degrees when the pj is turned on. Should I wait until the room cools a bit before firing up the pj? If anyone else has gotten a temperature warning at startup, have you made a note of the room temp.? I'd love to know.

Also, label me an idiot. As I've been talking about all this black fabric up next to my screen, I noticed the other day that a few small areas of bright wall were exposed on my side walls. This must have happened when I moved the curtains back for music listening or something. I'm only taking about a couple of feet or so at the top and the bottom of my side walls. When I expanded the curtains to cover this, I got a huge reminder of how important it is eliminate all reflections if possible. My blacks got deeper, contrast went up, and the colors got a lot more vibrant. It wasn't subtle at all. I didn't realize that such a small area of exposed wall could do so much damage to the image. I should have noticed this earlier.

Lately when I go to turn on the pj I come back expecting it to be on and it has amber power led and amber led on the lamp indicator. The unit has about 250 hours on it.

To recap

a) turn on
b) come back after a few minutes
c) no image
d) amber power led solid, not blinking, solid
e) lamp amber led on solid, not blinking

to solve the problem I just power off the unit by flicking the power strips switch and then reboot and it's fine. :p

I had a similar issue and it was because the power cord was not firmly pushed all the way into the PJ.

I would try that and see if you have better results.

Lately when I go to turn on the pj I come back expecting it to be on and it has amber power led and amber led on the lamp indicator. The unit has about 250 hours on it.

To recap

a) turn on
b) come back after a few minutes
c) no image
d) amber power led solid, not blinking, solid
e) lamp amber led on solid, not blinking

to solve the problem I just power off the unit by flicking the power strips switch and then reboot and it's fine. :p

Try reseating the lamp too.

Also, I woulda thought the output heat to be more than 108*, feels hotter than that via the hand test in front of the fans.

Fleaman

Yeah so I reseated the lamp. The problem now is that the H31 won't recognize devices that are running and spitting a signal to the projector. Say if I'm on composite playing a game for 1-2 hours and then switch back to DVI-D it won't recognize the DVI-D even though the DVI-D is ready and working fine. I have to restart the DVI-D device to get the projector to recognize it again. Time for a receiver possibly I think.

The above problem may be my video card. I recently had it serviced by ATI and it may not be working properly. Most video cards deal with something called ESIA or ESID or something like that where the monitor and video card communicate about stuff.

Prob. the H31 tho b/c the manuals is like diaper about make sure to turn on source then projector, poo, what if you switch back and forth, huh? optoma?

Guess I hijacked this thread. Sorry. The H31 isn't doing anything wrong. I had my computer set to go to sleep and the thing can't sleep b/c of it being old. I fixed the prefs. and it's all good now. Haven't had any amber lights either. :D

Watched close encounters of the third kind the other day. Awesome. Been watching a lot of stuff. Going to see heavy metal tonight. Be fun to see some conan and barbarella if I have time.

I'll post some more picks later but still in the aaaaww projector so pretty me want to hump you phase. lol

Yobo - glad you figured it out! :)

Yeah this H31 we have is one sweet PJ - for the price!!

I can't believe I've had mine for 15 months now, I watch Digital Cable and DVD's on mine and have really logged a lot of hours - I'd say about 1500. I have no noticable degradation of brightness or WOW factor, it seems better now than the day I bought it. Of course it's better calibrated now...

My little HT is a space I carved out of our 14' x 33' master bedroom.
So picture a rectangular room, stairs at one end and king bed at the other & in the middle (crosswise, or parallel with the ends of the room) is my 8' x 14' HT.
It's the top floor of the house so the walls along the 33' side are perpendicular to the floor and about 56 inches high, where they meet the sloped ceiling (roof) which angles up at about 135 degrees for another 56 inches and meets the horizontal ceiling across about 7 feet to the other side which mirrors the first.
I painted the area around the screen a very dark flat green. This paint goes up the wall, and up to the top of the sloped ceiling. There are also separation walls on the sides of the screen that go up to the ceiling which are faced with 1" x 8" Oak, finished golden. The insides of those walls are the same flat dark green.
This creates a nice shadowbox, at the back of which is my new 92 inch Greywolf screen.

My PJ is mounted on one side about halfway up the sloped ceiling and my screen is mounted on the other side of the room, top of screen at 56 inches and bottom about 6 inches from the floor.

This limits viewing areas, though the kids seem to like sitting right up near the screen on the sides anyway.

After putting in my H31 & the free matte white screen that came with it I had no entertainment budget for quite some time.
In March of this year I finally bought a HTIB, the Onkyo 7.1 system.
People over in the Audio forum here have a little more respect for this HTIB over some others, but they all like to point out that if you chuck the speakers that come with it and spend another $Grand on new speakers you could have a nice system.
I like it the way it came, all the speakers match, they look classy and they sound good. It's great for movies & HDTV viewing.
I also bought the Greywolf screen at about the same time as the Onkyo HTIB.
The Oppo upconverting DVD player rounded out my HT electronics as I already had the HDTV cable DVR box and a nice DVI switch.

I have a big family. There are 8 of us and two boxer dogs living in about 1500 square feet. Space in the home is a precious thing.

Until this weekend I was sharing my seating area with the "Kids computer" area.
This was bad, and after much deep thought I came up with a plan to fully annex the 8' x 14' space for HT use.
This involved moving the Kids PC - which was met with some serious resistance by the WAF & the teenagers.

First step of the plan: I bought a cheap recliner at Wall Mart.
(What a POS)
Second step: clean up area behind & under kids computer area (yech).
Third step: I told them they were going to have to get me a better recliner chair for Fathers day because the Wally World special just didn't work that well.
Fourth step: find a very compact "computer workstation" so I could move that PC out of the HT area. Upon looking around I found an unfinished shelving unit that was designed to be a 5' tall unit with 4 shelves. The great thing about it was it was solid wood (not pressboard) and could be made in two sections, each 30" tall. I put these together as two 30 inch two shelf units and one of them fit a PC & CRT monitor perfectly. I scooted the whole thing outside the 8' x 14' space and put my new cushy recliner chair in there beside the Walmart special. Kind of a His & Hers sitting arrangement.

So although it has taken me 15 months since buying the H31 I now feel my HT is complete. There is always room for upgrades and I don't plan to leave everything alone for too long, but it's now at the place where I am not sitting here thinking "If I only had a sound system" or "If I only had a decent DVD player" etc...

Anyway, I just thought some might enjoy reading about how I made a HT fit into a cramped space on a cramped budget and somehow stayed married.

Have a Happy Fathers Day out there dads!
:)

H31 is great!! - only have 330 hrs after 13 months, only use it for DVD rentals. Have online BB - currently watching the ubber cheezy CLeopatra2525 series - all fluffy eye candy crap. ;-).

turned my dining rm (14' x11') into a theater room. - 3 rows of 6 seats (18 seats total), wooden 1940's theater seats bought at antique store. hipower 120" screen with red-curtians for the old-school 30's look.

only using a 25-buck DVD player with a standard stereo integrated amp currently - seems good enough for now sound wise. DVD picture is as good as I've seen - 25 bucks or 250. a simple cyberhome300 unit.

HiPower screen really likes to show off the color too ;-).

After a lot of research I think I am going to purchase th h31in the next month or so. I have heard alot about calibaration, what is this and how can i do it to my h31 when I get it? Btw its gonna be mostly for movies and hd sports also what about upscaling dvd players are they good on the h31?

I just watched some HD content at 720 p and the PQ was pretty good on the H31. Would like to see uncompressed HD content demo on 1080p but not gonna get that around here.

It's the H.264 that makes the PQ good, the way the video is much clearer compared to mjpeg or h.263. You'll only get HD over component I think with the H31. So if in the future you run into flags or HDMI issues your sol. :p

Calibration maybe get a dvd that'll guide you. I just use the focus ring to calibrate and that's about it. Other than that it about setting the menus for color and such i guess. Calibration is like attempting to wipe your ass with a mink coat. that'll make somebody laf. :D

After a lot of research I think I am going to purchase th h31in the next month or so. I have heard alot about calibaration, what is this and how can i do it to my h31 when I get it? Btw its gonna be mostly for movies and hd sports also what about upscaling dvd players are they good on the h31?

This is an IMHO, but I wouldn't bother with an upscaling DVD Player.

You're taking a 480p source (DVD) and upscaling it to 720p or 1080i...thats one conversion thats happening.

Next you're sending that signal to the 480p H31, which then has to turn it from 720p back to 480p for display. Thats a second conversion.

Better to get a quality DVD player and feed the H31 a 480p signal. Upsampling DVD Players really dont make a DVD look any better on a fixed-pixel display, they're main benefit is for people with CRT Rear/Front projectors....as the upsamping to 1080i removes the scanlines you can see with the naked eye if you're close to a projected 480p signal.

Ok cool thanks for the help,what DVD players would you reccomend.

Unsure, I'm using one from 3 years ago so I'm afraid I'm out of the loop on my current players. Head on over to the DVD forum and find out what the best economy model is.....

Yeah I have an older model thats about three years old.

What other equipment are you running.

H31 fed by a Panasonic CP72 (Faroujda chipset deinterlacer) via components.......thats the entire video system in a nutshell ;) I have a DVI capable DVD player but I haven't tried it yet......frankly because if I like the DVI picture, I gotta buy (and run) a 20 foot DVI cable ;)

Upsampling DVD Players really dont make a DVD look any better


You will see a lot of argument on both sides of this one.

The biggest issue to me is perceived PQ.
That is all in the eye of the viewer.

IMHO if you think you are seeing better PQ with an upconverting DVD player then good for you. If you don't then good for you too.

In my personal experience after viewing with an HTPC, a standard DVD player and my OPPO there are many reasons why I will take my OPPO.

I get many choices & options with my OPPO that I don't get with the others.
I don't have the hassles with my OPPO that I had with the HTPC.
I get to tweak stuff with the OPPO and it's fun.
Lots of audio & video features.

Main reasons I like the OPPO better than anything else I have tried:

Perceived PQ is better with it (for me). Plain & simple.
Though I have tried all the other options, I send out 720p to my H31, to me it just looks better that way. YMMV
It was real easy to set up so it works great with the rest of my equipment.
:)

BTW...

I am still totally in love with my H31 btw after 15 months of use at an average of 100 hours a month. Running in low power mode with the fan on high has kept it just as bright as the day I bought it.

I paired it with a Greywolf screen & an Onkyo S780 HTIB.
I've got the OPPO dvd player and a Comcast DVR HDTV cable box.

I got a DVI switch and some really great cables from Monoprice - not only do they provide better cables but they cost less! These cables are heavier than Monster & cost about 90% less. I can't say enough good about those guys - there is a red & white ad at the top of the screen - if you need cables or switches click it & see.
(I have no affiliation with Monoprice except that of being a very happy customer) :)

Cool is that HTIB work good? also what is an OPPO player I keep hearing that.

H31 fed by a Panasonic CP72 (Faroujda chipset deinterlacer) via components

Same boat here except the XP30 (similar guts). I demoed both the Panasonic S77 and Oppo 971 and ended up keeping the XP30 - I just couldn't see much of a difference. Plus, the lip-sync issues with the Oppo drove me to drink (not that I needed much pushing).

-Mike

Does the H31 accept 480i signal thru its DVI input? I wonder if it can display 480i OSD from Denon AVR-3806 or Pioneer VSX-74txi. Can anyone confirm this? If this issue is already discussed, please let me know. Thanks.

This is happening more and more often. When I go to turn it on I get the orange lights. Is it worth spending time to call Optoma? The solution is to unplug the power cable and reseat and then it works.

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/335/dscn22471ti.png

I had the orange light problem last November, and it got worse and worse till the point that it would only come on 1 of 5 times. I called optoma and sent it in. They could not replicate the problem, but replaced the main system board. The system has been working perfectly since (8 months so far), and I have not seen the orange light problem again.

****, thanks a bunch Optoma!

guess there's a two year warranty so I'll wait and send it back at two years

maybee then they'll hit me back with a 720p unit fo free

I have a brand new H31 and am experiencing a verticle dead band (6 pixels wide) on the left side of the screen. Is there an adjustment that can be made or is this a warrenty issue? :(

There is a frame border around the video most PJ's do have this. Zoom down the image and increase the brightness up very high and you'll see it. Not sure if that's what you're seeing on the left side though.

We got our H31 a few months ago and while we have been finishing the basement we have been using it in the living room shooting it on the wall with no screen and have had acceptable color. During this time we have been using the s-video cable.

Now this past week we put most of the finishing touches on the theater room and set up the components. The new additions are a new Direct tv hd receiver and since we have to run a 25 ft cable from the receiver to the PJ, a component cable was recommended.

We hooked everything up today and the picture coming from the DVD player to the PJ looks fine, but the video coming from the direct tv through the receiver and then to the PJ has way too much green abd yellow and no red or orange. The book says I cannot adjust tint when I use component cable and I am wondering where the color problem comes from since it is good from the DVD and has been great through an s-video cable. The only thing I can imagine would be the problem are the output from the receiver but don't know how to adjust for it and will it affect the video of the dvd,which I do not want to change.

Hopefully I do not have to run a different cable as the ceiling is now in and not easily changed.

Any suggestions?

Through component I can adjust the R, G and B values for Brightness and Contrast independently....my H31 seems to suffer from a bit of Green Push....I'm not entirely sure how to correct for it however....AVIA tells me one thing, but watching movies tells me another.

I seem to notice it when shots are indoors and the lighting is somewhat dim....illuminated faces have a greenish cast to them.

