I am having problems with my temp light coming on. I power the projector on and within seconds of the BenQ logo appearing on my screen the lamp shuts down and the temp light turns solid red. The power light stays solid orange and the lamp light is not on. I have 0.49 firmware with about 300 hours on the projector. I guess I am calling BenQ again tomorrow.


Just a follow up on my temp problem. The projector came back from BenQ yesterday, (its not BenQ's fault it took so long, I kind of drug my feet a little on sending it to them), I hooked it up and it looks great again. I have no idea what was wrong because they never send me any paperwork on what work was done. I suppose it does not matter because it was under warranty and they fixed it for free, they even paid shipping both ways!!! Hopefully it will be a while until I have to send it in again for warranty work. (knock on wood) Even if I have to send it in again, I have no doubt that BenQ will take care of me. Every problem I have had with this projector has been taken care of right away and they were very courteous and professional.

Steve

I successfully loaded .29 Toshiba firmware on my MT700. The .29 firmware was released in July 2005, but unfortunately does not address the lamp issue. I think it fixes a black level issue. I got the firmware from a nice fellow here on AVS about a 1-1/2 years ago. It's not hard to do. You need the correct serial cable, the firmware hex file, and the communication software.

If anyone has access to the PE7700 .48/.49 firmware hex file, I'd love to give it a try in MT700! If all goes well, I'd even be willing to post a how to.

Regards,
Booji


Is there any update for your work?

Hi guys after having a problem with picture solarising on my pe7700 i got to the service menu touched the cw delay in the dlp section and all went back to normal again, once there i also fixed the gamma issue and i must say that the overall picture quality is quite impressive even tough i watch sd dvd from my htpc via hdmi using zoom player pro. Having said that yesterday i took the pj to the benq agent in Malta which he confirmed that they will upgrade my current version of software which is .44 to the famous .49 because apparently there are some technitans from the firm which will upgrade it here without me having to send the pj over to them. Now my only concern is that the agent called me today to tell me that the new software sets the speed of the fan so that the bulb stays cooler and it wont burn out prematurely and thats the only difference in the new software, is this true and should i have to set the cw delay again to get the picture without the solarising effect which i was seeing lately? bec when the pj was new it didn't show any and only after a reset that the solarising did show up.

Regards,
Joe

Hi guys after having a problem with picture solarising on my pe7700 i got to the service menu touched the cw delay in the dlp section and all went back to normal again, once there i also fixed the gamma issue and i must say that the overall picture quality is quite impressive even tough i watch sd dvd from my htpc via hdmi using zoom player pro. Having said that yesterday i took the pj to the benq agent in Malta which he confirmed that they will upgrade my current version of software which is .44 to the famous .49 because apparently there are some technitans from the firm which will upgrade it here without me having to send the pj over to them. Now my only concern is that the agent called me today to tell me that the new software sets the speed of the fan so that the bulb stays cooler and it wont burn out prematurely and thats the only difference in the new software, is this true and should i have to set the cw delay again to get the picture without the solarising effect which i was seeing lately? bec when the pj was new it didn't show any and only after a reset that the solarising did show up.

Regards,
Joe

Don't think we ever did hear exactly what was included in FW ver 0.49 except for the change in fan speed regulation. Color wheel settings were not affected.

What is interesting is that there was at least one newer version released 1.02. Why that is not being applied to all updates at this point is a mystery.

Joe

Received unit back with 1.02 firmware after bulb replacement affected fan in some way.
Back the way it was originally and all is well (almost). I live on an island and there are no calibration experts here so I rely heavily on this forum for adjustment tips, etc. The picture, color, etc. are all great except light backgrounds are too light...ex. hockey game, the ice looks so white you can't see the lines very well. Also a sunny scene sometimes washes out a lot of the picture. Can anyone give me an adjustment tip? Use HDMI, Cinema, Film,
Gamas @71, Color wheel 58, O IRE. Couldn't find after reading 142 pages. Thanks to all.

Don't mess with color wheel.
I started with Cinema, myself, then used the THX optimizer on any Disney movie to adjust it. Looks much better. I have DVE on HD DVD coming monday, that will be the best way to calibrate it. Then save to user settings 1. When it is light in my room I go to Family Room mode and high bulb brightness. When it gets dark I go back to eco on the bulb and load user settings 1.
Warren.

Having said that yesterday i took the pj to the benq agent in Malta which he confirmed that they will upgrade my current version of software which is .44 to the famous .49 because apparently there are some technitans from the firm which will upgrade it here without me having to send the pj over to them.

Is there any possibility that you could ask this Benq agent for a copy of the .49 firmware file? Please? I'd really like to try it on the MT700, but have been unable to locate it. Toshiba has not issued an update since 2005 for some reason.

Received unit back with 1.02 firmware after bulb replacement affected fan in some way.
Back the way it was originally and all is well (almost). I live on an island and there are no calibration experts here so I rely heavily on this forum for adjustment tips, etc. The picture, color, etc. are all great except light backgrounds are too light...ex. hockey game, the ice looks so white you can't see the lines very well. Also a sunny scene sometimes washes out a lot of the picture. Can anyone give me an adjustment tip? Use HDMI, Cinema, Film,
Gamas @71, Color wheel 58, O IRE. Couldn't find after reading 142 pages. Thanks to all.

Look at Kevin Anderson's posts on calibration settings (just do a "calibration" search on the thread) for suggested settings. On a quick note, if your pic is too white, you need to adjust the contrast (white level) down at the Picture menu. You might consider buying a copy of Avia or DVE to help with calibration, or a THX calibration on one of your DVD movies.

Just for the heck of it, what is everyone showing as the factory default for DLP in the service menu? graphic with 5XSLR?

Just for the heck of it, what is everyone showing as the factory default for DLP in the service menu? graphic with 5XSLR?


Yep.

Is there any possibility that you could ask this Benq agent for a copy of the .49 firmware file? Please? I'd really like to try it on the MT700, but have been unable to locate it. Toshiba has not issued an update since 2005 for some reason.

Sorry mate he also refused to upgrade the software at my home and i think it was easier for him as my source of movie watching is the htpc and easier for me bec i had to remove it from the ceiling but he refused to give me a copy of the connection software and the hex program

I've been experiencing an annoying problem with the HDMI connection on my PE-7700. Wondering if anyone else is having this problem.

From my Onkyo DVD player, when I initially start the projector on HDMI mode, I get snow on the screen. The only way I can get this to work is to unplug and replug in the HDMI cable from my DVD player. I've tried swapping it out with a different DVD player but same problem.

When I plug the HDMI cable into my PVR, I get a blue tint on the image.

Anyone out there that can confirm this is a projector problem?

Thanks.

I'm seeing something that sounds similar. I have a directv hd dvr outputing hdmi, switched through a denon receiver to my pe7700. ever since upgrading from component to hdmi, when I initially turn the setup on I get a tinted image. I can "fix" it by switching the input to component and back to hdmi, but it's annoying. I don't know which component is the problem, but (slowly) searching the forum for information.

found information on accessing the factory menu, where I can adjust the overscan. boy, that made my day, I was getting pretty sick of that blinking line. although, now every time I pull up the OSD, it's the factory menu, rather than the consumer menu. is there any way to go back to the consumer menu?

edit: silly me, I found the "return User OSD" menu entry

Sounds a little like what I have, but through testing it seems to be my source player. First it has never happen to my Oppo 971h DVD upscale/player or my Sammy DVD.

I just installed an A2 HD-DVD and if I power up the source player(Tosh) first and then the PE7700 my image is tinted all RED. I have to start up the PE7700 PJ first or it red city, but I feel this is a player problem on my system anyway.

Hope this helps a little. :)

My pj was out for 13 days in transit and in a shop to repair the fan issue that was recurring. 2nd start up after getting it back on the ceiling and the fan issue light sequence starts again. Maddening, really. Funny thing is I reset the lamp timer before sending it in and when I get it back there is only 3 minutes on it. Someone else mentioned this may be an issue suffered only by ceiling mount users. Anyone have fan issues with a table top configuration?

I've used my 7700 for 21 months, with a table top setup ,with no fan problems.

StartPacking, what firmware do you have?

I am newbie to this forum. And interested in PE7700.
After serach ebay,I found it is only cost US $899.99 from a ebay seller hometheatermen.

Is there any problem with PE7700? Why so cheap. Please help.

I am newbie to this forum. And interested in PE7700.
After serach ebay,I found it is only cost US $899.99 from a ebay seller hometheatermen.

Is there any problem with PE7700? Why so cheap. Please help.

Hi Zhutfang and welcome to the forum,

The pricing on 720p front pj's has dropped considerably in the past year. There is at least one new 720 pj that is below $1000. You should check out the deal Projector People one of the forum sponsers has now on the Optoma HD 70, amazing!! I purchased my 7700 from them and they are among the best vendors on the net.

As to the 7700, search back on this thread and you will understand all the frustration we experienced over lamp failures with this pj. All seems good now. BenQ lived up to it's reputation and eventually solved the problem. My unit has 1800 hours on the lamp after the fix.

If you do consider the 7700 either new or used make sure the build date is May '06 or later and the firmware is v.0.49 or higher.

Good luck,

Joe

My pj was out for 13 days in transit and in a shop to repair the fan issue that was recurring. 2nd start up after getting it back on the ceiling and the fan issue light sequence starts again. Maddening, really. Funny thing is I reset the lamp timer before sending it in and when I get it back there is only 3 minutes on it. Someone else mentioned this may be an issue suffered only by ceiling mount users. Anyone have fan issues with a table top configuration?

Ask them to specifically check/change the thermal sensor.

Hello I have two brand new bulbs unused listed on ebay for $350, item 150124209859, if any one is interested. I will tell everyone now that they were purchased for my MT700 but I believe the bulbs are compatible. Please let me know if they are not and I will correct my auction. Thanks.

My 7700 put up a message last night saying something like the bulb's hour life was up and to replace the bulb soon. I went into the PJ menu, hit exit, and the message went away. I have about 1300 hours on the bulb running in high mode, have not noticed any appreciable dimming. What's up with this message? I haven't turned the projector back on to see if it recurs.

My 7700 put up a message last night saying something like the bulb's hour life was up and to replace the bulb soon. I went into the PJ menu, hit exit, and the message went away. I have about 1300 hours on the bulb running in high mode, have not noticed any appreciable dimming. What's up with this message? I haven't turned the projector back on to see if it recurs.

As an aside (I have no idea what's up with the message), can I ask you if you're satisfied with the PQ and, especially, the brightness of your PJ? Your comment about not seeing much dimming after 1300 hours interests me, since I just sold my Panny AE900 because I found it became a bit too dim for my tastes after about 950 hours.

Hello,

I'm having trouble getting an Oppo 981HD working over HDMI. On power-up with a DVD loaded it will show the banner screen and 'loading' in the left hand corner. It looks like after loading completes the screen goes black. I can cycle through the available player resolutions and the projector will show the resolution change, but all I get is a black screen. The player works fine over S-video. Has anybody seen this issue?

Thanks

Hello,

I'm having trouble getting an Oppo 981HD working over HDMI. On power-up with a DVD loaded it will show the banner screen and 'loading' in the left hand corner. It looks like after loading completes the screen goes black. I can cycle through the available player resolutions and the projector will show the resolution change, but all I get is a black screen. The player works fine over S-video. Has anybody seen this issue?

Thanks

Got it working. It was fixed with a power-off using the projector's main power switch. After the projector was restarted everything worked fine. I suspect it's an HDMI handshaking issue. The HDMI port was previously connected to a computer. For some reason, restarting the power re-synchs the projector to the new HDMI source. Cycling from standby mode using the remote doesn't do it.

As an aside (I have no idea what's up with the message), can I ask you if you're satisfied with the PQ and, especially, the brightness of your PJ? Your comment about not seeing much dimming after 1300 hours interests me, since I just sold my Panny AE900 because I found it became a bit too dim for my tastes after about 950 hours.
PQ is outstanding which is why I bought the projector in the first place. I can't imagine a much better picture with a 1080p projector.

I guess I'll call BenQ and see what is going on. I noticed that the red light is blinking now as well even tho it works fine.

Dennis, I have the same thing. 1850 hours or so. I run mostly eco mode. The bulb menu says I have 35% left on the bulb, but I get the warning and flashing light. I ordered another bulb, but plan on calling BenQ when I have time. 1850 with no dimming is good enough that I can't complain. It is really a beautiful picture.

Warren.

I just called BenQ about the lamp message and the blinking red light. They know about the problem. The tech said to turn off the projector completely, remove the bulb and put it back in and then reset the lamp timer.

I'll post back if that fixes it. Guess I'll have to keep track of bulb hours manually now if I have to reset the timer.

Wow. Good info. That is kinda scary, but good news in a way. Don't need a bulb right away. It is a much better problem than bulbs not lasting long enough. :)
So if it says 35% remaining now, I guess the bulb will have to be changed when it hits 65% remaining after the bulb reset then.
Warren.

Wow. Good info. That is kinda scary, but good news in a way. Don't need a bulb right away. It is a much better problem than bulbs not lasting long enough. :)
So if it says 35% remaining now, I guess the bulb will have to be changed when it hits 65% remaining after the bulb reset then.
Warren.

Sounds like Ben has a minor new little issue here. It has taken all this time for end users to approach the 2000 Hour point (I am working hard to be the first to post that victory).

If the work-around is remove bulb reinstall and reset timer, we can probably live with that. I do wonder what the ownership experience has been for people not receiving all the help and feedback from this thread.

Time to watch last night's final episode of 24 saved to my HR-10-250, how did we survive before DVR's?

I bet Jack's dad buys the farm. Anyone else tired of Tony, Carmella, Paulie etc.?

Enjoy,

Joe

It didn't make sense to me that the projector would "know" that a bulb had been pulled out and replaced when it was powered off. So, last night, all I did was turn off the projector and then back on. I had already set the lamp timer to 0 previously. Anyway, that did the trick. The red light is out and no more warning messages.

I also had exactly 35% left on my bulb life running in High Mode when I got the warning message. So, it appears that when the lamp is at 35% left depending on the mode you happen to be using at the time, you will get a warning message to change the lamp and the red light will start blinking. The fix is to reset the lamp timer to 0 and then turn the power off and back on. You do not need to physically remove the bulb and put it back in.

Maybe they do this to sell more lamps or to minimize any exposure to a bulb exploding in the projector. I certainly am not going to replace a bulb when everything is working just fine. It hasn't even dimmed!

Good info. Wasn't looking forward to removing the bulb from the ceiling mount. Did they mention anything about a firmware update for this?
Thanks, Warren.

Good info. Did they mention anything about a firmware update for this?
No.

Maybe they do this to sell more lamps or to minimize any exposure to a bulb exploding in the projector. I certainly am not going to replace a bulb when everything is working just fine. It hasn't even dimmed!

I think it's both........ as long as you can get the message to go away.... I think it's a vary good reminder to purchase a spare bulb. :)

I, for one, have not gotten the nerve to turn my projector onto HIGH power mode since it has been working so well with the firmware update....I haven't used high power since the last winter olympics!! that is when it burned out for the 2nd time.

Do you guys switch back and forth without issues? Mainly using hi altitude when on high power to get better cooling?

I just really really really really dont want to risk another bulb blow out....

I use high power all the time with high altitude since we live in Denver. Not a problem so far. I am OK with the bulb only lasting 2000 instead of 3000 hours. After the first two bulb burnouts, anything over 100 hours is great!

