Hiya fellas,
How do I get one with the new bulb?

New ones come with it, plus a free bulb.

What's the best screen to buy? I'm not Mr. Moneybags, but I don't want to shaft the picture quality big-time just to save a buck. I have a 6 ft. wallspace and my viewing distance is between 9-11 ft.

I like my matte-white 120" diag 16:9 screen with 1.3 gain. I painted my non-light-controlled room dark (black ceiling, marron walls, black carpet) and put thick curtains. So even during the day it's appreciably dark. For your viewing distance you'll need a 110" diag screen. What type depends on your room ambient lighting.

Do I absolutely have to mount it to the ceiling?

No, you can shelf-mount, or table-mount it if you have a way to route and hide the video and power cables this way.

How do I calibrate the darn thing? I know a lot of it is personal preference, but is there any no-brainer things I should know going into it?
Get the "Avia Guide to Home Theater" DVD

Thank you very much in advance and I apologize for my newbness in the art of projectors .
You're welcome!

This is a great projector for the price.

It is nice to deal with a local dealer, but I know a lot of people have had a good experience buying on line, even when the projector has had warranty problems.

The extra bulb is a "rebate" form from BenQ for any PE7700 purchased in October. You buy the projector, send in required form and proof of purchase, and they mail you back a bulb.

The PE7700 looks very good out of the box. You can do a basic calibration using AVIA or Digital Video Essentials (sets brightness, contrast, color, & tint). To calibrate grayscale, you will need to hire an ISF tech to make the adjustment (see link to my website for info on what is involved in an ISF calibration for a DLP projector).

For a screen, you can paint a wall pure-white and use that until you save money to purchase a screen from Carada, which I think offers the most bang for the buck.

I have just got my replacement bulb for the PE7700. I was down about 10 days. Hope it lasts.

I do have a problem though. There seems to be a dark vertical line on the top right of the projected image forming. Is this do to light leaking in the unit? If anyone knows why this is happening I would appreciate the help. The line formed about a week ago and seems to be getting larger. It is about 2 inches wide by 2 feet high.

What's the best screen to buy? I'm not Mr. Moneybags, but I don't want to shaft the picture quality big-time just to save a buck. I have a 6 ft. wallspace and my viewing distance is between 9-11 ft.

I like my matte-white 120" diag 16:9 screen with 1.3 gain. I painted my non-light-controlled room dark (black ceiling, marron walls, black carpet) and put thick curtains. So even during the day it's appreciably dark. For your viewing distance you'll need a 110" diag screen. What type depends on your room ambient lighting.
He'll have a hard time fitting a 110" screen on his 6' wide wall... Perhaps a wrap around effect? ;) An 80"er is about all he can fit... Though I'm not sure where the speakers would go...

It is nice to deal with a local dealer, but I know a lot of people have had a good experience buying on line, even when the projector has had warranty problems.

I'm one of those who can attest to a good experience purchasing online. My bulb was replaced no problem by just calling BenQ directly, so the retailer wasn't even involved in warranty work.

I'm one of those who can attest to a good experience purchasing online. My bulb was replaced no problem by just calling BenQ directly, so the retailer wasn't even involved in warranty work.

Me too. The AVS people are great and very helpful

I have just got my replacement bulb for the PE7700. I was down about 10 days. Hope it lasts.

I do have a problem though. There seems to be a dark vertical line on the top right of the projected image forming. Is this do to light leaking in the unit? If anyone knows why this is happening I would appreciate the help. The line formed about a week ago and seems to be getting larger. It is about 2 inches wide by 2 feet high.


Does anyone have an answer for this. I am in desperate need of assistance. I need to know if I should send it out to get fixed or can it be done easily? The problem is actually happening on the top left of the image. Sorry.

This is certainly not normal, but without a picture, it is hard to know the cause (can you post one?)

Pull the bulb and see if foreign object is on it. Try resitting the bulb, making sure it is squarely in the bracket and that the door is properly closed.

Get a flash light and shine it through the lens (with the projector off!) and see if you see any foreign object between the lens and the colorwheel.

I want to purchase a 7700 but want to make sure I can access the service menu for calibration, can anyone tell me how to get to the service menu ?

Here's a link to a recent review:

http://www.ultimateavmag.com/videoprojectors/1005benq/

I want to purchase a 7700 but want to make sure I can access the service menu for calibration, can anyone tell me how to get to the service menu ?
Yes, this has been confimed a few times in this thread.
Specifically, post #1119 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5945253&highlight=service+menu#post5945253)

You can set grayscale on the PE7700 without getting into the service menu, but if you want to mess with parameters such as CW Delay and degamma tables, I believe it is menu, up & down 3 times, and menu again (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

As always, write down service menu values before changing them.

Zilla, Kevin, miltimj, and everyone else on this thread! :-)

Thank you very much for the help and advice. I will update you on my progress as I go along.

It's actually just Menu, then up, down 3 times to switch to service mode in the PJ. That makes it so whenever you press Menu it goes to the service menu instead of the user menu.

This is a fairly safe service menu, but still be careful. I go in there frequently to change overscan, most other stuff I need is accessible from the user menu.

ok everybody,

I have been lucky and have not had a problem with my original bulb until now. I noticed a small light flicker through-out the whole screen when watching a movie yesterday. I went into the user menu and switched the Lamp from FULL to ECONOMIC. Once I did that the flicker went away but the screen dimmed a bit. I was very relieved that the flicker stopped but when I switched it back to full the flicker came back. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with this problem? Should I keep the projector in Economic mode and calibrate to that?

One last question is do you guys find it have to calibrate black level and contrast using DVE or AVIA? I find it hard to notice any Blooming at all.

Thanks this forum rocks,

CD

CD, you won't notice any blooming -- that's a problem with CRT's. While using AVIA, contrast is too high when you can no longer see both moving white bars.

The bulb makes light using a significant electrical spark across two electrodes. The arcing process eventually corrodes the electrodes and the spark jumps around the metal rods looking for the path of least resistance. Hopefully, it eventually finds a new, more stable spot and the flicker goes away for a while. Switching from ECONOMIC to FULL increases the voltage and can help the arc stabilize sooner, at which point you may be able to return to ECONOMIC. Try leaving it at FULL for a few hours, and see if that helps (obviously, there are no guarantees).

If the room is light controlled, and the screen size is reasonable (110-inches or less), I've always set the PE7700 to ECONOMIC. I think you get better blacks, less chance of "rainbow" artifacts, and longer bulb life.

As to setting contrast, fixed pixel projectors do not "bloom" like a CRT (one of their advantages), and you want to set contrast on a DLP so that you don't "white-wash" luminance levels below 100%. For a better explanation of how to set contrast on a DLP projector, go to my web site by clicking on my name to the left and go to the ISF calibration link.

Thanks so much for the quick responses. I will keep my PE7700 set to Economic and I have also have noticed that black levels are better. Kevin, thanks for the link, I will be checking it to educate myself on the proper way to set the contrast.

CD

Hi Everyone, I've sold my Optoma H31 and am looking to upgrade possibly to the PE7700. I had a couple of quick questions that I was hoping someone could answer for me. In some of the initial reviews that come out back when the 7700 was released there was mention of an obvious black crush issue when viewed in the cinema mode. Has this been fixed or is it still an issue? Also, when calibrated to D65 greyscale tracking what is the 7700's contrast rating? I remember reading at the Cine4home site that the similar Toshiba MT700 only achieved a contrast of about 1400. Is the Benq any higher? I appreciate any feedback.

Moe

Hi Everyone, I've sold my Optoma H31 and am looking to upgrade possibly to the PE7700. I had a couple of quick questions that I was hoping someone could answer for me. In some of the initial reviews that come out back when the 7700 was released there was mention of an obvious black crush issue when viewed in the cinema mode. Has this been fixed or is it still an issue? Also, when calibrated to D65 greyscale tracking what is the 7700's contrast rating? I remember reading at the Cine4home site that the similar Toshiba MT700 only achieved a contrast of about 1400. Is the Benq any higher? I appreciate any feedback.

Moe
Hey... This is what I am doing. My 7700 shows up tomorrow. I plan to post a thread/review in a week or so.

I have a question for those using a Harmony remote to control PJ...

I use the Comp1 input of the PJ to watch TV from my cable box via my reciver. Which input does this correspond to in the Harmony wizard? CP, PC, or CP HD? I have CP chosen now and PJ searches for HDMI input. I can just try them all I know... :)

I use CP for the Component input and it works fine for each of my Activities.. I'm using the Harmony 880.

In some of the initial reviews that come out back when the 7700 was released there was mention of an obvious black crush issue when viewed in the cinema mode.

First, let me state that for all I know the Black Crush Issue has in all situations come from incorrectly matched settings in the projector and the source device (dvd-player in most cases). I have not seen any post where it has been proved that the PJ actually had a problem - I myeself have never had it, allthough I can create the problem by setting the PJ-settings to an incorrect value.

In some connection scenarios it is simply impossible to change any settings in such a way that the 'Black Crush Issue' arises. This means that if you connect dvd-player to PJ via either DVI, HDMI or RGBHD the problem will never arise.

For component connection there is a setting called IRE-black level (often for both dvd-player and pj) which in the PE7700 is not located the same place in the OSD as the simple picture tweaking controls - which I believe has led to all the confusion because people either a) didn't knew it was there, or b) didn't knew what the correct setting was. This setting has to match that of your dvd-player and possibly (depending on your player) the player has to match that of your source material. I believe this is the

Take Away Message: I don't see any problems at all.

-Claus

There is a problem, but it is correctable. It's a glitch in how the setting is stored in the PJ's memory. (I guess) Briefly:

(1) You cannot change the black level unless you are currently using certain inputs, Svideo will work. (2) The HD inputs will say it is in the Darker/Japan mode all the time, but that can be wrong. Sometimes it is actually in the lighter setting, which you don't want. And you can't change the setting in this input. (Fix) Go back to Svideo and set to Darker/Japan, that will affect the other inputs where you can't change the setting.

In the service menu it informs you of the actual IRE setting, either 0 or 7.5. (even if the user menu is currently wrong, like #2 above) It always has the correct info, but you can't change it here, you have to be in the user menu.

There is a problem, but it is correctable. It's a glitch in how the setting is stored in the PJ's memory. (I guess) Briefly:

(1) You cannot change the black level unless you are currently using certain inputs, Svideo will work. (2) The HD inputs will say it is in the Darker/Japan mode all the time, but that can be wrong. Sometimes it is actually in the lighter setting, which you don't want. And you can't change the setting in this input. (Fix) Go back to Svideo and set to Darker/Japan, that will affect the other inputs where you can't change the setting.

In the service menu it informs you of the actual IRE setting, either 0 or 7.5. (even if the user menu is currently wrong, like #2 above) It always has the correct info, but you can't change it here, you have to be in the user menu.

this is interesting with this projector and a lot of projectors, in that you cant change some setting unless the source is present... I'm recognized this on a lot tvs as well ....

This makes it difficult when you are demoing these ;-)

I don't think the source has to be present - just that you have to switch to that input-selection. I can check it out if anybody needs to know for sure.

-Claus

He'll have a hard time fitting a 110" screen on his 6' wide wall... Perhaps a wrap around effect? ;) An 80"er is about all he can fit... Though I'm not sure where the speakers would go...



I'm one of those who can attest to a good experience purchasing online. My bulb was replaced no problem by just calling BenQ directly, so the retailer wasn't even involved in warranty work.

Where did you purchase online from, miltimj?

I got problem with hdmi unsupport error whenever I fire up my computer at resolution other than 1280x720. No matter what I tried, like change back to 1280x720, restart pj and restart PC, it always say hdmi unsupport. The only way to cure this is to shut down the pj, plug in my DVD player through hdmi, fire up the pj. After it sync then reconnect the hdmi cable to my pc, then everything is fine. I wonder if there is any simple way to get my hdmi connection back rather than doing all the above. If I have no hdmi DVD player I will not be able to fix it. This really doesn't feel right.

If you shelf mount the projector(7700) to aim at the top of the screen will this setup work? because if you select Ceiling front in the setup>menu that would be if you are ceiling mounting....... which I need to understand since if you ceiling mount the projector upside down, and you have the middle of the lense at the top of the screen you would think it would project towards the bottom of the screen without changing to ceiling front in the setup >mirror menu. Its obvious that I need to learn how the projector works. Also anyone else using the oppov971H dvd player with the Benq 7700, Toshiba 700? Just picked one up and would like to know what settings you are having luck with.

peterho3 -- You didn't say what video card you are using. You need to get the latest software upgrade for your card. I had a problem with mine until I installed the latest 5.9 version of the Catalyst software for my ATI 9600xt card. Also, you need to have a video card that can output a digital (DVI-D) signal not an analog (DVI-A/VGA) signal. The PE7700 will not accept an analog signal ("unsupported") on it's HDMI input (which is digital only).

Blasst -- It's all in the manual :eek: .

perterho3, first off update your drivers as suggested. When you get the "hdmi unsupported" problem, try switching to another input, say Comp1, then switch back to HDMI. You don't have to have any source in Comp1. This forces the PJ to sync with the HDMI input.

Thanks Claus. My card is 9800SE. My setup is DVI/hdmi to pj and VGA to LCD monitor. If I just connect my pj and no monitor, it works fine. My monitor has a different resolution (1280x768), so if I fire up pj without prior changing to 1280x720, it gives me hdmi unsupport error. Funny thing is no matter what I do, I cannot get rid of this error even resolution is correct. Only if I connect the hdmi cable to my DVD then back to PC can 7700 recognize my PC again. So basically the PC is always on at 1280x720@60hz. The pj change from error to good after plugging in the DVD player. It comes back to life without me touching the PC. That is why I think the problem is on the pj side. Any idea?

Hi Zilla, I did try switching input but no luck. It did say hdmi searching and then back to hdmi unsupport again. Even switch off everything and start again won't help. May be I will try the new driver to see if it will do any good. Thanks.