We got our H31 a few months ago and while we have been finishing the basement we have been using it in the living room shooting it on the wall with no screen and have had acceptable color. During this time we have been using the s-video cable.
I've found the best PQ on the H31 over DVI.

I have a brand new H31 and am experiencing a verticle dead band (6 pixels wide) on the left side of the screen. Is there an adjustment that can be made or is this a warrenty issue? :(
That would make sense since the stated resolution is 854x480 NATIVE.

My computer can only output 848x480 to the PJ which means that 6 pixels are 'lost' someplace.

I wonder how it scales to 1280x720 ? It must anti-alias and squash the signal into the 848 native pixel space. Anyone explain how this works?

PJ has way too much green abd yellow and no red or orange... Any suggestions?

Make sure that your R G and B labeled connectors for the component cable aren't mismatched on either end. In my setup, the projector has their order one way and the DVD player swaps the B and G connectors.

Speaking of hot, I've gotten a few temperature shutoffs lately, right when I've turned the H31 on. This is puzzling, since it happens before the pj gets up to normal temp., which is pretty hot. Could this be a malfunction? Does the room temp. have anything to do with this? I don't let the ac run much while I'm gone, so the room is at 84-86 degrees when the pj is turned on. Should I wait until the room cools a bit before firing up the pj? If anyone else has gotten a temperature warning at startup, have you made a note of the room temp.? I'd love to know.

Also, label me an idiot. As I've been talking about all this black fabric up next to my screen, I noticed the other day that a few small areas of bright wall were exposed on my side walls. This must have happened when I moved the curtains back for music listening or something. I'm only taking about a couple of feet or so at the top and the bottom of my side walls. When I expanded the curtains to cover this, I got a huge reminder of how important it is eliminate all reflections if possible. My blacks got deeper, contrast went up, and the colors got a lot more vibrant. It wasn't subtle at all. I didn't realize that such a small area of exposed wall could do so much damage to the image. I should have noticed this earlier.

I have my theater in my guest house and my H31 used to shut off if the room was too hot. Because I don't use it all the time I used to keep the thermostat in the mid eighties and would lower it when I first went out there. It got to where I'd have to wait twenty minutes for the room to cool down (window unit AC) before I could watch a movie. Now I keep the thermostat at 78 and never have that problem anymore (I turn it down to 68 when I start the movie). So, yes, it's normal for the temperature indicator light to turn on and the projector to shut down until the room cools down. I never had this problem with my X1 under the same conditions.

I'm curious if any of you have tried HD-DVD with the H31. Do you think it's worth it?

^ I've considered this. The H31 has HDCP over DVI, but none of the BR or HDDVD players have DVI output. You are required to get a HDMI to DVI cable like the ones supplied by this company (http://www.bluejeanscable.com/).

If the cost of the HDDVD drives come down I'm tempted to buy one, but the format war is so icky. :x

For it being worth it it would cost about $500 for a HDDVD player, about $30 US for the adapter cable, and then $25 a pop per flick. That would be about $555 for a HDDVD only player. Not even going to price out BR!

If HDDVD fails (which it won't) you would be out $555 and then would have to pony up BR! That would suck wouldn't it!

I found a recent article by a masushita VP who said "The market will decide, period!"

Right now it's just TOO risky to spend that kind of money on a considerable investment.

I think the whole thing is a conspiracy to divide consumers into two parties. It's bull****. I say wait it out and make their shareholders suck ***.

I just pulled the trigger on the H31 package from costco. Im a VERY happy H27 owner (im on it right now in fact in 1920x1080), however, the throw range isnt good enough for my room. I only get a 82" image. With the H31, ill get the full 92" for the greywolf screen, so i switched for that reason alone. I plan on using this projector for 1-2 years, so i want the full 92". My dad is going to buy the H27 from me to use at his place, he fell in love with it.

Is there really any difference in picture between the h27 and h31? They seem insanely similar. Ive heard theres a slight advantage to the h31 to the 27, but hard to find any good evidance about it. I just hope i have no issues with my HTPC, ive read a few posts (albiet, super old ones) where people had issues with the h31 via DVI, but a lot has changed software wise, so i hope its just plug and play for me. Just wanted to share before i get it =)

^ DVI works great on my H31! Picture looks excellent. I'm looking forward to getting into HD but the price is just so high. $500 for a player that may not be supported in the future sux. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get one. I said I'd wait, but I'm interested in seeing HD. Hard to decide. To much bull!!!! talk from both sides.

The air blowing out of the H31 is about 50 deg C so I figured I will use it for heating up soup/dip/bread.

Works good

mmmmmmmm artichoke dip
mmmmmmmm

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6622/dscn2477au5.jpg

I think the whole thing is a conspiracy to divide consumers into two parties. It's bull****. I say wait it out and make their shareholders suck ***.

This struck me as funny.

The shareholders aren't the ones deciding to screw the public. The average shareholder is probably a middle class guy with a 401k that happens to have Sony in one of the mutual funds.

Now, that being said, Sony can kiss off and die. But by that I mean the decision makers in the company, not the shareholders. :)

This struck me as funny.

The shareholders aren't the ones deciding to screw the public. The average shareholder is probably a middle class guy with a 401k that happens to have Sony in one of the mutual funds.

Now, that being said, Sony can kiss off and die. But by that I mean the decision makers in the company, not the shareholders. :)

dude

decision makers in the company = the shareholders

Who is the largest stakeholder in Toshiba and Sony?

Toshiba and Sony. Has to be.

I'm curious if any of you have tried HD-DVD with the H31. Do you think it's worth it?

I'll be able to give you a report shortly. I have not had any success syncing with HDMI but 480p component with SD-DVDs is fine. (Testing too many other display devices) HDMI to DVI may be just a cable issue. Or, it could turn out like the 7100- no sync at all. A call to Toshiba is in order.
Keep in mind, 480p units look best with 480p signals.

For the curious, all source equipment is display dependent. The Tosh HD-A1 mated with a capable display device is absolutely stunning. I'm nominating it for product of the year.

I'll be able to give you a report shortly. I have not had any success syncing with HDMI but 480p component with SD-DVDs is fine. (Testing too many other display devices) HDMI to DVI may be just a cable issue. Or, it could turn out like the 7100- no sync at all. A call to Toshiba is in order.
Keep in mind, 480p units look best with 480p signals.

For the curious, all source equipment is display dependent. The Tosh HD-A1 mated with a capable display device is absolutely stunning. I'm nominating it for product of the year.

Made my call to Tosh and they are sending me the "1.4" upgrade on disc. The 'answerman' assured me this addresses the HDMI issues.

One thing that is for sure, the higher the resolution display, the more I enjoy this player. Which of course puts a cap on the H31 and 480p machines in general-HDDVDs that is. Members with 1080 displays must be turning cartwheels!

Hello,

I have had my Optoma H31 in use for about 1000 hours and have recently noticed a slightly disturbing issue. When a light is on the screen from a flashlight or siren or something, I get a blue or purple line running horizontal across the screen, sort of like a flair. It seems to be getting more frequent as time goes on.

Any idea what might be the solution or even the cause of this?

Other than this issue, I have been extremely happy with the projector.

anyone have calibration numbers for a H31 + Oppo 971? I've played with mine for a while and cant get it quite right, want to compare it to what others have. i would go and get a dvd with THX optimizer or something similar but they are hard to find in korea, and if i do find one, its in the wrong region :( thanks in advance

Well, i had DVI working fine on my h31, then it just stopped working altogether. VGA works fine. I trieda different DVI cable, same thing. I called Optoma, they said it must be a defective unit and they'll exchange it for free. I would have just returned it to costco, but they no longer sell the h31 on there. Oh well, gonna send it back and hope the new one is fine.

I'll be able to give you a report shortly. I have not had any success syncing with HDMI but 480p component with SD-DVDs is fine. (Testing too many other display devices) HDMI to DVI may be just a cable issue. Or, it could turn out like the 7100- no sync at all. A call to Toshiba is in order.
Keep in mind, 480p units look best with 480p signals.

For the curious, all source equipment is display dependent. The Tosh HD-A1 mated with a capable display device is absolutely stunning. I'm nominating it for product of the year.

I'll have to see for myself and my own decision. With a better source, the picture should be better regardless of the resolution of the display. Better input=better ouput. I've seen this on my H30, when watching a hd signal. It looks better that any 480P signal I've seen.

I know this has been mentioned before but I am having a difficult time locating it. What are people using for mounts on this pj. Cost is, of course, always a concern. How 'bout any thoughts about a DIY. Thanks for the input!! Chad

Ok, so I am ready to put my pj up and go to find the screws. I cannot find M3 screws. Are these 3 mm or not? Where are people getting these? Thanks!! Chad

Ok, so I am ready to put my pj up and go to find the screws. I cannot find M3 screws. Are these 3 mm or not? Where are people getting these? Thanks!! ChadCall the mount suppliers.
If that's no good, try a hardware store.
Worst case, go to a hobby shop; they have all that weird stuff for R/C cars and planes.

Ok, so I am ready to put my pj up and go to find the screws. I cannot find M3 screws. Are these 3 mm or not? Where are people getting these? Thanks!! Chad

Yes, they're 3mm. I found mine at a local specialty hardware store (Maryville Fastener) after trying all of the biggies (Lowes, Home Depot, True Value, Ace). I could not find long M3 screws so I had to came up with a different design for my projector mount. I cut a thin base plate out of 1/8" mdf and attached this to the projector with the short M3 screws. And then used standard 3" machine bolts with some springs, washers, and wingnuts to mount the mdf to another mdf top plate. This top plate was supported by a pvc shower drain which connected to a pvc pipe I had running through a hole in a 1x12 board that spanned the rafters and was supported by another pvc shower drain. It sounds like frankenstein, but it works and is completely adjustable. Good luck on your M3 search.

Thanks guys!! I wouldn't have ever imagined that it would have been this hard to find these screws!! Chad

H31 fans,

I need some help before I jump the band-wagon.


I am really considering the H31 to replace my Sanyo PLV-Z1 pj.

I notice that the H31 says it has Digital lens shift with 2 positional memories.

Now my dedicated home theater room w/ the Z1 versus my screen is a little off-set. The Z1 benefit was b/c of the lens shift.

Now will the H31 be comparable to the z1 lens shift?


I will have to run component cable to my dvd player. There is no issues w/ qualtiy in componet or is there?


Also will I see a huge or just "maybe" some quality difference from my Z1 versus the H31 in a shoot out?



Thanks all!!

I am really considering the H31 to replace my Sanyo PLV-Z1 pj.


You'll take a slight hit in resolution, but the picture quality will go up exponentionally.


I notice that the H31 says it has Digital lens shift with 2 positional memories.


This is a bad case of wording. What it does is allow you to take a 2.35:1 aspect ratio film (where you would see black bars top and bottom on a 16:9 display) and either shift the image up to the top part of the screen (making double black bars down on the bottom), or down to the bottom part of the screen (making double bars at the top of the screen). So it shifts the 2.35:1 movie either to the top or bottom of the 16:9 screen.

This is useful if you have, say, a pull down or electric screen...you can shift the 2:35 movie up to the top part of the screen...then retract the bottom of the screen up so all you'll see is the 2.35:1 movie and no black bars, your screen will be perfectly suited to it. Its just a nice little visual thing you can do if you dont want to see any letterboxing at all, and just want to see the movie and then the frame of your screen.

Its like making a miniature 2.35:1 screen.


Now will the H31 be comparable to the z1 lens shift?


No, the H31 has no lens shift whatsoever. The PJ has to be lined up vertically and horizontally with the screen. My ceilings are low, so I have to tilt my PJ up a bit from the ceiling and do some keystone due to the 33% offset of the image.


I will have to run component cable to my dvd player. There is no issues w/ qualtiy in componet or is there?


Nope, looks great.


Also will I see a huge or just "maybe" some quality difference from my Z1 versus the H31 in a shoot out?


Your jaw will drop. You will never be able to look at the Z1 again. Just make sure you're sitting back the recommended distance so you dont have to deal with rainbows or seeing the screendoor-ish stuff.

I owned a Z1 for about a week....I've had an H31 for a year....there is absolutely no comparison between the two.

h31 has shipped. can't wait to get it

Where'd you order from, if I may ask? Hopefully from a vendor participating in the $100 rebate deal. I think you'll very pleased with the Optoma- it's quite a bargain right now.

Where'd you order from, if I may ask? Hopefully from a vendor participating in the $100 rebate deal. I think you'll very pleased with the Optoma- it's quite a bargain right now.


The best price I found it for and also purchased it from was Visual Apex.

I hear that they are an excelllent company and when I talked to the sales rep, they were very helpfull.

It even shipped same day I ordered it. :cool:

Also I am getting the 100.00 rebate deal.

I also just placed an order, from J&R. They have the same price as Visual Apex and are an authorized dealer, but are much closer to my home and should be here in 1 to 2 business days. I already own the previous model-the H30 which needs repair and a new bulb anyway, so I'm purchasing the H31 and giving the H30 to someone else. It's something, the H31 is 50 percent less that the H30 I purchased just over two years ago and yet the H31 is a better projector!

In two years, after the warranty expires, I'll take a look at something else, but until then, I think I'm going to love looking at NFL football, DVD's and OTA HD with this thing!

In two years, after the warranty expires, I'll take a look at something else, but until then, I think I'm going to love looking at NFL football, DVD's and OTA HD with this thing!


What kind of HD receiver are you using w/ the h31?