My wife likes some dim lights on when watching TV in lieu of movies. So high power gives us a better picture. With all the money I have in equipment, a bulb (if it lasts 2,000 hours) is not a big deal.

I switch between the two depending on how light it is out. I have no shades on the 8x8 patio door right behind my living room. Mostly Eco, but I switch a few times a week. I always switched to high for football. I really think it isn't a problem now.
Warren.

I've been on high lamp power for most of my current 800 hrs. I prefer the picture this way. Lately I've been getting intermittent flickering that would go away if I switch it to low power.

Just received an email from BenQ. They are offering refurb 7700's for $899.

With the way prices are going south on 720p pj's perhaps 1080p units will start getting very tempting.

A BD disc at 1080p on a 133" screen, that might be the real deal!!

Me too. I didn't post because of Forum rules. But it motivated me to check a few other threads. Seems like there are a lot more choices now than there were 2+ years ago for an affordable 720P projector. 1080P prices have to be coming down too although I'd have to see a picture to be convinced it would be much better.

I've seen the epson 1080, jvc rs-1, sony pearl, and panasonic ae1000. IMHO, they're all much better. For me, it's about the blacks and shadow detail, especially on the JVC and the Sony, though the Panasonic was good too. That's where I can see a big difference. I don't think it's all about 1080p sources. Revenge of the Sith going in at 480i was also spectacular.

Me too. I didn't post because of Forum rules. But it motivated me to check a few other threads. Seems like there are a lot more choices now than there were 2+ years ago for an affordable 720P projector. 1080P prices have to be coming down too although I'd have to see a picture to be convinced it would be much better.

Hi Dennis,

You certainly point out the problem. With-out the ability to see 1080p BD OR HDDVD on a large screen who can decide? It always amuses me how certain reviewers can use displays so small. One well known and respected guy has been using the same 78" Stewart screen since the ice age.

I will take the leap of faith soon (Of course with help from AVS) and enter the 1080p world.

Joe

Bronco70 -- Check out this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=854234. ChrisW6ATV had the MT700 twin, and he saw a definite improvement between it and his new Epson Home Cinema 1080p using his HD-DVD player.

Bronco70 -- Check out this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=854234. ChrisW6ATV had the MT700 twin, and he saw a definite improvement between it and his new Epson Home Cinema 1080p using his HD-DVD player.

Thanks for the link Claus. Do you still have the Mitsu pj?

Joe

anyone have a good suggestion for what i should set my pe7700 at if im only watching blu-rays over an HDMI?

Welcome to AVS kusutare,

I'm not clear on what you are asking........ what I think you are asking is what resolution should you send to the 7700?

If that is the case, try sending 1080i, and 720P to the 7700, and see which one looks better to you. You will want to use the "Real" setting on the Benq.

What Blu-ray player are you using?
You can't send 1080P to the 7700, since it won't accept that resolution.

How long have you had your 7700?

Thanks for the link Claus. Do you still have the Mitsu pj?

JoeIf you mean my HC3 backup PJ, yes I still have it (cheap enough to keep for emergencies - then I'll never be without a PJ). It works great for SDTV and even HDTV - feeding it via its included component to VGA cable.

kusutare -- You didn't supply enough information. However, the PE7700 is a 720p PJ so you will probably get the best picture by setting your Blu-Ray player to output a 720p signal to the PE7700. Your PE7700 should be set to display a 16:9 formatted picture, your DVD palyer will control all of the other formatting settings.

thanks, i have had my PE7700 since november 2005. i love it, the picture is great and im only projecting it onto primed drywall. my blu-ray player is a ps3 and my settings are set to 1080ix60, im very happy with the picture. my question was more in the direction of what should me contrast, tint, brightness, etc. bet set to. this whole time i have had it i have been so happy with it that it still has the standard factory settings, i was just wondering if i am missing a lot by not tweaking it.

thanks

You gotta do that on your own, every setup is different. I just got done setting my 3 Dell 19" monitors, and they all required different settings with the same video card.
Easiest is to use the THX optimizer (usually found on disney discs.) That made a big difference for me. Next best is to use DVE to calibrate it. I just bought the HD DVD version. I don't know if it is out for BR yet. Best is to have someone certified to come do it for you.
Warren.

my question was more in the direction of what should me contrast, tint, brightness, etc. be set to
Sony Blu-ray discs come with some basic calibration patterns hidden in an Easter Egg. In the main menu, press "7669" and then you can step through the patterns to set brightness, contrast, color and tint.

Sony Blu-ray discs come with some basic calibration patterns hidden in an Easter Egg. In the main menu, press "7669" and then you can step through the patterns to set brightness, contrast, color and tint.

Hi Kevin,

Glad to see you're still checking in on us 7700 owners. I'm still using your calibration settings from 5/11/2006 to good effect (with a little tweaking to compensate for lamp hours).

I'm about to kick it up a notch with a Pantone eye one, getgray and the HCFR Colorimeter software.

Fun hobby we have. And a whole lot easier than dealing with MS Vista issues.

Thanks,

Joe

I too am still using Kevin's settings with a little tweaking of course!!!! Thanks Kevin!!!!:)

so kevin, your settings seem to be pretty popular. what are they?

I'm glad these settings are still useful. They can be found on page 340 of this thread.

I've gone through two projectors, a Samsung and Optoma 1080p, and both had some serious user issues. My Optoma was OK, but others had shut-down issues and HDMI connection issues. It has really dimmed my enthusiasm for the projector market. I paid $6,200 for the Optoma and six months later it was worth half that amount (ouch!!!).

The PE7700 has been going now for more than 2 years, which in the projector business is a legacy!

anyone has PE7700 settings?? I usually use it preset home threater mode only. Do u kniow about 5X Without SLR. what does it mean???

Thank you!

anyone has PE7700 settings?? I usually use it preset home threater mode only. Do u kniow about 5X Without SLR. what does it mean???

Thank you!

Search this thread...you will find everything.

mokchi -- Welcome to the AVS Forum!

Searching this thread is easier if you click on the "Thread Tools" button (at the top and bottom of each thread page) and select "Download This Thread". When the download window pops up, you just click on the "Save to Disc" (as a RTF file) to wherever you want it on your hard drive. You then open the RTF file (its a universal word format - MS wordpad or equivalent on a MAC). You then can easily use the search function to find anythihg you want. This is a lot easier than trying to find the item in the thread on-line.

I'm going to build a bigger screen here shortly,(up from 100"), and I was curious what the rest of you are using for screen size, and distance you sit from it.

I am using a 110" screen with 1.1 gain. We sit at 16' from the screen, although the kids (ttenagers) like to sit in papa san round chairs on the sides at about 12'.

I use a 120" Silverstar. I like to sit at 10'. Awesome stuff.
Warren.

Hey, I bought my PE7700 03/15/2006. I got 750 hours out of the lamp. Is this a good thing? I see some others got far less. I thought with the "new" firmware we were to get around 1000 hours or better. This is the reason I waited until March to purchase. :mad: I now need a replacement lamp. Is there a lot number, country of origin, or brand for replacement lamps I should stay away from? :mad:

Not a good thing.

You should get up to 2000 hours. The up to date firm ware release is 0.49. If it is not that, you should get BenQ to update it and give you a new bulb. Virtually everybody here got new bulbs and the updated firmware free under the 3 year warranty.

Call BenQ and tell them they need to fix it as you should get more than 750 hours regardless of your firmware. They should pay shipping both ways if they agree to fix it under warranty.

Right now, I have about 1400 hours on the new firmware and it is still bright running on high.

I contacted BENQ and they say I should have the "new firmware". Is there a way one can check one this? What has been the turn around on send things off to them? Of course they want to say my 90 days is up and there is not a problem .... They want me to just pay for a new bulb. That is not going to happen without a fight.

They are very fast (for me) on turnaround. Less than a week. I think you can find that in the service menu: Menu Up Down Up Down Up Down Menu

Unfortunately, The lamp only stays on for 30 seconds. I can not get to the Menu. Not being very experience with projectors, I would think that if the lamp burns out I would not get a picture. What happens is the projector turns on, picture shows great, 30 seconds later screen goes blank, lamp light is red, temp light blank and power light orange. Are these the signs of a blow lamp? Per the documentation, the indicators determine new lamp is needed.

A blown lamp is completely blown. It sounds like yours is a power failure. Maybe a fan not coming on or something. Not a lamp problem. Call them back and tell them your projector is broke. They will take care of it for you.
Warren.

Agreed. They did for me when I had non-bulb issues as well.

I recently built a Media PC with MythTV to connect to my PE7700. When I was installing the system I had it connected to my 20" Dell LCD with a 6' DVI cable. It was working great. Then I moved it into the Home Theater and connected it to my PE7700 using a 15' DVI to HDMI cable that I picked up for about $30 at my local PC hardware store. There were several small white line artifacts (look some what like static) throughout the screen with this cable.

I switched to the VGA to RGB component cable that comes with the PE7700 and there were know issues. I took the DVI to HDMI cable back and got a replacement, same result as I expected. So today I picked up a Monster $125, 13' DVI to HDMI cable with gas-injection, yada, yada and all that nonsense that I say never makes much if any difference. However, maybe with this type of cable, at this length, it can make a difference.

I plan to try it tonight, but before I do I was wondering if those who had used this type of setup think it probably is the cheaper cable or if maybe the HDMI port is bad on my projector or something else that I may be missing?

Thanks,

David

That was a really cheap cable. you can search for cable recommendations on this site. I got my 40' dvi-hdmi cable from our sponsers for around what you paid for that 13' monster cable. This cable is huge, very very sturdy, and works flawlessly.
Warren.

Still getting the fuzz artifacts, even with the $125 cable, you can see and example here:

http://functionalchaos.net/downloads/dvi_hdmi_artifacts.jpg

Any one know what might cause this?

David

Still getting the fuzz artifacts, even with the $125 cable, you can see and example here:

http://functionalchaos.net/downloads/dvi_hdmi_artifacts.jpg

Any one know what might cause this?

David

Three steps

First change the source signal.

Second use a short cable with the new source signal.

Third take the unit with the new source player(DVD.ect.....) and plug in into several different wall plugs around your house(checking for a dirty line in problem. Try to find a clean electrical line....... no fridge, or air conditioner motors..... microwave ect........... this should at lease narrow it down to the line ,cable, source or is it a PJ problem.

Good luck

cable problem. data loss or noise. Buy a better cable

After taking my unit down, I plugged it in as table top. The unit played great. I flipped it over and the unit shut off with the the lamp light indicator turning red. Anyone have any guesses?

yes my projector is flipped and lamp light indicator turning red. Please send it to service and update firmware ver. Mine upgraded from 0.48 to 1.02 So far so good.

Can the PE7700 accept a 1080p signal? I believe it said on the box or brochure or something that it can do up to 1080i. I want a blu-ray player (PS3 maybe) and I'm wondering if it will be able to accept the highest display output from a player.

Can the PE7700 accept a 1080p signal? I believe it said on the box or brochure or something that it can do up to 1080i. I want a blu-ray player (PS3 maybe) and I'm wondering if it will be able to accept the highest display output from a player.

No, the PE7700 will not accept a 1080p signal. You are correct on it accepting up to 1080i.

Thanks Steve,

I'm guessing that 1080i is still much better than standard DVD quality, but can the PS3 output 1080i, or even 720p, or is it fixed at 1080p?

edit - ignore the last bit about PS3 output - I found my answers.

However, I want an honest answer from anyone out there regarding Component vs HDMI for 720p & 1080i output. I have component cable already in place in my theatre behind walls etc, and i'm wondering if it is REALLY worth paying an electrician to change the existing cable and installing a new HDMI cable, bearing in mind a new cable will need to be 10m (30') long. Is the increase in picture quality really worth it for a 720p or 1080i signal? I'd hate to spend money buying relatively expensive cables and having electrical work done only to find little or no improvement.

My gut feeling is that if I eventually go for a 1080p projector later on down the track I will then upgrade my cabling to HDMI - does that sound like a smarter option?

Yes it does (your last sentence). I would not remove your existing component cables, if it were me (even if you add an HDMI cable). From what i can tell, there is very little, if any, difference in the picture if you switch to HDMI (provided you have high quality component cables - not necessarily expensive ones). Also, the HDMI connctor on the back of the PE7700 (& MT700) is fragile (a bump or pull can break the solder joints, or circuit traces, on the PJ motherboard).

I would strongly suggest (for this or any future PJ) that you get the short HDMI "connector saver" HDMI adapter cable from Monoprice. This will help protect the connector on the PJ (it's a very flexible 28AWG 8" HDMI extension cable, P/N 2891). The reason is that the 30'+ 22AWG or 24AWG HDMI cables are very stiff (and shouldn't be bent sharply) and any tension on them can result in problems. I'm planning on getting 2 of them, one for each end of the run.

PS - I haven't seen any difference on either my flat panel display or on my PJ.

Quick update. Sent in my 7700. It arrived at the NJ repair center Tuesday 9-19-06. Shipped out Friday 9-22-06. Got it back yesterday 9-27-06. with a new bulb and .49 firmware upgrade. Everything seems to be working well. Haven't had time to re-calibrate it but it looks good so far. No complaints here.

Well, I seem to only come back here when I have a problem, but I suppose that's what it's here for.

Here's my situation:

> Purchased August '05.

> October '05 - started displaying black vertical patches all over the screen. Sent it in to BenQ, who sent it back working as it should. They did not replace the lamp at that time. This was previous to the acknowledgement of the infamous lamp issues with this model.

> September '06 - Lamp would not turn on. Red flashing lights. I believe there were roughly 1200 hours on the lamp at that time. Sent it in to BenQ, who returned it in working order with a new lamp (and the lamp timer reset) and a new .49 sticker on the bottom.

> Today - At 1737 hours (economy mode) and 35% on the lamp timer, I receive a message on screen stating "Lamp life is expired. Install a new lamp. And reset lamp timer." Contacted BenQ support.

I asked the gentleman if they'd replaced the lamp when it was sent in last as I'd been told they would. He said no, the lamp timer was reset when upgrading the firmware but they did not replace the bulb. I thought maybe I was losing my mind and they didn't replace the bulb last fall. I added the 1737 to my previous 1200 hours and assumed it was just time for the bulb to burn out. Then I went back and read my own posts. I was specifically told they would replace the bulb. So, I called back...

This time I got a gentleman with a French accent who checked my account. He stated that they did, in-fact, replace the bulb last September while updating the firmware. If it is a new bulb as he stated, that means the lamp timer is correct and that it burnt out after 35% or 1757 hours on economy mode (it is NEVER on full). I stated that 35% seems awfully low for having supposedly repaired the early lamp failure issue. He stated that the bulbs are marketed as 2000-3000 hours but that they sometimes burn out sooner. I asked him what my options were. He stated that I could pay to ship it in, that they would inspect the projector, make any repairs necessary and they would pay to send it back (I'm just barely under my 3 year warranty by two months). He then said that 99% of the time, they just test it with a new bulb and, if it works, they put the old burnt out bulb in and send it back expecting the consumer to simply replace the bulb. He also said 99% of the time, people will just go buy a new bulb.