Thanks Claus. My card is 9800SE. My setup is DVI/hdmi to pj and VGA to LCD monitor. If I just connect my pj and no monitor, it works fine. My monitor has a different resolution (1280x768), so if I fire up pj without prior changing to 1280x720, it gives me hdmi unsupport error. Funny thing is no matter what I do, I cannot get rid of this error even resolution is correct. Only if I connect the hdmi cable to my DVD then back to PC can 7700 recognize my PC again. So basically the PC is always on at 1280x720@60hz. The pj change from error to good after plugging in the DVD player. It comes back to life without me touching the PC. That is why I think the problem is on the pj side. Any idea?

I don't know about 1280x768. I found that I could do a similar thing from 1280x1024. If the PJ is started in that resolution the display is blank. I then switch my VGA/LCD to 1280x720 and the PJ syncs automatically. I'm also running clone mode.

Hi basement, may be it is 1280x768 that cause problem. I did have my PC connect to my old Sony which runs 1368x768@56hz before. I remember if I start 7700 at that resolution, it sure gives a blank screen. If I change back to 1280x720@60hz the DVI/hdmi connection spring to life again. I don't mind plug and unplug my DVD to solve it but it is the ON/OFF of pj in a short time that worries me.

Hi basement, may be it is 1280x768 that cause problem. I did have my PC connect to my old Sony which runs 1368x768@56hz before. I remember if I start 7700 at that resolution, it sure gives a blank screen. If I change back to 1280x720@60hz the DVI/hdmi connection spring to life again. I don't mind plug and unplug my DVD to solve it but it is the ON/OFF of pj in a short time that worries me.

I'm not sure how you're trying to set up. Is there a HDMI DVD player in the mix as well? I'm running the PJ through HDMI and VGA to an LCD monitor. The PC is in clone mode, which is simple for me. If I want to watch on the PJ I set the computer to 1280x720. If I'm on the PC and VGA display exclusively I switch it to 1280x1024. If I want to display on both I switch it to 1280x720. The PJ syncs every time.

I used to have a problem with symptoms like you;re describing when I was experimenting with DVI from a HD cable box where I wanted to compare the output of the cable box with component vs hdmi. I got it into a mode where the PJ wouldn't sync on HDMI until the PJ was restarted. This usually happens when you physically switch inputs from one source to another. The PJ has trouble syncing.

Having to restart the PJ on an input switch is not an option.

petterho3 and basement, I don't think it's necessarily the video resolution that's causing your blank screen on your PJ, but the "frequency" that is used to achieve that resultion. The PJ has to "sync" with its source's video signal so it can basically replay it. It does this well at 60Hz, give or take a few Hz, but not too well at 56Hz. Can you run the PJ at 1280x1024 @ "60 Hz" for example?

Just an idea.

Another alternative is to set the PC output to 1024 x 768 before you connect the PJ. When I do that, it works every time, even with both my PC monitor & PJ connected.

The signal frequency (thanks, Zilla) is important too, since 720p & 1080i are essentially spec-ed at 60 Hz. Since I'm in the US, that issue didn't occur to me.

peterho3 -- ATI updated the drivers to Ver. 5.9 on 9/2/2005. I just looked and they've just released Ver. 5.10 four days ago (10/12/2005). It may be a good idea to get it.

How does one get out of the service/factory menu?

Thanks,

Anbjorn

Hi basement, my setup is similar to yours. I only unplug my hdmi/DVI from PC to DVD player for playback of NTSC video material, which HTPC is doing a bad job in deinterlacing. But it seems I really need it to get back my hdmi connection and no way around.

Hi Zilla, so far I see hdmi only accept a very limited PC desktop resolution because I have also connect VGA/RGBHD and it can sync to any resolution I can throw at it. hdmi won't sync to many of those res even at 60hz.

Hi Claus, I just fire up my pj and make sure it is at 1280x720@60hz and everything is fine. I guess I have to be careful at this and I will stay out of trouble.

Thanks for all the advise.

Anbjorn, To get back to user menu it is Factory->Return User OSD.

@peterho3

Thanks.

I wonder if anyone has tried a HDMI or DVI switch with this projector yet. I wonder if you can get the PJ into a state where changing sources even with a switch does not allow it to sync.

I wonder if anyone has tried a HDMI or DVI switch with this projector yet.

I've been using a Gefen 2X1 DVI switch with an MT700. No problems switching back and forth, but I have both sources outputting 720p, so there's no sync downtime.

I also have a Gefen switch and switch between an HD Tivo and a Panny S77, both running at 720p. Never a problem.

I've lost sync when switching inputs using a switch. I used to have a Gefen 2x1 DVI switch and it wouldn't work at all but it was an early model and I think it was an HDCP issue.

I now have the $38 markertek switch and it lost sync once last week when I was switching inputs.

I have a Geffen 2x1 switch -- no problems.

The 7700 is on my short list for my first projector. The room I have for it is small - 13' L x 11' W x 8' H, so I was planning on going with a 45" H x 80" W screen on one of the 11' walls. I understand that to ceiling mount the PJ, the center of the lens needs to be even with the top of the screen to avoid keystone adjustments. Using the "eyes level with the bottom 1/3rd of the screen" rule, this puts my eyes (when seated, of course) at 15" from the bottom of the screen, which means the PJ lens would be only 30" above my eyes when seated. So if I want to avoid keystone adjustments (I do), unless I'm sitting pretty high up (like a barstool), or deviate significantly from the 1/3rd rule, or go with a bigger screen, the PJ is going to be hanging pretty low. Given it's short throw, I'm afraid it's going to be a hazard in the room.

Am I basically stuck here? Of all the options, I guess raising the screen is the least objectionable, but I'm worried I'll have to crane my neck up too much to be comfortable. Basically I figure the PJ needs to be at least 78" off the ground to be safe. That puts the bottom of my screen at 33", which seems kinda high.

Thanks,
Sean

P.S. Anyone taken advantage of the free ceiling mount offer? Is the free mount decent?

<snip>

P.S. Anyone taken advantage of the free ceiling mount offer? Is the free mount decent?

The free ceiling mount is very beefy. However, it is freaking HUGE. Well, actually it is long. It ends up at 23" from the base to the center of the lens.

I removed the tube and used it without it and that places the center of lens at about 9" from the ceiling

The free ceiling mount is very beefy. However, it is freaking HUGE. Well, actually it is long. It ends up at 23" from the base to the center of the lens.

I removed the tube and used it without it and that places the center of lens at about 9" from the ceiling


SixKindsOfWonder, Can that free ceiling mount pole be shortened in any way to bring the projector up a bit? Possibly by cutting the tube and reattaching in some way?
Thanks, Steve

SixKindsOfWonder, Can that free ceiling mount pole be shortened in any way to bring the projector up a bit? Possibly by cutting the tube and reattaching in some way?
Thanks, Steve
It is a tube with in a tube design so that you could make it longer by removing the bolts, lining up the next set of holes and reassembling the bolts. The outside tube is smooth (for decorative purposes), with the exception of the holes near the top and bottom that the attachment bolts pass through. Confused yet?

In order to shorten the tube, you would also have to be able to drill through the tubes to reconnect them.

It is a tube with in a tube design so that you could make it longer by removing the bolts, lining up the next set of holes and reassembling the bolts. The outside tube is smooth (for decorative purposes), with the exception of the holes near the top and bottom that the attachment bolts pass through. Confused yet?

In order to shorten the tube, you would also have to be able to drill through the tubes to reconnect them.



Got it. Thanks! Steve

Sean,
How tall are you? And will this be mounted above the chair/couch, or in a walkway? I have a 44x78" screen, and am 6'4". I mounted it so I can just stand under it without hitting my head, as it had to be just in front of my chair. So I have to be careful about waving arms or whatnot, but it is basically out of the way. This made my screen just a bit higher than I would've liked, but that is ok. I'm usually leaning back in my chair, anyway.

Sean,
How tall are you? And will this be mounted above the chair/couch, or in a walkway? I have a 44x78" screen, and am 6'4". I mounted it so I can just stand under it without hitting my head, as it had to be just in front of my chair. So I have to be careful about waving arms or whatnot, but it is basically out of the way. This made my screen just a bit higher than I would've liked, but that is ok. I'm usually leaning back in my chair, anyway.

I'm 6'0", though my dad is 6'2", so want to be sure he's safe. It'll be mounted just in front of the viewing couch, putting it in the way of someone walking into the room and having a seat. That's why I was figuring on 76"-78" for clearance. I did some more measuring last night, and I think I might be able to go with a slightly taller screen (49" x 87"), which should help drop the bottom down a little.

On another topic - the only heating vent in the room also happens to be on the ceiling, about 18"-20" away from where the PJ would go. Relocating the vent is theoretically possible, but could get messy. I was thinking of just getting one of those vent covers that redirects the output in the opposite direction of the PJ, or possibly builing a rudimentary "heatshield" to block the vent from blowing directly at the PJ. Think I'll be safe heat-wise? Which side of the PJ is the cooling intake on?

Thanks,
Sean

Sean:

I have my projector in my basement home theater room. The ceiling is only 7' 3" high so I needed to get the projector as close as possible to the ceiling. Chief makes a mount specifically for the BenQ (no pole) that puts the center of the lens only 4 inches from the ceiling. The top of my screen is 3 inches from the top of the ceiling. With only one inch difference, I needed no keystone correction. The bottom of the projector is 7 inches from the ceiling, so I have about a 6' 8" headroom. And I don't have any friends that tall!

When we are seated, the eye level is about 15 inches from the bottom of my screen and hasn't bothered anybody. I don't notice looking up to the screen. My screen is a 110" diagonal screen.

Good luck!

PS: The air comes in the right side (mounted upside down on the ceiling) and exhausts out the front. I would think if the air is not blowing directly at the right side where the air goes in, you would be OK.

Sean:

I have my projector in my basement home theater room. The ceiling is only 7' 3" high so I needed to get the projector as close as possible to the ceiling. Chief makes a mount specifically for the BenQ (no pole) that puts the center of the lens only 4 inches from the ceiling. The top of my screen is 3 inches from the top of the ceiling. With only one inch difference, I needed no keystone correction. The bottom of the projector is 7 inches from the ceiling, so I have about a 6' 8" headroom. And I don't have any friends that tall!

When we are seated, the eye level is about 15 inches from the bottom of my screen and hasn't bothered anybody. I don't notice looking up to the screen. My screen is a 110" diagonal screen.

Good luck!

PS: The air comes in the right side (mounted upside down on the ceiling) and exhausts out the front. I would think if the air is not blowing directly at the right side where the air goes in, you would be OK.


Cool, thanks Denis. Hey, I notice you're in CO too (I'm down in Cascade, at about 7600'). How does this PJ do at altitude? Do you find you have to run the fan speed on the higher setting?

-Sean

Sean:

The projector works great at altitude, but you DO need to turn the Fan to the High Altitude setting. The projector WILL overheat if you don't. The fan is somewhat noisy at this setting but is only noticeable when the sound level is low.

i have had the benq for a month now and love it but have just run into a big problem. for some reason it turns itself off now after 5 min or less of use (doesnt go into cooldown mode, just shuts off). i am worried that this has hurt the bulb ass well and am wondering why it has started happening. i had a small issue of the unit just stopping displaying the video source until i switched it to rgb and the n back (another wierd issue, only happened twice, once today and once last week). i have cleaned the filter and reset the filter time thinking it was shuttin me down but i tried it after resetting and it shut off after 5 min again. worked fine when i last used it (last night watching batman begins, great source to me btw). any help would be welcomed.

chbright, I recommend calling your BenQ dealer and just exchanging it.

Look at the indicator lights on PJ for a clue. Then refer to the manual. Could be bad fans.

At any rate it should be sent to BenQ for service, only if they won't exchange. See also, if they will swap out the bulb, for the new-and-improved one.

well the bulbs got 200+ hours. i think its has something amiss in the power supply. it acts as though its unplugged when it shuts off, no lights are on. to get the unit to turn ack on i must flip the power switch to off, then unplug it. then i have to plug it back in and flip the switc. then it will go back into the startup and wait for the power to be pressed.guess i will get to test benqs service has anyone else seen this sorta thing?

before the problem it was great. big thumbs up on the picture quality.

chbright,
good guess on the power supply but send in the power cord too, just in case a bad connection is involved.

Since your PJ was purchased prior to 10/1, you likely have one of the defective bulbs. No harm in asking for a replacement before it blows.

Hi everyone,

I've had my 7700 for quite some time now but had to use SVHS input because my dvd player had nothing else. I changed it for a Denon 1920 with HDMI output and now come the questions...

- I see no noticeable changes between RGB and HDMI inputs. Is that the same with you since ? (HDMI is supposed to be better)

- I've been told that somehow, when using HDMI output, it cuts off the video treatments done by some projectors (example is Toshiba MT700 : you cant access the Faroudja setttings using HDMI --> it's switched off). Is that the same on the 7700 (there's no menu to tell if Senseye is on/off in the Benq) ? Is the Senseye technology switched off too ?? What's the best choice (input) then for optimal image quality ?? It seems that it does the same with RGB input but i have to do a few more tests...

Bye

You are correct when you use HDMI the source is in control of up-scaling not the PJ. I see a big sharpness increase and more depth to the picture when I switch to HDMI,but I use a Oppo DV971H and it has the Faroudja chip so I’m just turning one off and then one on.

I am not sure if the HDMI and all digital path is giving me my increase in picture quality or is the Oppo's Faroudja chip just that much better the 7700's internal chip. Who knows!!!!!!!but I am sure happy with the picture. :)

The Faroudja is the same in those 2 machines, from what I understand. And it only does de-interlacing. The upscaling is done by something else. And considering the Oppo has a poor output on anything but the HDMI (from what I hear), it's not surprising it looks better via HDMI.

There shouldn't be much difference between RGB/VGA and HDMI. There might be difference between component and HDMI. There should definitely be a difference between Svideo and HDMI.