I also just placed an order, from J&R. They have the same price as Visual Apex and are an authorized dealer, but are much closer to my home and should be here in 1 to 2 business days. I already own the previous model-the H30 which needs repair and a new bulb anyway, so I'm purchasing the H31 and giving the H30 to someone else. It's something, the H31 is 50 percent less that the H30 I purchased just over two years ago and yet the H31 is a better projector!


Did you get free shipping by JR.com? Visual Apex also give free shipping. I think JR.com will match it competitors, just let them know you found free shipping and they probably would honor you a refund difference.

My replacement H31 shipped yesterday, the one i have now refuses to accept DVI anymore. Cant wait to get back up and running. Big fan of the H31, fantastic picture and a awesome short throw (i have a small room and still do 92" diagonally!).

What kind of HD receiver are you using w/ the h31?
I have the LG LST-3100A from a couple of years ago. Speaking of HD, has anyone tried that Toshiba HD-DVD with it for grins and giggles? I'm just curious. :)

No, I didn't get the free shipping. I didn't sweat the twenty bucks, I just want to get my H31 ASAP. :)

Anyone here use the H31 with the Behr Silver Screen paint? If so, what did you think??

Thanks!!

I tried this, and a few other paints on 2x2 pieces of MDF for a/b comparison. I found Behr Ultra Pure white in a flat "texture" superior to the Behr Silver Screen. I remain VERY pleased with the appearance of my painted screen. I used a foam roller with very good success. I do have spray equipment, but I decided this would be too much hassle. A foam roller works darn slick.

my 2c.

Dave

Ok, so I'm a complete noob when it comes to projectors. I'm 22, and a college student, and my two housemates and I just ordered the H31 from Amazon...It'll arrive Tuesday, but I have some preliminary questions. First, we plan on getting an HD cable box...whattype ofconnection from the box to the H31 is best? Second, what is the best, decent-priced dvd player for the H31? I assume a player with dvi out is best...Next, how good should we expect Xbox 360 to look on the screen, and what output from the 360 do we want to use for best quality? At the moment, all we have to project onto is a huge white wall...we may try a diy screen, but what would be an ineexpensive screen to match well, at a size of 92'' or higher? I guess thats all for the moment...man, what am I getting into?
Thanks!

from what I read that the DVI on the h31 has some concerns. I will be running my dvd player and hd tuner all component through my a/v receiver

Well,

I am not a video nut. I am a hifi nut. I have not experimented with HD, and cannot convey any results using DVI cable.

I can convey that I remain VERY pleased running my H31 with component video cable. The screen appearance on the white wall is extremely good.

I ordered my cable from bluejeanscable.com .

Regarding the DVI issues, I suggest you read the comments previously posted in this forum. I seem to recall reading about some problems with DVI cable. I also seem to recall some degree of "disagreement" regarding which source methods would provide the best picture. In my VERY inexperienced opinion, it seems intuitive that a 480p projector is best driven using a 480p source using a cable capable of 480p.

I really don't understand how an OPPO could upsample the picture so the H31 could downsample the picture - resulting in a better picture?? This doesn't make any sense to me.

As mentioned, I am a rookie regarding these matters.

Oh, I had a friend use a white shower curtain from Wal-Mart for his screen. It worked darn good too.

I suggest just using a couple coats of white primer, then 2 coats of Behr Ultra Premium White using a foam roller. Oh, you should block-sand with @ 220 grit during priming to ensure a flat surface.

First, we plan on getting an HD cable box...whattype ofconnection from the box to the H31 is best?

You might consider not getting an HD box. This may seem like heretical, but a digital output from ta non-HD box will be 480p.

Dave

what would be an ineexpensive screen to match well, at a size of 92'' or higher?

I am running my screen size (painted wall) about 106". This is on the large side of tolerance for the WY31. I decided on this size after moving the projector closer and further from the wall while the projector rested on the floor. My room is fairly large, and the right decision seemed to be to use a slightly bigger screen.

A smaller screen will provide better color saturation, and a crisper appearance. A bigger screen is... well... bigger. It's a compromise. I suggest you move the projector fore & aft in the intended room with the painted wall and decide what YOU think works the best.

Dave

RBF......the H31 with an Oppo DVD player is probably your best performer at a very reasonable cost point. Also you don't have to get a screen if you are happy with the picture as is. Of course most people would agree that the picture is definetly better with a screen, but that is something you can do down the road if cost is an issue. If you want some advice about DIY, check out the screen forum!! Chad

So I'm better off just connecting the current regular cable box with components than getting the HD box and using dvi? Also, how will the xbox 360 look on the H31?

For @ 1 year I used a slightly modified Denon 910 DVD player. I now use an XBOX for the source. My kids use it for games and it produces a very decent video signal for DVDs. The video quality of the XBOX is... very slightly inferior to the Denon, but I believe many folks wouldn't be able to discern the impact. The XBOX is very usable IMO. You won't be dissappointed.

Again, I have not tried the OPPO or any of the DVI stuff.

If you want some advice about DIY, check out the screen forum!!

I suggest this too.

So I'm better off just connecting the current regular cable box with components than getting the HD box and using dvi?

I think so, BUT I have not tried the down conversion mentioned previously. I have only fed my H31 with a 480p signal. I have not tried to feed the H31 a 720p signal to down convert to 480p.

Dave

Feeding the H31 a better cleaner signal will result in a better picture. I watched the HD broadcast of NFL football on Friday, and it looked very good one the H31. Get the HD cable box.

En Sabur Nur,

Feeding the H31 a better cleaner signal will result in a better picture.

This makes very good sense. Surely there are better and worse signal feeds. This seems to be true in all formats. I have seen this. Others convey this. I believe it is indeed true.

I watched the HD broadcast of NFL football on Friday, and it looked very good one the H31. Get the HD cable box.

It appears that you are conveying the superiority of using a HD 720p feed with a 480p projector. Could you explain your methods for this assertion? Did you compare the HD feed to a 480p feed and switch between the signals on the projector?

I also have noticed that some of the broadcasts simply look clearer than others. There are also extreme differences in audio quality. The ESPN broadcasts are generally the best. Fox stuff is in the "middle". The CBS/NBC stuff appears to be the worst. One of them (i.e. CBS/NBC) is worse than the other, but I don't recall the ordinal nature of this. This is my opinion. Certainly others are welcome to disagree.

Dave

En Sabur Nur,



This makes very good sense. Surely there are better and worse signal feeds. This seems to be true in all formats. I have seen this. Others convey this. I believe it is indeed true.



It appears that you are conveying the superiority of using a HD 720p feed with a 480p projector. Could you explain your methods for this assertion? Did you compare the HD feed to a 480p feed and switch between the signals on the projector?



Dave

Dave,
Your statement assumes that the only advantage of the HD format is in resolution. I have used multiple EDTV projectors in the past. I have compared HD broadcasts of DVD's I already own, and the HD version presentations are significantly superior on said projectors.

Watching SDTV on my H31 is ok, looks decent, but when you feed it HD content via Xbox 360 @ 720p or HD Cable @ 1080i, it looks absolutely gorgeous. Do not hesitate!

Watching SDTV on my H31 is ok, looks decent, but when you feed it HD content via Xbox 360 @ 720p or HD Cable @ 1080i, it looks absolutely gorgeous. Do not hesitate!

I have compared HD broadcasts of DVD's I already own, and the HD version presentations are significantly superior on said projectors.

Thanks guys. These are very affirmative answers. They don't make much sense to me, but I am not in a substantive position to disagree with your assertions.

rbf - according to these gents, using HD would be better.

Hmmm, I need to feed some HD content to my H31 via the Xbox and try this. What cable setup/adapter is required?

I've had the h31 for 2 months and i currently use a Samsung upconvert player and the xbox 360 for most of my viewing.

to answer your previous question, YES the Xbox 360 looks absolutely insane on this pj. dont believe people who say "but its only 480p". PQ is much more than just resolution.

and before anyone says anything more, i am also running a sony 34 inch xbr right next to the h31, so i have the best 720p/1080i reference tool you could possibly have.

the xbr is better, a little more "crisp", but the h31 looks amazing for a 480p pj. unless you've had an HD CRT for a long time, you wont notice anything bad about the h31.

also, in response to the HD/SD conversation, you need to get the HD box. i have had both an HD Comcast box and a 480p SD box and the HD is VERY noticably better through the h31. the most glaring thing is that all HD is in 16:9 which is what the h31 was built for. also, the HD content might be compressed, but it looks markedly better than 480p SD. even on the h31, if feels "high def".

you guys are gonna love the h31, trust me. just make sure you calibrate it and sit far enough away to really enjoy it.

Thanks guys. These are very affirmative answers. They don't make much sense to me, but I am not in a substantive position to disagree with your assertions.

rbf - according to these gents, using HD would be better.

Hmmm, I need to feed some HD content to my H31 via the Xbox and try this. What cable setup/adapter is required?

I know it seems confusing, but you have to see it in person to understand. The HD image is just... cleaner. I believe that the HD format allows for greater color saturation and dynamic range, which the H31 will display (even though some lines of resolution are missing).

Guys,

Need some assistance.

I am going to be receiving my H31 tomorrow and I got all the hardware to do a DIY pj mount.

What I am concern about is ~IF~ the PJ will aim to low to the ground.

My ceiling height is almost 8' high. Its really about 93"

I am using a drop down pole that will be about 1' below the ceiling height. So basically my PJ will be projecting about 7'.

Now since the h31 does not have true lens shift, I am just concern on where the image will be on the wall. Any idea? Will I be ok? Should I be concerned?

Thanks

It will sit just about like how my Z1 did.
As here (I am using same hardware minus the 3m screws for the h31:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/hifi_homeboy/DSC03104.jpg


Projecting to this screen area :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/hifi_homeboy/frontviewrearseat.jpg

Can you remove the pipe? It's hard to say where it'll land. I'm thinking you may need to tilt it back. I have an H31 but I'll have to measure mine.

Can you remove the pipe? It's hard to say where it'll land. I'm thinking you may need to tilt it back. I have an H31 but I'll have to measure mine.

Yea I could, but i'll have a hole in the ceiling. U think it will be to low if I use that pipe??

should I have the h31 mounted more like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/hifi_homeboy/mounted3.gif

In a note that I read it says this:
The proper placement of the projector in relation to the screen, is slightly ABOVE the top of the screen. Most projector manufacturers recommend this placement in order to get the best image quality.

true/false?


Thanks all!!

I love to hear input from ceiling mount users :(

shoot me now!! Is everyone h31 only table mounted? lol

Yea I could, but i'll have a hole in the ceiling. U think it will be to low if I use that pipe??

Probably.

Just by eyeballing it (difficult to do, especially from pics!), it looks like your H31 will need to be closer to the ceiling, maybe right up against the ceiling.

The H31's offset is about 30-33% of screen height (16:9 ratio screen height). So measure what the 16:9 screen height of your screen will be (if you already figured the distance / screen size) and the projector lens center will be 33% above the top of the screen.

Let us know how the H31 compares to your Z1 after you have it calibrated, etc. (Hint: DVI inputs are much better calibrated out of the box than any other input).

Fleaman

I got it mounted. I bought two other size poles to adjust the height if it was to long when it projected on the wall.

I found that 6" below the ceiling worked out best. :)

I definitely need to make a screen. When projecting to the wall the you can see all the texture on the wall itself when you watch the movies image. lol

Its a great projector and once I make a screen I can tell I am going to be very happy with the results.

So what paint texture for a DIY works best for these H31's???

My h31 is ceiling mounted about 4" from a 8 foot ceiling, about 10 feet back for a 78" diag screen. Screen is homemade using white wood paneling painted flat white with a 3" wood moulding border wrapped with black velvet. I use my h31 for mainly HDtv( comcast cable w/component), dvd(w/ DVI), and xbox360 (component). I love it!!! SD tv looks bleh. Too grainy. But HD signal looks better than DVD. Ive compared the same movie on HBO-HD and DVD and the hd looks better. Dont ask me why. It just does. Xbox360 games look fantastic, I love the detail you can see in COD2. I recomend the H31 to anyone, especially for the $600 price tag ive seen lately. I spent 950 at the begining of the year with zero regrets.

Mine is ceiling mounted about 12' back or so, projecting to an 84" screen. I use a Cheif mount that is almost totally flush with the ceiling. Since I plan to replace the screen with a slightly smaller one mounted lower I just bought a mount with an arm that can lower the PJ by up to a foot, but I haven't mounted it up yet.

I'll let you know once I do.

thanks all.

Before I want to create another DIY screen, I wanted to try the vinyl shower curtain idea. Just to see how it would look in white.

Overall I like the image allot; minus the folds / creases it has from the package it came out of. The h31 is sitting about 12" back. Zoom all the way off at about 72" image watching 5th element.

I think I will go with Behr Ultra Pure white that Dave Ellis mentioned above. :D

Thanks all .

Oh yea... I truely think that the h31 has better image then my z1 and it sure is allot more quiter. I can't even hear it running.

Better than the Z1, probably the contrast I got a solid 2000.1 with the H31, pretty good once you're over 2000.1 contrast is plenty and it shows.

I still have a picture.
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h312000.jpg

Great grayscale line with the H31 also, with colorfacts.
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h31molsend65krgb.jpg

[QUOTE=David Ellis]En Sabur Nur,



This makes very good sense. Surely there are better and worse signal feeds. This seems to be true in all formats. I have seen this. Others convey this. I believe it is indeed true.