So... what would your suggestion be? Should I send it in and have it looked at anyway? Is 1737 hours on economy mode running .49 firmware normal? If i should just buy a lamp, is there a lamp model number I can search for to find a decent price? After 3 years, this will be my first time replacing the lamp myself. With that in mind, I have no problem paying for a new lamp. I'm overdue, however, what I'm afraid of is simply buying a new bulb only to have it burn out "early" too, at which point I would be past my 3 year warranty and more or less screwed.

The saga continues. Insert sigh here. Someone said in an earlier post it's a love hate relationship. Couldn't agree more. When the thing works (99% of the time), it's amazing. When it goes down like this for the third time, it's pretty frustrating, however, BenQ is very prompt and quick on the turn-around times, so I can't complain too much.

I, and a few others, have had this warning message when 35% of the lamp life was left (not used). This calculation is based on whatever mode the projector is in. In my case, I run in high mode and got the warning message at about 1300 hours. I called BenQ. The answer is to reset the lamp timer to 0 and then turn the projector completely off and back on. You will not get the message any more. So, you need to keep track of your total hours yourself.

I guessed they do this to protec the lamps from blowing up or whatever early on and to sell more lamps. Who knows?

For now, I am just enjoying the projector and will wait for the lamp to actually burn out... hopefully at 2000 or more hours. The brightness of the lamp is still fine, now at over 1400 hours.

Thanks for the info on the hour reset............I am only around 700 hours so it will be a while for I get their. I am still impressed with the picture quality of this unit even 2 years later. Now that the bulb problem is a thing of the past, it's hard to even think of a 1080 up grade yet.

I just watched King Kong on HD DVD and the picture quality is drop dead beautiful I am using the Tosh A2 set at 720P on a 110" bright white screen. :)

I, and a few others, have had this warning message when 35% of the lamp life was left (not used). This calculation is based on whatever mode the projector is in. In my case, I run in high mode and got the warning message at about 1300 hours. I called BenQ. The answer is to reset the lamp timer to 0 and then turn the projector completely off and back on. You will not get the message any more. So, you need to keep track of your total hours yourself.

I guessed they do this to protec the lamps from blowing up or whatever early on and to sell more lamps. Who knows?

For now, I am just enjoying the projector and will wait for the lamp to actually burn out... hopefully at 2000 or more hours. The brightness of the lamp is still fine, now at over 1400 hours.

Thanks Dennis. That seems to have worked. I'm a little concerned about the lamp blowing up though. It seems a little dangerous with the timer reset... kind of like skydiving without a backup chute, although, if I keep an eye on the hours, it shouldn't be any different than using the lamp timer. Should I just plan on replacing the bulb at a certain total number of hours? 3000 on economy mode? I'd much rather pay for a new lamp than destroy the projector.

I'll probably just go for another 750 hours (2500 total economy mode) and replace it just to be safe. What do you think?

Thanks again! I can always count on AVS forums for quick help.

Three steps

First change the source signal.

Second use a short cable with the new source signal.

Third take the unit with the new source player(DVD.ect.....) and plug in into several different wall plugs around your house(checking for a dirty line in problem. Try to find a clean electrical line....... no fridge, or air conditioner motors..... microwave ect........... this should at lease narrow it down to the line ,cable, source or is it a PJ problem.

Good luck

Thanks, been gone on vacation. I did try to do some trouble shooting the night before I left. I moved my workstation into the theater and tested the cheap and the expensive 15 foot DVI to HDMI cable and both worked fine with my machine.

At this point I know it is not my projector and its not the cables. I do now that the HTPC macine works fine with a 6' DVI to DVI cable. So it looks like I have one of two problems:

#1 - The MSI FX5200 video card can't support the 15' cable very well.

-or-

#2 - There is some power noise from this PSU with the long cable or something.


I will try my workstation video card in the HTPC machine tonight and see if the issue goes away. I am also going to replace the PSU in the HTPC for other reasons, it may help as well.

David

Thanks, been gone on vacation. I did try to do some trouble shooting the night before I left. I moved my workstation into the theater and tested the cheap and the expensive 15 foot DVI to HDMI cable and both worked fine with my machine.

At this point I know it is not my projector and its not the cables. I do now that the HTPC macine works fine with a 6' DVI to DVI cable. So it looks like I have one of two problems:

#1 - The MSI FX5200 video card can't support the 15' cable very well.

-or-

#2 - There is some power noise from this PSU with the long cable or something.


I will try my workstation video card in the HTPC machine tonight and see if the issue goes away. I am also going to replace the PSU in the HTPC for other reasons, it may help as well.

David


Forgot to mention that the vga out to RGB component worked fine on the HTPC. So it is just the DVI port that is grainy. I guess it is starting to sound like a card issue.

David

Should I just plan on replacing the bulb at a certain total number of hours? 3000 on economy mode? I'd much rather pay for a new lamp than destroy the projector.

I'll probably just go for another 750 hours (2500 total economy mode) and replace it just to be safe. What do you think?

Thanks again! I can always count on AVS forums for quick help.
This is my first projector, so what do I know. I would hope that a bulb blowing up is a rare occurrence. If the picture remains bright enough and is still working, I am not going to replace a bulb prematurely.

I would think the bulb would just stop working when the filament is used up and breaks. Anyway, that is what happened with the two bulbs that quit working before they fixed the firmware problem.

What would make a bulb blow up anyway.. the glass getting thin from use?? Maybe Kevin can shed some light on using bulbs till they quit working instead of replacing them early. Anybody have war stories about bulbs blowing up??

This is my first projector, so what do I know. I would hope that a bulb blowing up is a rare occurrence. If the picture remains bright enough and is still working, I am not going to replace a bulb prematurely.

I would think the bulb would just stop working when the filament is used up and breaks. Anyway, that is what happened with the two bulbs that quit working before they fixed the firmware problem.

What would make a bulb blow up anyway.. the glass getting thin from use?? Maybe Kevin can shed some light on using bulbs till they quit working instead of replacing them early. Anybody have war stories about bulbs blowing up??

I work for a company that has 5 projectors for check out for use by the agency personal and three more permanently mounted in meeting rooms. The help desk staff manage the projectors and basically no one checks the projectors until someone says there is a problem with one of them. We have had several where the bulbs have burnt out at end of life and just had to be replaced. There was one time when a bulb did blow up inside a Sanyo projector destroying it beyond repair.

I think it is important to mention that the people that check these projectors out for use are completely oblivious of how they work. They drop and bang them all over the place and more importantly they pull the power cords out right away when they're done with their presentation instead of waiting for the bulb to cool down.

It seems unlikely a well cared for projector would have the bulb blow up when it wears out. I had two premature bulb failures in my PE7700 before the firmware was upgraded and so have many others, yet there is not a long list of people who had there bulb blow up.

However, I am sure there are people who had a projector for only a few weeks and properly cared for it and the bulb blew up inside of it just because of some defect, but is is probably very rare situation. There is just no way to predict what will happen.

David

Yes it does (your last sentence). I would not remove your existing component cables, if it were me (even if you add an HDMI cable). From what i can tell, there is very little, if any, difference in the picture if you switch to HDMI (provided you have high quality component cables - not necessarily expensive ones). Also, the HDMI connctor on the back of the PE7700 (& MT700) is fragile (a bump or pull can break the solder joints, or circuit traces, on the PJ motherboard).

I would strongly suggest (for this or any future PJ) that you get the short HDMI "connector saver" HDMI adapter cable from Monoprice. This will help protect the connector on the PJ (it's a very flexible 28AWG 8" HDMI extension cable, P/N 2891). The reason is that the 30'+ 22AWG or 24AWG HDMI cables are very stiff (and shouldn't be bent sharply) and any tension on them can result in problems. I'm planning on getting 2 of them, one for each end of the run.

PS - I haven't seen any difference on either my flat panel display or on my PJ.

Thanks for the comments CT.

I've just had a spanner thrown into the works - I just found out that the PS3 will not upscale certain DVDs over component! How stupid is that??? It will do games but not video??? I guess if i'm getting it for bluray purposes it doesn't matter much, but I still think it is ridiculous!

Forgot to mention that the vga out to RGB component worked fine on the HTPC. So it is just the DVI port that is grainy. I guess it is starting to sound like a card issue.

David

I found that switching the video card did the trick. So it was the MSI FX5200 card that just doesn't seem to support the DVI to HDMI cable or at least one that is 15' long.

For those that suggested it was the cable: I have pretty decent judgment by now regarding good and bad video display. There is no difference between the $25 generic DVI -> HDMI and the $125 monster cable DVI -> HDMI cable that the average (or better) human eye can see.

David

I haven't posted in this thread for some time but I am one of the many who has had to send their projector in for an early blown bulb. That was in April of 2006. I now have over 700hrs on the new firmware .48 and have been happy ever since. However after checking this thread periodically I have noticed a few posts that say the .48 firmware upgrade did not completely fix the problem and .49 did. Is this true and do I really need to send the pj in again?

Thanks for any info.

I am planning to buy a high definition dvd player.

Trying to decide which would look best on my PE7700.

Any thoughts????

I know that PS3 plays at 1080p. The projector is 720p. So there is a disconnect.
Well, how does the image look anyway???

Is there another model-bluray or hd-dvd, that would serve me better????
Something that also outputs 720p, instead of 1080p???

Lastly, if I do buy the PS3, can I connect either HDMI or component???

If do buy a Sony PS3, should I use the REAL option on the PE7700 remote to get an optimum picture. I have never used this function because I have only fed my projector standard dvds until now.

Thanks in advance.

First you are going to love HD on the 7700 theirs nothing like using the full res of the chip.

I use a stand alone Tosh A2 HD DVD and the quality is outstanding. It looks like you are leaning towards a game system combo.......great way to go.......kill 2 birds with one stone.

You will need the unit to output in 720P or 1080I to get the best performance from the chip. I can tell you my A2 outputs 720P or 1080I over HDMI and the 720P is a better picture/sharper than 1080I......all this means is the Tosh A2 set at native 720P is a better scalier than the 7700's down scale chip. Feed it 720 if you can.

I feed my 7700 with a HTPC also, over HDMI cable and have been thinking about trying a Xbox (these game look fun) I'm dying to see how the picture compares from the xbox looks over component cables.............. :)

Good luck

If you have .48 you do not need to get too excited about.49, it is a minor, AND I MEAN MINOR, adjustment to fan monitoring, milliseconds. If you have .48 you are good to go!
My apologies for the inconvieniences, to all, we are passed the issue, and look forward to all enjoying their 7700.

even CRS59!

.48/.49

From Benq higher up (?) still posting on W10000 thread.

mark

I also have a Tosh HD D2 (same as the A2) with output at 720p for the best picture which is outstanding. Good luck.

PS3 feedback on BenqPe7700

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am planning to buy a high definition dvd player.

Trying to decide which would look best on my PE7700.

Any thoughts????

I know that PS3 plays at 1080p. The projector is 720p. So there is a disconnect.
Well, how does the image look anyway???

Is there another model-bluray or hd-dvd, that would serve me better????
Something that also outputs 720p, instead of 1080p???

Lastly, if I do buy the PS3, can I connect either HDMI or component???

If do buy a Sony PS3, should I use the REAL option on the PE7700 remote to get an optimum picture. I have never used this function because I have only fed my projector standard dvds until now.

Thanks in advance.


Thanks for the comments from the Toshiba-HD-DVD owners. PE7700 and HD-DVD seems to be a great pairing.

I have read, however, that the PS3 DOES not pair well with the PE7000. A writer in Australia AVS forum wrote that he can only get 525p. When he uses 1080i, he claims that the image is not much different than DVD. He claims that the 1080i to 720p scaler in the projetor is so-so. Any truth to this?

I don't want to spend $500 on a ps3 if the image will only be slightly better than dvd. I would rather go the hd-dvd route if that's the case.


Has anyone compared hd-dvd connection to pe7700 vs PS3?

PS3 feedback on BenqPe7700

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am planning to buy a high definition dvd player.

Trying to decide which would look best on my PE7700.

Any thoughts????

I know that PS3 plays at 1080p. The projector is 720p. So there is a disconnect.
Well, how does the image look anyway???

Is there another model-bluray or hd-dvd, that would serve me better????
Something that also outputs 720p, instead of 1080p???

Lastly, if I do buy the PS3, can I connect either HDMI or component???

If do buy a Sony PS3, should I use the REAL option on the PE7700 remote to get an optimum picture. I have never used this function because I have only fed my projector standard dvds until now.

Thanks in advance.


Thanks for the comments from the Toshiba-HD-DVD owners. PE7700 and HD-DVD seems to be a great pairing.

I have read, however, that the PS3 DOES not pair well with the PE7000. A writer in Australia AVS forum wrote that he can only get 525p. When he uses 1080i, he claims that the image is not much different than DVD. He claims that the 1080i to 720p scaler in the projetor is so-so. Any truth to this?

I don't want to spend $500 on a ps3 if the image will only be slightly better than dvd. I would rather go the hd-dvd route if that's the case.


Has anyone compared hd-dvd connection to pe7700 vs PS3?

I've had a PS3 connected to my 7700 since April. The recent FW 1.8 upgrade has made the PS3 an awesome player. It now outputs 720p and upconverts SD DVD's.

I had been using an oppo 971 player for SD upconversion. After comparing the oppo and the PS3 with SD material my conclusion was they tie on SD upconversion.

There is a special cable that allows component output from the PS3 but you would lose upconversion of SD DVD's. Use HDMI.

The PS3 offers many other features. It has slots for memory cards and is a great photo viewer. I purchased the machine partly for game playing for our son. I just purchased Blazing Angels, a WWII aerial sim game. I have never been a gamer but after 4 hours last night with this game I'm hooked.

One thing to keep in mind is that the initial Blu Ray movie releases are quite variable in their video pq. Their is a thread on AVS rating BD title pq. I've found it useful.

I have no experience with HD DVD, but I can not see how anyone could be unhappy with a PS3. It's the real deal.

Joe

Thank you Joe for your reply.

That news is very welcome here. My Benq PE7700 is the jewel of my home theater and I want to get the best quality image possible.

Your experience has erased my doubts.

Thanks again.

PS:

Do you ever use the REAL function on the remote with your PS3? When? Please explain.

While watching 720p? When upconverting standard dvds? Do use the REAL only when using HDMI, or also 720p using component?

Unfortunately, The lamp only stays on for 30 seconds. I can not get to the Menu. Not being very experience with projectors, I would think that if the lamp burns out I would not get a picture. What happens is the projector turns on, picture shows great, 30 seconds later screen goes blank, lamp light is red, temp light blank and power light orange. Are these the signs of a blow lamp? Per the documentation, the indicators determine new lamp is needed.

I'm getting this exact same problem, but the cause may be different.


Basically, I went through hell with this unit. No less than 5 lamps blew before BenQ issued the firmware upgrade. (Thus causing me to lose all fear of blowing lamps with this PJ. They're not pressurized like in other PJ's I've owned.) The projector itself has been in for service three times. Customer service was uniformly awful. It once took them 8 weeks to send a lamp replacement. After the lamp issue was sorted out the color wheel motor tore itself apart or something. The last time it went in I told them that stuff (i.e. loose debris) was rattling around inside the PJ that they might want to take out while they were fixing it. It came back rattling.

After all that, I had all but written the PE7700 as a hopeless cause. As the lamp started racking up the hours I decided there was no way I was going to pay for a replacement lamp because it would be money better put towards a new PJ.