This is a very good question. RGB is an analog signal and HDMI is a digital signal. Given a solid video source, like the Denon 1920, and a good projector, like the PE7700, the HDMI connection will more accurately reproduce images with fewer artifacts. You are correct that the difference may not be immediately noticeable between RGB and HDMI, but if you put up certain test patterns such as the multiburst (see example below), you should see be able to see the difference between the two.

The basic problem with analog is that HDTV and DVDs are digital signals and your projector is digital. So when use an analog connection, like RGB or component, the digital signal has to be converted to analog at the source (HDTV tuner or DVD player) transmitted over the analog connection (which means it may be susceptible degradation due to electrical noise), and then reconverted to digital at the projector. All of these conversions can add artifacts to the image. Generally (and this is not always true), DVI/HDMI means that the signal remains in its digital form from source to projector and will do a better job of pixel mapping the image resulting in higher resolution and fewer artifacts.

That being said, I’ve seen instances where the analog connection (RGB or component) can help to eliminate banding or macro-blocking if that is a problem.

To get the best picture, set the black level on the Denon to “0 IRE” (the correct level for digital signals like HDTV and DVD) and set the output to 720p over HDMI. Then set the black level on your BenQ PE7700 to “0 IRE” (so that it matches the Denon black level) and use the “REAL” aspect ratio on the BenQ.

Well, I was hoping I was immune from the bulb issue....but here I am at 160-175 hrs or so and the projector went black.

Tell me if this is the similar issue/symptoms:

- screen went black....nothing, no sound etc...
- I turned the projector off....it blinked while it cooled down etc..
- I turned it back on...it did its typical fan speed up but then there was only crispy/crackles...it tried three times and then the red light came on. with the orange still blinking.

Same?

Think they will send me a new bulb or will they want my entire projector?

I got this in late June/early July from Jason here....

I hope they have solved this bulb failure issue.

Jim

Jim, that's pretty much what happened with mine (MT700). Toshiba didn't ask for anything, not even the old lamp. I just faxed the sales receipt and they sent a new lamp.

Anyone know what is the latest firmware version? My is on 27 June 2005. Hopefully this version fixed the black crush problem reported earlier.

As an update to my bulb failure (to those that care):

Benq support is good so far. They accepted my claim and will send me a new bulb module once I send this one in. They apparently send the module UPS Blue (2nd day). Which is great as I can send it at least that quickly and get a new module quickly.

My old bulb does not look burnt or anything...there is some odd writing done in marker on the outer plastic front lense cover. "94-3-2" and "A42"

Gotta be some high temp plastic...the green/yellow/olive plastic does look brown around the lense....like it was very hot etc.. I am going to take pics to compare to the new module.

Jim

Hey All,

I have had a PE7700 for about 3 weeks now and so far I love it! Except until this weekend, the darn thing is that it was working just fine last week and it stopped working over the weekend when hooked up to a PC.

I have the pj mounted on the ceiling with a mount with a 30 ft (or so) high quality HDMI cable running from the pj back to my equipment.

I have an Nvidia 6600GT 256MB graphics card in my computer. I had hooked up a DVI > HDMI cable a few days after I got the pj and for the past 3 weeks it has worked fine. (during the BIOS post and when it booted into Fedora Core 4 I had no problems getting a picture.)

Now however I cannot get the video card to show up at all on the pj.

My DVD Player and HD Receiver still work on the HDMI cable. However when I hook up the PC using a DVI > HDMI cable I just get a black screen with "HDMI(Searching...)" on the screen. I can't even see the computer's BIOS post during boot, I get nothing.

I thought it was the video card, so I have tried a different video card (the Nvidia 7800GTO) that has dual DVI ports, I went out and purchased a new DVI > HDMI cable AND a DVI > HDMI adapter and neither worked. And both video cards will display on a LCD computer monitor hooked up to the DVI port without any issues.

So by trying a different video cards and plugging a computer monitor into the DVI ports on both cards I can eliminate the video cards. Since I purchased a new DVI > HDMI cable and a DVI > HDMI adapter (w/ a new HDMI cable) I can eliminate the cable I was using.


If I had to guess at a cause, I would guess that the video card is not receiving a signal from the pj to signal the video card to display on the DVI port, but that is only a guess.

Again my DVD player and HD Receiver work just fine on the pj over HDMI, however with multiple cables and 2 different video cards, I can't get any display from the PC which was just working on Saturday without issue.

Anyone run into this?
Jason

Does your video card have an RGB output also? Try that to see if it's your card.

For simplicity, ensure that your PC is outputting 60hz on the HDMI for 720p. Your LCD monitor may support higher refresh rates so it would work on those displays.

Does your video card have an RGB output also? Try that to see if it's your card.

Hi Zilla!

On the Nvidia 7800 there is a break out box that comes with it to output to Component, when that is hooked up to the pj it displays just the fine...

Same thing with the 6600, there is SVideo on it, when I hook up the Svideo up through my receiver it displays just fine on the pj....

For simplicity, ensure that your PC is outputting 60hz on the HDMI for 720p. Your LCD monitor may support higher refresh rates so it would work on those displays.

Hey Basement!

well, I am not even getting the BIOS post through the pj. If I remember correctly BIOS post displays at 800X600 or 640X480 either at 60 hz. (I could be incorrect, but I believe it to be true)

I could understand if I had a wrong driver for windows or Linux, however I can't even get a display on the post.

I don't think there is a control for the hz during post, unless it is done by loading some BIOS into the vid card.

Thoughts?

ok, update,

I grabbed another computer I have that has a Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB vid card in it (this card has VGA, DVI, & S-Video on it) (this computer has never been hooked up to the pj)

DVI and VGA again work on an LCD Computer Monitor and a standard CRT monitor.

However DVI doesn't display on the pj with any cable combo (DVI > HDMI cable or DVI > HDMI adapter).

Also as the 1st computer did, the Svideo on the 9800 card works on the projector.

There has to be some common element that is causing this problem. The ONLY thing that I haven't tried is a different pj, everything else has been changed out atleast once maybe twice.

Looks like you've done a good job isolating the issue, and it's time to call BenQ. I have intermittent troubles with my HDMI syncing too (HTPC->DVI->adapter->HDMI cable->PJ). If I switch inputs, e.g., Comp1->Comp2->Svideo->HDMI (or any combo) I usually get it to sync back, but not always. Sometimes I have to unplug/plug the HDMI cable from the adapter, and that always works for me.

Looks like you've done a good job isolating the issue, and it's time to call BenQ. I have intermittent troubles with my HDMI syncing too (HTPC->DVI->adapter->HDMI cable->PJ). If I switch inputs, e.g., Comp1->Comp2->Svideo->HDMI (or any combo) I usually get it to sync back, but not always. Sometimes I have to unplug/plug the HDMI cable from the adapter, and that always works for me.


Well I after my final test last night, I am almost 100% sure it is the pj.

I took both of my computers into the living room and plugged them into my Samsung 50" Plasma via the DVI > HDMI cable I had been using since day one. It fired right up with any issues. It displayed on the plasma perfectly.

I checked the info on while the picture was on and the TV was receiving the signal at 60hz, so I know the vid card is outputting correctly.....

I think you are correct, time to involve BenQ.

I was going to go into the service menu to see if there was a factory reset however by trying the code listed in this thread (menu, up, down 3 times) I can't get into the menu, I tried it on the remote and on the pj itself... the normal menu comes on at the first press of menu and nothing happens after I press the up and down....

Benq has a firmware up date for some Sync problems that occurred with some set ups. Bad new it has to be sent to them. :)

I had no problem with hdmi except one day I change resolution to 1280x768 at 60hz to match my LCD monitor, than problem came. Pj show hdmi searching than hdmi unsupport. Nothing I do can change that, even switching on/off, plug/unplug cable to both pj and computer, even I change the resolution back to 1280x720 at 60hz won't help. When every effort failed, I desperately connect hdmi to my DVD player, than fire up pj, lucky my connection was finally back! I then connect hdmi to PC and everything is fine again. Strange is that when I get this hdmi unsupport error the only cure is to turn off pj and connect my DVD player. None of the easier method works for me. Now I have to be real careful. First I will change input to anything other than hdmi before switching off pj. Second, make sure the resolution of PC is set to 1280x720 at 60hz on the DVI output. When fire up pj the next time with PC on, change pj input back to hdmi, then my desktop show up perfectly. So far so good.

I had no problem with hdmi except one day I change resolution to 1280x768 at 60hz to match my LCD monitor, than problem came. Pj show hdmi searching than hdmi unsupport. Nothing I do can change that, even switching on/off, plug/unplug cable to both pj and computer, even I change the resolution back to 1280x720 at 60hz won't help. When every effort failed, I desperately connect hdmi to my DVD player, than fire up pj, lucky my connection was finally back! I then connect hdmi to PC and everything is fine again. Strange is that when I get this hdmi unsupport error the only cure is to turn off pj and connect my DVD player. None of the easier method works for me. Now I have to be real careful. First I will change input to anything other than hdmi before switching off pj. Second, make sure the resolution of PC is set to 1280x720 at 60hz on the DVI output. When fire up pj the next time with PC on, change pj input back to hdmi, then my desktop show up perfectly. So far so good.

If I remember correctly in my searching on the topic, you posted something before about that issue. (or someone else had a similar experience). I tried moving cables, changing inputs, just like what you have to do to get things to work....

My pj NEVER says "Unsupported" it is always "Searching...". It acts like nothing is ever plugged into it. No screen flash or flickers or anything, it doesn't move..

Oh well, I have a call with my dealer this afternoon, I will see what he wants to do about it.

hmmmm....when I just talked to Benq on getting my bulb replaced, they said they would send me the new bulb module and there was no reason to send in my projector for any other updates (e.g. firmware?). I dont recall my firmware, but it was made in June.

Oh well.

Does anyone know the exact size of the mounting holes on the underside of the 7700? Just talked to a Benq rep, and all he said was...."flat tip machine 4 screw" Everything I've tried from H.Depot is either to small or too big. I've got a free mount coming, but am ready to get the projector up now from the tabletop and don't want to wait for 10-12 weeks for the mount. Blasst

It uses 6 mm machine screws (also listed as M6). The length you need depends on your mount. Go to a True Value or Ace hardware store if you can't find them at Home Depot.

Hello!

sorry for my bad english, but i need some help.

i´ve changed my servicemenu factorysettings and now i need the defaults settings for a "PAL Progressive Source" (576p) on Comp2 of my Benq PE7700 unit. Please, can anybody post the Settings for the Source? The other Settings in the service menu i need too.

Many thanks!

Nice call on the correct (6 mm) mounting bolts Mike! You saved me from running around looking for 4mm bolts per the Benq rep. Maybe he was a new guy since he also said "there has been no problems with the bulbs":)

I don't have the service menu settings for PAL, but if you look in the service menu, there is also an option to return all values back to their original factory setting. Find and select that option and you should be back to where you started.

I read Tom Norton's recent review on the Ultimate AV website. He noted leaving the filter setting at 1. I recall reading that this wasn't the best thing for the 7700/mt700. Does the filter setting do something other than control whether the sharpness control is activated, as Tom suggests? Any thoughts?

@ Kevin R. Anderson

Hello!

Thanks, but i´ve switching to the factorydefaults and/or saved factory defaults. the image was faulty and the colors are terrible. please, can anybody post the default ntsc settings???


thanks!

Another bulb failure update:

Benq is out of the replacement bulbs and next shipment expected in mid-Nov. Which gives me no projector for 3 weeks...sucks!!

Anyway, the rep told me some interesting tidbits:

The new modules have been modified with a new lamp manufacturer and thicker gage wire....apparently issues with the wire itself.
Units made after August have the new bulbs, prior will probably have issues.

Jim

79ersst -- You may have to send a PM to one of the AVS members that are located in a PAL country. AVS member peterho3 lives in Australia and might be able to help (scan through this thread to find members that have identified their location to be in PAL coutries).

For the folks who've had bulb issues, did you have the lamp set on full or economy mode? I've had mine almost exclusively on economy and am nearing the 200 hours.

economy except for the first 20% of use.

I'm curious to hear from those that have received their replacement bulbs. Is the picture as good as with the original bulbs? Has anyone had a bulb failure with the new bulbs?

For the folks who've had bulb issues, did you have the lamp set on full or economy mode? I've had mine almost exclusively on economy and am nearing the 200 hours.

First lamp went out at 66hrs. I was using FULL. Second lamp has 300 hrs. using ECONOMY.

Mine went at 150 hours in economy, except a few hours Full for daylight watching.
My replacement doesn't have the new design bulb so I expect it to blow too.
Warren.

Mine went at 150 hours in economy, except a few hours Full for daylight watching.
My replacement doesn't have the new design bulb so I expect it to blow too.
Warren.

Give BQ a call them and tell them you are a little nervous about NOT having the NEW redesigned bulb, and ask them what they think!!!!!!!! I'll bet they will do the right thing and exchange it to the new one as soon as they get more in.

They replaced 2 bulbs in my unit that were out of warranty, and this last time the third, with the NEWLY Designed bulb, they gave me the red carpet treatment every time, but I did treat them with respect on the phone. That old saying you get more fly’s with honey than vinegar, is the advice I would give. :)

I'm only up to 40hr on the new design so I can't say if it solved the problem ,only time will tell.

Mine (MT700) went at about 135, and was used exclusively in economy. I see no picture quality differences. No changes were required to brightness, contrast etc using AVIA or HDnet test patterns.

153 hours at economy settings. Bulb replacement received within a week. New bulb working great so far and looks great.

I'm running my PE7700 with a Bell ExpressVu Model 6000 HD receiver (same as DISH Networks 6000) here in Canada.

I just noticed last weekend when switching to a SD network feed (up-rezed by the HD receiver) that the PE7700 wouldn't synch to the signal. This was the case with the receiver set to either 720p or 1080i. The signal out of this receiver is analog over component video. HD signals are displayed without problems.

