Hitachi Home 1 Projector Review

I bought this projector refurbished from ebay. The projector is no
longer being made and is discontinued. I bought the projector for
600 shipped. I wanted an entry level projector that was cheap and
would give me a little bit of milage. If I liked the projector
I would put this one on ebay and get a better one. Surprisingly
when I called the seller he said most of these refurbs were
never been opened. He was true to his word. The projector
I recieved had no hours on the bulb and was still factory
sealed.

My first impression of the projector was that it was a pretty big
piece of equipment. I thought it would be much smaller. However
it is not as big as some projectors I saw. This projector
only has 700 lumens and 550 is whisper mode. I am throwing a 9 ft
throw and get a HUGE picture. I was also impresssed by the lens
shifting on this projector. I can pretty much mount this
projector from anywhere without flipping it over. This projector
is meant for ambient or dark rooms. If you are throwing 8ft or
less you could get away with some light. The picture is very
bright and crisp. I did have problems with ground looping but
resolved them pretty quickly. Screen Door Effect is definitely
there, it is no problem however if you sit at 1.5x the distance
of the screen.

I feel that I got alot of bang for the buck on this projector and
would reccommend it for those who are worried about buying a projector
and not using it. The price is right, plus you can now save up for
better projector.

Thanks
John

PS Replacement bulbs are only 200 bucks which is pretty cheap as well.

$600 is a great price on that, I actually bid on that ebay auction. Retailers who still haevthem in stock are asking hundreds more. There are a whole host of 1st generationg entry level projectors going for $600-700 right now (some with rebates) but the Hitachi is the only dedecated 16:9 HT unit for that price.

Great deal , enjoy it. I use CRT but have been playing around with getting a digital for the bedroom for some time. the way prices are dropping I figure I'll get a BenQ or infocus 16:9 for next to nothing with in the next year.

Your review convinced me to get one too. I called the seller and he has a ton of them left. He happily sells them at the Ebay asking price. So I should be getting it in a couple days. I will you know how it works for me.

My plan for this is as a bedroom projector, so one that can display shifted is important, from the nightstand. I already have the big HDTV in the living room, just want something for the bedroom that 'dissapears' when turned off. Going to use a painted wall for screen. A 9' throw.

Rick

The one thing that might suck about the 9ft throw is that you have to be at least 15 feet away from the wall or else you will see the screen door effect. The shift on this thing is amazing though. The one thing I don't like about it is the contrast. You don't get the blacks like a DLP since this is an LCD. However I get headaches with DLP and LCD is much easier on my eyes.
Let me know how it goes!!!

After lots of looking around, I also purchased this projector from an e*bay seller, although different from the one currently listing the item. I should be receiving it today or tomorrow.

I also purchased a lightly used Canon LV-7210 for a price similar to the Home 1. The Canon is a 4:3 projector, but it is 1024x768 and has an HDCP DVI port. The Canon has 2000 lumens, but only has a contrast ratio of 350:1. After some research, it looks like the Canon is actually made by Sanyo, similar to their XU25 and XU50. It really appears to be a crossover projector, suited for business or HT.

BTW, does anyone know how to get into a Sanyo (or Canon) service menu? There is no user listing for bulb hours.

This being my first projector, I figured I would find something well under $1k and do my experimenting with it before looking for something more elaborate. I also previewed the 4805, picking one up from Costco, but I do think I like the look of the LCD images better. I've been running the Canon for the last couple of days while I wait for my new basement HT to get finished. The Canon is nice and bright, even in econo mode, and my kids love playing giant-sized Gamecube. (We have an older Gamecube, with the digital port, so I picked up the component cable from Nintendo...progressive scan games look fantastic!) The nice thing about the Canon is that even with ambient light, it throws a bright, clear picture.

For my temp screen, I bought a piece of blackout cloth from Joanne Fab, and threw it over the TV cabinet. My wife is going a little crazy because I have wires running everywhere in an attempt to get the Gamecube, DVD player and satellite box hooked into the projector while still putting sound through the receiver. (I keep telling her it's temporary, but that is wearing thin.)

This way, I can compare and tweak the projectors in my home without stressing about a huge cash outlay. I can save the stress for my eventual upgrade.

:)

I have had this awesome PJ (PJ-TX10 w/50 more Lumens, but otherwise the same model) for several months now and it's still impressing friends who come over for a screening. And as usual, they were surprised at how little I paid for this unit. Since this is my first PJ the contrast level doesn't really bother me, the image looks quite good in my light controlled basement HT. I currently have white walls and ceiling, yeah I know it's bad. But it's almost like a hidden secret, as it's really unassuming until I turn off the lights and fire up the PJ!

I too was worried about the lumens and contrast ratings of this unit, but once fired up, all those concerns went away after several screenings of LOTR, Matrix, and Star Wars triology. The black isn't inky black like my Sony CRT TV, but man, it's amazing how little I paid for a huge image. It's currently set at 9' wide (roughly 130" diagonal) from 18'-19' away. Let me tell you, once you view a few DVD's on this thing, you will never go back to viewing movies on anything smaller. I even have a hard time going back to CRT's. The colours are just awesome and there's enough black level details (with only 800:1 Contrast) to show Lord Saramon's dark walled (LOTR:FOTR) tower castle to give me a big grin everytime I see it. And ultimately that's what it's all about. When you look at the price range that this thing is in, and it's competitors, it's a really good entry level PJ for those who just want to get their feet wet and not spend a lot of money to begin this hobby. This will keep me busy until affordable 1080p comes around. Plus replacement bulb costs for this thing is unbelieveably cheap. Hope you enjoy yours!

Btw, the unit I have has no VB & no dead pixels.

I got some snap shots (kinda dark as I'm still new to my digital camer) in my gallery if you want to take a look at a few samples.

I've got a Hitachi Home-1 too (10 weeks or so now). Love it, like all the folks that have posted so far. I'm watching a huge image too, something like 160" diagonal (6.5 x 11.5 feet) most of the time. A little smaller if it's daytime (lens shift rules for keeping the image centered as you zoom in and out). Sit at 15'. O yeah, low bulb mode too.

To reply to SDE visible at 9' - that really depends on how big you make the image - could be as small as what, 55 - 60" diagonal with no zoom? Probably minimal SDE at 9' on an image that size (more than 2x width). However this is like RBE - some folks it bothers, others it doesn't. I don't really get bothered (thus I sit at 1.2x width)

A quiet projector and the lens shift makes it perfect for this use in a bedroom. Try using the Levolor roll-down drape for a screen. They come in light grey and install over a window (or a wall I guess) - also can be used as a blackout drape to make the room dark for sleeping.Spring loaded and hides away nicely behind existing drapes.

If you're interested in painting a wall, I'm having good success with Behr 'Silverscreen' (Flat UPW base). I put on two coats over a light beige color.

There's nothing like walking down an aisle of TV's and having one 4-6x as big, for 1/4 to 1/6 the price. Makes me chuckle every time.

Drawback of this PJ is an only adequate internal deinterlacer and scaler. Not horrible, but definitely could be improved on. Only 1 set of Component inputs. For a cheap component switcher I suggest (and this has been debated around here before) a plain old A/V RCA switch - it has three inputs (yellow, red, white) and outputs. Available for cheap many places. It's working for me. YMMV.

No VB or dead pixels on mine either.

wow, that's a good price! i also got mine on ebay a few months ago but i paid $700 and there were 200 hrs on the lamp. in any case, it seems to work fine.

i've got a very narrow room so i could only throw from about 9 ft. it's upside down on a shelf right above the couch.

i don't know if i just have exceptional eyesight, but i definitely noticed SDE at anything above the projectorcentral.com-reccomended 2.1x screen width. this means i can only project a 53" wide image (i was planning for this anyway). however, even with this i can still see the pixel grid (not SDE). i'm not sure if this is normal with all LCD's at this resolution. i have not experimented with slight defocussing yet as i prefer a sharp picture.

i should also note that i am only running a composite signal until my component cables arrive in a few days. i'm hoping that combined with my faroudja DVD player will improve things.

sorry, i didn't mean to make this look like i'm unsatisfied. these are just my initial impressions. even the way it looks now, i'll never go back to CRT.

Originally posted by nonstatic
i should also note that i am only running a composite signal until my component cables arrive in a few days. i'm hoping that combined with my faroudja DVD player will improve things.

I'm sure once you input a component signal, the quality will improve significantly. At least that's been my experience with just about any display device I've used.

Originally posted by Flashman
Your review convinced me to get one too. I called the seller and he has a ton of them left. He happily sells them at the Ebay asking price. So I should be getting it in a couple days. I will you know how it works for me.

My plan for this is as a bedroom projector, so one that can display shifted is important, from the nightstand. I already have the big HDTV in the living room, just want something for the bedroom that 'dissapears' when turned off. Going to use a painted wall for screen. A 9' throw.

Rick

How do I find this seller? I might like to try one of these out myself.

You can see the item on Ebay, look up item 5763708584, which includes the seller's phone number. I haven't gotten mine yet (ordered it yesterday).

I ended up figuring out the answer to the question on Canon projectors buried in my post.

See here:

Canon 7210 projector hours (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=524325)

I'm almost ready to take the plunge and I think the Home 1 is my choice, however the only thing worrying me is that I will have it in a room with some ambient light and it doesn't seem to be a very bright projector.

Does anyone have the home 1 in a room with some light? If so how is the picture?

The other options I'm looking at are the X1, Toshiba 20U, and benQ 6100, but I like the flexibility of the home 1 since I live in an apartment and will probably be moving within the next year and I'm not sure what sort of setup a new place might have.