Well, 3000 hours came, and I reset the timer. "I'm gonna see how far this POS can go!", I recall saying to myself. The lamp is now at 4400 hours (economy mode). Only just now am I intermittently getting the problem you described above. Occasionally, the PJ will shut down within seconds of starting up and flash the red lamp light. However, it still works fine the majority of the time. Also, the color wheel and some of the fans occasionally vibrate a lot when the PJ is started up. Typically if I shut down the PJ completely (i.e. wait for it to cool down and the fans to go off) and restart it this goes away.

I must admit, the last (mostly) trouble free 4400 hours have won me over. I am actually considering replacing the lamp. Is it possible that the shutdowns could be related to running the lamp so far past it's specs, or is it, as another person said, likely an issue unrelated to the lamp?

Thank you Joe for your reply.

That news is very welcome here. My Benq PE7700 is the jewel of my home theater and I want to get the best quality image possible.

Your experience has erased my doubts.

Thanks again.

PS:

Do you ever use the REAL function on the remote with your PS3? When? Please explain.

While watching 720p? When upconverting standard dvds? Do use the REAL only when using HDMI, or also 720p using component?


Hi Regular Guy,

"Real Mode" is a format wherein the pj does a 1:1 pixel mapping of the incoming source material. I, and most users, use the real mode 100% of the time. Due to DRM, upconversion is not possible over component (at least with protected content). So an HDMI only connection makes the most sense.

My source components are the PS3, a DirecTV HD box and the oppo player. All over HDMI.

Things could get complicated if one adds sources that do not have an HDMI or a DVI output. In my theater a run of about 30' to the pj would be a problem if 3 component cables, let alone RGB and Sync. cables for a HTPC were desired.

Joe

(snip)
Well, 3000 hours came, and I reset the timer. "I'm gonna see how far this POS can go!", I recall saying to myself. The lamp is now at 4400 hours (economy mode).
(snip)


Are you saying that "after" you reset your lamp at 3000 hours, you got 4400 more, making it a total of 7400 hours,, on the same lamp?

4400 total.

4400 total.

4400 Hours Holy ****!!!

And here I was waiting for myself or some other user to report 2000 hours was reached.

At 4400 how dim is the lamp?

I also have had a color wheel noise at startup. Has been happening perhaps one out of four turn-ons. Always goes away after 30-45 seconds. Not going to worry about it at this point.

Joe

The brightness seems just fine actually. If I do get a new lamp I'll be sure to post my thoughts on the comparison. Still, I'd feel more comfortable buying a new lamp if I knew this latest shut-down issue could be caused by the lamp.

Does anyone know if the PE7700 can be damaged by using a lamp so far past its specs? I know the lamp will blow sooner or later, but that never damaged the PJ before. I'm still inclined to see just how far this lamp will go.

Hi Cor,

I'd say go for it. You are already past where "no man has gone before", and then some. Should give a lot of confidence to all about the reliability of the 7700. I just ticked past 1800 hours with no lamp issues.

I was fortunate in purchasing during Ben's free lamp rebate. My spare sits on the shelf. Probably wait until 3000 hours in economy mode and then replace.

At the point when I reach 1500 hours on the second bulb the 7700 will be really old tech. Can only imagine what will be available in less than three years out.

Joe

I sent in the pj last fall and received the firmware upgrade and new bulb. When I got it back, I attempted to connect a Moto 6412 HDDVR with HDMI and couldn't get it to sync up, so I just used the component cables instead. I've also been using the HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 with my 7700 for a few months now via component as well. Picked up a PS3 tonight, but couldn't get the HDMI to connect similar to how it wouldn't work with the HDDVR. I swapped in a different, shorter (5') HDMI cable to make sure it wasn't the cable causing the problem. Still no luck. I purchased a component adapter for the PS3 (PS2 component cables work on the PS3 by the way) and have it up and running at 720p. Games look fantastic. No Blu-Ray movies purchased, but will pick one or two up tomorrow and report back on PS3 Blu-Ray vs Xbox360 HD-DVD on the 7700, although, I won't be purchasing the same movie for both formats and every movie's quality is a little different, so it won't be a completely scientific test.

Regardless, I'm tired of using a manual switch for the now 3 component sources I have. 2 of the 3 have HDMI available but I can't use it because I can't get the pj to accept the signal. Frustrating. From doing searches on this thread, am I correct with using the following sequence to sync the PS3 or HDDVR using HDMI?

-Turn off projector including hard switch on back
-Turn on PS3
-Turn hard power switch on projector
-Turn projector on with power button
-Switch input to HDMI if necessary

I've attempted this process several times with no luck. Even if I do get it to work by some stroke of luck, am I going to have to turn off the projector with the hard switch every time I want to turn on the PS3? Seems like a major hassle as it's ceiling mounted and not easily accessible. I would hope that I can figure out a way to get it set up to where I can just turn on the PS3, then change the input on the pj over to HDMI and have it sync up correctly.

Any ideas? Thanks much. :)

Chris,

These HDMI issues are a pain when things don't work correctly.

Try this:

Turn everything on, and then put the hdmi cable into the projector, and if that doesn't work, have the hdmi in the projector first, then put the hdmi cable in the DVR or PS3.

It may work, and it might not either..... keep us posted.

I have a PS3 connected to my PE7700 via HDMI without issue. Try this:

1) Turn on the PE7700 and set it to HDMI source with the HDMI cable attached only to the projector not the PS3
2) Connect the PS3 to a monitor of some kind via composite (not component) and set it to output 1080i or 720p (I like 1080i even though it's not the native resolution to the PJ). Note: the temporary monitor will not be able to display this resolution over composite.
3) Plug in the HDMI cable from the projector to the PS3 while the PS3 is still on. Accept the changes.

This worked for me, anyway. If it doesn't, then something must be wrong with your HDMI connector. Time to pack it up again perhaps?

It could be the bad HDMI chip problem. Too bad they didn't fix that while they had it in. It shouldn't be a pain at all. I would call BenQ.
Warren.

I can't find those refurbished 7700's on BenQ's website. I never got that letter some others got. Did it point you to a website?
Thanks,
Warren.

Hi Warren,

The email from Ben was a number of months back. To my memory the offer was on their main website. It was quite the deal. A refurb 7700 with the latest and greatest for $899?. They were probably snapped up quickly. I thought about getting one. Then reason took hold. I can only watch one display screen at a time.

A second 7700? OK, another screen, upgrade to a third D* HD box, put it up in the playroom, deal with light control in that room, etc.

I'd rather sit and watch the next great BD release in my main room and wait for 1080P units to be very enticing.

Joe

Has anyone bought a new bulb recently? Are they still $300+?

I want the second 7700 so I can polarize them and go 3D. There is a company making software to do on the fly 2D - 3D conversion of dvd's. :o Plus there is a number of 3D dvd titles out (maybe 10 I would want.) Double plus, with NVidia 3d stereo drivers I can play video games in 3D. Halflife 2 in 3D on a 120" screen. Oh, yeah!
Warren.

Ok, I finally took the plunge and got me a projector. Chose the PE7700 cause I got it cheap as hell. Now, I've sold projectors for a while, but I never thought the picture quality was good enough to bring one home. I realize I've never really LOOKED at a well calibrated projector image before. Using Kevin's settings for greyscale and tips from this thread, I am now officially blown away by the PQ this unit can produce. Deep, vibrant, sharp.. Amazing! Thanks, guys!

For the record, I'm using it with an NDx2 filter in econo mode on a white 1.0gain screen. Hooked up to my Denon DVD2910 via HDMI through my NAD M15 preamp.

- Atle

I have an extra bulb I will sell for $200 (which is what I paid for it). Never been used and still in the box.

Using Kevin's settings for greyscale and tips from this thread, I am now officially blown away by the PQ ...
- Atle

Hi,

Could you please link or send me these settings?
My PJ is one year old and never calibrated by professional settings

Thanks!

my 7700 recently developed a black/grey vertical band on the far left side of the screen covering about 5% of the screen. this happens on all inputs, so i assume it is internal.

has anyone seen this and is there a fix?

thanks.

First time I've heard of it ......Have you check your over scan in the service menu. You could just adjust it out. You should be still under the 3 year warranty if it's a US model...... if so I would just have BQ repair it and do a over all check up/cleaning while it's in for repair.

The BQ warranty in the USA has been great in taking care of this PJ, but I've seen horror stores from distributors outside the US on this form..

Ok, I finally took the plunge and got me a projector. Chose the PE7700 cause I got it cheap as hell. Now, I've sold projectors for a while, but I never thought the picture quality was good enough to bring one home. I realize I've never really LOOKED at a well calibrated projector image before. Using Kevin's settings for greyscale and tips from this thread, I am now officially blown away by the PQ this unit can produce. Deep, vibrant, sharp.. Amazing! Thanks, guys!

For the record, I'm using it with an NDx2 filter in econo mode on a white 1.0gain screen. Hooked up to my Denon DVD2910 via HDMI through my NAD M15 preamp.

- Atle

I'm with ya.......this projector running an HD/ calibrated source is stunning.......I won't be up dating to a 1080 machine until this one breaks.....it's that good. :)

Anyone have a working link to the setup and calibration thread for the projector? I've seen mention of it in this thread but no links that funtion and no luck finding it in search.

My main issue is that I correct the white balance and color balance using DVE and save to user settings 1 but they don't hold over power downs. The contrast and brightness do save but all the other settings reset over a power down.

Update: The lamp that had previously lasted to 4400 hours is now at 4870 hours. However, that seems to be as far as it will go.

Previously, I reported occasional startup problems where the PJ would shut down about 5 seconds after passing the startup screen. Over the last 500 hours of use those problems became the rule rather than the exception for economy mode startups. I found that by setting the lamp to full whennever I shut the PJ down, I could get the PJ to start reliably again. Today it started doing 5-second shut-downs when starting in full mode.

After several tries I did get it to start today, but the humming noises from the fans and possibly the color wheel were really loud at startup, although they quieted down a bit later. (They have been getting progressively louder on startups.) I think I'm going to buy a replacement lamp to see what the result is. It's possible the fans are just loud because they're working very hard to keep an over-the-hill lamp cool.

I am also considering replacing the noisy fans myself. (The warranty was up last month, so no worries about voiding it!) I'm not afraid of a little soldering and this PJ is getting old enough that I wouldn't feel too badly if I botched the job. Has anyone had any experience modding this PJ?

Please give us lots of pictures as you go............... someday after the warrenty we might have to go down the same road.......... :)

Those are great numbers for your bulb Cor!!

Maybe you can squeeze out 5,000 hours......

This thread just keeps coming back, when you think its down for the count. ;)

With Cor having 4k+ hrs., I'd say the lamp issues are h-i-s-t-o-r-y. Only 1500 hrs on mine. Out of warranty in 1.5 yrs., then 1080p baby. Hope the DVD format war over by then. Very satisfied with the 7700.

Another Update: I just replaced the lamp. I'm still getting the 5 second shut-downs. I'm going to call up BenQ tommorow and find out how bad the damage will be to fix this off warranty, since I have no clue what's wrong. If it's too high, bulb goes back to the store and the PJ goes on the junk heap. :(

On the bright side, the old lamp could go for another thousand hours for all I know.

Anyone have a working link to the setup and calibration thread for the projector? I've seen mention of it in this thread but no links that funtion and no luck finding it in search.

My main issue is that I correct the white balance and color balance using DVE and save to user settings 1 but they don't hold over power downs. The contrast and brightness do save but all the other settings reset over a power down.

Sounds like you are talking about the calibration settings that Kevin R. Anderson shared with us back on 5/11/06 in this thread. It was post #3395 on page 114. Many of us used those settings to great effect.

Getting the settings saved in a user profile was a bit tricky. I, along with others posted on how to save back in those days.

Keep in mind that the settings were for a relatively new lamp with few hours on it. My lamp is just past 1900 hours and I have had to change a few settings especially the "brightness" setting. That went from -7 to -1. Contrast changed a point or two also.

I plan on getting some inexpensive calibration equipment, probably the Pantone Eye One, and give it a go.

Joe

I have a PE7700 with new bulb and firmware and its been running great for the last few months. However last week when I turned it on it would not hold the HDMI connection with my Comcast DVR. Now it connects (gets picture) then disconnects (loses picture) after about 10 seconds. The HDMI connection is direct from the DVR to the projector and nothing was changed. I've tried re-booting everything but it still doesnt work. Any thoughts?

Try reseating both ends of the cable, then try a different cable, then call BenQ. I believe there is a hdmi chip problem with some of these 7700's. Yours may have just blown.
Warren.

dpack,

Are you using any other HDMI devices? If so do they work?

I'm only running the DVR through the HDMI cable. My NAD T763 does not provide HDMI connections so everything else is run seperate. I have tried other devises using the HDMI cable and but they do not work either. I've reset both ends, powered everthing down, etc, but nothing seems to work. I have the cable running through the ceiling so its hard to change much around. I guess I will take it down and ship back to BenQ.

Thanks for the help.

dpack,

Let me make sure I understand you.

You have used other monitors etc with the same hdmi cable? And they did not work also?

Lets make sure we have ruled out everything possible, before you go through the hassle of sending back the projector.

The way I see it is that there are three variables at play; the HDMI cable, the source player (DVD/DVR, etc) and the projector. I tired different source players and none of them worked so I can assume they are not the issue. Now I'm down to the HDMI cable and the projector. I do not have a spare HDMI cable to test with so I'm guessing at this point but I'm betting that the cable did not go bad. The projector is ceiling mounted and it has not moved since it was installed over a year ago so I can't see how it would just quit. That leaves the projector as the most likely culprit. But without testing with a separate cable I won't know.

you could use a short one just to test. They are cheap. Set the projector by the player if you can't get a player close. Just don't move it when it is hot.
Warren.

dpack,

I've had a hdmi cable go bad before.

Where are you located?

I could help you out if you are in So. Cal.

As wnielsenbb says, try a short hdmi cable out before sending out the projector.

If money is tight, grab a cable from Monoprice. http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp

Hi all,

I'm a professional photographer using a PE7700 to present photographs to my clients. I'm having trouble getting the aspect ratio right, and I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

I'm running the projector from my Windows laptop, which has an nVidia graphics chip. The laptop doesn't have HDMI, so I'm using the component cable.

The computer has various output resolutions, but none of them match the projector's native res. The closest is 1280x800. The other available resolution of interest is 1920x1080, which is an even 1.5 multiple of 1280x720.

If I run the projector in Real mode, and set the computer to 1280x800, the result is what I would expect: the image is squished by 10% in the vertical. So an image that should be 20x30 inches on my screen is actually 18x30 inches.

This gives rise to several questions.

- What combination of PC resolution and projector aspect ratio would you recommend for aspect accurate results?

- Is there a downside to running the computer at 1920x1080 and the projector in Real mode?

- Do you know of a driver or other piece of software that will let me control the output resolution of my video chip directly? In other words, is there a way to just tell the computer to generate 1280x720?

While we're at it, here are a few other questions that have been burning a hole in my brain:

- Is there a way to retrofit my laptop so it generates HDMI?

- If this were possible (and it is if I get a new laptop), would I see a noticeable improvement in image sharpness?

- In reading this thread, I've noticed that some folks are using an NDx2 filter on this projector. Is that a neutral density filter? What is the benefit?

Thanks!

Jonathan Mandel
Checkerbox Photography
San Francisco

I use a program called powerstrip to add the 1280x720 desktop and it works perfectly with my 7700. I use a DVI/hdmi convertor on my PC and PQ over VGA is significant. ND filter tends to reduce light output for very bright pj so you get deeper black. I use a red filter for my old Sony LCD the same way because pj of those days are most likely lacking red and deep black. The downside is of course you loss punch and no good for a dimmer lamp over time.