It appears that you are conveying the superiority of using a HD 720p feed with a 480p projector. Could you explain your methods for this assertion? Did you compare the HD feed to a 480p feed and switch between the signals on the projector?

No, I didn't. I've just looked at downrezzed HD feeds from 1080i and 720P sources (on my H30 and now on my H31) and it was easy to see that they looked better than analog 480i/p, that's all.

I have connected my H31 to the DVDO Iscan that I have (VGA to component).
I am trying to calibrate my projector, but I have some doubts that maybe some one can clear them for me. So I could enjoy a better picture, which by the way is very good as it is, but I think I could do better.
First I do not know which format should I use for SD 480p 720p or 1080i.
After choosing the format which controls should I use to calibrate my projector the Iscan's or the projector's. So If I place all picture's controls flat in the projector and than use the Iscan's picture controls to calibrate or viceversa?
I am using the Iscan to feed both, my Mitsu HD TV through DVI and the projcetor, with VGA-component. But some times when I change the output of the Iscan to sellect the VGA output the projector does not recognize it right away, so I have to go several times from DVI-V to VGA output and select 480p format until the projector finds the signal and after that everyting is OK. Does any have any idea why is this happening?
I will appreciate any sugestions

aramon,

Use 480p, set Iscan flat and calibrate the H31 with Avia.

When you switch sources the H31 will lose sync then search for a signal. If you are only using 1 input on the H31 you can try the 'source lock' option (in the H31 menu), which might help. Also, you can use the H31 remotes source buttons to manually switch sources. I use DVI and sometimes I will push any source button (except DVI) then back to DVI, this is faster then waiting for the H31 to search for a signal.

Fleaman

Thank you Fleamn,
I do not have AVIA I have Digital Video Essentials. I could not find Avia here in Mexico. Is this a good program to Calibrate. I will try the "source lock" and see how it goes.
Thanks again.

DVE is just as good, it's just much harder to navigate through. Avia is easier to use.

Also if you can, you should try to send the H31 DVI. DVI is usually better calibrated out of the box than the other inputs. If you're gonna do a thorough calibration, then it should not matter so much if you use the component inputs.

Fleaman

Fleaman,
I tried to calibrate the H31 and it looks much better than "out of the box". The colors are better and the black is outsanding, however I am not able with advance mode setting to calibrate the red. The red looks a little orange not red, "red". When watching the US flag in DVE I don't see the stripes red I see them a little orange-red, Don't you know how to set the red with DVE in the advance mode?,
I don't know what to move so I can see a better red. If I turn the Contrast red or Bright red to accomplish a better red, all the picture looks more orange including the sky, I have tried almost every combination possible, including moving down or up the blue and the green, but I am not there yet.
Any suggestions?
Appart from that, the picture is almost pefect.

Thanks
Al.

Well, how red is 'red' (as opposed to orangey-red) might be somewhat subjective. My H31 Reds are pretty good....but not perfect. There is a slight orange cast to them. The H31 can't get perfect reds. From what I remember, the best you can get is 'red' with a very slight orange cast to it. To most this looks like RED, but if you look closely, or you are 'me', I can sometimes (depending on material) see the orange in my RED.

Make sure your using the plastic filters that comes with DVE to adjust colors. It might take a few tries to get it calibrated. Doing a Avia or DVE calibration takes quite a bit of time if you haven't done it before. Every time you do it, you get a little better at it. The pro's (ISF'ers) are good at it, most of us here are just amateurs. After some years, you start to develop an eye and knack for the calibration process, but it's not quick and easy in the beginning.

Fleaman

aramon,

Use 480p, set Iscan flat and calibrate the H31 with Avia.

When you switch sources the H31 will lose sync then search for a signal. If you are only using 1 input on the H31 you can try the 'source lock' option (in the H31 menu), which might help. Also, you can use the H31 remotes source buttons to manually switch sources. I use DVI and sometimes I will push any source button (except DVI) then back to DVI, this is faster then waiting for the H31 to search for a signal.

Fleaman

Fleaman, or anyone that knows, I have two source components with DVI outputs. I am considering running both DVI outputs to the H31 via an HDMI switcher. Do you know if the H31 will have to go through a search for an input signal each time I change sources on the switcher?

Fleaman, or anyone that knows, I have two source components with DVI outputs. I am considering running both DVI outputs to the H31 via an HDMI switcher. Do you know if the H31 will have to go through a search for an input signal each time I change sources on the switcher?

It will lose sync for a moment when you switch, but as long as you have the 'source lock' ON, then it should stay on the DVI input and lock to your new signal.

Fleaman

Thanks.

I recently bought H31 and am looking for a good ceiling mount .. Greatly appreciate your feedback on this topic.

I think I'm going to use the Panavise mount that I have from my H30.

Still loving my H31.

Gee people can get these for vary little $$ now.
Good value!

Uh Oh! UPDATE.....I have decided to return my H31 in favor of the new HD70! Will also purchase the Toshiba HDA1 this week. I gotta see for myself what all the hoopla is about.

Greetings everyone,

I just ordered my H31 today... went for the canadian costco deal w/ 92" panoview screen.

I plan on experimenting with pseudo ceiling mounting (live in an apartment so I'm installing a short 14" wide shelf flush with the ceiling then I'll attach the mounting plate to the bottom of that). I haven't ruled out a tabletop setup (from what I've read it's better with the panoview screen) so I'll probably experiment with that too. The PJ will be sitting approx. 14ft from the screen w/ seating at 12.5ft (ceiling is 9ft).

Initially I'll be connecting a HTPC to it via DVI (wish me luck!), as well as a SD set-top box using component (don't expect anything spectacular, it's just temporary till I finish off my room then I'll be ordering HDTV).

Unfortunately the wall opposite the screen is basically all glass facing west (for once maybe that 23 story highrise directly across the way will come in handy hehehe), so I plan on blacking out the sliding glass doors leading into the solarium with darkroom blackout cloth.

Anyways folks, this thread, and everything else on avsforums rocks, especially the users!

Wish me luck!

Darren

H31 running pretty good at ~1600 hours on the bulb that came with the machine. Need to take out bulb and air it out blow dust away every now and then.

Using the blue jeans DVI cable with black jacket and 1/2 diameter goo cable and it's popping red and blue and green.

Also my x64 system accidentially pushed the H31 to 1920x1080 and it displayed it but it wasn't stable. Sable at 1280x720.

Sadly my 7900 GT can't push the H31 in dual view. It's a driver problem I think.

Had to resort to my G4 raid 5 server with 9800 256 MB to run the shows now. I think forceware 91.47 is buggy.

I just got the h31 and I have to say it puts out a beautiful picture. Coming from an infocus 4805 I think the pic is better, even the wife noticed it. I did have a weird problem that I still can't figure out. I am using a bravo d1 with a dvi to hdmi cable. Dvi on the bravo end hdmi on the projector end with a hdmi/dvi adapter. If I just barely moved the cable on the proj end I would lose signal or have funky colors. The hdmi cable did seem to fit a little loose into the adapter so I kinda crimped it down to make it tighter and that didn't help. So I went and bought another adapter and had the same problem. So I swapped the cable ends and used the dvi at the projector and the adapter on the bravo and wiggled the crap out of both ends and didn't have a single problem. Anyone know why it would work on the bravo and not the projector?

I just got the h31 and I have to say it puts out a beautiful picture. Coming from an infocus 4805 I think the pic is better, even the wife noticed it. I did have a weird problem that I still can't figure out. I am using a bravo d1 with a dvi to hdmi cable. Dvi on the bravo end hdmi on the projector end with a hdmi/dvi adapter. If I just barely moved the cable on the proj end I would lose signal or have funky colors. The hdmi cable did seem to fit a little loose into the adapter so I kinda crimped it down to make it tighter and that didn't help. So I went and bought another adapter and had the same problem. So I swapped the cable ends and used the dvi at the projector and the adapter on the bravo and wiggled the crap out of both ends and didn't have a single problem. Anyone know why it would work on the bravo and not the projector?

Probably the DVI plug on the bravo end had a different fit than the H31 and when you swapped cable ends they fit/mated better.

Fleaman

BobBart:

Have you consider getting a cable from Monoprice? I also have the H31 and use a Monoprice cable HDMI to DVD player and DVI to projector. Works like a charm. The cable is seriously overbuilt and puts to shame just about every cable I saw at the local electronics stores. Even better, Monoprice low prices and fast shipping are nearly impossible to beat. Good luck and enjoy your projector!

I actually am using the monoprice cable, but it is definitely the adapter for the cable which is the problem. I bought a generic adapter from ebay and then bought a philips one from walmart and neither of them would work on the projector end. I did order the monoprice adapter and it should be here in a few days. Thankfully everything seems to be working fine with the adapter on the bravo end. I do like this projector better than my infocus 4805. Much quieter, better colors, and the best thing is I can project a bigger image from the same location that I had the infocus mounted.

I bought an H31 recently and we're really enjoying using it for DVD's and football games. I hook up using component inputs when inside, and using s-vid when projecting movies in the backyard for the kids.

We also upgraded to the Dish PVR622 for HD content. The MPEG4 compression codec is greatly superior to the MPEG2, so that might be what some people are seeing when they display 720p content on this projector, a lack of stair-stepping or JPEG "blocking" artifacts.

DVD's look fantastic. Mary Poppins 40th Anniv. SE looked incredible, a very good transfer. You can see freckles and pores on the actor's faces. Animation really "pops".

HD football also looks excellent. Every scratch and ding on the helmets, the porosity of the mesh uniforms, the individual hairs in Brett Favre's stubble, and of course the cheerleaders look stunning.

I couldn't be happier with my purchase. We are not using a dedicated room, and have been using the projector mainly in the evenings in a darkened living room, or outdoors after sunset.

Thanks to everyone for posting here. It made the purchasing decision much easier. The DIY screen threads were also very helpful.

I have to chime in here on the cables from Monoprice - I have bought several DVI cables, including one from Monster. Not only are the Monoprice the best cables I have purchased they are also the least expensive!!

Not only are the Monoprice the best cables I have purchased they are also the least expensive!!

I agree - I couldn't believe how cheap they were but I've had nothing but great results with them.

I actually am using the monoprice cable, but it is definitely the adapter for the cable which is the problem. I bought a generic adapter from ebay and then bought a philips one from walmart and neither of them would work on the projector end. I did order the monoprice adapter and it should be here in a few days. Thankfully everything seems to be working fine with the adapter on the bravo end. I do like this projector better than my infocus 4805. Much quieter, better colors, and the best thing is I can project a bigger image from the same location that I had the infocus mounted.
You can also use the hot air it spits out to heat up artichoke dip. I do!

BobBart:
I meant that you should get the Monoprice cable with HDMI on one side and DVI on the other. That way you will not need the adapter, which seems to be the cause of your problem. That is the type of cable I am using with my H31 and I have not had any problems. This is the cable I got: 2218 HDMI DVI cable (24AWG) w/ferrites and net jacket- 6ft (Gold Plated). It was about $15 and worth every penny and more. Good luck.

Ellogan, I do have that cable but only in the 35 feet version. I use the adapter on the hdmi end because the bravo is only dvi. It's stupid how cheap this is now and what a wonderful picture it puts out.

I have an HDMI dvd player which looks good, but so does Component. So I just kept to component. lol

Well I just received the unit a few days ago and so far I've very pleased with it. One concern that I have, and it seems to be fairly common one, is that the unit will not detect a source being fed via DVI-D.

I emailed Optoma about this, playing stupid, and asked them for some suggestions. This is the reply I received:

============================
Hi Darren,

I apologize for the inconvenience, but the EPH31 was designed to function with a DVI-I signal. This is just the way the unit was manufactured to function.
============================

If I've read previous posts correctly, this is a common problem, and usually after swapping the unit (sometimes more the once), eventually they get it right.

What are your thoughts?

Darren

Well I just received the unit a few days ago and so far I've very pleased with it. One concern that I have, and it seems to be fairly common one, is that the unit will not detect a source being fed via DVI-D.

I emailed Optoma about this, playing stupid, and asked them for some suggestions. This is the reply I received:

============================
Hi Darren,

I apologize for the inconvenience, but the EPH31 was designed to function with a DVI-I signal. This is just the way the unit was manufactured to function.
============================

If I've read previous posts correctly, this is a common problem, and usually after swapping the unit (sometimes more the once), eventually they get it right.

What are your thoughts?

Darren

The only difference between DVI-D and DVI-I is DVI-I has extra pins (4 extra I think) that can carry a analog signal. DVI-D works just fine since there is no real point in sending analog through a DVI-I cable (which are difficult to find BTW, and not many players support DVI-I anyway).

Now, if you are using an HTPC, then there were issues with the handshake or something like that. But with any DVD player with DVI out, there should be no problem. I have a Momitsu V880DX DVD player/DVI out...25ft DVI-D cable....no problems.

Fleaman

Uh Oh! UPDATE.....I have decided to return my H31 in favor of the new HD70! Will also purchase the Toshiba HDA1 this week. I gotta see for myself what all the hoopla is about.

Most definitely a good move now that you're going HDDVD. Enjoy.

H31 Throw distance question...

I have read a few reviews where users state they are using 115" diagonal screens with a throw distance of only 11 feet. Is this possible or were they mistaken?

I have my H31 set at 12 feet (front of lense to screen) and can barely get a 90" 16:9 screen (43x79" to be exact).

Is it possible to get a larger image at that distance? I'm already zoomed to the max I believe.

Thanks in advance!

Paul

By the way, as far as picture quality is concerned, I couldn't be happier! I'm using a LG DN191H upconverting DVD player with component cables for now and it looks amazing!