Well, regarding some lighting, if you keep the unit on a coffee table and don't go more than 90" screen size, you should be OK. At 13' away and projecting a 75" screen size (no zoom), some ambient light is possible, though you won't get the 16 fL recommended by SMPTE. That will bump the brightness up to 23 fL. Which would help your situation.

I just added some blackout cloth curtain liners in my viewing room. The window is quite large (over 100" wide), and this helped a lot. I was concerned with the time change and having to start movies during the evening.

It's not tomb dark (light spill from non-blacked out window in the kitchen), but more than adequate. We often watch TV with a 60 watt torchiere light on in the viewing room. That's on the 160" screen

I received my Home-1 projector yesterday and hooked it up last night. I am incredibly impressed. The product as ordered from the EBAY vendor was brand new with 0hours on it. All packaging intact.

I hooked it up via component hookup and tested it with an episode of 24 at 480p. The playback is incredibly smooth and clean. The display is VERY bright, even when switched down to "whisper" mode which dims the lamp a little.

I hooked it up in my master bedroom, on a nightstand, aimed high/left so it is centered over the end of the bed on the white wall. I put two small speakers at the bottom corners of the bed (under the bed facing the wall) , and a small subwoofer on one side of the bed, towards the bottom. I picked up the two speaker kit w/ subwoofer at Target for $35. Then I hooked up my TVIX device to both the projector and speakers, and viola, I've got a fantastic home theater setup right in my bedroom, with a screen big enough to see while lying down in bed without straining. I highly recommend this project, at $650 you can't go wrong.

Next I plan to mark off the wall portion I'm using as a screen and then get it painted with some of the recommended Silverscreen paint. Though right now, I'm not even sure I need it.

Ok, I have been agonzing over this for some time, but you guys have put me over the edge. Just talked to the wife by phone and she gave in. I am going to owe her, though. Next big purchase is her's.

Anyone know about the extended warranty from WarranTec that this dealer offers? 2 years past the 6 month Hitachi for $100.00 and 5 years for $130.00. Sounds good, but then again, it is almost one-sixth the price.

What do you all use for screens?

So let it be written. So let it be done.

I made my order. Those of you that ordered through this seller; how long did it take to receive your projector? Guess I better go get a screen! I am psyched.

BTW - there are 9 left.

I got mine in 2 days from Buffalo to Chicago. I am still very happy with this projector. It is not as good as some very expensive ones, but you get alot of bang for your buck, thats for sure!

I just talked with the reseller and they now have replacment bulbs for 199 for this projector as well. I am going to save and buy one myself. BTW they have 25 more not 9 in stock now of the projectors. Remember to ask for 650 shipped. They will give you that price instead of 670 shipped. I guess I got lucky and they agreed to 600 when I called them. Maybe try asking them for that price.

anyone sending hd to this projector? how does it look?

I was condiering getting one of these for the bedroom but the thing is with the current rebates from Infocus and BenQ you can get an original refurb Xi1 for about $100 less than the Hitachi and you can get a brand new Benq PB6100 for the same exact price.. I hate SD so I think the 6100 is the best deal goign for a bedroom projector

I demoed the X1 and could not stand rainbows. :( My loss. But I know I will be happy with the Hitachi. The only time I ever used a projector for a movie was a old 100 contrast business projector on a white wall.

Originally posted by jbalicki10
I just talked with the reseller and they now have replacment bulbs for 199 for this projector as well. I am going to save and buy one myself. BTW they have 25 more not 9 in stock now of the projectors. Remember to ask for 650 shipped. They will give you that price instead of 670 shipped. I guess I got lucky and they agreed to 600 when I called them. Maybe try asking them for that price.

FWIW bulbs can be had for that price just about everywhere, and I've seen them a bit cheaper.

I ordered mine the other day and it should be here Monady. I can't wait.

What is everyone else using for a screen? I have a good line on a sheet of Gatorfoam for $40 from a local place. It's just a matter of getting it home. No way it's fitting in my car.

RabidChild, I use a semi-gloss painted front wall for the screen. I've compared it to the Da-Lite Cinema Vision 1.3 gain screen material, and they both look just as bright. Mind you, having a screen would definitely make the presentation better, but I'm going to stick with the white wall for now. Plus, I like playing with the different screen sizes from time to time, so, getting an expensive screen now would prohibit that for me, :D Plus I love the horiz/vert lens shift and flexible zoom lens option, definitely lets me place this baby any where at the cabinet.

First thing I did was to blacken out the large back window with heavy drapes and covered up any openings with some black cloth/towel. This allowed me to enjoy movies at loud volume levels during the afternoon as I can barely see my hands infront of me without the PJ being on.

Next project I have with my Hitachi unit is to see if I can darken the side walls and the immediate ceiling area of the screen wall. Heard that makes a big difference in PQ. But I'm happy with the current result, and I haven't had any complaints from my friends about the presenation. We just switch the unit on and enjoy the movie.

I haven't heard any major complaints from people who actually purchased this budget unit. It has more features than similiar priced units and it's made from the ground up for HT use. From what I've read, everyone seems to be pretty satisfied with their purchases. Hope you guys enjoy yours too.

Maybe we can share calibration settings later when you guys get yours.

I'm sending 720p output to it, but downconverting it first to 480p. It looks great. I did try having the Home-1 do the downconversion. It was ok, but my TVIX does much better conversion. If I had it hooked up to an HD cable box, I'd first set the cable box to downcovert to 480p.

just a note that i have mine all hooked up now with component cables from bluejeanscables. i popped in the korean anime Wonderful Days (now released in USA as Sky Blue) and my jaw dropped. i almost thought it looked 3D for a minute there!

it turned out my issue with seeing the pixel grid/scan lines was that my picture was too big. after i measured it to my planned 2.1x ratio, it mostly vanished. i realize a 61" diagonal is much smaller than what most of you are running, but this is still much larger than the 27" TV I used to have!

i used the hometheaterhifi settings, but after playing some night scenes from Crouching Tiger which were too dark I ended up adjusting the gamma from 2.4 to 2.0. i got some blackout liner at joann's for my drapes which are unfortunately not quite wide enough for my window opening but block out enough light during the day for me to watch movies if i want to.

my only real issue, which is no fault of the projector, is that the noise bothers me a little. i realize this is supposedly the quietest HT projector on the market, but i had to mount it on a shelf directly above me. it's only about 6 inches above my head and hangs over a little. i didn't have any other mounting options...because i'm projecting such a small image, vertical lense shift doesn't end up giving me that much flexability. i'm sure it wouldn't bother me if it were ceiling mounted or in front of me, but perhaps in my next apartment i will have those options.

overall, i'm quite happy with my purchase, and feel safe knowing that i only have to shell out $180 or so when it's time to replace the lamp!

husker - I bought a HD OTA Tuner and use the projector to view "HD" on it. The quality is perceptably better than a good DVD transfer, but only if you A/B the "HD" and DVD. (Like finish a movie and then tune into "24").

NCAA Tourney was a real gem to watch.

use anntennaweb.org to check to see if you can receive OTA HD.

I find the broadcast (OTA) HD better than Time Warner's. Visually less compression and better colors. And it's free - my tuner paid for itself in 2 mths (after I turned cable off).

I hate to say it, but I've never fed my PJ a signal less than DVD 480p. I just don't think SD has a chance without a Faroudja at 160".

Originally posted by Flashman
I hooked it up in my master bedroom, on a nightstand, aimed high/left so it is centered over the end of the bed on the white wall. I put two small speakers at the bottom corners of the bed (under the bed facing the wall) , and a small subwoofer on one side of the bed, towards the bottom.

This fascinates me. When I tried the projector (4805) on a nightstand, and aimed it so that it was centered on the wall across from the foot of the bed, I had such a trapazoid up there and no way to square it at all. Did I just not try hard enough? If that's the case I'll repurchase the projector and start adjusting!

Seriously, we loved the picture, but short of a major install from the ceiling over the bed, which would have cost maybe $700+ we were told, there was no way to square the picture without builidng an elaborate headboard shelf arrangement.

Any clew (chiefly: Brit) would be helpful & appreciated.

Yeah Hoppy, that's the beauty of lens shift (Hitachi calls it Picture Shift). Tough to find on DLP.

The thing about lens shift is that it cannot go 'past' the lens itself. So you can center it over the bed by making the screen 'wider' than the bed... from nightstand to nightstand. Smaller sizes are still over the bed, but to the right (up to the nightstand). We can use it either way (really big or smaller towards the right side of bed), currently been playing with this, eventually will settle on a size.


Originally posted by Hoppy
This fascinates me. When I tried the projector (4805) on a nightstand, and aimed it so that it was centered on the wall across from the foot of the bed, I had such a trapazoid up there and no way to square it at all. Did I just not try hard enough? If that's the case I'll repurchase the projector and start adjusting!

Seriously, we loved the picture, but short of a major install from the ceiling over the bed, which would have cost maybe $700+ we were told, there was no way to square the picture without builidng an elaborate headboard shelf arrangement.

Any clew (chiefly: Brit) would be helpful & appreciated.

That's a good point I hadn't thought about Flashman. I can see where that would make the screen asymetrical with the viewing area for a bed setup unless the screen width was from the pj lens position to one side of the bed and extended to the same distance from the bed on the other side.

I've got the pj within the screen footprint in my living room, so I hadn't noticed this shortcoming.