I too have the hdmi problem before. No matter how I reset everything it just won't work. I have an upscale DVD player and PC with Joytech hdmi switch. I finally found a way to work so far as follows.


For my Samsung DVD player, unplug to make sure it reset its output mode (you don't have to do it again after it works). Turn PJ on, pick hdmi input. It will say hdmi searching...

Plug and turn DVD player on which has only hdmi connected. DVD player will switch output to hdmi (instead of composite/svideo). And my 7700 get my hdmi sync back.


For my PC, I have a 1280x768 LCD monitor with VGA connection to work with. I need to check (hide mode this monitor cannot display) then switch off the PC. Turn on PJ and switch input to hdmi and hdmi searching display. Unplug my VGA cable and only hdmi connected. Turn on PC and I get my perfect 1280x720 desktop at last. Problem is I will lost 1280x768 and 1366x768 I need for my other display. I have to uncheck (hide mode this monitor cannot display) to get those back. Sounds complicated but works for me so far and I am happy again.

Download the latest drivers for your video card in the laptop. The newer drivers should enable the other video resolutions. You may also need to uncheck the "only show resolutions my display device supports" checkbox. I had to switch to a lower resolution to get my 7700 to sync with my computer, then once it was on I could switch back to 1280x720.
Your sharpness at the right resolution will be a much better. I don't know of a vga to HDMI solution though. There probably is one. You probably should get a laptop with DVI. DVI -> HDMI is easy.

If you can get the video resolution right to 1280x720, then a VGA solution is perfectly fine. I've been running HDMI for a while then switched to VGA from a desktop PC. Without doing an A/B, I'm not seeing that I'm losing anything. I can't comment on a 'component' connection from a computer though.

I guess I was confusing on that. You don't need HDMI or DVI to get 1:1 pixels. VGA will work just fine and look awesome. I really think just the new Nvidia driver will make it all just fine.
Warren.

I have both VGA and hdmi connect from PC to 7700. May be my run is too long (1m to switch box + 10m extension cable + 2m VGA to 5 RCA conversion cable). Picture of hdmi is rock solid and bright while VGA is soft, dimmer and ghost. May be it can improve using a better grade cable but I doubt it can get any better than hdmi.

this is my first post. I have had the projector for about two years. after reading a bit I realize that the problems I had in the beginning were somewhat common. I kept burning out bulbs, then sent it back to BENQ, they fixed it and send it back to me. It worked for about 18 months, about 2000 hours and then a few weeks ago I replaced the bulb.

Yesterday I tried to turn the PE7700 on and the Orange Light is on and the two red lights are flashing, according to the manual this means that the fan is not working. I then took out the filter, I had not done this before and there was a lot of dust, I cleaned it but that did not help. Is there anything I can do outside of sending it back for them to fix the fan. Also how long is the warranty?

Try using some canned air to blow out the area around the filter. Sometimes the dust gets so bad it clogs the fans.

I've learned NOT to use canned air anywhere near optics... Is the optics in the BenQ properly sealed?

Yikes! Just got the dreaded HDMI Green Screen with my Benq, everything was working fine, did some tweaking in the service menu (gamma, cw etc), restarted the projector later and bam. My DVI port outputs perfectly to my secondary monitor.

And HDMI from my dvd player works just fine. I've also tried to reset to factory defaults to no avail. How can I reset the hdmi port or something similar that ridds me of this horrible problem? Firmware 0.48

Change the resolution to 800x600 and back. That worked for me.
Warren.

Ok, fixed it, phew, unplugged everything from AC, tested hdmi with my retired sanyo projector, worked fine, testet with my benq, worked fine. YAY! Time to enjoy freshly tuned gamma settings, wonder what caused this.

Btw, I've set gamma to +72 IRE to 0 and using "Film" mode, brightness 0 in both service and standard menu, contrast 0, color 6, anything I could do to better blacklevels? (Blacks look very black at this point though at this point though).

I just got my PE7700 back from the shop. The start-up problem now appears to be history. I'm wondering if the firmware is the same as it used to be though...

In the service menu, the Version displays as "Version 0.48, A00", and the release date is June 16, 2006. What does it show for you guys?

The reason I'm wondering is because the projector now sounds like a mini-hoover. A mini-hoover with well-oiled fans, but a mini-hoover nonetheless. Perhaps I just got used to the silence while the PJ was in the shop, but I could swear they've upped the fan speed again. It's about 45dB in economy mode, which is a lot louder than the 26dB in the official specs. It's actually driving me nuts now, whereas I could tolerate it before.

Yes the new fan is loud so I just usually set my lamp in Economy mode, which makes it quieter.

I haven't read the whole thread but are people still having bulb failure problems.

I don't think so.
Warren.

If they are having bulb failures, they are not talking about it here on the main thread.
Things have been quiet concerning the bulb issues for a long time now.

We are all just enjoying the 7700, and waiting for 1080P to come down in price;)

Basically, they fixed the lamp issue by cranking up the fan speed. So if you get a PE7700 you can expect the lamps to last, but don't expect it to be anywhere near the spec'd 26dB. What I'm trying to figure out is if they cranked it up yet again when it's not needed. (My lamp life is great now.) Economy mode sounds louder than high did before I sent it in, and of course that was nowhere near as silent before the first firmware upgrade. It was actually "quiet" back then.

I was wondering if there are any mods we can do to decrease the fan speed at all. In the service menu it seems to be locked on auto, which is quite loud (new firmware). I would like to run my pe7700 in full lamp mode, but it is just too loud as I sit within 3 feet of it. Eco mode is quite loud in itself. :mad:

Any ideas other than wearing headphones?

Yes the proj was way quieter before being sent in to benq when bulb 01 exploded.

If your no longer under warranty you could open the case up and put a resister into the lead going to the fan to drop the voltage which will call the fan to spin slower as it is just a normal DC fan.

Or if you're into computer modding at all you can just replace the fan with another slower spinning model. The fan should be a standard DC fan you can pick up at any computer modding supply store like Fry's or RadioShack. Just measure the size of the fan or take it with you.

I haven't done either of these as I'm waiting for my warranty to run out. My plan once it does it to replace the fan and put a hole in the case and a variable resistor so I can control the fan speed myself.

The lamp failure problem does seem to be history.

The real fix was FW v 0.48 (from v 0.44, the previous fix). I'm still curious about the reports of later FW versions 0.49 and 1.02.

When my unit came back with v 0.48 A00 the fan noise had definitely increased, but it was not dramatic. I have no way of measuring SPL below the Radio Shack's meter sensitivity of 50 dB. One thing to keep in mind is that a quiet residential room has an ambient noise floor of 30-40 dB, in some cases even higher. My guess is that the lowest noise floor for my theater is about 35 dB.

To compare a few devices the SPL readings at the exhaust ports of a:

D* HR 10-250 67 dB
Sony PS3 55 dB
PE7700 52 dB

All C weighted readings. Move just inches away and the reading for the 7700 drops below 50 dB. So at 4', well I've forgotten the math.

The "money seat" in my setup has my ears 4' directly below the 7700's case. With the audio muted the fan noise is considerable. Add program audio and except in very quiet scenes the noise is masked.

Anyway, my lamp now has 2040 hours on it all in economy mode. As others have posted I also had the replace lamp / flashing led notice. In my case at 1953 hours. Reset the timer. Wonder how many owners just follow the instruction?

As to modding the fan, caution would seem to be indicated. As far as most of us could determine the only real fix for the lamp failures was an increase in fan speed. One has to remember that lamp failure was common at under 300 hours. I felt lucky to get to 520 hours with FW 0.44.

I measured outlet temps. with 0.44 and 0.48. Found a 15*F. drop. Perhaps the critical difference.

Joe

Thanks Baenwort & Bronco for your info/suggestions.

I have the .49 firmware and about 300 hours on my lamp (I only watch a couple movies a week). In eco mode the pe7700 is very much tolerable in terms of noise level - it's when I crank it to full that the tornado ensues. It HAS to be well above 60 dB - it's definitely loud enough to be distracting even with a decent soundtrack playing. I would be perfectly happy to enjoy my projector in eco, but sadly I have the intermittent FLICKER problem that just doesn't seem to want to go away for good. I know about the suggestions of running in full lamp mode for a good 8 hours straight, switching inputs, power conditioners / supplies etc. I've tried these and it goes away but it rears its ugly head again and again. So my dilemma is 1) put up with occasional flicker 2) put up with tornado in the room 3) mod the fan speed in some way (risking another burnt out bulb in the process... and a now void warranty).

And no I don't want to send it off again to benq to look at the flicker issue, as I don't have faith in them to fix this in a timely or efficient manner. Or any manner at all - I told them about it when I sent it the first time with the burnt out bulb.

So basically I was wondering if a fourth solution might possibly be to enclose the projector in a fairly roomy pc case that is well ventilated and sound dampened, with the lens projecting the image through the 5" drive bays. If the case fans were efficient enough to ventilate the very hot pe7700 without adding more noise to the equation, it might be something to consider. I have a shelf mounted solution so I'll give it a shot...

Now to find the right case...

When I turn on my BENQ PE7700 the lamp comes on ...and the fan make a loud noise for a few seconds ... them two red lights flasing ..

Is there a fix for this?

Btw, anyone used a filter for better black? experience with that?

Used an ND2 filter for the first 1000 hrs in econo mode before the lamp just got too dim. The next 500 hrs. the picture was fine, but now I have PJ in full mode and expect to replace the lamp after about 2000 hrs.

The blacks were better with the filter.

Hello all. This is my first post and everyone seems to know more than I. Here's my gig: Got the projector in dec 05 and have been loving it (althought I don't use it a lot - I was out of the country for 11 months). I was watching a movie last night and the screen went black. I assume it was the bulb. I have read a lot of posts about "the bulb problem" and it being fixed, and new and old firmware, and hours logged . . . I don't know what bulb I have, what firmware I have, how many hours I have logged, etc. Here's what I'd like to know if someone would be kind enough to point me in the right direction:

1. What is the warentee on these things (and how does one take advantage of it)?
2. If no warentee, where's the best place to get a replacement bulb? Are there bad bulbs and good bulbs?
3. I've read some complaints about firmware. How does it get updated and should I or not?

Thanks!

walshman,

Welcome to AVS!

Did you hear a loud pop, or bang?

You double checked your source material player(dvd,cable box, HDDVD, Blu-ray etc)to the projector?

I'm sure you have the original firmware, and bulb, if you bought the 7700 in Dec 05.

You will be covered by Benq.
(949) 255-9500

Benq
53 Discovery
Irvine,Ca 92618

If you have any problems, pm me, and I can get you some help.
I live 10 miles from Benq.

With a new bulb and firmware, you'll be good to go.
The failure rate for bulbs has dropped big time, after the firmware, and new bulb install.

Hi Blasst,

Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the quick reply. I'm happy to hear you think I'll be covered by BENQ. I gave them a ring but as expected, no weekend service. I'll try again monday.

Can you tell me how the warentee works? What info will I need to provide them with? I think I still have a receipt somewhere.

Also, can you tell me about firmware options? Some people don't seem to be too happy with the updated firmware. It sounds like the new firmware up's the fan speed and doesn't give the operator any ability to lower it to the level I am currently used to.

Thanks for the help!

Again Welcome!

Warranty is 3 years from BenQ. They should send you a prepaid mailing label to ship the projector to them and they will pay to ship it back to you. You will only need the serial number, I think. When I got my projector updated to firmware 0.48 (I think the newest is now 0.49.), I didn't really notice any difference in noise, but I run at high altitude all the time since I live in Denver. I did change some of the projector settings from what they were before, but the picture is still fabulous.

I am now at about 1400-1500 hours on the replacement bulb with only slight dimming.

Net, you need to send your PJ in and get BenQ to fix it like they did for everyone else.

I have firmware version 0.49, and didn't notice any difference in the fan speed and noise, compared to the earlier version.

I know others have said that they have noticed a difference, which I passed on to the rep I know at Benq.

Really have to take your hat off to Benq for the warranty service they have performed on the 7700.

They took a big hit in the PR dept when the bulbs started blowing.
But they have dug deep to keep their name strong.

When the 1080P Benq projectors come down in price, I'll be handing over my cash to Benq again.

Until then I'll keep enjoying the 7700, or I'll give in to the upgrade fever early.:D

Bond at 116" diagonal on the 7700:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Polardoor/a05f4560.jpg

Hi All,

Thanks again for the warm welcome. I did speak with a BENQ representative this morning. He said that they WOULD send me a shipping label and WOULD fix the projector. I said thanks and that sounds great and then, just before he took down my info to get the process started he mentioned casually that they may just update the firmware and send the projector back with the old bulb. I asked for clarification regarding if they WOULD or WOULD NOT replace the bulb and he said it had to do with how long ago you bought the projector. I asked for specifics and he told me that if I had bought the projector more than three months ago the bulb would not be replaced. At this point I was feeling a bit mislead because I had already told him I bought the projector in dec 05. It also bummed me out as I know I have nowhere close to 2000 hrs on the bulb because I was out of the country for a year soon after I purchased the projector. When I told him this he asked again if I would like to get the process started and that they may or may not replace the lamp. I told him thanks but that I would do some more research before proceeding.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Call back and talk to a supervisor. Tell them how many hours you think you have on your PJ. While it has been a while since you purchsed it, you have a legitimate excuse being gone for a long time.

They know they had a problem with the firmware causing bulbs to blow prematurely and they can certainly confirm you are still on the old firmware. So, I would think they should be convinced they you are not trying to scam them into getting a new bulb.

In any case, new bulbs cost about $400. You shouldn't have to pay that.... none of us did when we went through this hassle last year. Many of us more than once before they got the problem fixed. I blew two bulbs... both at very bad times. One was just before the super bowl and BenQ was kind enough to send me an exchange refurbed projector overnight so I could have my SB party.

Good luck.

Hi All,

Thanks again for the warm welcome. I did speak with a BENQ representative this morning. He said that they WOULD send me a shipping label and WOULD fix the projector. I said thanks and that sounds great and then, just before he took down my info to get the process started he mentioned casually that they may just update the firmware and send the projector back with the old bulb. I asked for clarification regarding if they WOULD or WOULD NOT replace the bulb and he said it had to do with how long ago you bought the projector. I asked for specifics and he told me that if I had bought the projector more than three months ago the bulb would not be replaced. At this point I was feeling a bit mislead because I had already told him I bought the projector in dec 05. It also bummed me out as I know I have nowhere close to 2000 hrs on the bulb because I was out of the country for a year soon after I purchased the projector. When I told him this he asked again if I would like to get the process started and that they may or may not replace the lamp. I told him thanks but that I would do some more research before proceeding.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks


You've got a PM. Wish I could give out this info on the thread for contact info, but you can always PM me if you are having trouble with customer service.

Well the projector has 1801-1/2 hours on the lamp (Lamp Life reads 35%). I just got the "Lamp life has expired warning as well. It was ran in economic mode the whole time.

So as not to be caught unprepared, I placed an order for a new lamp.

I've had the projector around two years. It has had the "important" firmware upgrade and I had to send it in once because the thermal sensor failed.

It still throws a great image. :D

SixKindsOFWonder,

Great to hear about the hours on the lamp.