H31 Throw distance question...

I have read a few reviews where users state they are using 115" diagonal screens with a throw distance of only 11 feet. Is this possible or were they mistaken?



Not Possible.

Max diagonal at 11ft is 92" at FULL 16:9 size. Don't have my manual handy, but http://www.optomausa.com/distancecalculator.asp clearly states so.

At 12ft you should be able to pull off 100" diagonal at FULL 16:9 size.

Fleaman

Thanks for the information, Fleaman!

I'm going to try the "constant height" lens to atleast get a wider 2.35:1 image.

Hi guys,

I discovered this forum about 1,5 years ago, and it helped me choose the H31. So thanks, useful info here. My first post, forgive my language mistakes.
I have a problem for a long time, that is a vertical line of white flashing dots about 1/3 rd to the left side of my screen. It is there with satellite or DVD, either plugged directly or through my processor. Not always there but probably 50% of the time. I read somebody else had the same problem but I can't get in touch with him to find out how he solved it. I don't want to spend too much time without my pj, but I want to solve it before the warranty ends. Before I call optoma anyone would have any clue about the source of that problem?
Thanks

Before I pull the trigger on this purchase, I just want to make sure it'll work for me in the location I've chosen.

Our ceiling is 7 ft 6 in. I plan on ceiling mounting the projector.
I'm considering the first row of seating being 10-12 ft away.
The projector 12 ft away.
The screen being 81" diag.


I'm thinking it'll work, but I don't really understand the limitations of ceiling mounts / ceiling heights.

Also, would anyone suggest I go with the 3 year bulb warranty for $100?

My DVD player has finally quit and its to get another one.

My current set up is the Optoma H31 running on Component cables.

I have read good reviews about the Oppo DV971H over DVI. So, this is consideration one, but then I would have to run a new cable to take advantage of this player.

I understand the newer Oppo DV-970HD player does a better job over component. Does anyone have this player? Any H31 specific reviews over component?

And I have also heard that the Toshiba HD-DVD player does a very nice job with SD upconversion. If I go this route, do you wait for the X2?

Does anyone think the XA2 Toshiba is worth the price increase for the HMDI 1.3 and True HD sound? I don't think so at this time.

I plan on keeping this player for 4-5 years and when my bulb goes our on my X31, I might get a HD model.

Any comments/suggestions?

Thanks, Larry

I understand the newer Oppo DV-970HD player does a better job over component. Does anyone have this player? Any H31 specific reviews over component?

And I have also heard that the Toshiba HD-DVD player does a very nice job with SD upconversion. If I go this route, do you wait for the X2?



I would not buy the Oppo if you intend on going HD-DVD in the near future. As you mentioned, the Toshiba appears to do an outstanding job downconverting std DVD, more than likely a better job than the Oppo from what I gather. The Oppo will be of no use once you get HD-DVD.

Of course the Toshiba will be going down in price over time, wouldn't surprise me if it gets within the Oppo price range within a years time.

OTOH, it still seems up in the air who will win the HD format war. Even though industry experts believe whom ever wins will support both formats, it's still not a certainty.

I have the Momitsu V880DW over DVI and get excellent results, but probably no different than the Oppo.

Fleaman

I like to think of it this way:

In a worst case scenario, If HD-DVD is gone in a year or two....who *cares*. By then there will be a few hundred choice movies out for it with visuals and audio equal to or surpassing any BD versions. Since the move to BD is nothing but a lateral one, it doesn't invalidate the HD-DVD format by any means.

Also, in a reality check situation: There's no way the format dies in a year.....the backers will keep it alive in some format for years beyond that, with Burners and Readers for the PC even if thats its ultimate destiny. So HD-DVD isn't going anywhere.....and believe me, no studio on earth will ignore tens of thousands of potential disc sales now that M$ is shipping is HD-DVD drive. 6 million Xbox 360's sold? Thats an awful lot of potential revenue just sitting there, waiting for the studios to feed them HD transfers.

If the Studios use VC-1, they can just send the same master out to be made into BD as well as HD....

HD-DVD is here, now. Its cheap, and its stunning. The Toshiba players may be a little quirky, but they also make outstanding SD DVD Players....I'm watching my DVD's all over again because they look so fantastic coming out of the Tosh via HDMI to my 720p PJ.

If you must get an Oppo, get one used here on the forum...they seem to be appearing once a week in the For Sale section.

In a worst case scenario, If HD-DVD is gone in a year or two....who *cares*. By then there will be a few hundred choice movies out for it with visuals and audio equal to or surpassing any BD versions. Since the move to BD is nothing but a lateral one, it doesn't invalidate the HD-DVD format by any means.
Not to get too far off topic, but if HD-DVD died out after I invested $1000s in discs, I'd care. What if my player breaks? I can't replace it. What if I lend a movie to a friend? She can't watch it. What happens when HDCP is cracked and new displays only support the industry's latest and greatest scheme to prevent Evil Pirates from destroying the lives of poor, underappreciated stagehands? BD users can get a new player for a hundred bucks -- or maybe even a firmware patch; HD-DVD users are stuck with their investment.

I agree that, for many practical reasons, buying HD-DVD today isn't necessarily a bad decision. But let's be honest -- if HD-DVD up and disappears in a few years, a bunch of early adopters will be regretting it. Just ask anyone who bought into Betamax...

I agree that, for many practical reasons, buying HD-DVD today isn't necessarily a bad decision. But let's be honest -- if HD-DVD up and disappears in a few years, a bunch of early adopters will be regretting it. Just ask anyone who bought into Betamax...


That's the risk of being an early adopter. You know the risks up front.

Thanks Guys for the feedback.

I think I am going to buy a Toshiba A1. I found one for a reasonable price used. I figured it will last 4-5 years, then the format war should be done. I will just have to rent HD DVD rather than own for a while, which fits my plan anyway.

Larry

Have we lost our 'love' for this little gem lately? I know HDDVD has changed viewing in my house and my H31 doesn't garner the attention it once did.
On the other hand, SDDVD still looks pretty darn good on it. And to think, I'm itching for a 1080p PJ just so I can have a big bad 150" HDDVD image. Where does this madness end?

I recently purchased a H31 and everything out the g8 seemed 2 B ok. Then, after a my first few hours up n runnin' the light level started going up and down. For the test drive I was running out the d-sub out the back of my laptop w/the dvi-dsub adapter, I didnt change anything mid-stream as far I can tell. I did try different viewing modes 2 C if it was just 1 setting specific, but no matter it would change intensity of the light up and down. Almost thought it had one of those gamma / light adjusters that reads current lighting viewing conditions, but that appears not 2 B the case. Is this PJ defective? Should I just send it back to Visual Apex w/a $300 or so check and get the HD70 instead?!?!?!

That definitely doesn't sound like a working H31. The H31 doesn't have an auto-iris so I'm not sure how that could be happening. Can you try using a cable box or DVD player with component outputs to see if that works? I'd also call Optoma and see if they have any ideas. If not, call Visual Apex and get it replaced. H31 puts out a great picture normally.

At 720p the HD70 has greater resolution but I hear its color is not as accurate. Though I'm not sure I believe this, some have said that it cannot be calibrated properly without blacking out the white segment on its color wheel.

Have we lost our 'love' for this little gem lately? I know HDDVD has changed viewing in my house and my H31 doesn't garner the attention it once did.
On the other hand, SDDVD still looks pretty darn good on it. And to think, I'm itching for a 1080p PJ just so I can have a big bad 150" HDDVD image. Where does this madness end?

My love has been tarnished with "Your lamp is about to fail" messages... The bulb is growing dimmer after 14 months but still works. Does anyone know how to make this message go away? I turn "lamp-reminding" off but when the projector is turned off and back on the messages appear again.

I know a few others have said this, but I just got Comcast high def DVR and the High Def programs look wonderful on my H31 over component cables. I've got a HDMI-DVI cable ordered, but from what I've heard the improvment isn't much compared to component cables.

New Life for the lowly H31..... It certainly does a great job of downsampling and giving a great picture, even though it is not a Hi Def projector.

Holland

That definitely doesn't sound like a working H31. The H31 doesn't have an auto-iris so I'm not sure how that could be happening. Can you try using a cable box or DVD player with component outputs to see if that works? I'd also call Optoma and see if they have any ideas. If not, call Visual Apex and get it replaced. H31 puts out a great picture normally.

At 720p the HD70 has greater resolution but I hear its color is not as accurate. Though I'm not sure I believe this, some have said that it cannot be calibrated properly without blacking out the white segment on its color wheel.

TY 4 your quick reply.................

Actually, I would have 2 pony up an additional $400 to get a HD70.........4got about the $100 reb8.

I was really stoked about the killer colors I was getting on this H31. I guess I'll test drive a few more hours and try my Oppo w/DVI and see if the problem persists. Otherwise I'll have to ship it back to Visual Apex and try another unit. The box it was shipped in had a dent in it, not sure if the vendor or the shipper(UPS) had anything to do with it. The package had not been opened b4 and everything was packaged very nice once inside the box.

I actually bought some 'Parkland' Plas-tec, but after projecting on my 9' painted wall it cant get much better than that...........I'm gonna return the parkland plast-tec thing to Lowes. I'm too lazy to mess with all the necessary things to get this DIY screen done.

My 20' DVI cable is due on monday so then i can try it with my DCT 6412 Moto STB HD DVR box as well.

as a current HD70 owner and a former H31 owner, i can personally tell you the HD70's colors are just as good if not better than the H31's colors.

the HD70 is a great machine and a steal at the price. the HD70 and the HD1000U are just amazing and either one will blow your mind.

Another ?? 4 y'all...................My house is a li'l dusty and when I fire up the PJ the light beam seems 2 suck all the dust particles to the lens directly and stix on it. What can I use 2 clean the lens/glass? I have these pre-moistened wipes with Isopropyl Alcohol on them. Are these ok to clean the dust off of the lens or will it scratch the glass? These same wipes are safe for my wife's anti-reflective coated eyeglasses and my LCD screens around the house, or maybe one of my wifes ultra-fine makeup brushes will work to brush the dust away..........

Need some help with my H31 here...

Recently when I turn the projector on it turns itself off after a few minutes. The normally green light on the power switch goes out totally...not orange or anything. It takes quite awhile before it'll return to its off/blinking green state.

Possible overheating problem? Cure?

Thx...and sorry if this has been addressed before...didn't have time to read through all 147 pages! :)

Hello All,

I have been using Optoma H31 for 3 months connected to a regular 480p DVD player via component and my desktop via DVI. I have been pleased with both results, though the picture from desktop via DVI is slightly better than the one from the DVD player (via components). My DVD player died, and am looking for a replacement - debating between an upconverting (Oppo 971/970) or a 480p DVD player.

Since the projector is 480p, does it produce a better picture when provided an upcoverted signal (say a1080i or 720p from an Oppo 971/970), which it downscles to 480p....or when it is fed a good 480p signal, which need not be messed with?

Any advice on this will be very helpful. Also any comments from those using the H31 with an Oppo 971 or 970?........Thanks for your feedback.

I've only owned my H31 for less than a month. In my first 10 hours of use everything was fine, I used my PJ w/my laptop & DVR STB w/out issue. Then I hooked up my OPPO, via DVI and chose 1080i, option 2, via the H31's menu and after 5 min of use @ this setting I got a FAN FAIL prompt on my screen and the picture went black. There was also a blinking orange temp light on the top of the H31. I shipped it back to the Vendor I purchased it at and they evaluated it and they were not able to reproduce this problem. Now it's on its way back to me. Is this a random problem that was a fluke thing or is this PJ problematic in this area. I hope I don't have to go to bat with Optoma's Cust Serv. I am hoping this was a glitch and never to repeat again. This PJ is just awesome and I am hopeful all will be well with my OPPO DVD and this unit. I've heard nothing but good things about this combo, and for the price it can't be beat. I just wish COSTCO had the H31 in stock because they would've swapped me out units with no questions asked. Visual Apex is another story, Had I not told them to return it to me they would've hit me for a 20% restock fee!!! NEXT!!!

I've only owned my H31 for less than a month. In my first 10 hours of use everything was fine, I used my PJ w/my laptop & DVR STB w/out issue. Then I hooked up my OPPO, via DVI and chose 1080i, option 2, via the H31's menu and after 5 min of use @ this setting I got a FAN FAIL prompt on my screen and the picture went black. There was also a blinking orange temp light on the top of the H31. I shipped it back to the Vendor I purchased it at and they evaluated it and they were not able to reproduce this problem. Now it's on its way back to me. Is this a random problem that was a fluke thing or is this PJ problematic in this area. I hope I don't have to go to bat with Optoma's Cust Serv. I am hoping this was a glitch and never to repeat again. This PJ is just awesome and I am hopeful all will be well with my OPPO DVD and this unit. I've heard nothing but good things about this combo, and for the price it can't be beat. I just wish COSTCO had the H31 in stock because they would've swapped me out units with no questions asked. Visual Apex is another story, Had I not told them to return it to me they would've hit me for a 20% restock fee!!! NEXT!!!

well, for one, dont use a 1080i output setting for a 480p PJ. use 480p output over DVI.

secondly, try all the inputs and use diff sources before you send anything out to service. that way they cant just blame it on your source. if you try diff cables, diff inputs, and diff sources, and its still broken, then "not being able to replicate the defect" would be impossible and you'd have an argument against them.