Originally posted by Flashman
The thing about lens shift is that it cannot go 'past' the lens itself. So you can center it over the bed by making the screen 'wider' than the bed... from nightstand to nightstand. Smaller sizes are still over the bed, but to the right (up to the nightstand). We can use it either way (really big or smaller towards the right side of bed), currently been playing with this, eventually will settle on a size.

Do I understand correctly that this Hitachi "lens shift" works only by sending the image off to the side, so that you could have either

(a) (nonshifted)


..........PJ BED BED
............. BED BED
............. BED BED


......IMAGE

or (b) (shifted, smaller image than bed width)

..........PJ BED BED
............. BED BED
............. BED BED


............IMAGE

or (c) (shifted, image wider than bed width)


..........PJ BED BED
............. BED BED
............. BED BED


............IMAGEIMAG

Originally posted by Hoppy
Do I understand correctly that this Hitachi "lens shift" works only by sending the image off to the side, so that you could have either


You got it perfectly. It also shifts the same way up/down. Good drawings.

Originally posted by grinchy
I've got a Hitachi Home-1 too (10 weeks or so now). . . . A quiet projector and the lens shift makes it perfect for this use in a bedroom.

Grinch--

Just double checking that I bought the right one. THis is the one with a working "lens shift" that throws the image forward and to the left or right so the physical projector can be alongside a bed and not centered behind or above it and still throw image on opposite wall, more or less centered for bed occupants?

This link http://www.monitoroutlet.com/m10013.html says "horizontal keystone" in the body copy but i didn't see it when I skimmed the specs.

Is there a Hitachi detailed page on this, or a PDF somewhere?

Thanks,

Hoppy

Below is a link to the Hitachi page. Near the bottom are links to Hitachi documentation, including the specs sheet. It is interesting that only horizontal and vertical keystone correction are listed on the intro page - nothing on the lens shift! Also the vertical and horizontal lens shift is listed in the description at the top of the spec sheet, but on not listed on the chart of specifications.

I also noted that the spec sheet only lists vertical lens shift and not horizontal lens shift. I think some one erred and said vertical and horizontal keystone instead of lens shift. Major boo-boo in my opinion, as that is one of the biggest selling points.

Got mine Friday. Just like everybody else said, although refurbished, it was actually unopened and completely new with no hours. Set up the family room with a blackout cloth screen (just tacked to the wall for now) and set up the Sony 760 surround. All I can say is awesome.

We spent a good part of yesterday shopping for curtains, shades, black felt, etc. etc...

I want to say a special thank you to Jbalicki10 for starting this thread and all those who have provided information. A week ago, I thought it would be a year before I bought a projector. Think I'll go do some tweaking...

Do you fellow Home-1 owners want to start a tweaks thread? It won't be any X1 or 700 thread but we can all start sharing info. There are getting to be more and more of us.

Here's the Home 1 US Page (http://www.hitachi.us/Apps/hitachicom/content.jsp?page=LCOSLCDProjectors/CurrentModels/HomeTheater/index.html&level=2&section=LCOSLCDProjectors&parent=CurrentModels&nav=left&path=jsp/hitachi/forhome/DigitalMedia/&nId=iD) referred to above.

In the link to that specs you posted, you can see the picture shift dials above and to the right of the lens.

there was a thread that turned into a slight tweaked settings thread over here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=505406

Originally posted by grinchy
Here's the Home 1 US Page (http://www.hitachi.us/Apps/hitachicom/content.jsp?page=LCOSLCDProjectors/CurrentModels/HomeTheater/index.html&level=2&section=LCOSLCDProjectors&parent=CurrentModels&nav=left&path=jsp/hitachi/forhome/DigitalMedia/&nId=iD) referred to above.

In the link to that specs you posted, you can see the picture shift dials above and to the right of the lens.

Thanks for covering for me. I posted and ran and forgot the link. That was exactly the page I meant to link to.

Originally posted by grinchy
Here's the Home 1 US Page (http://www.hitachi.us/Apps/hitachicom/content.jsp?page=LCOSLCDProjectors/CurrentModels/HomeTheater/index.html&level=2&section=LCOSLCDProjectors&parent=CurrentModels&nav=left&path=jsp/hitachi/forhome/DigitalMedia/&nId=iD) referred to above.

In the link to that specs you posted, you can see the picture shift dials above and to the right of the lens.

Thanks. I PM'd you.

Originally posted by Yellowstone Tim
Below is a link to the Hitachi page. Near the bottom are links to Hitachi documentation, including the specs sheet. It is interesting that only horizontal and vertical keystone correction are listed on the intro page - nothing on the lens shift! Also the vertical and horizontal lens shift is listed in the description at the top of the spec sheet, but on not listed on the chart of specifications.

I also noted that the spec sheet only lists vertical lens shift and not horizontal lens shift. I think some one erred and said vertical and horizontal keystone instead of lens shift. Major boo-boo in my opinion, as that is one of the biggest selling points.

Got mine Friday. Just like everybody else said, although refurbished, it was actually unopened and completely new with no hours. Set up the family room with a blackout cloth screen (just tacked to the wall for now) and set up the Sony 760 surround. All I can say is awesome.

We spent a good part of yesterday shopping for curtains, shades, black felt, etc. etc...

I want to say a special thank you to Jbalicki10 for starting this thread and all those who have provided information. A week ago, I thought it would be a year before I bought a projector. Think I'll go do some tweaking...

Do you fellow Home-1 owners want to start a tweaks thread? It won't be any X1 or 700 thread but we can all start sharing info. There are getting to be more and more of us.

Thanks for the insight. Appreciate it. This is becoming the H1 thread, isn't it?

Hopps

Originally posted by Flashman
The thing about lens shift is that it cannot go 'past' the lens itself. So you can center it over the bed by making the screen 'wider' than the bed... from nightstand to nightstand. Smaller sizes are still over the bed, but to the right (up to the nightstand). We can use it either way (really big or smaller towards the right side of bed), currently been playing with this, eventually will settle on a size.

Thanks, that's a help. Getting it nominally in center of wall will be sufficient, I expect. How much degradation in picture quality is produced by this horizontal lens shift, would you say?

Here are a few recent post on settings used by other Home-1 owners :

Originally posted by lunchblaze
sry,

i'm talking about the menu of the pj - the overlay where you adjust brightness, color bal. etc.


anyway, did some more adjusting last night and i think i'm getting it pretty dialed in.

wound up with a gamma of 2.7
red 90
green 60
blue 70


then in the other section
red 2
green -15
blue - 16

the blue surprised me having to drop it like that, but this is from DVE using the little color filter thing.

brightness 0
contrast 20

color and tint 0

the image after this was really frickin nice. no more washout. i think the gamma adjustment made most of the difference.
must just be something weird about my wall i guess :)



anyway, thanks for all the help.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5150053#post5150053


Originally posted by uranium
lunchblaze,

I get good picture with the following setting (recommended from a Japanese review). I don't have DVE to test though... But it looks very good to me with Fifth Element, Monster Inc, and HDTVs on my setup with Hi Power.

gamma 2.2
red 100
green 80
blue 90

red 0
green -3
blue 0

brightness 9
contrast 22

color +12
tint 0
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5194095#post5194095

And here are my current settings :

Originally posted by Souki
I've revised my settings again :


Gamma : 2.2
Red : 100
Green : 70
Blue : 80 (90 if you like a cooler picture)

Red : default (+5)
Green : default (-2)
Blue : default (-1)

Brightness : +13
Contrast : 22

Colour : +12
Tint : +1


Unit is about 18.5' from white wall. Watched Spiderman 2 yesterday night, and to my surprise, the Spidey outfit looks amazingly deep red. More than when I jacked up the Red and lowered the green and blue gain. With the gamma setting at 2.2, black level detail is pretty good with white walls and ceilings all around. Confirmed colour decoding for R, G, B is spot on with filters. Might be a slight push in red, but nothing to complain about. Also calibrated the brightness & contrast with grey scale ramp test pattern. Of course, without a light meter, these settings are probably not D65. But it looks pretty good, nonetheless. HomeTheatreHiFi said the 'Low' setting is pretty close to D65 reference. So you can use that as a reference. Here's to another happy calibration session, :) Hope these settings help someone out there.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5229285#post5229285

If anyone wants to start an official "Hitachi Home-1/PJ-TX10 Tweak" thread, I'm game for that. We have enough info to get started.

Originally posted by Hoppy
Thanks, that's a help. Getting it nominally in center of wall will be sufficient, I expect. How much degradation in picture quality is produced by this horizontal lens shift, would you say?

None that I can see, it's just a lens shift, so the same image/pixels are sent out.

it does say in the manual that the picture quality will degrade if you use the lense shifts at their extremes. i'm not sure how though. i built my rear shelf lower than i would've liked for this reason.

I don't see any difference with the lens shift maxed out (I have the horizontal maxed when I watch the small screen, 110"). But then I don't spend all that much time watching test grids. If it does affect it, it is MINIMAL. It certainly doesn't seem to effect focus uniformity (and I'd notice it, because I saw a PJ at work today that softened/defocused the right 1/4 of the screen. I don't see softening or anything. However, with all things YMMV, and since I watch a huge screen (160") that this forum repeatedly deems unwatchably big from way to close, I bet I wouldn't notice it anyway.