With the SD channels, all I could get was a somewhat clear picture on the bottom half of the screen, but only digital mess on the upper half.

I had the same set-up hooked up to a Toshiba HD set without problems.

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Thanks in advance,
Dan

Sounds like your STB may have a problem upscaling SD channels (some STBs do have a problem with this). Have you tried changing the ouput to 480p, to see if that cleans up the picture?

Hi Claus,

Unfortunately the STB does not offer a 480p choice and even if it did, I would hate to have to go into the setup menu to change it every time I switched between a HD and SD channel.

I find it odd that the Toshiba had no trouble, but the BenQ does - in light of this, what makes you think the STB is at fault.

Thanks for looking.
Dan

I can answer that. Because the STB is outputing the same HD signal to the PJ regardless of whether the channel begins as SD or HD. So there shouldn't be any difference between channels that can be the PJ's fault. Perhaps the box went bad or needs a reset since you switched from the old TV.

Hey Claus and Spiky,

You were right! It was the STB.

Spiky - your suggestion of a reset worked like a charm. I am now seeing upconverted SD in all its glory.

Thanks!
Dan

I'm curious to hear from those that have received their replacement bulbs. Is the picture as good as with the original bulbs? Has anyone had a bulb failure with the new bulbs?
My projector is a Toshiba MT700, and the picture with the new bulb looks excellent, just like with the old bulb. 46 hours so far, on Economy mode except for the first 10 hours or so...

I am now seeing upconverted SD in all its glory.

Thanks!
Dan
Sarcasm, right? ;)

"Sarcasm, right? "

Of course. No sarcasm about being happy that everything is working now though.

First lamp went out at 66hrs. I was using FULL. Second lamp has 300 hrs. using ECONOMY.

Are you implying that the second lamp blew up after 300 hrs, or do you mean 300 hrs and counting?

Are you implying that the second lamp blew up after 300 hrs, or do you mean 300 hrs and counting?

? It's still going.

Is there a quick and easy fix for the blueing of the black levels on darker scenes in movies? I did not have this problem at first, but after switching to economy on the bulb setting, it resulted in this effect. Is it a problem with economy mode?

Another bulb failure update:

Benq is out of the replacement bulbs and next shipment expected in mid-Nov. Which gives me no projector for 3 weeks...sucks!!

Anyway, the rep told me some interesting tidbits:

The new modules have been modified with a new lamp manufacturer and thicker gage wire....apparently issues with the wire itself.
Units made after August have the new bulbs, prior will probably have issues.

Jim

do u know of any visual indication that a bulb is of the new design ?

GRRR!!! My second bulb less than two months old. Of course it must be the old design. I didn't check the hours but would guess around a hundred. The were DOA'ing my projector and the new ones never came in after 7 weeks so they sent me a refurb as a temporary replacement. Hopefully the new ones are in now. Really silly it could take so long.
It epecially sucked since I was in the middle of Star Wars Episode III and my wife was out so I could crank up the sound. It really looked amazing while it lasted.

when I get the new module, I will compare it to pictures I took of the old design and let everyone know.

How many here are waiting for a new bulb? My rep claims they are out until at least 11/15 but I would like to hear what others have heard and when others get their new bulbs.

thx!

Jim

Is there a quick and easy fix for the blueing of the black levels on darker scenes in movies? I did not have this problem at first, but after switching to economy on the bulb setting, it resulted in this effect. Is it a problem with economy mode?

I don't have this problem and I watch exclusively in economy mode now. Is your PJ calibrated?

I don't have this problem and I watch exclusively in economy mode now. Is your PJ calibrated?

I don't know. What does that involve?

I don't know. What does that involve?

You can hire a professional A/V calibration expert for $$$, or buy the for-the-home-user calibration discs like Avia Home Theater Calibration or Video Essentials, or both for around $30-40 and follow their instructions. Just google on both products, or search on this thread. I got the Avia disc and it works good enough for me.

You can hire a professional A/V calibration expert for $$$, or buy the for-the-home-user calibration discs like Avia Home Theater Calibration or Video Essentials, or both for around $30-40 and follow their instructions. Just google on both products, or search on this thread. I got the Avia disc and it works good enough for me.

Thanks zilla, I'll give it a try.

Have Avia and is very easy to use with good results.

I've got a 7700 and a htpc with dvi. My video card is dvi-i and i used a dvi-d dual link dvi cable to connect to a hdmi adapter but i get no output. What sort of cable should i use, single link instead of dual link? thanks.

Just read this on a review at projector central: BenQ's warranty on lamps were 90 days / 500 hours and now is 9 months / 1000 hours.

Here is the link: https://www.projectorcentral.com/part_opinions_details.cfm?opinion_id=7534

Anyone know if there is any truth to this? If it is true it will put alot of minds at ease!!!

I was excited to read that all units made after August One already had the new lamp. According to the label on my projector, it was made in September.

Today I got the chance to watch two football games at the same time. Oh yeah, I am so doing that next week also.

SixKindsOfWonder, If you don't mind my asking, where did you purchase your PE7700. I'm looking to take the plunge on this projector soon and it would be nice to know I'm getting a unit produced after Aug. 2005.

Thanks, Steve

Does anyone know if the free BenQ mount I've seen advertised at a few online shops is specific to those stores or is it a bonus that comes with any 7700 purchase from an authorized dealer?

Thanks,
Sean

SixKindsOfWonder, If you don't mind my asking, where did you purchase your PE7700. I'm looking to take the plunge on this projector soon and it would be nice to know I'm getting a unit produced after Aug. 2005.

Thanks, Steve

Why from one from one of the forum sponsors... of course :rolleyes:

Projector People

The rebates I've dealt with come directly from BenQ, and the current rebate offer is a free bulb.

An Internet dealer may be offering their own mount, screen or bulb as a perk to buy from them. See if you can get a copy of the rebate form, because the forms I've seen obviously come from BenQ.

As an aside, I just got back from the Home Theater Cruise -- really a fantastic experience. Lots of interesting things going on, but the good news for 720p fans is that it remains a viable, and sometimes preferable, resolution to 1080p, so don't feel like you buying "old school" technology with the PE7700.

I just received my new Pe7700 bulb....I was given 11/15 as estimated date but just got it. Which I think is good news for those waiting for these bulbs. (I sent this in 10/26)

The module does look different than the previous....my previous plastic around the lens looked burned, this is different color.

And the marker writing is different....it now says "9/22 B310"

More as I install etc.

There was a strange comment in the manual:

"Do not reset the lamp time if the lamp is not replaced, as this could cause damage"

Jim

I thought the free mount was an offer with the new 8720 projector.
Warren.

Can someone please help? I've got a momitsu using dvi to hdmi into 7700 and it works. But when i use my htpc with ati cat 5.9, the boot up windows logo is shown but after that the screen goes blank and i can't access windows desktop, i tried using vga output and changed everything to 1280x720p but the dvi to hdmi would not lock on, do i need to manually changed the htpc dvi out to 720p on the dvi out ? The problem is i can't go to the desktop when in dvi mode, what should i do? thanks.

There was a strange comment in the manual:

"Do not reset the lamp time if the lamp is not replaced, as this could cause damage"

Jim

I think the purpose of this warning is to avoid exceeding the recommended hours for the lamp. For example, if you have 1,000 hours on your lamp (wishful thinking I know with the current lamp problem) and you reset the lamp timer, you could have over 3,000 hours on the bulb before you get the message to replace the lamp. By exceeding the recommended lamp hours, the bulb could explode and cause damage to the projector.

It is also a little like the odometer on a car. It is possible that an unscrupulous person would reset the lamp hours in order to fetch a higher resale price. This is not only fraudulent but dangerous to the unsuspecting buyer. Perhaps this warning will discourage such conduct.

Well 3 day shy of 90 days and my bulb went out last night. I was right in the middle of watch Criminal Intent and was thinking it looked abnormally dark then about an hour later pop out it went.

Called the sponsor I bouth it from (ProjectorPeople) and they shipped one out today next day air with a call tag for the old bulb. They have seen quite a few problems with these bulbs, but the guy I spoke with said none of the new ones have come back that he is aware of.

BenQ must be authorizing them to replace them, which I am pretty happy with. I was thinking I would be without it for a week and now it will be down less than a couple days.

Must say I am very happy with their customer service and would highly recommend them.

[QUOTE=SixKindsOfWonder]I was excited to read that all units made after August One already had the new lamp. According to the label on my projector, it was made in September.
Where did you read this? I'm interested since my projector was manufactured in August with no specific date. On another note : I noticed my projector has two very small "air bubbles" in the lense. I noticed this while cleaning it and shining a flashlight on it. Is this a "normal" thing to have in your lense? I have not noticed anything in picture degredation.

Just read this on a review at projector central: BenQ's warranty on lamps were 90 days / 500 hours and now is 9 months / 1000 hours.

Here is the link: https://www.projectorcentral.com/part_opinions_details.cfm?opinion_id=7534

Anyone know if there is any truth to this? If it is true it will put alot of minds at ease!!!

Considering it's just a review that any person could have made, I wouldn't take it as the least bit authoritative. I will say, however, that BenQ seems to be responsive to out of warranty bulb issues.

Considering it's just a review that any person could have made, I wouldn't take it as the least bit authoritative. I will say, however, that BenQ seems to be responsive to out of warranty bulb issues.


I just thought I would throw it out there considering so many people are speaking to BenQ reps these days, I was hoping someone might ask them and clear up this rumor.

Blasst, the actual projected image covers a quite small part of the lens, probably the bubbles are outside of the projected use area and thus would cause no harm. If they were in the used area I think you would have a problem.
Warren.

Can someone please help? I've got a momitsu using dvi to hdmi into 7700 and it works. But when i use my htpc with ati cat 5.9, the boot up windows logo is shown but after that the screen goes blank and i can't access windows desktop, i tried using vga output and changed everything to 1280x720p but the dvi to hdmi would not lock on, do i need to manually changed the htpc dvi out to 720p on the dvi out ? The problem is i can't go to the desktop when in dvi mode, what should i do? thanks.

Somehow, when your dvi is connected the computer is likely not sending it 1280x720 60 hz. Do you have a computer monitor connected to the vga port? For a test, try running with both displays connected and turned on. I've found that when you're running in extended desktop mode on your dual displays the secondary display can take on the resolution/frequency of the primary if the primary is not connected. The simplest way to get things going, at least for me, is to run the htpc in clone mode with resolution and frequency set to the above. That way you're sure that its sending the right signal and it doesn't matter if both displays are active or not.

Hope this helps.

First off, the PC needs to be set to 59.94 hz not 60. I actually gave up on getting my nvidia 6600 to output to my Toshiba MT700 because the MT700 does not identify itself over HDMI as a digital display. I think I have heard people having success with the ATI cards, though.

I had no problem at all with my 6800GT, once I got the latest drivers. I thought I set it to 720p 60hz. If you read back some people had to do tricks like shutting down and turning things on in the right order. You could also try powerstrip.
Warren.

I had no problems using a DVI connection at 720P with my HTPC using an ATI 9600 with Catalyst drivers to my MT700.

My lamp finally went out. I bought the PE7700 in June and installed it in August. The lamp had 225 hours on it. I thought I was going to be one of the lucky ones and not have any problems. I called my retailor today and they are shipping me a new lamp and I am to ship the busted one back to them. I have to say I am happy with the whole process of getting a replacement lamp.

CD

I had no problem at all with my 6800GT, once I got the latest drivers. I thought I set it to 720p 60hz. If you read back some people had to do tricks like shutting down and turning things on in the right order. You could also try powerstrip.
Warren.

Same here, after some trouble, 3 weeks after I got my 7700 it would no longer display anything from my DVI>HDMI cable.

However, with some other clues I discovered it was the pj. I replaced it with a new one and everything is working fine again.

Rule of Thumb: If it displays the BIOS POST however it won't display a desktop, it is a driver or display settings issue in what ever OS you are running. If it won't display the BIOS at all, it is probly hardware related (pj, cabling, video card).

Now there are always exceptions to the rule, however that is generally the way it goes.

My 6800GT is displaying fine with default Fedora Core 4 drivers and it works PERFECT with the latest Nvidia drivers. Find them here! (http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_1.0-7676.html) HDTV all the way baby!

Well, I just took the plunge today and ordered my PE7700!!! Now for new business, I will be using a Panasonic s97s dvd player via the hdmi port. I can purchase AVLink hdmi cable from Blue Jeans.com, Ram Electronics hdmi cable, or Monster hdmi400 hdmi cable, all for about the same price. Any suggestions on which cable would produce the best image quality with my set up??? Cable length will be 35ft or 40ft depending on which brand is purchased. If anyone has another brand in mind that you think is excellent, please let me know.

Thanks, Steve

If by "best image quality" you mean it works, then chose the best built one. As far as I know, an HDMI cable either works, doesn't work (no connection and black screen), or obviously isn't doing things right (image corruption with sparkles, static, and probably dropped connections etc). If an HDMI cable is working correctly you shouldn't notice any different in image quality between it and another working HDMI cable.

I'm using a 15ft Avlink cable from BJ's and it works fine. I don't like Monster, but I think I have heard that they have problems with extremely long runs (not sure though). Hell, even the AVlink cable may have a problem at 40ft, that seems damn long to me.

Hopefully someone else with more experience and info will chime in with some recommendations, but in the meantime try some creative searching like, "long HDMI cable" :)

Well, I just took the plunge today and ordered my PE7700!!! Now for new business, I will be using a Panasonic s97s dvd player via the hdmi port. I can purchase AVLink hdmi cable from Blue Jeans.com, Ram Electronics hdmi cable, or Monster hdmi400 hdmi cable, all for about the same price. Any suggestions on which cable would produce the best image quality with my set up??? Cable length will be 35ft or 40ft depending on which brand is purchased. If anyone has another brand in mind that you think is excellent, please let me know.