Actually I was feeding the PJ the 540p output from my OPPO. They actually didn't blame my problem on the source. They initially tested my PJ w/component inputs, then they tried it with a DVD with the same settings I was having issues with and they couldn't duplicate my Fan Fail prompt. I fed my PJ 480p, 720p and 1080i from my Moto DVR STB w/out any issues at all.

I got a good deal on a very slightly used H31 for my bedroom, so I bought it and am very happy with it. I've had it for about a week, but only received my screen in the mail today. So I have a few questions about setting it up. I've done the basic calibration via my avia disk, contrast and brightness. Is there a way to calibrate the RGB brightness and contrast settings that are accessible in the menu, with the AVIA disk? There is an extensive "tips and tweaks" thread on the Panny 900 that I referenced many times when I first got my 900, but I don't see a similar thread for the H31. I've read that this projector requires some calibration out of the box. Have settings been compiled that would be more accurate then what I can do with my AVIA disk? And finally, I moved my Oppo 971 from my main theater to my bedroom, and am using it with my H31. But having just plugged them in and watched a couple disks, I'm unable to get 1:1 pixel mapping. There is a boarder of unused pixels around the image from my Oppo. With my Panny 900, I could just turn on overscan and fill the screen, but I don't see that option in the menus of my H31. Is there a way, either in the Oppo or H31 menu, to fill the panel of my H31? I played with the zoom settings in the H31 menu, but that isn't what I'm looking for, it appears.

Thanks for any and all help.

Capek,

The underscanning (or slight downscaling) is a problem with the Oppo, and it doesn't look like there will be a firmware fix anytime soon. The H31 doesn't offer an overscan adjustment, so the only way to get the image to fill the frame is to use the H31's zoom function or its 1.85:1 full-screen mode. I decided it was better simply to zoom the lens so the border bleeds off the edge of the screen than to use the zoom or fullscreen mode because I wanted to do as little scaling as possible.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

I was hoping that someone, maybe one of the veterans, could help me in this thread. It "sort of" pertains to the H31 in that the mission is to sync my 4805 to 854x480. I have a 6600GT OC that currently runs 81.98 drivers @ 848x480-59.94Hz.

Louis mentioned in the first epic 4805 thread and another I came across yesterday that the secret was actually discovered somewhere in this thread. Well, I searched for quite a while and keep coming empty.

Can someone throw me a "freakin' bone"? This has become a personal quest now. How about just a link to the famous post?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone here.

Capek,

The underscanning (or slight downscaling) is a problem with the Oppo, and it doesn't look like there will be a firmware fix anytime soon. The H31 doesn't offer an overscan adjustment, so the only way to get the image to fill the frame is to use the H31's zoom function or its 1.85:1 full-screen mode. I decided it was better simply to zoom the lens so the border bleeds off the edge of the screen than to use the zoom or fullscreen mode because I wanted to do as little scaling as possible.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks a lot. I've decided to use zoom to fix the issue as well.

I have another question. I get pretty sever banding when watch anime content, which is about all I watch. I've only calibrated the brightness and contrast. I don't have the color filters to be able to calibrate what ever color settings the H31 has. It's paired with an OPPO 971. Is this projector know to have bad banding with anime content? Does anyone know of the tweaks necessary to get rid of most if not all of this banding? I can be quite distracting. Any suggestions at all would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

therealgeno, if that was my post you were searching for here's the deal:

Originally I couldn't get DVI-D to work at all, I had to send my unit back and at the same time Optoma added something to the basic program that made it easy to get 1:1 from this pj. It basically came back to me reflashed and working perfectly pixel mapped with my Nvidia 6800.

Since then I bought the OPPO and haven't looked back.

I was hoping that someone, maybe one of the veterans, could help me in this thread. It "sort of" pertains to the H31 in that the mission is to sync my 4805 to 854x480. I have a 6600GT OC that currently runs 81.98 drivers @ 848x480-59.94Hz.

Louis mentioned in the first epic 4805 thread and another I came across yesterday that the secret was actually discovered somewhere in this thread. Well, I searched for quite a while and keep coming empty.

Can someone throw me a "freakin' bone"? This has become a personal quest now. How about just a link to the famous post?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone here.

you'll have to pm him. i know exactly what you're talking about. if you search by username you may be able to find it. he talked about it again just about 2 months or so ago. i tried searching, but i couldn't find it. i'd just pm him.

I just wanted to post up and thank everyone who has contributed to this thread thus far. I just got my H31 and it looks beautiful. I had to read all of the pages to see if there had been a method to fix the digital DVI detect and HTPC tearing problems. I unboxed the H31, connected it to my PC (nVidia 7900GS video card) via a 6 foot dual link DVI-D cable, and it detected with no problems. I used to see some tearing when watching video, but I was able to fix that by upping the refresh rate to 75hz. I do have a question about pixel-mapping though. When I initially set the proj. up, I used 854 x 480 and the picture quality wasn't all that good. I switched it to 848 x 480 and now it looks great! I think it is pixel-mapped now though. I thought the res. of the H31 was supposed to be 854 x 480? I have been watching movies, browsing the internet using my wireless trackball keyboard, and playing games (F.E.A.R. and Elder Scrolls Oblivion mostly.) Since I am only running at 848 x 480 and have a decent video card, I can push all the video settings to the max (and enable HDR) and the games look great. I'm glad I came across this thread, as it influenced me to buy the H31.

well, for one, dont use a 1080i output setting for a 480p PJ. use 480p output over DVI.

Isn't that the point of the OPPO as an upscaling DVD player?. The presumption being the OPPO synthesizes new pixels to make the DVD source content look similar to HD content...

In my experience HD tv looks better on the H31 than DVDs despite the HD content being downconverted in the projector. Using component inputs I prefer my cable box set to output 720P instead of 480P. If I had an OPPO I'd try 480P and 720P settings and choose whichever looked more appealing.

Isn't that the point of the OPPO as an upscaling DVD player?. The presumption being the OPPO synthesizes new pixels to make the DVD source content look similar to HD content...

In my experience HD tv looks better on the H31 than DVDs despite the HD content being downconverted in the projector. Using component inputs I prefer my cable box set to output 720P instead of 480P. If I had an OPPO I'd try 480P and 720P settings and choose whichever looked more appealing.

The point of the Oppo (for the H31) was the DVI output. If you upscale DVD (480i) to 1080i, the H31 will have to downscale it to 480 again. So now you are using the scalers in the Oppo and the H31. It's best to use the scaler in just one device if possible, the Oppo or the H31.

HD can look better than DVD since it's a better source. But there is HD over my cable (compressed) that looks worse than some of my best DVD's.

Better sources always look better. As you have probably observed, there are DVD's that look like crap, then there are DVD's that almost look HD like....yet they all have the same resolution.

I have a Momitsu DVI player and it doesn't look any better @ 720 or 1080 into my H31. I have it set for 480 over DVI.

Fleaman

after 1.5 years of enjoyment of my h31, I noticed yesterday that the upper line of the picture is not parallel to the bottom line. The line has an upward angel to the left. This is the full frame of the picture including the normal black bars. Any idea how to correct this. All settings to influence the frame (keystone and so on) are zero. I also did not change the angle of projection.
Also I noticed a very small greenish yellow haze on the bottem right corner of the picture. Not annoying but for me noticeable - I had this for a while but since it is not that dramatic I am not majorly concerned. I just hope it does not increase - then there will be a problem.
Any ideas on possible solutions would be appreciated.

RE: The angle....check your screen, could be its not mounted flat and its giving you the illusion of a keystone-type problem.

RE: the discoloring.....I think dust. Either on the lens (try some lens cleaning cloths), or possibly in the optics.

Doesn't the H31 have sealed optics?

Better sources always look better. As you have probably observed, there are DVD's that look like crap, then there are DVD's that almost look HD like....yet they all have the same resolution.

Very well said - I agree completely.

Dave

Doesn't the H31 have sealed optics?

Sealed does not mean there was no dust in there to begin with...could be some dust had shifted inside the optics, could be a little dust got "in"...the light engine is sealed, I'm NOT sure if the lens assembly is sealed, and "sealed" may not mean "Airtight" :)

The Point: Eliminate the easy/obvious sources first, if it persists, Optoma has a great warranty....but no sense sending it in if he doesn't need to.

Too true, at "1.5 years" it's time to make sure you don't have to send it in - remember it's a 2 year warranty.

You guys are great taking time to help me - I will try these things and keep you up to date.

Tried all suggestions last night and the problem still exists. I lined up the bottom picture with the black line of the end of the screen and it clearly shows the top line of the picture an upward angel to the left. It certainly is not parallel.
Will talk to Optoma to have a look at it. Still under warranty and I assume they will check the entires system and clean at the same time and might even update the firmware if necessary.
thanks for all the help

I'd be very interested to find out what the problem was... Let me know if you get the time, when you find out! Hope everything gets fixed for free =)

My H31 still rocking, little over 600 hrs.Perfect

Doesn't the H31 have sealed optics?

rbastedo,

Based on a similar assumption, I have been reckless of not protecting the H31 from dust (bad idea). To my shock, an abstract wavering shadow appeared during Waterworld movie (on Universal HD). I removed the lamp assembly (for the first time) and I saw a lot of lint-like (single threads) dust on the other side of the thermal/protective window and one thread on the color wheel. Since the machine is still (supposedly) under an extended warranty, I resisted a temptation to take the bottom cover off. Luckily, the shadow has disappeared (so far...).

Has anybody had a similar experience?
Thanks.

Mike

Hello All,
Thanks to this forum I bought a brand new H31 off Ebay from $699 ($599 after rebate). Built me a DIY screen using the screen section of the forum. I used 1/8 board from Home Depot using the FN'in Easy method. $70 for all screen materials. Got a aircraft aluminum ceiling mount off Ebay for $50. So all told I am into this project $720 and the results I got after hooking it all up was stunning. My first thought are those poor lemmings shelling out money for big screen TV's. Using my region free Phillips DVD player via component I watched Fight Club, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Luc Besson's new film Angel A. Picture was tack-sharp and super colorful. I was completely sold but then I watched some TV shows on DVD (X Files and ST Voyager) and was taken aback by the soft fuzzy picture coming off the screen. Is this a matter of an inferior medium (video vs. film), jamming too much data on the TV DVD's, or maybe something I'm doing wrong in my settings. My DVD player has three choices: 16:9, 4:3PS and 4:3LB. Not sure what the difference is between PS and LB. But I chose 4:3 PS and hit 4:3 on the H31. Still looks very soft. Any ideas???

My H31 still rocking, little over 600 hrs.Perfect

hi, is there a way to see how many hours are on the lamp ?

hi, is there a way to see how many hours are on the lamp ?
menu then click on bulb. it will tell ya

i've connected my pc to the h31 with a 5M vga cable and a vga-dvi adaptor but the picture i got was awful,i'm seeing everything slightly twice if you know what i mean...

i had the h30 before and a worst display card but the picture looked fine then
what am i doing wrong?

btw,my display card now is nvidia GeForce4 MX 440

i've connected my pc to the h31 with a 5M vga cable and a vga-dvi adaptor but the picture i got was awful,i'm seeing everything slightly twice if you know what i mean...

i had the h30 before and a worst display card but the picture looked fine then
what am i doing wrong?

btw,my display card now is nvidia GeForce4 MX 440

VGA to DVI? That won't work. If your computer only has VGA, then you would need a VGA to RCA to use the component input (analog).

VGA is analog and DVI is digital....an adapter cable isn't gonna change that.

You need to run DVI from your computer to use the H31 DVI input. The H30 didn't have DVI. If you computer doesn't have a DVI out, then you have to use a VGA to component.

Fleaman

Hey, I've had my H31 for almost 2 years now and love it. What a great little machine. Recently though, I've noticed a lot of white "fuzzies" that are being projected both inside and outside the projection screen area (that is around my 92" screen). They are most visible in a dark scene. Any one else have this type of issue?

I sent it back to Optoma and they cleaned the lens. When I got it back, it still had the white fuzzies so sent if back again. They are now saying this is normal - though I know they were not there before. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Mark

VGA to DVI? That won't work. If your computer only has VGA, then you would need a VGA to RCA to use the component input (analog).

VGA is analog and DVI is digital....an adapter cable isn't gonna change that.

You need to run DVI from your computer to use the H31 DVI input. The H30 didn't have DVI. If you computer doesn't have a DVI out, then you have to use a VGA to component.

Fleaman

your right...the H-30 was connected with a vga-component adaptor but i tought that because the H-31 had DVI-Analog it will work
i guess i was wrong

tell me plz...is it even worth it?
what can i get from an analog input?
i guess that if i have a HD movie on my pc it will still look bad

Hey, I've had my H31 for almost 2 years now and love it. What a great little machine. Recently though, I've noticed a lot of white "fuzzies" that are being projected both inside and outside the projection screen area (that is around my 92" screen). They are most visible in a dark scene. Any one else have this type of issue?

I sent it back to Optoma and they cleaned the lens. When I got it back, it still had the white fuzzies so sent if back again. They are now saying this is normal - though I know they were not there before. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Mark

Those are probably dust blobs. They can accumulate anywhere in the light path. Optoma should be able to clean them. I have a couple of those blobs way outside the screen area, so I don't worry about them.

Fleaman

your right...the H-30 was connected with a vga-component adaptor but i tought that because the H-31 had DVI-Analog it will work
i guess i was wrong

tell me plz...is it even worth it?
what can i get from an analog input?
i guess that if i have a HD movie on my pc it will still look bad

Well, it has a DVI-I which is different than a DVI-D. The 'I' has 4 extra pins that allow for an analog pass through. But you have to have a DVI-I cable (which are harder to find that you might think) and a device that allows for DVI-I to work (also not common).