Nonstatic, bump that shelf back up :)

Oh, settings, DVD player is set to output progressive, and it black crushes (blacker than black is not visible).
Contrast 32. Bright 12. Sharp 3. Color 21. Gamma 2.2, Red 90, Green 80, Blue 90. Color R 0, G 0, B 0

Let's see. If I run the DVD player (Go video Networked DVD) in 480i, these change drastically!!! Also in 480i my DVD player doesn't black crush. Sadly, the PJ deinterlacer is not as good as my DVD Player (I'd rate the PJ adequate only), so I make this sacrifice while I sit on my hands waiting for HD-DVD or bluray. I refuse to invest any more money in dead dead dead DVD technology (quit buying DVD's, too), though I did see a really nice Forudja equipped Yamaha Carousel at Frys for $75. The 480i settings are contrast 24, bright -3, and the color settings change a bit too.

Ruined by HDTV. That's me.

edited to correct some settings.

Just out of curiosity, and while I'm waiting for my Home-1 to arrive, has anyone dialed that lens shift all the way left or right? Just how far does it go from the center of the PJ lens? In the manual, page 8, there is a curious diagram that seems to say it will move 75% to the right or left (if I'm reading the diagram correctly). Which would seem to mean that if the PJ is lens shifted all the way to the right, 75% or the picture is to the right of the lens, and 25% to the left.

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...................|Screen image
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.................[X]
............Projector

Is this about what you've got?

Also says, and I quote, "Generally, better quality of a picture is available when the lens shift is set to center."

yeah, that's pretty close to what i get with the lens shift.

as for the extremes and picture degradation, i think it's mainly lumens that get compromised (think projector central is where i got that).

i agree w/others - i've not noticed any image quality problems when shifted to extremes during testing.


my settings are pretty close to souki's latest revision except my brightness is -2 and i haven't messed with the color setting yet (anyone know exactly what it controls?)


i will say that the main improvement over anything i've tried is a painted grey screen - gives the black levels the help they need to move from just ok to very nice.

gl.

I have not measured accurately, but 75% seems appropriate for the lens shift. It is weird when lens shifting and changing the zoom because the picture moves right/left due to the 75% rule. It takes some playing.

As to picture degradation at full shift, I did some basic experiments.

First, I am using the Home-1 table mounted in a medium-wood-panelled room that is 13x23 with white drop ceiling. I also have a non-stretched (tacked to wall temporarily) blackout cloth screen using the cloth side. One large window is to the right facing the screen but is covered. I am also using an Onkyo 760 and Sony DVP-NS775V.

I started with a picture just under 100" diagonal and focused as clearly as possible making the screen door vary apparent at my seating distance at the time (about 10'). I then lens shifted the entire distance left and right all the way to the stops and examined the picture. I could detect no change at all. Not in brightness, brightness uniformity or in any softening of the pixel structure at all. While I looked all around the screen I did not examine each area of the screen closely, so I may have missed something minor. I did the same with the vertical, but could not check the full lock down position as it was off the screen.

I believe the warning about loss of pixel structure is due to the manufacture of lenses. Tolerances are kept fine for the sweet spot and checked carefully before acceptance. Not so for the outer areas. This does not mean that every lens degrades at the outer edges, just that degradation is more LIKELY. In other words: On some projectors full lens shift will degrade the picutre to some degree, but not on all projectors.

On settings: Mine came with very overblown colors so I adjusted using the Secrets settings. The picture is greatly improved. I do not have AVIA or DVE yet and I have not had time to use some of the settings mentioned above. I will try these setting next week and report back.

My Home-1 is very quiet and seems rather cool. The lens and the case do not get hot, just a little warm. The air exhausting out the front is barely enough to feel and is warm but not burning hot.

My question: There is the main air intake and filter on the left side of the projector and the main exhaust on the front, but what is the small set of vents on the back, right for? They felt cool as if they were an intake, but they wouldn't be filtered.

Originally posted by grinchy
Oh, settings, DVD player is set to output progressive, and it black crushes (blacker than black is not visible).
Contrast 32. Bright 12. Sharp 3. Color 21. Gamma 2.2, Red 90, Green 90, Blue 90.

Let's see. If I run the DVD player (Go video Networked DVD) in 480i, these change drastically!!! Also in 480i my DVD player doesn't black crush. Sadly, the PJ deinterlacer is not as good as my DVD Player (I'd rate the PJ adequate only), so I make this sacrifice while I sit on my hands waiting for HD-DVD or bluray. I refuse to invest any more money in dead dead dead DVD technology (quit buying DVD's, too), though I did see a really nice Forudja equipped Yamaha Carousel at Frys for $75. The 480i settings are contrast 24, bright -3, and the color settings change a bit too.

Ruined by HDTV. That's me.

Any viable MPEG4 format (DIVX, XVID, Quicktime, Microsoft) can easily store HD content within an existing DVD. It's just the hardware makers' desire to sell us all new hardware why they are coming up with these new DVD formats. Personally, I just rip all the DVDs I rent to my TVIX box and then I can play them back upscaled to any resolution I want 480p (great for Home-1), 720p (great for Sony HD TV in living room), or even 1080i. Now, if I just had a affortable digitizer board to capture HDTV component input, I'd be golden.

Looks like this PJ is losing out to others in interest on the forum. Maybe at this price point it's considered less good than the X1? Of course, if you need the lens shift the X1 isn't going to do you much good.

Have all you 4805 folks and all you H31 and X1 folks actually seen this projector in action and think maybe it's not the best way to spend $600 for PJ TV? Or is it that it's an 18 month old product no longer in production? Or a little of both? I remind you tha tthe 4805 came out in May 04 (i believe) so it's already a 12 month old product itself, though i gather still the Infocus flower end flagship.

I ordered a Hitachi H1 and am awating it, hoping that it will be good for my setup (the 4805, without a horizontal lens shift or equivalent) really would not work in my situation (though I thought it a good PJ, maybe a little soft, but otherwise top notch).

The numbers are no where near any of the big-boys like the X1 when it was new, the 4805, L500, etc. I think a lot of folks are put-off by purchasing on Ebay and refurbished. I assume a lot don't need the long zoom and shift. There are a number of us though. We will see as time goes by. In a week or so we will use this thread or a new one to do tweaks. I just haven't had time. A lot of X1 owners came - and went. I think some quit hanging out here once their setup is done. I don't know why they don't want to hang here instead of watching movies! :D

If enough of us Home-1er's stick around we can have a good tweaks session. Some have already done a great job of providing us info. Let us know when you get yours.

This was my first ever purchase on Ebay, my first internet purchase of anything other than books, my first electronics purchase sight-unseen. In one sense I was scared half to death.
I had never seen any HT projector except the X1 for 10 minutes at a business over a year ago. No LCD's other than old business projectors. I made the jump due to positive reports here about the seller. When the Hitachi came I hooked it up and was disappointed by the intro screen. I have learned now to never judge by this screen. Put in a movie and WOW!!

I am running the secrets settings now, but I think I can see just a hint of green in a 5 o'clock shadow on a man's face. I need to get AVIA or DVE. I watched 5th Element and it was amazingly close to perfect!

I was considering the home 1 for a bedroom projector but I've had too many poor experiances with LCD. I've never been happy with the way they look. I ended up buying two original X1s for $500 each. Both refurbs but carry a 1 year warranty not the usual 90 day Infocus warranty on refurbs. One is for the bedroom. The other is a gift.

Well after about a few weeks, I am still happy with my projector.
I bought some accessories for it that seem to work really well with it.

Audio Pier:
I bought an Audio Pier from the Furniture Box from Saunder. It really houses the projector very well and is pretty high. If you are projecting from a coffee table like I was, I would use the lens shift feature on the projector and go this route instead. It looks alot nicer! They have these for about 99-130 new.

RCA 7000N PVR/DVD
This was a good deal in my opinion. I don't like paying tivo for using their product which I bought. It's a PVR that uses TV Guide that is free. Now I don't know if it will work with digital cable, I have the old analog coax kind. I love this thing and its only 150 refurbed shipped. It also has a progessive DVD player which I really like and it can play MP3's randomly. (I had a hard time finding player that did this actually) The recorder records live tv and can record 30 hours of video.

Now I am in need of a DVD that will help tune my system. Do you guys have any suggestions?
Thanks
John

My H-1 came in late today. Had 6 hrs on the bulb. Looks fine (although plenty of SDE). In the daytime in the bedroom it wasn't much good, but as night fell it seemed OK. Will watch more later. Have not tried to run S-Video DirecTV to it.

Here are a few additional notes about the "refurbed" Hitachi Home-1

1. It's quiet. Even in normal (not whisper) mode it's quiet.

2. The DVD picture coming out of my Sony 715 (or whatever) is clearly not as good as the Infocus 4805 that I returned.

3. Lacks brightness and contrast, which you can achieve with adjustment, but for which you then pay additional visual penalties.

4. On other hand, the H-1 is much better than the 4805 at rendering the DirecTV signal via S-video. THis was always mushy and clotted with the 4805, and with the H-1 it's clear and much more precise.

5. The SDE is clear to me at 13 feet when watching a picture thrown the same distance and not zoomed.

6. One advantage of the lower light output of the H-1 is much less light spillover, which makes projecting on a wall much more pleasant.

7. The H-1 seemed to have many more controls than the 4805, though I don't know that this is an advantage. Menus are plentiful, and you can save favored settings (4 sets).

8. The horizontal lens shift works perfectly without significant disturbance of picture quality.

cheers--

Hoppy - glad that the picture shift got the picture out in front of the bed.

This was an old review which compared the Panny AE200, HP VP 6110, Sony HS3, & Toshiba TLP-ETI units against the Hitachi model. Thought it might be some interest. The Hitachi unit received Best Buy award.
http://www.hificenter.no/fileupload/pjtx10_-_best_buy.pdf

I gotta admit I'm sort of surprised by how good this projector is compared the to more expensive and much newer Infocus 4805 that I returned.