I'm just a little over a thousand hours and just purchased a spare bulb from Kevin Anderson(he had a new in box spare for 200 bucks) only bad thing...... this pj throws such a nice picture with the present rate of movie usage I'm good for the next 4 years..........The 3 year warranty is up in 6 months..... Dang no upgrade until she breaks.:)

Hear is a couple HD's off my HTPC, I am just now getting around to taking a few HD shots off my HTPC and A2 HD DVD player. Have not purchased a SD DVD since last xmas when I got the A2......HD just looks so Dang good. I'll get some A2 shots soon when I can figure out this Digital camera the metering pattern is giving me fits on some of the shots..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/checklst/Stargate05.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/checklst/100_0100.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/checklst/100_0104.jpg

Great shots checklst,

What size and type of screen are you using?

NOTE: The bulb isn't up when that warning comes on! It is a bug in the firmware. You just need to reset the lamp in the menu, then shut it completely off. Let it cool off and kaboom! You are good for many more hours of happiness. Downside is you need to keep track of bulb life yourself.
Warren.

Great shots checklst,

What size and type of screen are you using?

116" diag...... seating distance is 10ft front row 14" second. It's a bright white paint, eggshell hardness on the drywall. I tested some mfg screen material but the white paint was just as good as the factory 1.0 screen gains I tested.

I could actually see the fiberglass screen pattern/texture on my original 96" mfg screen, I decided 96" was to small so I painted the wall screen until I decided on what screen size I wanted. I then saw it was just as good as my mfg screen, so I took down the electric and have never look back.

On the last shot of the 5th elements hand.... I can't figure out why it looks so blocky............but if you enlarge the photo by clicking on the sizer in the bottom right it smooth out like the original on screen shot.......not sure if it's photo bucket down size to (640) or my digital camera skills. The photos are not as good as the original....... the pause is not as sharp as the moving movie, and the pj shows a lot more shadow detail that the camera exposure picks up. Need to work on my camera skills!!

I used Blackout cloth for a year or so, trying different sizes and 2.35. It was like 25 bucks, then I didn't have to worry about the texture of the wall. I got some black ribbon to make a border. I thought it looked nice till I got my Silverstar. Holy smokes, what a difference that made. Even my wife was impressed.
Warren.

Hey all. First post here in a long time, so long that I had to create a new user name. Anyway, yall help me pick out my last projector so I wanted to check in since I'm starting to look for replacements/upgrades now. I currently own the Benq PB6100 and it's worked great. It's a 2000:1 Contrast, 1500 lumen SVGA projector. So the PE7700 will be a great step up as far as contrast, resolution and the addition of the Senseye system, But at only 1100 lumens I start to wonder. From all yall that has seen it, how much of an issue do you think this is? Thanks.

Too close in numbers to be considered much of a step up. The PE7700 is a great pj, but it's now almost 3 years old.

Lots of new machines out their now...........but you need to set a budget like always....the only bad thing their are not to many DLP's with 0 offset like the PE7700 so I would have to look long and hard to find a replacement(at a reasonable price)

I like Art's reviews, at projectorreviews.com he goes to great length talking about all aspects of picture quality/color/contrast ect. His review of the PE7700....2 1/2 years ago is what got me to purchase the 7700 his review of the picture quality was right on.

Good luck and keep us posted of what you find.

Wow,
I put my PE 7700 Up on a shelf after replacing the bulb a few times, and thought to myself, (damn I gotta quit doing this I am going to go broke) this was over a year ago now. I was just doing a little research on what the thing was worth cause I was interested in selling it (bought it in dec 05) now I come to find out that I may be able to get the bulb replaced for free, and also come to find out that the bulbs were going out because of a firmware issue? the bulbs went out with little over 300 hours on them the first few. I am interested in any info you can give me about how to get the bulb replaced so I can start using this thing again!! I went from 100" to 25" :(
any tips, considering it has been sitting for so long on how to approach Benq to get the issue resolved? (the plastic that protects the rubber is still on the feet... its like that, new)
Any help would be awesome.

See posts above. It has a 3 yr warranty. Call them and tell them the truth.

Good luck.

Hello,

Hope someone can help.

I just bought my PS3.

Played it on my tv via composite. Ok it works!

Now I tried connecting it to my PE7700 via HDMI cable to the PS3.
NO PICTURE!

All I see is HDMI 525p in the righthand corner, after clicking the HDMI button on the projector remote.

What am I doing wrong??? How come I don't see a picture. And why does the screen show hdmi 525p message??? I thought it should say 720p or 1080i???

I have not yet connected my PS3 to the internet. Could this be the problem??

I tried already tried reconnecting HDMI cables to inputs and turning off projector and PS3.

Please help!

You might want to start at the cable......the 7700 is a DVI-I and some DVI-D duel link cables have had problems with some players and projectors. Thats been a prob with DVI-I their are 5 different pin setups in the cable ends.......:)

Good luck..... keep us posted may pick up on of these gamers soon.

try searching the thread about the ps3

mine works fine with the pe7700 via hdmi

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11036542#post11036542

Sorry, but I didn't quite understand your reply about the cables.

My projector is HDMI, not dvi.

I bought a brand spanking new IMPACT ACOUSTICS VELOCITY HDMI cable off Amazon for about $30.00. Oxygen-free copper and 100% shield construction for maximum immunity to environmental RFI/EMI. Whatever that means. :)

The cable is solid and fits nicely into both the PS3 and PE7700.

Are you saying that I bought the wrong HDMI cable??????

Does anyone have a LIST of what HDMI cables are COMPATIBLE with PS3 and PE7700?
I don't want to spend another $30-$50 dollars only to find my hdmi cable doesn't work.

Is there any users out there who have successfully connected their pe7700 DIRECTLY to the ps3 (not via receiver). What HDMI cable did you use? Could you supply the brand and name????

As I mentioned, I get no picture via HDMI with the PS3. I only see a slightly shaded rectangular box, really nothing. And when I click the HDMI button on the remote, I see 525p message in the bottom right-handed corner.

Very frustrating as I bought the PS3 only so I could use blu-ray on the projector.

Could it be that your PS3 is trying to feed 1080p to your PE7700, and it just give you the 525p because it can't show the requested resolution?

It does sound like a PS3 set-up issue. I have had a PS3 in my rack for six months and it has been great. The 7700 has an HDMI out not DVI.

In my case I have a RAM 40' HDMI cable running to a Geffen 3 in 1 out switcher.Then a 1 meter HDMI cable that came with the switcher to the PS3. It works fine.

Go into the PS3 set-up menu. In the Video output sub menu try choosing 720p only and see if that solves the problem. Set the 7700 to Real mode and all should be well.

BTW I also have an oppo 971 upconverting player that was wonderful for upconverting SD DVD's. Ever since SONY released FW upgrade v1.8 the oppo has been powered down. The PS3 upconverts at least as well as the oppo.

Joe

Sorry Regular guy had a senior "brain moment" with the DVI cable..........like Bronco70 I used a Oppo 971h it has a DVI-I connector and first DVI cable I used DVI-D/HDMI did not work for some reason.

I think Bronco70 may be on to something with the 1080P the ps3 outputs. 1080P for sure would confuse the 1080I 7700.:)

Hello,

Hope someone can help.

I just bought my PS3.

Played it on my tv via composite. Ok it works!

Now I tried connecting it to my PE7700 via HDMI cable to the PS3.
NO PICTURE!

All I see is HDMI 525p in the righthand corner, after clicking the HDMI button on the projector remote.

What am I doing wrong??? How come I don't see a picture. And why does the screen show hdmi 525p message??? I thought it should say 720p or 1080i???

I have not yet connected my PS3 to the internet. Could this be the problem??

I tried already tried reconnecting HDMI cables to inputs and turning off projector and PS3.

Please help!

Like Bronco says, go into the menu on the PS3 to Display settings and set the resolution to 720P.

With the composite cable to your tv you would not be able to pass an HD resolution.

You could try setting the PS3 to 1080i also, but I've found 720P from the PS3 to the 7700 to look slightly sharper.

Let us know if you get it worked out.

Thanks guys for your help.

I solved the problem!

Having both TV and projector on at same time, I was able to go to PS3 menu and choose HDMI output.

Using only my hdmi connection, I got a blank screen and couldn't do anything.
Again, having a composite connection to my tv ALLOWED me to actually see the damn menu and make the adjustments in the PS3 setup.

So in a nutshell, there was NOTHING wrong with my HDMI cable. No handshake problem.

In summary, I am sending 1080i to my projector.
This allows me to use the REAL function. Picture looks good.

I tried sending 720p via the PS3, but the REAL function was just a small box. Not total screen. Does this make sense? With 720p, I really can only choose wide or amamorphic, but not REAL. Again, REAL is only a tiny box.

Anyway, what I see on my screen in the righthand corner now is 1080i/60. Are other users using this as well?

Thanks.

regular guy,

Hmmm, not sure why you are not getting REAL to work correctly with 720p from the PS3.

What firmware do you have on the PS3?

Yeah, that is weird. Real should be 1:1 mapping, so with 720p output it should fix exactly. I assume it overwrites the "real" setting when going 1080i, since that would be bigger than the projector can display. I know my XBox worked right, but I thought it looked better at 1080i than 720p, which is weird too, especially since the games were 720p games.
Warren.

in the PS3 menu make sure you have it set to upconvert to FULL
if not it will not upconvert movies and thus the small window in REAL mode

I have my ps3 set on 1080i and upconverted movies look alright. play with the noise reduction settings as well. btw the bluetooth ps3 remote is a godsend - hide that ps3 anywhere and the signal from the remote to the unit is good as gold.

Unless of course you have a Harmony Remote :@

Question:

I have my PJ 13-1/2 feet from a 135" screen. Now, as we all know, this projector rocks, etc, etc.

However, I am noticing that if I ever get bitten by the upgrade bug I don't seem to have (m)any options to replace this PJ.

Very few throw that size of an image from that distance.

Any thoughts, etc? (Should I just by another PE 7700 in case this one craps out in 10 years? We plan on loving in this house for quite some time )

in the PS3 menu make sure you have it set to upconvert to FULL
if not it will not upconvert movies and thus the small window in REAL mode

I have my ps3 set on 1080i and upconverted movies look alright. play with the noise reduction settings as well. btw the bluetooth ps3 remote is a godsend - hide that ps3 anywhere and the signal from the remote to the unit is good as gold.

I guess we didn't ask regular guy if he was watching dvds or HDDVD, Bluray.

This would explain the small window in Real mode if he didn't have the settings correct in the menu.

Nice catch sleater.

Question:

I have my PJ 13-1/2 feet from a 135" screen. Now, as we all know, this projector rocks, etc, etc.

However, I am noticing that if I ever get bitten by the upgrade bug I don't seem to have (m)any options to replace this PJ.

Very few throw that size of an image from that distance.

Any thoughts, etc? (Should I just by another PE 7700 in case this one craps out in 10 years? We plan on loving in this house for quite some time )

Well, we know most of us will jump on a 1080p projector sometime.

I'm sure you have been checking the specs out .

There are some great prices on 7700's now. Could make a nice backup or second room projector for the prices it can be had for now.

Well, we know most of us will jump on a 1080p projector sometime.

I'm sure you have been checking the specs out .

There are some great prices on 7700's now. Could make a nice backup or second room projector for the prices it can be had for now.

Yeah, I'm in no hurry considering I feel that (currently) 720p is just fine. It's just that we like the image BIG. We can't mount the PJ any further back than it is. We sit about 13' from the image.

We've had our 7700 for about a year and half now. I just recently purchased a new lamp (According to Claus, I may have jumped the gun but at least I have a spare that should be good for over 500 hrs).

I really, really like it but was just trying to look forward to the future. Hopefully the future will include 1080p DLP projectors that throw 135' images from 13-1/2'.

I'm with you guys........the 7700 throws such a nice HD picture I can wait for 1080 to come down a little more. At the 14ft prime seating distance in my HT, a 1080 will offer me vary little gain in picture quality. My front row at 10 ft would benefit, but now that my kids are in college it's just me and my wife so the front row is used vary little.

I still have around 6 months of warranty left......just went over 1000 hours on bulb, I just purchased a spare bulb ($200) so I'm good for almost a couple of years ....as long as the bulb is the only thing that goes.

Wonder what price 1080 will be in 2 years?.......:):):)

My 10 foot seating from a 120" screen, gives me cause to upgrade to a JVC RS1 to eliminate SDE. Just watched Transformers from my back seats though, and I am still astounded how awesome the 7700 looks, even with over 2k hours on the bulb and no calibration. Haven't opened my DVE disc yet.
Warren.

Hi,I refer to my thread "Is Benq PE7700 still worth buying?". Input of those with experience with 7700 would be highly appreciated. Here in Czech Republic it is virtually impossible to see the PJs in action, so my decision fully depends on your opinions. Thank you for your help.

I would say "yes" They are relatively very cheap right now. Newegg has refurb units, which may be the best for an awesome price. I may get a second myself. Without seeing others you will be amazed I am sure, and probably even if you did.
By the way, we don't have places to see these projectors in the US either. I live in Phoenix Arizona, and the only projectors in stores I have seen are silly overpriced things that really look aweful compared to my 7700. Ultimate Eletronics had one descent setup, but comparing one projector doesn't give you much of a base for a decision.
Warren.

Warren makes some good points. I'm very satisfied with the 7700 and have no itch to upgrade. There is just so little 1080p content out there to get excited about those new pj's.

I also agree that it is next to impossible to demo units. In my part of NC there are two "high end" retail outlets with one dedicated room per store, with one pj hung and viewable.

About six months ago I visited the brand new brick and mortar store very close to my home. They had a very nice room, comfy theater seats, complete light control and good acoustics with high end audio.

Hanging from the ceiling was a well known midrange LCD pj shooting to a fairly pricey screen. They had "Batman Begins" playing. So I sat down for a few minutes. Awesome audio. But I just had to smile. The setup on the pj was probably not the best that this particular machine was capable of, despite the assertion that their in-house ISF trained tech had done a complete calibration.

Long story short, their screen was probably 96" diag. Mine at home is 133". Better blacks and more ft. Lamberts at my place. The difference in price, well I'm happy to do the research and save and be happy.

More to the point, the requirements of the room dictate to a large extent what will work.

As an example, in my situation, a zero offset is needed along with a short throw lens. In November 2005 there were few 720p units that fit the bill. The 7700 has worked out well.

Joe

Question:

I have my PJ 13-1/2 feet from a 135" screen. Now, as we all know, this projector rocks, etc, etc.

However, I am noticing that if I ever get bitten by the upgrade bug I don't seem to have (m)any options to replace this PJ.

Very few throw that size of an image from that distance.

Any thoughts, etc? (Should I just by another PE 7700 in case this one craps out in 10 years? We plan on loving in this house for quite some time )
I had the Toshiba clone of the PE7700, and when they refunded my original purchase cost two years later, I bought an Epson Home Cinema 1080. It has about the same throw ratio as the Benq, and with its lens shift it was an easy same-location install (mount and screen did not move). It is an LCD, not a DLP, but I think its black-level performance is equal to the Toshiba's. Its fan is much quieter (in its Theater Black mode), and at the close viewing range (if you sit as close as your projector does), the upgrade to 1080p will be an obvious and significant improvement over 720p with high-quality sources (HD discs, that is).