Really, there is no point in using the DVI-I on the H31 if you don't have a DVI device. In fact, I think there is more shielding on the RCA component cables than the analog wires on a real DVI-I cable. Just get an VGA to component cable and use the component input on the H31.

While I use DVI on my H31, once I had calibrated both the DVI and components inputs on the H31, I really couldn't tell any difference in quality between them.

What matters most with picture quality is the source. No doubt that since you had an H30, you have noticed that some DVD's look horrid while others practically look HD like. And HD, while much better, doesn't eliminate this. Either way, feed your H31 with a good source, like a good HD movie, and it should look spectacular, whether you use a real DVI or the component input.

BTW, one quirk of H31's is that most of them seemed to be better calibrated out of the box with the DVI input, hence one of the reasons to use DVI.

Fleaman

Well, it has a DVI-I which is different than a DVI-D. The 'I' has 4 extra pins that allow for an analog pass through. But you have to have a DVI-I cable (which are harder to find that you might think) and a device that allows for DVI-I to work (also not common).

Really, there is no point in using the DVI-I on the H31 if you don't have a DVI device. In fact, I think there is more shielding on the RCA component cables than the analog wires on a real DVI-I cable. Just get an VGA to component cable and use the component input on the H31.

While I use DVI on my H31, once I had calibrated both the DVI and components inputs on the H31, I really couldn't tell any difference in quality between them.

What matters most with picture quality is the source. No doubt that since you had an H30, you have noticed that some DVD's look horrid while others practically look HD like. And HD, while much better, doesn't eliminate this. Either way, feed your H31 with a good source, like a good HD movie, and it should look spectacular, whether you use a real DVI or the component input.

BTW, one quirk of H31's is that most of them seemed to be better calibrated out of the box with the DVI input, hence one of the reasons to use DVI.

Fleaman

ok,now i understand better but i still got a few questions...

i will have to use an extension vga cable any way couse a long vga component cable costs a lot and i already have the extension cable,will it effect the picture quality?
do you think that my display card will do a good job at transferring the picture?
if not,can you recommend a card that is more suitable for me?

ok,now i understand better but i still got a few questions...

i will have to use an extension vga cable any way couse a long vga component cable costs a lot and i already have the extension cable,will it effect the picture quality?
do you think that my display card will do a good job at transferring the picture?
if not,can you recommend a card that is more suitable for me?

Well, if you have that 5m vga to vga cable you will still need to break that out to component. I think the problem you will run into is that cable is probably male/male yet a VGA to component cable adapter will probably have a male vga end and you won't be able to attach it to your vga cable. You will probably have to get a male to female VGA adapter and a VGA to component. Check out RAM cables (top of this page, avs sponsor). I don't think any of this will affect your pic quality noticeably.

As for your computer display card? I know nothing about them, other than if it only does vga, you should get one that has dvi. You should ask this question in the Home Theater computer section of AVS (it has it's own forum).

EDIT: I will add that in the beginning the H31 had problems with computers and DVI. There was no problem with dvd players that had dvi output (which I use), but many had problems with computers over DVI. I think it might have been a handshake problem between the computer and the PJ. I think this might of been fixed with an software update but not entirely sure.

Fleaman

Those are probably dust blobs. They can accumulate anywhere in the light path. Optoma should be able to clean them. I have a couple of those blobs way outside the screen area, so I don't worry about them.

Fleaman
Thanks Fleaman - I figured they were dust blobs, but there are so many they create a "haze" almost around the screen (in dark scenes). When I described it on the phone to Optoma (the second time) they thought it was the light engine (sealed so you have to replace it). Then they came back with, well, "thats how all the h31 projectors are . . .". Hate to send it back a third time but my warranty is almost up . . . if they should replace the light engine - i'd like it done under warranty! Just trying to get a scale as to how "normal" this is for H31's.

Thanks

Well, if you have that 5m vga to vga cable you will still need to break that out to component. I think the problem you will run into is that cable is probably male/male yet a VGA to component cable adapter will probably have a male vga end and you won't be able to attach it to your vga cable. You will probably have to get a male to female VGA adapter and a VGA to component. Check out RAM cables (top of this page, avs sponsor). I don't think any of this will affect your pic quality noticeably.

As for your computer display card? I know nothing about them, other than if it only does vga, you should get one that has dvi. You should ask this question in the Home Theater computer section of AVS (it has it's own forum).

EDIT: I will add that in the beginning the H31 had problems with computers and DVI. There was no problem with dvd players that had dvi output (which I use), but many had problems with computers over DVI. I think it might have been a handshake problem between the computer and the PJ. I think this might of been fixed with an software update but not entirely sure.

Fleaman

the extension vga cable is male to female so there's no problem

if you said that you saw no difference between DVI and component then i'll stay with the vga for now

many tnx for your help :)

if you said that you saw no difference between DVI and component then i'll stay with the vga for now

many tnx for your help :)

Right, once calibrated. Out of the box, odds are your DVI would be better (due to better calibration).

Also note that I was comparing the component of a Panny XP30 (considered one of the best dvd players for component) and the DVI of a Momitsu dvd player (also one of the best for DVI players). So a rather level playing field.

Fleaman

Right, once calibrated. Out of the box, odds are your DVI would be better (due to better calibration).

Also note that I was comparing the component of a Panny XP30 (considered one of the best dvd players for component) and the DVI of a Momitsu dvd player (also one of the best for DVI players). So a rather level playing field.

Fleaman

i'm using the DVI with the famous oppo 971 so i have a good picture to compare

Bulb Reminder sucks. To turn off go to the system menu and then to bulb and then use the buttons on the pj itself to turn the bulb counter back to 0. Next time you boot the pj up no reminder. :D btw it's lamp reset on you want. It'd be nice to know how many hours the bulb has on it but the only way to have that and no warning is to remember how many hours was on it before and then add the new ones to that. Optoma pissed me off a lot because this reminder came only after ~1000 hrs. The bulb should last 3000 from what they say. Seems like a scam to get you afraid and buy a new $300 bulb optoma probably makes for $50.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/5189/dscn3511la3.jpg

Just wanted to thank you guys for pointing me in the direction of the H31. I will have to part with it, due to space constraints in my new place, but it has been well worth my while :-)

That's a shame- no way to shoehorn it in? That's the sucky part about the limited zoom lense and lack of lense shift, but hey- that's what you get for the $! :p You shouldn't have any trouble selling it, it's a great PJ.

Just wanted to thank you guys for pointing me in the direction of the H31. I will have to part with it, due to space constraints in my new place, but it has been well worth my while :-)

My H31 is only about 9ft from my 60" wide screen. Because of the shape of my room, it had to be on the short wall. No problem here.

Even if I were in a smaller space, I would still consider it...50" screen? Still better than a plasma I think.

Fleaman

Bummed. My hours are at 1470 on low lamp mode in a non-smoking, dedicated theater space and I'm now getting a "Replace Lamp Soon" message whenever I fire up the projector. Anyone know if it is normal to start getting this message at those hours? I have to turn the lamp reminder off every time I use my projector now because that message just keeps popping up. Thought this projector was rated at much higher hours.

Bummed. My hours are at 1470 on low lamp mode in a non-smoking, dedicated theater space and I'm now getting a "Replace Lamp Soon" message whenever I fire up the projector. Anyone know if it is normal to start getting this message at those hours? I have to turn the lamp reminder off every time I use my projector now because that message just keeps popping up. Thought this projector was rated at much higher hours.

I wouldn't worry about that, I think that just pops up when you hit a certain number of hours. Look at post #4438 for instructions on how to turn it off (AKA, reset the hours to 0). I feel like kind of an idiot for not figuring that out before now, but turning off that lamp warning reminder just became part of my normal power-up routine.

And for what it's worth, my setup sounds similar to yours and I'm at 3888 hours. Well, actually, I'm at 0, but that's because I just reset it.

i'm about to purchase a 96" carada classic white screen. it will be place in a room with 100% light control. does anyone see any reason why i should go with the brilliant white (1.4) as opposed to classic white(1.0)? thanks!

Wow, 3888 hours on the same lamp - any secrets how you care for the lamp? Do you notice a dimmer image having so many hours on the lamp?

" And for what it's worth, my setup sounds similar to yours and I'm at 3888 hours. Well, actually, I'm at 0, but that's because I just reset it."

Heh heh, that puts you near half life. Someone posted they were over 7000hrs and still going.

Wow, 3888 hours on the same lamp - any secrets how you care for the lamp? Do you notice a dimmer image having so many hours on the lamp?
I didn't really do anything special, except that I tried to always leave it on for at least an hour (no short cycle powerups and powerdowns), and tried to let it cool off for at least an hour after shutdown before turning it back on again. Heck, I rarely even closed to lens cover.


I must have jinxed myself, because about 10 or 12 (usage) hours after I reset the lamp hour counter and posted about it, my bulb went out. Glad I waited until it went out before purchasing another one, since I found it on sale for about $50 less than I had seen previously. That helped me to justify going with 2 day shipping for an extra $9.

If I can get the new lamp to last about the same, I should get a year and a half to two years out of it. Although depending on what shakes out with HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray in the next year, I might not be able to last that long. But I'm sure there will be some awesome projectors at very reasonable prices. And it will give me time to research and plan for the 2.35 CIH setup I want to go with...

Well I just ordered this projector as my starter projector. From projector people! I hope the 480p res can hold me over until next year. I have a HD-XA1 HD-DVD player, anyone else have HD-DVD running on this projector? How does it perform?

I'll have a 92" screen sitting about 11-12 ft away!

Well I just ordered this projector as my starter projector. From projector people! I hope the 480p res can hold me over until next year. I have a HD-XA1 HD-DVD player, anyone else have HD-DVD running on this projector? How does it perform?

I'll have a 92" screen sitting about 11-12 ft away!
Any H31 owners still reading this Thread?

Well I just ordered this projector as my starter projector. From projector people! I hope the 480p res can hold me over until next year. I have a HD-XA1 HD-DVD player, anyone else have HD-DVD running on this projector? How does it perform?

I'll have a 92" screen sitting about 11-12 ft away!


Hey cnick, I have a 360 with the HD-DVD add-on running on an SP4805. Honestly, I'm upgrading as soon as possible. HD-DVD looks a little better than DVD on 480p (at least on my setup), but it truly needs 720p to stretch it's legs IMO.

I know that doesn't answer your question, but I just wanted to share my experience as 480p PJ owner.

Sure! I sit 12 feet from a 96" screen with my H31, great PJ. I've had it for 2 years now and I'm finally going to upgrade to 720P. Too bad, I would have made you a great deal on mine! Enjoy!

Thanks guys! I just needed a projector to get me started. I'm sure the PQ will be satisfactory. I have my 50" set down stairs, but a 92" picture just can't be bad :D

mobius- I'm upgrading, this time next year, to one of the now "new" 1080p projectors. Thinking it'll be the Epson one. I have a year to sit back and watch the waters!

Thanks guys! I just needed a projector to get me started. I'm sure the PQ will be satisfactory. I have my 50" set down stairs, but a 92" picture just can't be bad :D

mobius- I'm upgrading, this time next year, to one of the now "new" 1080p projectors. Thinking it'll be the Epson one. I have a year to sit back and watch the waters!



Ahso. I'm going 720p now, and will upgrade to 1080p once we get some frikken laser beams in our front projectors. :D

What type of DVI to HDMI adaptor do you need for this projector? The manual says the port is a DVI-I port.
Would this adaptor work........
http://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/20293.jpg

with this DVI port?
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/cnickersonjr/HTbuildAVS/DVIport.jpg

This is pic of a DVI-D female connection. I'm confused. So does the DVI-I port accept both DVI-I and DVI-D male connections?


http://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/26752.jpg

I believe you can use a DVI-D female connector with a DVI-I chassis mount so the monoprice HDMI-DVI adaptor would work fine. The -D stands for dual link, but is not active or a problem when connected to a single link DVI port.

Do not upgrade to 2.1 as their are reported issues with some DVI HDTVs.

-Robert

Anyone else with knowledge of DVI ports? See above post!

What exactly is the diffence between the different Image modes? Fim, Video, Graphics and PC. Film looks bland with a low white point but it seems to have the best gamma curve. Video seems to slightly change gamma. Graphics further changes gamma, makes colors seem much more saturated (almost too saturated) with a much higher white point and better contrast. PC goes all out with strange looking gamma, an extremely bright white and (too me) oversaturated colors. Putting up a the color bars test image you can notice the difference they have on the secondary colors. I thought it was adjusting the White Peaking option but in all these modes it's set to 0 and can be brought higher.

Any ideas? I'm using the Graphics mode with the color temperature numbers guitarman posted in 480p with component.

Actually DVI-I is dual link...it has the 4 extra pins ( the '+' pattern) that allow for analog (RGB) signals. DVI-D is digital only.

The H31 is DVI-I capable, but hardly any source (dvd player, cable box, etc) is. You can use DVI-I or DVI-D cables on the H31, but you will find it difficult to even source a DVI-I dual link cable. Most (if not all) use DVI-D cables or adapter plugs.

fleaman

What exactly is the diffence between the different Image modes? Fim, Video, Graphics and PC. Film looks bland with a low white point but it seems to have the best gamma curve. Video seems to slightly change gamma. Graphics further changes gamma, makes colors seem much more saturated (almost too saturated) with a much higher white point and better contrast. PC goes all out with strange looking gamma, an extremely bright white and (too me) oversaturated colors. Putting up a the color bars test image you can notice the difference they have on the secondary colors. I thought it was adjusting the White Peaking option but in all these modes it's set to 0 and can be brought higher.