First of all the DirecTV material is not even comparable, so much better is the H1 than the 4805. Clean, clear, crisp, plenty bright--watching Deadwood on the 4805 was like watching mud drip off the screen, whereas watching it on the H1 was a pleasure--the full range of colors (in that dark spectrum Deadwood uses), no clotting of blacks, etc.

We have it in a smallish room with a 12' throw, so we don't use the zoom too much, just occasionally for the fun of it, but I watch twenty minutes of the Jack Nicholson movie "The Pledge" the other night, from about 12 feet looking at a 7' diagonal picture and it was perfectly beautiful, just a hit of SDE, but otherwise flawless, and I haven't really even set it up properly yet.

And this was under $650 compared to $1200-$1300 for the 4805.

I'm sort of thinking of getting HD DirecTV again to try that out, because I bet the picture is splendid. I like the quiet, the lens shift is useful, the menus are much more complete and in depth than the 4805's, and i like the size of it better (it has a wider than deep footprint that is less awkward than the deeper than wide footprint of the 4805). And then there's the LCD versus DLP question. I've read about it, but it's different looking at it. To my eye, the LCD is a cleaner look, sort of more film like, and the DLP is sort of smudgier. Course I know that;s personal and IMHO, YMMV, etc.

Anyway, thanks to all here would pointed me in this direction. I still wonder about the X1 at a similar price point, but I think I'll stick with this one for a while. It's great having projectors of this quality available at this price point! I can't really imagine buying a big screen TV now.

Cheers all--

I'm seriously considering getting one of these guys for my living room. For the owners out there, how small would you need to make the image before SDE isn't noticeable at 12' or so. I'm willing to put up with some faint lines on bright scenes but if it's a glaring fault all the time I will definitely go the DLP route.

Also, how'd you guys get the projectors for less than posted price? Did you call the seller and ask for a deal or what.

Originally posted by jvgillow
I'm seriously considering getting one of these guys for my living room. For the owners out there, how small would you need to make the image before SDE isn't noticeable at 12' or so. I'm willing to put up with some faint lines on bright scenes but if it's a glaring fault all the time I will definitely go the DLP route.

Also, how'd you guys get the projectors for less than posted price? Did you call the seller and ask for a deal or what.

I paid the asking price on eBay from the seller. The H1 arrived in Like-New condition, everything packed as if it had never been unpacked, though there were 6 HRs on the bulb (it's in the menus).

I sat at 12" and my picture was like about 6' wide (wider by about a foot than a king bed). I didn't measure but I'd guess it was 7' and change diagonal, and there was no real SDE.

But the other thing is, you can make the picture 13' wide with ease (using the zoom) and there's screen door, but it's not like totally unbearable or anything. A lot of folk see it and then forget it as they get involved in whatever's being watch, or, at least, the presence becomes a secondary characteristic that you forget about.

Also, DLP has SDE, too, and it's a little worse sometimes because the "screen" part seems heavier, at least that's the way i saw it on the 4805.

I intend to run mostly at the 7' size and be happy that the picture's excellent for DVD and very good for DirecTV (or digital cable, I imagine).

The other thing i suggest is that you look at both DLP and LCD pretty much at the same time, because they really do have a different "look" from each other. I gather that there are real proponents for both "looks," which I hadn't paid much attention to until I got this LCD projector after having had the highly regarded DLP Infocus 4805. I think you need to see both and see the different way they look. It's clearly noticeable.

CHeers--

Thanks for your input Hoppy.

One of the reasons I was considering this projector over the 4805 is the rainbow effect of the DLP picture engine. I'm one of those people who is frequently bothered by the rainbow color flares and I imagine it can be pretty bad on a 90"+ screen size. I'm glad to hear that your bulb only had 6 hours on it; sounds like these projos had a defect right out of the box and were returned to the factory for fixing. Quality control can't catch every bad one.

I'm coming from a 27" tube television so anything is going to be a drastic improvement. If I could find somebody with a used CRT projector near the Melbourne area I might consider one of those too, but I understand they require a lot more tweaking to get the best results. I'm not too concerned about the de-interlacer quality on the H1 since I only watch DVDs and then on a progressive-scan DVD player. If I decide to watch the occasional Laserdisc I will deal with some jagged edges.

Oh, another question--I seem to be full of them. Anybody using this projector for gaming? I'm wondering how the response time would be for something like Halo on an Xbox.

I have been watching on a 7' ot 7'6" wide (not diagonal) screen from about 12-14 feet back. The screen door is very minimal to me. I don't see any except in certain scenes of bright coupled with movement. At first I wanted to blow up the image as big as possible, but after a while I have found that from this distance I like a 6 to 7 foot wide image. It appears magnificent without screendoor and very bright even with a light on in the room.

As I understand it, the projectors from this particular source were all returns from a Shopping Network which sold the projector for a time. There were apparently a large number of returns. With all such returns a certain percentage were unopened, some slightly used and some probably had a flaw that was repaired. Apparently from ancedotal accounts here, most are completely unopened/unused and a few very low hours but are still in new condition.

Note: There is basically a no return policy if you don't like it and it comes with the Hitachi 6 month warranty as a refurbished projector. When you buy one tell your wife you must watch lots and lots of movies on it so that any flaws will show themselves within the 6 months. :) Also most of us have received the projector in 2 days.

I have had no problems. Brightness uniformity is good, no dead pixels, colors are great even though it hasn't been calibrated. Brightness is good and I can have lights on in the room as long as they don't shine directly on the blackout cloth screen. Lens shift and zoom both work great and I can see no degradation of picture at their extremes.

My only problem now is the letterbox DVDs I have. I am going to replace them all, fortunately I don't have too many.

Friday night is my first movie party! I already tell people about it and they say wow. I tell them what I paid and their jaw drops and they say nothing! :D

So what exactly is the issue with letterbox DVDs? Don't most displays have a zoom feature that crops the black side bars?

Oh yeah, no wife here either. Just me and some college roommates. Hence if I can get them all to chip in this projector will be a very inexpensive purchase for us. Good luck with your movie party, hopefully everybody will be impressed. I've already got the Wow factor going with my sound system, now I just need the video :)

I see Hoppy is coming over to the dark side of really really large screens :) I see the same thing, the SDE doesn't really get that much more noticeable as the screen size increases. I feel the slight compromise in quality is offset by the large increase in quantity. But I'm no videophile. Just watching 7' high by 12.5' or so wide and loving it

I do watch HDTV via an OTA box, and it looks better than DVD, but not 100% - maybe 20-30%.

XBOX with the HDTV pack should be better than DVD, though I haven't personally tried it. I keep meaning to hook up my laptop, but I dont' have a VGA cable, and it hasn't been important.

One can use a cheap A/V rca type switch (Video, Audio L, Audio R) to switch the component signal. YMMV, but I'm not having a problem with it.

Originally posted by jvgillow
So what exactly is the issue with letterbox DVDs? Don't most displays have a zoom feature that crops the black side bars?

Oh yeah, no wife here either. Just me and some college roommates. Hence if I can get them all to chip in this projector will be a very inexpensive purchase for us. Good luck with your movie party, hopefully everybody will be impressed. I've already got the Wow factor going with my sound system, now I just need the video :)

DVDs have limited resolution. When something is recorded in letterbox, expecially an old extra-wide movie, you are using far less of the available resolution and pixels. The black bars above and below the picture on a 4:3 image are actually recorded also using up pixels and space. With an anamorphic widescreen, the entire resolution of the DVD is used and no black bars are recorded. In other words, letterbox is really a 4:3 movie with part of the movie consisting of black bars. On some DVDs when I have to put the DVD player in full screen and then zoom the image, the image quality is noticably less and the pixels much larger than an unzoomed anamorphic widescreen of the same movie at the same size.

Originally posted by grinchy
I see Hoppy is coming over to the dark side of really really large screens :) I see the same thing, the SDE doesn't really get that much more noticeable as the screen size increases. I feel the slight compromise in quality is offset by the large increase in quantity. But I'm no videophile. Just watching 7' high by 12.5' or so wide and loving it

I do watch HDTV via an OTA box, and it looks better than DVD, but not 100% - maybe 20-30%.

XBOX with the HDTV pack should be better than DVD, though I haven't personally tried it. I keep meaning to hook up my laptop, but I dont' have a VGA cable, and it hasn't been important.

One can use a cheap A/V rca type switch (Video, Audio L, Audio R) to switch the component signal. YMMV, but I'm not having a problem with it.

Well, i wouldn't say I'm all the way over, but it is quite interesting to try the different size images and see what it's like to watch the film that way. I've found so far that a little depends on the film, how it's shot, the way the shots are framed, and all that. Sometimes I start out at the smallest picture and then boost the size until i'm most satisfied.

It's VERY interesting to me that the HD stuff looks considerably better than DVD. THat might hasten my re-acquisition of DirecTV HD (I already have the three LNB oval dish)--but could you remind me what's on DirecTV in HD? When I had it before there was one HBO channel, some music thing, and very occasional Discovery stuff and that was about it. This was two years ago or more. I sold out my receiver because I didn't think it was worth it.