It is also 4 times the price. The 3 chip 1080 Sim 2 projector is even better yet if we are ignoring the 30k price. ;)

Hey guys how many fans does the PE7700 have? What is it's normal Temp in the service menu? ,and does the service menu have a fan rpm?

I was just wondering because of so many post about how noisy the PE was after the update firmware............my wife commented the other day that after turning the pj on she could not hear it running........I came over and stood under it(ceiling mounted)and could just barely hear it. It's about 18" above my head at that point.

I am just over 1000 hours(low mode) on the new bulb,early firmware up grade .048 I just had to kick it up to family room brightness to get the bright picture back I like!!!!! I could not hear the fan speed up......so I'm wondering if somethings amiss.......

I'm not sure if I even remember how to get into the service menu? Anyone got any measurements that I can compare.:)

how do I know what firmware I have?

Hey guys how many fans does the PE7700 have? What is it's normal Temp in the service menu? ,and does the service menu have a fan rpm?

I was just wondering because of so many post about how noisy the PE was after the update firmware............my wife commented the other day that after turning the pj on she could not hear it running........I came over and stood under it(ceiling mounted)and could just barely hear it. It's about 18" above my head at that point.

I am just over 1000 hours(low mode) on the new bulb,early firmware up grade .048 I just had to kick it up to family room brightness to get the bright picture back I like!!!!! I could not hear the fan speed up......so I'm wondering if somethings amiss.......

I'm not sure if I even remember how to get into the service menu? Anyone got any measurements that I can compare.:)


There is one fan.

There is no useful temp measurement in the service menu. Note though that with the FW 0.48 update outlet temps. were measured at lower numbers. Seems that the solution to the problem was an increase in fan speed and the pj is now reliable.

There is no fan r.p.m. indicator in the service menu.

In a different AVS thread I reported spl measurements on three components in my theater: Sony PS3, PE7700 and D* HR10-250 DVR all measured at the exhaust ports with a rat shack meter, c weighting, the 7700 had the lowest reading at, if memory serves, was 52dB.

At 18" below the case with no program audio from a source device the fan should be quite audible to the point of annoying.

This is not to suggest that the 7700 is noisy for it's class. In measuring the PS3 at 67dB,it is quite loud. In my case it is also about 16' away from my ears. When in use this becomes a non issue for movies. For music cd's if I want full dynamic range the pj is off, the sealing door out of the theater is closed and a dedicated Marantz player is fired up. Have to hear the quiet.

To get to the service menu in the 7700: menu,up,down,up,down,menu. To check FW Version: Factory Menu, Firmware. When done: back to USER OSD or you may make changes to an ill effect.

To all the old hands here :

Still enjoying the pj. About 2300 hours on the current lamp with FW 0.48.Total hours since shipped with the old FW and original lamp 2800 hours. Have this annoying noise at start-up. After an image appears there is a delay then a "buzzing" noise, sounds like a bearing in the fan. It always goes away after, at this point 2 minutes.Anyone else experiencied this?

Joe

Anyone else experiencied this?

Nope. Now at about 1900 hours and the PJ works just like it did day one. No noises and with my projector right up at a 7.5' basement ceiling, the noise is not annoying.

2300 hours or so on mine and no issues. The lamp is dimming now, Looks awesome at night still, but during the day it just doesn't cut it anymore. It is in a room with no light control here in Phoenix where the sun doesn't get brighter though. :)
Warren.

Hey Bronco70,

I was having similar issues, where on startup the fan was putting out more noise than normal.

The noise would go away after awhile.

I took it into Benq Headquarters in Irvine, and they replaced the fan. Now that I think of it, the rep who helped me out mentioned that they replaced one or two other fans while they were in there. That would make more than one fan, maybe a primary, and then secondary?

I'll have to ask him exactly how many fans the 7700 has.

I was also getting some color issues on the component inputs, where I had too much green.

They put a new board in for that.

Its nice to still have the warranty on this rig. 2+ years, and it still puts out a great picture.

Anyhow, replacing the fan(s) took care of the noise issue I was having.

I have similar "too much green" issues with my component inputs. They only started after I sent my unit in for the 0.49 FW upgrade.

I have the green gamma turned way down in the service menu so it looks a little better, but is still obviously wrong when checking colour calibration with with DVE/Avia's filters. Anyone else experience this issue and know of a solution through settings? I'd rather not have to send mine in for a board swap..

I think I've finished my painstaking research into replacing my 4805. 12x12x8 room so I'm looking at a 10'6"-11' throw distance and I want to use a 92" screen. The Mitsu HC1500 was out as my screen would be just about 3' off the floor. Was looking at the IF 7210 (offset issues though), Optoma HD7100 & Sharp DT500. I'm thinking the 7700 is the right choice and tough to beat for the price.

Was also looking at spending 400 or so more and getting the Marantz VP4001, but not sure if I'll appreciate the difference unless I'm looking side by side.

Think it's the way to go. What do you think?

Yeah, I look at my 7700 and find it hard to justify going 1080. It still amazes me.
Warren.

I agree and you can buy a refurbed one directly from BenQ for $760 with a one year warranty. Heck of a deal.

NewEgg even has them too for around that. Amazing really.
Warren.

Hi All,

About a month ago my bulb burnt out and thanks to this forum I got the bulb replaced, the internal fans replaced and the firmware upgraded, all at no cost to me. The picture looks great! Better than I remember it looking before. And the fans are not too loud. Special thanks to BLASST.

To DIRTBIKEGUY, it sounds like you have a similar situation to what I had. I bought the projector in dec 05 but had not used it much. Then last month when I called BenQ to see about warrantee, the first rep I spoke with said that they would upgrade the firmware but since it was over 3 months old they wouldn't replace the bulb. The solution, call back and speak with someone else or ask to speak with a supervisor. In my case I still had the original bulb so I guess they knew I didn't have too many hours on the thing. They gave me the works at no cost. I would expect you should at least get the firmware and fan upgrade. Then you should be set for full bulb life.

Great finish in your story. By now, all the bad things any of us said long ago about BenQ are totally fixed!

About a month ago my bulb burnt out ...

How many hours did you have in your original bulb?

Hi
I just got a Sony Bluray BDP-S300 player What should I set it on 1080 I
Thanks Tom

Hi Again
Any other setting I should set
Tom

Hi
I just got a Sony Bluray BDP-S300 player What should I set it on 1080 I
Thanks Tom

I'd recommend setting it to 720p, which is the native resolution of the 7700.

I have an HD DVD player and I set it to 720P. I tried 1080i just for a check and the picture is good but not as good as 720P.

Agree 720P on my 7700 is slightly sharper than 1080I:)

Decided it was time to put in a new bulb today. The old one had 2300 hours use. Even with tweaking the pq just was not what it used to be. Contrast ratio was lower, I could not adjust gray scale all that well, etc.

Pop the new bulb in. Huge difference. I measured the output on the old and the new bulbs. The old one was at 45% of the new. Really not too bad after all those hours.

Time to use my Eye-One and HCFR and do a proper calibration.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Joe

I've decided to purchase a BenQ pe7700 as my first video projector. I live in Seoul currently and plan on traveling in the next few years so it made more sense than buying an HDTV. I've been using my computer monitor for everything this past year but I recently purchased a Playstation 3 and would like to take advantage of its abilities.
Anyway, I found a few places that sell them here for 800,000won (around $820 give or take). However, when I went to try and buy one, the guy at the shop told me that they didn't have them because BenQ recalled them after three months because they were all found to be defective. Now, I am aware of the lamp and firmware issues and I assume that the shop owner had no idea what he was talking about (unless maybe in Korea there was a recall). I still plan on buying the projector from a different shop, but it did get me a little bit worried. Have all the issues been straightened out? I don't really mind buying a new lamp after a few years so long as I get decent usage out of the first, but the thought of dealing with a Korean repair shop every six months doesn't really appeal to me.
So, I guess what I am asking is, should I go with the pe7700? Or is there something else available for the same (or lower) price that is recommended?

Thanks for any help

I've decided to purchase a BenQ pe7700 as my first video projector. I live in Seoul currently and plan on traveling in the next few years so it made more sense than buying an HDTV. I've been using my computer monitor for everything this past year but I recently purchased a Playstation 3 and would like to take advantage of its abilities.
Anyway, I found a few places that sell them here for 800,000won (around $820 give or take). However, when I went to try and buy one, the guy at the shop told me that they didn't have them because BenQ recalled them after three months because they were all found to be defective. Now, I am aware of the lamp and firmware issues and I assume that the shop owner had no idea what he was talking about (unless maybe in Korea there was a recall). I still plan on buying the projector from a different shop, but it did get me a little bit worried. Have all the issues been straightened out? I don't really mind buying a new lamp after a few years so long as I get decent usage out of the first, but the thought of dealing with a Korean repair shop every six months doesn't really appeal to me.
So, I guess what I am asking is, should I go with the pe7700? Or is there something else available for the same (or lower) price that is recommended?

Thanks for any help
As far as I know there never was a formal recall of the 7700. Long story short the final fix required a new lamp design and fw updates. The first "good" fw that solved the problem was 0.48. It was released back around March or April 2006. There have been at least two other versions since. v0.49 & 1.02.

The most important consideration in a purchase would be to insure that the build date is after the fix. Any unit with a build of April 2006 or later should be fine.

A number of us are past 2000 hours of use without issues now.

One thing I really like about the 7700 is the ability to adjust settings in the service menu. With calibration hardware and software this pj can really be dialed in. I'm not quite finished yet after I put the new lamp in, but gray scale is now tracking very close to D65 from 10 IRE to 100 IRE. Just have to get the primaries and secondaries a bit closer to target. This unit is great for tweakers. I'll be happy until 1080p pj's become too tempting. Blu-Ray discs on my 133" screen would no doubt look fantastic in 1080p.

Good luck.

Joe

WOW. From the help that everyone in here gives it seems like the PE7700 is a good projector. I have been reading this thread and was wondering if you could purchase a PJ today would you do it all over again? I am looking at either the 7700, Mits. HC1500, Optoma HD-70 or Optoma HD-72. Out of those would you still purchase the BenQ? My room is going to be dark with no windows so dark is good and I can get some light if need be. I would be using it for movies, sports and HD TV. Not sure on what screen to use either what do you recommend on this? I have been searching and yes I am a nubie.

We say we prefer it because we bought it. People kinda work that way. We like to defend our purchase. Now I prefer the Panny AE2000U since I bought one of those. Of course while we say we prefer what we have, we are all wishing we had this other projector. Grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I secretly wish I had a RS2 now. :)
The fact is though, my 7700 still impresses me after all these years.

We say we prefer it because we bought it. People kinda work that way. We like to defend our purchase. Now I prefer the Panny AE2000U since I bought one of those. Of course while we say we prefer what we have, we are all wishing we had this other projector. Grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I secretly wish I had a RS2 now. :)
The fact is though, my 7700 still impresses me after all these years.

I agree. I also switched over to the ae2000 and feel the same way about the 7700. After the initial bulb issues were dealt with by the manufacturer, it has provided us with 2 and half years of reliable consistent operation with a great picture.

I might also add that as happy as I am right now with the ae2000, the jury is still out on the Panasonic (or any new model machine for that matter) from a reliability point of view. I know that others may not agree but for me, Benq's service has been outstanding. When I had the bulb problem, Benq replaced my PJs bulb AND provided me with a free spare at the same time. In a heartbeat I would have gone with Benq again if the new machine's throws were just a tad shorter. I'm thinking that when my machine gets sold, the new owner is going to get a great PJ, a spare unused bulb, and six months of remaining warranty for a great price. I almost want to keep it.

what is the current FW on pe7700 I have .49 is ther new FW which is batter ????

The last FW version reported around here was 1.02. The history: v 0.48 was the first "good" one released around Feb. 06, 0.49 followed shortly thereafter. Versions 1.01 & 1.02 have also been noted. Don't think anyone knows what changed after 0.48 or if there are any significant differences after 0.48.

Would I buy the 7700 again today? If price were the biggest concern, then probably yes. BenQ's service reputation has had mostly positive reviews especially for US owners. The three year warranty on a new unit is a big plus.

Deciding on a pj is not an easy exercise. Even in a large market how many examples can you find to demo? That's why AVS and other online resources are so important.

Then there is the issue of setup. Depending on the room one wants to use factors such as screen offset, lens throw, fan noise etc. become critical and can seriously limit the choices.

Truth is if I were in the market today it would be a 1080p pj to go along with BD from my ps3 and the 133" screen I'm using.

Basement, Ben threw in a spare bulb? Sweet!!

Joe

wnielsenbb, and basement,

Congrats on your 1080P projectors!

Have either one of you put the 7700 up for a direct comparison with your new 1080P PJ?

If so, how about some details?;)

hi there, i'm new to the forum :)

i am having a tough time deciding between the w500 and pe7700. both are priced about the same.

any recommendations? thanks!

hi again,

sorry forgot to add : i'm concerend about the lamp problems with the pe7700.

anyone knows if it has been fixed with the new models already? or is it an inherant design problem?

does anyone encounter lamp problems with the w500?

thanks!

My decision to upgrade was originally prompted by viewings of the JVC RS1, Sony VW50, and Panasonic Ae1000. In those machines, at least in their respective viewing environments, I noticed really dark blacks, sharpness and shadow detail. For me, those were the things the newer machines had going for it as compared to the 7700. Of course, everything's all relative from a PQ point of view. Up to that time, if it wasn't for the fact that I saw a well set up RS-1 in action for the first time, I probably wouldn't even think about upgrading. The fact that those machines are 1080p was of secondary concern in my mind.

My setup, in PE7700 land, consists of an xbox 360 with HD-DVD add-on (720p over component), an HD cable box (720p/1080i over component), an Oppo 981HD DVD player (720p over HDMI), and a PC (720p over DVI - tweaked with ffdshow). My screen is a 92" diagonal Da-lite Model B with high power screen, viewed from about 12 feet away and the projector mounted over the sitting area at screen height, that is about 6 or so feet high. Incidentally, I had upgraded to this screen from a Draper matte white and that really made the image pop, albeit it also raised the overall black level. To my mind, the difference was worthwhile. The pe7700 was setup up with Kevin Anderson's grey scale settings and brightness, contrast, color set up from DVE. My room has relatively dark walls and a light ceiling. I would not say it has great light control.

With the pe7700, the box 360 HD-DVD gave the best picture with the PC a very close second. In fact, other than the odd scene with far away background detail, a casual viewer would not really see a noticeable difference unless they were looking for it. When I first got the HD-DVD add-on I was a little disappointed. The Oppo was a close third with an extra bit of softness in the image. Overall I would say that the most prevalent limitation with the 7700 is that with dark scenes, shadow detail was missing and dark grey areas were apparent with every source input. This is the thing that bothered me the most.

On to the ae2000.

The machine is mounted using the same mount and location as the pe7700, that is, at screen height. The xbox was changed to output 1080p with HD-DVD output at 1080i in this mode (still through component of course), the Oppo set to 1080p, the PC set to 1920x1080 60hz. I don't have anything capable of 1080p from the source to the display. No change was made to the HD cable box. Please note that all my impressions to follow are of an uncalibrated display.

The first thing I noticed when the panasonic was fired up was how bright it was. It came from the factory set up in Normal mode. The colors were not quite right to me but very bright. I didn't spend any time in this mode and switched over to the other cinema/color modes within a few minutes of firing it up.