Thanks, Steve

I'm running a 30ft DVI-D/HDMI from Blue Jean and I am having no problems on my PE7700. I have heard the Pannys97 is a vary good unit. I run the Oppo Dv971H it has the DVI-I connector on the player, I even tested an DVI-D to HDMI adapter before I buried the cable it all worked perfect, I don't like using adapters but if I had to do it again I would just purchase a HDMI/HDMI cable and use an adapter to hook up the whatever the source had.

I personally like the DVI connector better because it has the 2 screws to hold the connector in place, just seems more secure. I wish HDMI would have designed a snap in type plug like Cat5 or phone cord, they could even have made it an external plastic clip that would not have interfered with their original plug design. Just my 0.2 worth.

I've used or seen cables in installations from all three of these manufacturers, and they are all excellent. My 2 cents is that you may get more "value" from a RAM or Blue Jeans cable.

As a general rule of thumb, the shorter the cable length, the better, and the max I've ever used is app. 35 feet (10 meters).

With your set up, sounds like you're in for a good time. Be sure and set your DVD player to 720p output and use the "REAL" aspect ratio on the BenQ.

I agree with Checklst that the design of the HDMI connection is not as good as the DVI because there are no screws to secure it. When an HDMI cable is connected, you have to be careful moving the piece of equipment because it can really torque the connection. Also, without the screws it's possible to have the HDMI cable pull out.

I just bit the bullet and went ahead and ordered the 7700 from one of the AVS sponsors. We close on our new house next Friday so it should be installed and running right before Thanksgiving.

I have a 40 foot cable I got from avscience. It works great.
Warren.

I have a 45' HDMI cable from PC Cables. Well built and no problems. Goes from a Gefen switcher which allows my HD Tivo and Panny S77 to connect.

Ultralink's HDMI Pro cables and their repeater can throw 1080p/60 over 100 feet.
See-http://ultimateavmag.com/miscellaneous/605ultra/

HDMI cables aren't created equal.

With your set up, sounds like you're in for a good time. Be sure and set your DVD player to 720p output and use the "REAL" aspect ratio on the BenQ.


Hey Kevin I am vary new at this Front Projection and the 7700 "WHY REAL ASPECT ratio". My picture has been beautiful for the 5 month I've owned and I think most of the time mine is on Letter Box, not for any reason other than sometime I just flip around and find one that fills the screen the best. :)

I had a question on the REAL setting.

My HD comes from my Cable box via Component Video. There is a small black gap from the picture to the screen frame...all around the image but it varies. Now with just the projector light, it fills the screen correctly. Cable box is setup on 720P. Maybe I will check out 1080i to see if it does the same thing.

This is annoying and sometimes I play around with the other modes like Wide etc which end up filling the screen but they can distort or take away a small amount of the width of the image.

Is this a pixel mapping issue? 720P vs. 768 or something?

thx.
Jim

If you hook up a computer with a 1280x720 background (there is a good test background around somewhere) it will only show the full background in "Real" mode. Other modes vary the zoom or aspect ratio of the image. For 720p sources "Real" is the proper mode to use.
Warren.

This is a good question. The BenQ is a 720p display device, meaning it is 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels high. If your source (DVD player or HDTV) is set to output at 720p (again 1280 pixels by 720 pixels), it is possible to obtain 1-to-1 pixel mapping meaning the pixel from the source is displayed exactly where it should be on the display device. For example, if the source device (e.g., DVD player) had one white pixel in the exact center, it would be at location 640x360 (1/2 of 1280x720). If you have 1-to-1 pixel mapping, your display device will then display that one white pixel at exactly 640x360.

On a fixed-pixel display (like LCD, DLP, DILA, etc), it is desirable to achieve pixel mapping because it minimizes artifacts in the image. For example, if the source device had a perfectly processed 720p image and it was pixel mapped on a 720p display device, you theoretically would have no artifacts in the image (an artifact is anything displayed on the screen that was not in the source image).

This is why an ABC or FOX HD broadcast in 720p should look better on the BenQ (or any other 720p display device) than on a 1080i or p display device because 720p is the native resolution of the projector, which should result in 1-to-1 pixel mapping, which should result in fewer artifacts.

The REAL setting on the BenQ displays the image exactly as it is sent from the source, meaning it does not scale it any way, and the REAL setting is the only way to achieve 1-to-1 pixel mapping (see page 21 of the manual). For example, send the BenQ a 480p image (which is 720 x 480) in REAL mode, and the image will only fill 66.7% of the DLP panel (480p is 66.7% of 720). When you use the ANAMORPHIC setting on a 480p, the BenQ will take the 720x480 pixels and convert them to 1280x720 to fully fill the screen. This is called scaling. Anytime you use the ANAMORPHIC or WIDE setting on the BenQ, the projector is performing some kind of scaling that will result in artifacts to a greater or lesser degree. Trust me, you can’t obtain 1-to-1 pixel mapping using either ANAMORPHIC or the WIDE setting.

I should also point out that it is very difficult (to the point of essentially being impossible) to acheive 1-to-1 pixel mapping using component connections. This is because they are anlog and do not have the needed precision of the digital HDMI/DVI connection.

LETTERBOX is an option to fill the entire screen if that is what you want, but realize that it does so by cutting off the top and bottom of the source image (see page 21 of the manual). WIDE will also fill the screen, but it does so by stretching the image.

Does that make the ANAMORPHIC setting always a poor choice? No, because it depends on the source signal you are sending the BenQ. If you have a DVD player that only outputs 480p, the only way to fill the screen is to use the ANAMORPHIC setting, and the BenQ does a very good job of scaling 480p to 720p. That is why images will look very good using ANAMORPHIC, but under certain circumstances, they may look better (meaning fewer artifacts) using REAL.

What you want to check is whether the DVD player or the BenQ has the better scaler. You can test this by using resolution charts on AVIA or DVE. You want to see which one most cleanly displays tightly-spaced, vertical lines (a multi-burst test pattern is probably the best).

If the DVD player does a better job of scaling the 480p image of the DVD to the 720p DLP panel of the BenQ, then you should let the DVD player scale the image to 720p, send it over a HDMI/DVI connection, and use the REAL setting on the BenQ to display it. If the BenQ has a better scaler than the DVD player, just output the image from the DVD player at 480p and let the BenQ scale the image to 720p.

If you are watching a 720p HDTV broadcast (FOX and ABC), you unquestionably want to use the REAL setting on the BenQ to get the best picture (this is probably one of the few absolutes in this whole process). If you have a quality DVD player that upscales to 720p, and the scaler on the DVD player is better than the scaler on the BenQ, then send a 720p image via HDMI to the BenQ and use the REAL setting.

I know this is confusing, but I hope it helps.

Thanks Kevin, you obviously do this for a living, but the best part you described it so anyone could understand it. Not confusing at all!!

I wish Projectors Company’s would wise up and pay people like you WRITE the Manuals.

I use the Oppo DV971H with a DVI/HDMI cable I am amazed how well the Oppo scales to 720p, the RGB component is soft from the Oppo and 480P is soft from my Samsung DVD. The 720P image is a lot sharper and has more of a 3D look.

I will use the Real with 720P next time. I am learning quick and want to learn Avia ect….but I want to have and ISF calibrations done by someone like yourself and hopefully he will explain it as well as you. I just think the calibration equipment you guys have would get it much closer. I got the ISF link off you home page, and I am close to finishing with my HT.

I have been using the 7700 for almost 6 months on a tan painted living room wall, and the results are beautiful. I have a bright white, matt finish polywall from parkland for a temp screen in the HT and will project on the screen in about 2 weeks. I have sent off for Stewart, Da-lite, Severtson, and Carada samples and will take my time in deciding on a screen, I designed and built the HT room to last 10 to 12 years before a remodel and think a good quality screen should last that long as well. Projectors will come and go, but if the room is designed and built well, it will hold its value. Well that’s how this semi retired contractor thinks anyway.

Thanks again :)

Hey Morgan1112.

You be brave. Haven't you read about the bulb problems with the Benq PE7700? Aren't you worried?

Having a blown bulb and trying to get it replaced is no fun.

Good luck with your purchase and may your lamp last 3000 hours!

Eric

Well, I just took the plunge today and ordered my PE7700!!! Now for new business, I will be using a Panasonic s97s dvd player via the hdmi port. I can purchase AVLink hdmi cable from Blue Jeans.com, Ram Electronics hdmi cable, or Monster hdmi400 hdmi cable, all for about the same price. Any suggestions on which cable would produce the best image quality with my set up??? Cable length will be 35ft or 40ft depending on which brand is purchased. If anyone has another brand in mind that you think is excellent, please let me know.

Thanks, Steve



Thanks to all for the cable information and sharing your knowledge and experiences with me.


Steve

Keven;

I think most of us are finding that Even when we us a source that is 720p, such as a oppo dvd player, and set the PE7700 to real mode, it does not fill the screen. It looks to fill about 3/4 of the width, and hight. Shrinking the image proportionally. Anamorphic seems to do a perfect job and scalling it. I have adjusted the zoom so that Real mode mapping fit the screen , esentially overscanning the image to fit the screen, but it appears to have less resolution. Since much of the screen image is being overscanned if you then switch to Wide or anamorphic. This is true for HDTV also, And all are using the HDMI input.

Real Mode does sound like a natural choice, but it just dosnt seem to map the correct # of pixels. It looks as though bypassing the benq scaler by setting Real mode mapping, somehow affects the image size /or resolution, regardless of weather the source is 720p, or 480p. I am assuming the white benq screen when it cannot lock a source is the full unscaled 720x1280 resolution of the benq. And setting Real mode for a 720p source should fill the same amount of room.

Can you confirm any of these findings.

Thanks in advance

I have two digital source to my pj. One is HTPC at 1280x720/60Hz and the other Samsung upscale DVD player (720p). Both are perfect with 1:1 pixel mapping at REAL setting. Other like ANAMORPHIC will enlarge the picture a bit and you actually see less on both sides.

Eric - I am trusting BenQ's track record with their other projectors that they have figured out the bulb issue with the new design. Plus I am going to be able to get the free bulb from BenQ so that will cut down on any bulb switch should it be needed. If my first bulb blows, I will put in the second while getting them to swap the first.

Plus I was running out of time to make a decision and I really want PiP and PoP.

Besides, who says denial is just a river in Egypt? ;)

In testing and calibrating display devices, it is important to have an absolute standard, such as the Accupel signal generator, to isolate image problems. Specifically, when you have an image issue, you need to determine if it is coming from one or more of the following areas: the DVD disc, the DVD player, settings on the DVD player, the connection cable, the display device, or settings on the display device (e.g., selecting WIDE, ANAMORPHIC, REAL, or other user menu settings). One way to isolate the problem is to use a standard like the Accupel, which outputs perfect images according to the applicable standards (NTSC, ATSC, SMPTE, etc.)

For example, if I came to your house to check your BenQ, I would first connect the Accupel to the projector using the HDMI connection, set the BenQ to REAL, and output a 720p multiburst pattern (progressively smaller vertical lines). The smallest lines from the multiburst pattern are exactly 1 pixel width at 720p, and if the projector and cable are working correctly, I would see alternating black and white lines that are all exactly one pixel wide. If I saw any smearing in the lines, I would know that something was amiss. It could be that the BenQ was not set to REAL, because any other setting will smear the 1-pixel width lines. It could be that the Accupel was not outputting 720p (the native resolution of the BenQ), because any other resolution such as 480i, 480p, or 1080i, will result in smearing of the 1-pixel width lines. It could be that I used the RGBHV (the BNC connections), component, s-video, or composite video connections on the BenQ, because (as a practical matter) only the HDMI/DVI connection can accomplish 1-to-1 pixel mapping.

If I saw 1-to-1 pixel mapping, I would eliminate the BenQ as the problem and shift the focus to the DVD player as the likely source of the problem. I would review the player’s settings to ensure that it is outputting at 16:9 and at the 720p resolution. If that doesn’t solve it, I might bring in a DVD player that I know displays correctly to further isolate the problem. This process of elimination would continue until the problem was solved.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words, and maybe I can take one this weekend to show how the multiburst pattern should look when everything is set up correctly and you’ve achieved 1-to-1 pixel mapping.

I don’t have specific experience with the Oppo, but if you are outputting DVD movie with a 1.78 aspect ratio (such as “Finding Nemo”), your DVD player is properly set to 16:9 mode and to output at 720p, and your BenQ is set to REAL (and everything is working correctly), the image must fill the entire screen or something is wrong somewhere in the image chain from the DVD disc to the screen.

Your comment that the image in REAL only fills ¾ of the width and height of the screen strongly suggests to me that the DVD player is not really outputting a 720p signal.

That being said, I would reiterate that the BenQ ANAMORPHIC setting does an excellent job at scaling images at resolutions other than 720p (e.g., anything at 480i, 480p, or 1080i). It is just if you want to extract the absolute best picture quality from your BenQ, the REAL setting, with a quality 720p signal (whether from an HDTV broadcast or an upconverting DVD player) over an HDMI/DVI connection, will minimize image artifacts and maximize image quality.

Great info Kevin I did a little test last night with Nemo and the new Robots DVD.
My Oppo is set at 720P and the aspect in the setup menu is at Normal PS, (what ever that means) Normal LB gives me 4:3 screen, Wide gave me no change from Normal PS and Wide Sq gives me a 2:35 looking screen, wide bars top and bottom.

I am filling the screen perfectly at Real mode on the BQ control, no bars at all. Now this took me by total Surprise as I paused on close up on the little robots face I switched back and forth from Real to LB I could not believe how much SHARPER THE IMAGE GOT, on the real mode, and the robots eye that was slightly oblong at Real mode went to perfectly round at Letter box, a distortion indeed.

I first thought my eyes were lying to me so I had my wife come into the room and ask her to tell me the "difference" in the scene and she said stop, that one is way SHARPER, I was on the Real setting of course and she said the other(LB) seem to zoom in a little. She said the same thing on 4 other scenes I showed her. I never used the word sharpness, with her so my simple test told me I saw what I saw.