Originally posted by Yellowstone Tim
DVDs have limited resolution. When something is recorded in letterbox, expecially an old extra-wide movie, you are using far less of the available resolution and pixels. The black bars above and below the picture on a 4:3 image are actually recorded also using up pixels and space. With an anamorphic widescreen, the entire resolution of the DVD is used and no black bars are recorded. In other words, letterbox is really a 4:3 movie with part of the movie consisting of black bars. On some DVDs when I have to put the DVD player in full screen and then zoom the image, the image quality is noticably less and the pixels much larger than an unzoomed anamorphic widescreen of the same movie at the same size.

Sorry, I should have told you that I understand the concept of letterbox and anamorphic DVDs. I learned about that pretty quickly when I started making -uh- backup copies of my movies with Gordian Knot. I just thought that maybe this projector had some limitation where you couldn't zoom in on the letterbox picture, but it sounds like with a little circumvention you can get things to work, albeit at the lower resolution.

Yes, the long range zoom works very well for letterboxed movies. It just gives me an excuse to upgrade some of my movies. :)

Well I can't tell you what's on D*. I live in So Cal, so there's lots of broadcast (rabbit ears) HDTV available. I had the Time Warner HD package - which featured a few more channels, but I really just watched the networks anyway. I actually get more content OTA, as the networks and PBS have several sub-channels, which cable didn't carry.
I do miss my PVR though.
I replaced my $85 cable bill with a $15 mail me movies subscription. It's working out much better.

Well I think I'm gonna get the Home-1. My roommates are chipping in $170 each and we'll worry about the screen later. There appears to be tons of info on DIY screens, and since we're all engineers I'm sure we can figure something out. Any last-minute things I should know about, caveats, etc, before ordering?

You probably alreay know this, but:

I believe this seller is good at providing tracking information and quick delivery, but ask for it anyway. I did. He responds to emails promptly.

Also, make sure you check your delivery immediately for any damage to the box or contents. If there is any damage, don't except it and/or file a claim with UPS. I believe that is the delivery company he uses.

If you want a quick screen, just get some blackout cloth and tack it to the wall. Right now my screen is a 7'8" by 4'6" piece of BOC tacked to the wall with pins. It isn't even stretched, but looks good. Occasionally I can see small wrinkles because it isn't stretched. I will build a frame soon.

Let us know when your baby arrives! We want to see pictures! :) Do we get cigars? :)

Originally posted by Yellowstone Tim
You probably alreay know this, but:

Remember: No matter where you go ... There you are!

An errant member of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, no doubt, Monkey Boy!

Hah!

Originally posted by Yellowstone Tim
Let us know when your baby arrives! We want to see pictures! :) Do we get cigars? :)

I'll definitely take some photos when I get everything set up. Unfortunately I don't have any cigars...

Hi,

Getting ready to pull the trigger on one of these. How have you guys that got better deals than the eBay auction managed to do that? I see the phone number on the auction page, does anyone have the e-mail address?

Coming from a 4:3 X1, I have a couple of questions. Of course the X1 projected widescreen films with a black bar above and below the image. With this pj being native 16:9 does this mean that if I project onto a white wall then the only thing that will be visible in a widescreen film is the actual projected image? So If I use that blank wall, regardless of what aspect ratio the film has, the pj will project it without bars? Am I correct?

Lastly I am just a touch still on the fence, push me over!

Any screenshots?

Thanks!

docprego

The Home-1 was worth it at twice the ebay price. Almost makes me think about getting another, just not sure what I'd do with it...

Another question:

Can I put the Pj on a shelf that is 5 foot 9 inches above ground level? I may do this because a closet I have in the back of room would give me another 2 feet of depth from the screen but the pj would have to be on that wire shelf in the closet. I am not sure I even need the extra 2 feet. According the owner's manual I can throw about a 8 1/2 foot diagonal picture from about the same 8 1/2 foot throw distance. 2 more feet of throw would allow for another 2 or so feet of diagonal screen, so I would be throwing a 10 foot picture from a viewing distance of about 9 feet, may be too much. I am not sure. I used to throw 8 foot diagonal with a 13 foot viewing distance with my X1 and wanted more, but that was from 13 feet.

Thanks!

Just wanted to add something about watching Letterboxed movies. You'll need to zoom in to about 90% or so to get rid of the black bars on the sides. I normally watch with zoom setting at 100% (yeah, it's reversed logic). This works perfect for anamorphic movies as you're viewing 100% of whatever video signal you're getting. No Over scan, another great feature I love about this PJ, :)

Originally posted by docprego
Another question:

Can I put the Pj on a shelf that is 5 foot 9 inches above ground level? I may do this because a closet I have in the back of room would give me another 2 feet of depth from the screen but the pj would have to be on that wire shelf in the closet. I am not sure I even need the extra 2 feet. According the owner's manual I can throw about a 8 1/2 foot diagonal picture from about the same 8 1/2 foot throw distance. 2 more feet of throw would allow for another 2 or so feet of diagonal screen, so I would be throwing a 10 foot picture from a viewing distance of about 9 feet, may be too much. I am not sure. I used to throw 8 foot diagonal with a 13 foot viewing distance with my X1 and wanted more, but that was from 13 feet.

Thanks!

Yes, a shelf 5'9" high should be fine as it would be in the upper 1/3 of the picture. I have mine temporarily sitting at about 5 foot, but would like it higher so I may ceiling mount.

Edit: Also, it is probably better not to be at the exteme of your zoom, that way you have some flexibility. If your location would be at the extreme zoom, than moving it back to the shelf might be a plus. My best suggestion would be not to commit to a location until you have played with the PJ for a while. I am still waiting to decide.

There are some screen shots in this thread....

http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=385626

Shawn

Wow those screenshots look pretty good, IMO. I didn't think it would look that sharp with only ED resolution.

I've been stocking up on component cables in anticipation of the projector's delivery. Got a 25 foot Acoustic Research Pro-II for the run from receiver to projo, a 6 foot AR Performance for the DVD to receiver connection, and the Xbox Component cable kit. S-Video no more! (except my LD) I'm glad the Pioneer 1015 has component upconversion in any event.

Edit: Oh yeah, I made my first trip to Lowe's today to look for DIY screen supplies. I think I'm gonna go the cheap route and use the BOC (blackout cloth) method with a fixed frame mount. I got lost in the lumber section and didn't find anything that looked really good for a frame material, but I did manage to pick up some L-brackets and screws for securing the corners. I think 1/2" thick wood would do the trick, anything bigger would be pretty heavy for mounting, right? Anyway, next hurdle is to find a place that sells the BOC.

I have some screen shots in my gallery too, if anyone's interested.

docprego - There are no horizontal boxing bars on 16:9 content. There are vertical boxing bars on 4:3 content (opposite of what you got with the 4:3 X1)

Films with ratios narrower than 16:9 (1.78:1), such as 2.35:1 still have horizontal bars (they'll be smaller than on the X1, but present). It is possible then to use the "overscan" setting on the pj to zoom the picture about 10% narrower, which crops image left/right, but also removes most/all of the black bars.

The way to get rid of boxing alltogether is to use an anamorphic lens. Cool toy that costs more than these PJ's, and also may not work well with the Home-1 short/medium throw.

ok, i admit i haven't RTFM, but what are all those settings after you get through 4:3, 16:9, then there's Movie 1 and Movie 2, and one other i can't remember.

Also need some tweaks for settings.

And am I the only one startled by how good the S-Video DirecTV is? I mean, it's GREAT compared to what I was getting out of the 4805.

CHeers--

Movie 1 and Movie 2 are different blowups of a 4:3 image to fill more of the 16:9 panel - they truncate some of the top and bottom to make the image "wider".

Easy to test on a 4:3 tv image like CNN - watch the crawler bar on the bottom of the image disappear. I don't think they are available with true 16:9 content (based on what the projector "senses"

I've used them on several 4:3 films which were framed to allow it.

Finished constructing my screen to use with the Home-1:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=534076&highlight=home1

I hope that 105" doesn't end up being too big for a 15 foot viewing distance. If so, I will just have to live with some SDE. Better than having DLP rainbows ;)

The projector is coming Friday so I will try to take some screenshots once I get it set up. I'm thinking that my Nikon 2.1 megapixel coolpix isn't going to work out too well, but one of my buddies has a Canon Digital Rebel SLR so maybe I can get him to bring it over.

I just got my Home-1 in from the same ebay auction. It was in good shape but not brand new in the box as some where. It had 89 hours on the bulb.

"I hope that 105" doesn't end up being too big for a 15 foot viewing distance. If so, I will just have to live with some SDE. "

From a quick setup I tried in my theater (the Hitachi is going to end up being used upstairs) if you have good light control it should be able to light up that screen fine. You will probably see screen door pretty easily though. From around 13 or 14 feet back it was noticeable on a 96" wide (104" diagonal) 2.35 screen.

Shawn

I hope you guys who are buying from that auction actually call them up and ask them to wheel and deal. I got mine for way less than the auction was asking for shipped. I think they are asking for 670 shipped. They WILL go lower when called and asked. I think they will go as low as 600 or 625 shipped.

How do you guys suppose this pj compares with my aging AE100? On specs, it looks like the contrast ratio is better (800 vs 500:1), but everything else seems about the same.

My only complaints about the ae100 is the black-level. (and it is a little noisy.. and it would be nice if it had lens-shift... but these are minor nits...) What's the black level performance like on this thing? Can you make out good detail in "Mines of Moria"-type scenes?

potus,

I have not seen an AE 100, but just based on what I have read, I am sure the Hitachi Home-1 beats it in every aspect because it is a much later generation of projector. The 300 was an improvement on the 200 and the same for the 100, and in articles, the Home-1 compares very favorably with the 300. One item I believe they improved in later generations was SDE, but, again, I have not made a comparison between the two.