Once in the color/cinema modes I went looking for improved shadow detail and lower blacks. There is a very noticeable night and day difference with the improvement in shadow detail. However, the overall black level didn't seem to be that much different from the benq. I was mostly looking to see if the black bars in 2.35 material would be apparent or not. They were. In the image material though, the blacks did seem deeper. Now, in the week since I've fired it up, the black level seems to have dropped a bit and not nearly so noticeable as it was when it was first fired up. I'm not sure but I think the bulb settled in slightly over this period. I was a little disappointed in the black level initially but now am happy with it overall. Still I didn't get that inky blackness I was hoping for. Perhaps that's too much to expect with the size and type of screen and the ambient light conditions.

The thing that really hit me with this machine is that with all sources, everything is just so much clearer and sharper, especially with HD material. For SD-DVD material, yes there's a noticeable improvement but the HD material really stood out especially in clarity and detail. As I mentioned prior, the blacks are good enough in my mind.

Very recently I started playing with Normal mode with some pot lighting turned on in the room. Contrary to my initial impression, this mode really makes the images pop and provides a really satisfying image for TV. I had NBC HD news on and I could say that the announcer's fact was rendered with great detail with a great 3d look. I remarked to my wife that geez, this HD thing will reveal every facial imperfection. This mode had the most 3d look compared to any of the color or cinema modes.

Anyways, these are my un-trained eye impressions. I'm really happy with the upgrade but kind of concerned with the number of incidences of dust blobs, uniformity, etc. in the ae2000 threads. I forgot to mention it's quiet. It's mounted right over the sitting position and is much less noticeable than the benq it replaces.

Regards

hi there, i'm new to the forum :)

i am having a tough time deciding between the w500 and pe7700. both are priced about the same.

any recommendations? thanks!


Welcome to AVS derekchn,

DLP vs. LCD

You'll find happy owners of both units.

Are you able to demo these two PJ's?

My personal preference would be the 7700.

The bulb issues have been corrected.

Is this your first PJ?

Have you thought about going 1080P?

My decision to upgrade was originally prompted by viewings of the JVC RS1, Sony VW50, and Panasonic Ae1000. In those machines, at least in their respective viewing environments, I noticed really dark blacks, sharpness and shadow detail. For me, those were the things the newer machines had going for it as compared to the 7700. Of course, everything's all relative from a PQ point of view. Up to that time, if it wasn't for the fact that I saw a well set up RS-1 in action for the first time, I probably wouldn't even think about upgrading. The fact that those machines are 1080p was of secondary concern in my mind.

My setup, in PE7700 land, consists of an xbox 360 with HD-DVD add-on (720p over component), an HD cable box (720p/1080i over component), an Oppo 981HD DVD player (720p over HDMI), and a PC (720p over DVI - tweaked with ffdshow). My screen is a 92" diagonal Da-lite Model B with high power screen, viewed from about 12 feet away and the projector mounted over the sitting area at screen height, that is about 6 or so feet high. Incidentally, I had upgraded to this screen from a Draper matte white and that really made the image pop, albeit it also raised the overall black level. To my mind, the difference was worthwhile. The pe7700 was setup up with Kevin Anderson's grey scale settings and brightness, contrast, color set up from DVE. My room has relatively dark walls and a light ceiling. I would not say it has great light control.

With the pe7700, the box 360 HD-DVD gave the best picture with the PC a very close second. In fact, other than the odd scene with far away background detail, a casual viewer would not really see a noticeable difference unless they were looking for it. When I first got the HD-DVD add-on I was a little disappointed. The Oppo was a close third with an extra bit of softness in the image. Overall I would say that the most prevalent limitation with the 7700 is that with dark scenes, shadow detail was missing and dark grey areas were apparent with every source input. This is the thing that bothered me the most.

On to the ae2000.

The machine is mounted using the same mount and location as the pe7700, that is, at screen height. The xbox was changed to output 1080p with HD-DVD output at 1080i in this mode (still through component of course), the Oppo set to 1080p, the PC set to 1920x1080 60hz. I don't have anything capable of 1080p from the source to the display. No change was made to the HD cable box. Please note that all my impressions to follow are of an uncalibrated display.

The first thing I noticed when the panasonic was fired up was how bright it was. It came from the factory set up in Normal mode. The colors were not quite right to me but very bright. I didn't spend any time in this mode and switched over to the other cinema/color modes within a few minutes of firing it up.

Once in the color/cinema modes I went looking for improved shadow detail and lower blacks. There is a very noticeable night and day difference with the improvement in shadow detail. However, the overall black level didn't seem to be that much different from the benq. I was mostly looking to see if the black bars in 2.35 material would be apparent or not. They were. In the image material though, the blacks did seem deeper. Now, in the week since I've fired it up, the black level seems to have dropped a bit and not nearly so noticeable as it was when it was first fired up. I'm not sure but I think the bulb settled in slightly over this period. I was a little disappointed in the black level initially but now am happy with it overall. Still I didn't get that inky blackness I was hoping for. Perhaps that's too much to expect with the size and type of screen and the ambient light conditions.

The thing that really hit me with this machine is that with all sources, everything is just so much clearer and sharper, especially with HD material. For SD-DVD material, yes there's a noticeable improvement but the HD material really stood out especially in clarity and detail. As I mentioned prior, the blacks are good enough in my mind.

Very recently I started playing with Normal mode with some pot lighting turned on in the room. Contrary to my initial impression, this mode really makes the images pop and provides a really satisfying image for TV. I had NBC HD news on and I could say that the announcer's fact was rendered with great detail with a great 3d look. I remarked to my wife that geez, this HD thing will reveal every facial imperfection. This mode had the most 3d look compared to any of the color or cinema modes.

Anyways, these are my un-trained eye impressions. I'm really happy with the upgrade but kind of concerned with the number of incidences of dust blobs, uniformity, etc. in the ae2000 threads. I forgot to mention it's quiet. It's mounted right over the sitting position and is much less noticeable than the benq it replaces.

Regards



Thanks for the feedback.

I'm just waiting to pull the trigger on a 1080P unit, once I decide, etc, etc.

I did a shoot-out, awhile back with the 7700 vs. the 8720, at the same time, same source, and the 8720 clearly showed its a class above the 7700.
Not that the 7700 is a slouch, but the higher contrast ratio, etc, of the 8720, put the picture quality in a different league.

I have a 61" 1080P Samsung DLP RPTV, that I got about a year ago, to hold me over until the 1080P projectors came down in price.

Now you can get a 1080P projector for less than I got the Samsung for.:eek::D

Welcome to AVS derekchn,

DLP vs. LCD

You'll find happy owners of both units.

Are you able to demo these two PJ's?

My personal preference would be the 7700.

The bulb issues have been corrected.

Is this your first PJ?

Have you thought about going 1080P?


hi there, thanks for your reply :) I'm pretty new to projectors and this forum is certainly very helpful.

Yes, i have asked the distributor to demo both projectors. will go down to the shop this evening :)

i suspect the lens shift may be the deciding factor, because i have a space constraint. i will probably place the projector at the left corner wall of my room.

will update again on my final selection ;)

cheers

hi there, thanks for your reply :) I'm pretty new to projectors and this forum is certainly very helpful.

Yes, i have asked the distributor to demo both projectors. will go down to the shop this evening :)

i suspect the lens shift may be the deciding factor, because i have a space constraint. i will probably place the projector at the left corner wall of my room.

will update again on my final selection ;)

cheers

oh, and yes this is my first PJ. due to budget, i am only looking at 720p projectors at the moment. would be great to upgrade to 1080p in the future.

i'm so looking forward to watching my dvds again! :D

Welcome to AVS derekchn,

DLP vs. LCD

You'll find happy owners of both units.

Are you able to demo these two PJ's?

My personal preference would be the 7700.

The bulb issues have been corrected.

Is this your first PJ?

Have you thought about going 1080P?

hi again,

i finally had both the w500 and pe7700 demo-ed today. i walked into the shop thinking of getting the w500, due to the lens shift and HQV. but left ordereing the pe7700 instead! he he

comparing the images from Rise of the Silver Surfer (BD), i found w500 to have too warm (reddish) colours, while the pe7700 is more natural and very nice blacks!

the distributor spent some time getting the pe7700 to work with the ps3 though, but i think it's just some settings issue.

hopefully the new unit can avoid all the firmware/bulbs issue. i'm keeping my fingers crossed and looking forward to set it all up! :D

thanks again for the advice!

My 7700 vs AE2000 notes:
I concur on the black issue. They are better, but I know I would have been happier with the JVC RS1 there. They are better than the 7700, and actually I find them quite acceptable. Shadow detail is much improved over the 7700, especially in XBOX games. That is where I felt the 7700 really lacked.
Mounting flexibility is great with the 2000. It would have sucked mounting the 7700 in my new HT. The 2000 can be mounted pretty much anywhere.
My biggest issue with the 7700 was SDE. Sitting at 10 feet from a 120" screen the SDE was really bad at times. The AE2000U has a smoothscreen filter that does an amazing job of eliminating that. Now I can sit at 5' and no pixels.
I am still messing with settings, but I play movies in color 1, PS3 (Heavenly Sword) in Cinema 1, and XBox 360 (Gears of War) in Dynamic mode.
Fighting with life sized guys in Gears of War that close to the screen and you feel like you are there.
And Heavenly Sword, holy smokes, whoever drew Nariko deserves some award. :p
Watched a few movies on BR and that was awesome too. I am getting a Tosh A35 Tuesday.
On the downside the smoothscreen de-polarizes the projector. I planned on getting two of them and relying on the builtin polarization to do 3D, but that is blown. I may get another 7700 for 3D. :)
Warren.

My 7700 vs AE2000 notes:
I concur on the black issue. They are better, but I know I would have been happier with the JVC RS1 there. They are better than the 7700, and actually I find them quite acceptable. Shadow detail is much improved over the 7700, especially in XBOX games. That is where I felt the 7700 really lacked.
Mounting flexibility is great with the 2000. It would have sucked mounting the 7700 in my new HT. The 2000 can be mounted pretty much anywhere.
My biggest issue with the 7700 was SDE. Sitting at 10 feet from a 120" screen the SDE was really bad at times. The AE2000U has a smoothscreen filter that does an amazing job of eliminating that. Now I can sit at 5' and no pixels.
I am still messing with settings, but I play movies in color 1, PS3 (Heavenly Sword) in Cinema 1, and XBox 360 (Gears of War) in Dynamic mode.
Fighting with life sized guys in Gears of War that close to the screen and you feel like you are there.
And Heavenly Sword, holy smokes, whoever drew Nariko deserves some award. :p
Watched a few movies on BR and that was awesome too. I am getting a Tosh A35 Tuesday.
On the downside the smoothscreen de-polarizes the projector. I planned on getting two of them and relying on the builtin polarization to do 3D, but that is blown. I may get another 7700 for 3D. :)
Warren.

Warren, how would you compare the brightness between the two. thanks

mark

Well it defaults to normal which about blinded me. I actually set my focus and size projecting onto a flat black wall. My 7700 has over 2k hours on the bulb though. The 2000 can be brighter or dimmer than the 7700 depending on mode. You could make the 7700 bright by using family room mode, but that really whacked out the colors. The 2000 looks good in any mode. I picked the dimmest for my system since I have a totally flat black room and a high brightness Silverstar screen.
Warren.

I used the 7700 with the Toshiba HD-A1, and I thought it did a good job downconverting over HDMI 1080i to 720p. I have a PS3, and I'm not sure why it would have trouble mating with the 7700 so long as the PS3 is outputing 1080i.

The 7700 is very "tweakable" and will calibrate well as to gray scale and gamma, both of which will improve shadow detail.

If this is your first front projector, be prepared for some BIG fun -- nothing beats a screen size of 100" or more.

Well it defaults to normal which about blinded me. I actually set my focus and size projecting onto a flat black wall. My 7700 has over 2k hours on the bulb though. The 2000 can be brighter or dimmer than the 7700 depending on mode. You could make the 7700 bright by using family room mode, but that really whacked out the colors. The 2000 looks good in any mode. I picked the dimmest for my system since I have a totally flat black room and a high brightness Silverstar screen.
Warren.

Thanks, Warren.

mark

I actually thought my XBox 360 looked better on my 7700 set at 1080i instead of 720p. Not sure why.
Warren.

I actually thought my XBox 360 looked better on my 7700 set at 1080i instead of 720p. Not sure why.
Warren.

Any issues getting the 7700 to work with the 360?

Any issues getting the 7700 to work with the 360?

Nope, unless you try to send a 1080P signal from the 360, the 7700 will only accept up to 1080i.

Other than that no issues that I can think of.

I'm previously owner of Benq w100,and i must say - i'm very impress about lack of any artifact or SDE. Even if you try to go to very close to the screen,practically you can't notify any structure of the picture!
For now I'm looking to 7700....could anyone confirm,that if i will throw picture from 3m and i will watch this picture also from 3m,there will be NO artifacts and SDE?

Thanks.


What size screen will you be using?

Personally, I could not watch at 3 meters (9.84251 ft), unless it was a small screen, but it will depend on ones eyesight, and personal preference.

I used the 7700 with the Toshiba HD-A1, and I thought it did a good job downconverting over HDMI 1080i to 720p. I have a PS3, and I'm not sure why it would have trouble mating with the 7700 so long as the PS3 is outputing 1080i.

The 7700 is very "tweakable" and will calibrate well as to gray scale and gamma, both of which will improve shadow detail.

If this is your first front projector, be prepared for some BIG fun -- nothing beats a screen size of 100" or more.

Kevin,

Glad to see you are still around, and checking in on us.;)

I watched my 120" screen from 10 feet with the 7700. That was good. Closer and the SDE got to me. That was my main reason for upgrading to the panny ae2000u. I can sit at 5 feet now and no SDE. Well, you can stick your nose on the screen and not see it. That smoothscreen filter is amazing.
Warren.

That would be fine to me. 1:1 seating distance:screen width is where I felt the line was. You will be very happy with the 7700.
Warren.

hi there,

i've just received my PE7700 and hooked it all up with a matte white screen and a standard dvd player (before my upscaling dvd player gets delivered)

one thing that's troubling me is that i noticed horizontal lines near moving objects on the screen. I have tried a few dvds but still notices it.

is this something to do with the 480p resolution of dvds? or the fact that i am using just the normal video cable (yellow)? Or is my projector defective?

will this go away if the upscaler or if 1080i/720p (hddvd/bd) is used?

thanks for any advice!

If you mean you are using a single RCA cable for your video connection, then you should not be surprised that you are seeing artifacts. This is the lowest quality video connection and should be avoided when ever possible.

At a minimum, you should use a component connection and the image is generally best using an HDMI connection. Hopefully, your new upconverting DVD player has one of these outputs.

In the interim, you can try to turn down the sharpness control.

Just a quick tip if the HDMI stops working for some reason:

Go to service menu (menu,up,down,up,down,up,down,menu), then press enter and find "return all OSD ..." (I don't remember the rest, but it is there).

My pj just stopped accepting HDMI input today... yesterday everything worked perfectly and today it just stopped working, I didn't change anything. No reset in user menu worked, just the one in service menu.

I had an HDMI dropout last night caused by a PS3. All of a sudden the pj went into pip mode, even though it was turned off in the menu. Weird.

Anyway when I fired up today there was the "searching for signal" message. I tried the above fix. No go. What works for me is to switch to another input and then back to HDMI.

Who the heck invented HDCP anyway?

Joe