I must be getting a good pixel map at the Real mode setting for such a substantial increase in Sharpness to occur. Now if you add that to the large SHARPNESS increase I get from using the DVI cable over the RGB Component, all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I have been building my HT for the last 5 months and have not even tried to tweak the 7700 off it factory settings and I now blown away by what the DVI and Real settings have done, giving me a vary sharp and clear image with factory settings.

I can't thank you enough for your simple explanation on mapping that just made everything I have read so far "just go click" I now get it!!!

Thanks again :)

Currently I do not have nor do I want to spend the $ on an HDMI switcher, so I currently have chosen to use my HDMI connection with my S97 DVD player and component connections with my HD cable box.

The S97 would send a 480p signal to the BQ with component cables...cant imagine that would be the best as my HD cable box sends 720P over the component cables (at least it appears that way)

I might experiment, but believe I have made the correct choices at this time....at least until I get an HDMI switcher...I wish those would come down in price.

Jim

Glad to hear that the information was useful.

Regarding an affordable DVI switcher, here is one for about $40 that I purchased and seems to work well (at some point I intend to test it with the Accupel to see if it results in any signal degradation), but for right now it sure beats swapping cables by hand.

Manual HDMI Switcher (http://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp?item=DVIAB%2D1&off=8&sort=prod)

Kevin

that switcher unit, does it actually have a DVI AND HDMI inputs/outputs? Or do u have to use a HDMI/DVI converter to use HDMI?

I will have to think about this one....I like the remote control ones, but if I am going to play a DVD, I have to get up to put it in anyway.....hmmmm

Thx!
Jim

I have the $40 switcher also. It does have HDMI and DVI but doesn't cross convert between the 2. You have to use all HDMI or all DVI.

Fired up the PE7700 and Panasonic S97 today. Add me to the list of PE7700 owners that can't fill the entire screen. I have the projector set on "Real" and the dvd player upconverting to 720p via hdmi and there is 1/4 to 1/2 inch of black pixels all the way around the picture. I tried Finding Nemo like Kevin R. Anderson said, the the problem persists no matter what dvd I try. I also hooked up a Neuneo player upconverting to 720p over component cable and got the same problem. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to give them a try.

Thanks, Steve

I have an even better question: If anyone has the PE7700 paired up with a dvd player that is upconverting over hdmi to 720p and is filling the whole screen (with no black pixels around the picture), would you please post it here so I can check it out.

Thanks, Steve

I've installed or calibrated a number of PE7700 projectors using various upconverting DVD players such as the Bravo, Samsung, Denon, Toshiba, and all fill the screen on the REAL setting over HDMI.

I wish I could drop by and troubleshoot this because it is a puzzlement.

By "fill the screen" I assume we're talking about width. Only a 1.77:1 ratio DVD should fill a 16:9 screen top to bottom. Having said that, I have some discs that don't fill the width of my 16:9 screen (Oppo/MT700 set to "thru"). It's just the way some of those discs are mastered. Plus, the Oppo underscans by a few pixels all around.

Panny S77 via HDMI at 720P works perfectly and exactly fills the screen.

I've noted that sometimes I send an upconverted 720p signal over component that the projector reads as 525p. Seems to only happen with DVDs.

LG 3510 A

My Panasonic S97 did not fill the screen on Through mode on my Toshiba MT700. It had about a two pixel wide line around the screen that I had to eliminate with overscan.

NoThru22,
I'm assuming that you found the overscan setting in the service menu. Does the overscan setting go by 1% increments or larger increments? If you are using overscan on the projector while upconverting to 720p on the dvd player over hdmi, is it still considered 1 to1 pixel mapping, or does using the overscan override the "real " or "through" mode on the projector?

I'm wondering if some of the PE7700 came from the factory with the overscan on and some did not. I've read in this thread that other settings in the service menu have varied from unit to unit right out of the box.

I have now tested 4 upconverting dvd players: 1. Momitsu V880-DX, with DVI to HDMI changeover, 2. Samsung HD841, with DVI to HDMI changeover, 3. Panasonic S97S with straight HDMI cable, 4. Neuneo HVD-108 with component cables (no DVI or HDMI available on this unit). All of these units were set up to upconvert to 720p and the PE7700 was set on the "Real" mode. All of these players exhibited the same problem with not filling all of the pixels on the PE7700 display. The unfilled black pixels go all the way around the outside of the picture, (meaning top, bottom, and both sides) and are approximately 1/4 to 3/4 of an inch thick.

I have also tested my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000HD set top box, set at 720p with component cables, (DVI input on this set top box is inactive because my cable company sucks), and it also exhibits the same black pixel bordering problem as all of the dvd players.

Just figured I should share my findings with all of you, not that it helps any of us!!! LOL

Steve

I've tried a few pioneer/denon models through HDMI at 720p and they fill the screen with no problem.
Some dvd players (for example the oppo) are known to purposely "underscan" the image to cater for the "inherent" overscan of the display (dun forget the vast majority are RPTVs). I remember reading somewhere the S97 does the same thing. But I can't find that thread now.

EDIT: the dvdps I tried are pioneer dv59avi,79avi, Denon 3910/2910; Denon 1910 doesn't fill

c722,
Would you mind telling us the make and model number dvd players that have filled the whole screen for you? When you tried these models were you using the PE7700 or another projector?

Steve

My Oppo DV971H fills the screen on my 7700 at the real setting.

Checklst,
I have recieved conflicting reports about the Oppo filling the screen on the PE7700. Could you check in the service menu and see if your overscan is being used? I am still wondering if some PE7700 overscan are turned on from the factory and some are not.

1. I am planning on getting a 7700 soon and I am putting in the wiring now. It will be a ceiling installation. Presently I have a 480p DVD but plan on upgrading to a 720p upscaling one soon. My cable box has component and DVI-d outs. Also someday I would like to add a HD tivo or PC. Should I run a hdmi a component set and a composite line? Or would it be cheaper in the long run to get a converteor box and just run the hdmi and a composite. I will be able to add more cables later with just a little work Teh runn through a ceiling. My run from source to projecotr will be 15' so I will use 15 to 20' cables.

2. I used the calculator on the projector central site and with my screen size 92" diaganol and screen to projector distance 9.5' I keep coming up to bright. The only way I come close is to use a 0.8 gain screen but I'm still on the edge of too bright. Will a little out of the green zone hurt. (I plan on having some ambient light occasionally.)

Thanks for all your help in advance

I think you will be just fine, the green and red zones are just guide lines not had and fast rules. If it's to bright a ND filter would take care of it. I have the 7700 with RGB Component and DVI to HDMI cable at 30 ft and they work great, if you have access I would only run the 2 to start.

I will say I have tried a few DVD players and found the OppoDV971H is a great match for the 7700. You will see a sizeable increase in projector sharpness with the Oppo using 720P upscale with the DVI cable verse the RGB cables, and another sharpness increase using the Real mode on the BQ. The combination of these 2 makes the PJ vary sharp indeed.

The picture quality with the up scalier over DVI is stunning right out of the box with no adjustments. Great blacks and vary good saturated colors. You are going to love it, and Benq really stands behind their 3 year warranty.

Glad to hear that the information was useful.

Regarding an affordable DVI switcher, here is one for about $40 that I purchased and seems to work well (at some point I intend to test it with the Accupel to see if it results in any signal degradation), but for right now it sure beats swapping cables by hand.

Manual HDMI Switcher (http://www.markertek.com/SearchProduct.asp?item=DVIAB%2D1&off=8&sort=prod) Kevin, I can't pull up a HDMI manual switcher with the link you listed. I've done the search on the site and still can't come up with anything for a manual HDMI switcher in the $40 dollar price range. Ideas?

Kevin, I can't pull up a HDMI manual switcher with the link you listed. I've done the search on the site and still can't come up with anything for a manual HDMI switcher in the $40 dollar price range. Ideas?

Go back to the link and type in "VIDEO SWITCHERS" then go to page 4 scroll down page till you see #DVIAB-1 "HDMI and or/DVI with audio A/B switch"

1. I am planning on getting a 7700 soon and I am putting in the wiring now. It will be a ceiling installation. Presently I have a 480p DVD but plan on upgrading to a 720p upscaling one soon. My cable box has component and DVI-d outs. Also someday I would like to add a HD tivo or PC. Should I run a hdmi a component set and a composite line? Or would it be cheaper in the long run to get a converteor box and just run the hdmi and a composite. I will be able to add more cables later with just a little work Teh runn through a ceiling. My run from source to projecotr will be 15' so I will use 15 to 20' cables.
Go with an HDMI cable and a component cable. Composite is pointless for a projector like the 7700.
2. I used the calculator on the projector central site and with my screen size 92" diaganol and screen to projector distance 9.5' I keep coming up to bright. The only way I come close is to use a 0.8 gain screen but I'm still on the edge of too bright. Will a little out of the green zone hurt. (I plan on having some ambient light occasionally.)
If it's really that bright, go with a gray screen. Something like the Optoma Graywolf is cheap and would work well. I would've kept it if I had better light control (opted for a matte white instead, for my situation).

Can anyone confirm that the overscan setting in the service menu on the PE7700 was on when the received it. Meaning was the setting turned on from the factory. I am still finding the "filling the whole screen problem" in "real mode" at 720p over hdmi puzzling. I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but I don't understand how two people can have the same projector and dvd player and one fills the whole screen and one does not. I just am feeling like I am not getting the full potential out of my projector when all of the pixels are not being used. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Steve

steve I perfectly understand your concern. I had the similar worry when I got my PE7700. Dun worry, it is really the dvdp's fault. I managed to find the post by Guy Kuo (author of AVIA) who confirms the underscan of the Oppo (from that thread u can see quite a few reporting Oppo / Panny S97 doing the same thing)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5862009&&#post5862009

so nothing is wrong on the PJ. :)

c722, you have a pm

Checklst,
I have recieved conflicting reports about the Oppo filling the screen on the PE7700. Could you check in the service menu and see if your overscan is being used? I am still wondering if some PE7700 overscan are turned on from the factory and some are not.

Service menu labled over scan it reports +100

checklst, You have a pm.

Overscan. l am living in a PAL country, but.

If you look in the service menu the "overscan" is set to 93 % when using anamorphic and 720 p. When in real mode the "overscan" is set to 100 %. Try to reduce it to the same level or increase the factory setting to 100 for anamorphic and it will fill the same screen. At least it does so with my Pioneer 868 (AVi59 in the US?). I.e you need to have the same setting in real mode as in anamorphic mode to obtain the same screen filling.

Then it is easy to compare if you like the DVD player´s scaler or the projjector´s scaler better.

Can anyone confirm that the overscan setting in the service menu on the PE7700 was on when the received it. Meaning was the setting turned on from the factory. I am still finding the "filling the whole screen problem" in "real mode" at 720p over hdmi puzzling. I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but I don't understand how two people can have the same projector and dvd player and one fills the whole screen and one does not. I just am feeling like I am not getting the full potential out of my projector when all of the pixels are not being used. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Steve
It isn't whether it is "turned on". It is what it is set at. It's a sliding number scale. I suppose the reason not everyone has the same settings is due to changes they've made and not mentioned or because factory settings are not always identical. We've proved that before on many different products, esp TVs.

My HDMI connection defaults it to 100% everytime with a 720p signal, I can't keep it changed if I want. For the other inputs I can generally get it to stay changed to what I want. The others were all set at 93% from the factory, or close to that. I generally like 98% for SDTV as it shows the most picture without messy edges. For HDTV I like 99-100%, and for DVD viewing usually 100. But I do not have the Oppo that is the issue here, so my DVDp doesn't help the discussion, I suppose.

I typically watch HD or DVD in Full mode, I think that is called Anamorphic on the BenQ version, I have the Toshiba. I haven't seen any difference between Full mode and Through (Real on BenQ, I believe) for HDTV, but this discussion has convinced me to look more closely for a comparison. I'll comment again once I compare.

Keep in mind if the DVDp is chopping edges, the PJ can't bring them back.

Steve: I, and others, have hooked up a pc and in real mode we get 1:1 pixel mapping meaning whatever is sent from the source is what is getting projected, no over or under scan. The only way we could get black bars is for the source to send them. I think the best thing for you to do is find or make a 1280x720p test image (A good one is buried in this thread somewhere) and hook your computer up to the projector with that image set as your background, assuming you have DVI output and a DVI-HDMI cable. That would eliminate the projector anyway.
Warren.

I recently found an AVS sponsored vendor has the 7700 for an incredibly low price (found via a banner link on this site). I called them up and they claim Benq recently lowered their MSRP. Is this true? Is this in response to the pressure from LCD projectors?

They need to. The new LCD's are very comparable projectors for less money.
They keep saying they don't have screen door problems like they used to, but then they say it is fine if you are more than 1.5x seating distance. Well I don't want to sit that far away so it is still DLP for me. LCD's will never have the longevity of DLP's either.
Warren.

My HDMI connection defaults it to 100% everytime with a 720p signal, I can't keep it changed if I want. For the other inputs I can generally get it to stay changed to what I want. The others were all set at 93% from the factory, or close to that. I generally like 98% for SDTV as it shows the most picture without messy edges. For HDTV I like 99-100%, and for DVD viewing usually 100. But I do not have the Oppo that is the issue here, so my DVDp doesn't help the discussion, I suppose.

Have to agree Spiky like you I noticed it was defaulted to +100 on the HDMI cable and could not be change on the HDMI cable side. I think you must use the RGB cables for it to allow a change in the menu, it was grayed out, no change possible.

This have me thinking like you the DVD source could be at fault, but it seems strange that 2 different machines the Panny and the Oppo have the same setting problem.