All I can say is WOW.

I have yet to calibrate, but have noticed the following imperfections: If I watch very carefully on a bright sceen I can see that brightness uniformity falls off to the sides slightly and especially the upper right corner. This is very difficult to impossible to spot in 99.99% of all I have watched, and is even hard to spot in most bright scenes.

ANYBODY KNOW WHAT THIS IS?

When certain scenes give a bright white picture, there appears to be a pale faint pink tint to the right edge and right corners coming out about 1/6 or so from the side but uneven, being larger at the top right corner. It is very faint and only appears in bright white. There are a few other scenes that the color on the right side seems slightly pinker than the left side, but, again I can hardly tell and it only appears rarely. Some scenes have white in that area (smaller areas) and it looks fine.

In 99% of what I watch everything appears to be perfect. I am not sure if this is an alignment problem, a dust blob or something else. I have not yet tried to focus on it. It seems faint and smooth and I think it is not a dust blob. Maybe it is just the imperfection in a budget machine. I will watch for it, calibrate and see if I can focus on it. Understand, if this is just an imperfection inherent in a budjet projector, it will be fine with me as this is very, very subtle and infrequent.

I must try a source with a lot of white and see what it looks like. If it is an alignment problem, I might see if Hitachi will fix it, I am not sure yet. It depends on how often it shows up.

So far, so good, I watched Jurassic Park Laser Disc tonight: fantastic. Also video tape and TV. All better than I expected. What to watch next?

Thanks for the feedback...

That color uniformity problem you describe is apparently common with LCD projectors. On my ae100, there is a slight green tint on one side, which fades to neutral tint by the center, and then changes to red tint on the other side. Sounds terrible, but you really only notice it on black-and-white movies. Perhaps this is what you are seeing?

Can you comment a little more about black-level? My ae100 has what I would call "dark-gray-level".. It's usually not a problem, except in dark scenes. In these the dark-gray is noticably "not-black"... How bad is this problem with the Home-1? I think this is one of LCD's biggest problems, and is why they have invented elaborate schemes using dynamic iris control and the like.

Originally posted by jbalicki10
I hope you guys who are buying from that auction actually call them up and ask them to wheel and deal. I got mine for way less than the auction was asking for shipped. I think they are asking for 670 shipped. They WILL go lower when called and asked. I think they will go as low as 600 or 625 shipped.

I think I went for $645 but it's such a good deal I didn't worry about haggling. Probably should have, but didn't. Mine came like new in box with like 6 hours on bulb. Works great and mine is especially good at throwing an excellent DirecTV picture.

This last point is something I see VERY LITTLE comment about, so I wonder if I'm seeing things, or just a little crazy. I had an Infocus 4805 (?} previously and it produced a really not very good picture from my DirecTV source. It was almost (not quite) unwatchable. I have remarked previously on how good DEADWOOD looks on the Hitachi H1 vs how awful it looked on the 4805.

Anyone have other opinions of the Home 1 with either DirecTV or Cable sources?

Hurray it finally arrived today! I did a little temporary set-up in one of the bedrooms and liked what I saw, uncalibrated color and everything. The lens shift was awesome, even though I don't plan on using it for the final setup. My bulb had 31 hours used on it, which isn't too bad considering the bulb cost is 10 cents an hour. I'll take some screen shots once I get everything set up and the house is dark... right now we don't have drapes for all the windows so it's pretty bright in the living room.

Edit: Gallery located here, look for more screenshots after tomorrow night. Also the screen will be properly mounted instead of sitting on the floor as it was for temporary calibration.
http://my.fit.edu/~jgillow/images/HT/home1.html

Thanks to all who have posted in this thread..
I have been using an Infocus 4805 but am taking it back as it does not fit my needs. (mostly price and no lense shift).
It is a good projector but it is out of my price range and with my room set up I have been looking for one with lense shift.
I have been following with interest the comments on the Home-1. I ordered one today sight unseen and am hoping I am as pleased with it as I have been with the 4805 that's going back. I am only throwing an image of 60" diagonal as I am only 8' from the projected image, but it beats my 9 yr old 27" tv for movies and xbox. Do you think SDE will be a problem at this distance? I see it on the 4805 but does not bother me.
I have the absolute worst room set up for a projector, but I figure that even as small as image as I will project, I can't buy a TV that would give me this size for under $700.00.
So I figured what the hey I will try one and if I don't like it I will sell it on ebay.
Should I start with the Home theater settings and go from there? I have the Avia and VDE discs so I am sure I will be able to get it looking pretty good.

Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.. And thanks to all who took the plunge ahead of me I really appreciate it...

G

I've been quite pleased with my Home-1. Screen size is 105" and at 12' viewing distance no SDE is visible, at least not that you will notice on a typical movie/game. 8 feet for a 60" picture should be no problem for you, especially if you didn't have a problem with it on the SP4805. You're right about pricing, you wouldn't be able to find a 60" RPTV under $700 without going used, and it would eat up some of your floor space.

I run my Home-1 with the "Normal" gamma setting and brightness +9, contrast +22, sharpness 3. Basically copied from hometheaterhifi but didn't use their gamma settings. I've only watched a few movies so far but I generally liked what I saw. Black levels are bad in my living room during the day but that's because I don't have total light blockage. At night though it looks much better, not as dark as DLP but I'll trade that for no color rainbows.

Originally posted by talon_3
Thanks to all who have posted in this thread..
I have been using an Infocus 4805 but am taking it back as it does not fit my needs. (mostly price and no lense shift).
It is a good projector but it is out of my price range and with my room set up I have been looking for one with lense shift.
I have been following with interest the comments on the Home-1. I ordered one today sight unseen and am hoping I am as pleased with it as I have been with the 4805 that's going back. I am only throwing an image of 60" diagonal as I am only 8' from the projected image, but it beats my 9 yr old 27" tv for movies and xbox. Do you think SDE will be a problem at this distance? I see it on the 4805 but does not bother me.
I have the absolute worst room set up for a projector, but I figure that even as small as image as I will project, I can't buy a TV that would give me this size for under $700.00.
So I figured what the hey I will try one and if I don't like it I will sell it on ebay.
Should I start with the Home theater settings and go from there? I have the Avia and VDE discs so I am sure I will be able to get it looking pretty good.

Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.. And thanks to all who took the plunge ahead of me I really appreciate it...

G

I returned a 4805 for some of the same reasons--I had a hard time getting an arrangement that i liked and the PQ when showing DirecTV via S-Video was not good at all. I think you might like the Home-1. I see a fair amt of screen door but when I back away far enough it vanishes. However, doesn't seem like you have a lot of room to manuver. The picture is of a different character than the DLP projector, somehow sharper but a little less cinematic, fluid. Cleaner, in a way. YMMV of course. Sometimes the pic seems a little dull, which the high contrast adn super black 4805 never did. Altogether it's a great deal for an entry level FP and until you set up a dedicated HT room, will more than suffice. The very good quality DirecTV (or cable, I imagine) is a substantial bonus.

Thanks for the answers and positive reviews of the Home-1!!

My projector will ship today, but does anyone know where it is being shipped from?
I live in Idaho and has anyone ordered one and had it shipped to the west coast and if so how long did it take for delivery once it was shipped?
I hope they have a west coast warehouse..

By the way Larry said "we have sold about 90 of these since october and only one person had a problem and it was quickly resolved".

I admit I am nervous about spending this kind of money and having to deal with them if something is wrong (dead pixel etc.)

Also has anybody bought a replacement bulb yet? Do you think these will be in stock for years to come? From doing a search not a lot of companies carry them, though I did find a couple of places.

How many hours has everyone put on their Home -1? Any problems?

I plan to put alot of hours on mine in a very short time that's for sure.

Thanks for the replies!!

T out

PS: Sorry I posted this as a new thread by mistake so I duplicted it here..

i believe mine came from buffalo. just took two or three days. had 6 hrs on it when it arrived. have heard of others with more hours. people seem easy to work with.



Originally posted by talon_3
Thanks for the answers and positive reviews of the Home-1!!

My projector will ship today, but does anyone know where it is being shipped from?
I live in Idaho and has anyone ordered one and had it shipped to the west coast and if so how long did it take for delivery once it was shipped?
I hope they have a west coast warehouse..

By the way Larry said "we have sold about 90 of these since october and only one person had a problem and it was quickly resolved".

I admit I am nervous about spending this kind of money and having to deal with them if something is wrong (dead pixel etc.)

Also has anybody bought a replacement bulb yet? Do you think these will be in stock for years to come? From doing a search not a lot of companies carry them, though I did find a couple of places.

How many hours has everyone put on their Home -1? Any problems?

I plan to put alot of hours on mine in a very short time that's for sure.

Thanks for the replies!!

T out

PS: Sorry I posted this as a new thread by mistake so I duplicted it here..

Ordered over the phone for $660 shipped from the same source. This thread and projectorcentral were the deciding factors on pulling the trigger on my first projector. I can't wait to set it up in our basment and watch a dvd on a movie screen instead of a 19 inch TV.

My first projector was the Hitachi PJX10 and was happy with it. I just bought a Mitsubishi xl5u which cost me the same as the hitachi.
The Mitsu xl5u totally out performs the Hitachi and yet they still both sell for the same price in some places.

The Mitsu is way brighter and much better color saturation than the hitachi. Also the Mitsu is xga lcd which greatly reduces sde. The hitachi is bad for sde and 5000hours in eco mode with a spare bulb.