Any ideas? I'm using the Graphics mode with the color temperature numbers guitarman posted in 480p with component.

The different modes are just Optoma's idea as to what calibrations work best with different sources. Of course this is just Optoma's rough guess and of course it's all moot until you calibrate your PJ with Avia. EVERY H31 is different from the factory...Optoma does not calibrate their Pj's. Using someone else’s calibration #'s might be fun and you might get lucky, but usually not. If you are dead set against calibration and want to use someone’s #'s, at least use the DVI input (they vary less) and the Film mode, your 'luck' would be better.

Fleaman

Actually DVI-I is dual link...it has the 4 extra pins ( the '+' pattern) that allow for analog (RGB) signals. DVI-D is digital only.

The H31 is DVI-I capable, but hardly any source (dvd player, cable box, etc) is. You can use DVI-I or DVI-D cables on the H31, but you will find it difficult to even source a DVI-I dual link cable. Most (if not all) use DVI-D cables or adapter plugs.

fleaman
Thank you soo much. Great.

Good article about the different types of DVI (-D, -A, and -I):
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/dvi/dvicabletypes.htm

Some comments over in my construction thread. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10235736&&#post10235736)
This baby can perform!


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/cnickersonjr/HTbuildAVS/2007_0325H310005.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/cnickersonjr/HTbuildAVS/2007_0325H310004.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/cnickersonjr/HTbuildAVS/2007_0325H310010.jpg

Fleaman, I wrote my observations of each of the different image modes AFTER calibration with DVE. There doesn't seem to be any way to get the white level and contrast ratio of Graphics mode by using Film mode.

Also, since the H31 has ample brightness, I put on an ND2 filter to reduce some of it. It did so, but it was still very bright. I then purchased an ND4 filter and, just for fun, put both of them on the projector. The black level was excellent but it was a bit too dim so I'm just using the ND4.

I'm thinking about getting this for my H31. Dumb question, but can you use it without the arm?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082803&p_id=3010&seq=1&format=2&style=

I don't think I'll be ceiling mounting mine anytime soon. I don't like using long cables so I have all my stuff - DVD Player, Cable box Playstation - all in the stand with it with the audio cables running under the rug. I have it set up in such a way that I can go from an 1.85:1 image to a 2.35:1 one by setting Lens Preset 1 and zooming in. I kind of have to have the projector sitting right in my face to feel safe.

One last question: Does anyone know the measured contrast ratio of the H31? ANSI or On/Off?

One last question: Does anyone know the measured contrast ratio of the H31? ANSI or On/Off?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5214523&&#post5214523

WOW. I just finished "The Pursuit of Happyness". This projector continues to impress me. I'm running 480p out of component with my XA1. This dvd's pq is amazing. I'm content with my 480p projector. Great value I got here with this projector. Which is why I didn't sell it. I can wait for 1080p to come down to my level, then I'll upgrade.

WOW. I just finished "The Pursuit of Happyness". This projector continues to impress me. I'm running 480p out of component with my XA1. This dvd's pq is amazing. I'm content with my 480p projector. Great value I got here with this projector. Which is why I didn't sell it. I can wait for 1080p to come down to my level, then I'll upgrade.
Have you tried SD with your XA1? I am debating getting a used A1 for my bedroom if I can find one cheap, but I figure it will have the color space/crushed blacks etc HDMI/DVI issues that have been reported ad nauseam. Could you test out a couple SD DVDs and let me know how they look? I guess I could take my A1 from my theater room and try it out for myself, but since my A1 is basically perfect, I'm paranoid to even look at it wrong, let alone move it. :o

Have you tried SD with your XA1? I am debating getting a used A1 for my bedroom if I can find one cheap, but I figure it will have the color space/crushed blacks etc HDMI/DVI issues that have been reported ad nauseam. Could you test out a couple SD DVDs and let me know how they look? I guess I could take my A1 from my theater room and try it out for myself, but since my A1 is basically perfect, I'm paranoid to even look at it wrong, let alone move it. :o
That was a SD-DVD. The HD-DVD's look better than that. That's why I'm content, at the moment, with this 480p projector. This is over component cables too because I am having the DVI issues. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10298263&&#post10298263) So I loose the ability to upconvert my SD-DVD's, but do I need that on a 480p projector? I say no. The SD-DVD's look great and the HD-DVD's do too. Well except for the ones with bad transfers. You know the saying "trash in, trash out"

Ya, I love the way this projector performs with 1080i content from cable. I guess the only think keeping me from switching out my Oppo 971 for a used A1 is that I do have the occasional PAL disk. But I assume with the A1 that there is no overscan in conjunction with this projector? It would be nice to live without that. Hmm...

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/2224/20070325h31screens0008pp8.th.jpg (http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070325h31screens0008pp8.jpg)
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/2218/20070325h31screens0014we5.th.jpg (http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070325h31screens0014we5.jpg)
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/1275/20070325h31screens0015zq4.th.jpg (http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070325h31screens0015zq4.jpg)
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6094/20070325h31screens0016ww4.th.jpg (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070325h31screens0016ww4.jpg)
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6723/20070325h31screens0017by8.th.jpg (http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070325h31screens0017by8.jpg)
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/3350/20070325h31screens0018cs8.th.jpg (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070325h31screens0018cs8.jpg)

Looking good, Tex. Almost makes me want to go and fire up my H31 again. Shoot, I have yet to even see BD on mine. I found out component out from my HD-A1 looked pretty good, so...

hey everyone-

i've been a happy owner of the H31 since december of 2005 and have had zero problems with it till now. for some reason, it can't seem to find the component input. until now, i've only had a dvd player hooked up directly but i finally got my hands on a Wii today and switched things around and ran the dvd player and wii thru my HK avr 235 and then to the PJ. anyhow, the problem started before i shuffled things around but tonight i decided to try a process of elmination. i thought maybe the cable failed, but i hooked up the dvd player with another cable and still the same issue. is there some form or reset i can get to in the menu, sort of along the lines of the bulb hour reset? i'm at my wits end and any ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Hey Guys, I can't seem to find the DVI optimal settings posted earlier in this thread for the H31. Can anyone help me out? I'll be using an A1 with this guy if that makes a difference.

Mark,
I'd definately get it working without the receiver first. Try disabling the auto-scan for inputs and select component specifically. Make sure your red, green, and blue connectors are plugged in the correct order. Also, though I don't own a wii, many source devices require that you "enable" the component output in their settings. For my DVD player and cable box, neither sent video to the component outputs until I changed it from composite to component in their settings menus. Good luck.

I know this is a very simple question for most, if not all of you but not for me yet.
I have only used my H31 for movies/games thru component input so far, but have recently got access to cable. is there a way to get cable tv to the projector when i only have the coax line that goes thru a vhs, or do i have to get a cable box that has hdmi (this would cost me about $200 from shaw)
thanks,

dosdemoaner

Get a cable box for the tuner cababilities in edition to the HD channels, your cable provider shoud be able to rent you one of these for a few dollars. My cable box has component out, so I use that into my recieve which does the switching between cable, DVD, and PS2...

If you do get a cable box with HDMI then you will need to run a HDMI cable to your proj with a HDMI>>DVI converter...our h31s do not have HDMI, just DVI.

I know this is a very simple question for most, if not all of you but not for me yet.
I have only used my H31 for movies/games thru component input so far, but have recently got access to cable. is there a way to get cable tv to the projector when i only have the coax line that goes thru a vhs, or do i have to get a cable box that has hdmi (this would cost me about $200 from shaw)
thanks,
dosdemoaner
The projector is like a computer or a TV-studio monitor, it has no TV tuner.

I've been using a Motorola DVR (digital video recorder) rented from a cable company
with a HDMI to DVI connection (via a switcher from monoprice.com).
With a good "HDTV" source, the picture quality is great.
With a bad one, you get "garbage in - garbage out."
The DVR has two cable-TV tuners and two cable-HDTV tuners.
You may record two programs at the same time plus play back another one.

I think, cable TV is expensive, but the cost of renting the DVR plus the required TV guide are well worth it.

Mike

Is anybody here using PS3 with the H31?

Awhile back somebody posted a question about his HDMI to DVI connection
not working with PS3 and H31, but nobody responded (I think).

Please, anybody, anybody?

Mike

Mike,
I made that original post and I never got an answer if anyone was able to use a PS3 with the HDMI to DVI convertor. I tried everything I could think of to get it to work but gave up because I had a new HC1500 on the way (currently working great with the PS3).

I would still love to know how to get this working though...

The H31 is a great projector and has worked with everything else that I have thrown at it.

Hello Everyone,

I have a strange issue. I have had my H31 for a couple of years and the lamp had about 2500 hours on it, so I thought I would replace it. I ordered a new one and installed it, but now the projector won't turn on at all. I don't see the green light flashing or anything. I even reinstalled the old bulb and nothing happens with it either, the unit doesn't seem to power up.

Any ideas?

I don't have any answer unfortunately, but am I selling one if you're interested! :) It's even without bulb!

This may be simplistic, but are you sure the power button on the unit is in the on position?

maybe late to the party, but there is no 'on' position button on the H31, it just toggles on or off each time you press the button/hold it down. Being the poster had his H31 for a few years we can assume he knows how the turn it on.

That being said, he should unplug the AC from the unit for a few minutes....30 minutes if you can. That will usually reset the unit, then try again.

Good luck.

Check to see the trigger release thingy on the bulb door is doing what it's suppose to. Since the problem appeared by you just changing the bulb, could be you snapped it off. The point on the door is a small thin piece of plastic about 3/8" long and it pushes the metal toggle switch on the trigger inside the PJ.

I'm looking for a projection distance calculator for rear projection setup of my H31. All I can seem to find is a calculator for front setup.
Is it the same?
Can anyone help?
:confused:
Thanks

I'm looking for a projection distance calculator for rear projection setup of my H31. All I can seem to find is a calculator for front setup.
Is it the same?
Can anyone help?
:confused:
Thanks

I don't see why it would be different than front...as far as distance/size and offset is concerned. The only difference is reversing the image in the display menu so that things aren't backwards.

I don't see why it would be different than front...as far as distance/size and offset is concerned. The only difference is reversing the image in the display menu so that things aren't backwards.

Thanks fleaman,
I am doing a backyard theater for the kids, and will be projecting up against a screen (yet to be determined/built) against the shed. If I use front, the PJ has to be in the middle of the seating area, and I'm afraid the kids and cords won't mix. If I do rear, I can open the two doors of the shed, put the PJ all the way back, and I will have less cords, better light control, and hopefully a better experience all around!

Thanks!!:D

Well, on a front set up you can have all the kids behind the PJ, which isn't a bad idea since the H31 is only a 480p PJ anyway, so you don't want to sit too close to the screen. For the cords/cables, put a rug over them. Then you should sit by the PJ to 'guard' it and have someone else to take turns guarding when you have to do other things.

Yet your idea will work too, and be more 'elegant' set-up wise.

Is anybody here using PS3 with the H31?

Awhile back somebody posted a question about his HDMI to DVI connection
not working with PS3 and H31, but nobody responded (I think).

Please, anybody, anybody?

Mike

You might have gotten an answer to your question already. I any case my setup did have both the H31 PS3 and the onkyo 805. PS3==>805 via HDMI from 805====>H31 via this cable http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2505&seq=1&format=2 from monoprice.

It work flawlessly. hope this help

I also have a PS3 and it works fine with the H31 over hdmi.

Ditto. I as well JUST hooked my PS3 up to the H31 via HDMI to DVI. The difference in picture was absolutely incredible. I figured it would be a slight improvement, but boy was I wrong!

Before I had it hooked up to plain old composite. Even at the best focus, text looked a bit blurry. Not with HDMI, however! Sharp as a tack!

Well, after several years of great service, I upgraded from the H31 to the Mitsu HC4900. The Mitsu crapped out on me after 6 weeks, so I had to send it in for service. Luckily I still had my trusty ol' H31 to get me through... or so I thought.

Got the H31 mounted back up and turned it on. Within five minutes it had shut itself down, and was completely dead. No flashing orange light (as if the bulb had overheated), no nothing. I can unplug it for a while and get it to reset, but when I turn it on it always does the same thing. I even swapped out the old bulb for the new(er) bulb, same thing.

Anyone have any ideas about this? While I probably don't want to invest much money in getting it fixed, I was planning on keeping it for emergency use or maybe even outdoor or garage use. Hope I can get it back in working order...

I am having problems using the dvi input for my h31. I have been using component and just bought a 35 foot hdmi cable. I am having problems making it work though. I have gone in and switched the settings on the ps3 to hdmi but the h31 does not find any signal. Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Tim

I am having problems using the dvi input for my h31. I have been using component and just bought a 35 foot hdmi cable. I am having problems making it work though. I have gone in and switched the settings on the ps3 to hdmi but the h31 does not find any signal. Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Tim

Here's a shot in the dark, but do you have your source lock enabled? Set it to auto on the PJ.
If that's not it, what kind of HDMI to DVI adapter are you using?

I do have the lock source enabled. I am also using a monster ultra hdmi to dvi converter. I have read many post and know that it works, but i am just not getting the picture.

thanks

Try a short cable for a test. Make sure the device isn't sending 24fps or 1080p, send 1080i, 480p, 720p.