The only time I get bars top and bottom on the Real Mode is when the DVD movies are listed as 2:35 Amanorphic like the new Batman. Not a big fan of the size because I designed the room around a 110 diag 16:9 screen.

checklst, you should be getting bars on almost all movies. 16x9 is 1.78, but almost all movies are at least 1.85 thus a bit wider than 16x9.
I have a 2.35 setup myself and noticed very small black bars the other day. I thought something was off till I realized it was a 2.40 movie.
Warren.

Does anyone know the exact offset measurement from the center of the PE7700 lens to the center of the BenQ factory mount (BenQ mount model # 59.J0C02.001)? I'm looking to get this information for mounting purposes.

Thanks, Steve

Does anyone know the exact offset measurement from the center of the PE7700 lens to the center of the BenQ factory mount (BenQ mount model # 59.J0C02.001)? I'm looking to get this information for mounting purposes.

Thanks, Steve

Why would you need this? I assume, like any mount, you can left-right adjust the PJ once mounted so this becomes irrelevant?

Does anyone know the exact offset measurement from the center of the PE7700 lens to the center of the BenQ factory mount (BenQ mount model # 59.J0C02.001)? I'm looking to get this information for mounting purposes.

Thanks, Steve


From the lens center to center of the PE7700 case is 4". During construction I placed my adjustable pole mount in the center of the screen, now I have a 4"offset and the mount only has a 1 1/2" of adjustment . DOH!!!!!!!!!

I'll just make a Plexiglas offset plate no big deal, but it's great you ask before you made the same mistake.

Hope this helps :)

Just to clarify. I can change the overscan setting in my Toshiba, even on HDMI. It just defaults back to 100 on the HDMI input every time I turn it on. Or, actually, every time I switch inputs since it adjusts or something with every input change.

Anyone here know whether the mounting bolt patterns are same on the 8700 and 7700??

Why would you need this? I assume, like any mount, you can left-right adjust the PJ once mounted so this becomes irrelevant?


The Benq mount has a little left and right adjustment, but I like all of my lines to be as close to perfect as possible. It helps me to make sure my projector is not skewed in any way. I know, I know its a little anal. But to me setting up is half the fun!!! :D By the way the horizontal offset between the center of the lens and the center of the BenQ mounting pole is 2-9/16 inches.

I just opend my PE 7700 today. and it looks great except that it has a dark shadow strip that runs across the top of the screen cutting off peoples heads. I talked to BenQ and they said try another connection instead of componet. I did ...HDMI same thing. It is NOT at the opening BenQ screen. It is driving me crazy. any suggestions???? Did I get a Lemon? thanks BK

I just opend my PE 7700 today. and it looks great except that it has a dark shadow strip that runs across the top of the screen cutting off peoples heads. I talked to BenQ and they said try another connection instead of componet. I did ...HDMI same thing. It is NOT at the opening BenQ screen. It is driving me crazy. any suggestions???? Did I get a Lemon? thanks BK

I would try another DVD source just to make it not the source and check the over scan set up of the 2 DVD machines. BenQ will stand behind the 7700 so I would not worry about that, other than it's just a pain in the Butt to get a bad unit right out of the box.

Are there any replacement bulbs available for the PE 7700? If you have the name of a vendor that has them available to ship now, please private message me and let me know. Especially if you have done business with them and know they're reliable.

Thanks.

Eric

Are there any replacement bulbs available for the PE 7700? If you have the name of a vendor that has them available to ship now, please private message me and let me know. Especially if you have done business with them and know they're reliable.

Thanks.

Eric


VisualApex.com: $399.00

ProjectorPeople.com: $399.95

Dlpstore.com: $399.95

FYI, the PE7700 lamps model number is BEN59.J0C01.CG1

I did not physically talk to anyone at these retailers, but they are showing the lamp on their website as an in stock item.

Hope this helps, Steve

Are there any replacement bulbs available for the PE 7700? If you have the name of a vendor that has them available to ship now, please private message me and let me know. Especially if you have done business with them and know they're reliable.

Thanks.

Eric

You can always RMA BenQ for a bulb for much less.

Has anyone else read the new 720p pj comparison review at Projector Central? In the review Evan mentions that Benq is sending him another PE7700 to look at because they have upgraded it since it originally came out. I'm very curious what the nature of these upgrades is and if they are truly upgrades or just minor bug fixes. Anyone have any input?

720P Comparo (http://www.projectorcentral.com/720p_projectors.htm)

Moe

thanks Steve and Chris for your info about who has a replacement bulb available today.

I'm going to wait until after Thanksgiving before I order one, don't want it to show up while I'm out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.

Eric

Has anyone else read the new 720p pj comparison review at Projector Central? In the review Evan mentions that Benq is sending him another PE7700 to look at because they have upgraded it since it originally came out. I'm very curious what the nature of these upgrades is and if they are truly upgrades or just minor bug fixes. Anyone have any input?

720P Comparo (http://www.projectorcentral.com/720p_projectors.htm)

Moe

For existing owners, lets hope they're improvements you can get with firmware.

For existing owners, lets hope they're improvements you can get with firmware.

If I was to guess it would be an up scalar issue. I get such a sharpness increase in the picture when going 720P on the Oppo DVD. Its not a small increase it's sizeable. Most reviewers and side by sides comparison have commented on a slightly soft picture.

The only other thing I can think of is the lens, not a big fan of plastic lens,and if they adjusted the fix iris a little it might put out a little better black, although the blacks now are vary good and I have a vary clean, bright, colorful picture.

Not sure if I would pay for an up grade in the scalar, since my DVD player does such a good job, a glass lens with an adjustable iris might be worth a opening up the wallet for. :)

Sorry double post

checklst,

I think you may be right about the scalar. I find that the image from a component, 480p source feed from an Panasonic RP62 is really soft, even compared against my Infocus X1. My htpc on the other hand looks really sharp. It's such a big difference I can't stand using it, even though my wife likes the convenience.

And yes, a cost effective way to improve contrast would be on my wish list too.

Guys

I havent tweaked by PE7700 yet but just got the AVIA disc. I have some related questions first.

I have been playing around with the preset settings...cinema, HT, family room etc...I notice the cinema and HT settings cause a 'whir' noise from the projector while the family room setting does NOT. Any ideas what is causing this? The settings of color, brightness etc certainly dont change very much...what else is changing?

My HD cable box is via component and DVD is via HDMI. I notice the obvious settings of brightness, color etc are VERY different in the preset modes (HT, cinema, famly room etc) when in HDMI connection vs. Component. Why is that? Do these settings change when you move from 'REAL' to 'Anamorphic' etc?

When I calibrate with AVIA disc obviously this will be thru HDMI and DVD player, so what about my component connection?

AVIA calibration is done through the projector settings and not DVD, correct? I have the S97 DVD player is there are so many settings on both, it is easy to miss something and I always have the nagging feeling I am missing a setting that would improve the picture...bothersome. I also notice my DVDs typically do not fill the screen when in REAL mode with 720P input....annoying and not consistent around the picture.

thx!
Jim

The whirl sound is the fan changing speed it usually speeds up as you change brightness modes.

The difference in the HDMI and Component is caused by the fact when using the HDMI digital cable, the SOURCE DVD machine is in control of scaling ect........the difference in how the BQ and the Panasonic scale and deal with the math that will effect the color out come.

I am no expert at Avia, I have not calibrated yet. Something tell me you will have to adjust the color for HDMI and save this into one of the memory modes and run a separate color tweak with Avia on the Component cable side and save this to a memory mode so they can be changed on the remote key pad as to what cable you are using. Sounds like a PIA for us beginners to know which one to adjust first.

As for Real mode not filling the screen, My Oppo DV971H fills the screen on Real with the typical 1:33:1 aspect ratio full screen movie. This is a 1:1 pixel map, and I do get a sharpness increase in the real mode, over other modes. I also get a large sharpness increase in using the HDMI cable over the Component.

Good luck and keep us posted to the progress

It saves User settings for each mode. So User 1 when using Component is different from User 1 when using HDMI.

I'm trying to figure out the comment above about plastic lens, too. Pretty much all lenses (including $6000 Canon/Nikon monsters) have some acrylic elements in them these days. That's hardly a knock against a lens.

I promised to check out the 2 aspect settings in post 1938, back when we were discussing which is the correct setting. (Full/Anamorphic and Through/Real) Testing HDMI 720p input from an HDTivo.

I can't tell any difference between the 2 for native 720p football or the HDNet test screens, which are 1080i native, I believe. This is viewing at 100% overscan setting sitting in my normal spot around 12' from a 90" screen. There is no blink of any lines or anything. It just shows the different setting via the OSD, if this didn't change I'd be wondering if my remote worked.

I do see that my HDTivo appears to be cropping nothing from the top and left and at most 2 on the right and bottom. Probably explains why I only ever see artifacts from shows on the left and top (like the green line often seen on HD broadcasts), the Tivo is cropping out anything on the other 2 sides.

Well, I calibrated with AVIA DVD.

Interesting findings. With HDMI, many settings were within +/- 1 of accurate (started with Home Theater settings), but when I did the color by color calibration with the filters, I was surprised at the green push. Blue and Red were right on, but green was +25% or more...so I could reduce green...and I reduced yellow some (given that whole blue+yellow=green rule). Looks fantastic now...watched Phantom Menace and was very pleased with shadow detail and colors...at first the colors looked drab until an obvious colorful scene comes on which looks awesome...sometimes we forget every scene isnt supposed to be vibrant colorful.

For Component, most of my settings interestingly enough ended up negative across the board....brightness, contrast, color etc...all between -1 and -6...and all my colors were right on...no push noticed. The real test will be football as my component connection is my HD Cable box.

BTW, I am using a Carada BW 1.4 gain screen and Econo bulb mode.

thx guys!
Jim

Well, I calibrated with AVIA DVD.

I was surprised at the green push. Blue and Red were right on, but green was +25% or more...so I could reduce green...and I reduced yellow some (given that whole blue+yellow=green rule).

I also found the green push at HDMI. Just curious what gain did you eventually put for the colors ?

I also found the green push at HDMI. Just curious what gain did you eventually put for the colors ?

Since I wrote it down, here are my settings, your performance may vary :)

Contrast 3
Brightness -10 (due to 1.4gain screen?)
Color 9
Tint -2
Filter 1
Sharp 2

Red 15
Green 9
Blue 15
Yellow 9

Now that I write that, I remembered I had modified my DVD settings a bit back on recommendations....but they are not much, Brightness +1 and Sharpness -1. ..thats it.

Jim

Jim,

Red 15
Green 9
Blue 15
Yellow 9

Can you clarify what these settings mean?

In my setup the gain settings for red out of the box is is 512. Are the numbers you quote above settings for offset and not gain?

Also, where did you find the menu option to set yellow?

Am I confused becuase the the settings you quote are from the service menu and not the regular user menu?

Incidentally, in my setup using AVIA, I had a red push. Green and blue were pretty much right on (this is for component only - I don't have an HDMI source yet). My screen is probably about .8 gain though I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

Thanks
Dan

Jim is listing his changes to the color decoder and not the gain and offset settings used to calibrate grayscale. To calibrate your particular projector, you will need AVIA or DVE and the 3 color filters.

The color decoder settings are located in the user menu.

that is correct.

kevin, was that the correct use of these?

Did my changes make sense to you or out of whack or is each room/screen situation different that you cannot tell?

thx. I do like the results however.

Jim

All I can say is 'WOW!' I just got mine set up in my new HT with a 7.1 Marantz receiver, Da-Lite Cosmopolitan screen and the picture is awesome. I have seen a few minutes of D* quality HD and was pleased. Should have my antenna installed so I can get OTA HD today. The projector was made in September... should that have the new bulb? I just bought it a couple of weeks ago so I will get the extra bulb as soon as I gather all my paperwork and send it off. Glad that I made the purchase. The installer was impressed with the projector as well.

Congrats Morgan. I wouldn't worry about the bulb being old stock. If the bulb breaks you would still get it replaced under warranty and pop in your spare bulb and use the RMA bulb as a spare.
So what material did you get with your Da-Lite?
Warren.

Not really sure what the gain or anything is. It was a free 120" screen that a buddy who worked for an electronics company got when they were going to close the store. The material is white. The room is light controlled but we watched TV with a light on at the back of the room and it was still a very bright vibrant picture.

Projector Central says that there is an updated 7700. I was wondering if any one has got one? Is there any way to distinguish the difference or just same old witha new firmware? Any info? Is this unit that much worse compared to Panny ae-900?

Jim is listing his changes to the color decoder and not the gain and offset settings used to calibrate grayscale. To calibrate your particular projector, you will need AVIA or DVE and the 3 color filters.

The color decoder settings are located in the user menu.

Should the color decoder changes/settings be used for HD signals as well? Or, is it strictly for NTSC sources? Thanks.

Hi all, long time visitor with first post.I am installing my Benq 7700 tomorrow with a 52x92 dalite permwall screen with Harmon Kardon Digital Path Receiver 2005. Any things to watch for as I install system ? Going to do it myself and then if problems look for local expert to tweak? I am in Mpls area

All I can say is 'WOW!' I just got mine set up in my new HT with a 7.1 Marantz receiver, Da-Lite Cosmopolitan screen and the picture is awesome. I have seen a few minutes of D* quality HD and was pleased. Should have my antenna installed so I can get OTA HD today. The projector was made in September... should that have the new bulb? I just bought it a couple of weeks ago so I will get the extra bulb as soon as I gather all my paperwork and send it off. Glad that I made the purchase. The installer was impressed with the projector as well.

I believe that units built from August forward have the new bulb. I was told by a dealer that BenQ had dealers check their inventories based on serial number, and that units built prior to a certain date were fited with new bulbs.

There are a few dealers involved on this thread that can confirm this.

Enjoy!

Contrast 3
Brightness -10 (due to 1.4gain screen?)
Color 9
Tint -2
Filter 1
Sharp 2

Red 15
Green 9
Blue 15
Yellow 9

Jim

Thanks;
for me I didn't put the green down that much, just around 11.
strange sharp I have it at 0. anything more than that will introduce ringing.
(I'm using pio 59avi, 1.1 gain screen)

I'm getting anxious - my bulb hours are around 200 now with 185 hrs in economy and the rest in full mode; PJ bought in early June though only played the last 3 months. I hope it does NOT fail during the upcoming holidays. X my fingers. I have a power conditioner on it. I'm junst wondering if you folks that had bulb failures were with or without power conditioners to see if that made a difference.

Hey guys I need a little help, last night I watched the movie "War of the Worlds" and the picture quality was horrible. First I have never seen micro blocking but this must be it ,at the start of the movie and at any point of a total dark scene their were black patches of little squares everywhere and they seem to move.

Second problem Most times during the movie the background colors moved (shimmered) in the land scrape of the city all the building shimmered like they were sparkling. The walls inside the house at the start of the movie before the lighting just shimmered and moved.

Third problem, maybe it's the movie but it was grainy 80% of the time, almost like I was looking at 1000 ASA speed film.

Last week I went into the SERVICE MENU to check a setting for a fellow form memberon % of over scan and LOOKED around just to see what was in all the menus. I accidentally a couple of times pushed the wrong button and changed a setting but I thought I set them back to factory original!!!!!!!! Could I have screwed something up?? Affecting picture quality, or was this movie just that bad, is their a FACTORY RESET in the service menu just in case I changed something by mistake or am I SOL.

Thanks in advance :o

Checklst, what DVDplayer/connection are you using? Often times macroblocking/shimmering can be a function of the DVD player -- especially those upscaled with the Faroudja 2310 chip.

Chklst, there is a reset factory defaults I hear.
Zilla, I know someone with a conditioner lost a bulb too. No question the bulbs are bad. I do think we should all use conditioners anyway though.
Warren.

I've set mine on "economic" and turned on the "high altitude" setting that causes the fan to fun full time at a higher speed. I'm at 125 hours and will see if it makes a difference.

I've got a ton of people over for Thanksgiving who are all dying to watch football in HDTV. I'm crossing my fingers the bulb doesn't give out just when I need it most.

Hey guys I need a little help, last night I watched the movie "War of the Worlds" and the picture quality was horrible. First I have never seen micro blocking but this must be it ,at the start of the movie and at any point of a total dark scene their were black patches of little squares everywhere and they seem to move.

Second problem Most times during the movie the background colors moved (shimmered) in the land scrape of the city all the building shimmered like they were sparkling. The walls inside the house at the start of the movie before the lighting just shimmered and moved.

Third problem, maybe it's the movie but it was grainy 80% of the time, almost like I was looking at 1000 ASA speed film.

Last week I went into the SERVICE MENU to check a setting for a fellow form memberon % of over scan and LOOKED around just to see what was in all the menus. I accidentally a couple of times pushed the wrong button and changed a setting but I thought I set them back to factory original!!!!!!!! Could I have screwed something up?? Affecting picture quality, or was this movie just that bad, is their a FACTORY RESET in the service menu just in case I changed something by mistake or am I SOL.

Thanks in advance :o

What is your DVD player? Sounds like the notorious macro-blocking issue to me.

Be careful when resetting anything. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that there are two different resets in the service menu. One was "load saved factory settings," and the other was worded differently. Using the latter screwed up the picture for the poster. In his case, using the load saved settings was the correct option.

If this is true, I'm surprsed there hasn't been more posted on this.

Can anyone else confirm??

I've set mine on "economic" and turned on the "high altitude" setting that causes the fan to fun full time at a higher speed. I'm at 125 hours and will see if it makes a difference.

I've got a ton of people over for Thanksgiving who are all dying to watch football in HDTV. I'm crossing my fingers the bulb doesn't give out just when I need it most.

Kevin,
Have you tried to run your projector in normal fan, vs. high altitude? I've read that high altitude is pretty loud, so I'm hoping that I can run at normal fan in economy lamp mode.

Checklst, what DVDplayer/connection are you using? Often times macroblocking/shimmering can be a function of the DVD player -- especially those upscaled with the Faroudja 2310 chip.

Hey Steve, I have the Oppo 971H, I have had it and the 7700 for 6 month and have watched at lease a hundred DVD. All have been on factory BQ and Oppo settings, and up until now I have had good clean picture quality with almost no flaws ,not perfect but vary little artifacts for a player in this price range.

I too would suspect the source Oppo first if I had not been in the BQ service menu looking around before this problem occurred. I thought I better set the 7700 back to factory first, then if the problem persist look into the player as a possible cause next.

Their seems to be 2 factory resets choices in the service menu and I remember someone out hear picked the wrong one and it whacked all the setting to a bunch of strange numbers. I can't seem to find that post so I was worried to choose wrong.

I ran normal until I heard about the lamp failures.

High altitude is much noisier but I noticed that the temp of the air venting out the front was noticably lower. I intended to measure the temp for the two modes to determine the quantitative difference, but didn't get around to it. Maybe I can do that tomorrow. I may be "whistling in the dark" running at high altitude, but I really want to get through the holidays without a lamp failure.

Hey guys I need a little help, last night I watched the movie "War of the Worlds" and the picture quality was horrible. First I have never seen micro blocking but this must be it ,at the start of the movie and at any point of a total dark scene their were black patches of little squares everywhere and they seem to move.

Second problem Most times during the movie the background colors moved (shimmered) in the land scrape of the city all the building shimmered like they were sparkling. The walls inside the house at the start of the movie before the lighting just shimmered and moved.

Third problem, maybe it's the movie but it was grainy 80% of the time, almost like I was looking at 1000 ASA speed film.

Last week I went into the SERVICE MENU to check a setting for a fellow form memberon % of over scan and LOOKED around just to see what was in all the menus. I accidentally a couple of times pushed the wrong button and changed a setting but I thought I set them back to factory original!!!!!!!! Could I have screwed something up?? Affecting picture quality, or was this movie just that bad, is their a FACTORY RESET in the service menu just in case I changed something by mistake or am I SOL.

Thanks in advance :o

I'm not sure if you've already checked this or not but in this forum there have been people complaining about dithering artificats that were solved by modifying the CW setting in the service menu. Do a search for CW and you'll find it. I can recall there was a post with a screenshot of this effect.

I ran normal until I heard about the lamp failures.

High altitude is much noisier but I noticed that the temp of the air venting out the front was noticably lower. I intended to measure the temp for the two modes to determine the quantitative difference, but didn't get around to it. Maybe I can do that tomorrow. I may be "whistling in the dark" running at high altitude, but I really want to get through the holidays without a lamp failure.

I'd be interested in your findings. If this ~200 hour bulb failure issue is really due to a "bad batch of bulbs" like BenQ claims, and not a ventilation or power supply issue, then a little extra heat should only shorten bulb life. I could even see heat shortening bulb life by half, yielding maybe 1500 useful hours, but 200 hours MTBF is another problem entirely. I fully understand why you don't want to test it this weekend though! ;)

I'm replacing a Panasonic 300. I never used high fan (blast furnace) mode on it either, and only once in over 2 years did the temp light start to flash after about 3 hours use, and that was on a 100 degree summer night.

Hi all, long time visitor with first post.I am installing my Benq 7700 tomorrow with a 52x92 dalite permwall screen with Harmon Kardon Digital Path Receiver 2005. Any things to watch for as I install system ? Going to do it myself and then if problems look for local expert to tweak? I am in Mpls area
Not really. Nothing out of the ordinary from any other PJ install. The only serious problem has been the lamps that die early. Plenty to read in the 3 threads on the BenQ 7700 and Toshiba MT700 about that.

Install the PJ first, then the screen. Really hard screen first.

You know, Kevin, you could check with them about replacing a functioning lamp. They know they were defective. With the numbers they should have issued a recall anyway. It wouldn't hurt to ask.
Warren.

What is your DVD player? Sounds like the notorious macro-blocking issue to me.

Be careful when resetting anything. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that there are two different resets in the service menu. One was "load saved factory settings," and the other was worded differently. Using the latter screwed up the picture for the poster. In his case, using the load saved settings was the correct option.

If this is true, I'm surprsed there hasn't been more posted on this.

Can anyone else confirm??
Make since the choices were "Load Saved Factory Settings" or "Load Factory Defaults" in that order. It makes sense that the factory defaults are what BQ starts with, then after a few tweaks that would be different on all machines, they would save this as a separate factory setting.

I just can't seem to find this post so I'll wait to see if anyone else chimes in before I proceed with a Load Saved Factory Settings.

It still could be the source that’s at fault but after a hundred clean movies and no problems like this I just thought I might have hit something in the service menu by mistake. The Oppo is at factory defaults and I don't plan to adjust if I can get back to a descent picture. :o

Hi all,

I'm new here. I have had my 7700 for about 2 months now. I have 20+ hours on it and it is AMAZING. I have a few questions, however here are my room specs and setup first.

My Scenario:

1. Theater room is in the basement.
2. Theater Room dimensions are
a. Width X Length 16' x 14'7"
b. Ceiling Height is 9'10
3. PJ setup
a. Mounted Height at 7'8"
b. Mounted from viewing wall 14'
4. Seating Position is 14' from wall
5. Polk RTi 10s, CSI5, FXI5 (side mounted), and PSW505
6. Screen not yet purchased

Questions:
1. Does the 7700 up convert automatically or can i set the level of up conversion manually?
2. All this talk of fan speed has me concerned, I am using all of the settings that came from the factory, the only setting i changed was the lamp so it doesn't run at full power. Should i set it to high altitude or just leave it alone? I am thinking just leave it alone and let it run the way the manufacturer intended.
3. I have not setup my HDTV reception yet and wanted to know if there is a distinct difference between DVD playback at 525p and HD.
4. I have not chosen a screen yet and to be honest, it looks awesome on my wall. Is there that much of a difference with the screen that it makes sense spending the extra $$$.

Thanks Kindly in advance.

What is your DVD player? Sounds like the notorious macro-blocking issue to me.

Be careful when resetting anything. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that there are two different resets in the service menu. One was "load saved factory settings," and the other was worded differently. Using the latter screwed up the picture for the poster. In his case, using the load saved settings was the correct option.

If this is true, I'm surprsed there hasn't been more posted on this.

Can anyone else confirm??
Update on the problem with "War of the Worlds" and digital blocking in the blacks.

After a Reset in the service menu using Reset to Saved factory settings the digital blocking in the solid blacks is gone and almost all of the shimmering in the city scrape shots is gone.

I must have changed something as I looked around in the service menu last week and the reset took care of it.

The movie still has a grainy look, but all other movies I tried look beautiful ,sharp clear and bright. I guess this older grainy look is what the director was going for, an artistic expression.

Thanks for all the help guys

itms1022,
1. PJ is 720p native, so will upconvert on its own. Do not know of any manual override.
2. Leave fan speed alone. If bulb defective, BenQ will replace.
3. HDTV will be better than DVD. My OTA-HDTV, especially from a native 720p signal such as Fox is awesome. I do not have HD via D*TV satellite.
4. I have a DIY painted screen on drywall using a Mmud mixture. Using screen samples up against it, decided against spending those extra $$ on a Dalite or Stewart screen. Very satisfied! If you are happy with your setup, save your money for that HD-DVD you will want in a year or two!

Good luck and welcome.
P.S. You need to put more hours on that PJ. :)

I agree with Jeff. If your projector is new, it likely does not have the bulb problem. I'm just trying to keep the bulb alive through Thanksgiving weekend with lots of relatives over that have never seen HDTV (we are watching the Macy's parade right now). At worst, if your bulb goes out, you're without a projector for a few days.

Fixed pixel devices (LCD, DLP, etc.) must upscale to their native resolution, so they would never have a manual override.

If you think your projector looks good with a DVD, wait until you see HDTV -- especially ABC and FOX that broadcast in native 720p.

I had a DIY screen for years, but have really enjoyed the upgrade to a commercial screen. Carada screens are a great value and if money was no object, I would get a Stewart.

As to the fan issue, with the bulb at economic setting and the High Altitude option set to on, the air temperature out of the front exhaust vent was 127 degrees. When I turned off High Altitude, the temperature climbed to 167 degrees.

Again, the High Altitude fan is loud and diminishes the home theater experience, but for casual viewing (e.g., right now I have a room full of people talking and coming and going as they watch HDTV football), I would be inclined to switch to High Altitude -- even if the bulb issue wasn't so pressing.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the information. I think I am going to see what the HDTV looks like on the wall before i get that screen. I'm going to research the diy screens also. I like the diy stuff alot.

Now to my question:

If the pj uses 720p natively and is supposed to upconvert, how come when I watch a DVD and i press on the component button on the remote, on the bottom right of my viewing area it shows 525p? Is that the quality i am getting from my DVD player at the moment?

is there a way to check what the resolution (am i using the right word here?) I am geting or am i doing that correctly?

Thanks,
itms

Hi guys,

Thanks for the information. I think I am going to see what the HDTV looks like on the wall before i get that screen. I'm going to research the diy screens also. I like the diy stuff alot.

Now to my question:

If the pj uses 720p natively and is supposed to upconvert, how come when I watch a DVD and i press on the component button on the remote, on the bottom right of my viewing area it shows 525p? Is that the quality i am getting from my DVD player at the moment?

is there a way to check what the resolution (am i using the right word here?) I am geting or am i doing that correctly?

Thanks,
itms

Yes. It's showing what's coming from the DVD player. That indicator shows the nature of the source signal. The PJ will then scale it if necessary to it's native display resolution.

If you're looking for a sharper image you can try an upconverting DVD player - one that outputs at 720p or a HTPC that outputs 720p. IMHO, either solution yields a big picture quality increase.

Have to agree with Basement, A 720P up scalier will do a better Job. Well at lease in my case it was nothing short of stunning. I purchased a Oppo971H and when it is running through the DVI digital cable at 720P the SHARPNESS increase in the picture is unbelievable.

I'm sure their are other DVD players/scalier that would give the same picture quality increase but so far the Oppo has been an excellent match for a machine in it’s price range. :)