This proves that you have to be careful when choosing projectors. The hitachi use to be good value but not anymore. Makes sure you get it really cheap one because there is much better for the same retail price.

I did a search on the xl5u and found that it is a fine projector for twice the price and not without it's own flaws. (No projector is perfect)
If I was going to spend that kind of money there are other projectors that I would consider as well.
These Home-1's are being bought for around $650 so it is all relative with how well it performs.
At this price range I don't expect it to outperform projectors that cost twice the price, but the Hitachi seems to have found some dedicated followers that seem perfectly satisfied that it performs very well for the price spent and that's what I am looking for.

Enjoy your Projector.. ;)

Your right, at $600 the hitachi is much cheaper than the Mitsubishi.

In Australia the hitachi pjx10 sells for about the same as Mitsubishi xl5u therefore buying the hitachi over the mitsu would be a bad choice here.

The hitachi pjx10 is a fine projector if you stick to about a 70-80inch screen size. Comparing the hitachi over the mitsu at this size I would even go as far to say that the hitachi is slightly better because of its contrast(with the lights out). However its a different story once you increase the screen size.

If I could get one for $600 I would buy another for my bedroom.

Well, last I checked I've got my Hitachi TX10 projecting a 9 feet wide screen from 19 feet away, and sitting distance is about 17 feet away. A little defocus, and voila, SDE is barely noticeable. My friends come over and we just enjoy the movie. It's plenty bright enough for my dedicated basement HT room. I believe here in Canada this PJ still costs around twice as much as what you guys are paying for. Even if you bought a spare bulb now, it would be cheaper. In fact, the Hitachi bulbs are cheaper than the Infocus ones. Anyway, if you've got the wall space, try a bigger screen, but be warned, you may find it hard to go back to a smaller screen, :)

What are you guys projecting onto? Looking for diy ideas for this one.

I am using blackout cloth pinned to the wall, unstretched - I have yet to build a frame. then I have felt and curtains for masking to a 2.35-1 screen.

Blackout cloth is a great beginner screen. Buy a large piece, tack it to the wall and then play with screen size by masking it with felt and/or curtains to various sizes. When I am done playing around and decide on a size, I will then build a frame and stretch this piece, or buy another piece.

I assume an actual screen would be better, but this is great to me.

Go to the screen forum and check out the DIY Screen forum at the top. It has lots of great info.

Originally posted by Yellowstone Tim

Blackout cloth is a great beginner screen. Buy a large piece, tack it to the wall and then play with screen size by masking it with felt and/or curtains to various sizes. When I am done playing around and decide on a size, I will then build a frame and stretch this piece, or buy another piece.

I assume an actual screen would be better, but this is great to me.


Blackout cloth behaves essentially the SAME as pretty much ALL Matte-white 1.0 gain screens. You won't see much difference with an "actual" screen unless you want to try something more exotic, like High Contrast or High Gain screens..

See the screen forum for lots more info..

It Arrives Tomorrow!! I can't wait to see how it stacks up against the Infocus 4805 I have been using (thanks Costco!) I have been meaning to take it back, but I still have it and will just swap it out for the Home-1 when it arrives. If it is 80% as good I will be happy, since I paid half the price for it!!! :D I have to say I have been very happy with the picture of the 4805. It really is everything that everyone has been spouting about on the forums and in reviews. I just can't afford it (or the replacement bulbs) and really want the lens shift the Home-1 has for more placement options in my room. I could live with the 4805, but I bought it with the intention of returning it as my room is so small. Of course once you go bigger, you can't go back!!:p So I know from everything I have read that LCD has a different looking picture than DLP, but I know that I don't have problems with RBE now. I just hope that the SDE is no worse than I see on the 4805. (I am throwing > 55 in. diaganol from 8ft) so that is really my only concern with LCD. Anyway thanks for listening to me spout off.
I am just anxious to get it and hopefully not be disappointed! (Here's were you reassure me that it is a great projector!!!!!) :cool:

I wlill post my review after I get it tweaked up and let you know how it stacks up to the 4805..

T out

Not to be a stick in the mud. But I think your going to find a big difference between these projectors. It does depend on the size you wish to project. If you stick to about 80inches with the Hitachi you should be o.k for most part. The 4805 has a superior picture in my belief. I've owned an hitachi pjx10 for almost 2years and I've only seen the 4805 in demo's.
The 4805 is brighter with a more accurate picture and better contrast. The biggest difference I found was pixel structure. The 4805 has way less sde than the hitachi. But like I said if you keep it to 80inches or less and sit well back from the screen you should be happy. Really the big advantage with the hitachi is its flexibility with lens shift and 2*zoom and low fan noise.

I have consider buying the 4805 so I'm curious to find what you experience between these two projectors.

My refurbed Home 1 will be in tomorrow, too. I guess I'll just paint a primer rectangle to get started, before the MDF screen goes up. Is Behr SS (or some other gray) the way to go with this one for better blacks? Anyway, I'll give my initial impressions soon.

luptong,
Yea I have the same feeling that it will not be as good as the 4805 (Just read the reviews on the 4805. People don't rave about it for nothing.) I am not expecting the Home-1 to out do it, but as long as it is liveable with it's short comings I will be happy.
I am not keeping the 4805 no matter how the Hitachi looks, and I will live with the Hitachi awhile before I make any judgement on whether it is the right one in the long run for me. (I should have never bought the 4805, cause now I am spoiled by a big picture). I can't go back to a 27" crt for movies and gaming period.. I plan on keeping it and for the price I paid I am sure it will more than be enough even if it is not the 4805. I respect what everyone has said about the Home-1 and think that for my needs it was one of the only projectors that fit my needs that I could afford. I passed on the X1 for other reasons and look at the following it has!
I read alot of reviews on alot of projectors and narrowed it down to this and a couple of others, but lets face it affordability is a BIG factor.
I was going to take the 4805 back weeks ago so as not to taint my perception of how the Hitachi looks, but I got sidetracked and it's still here. You have to keep perspective when comparing a projector that cost twice as much and is a newer technology as well as the DLP vs LCD debate.

Thanks for the opionion and if you decide to get the 4805 you will be happy. It has it's flaws as well, but as everyone states on this board you have to look at what your paying and decide whteher or not it does what you want for the price you pay.

T out

Michael I'm having good luck with the Home-1 on Behr Flat UPW mixed to Silverscreen. For $20 (gallon) it's definitely the way to go. I put on two good coats over a semi-gloss beige. Was getting some sparklies with the beige. The Silverscreen effectively hides the texture on the wall too. I'm sure the texture makes the picture not as sharp, but I can't do anything about it (rental).

I had a Parkland 4x8 do-able board too, the silverscreen was better IMO. Not as bright, but better blacks.

The other bonus of the silverscreen is that it allows me to use unimaginable screen sizes, like 160" diagonal.

Got the Home 1 today. It was a refurb off Ebay, but it looked brand new in every way. After powering up, saw that it had 31 hours on the bulb. Seems to be in perfect working order. No dead pixels or anything. It does have pretty visible pixel structure, but not any more noticeable that the XGA NEC VT670 I use at work. I can't wait to get it hooked up at home.

This sounds like a pretty great entry-level pj for people with funky-sized rooms. My next apartment will require me to place my pj on a coffee table in front of my couch, about 6 feet from the wall. I will have all the lights turned out, and hopefully minimal light through windows, and will use it exclusively for 480p DVD movies, both widescreen and 4x3 (for old movies and occasional TV shows on DVD). Will the Home-1 behave well under these conditions?

My current pj is a crappy old ViewSonic PJ800, but it does have lens shift, so I've become addicted to the benefits of lens shift. :)

Originally posted by talon_3
luptong,
I am not keeping the 4805 no matter how the Hitachi looks, and I will live with the Hitachi awhile before I make any judgement on whether it is the right one in the long run for me. (I should have never bought the 4805, cause now I am spoiled by a big picture). I can't go back to a 27" crt for movies and gaming period.. I plan on keeping it and for the price I paid I am sure it will more than be enough even if it is not the 4805. I respect what everyone has said about the Home-1 and think that for my needs it was one of the only projectors that fit my needs that I could afford. I passed on the X1 for other reasons and look at the following it has!


I returned a 4805 and bought the Home 1 on eBay. Here's my thinking--if you get the picture small enough for your seating position the SDE is not a problem. Also, some people manage to "not see" or "not be bothered by" the SDE even when it is apparent. Colors on the 4805 are clearly richer and even when you adjust the Home 1 you'll notice the difference. As I must have said 100 times by now, I was much surprised by the Home 1's ability to render straight DirecTV (or digital cable, I assume). On teh 4805 I had, DirecTV was cr*p. On the very best channels you could get a barely watchable picture. With the Home 1, almost all of my 150 DirecTV channels are better than watchable. Not as good as DVD, but plenty good. SO that's a clear plus for the Home 1.

Also, the Home 1 has a huge 2x zoom, so can throw a pretty large picture from a very short distance. THis is helpful if you need to put it on a coffee table in front of your couch, or beside the couch using the lens shift. And in "whisper" mode it is very quiet, much quieter than the 4800.

For the money it's a very good projector. I'd like to see an X1 [?] in action--they're available for the same price refurbed at PCConnection, put I don't regret getting the Home 1.

1st. Thanks to Jbalicki10 for starting this thread and turning me onto this projector and deal.

2nd. Thanks to Souki for the settings and tips they were spot on for my set up as well.

3rd. Thanks to all of you (Hoppy, Flashman etc for posting your opinions).

Now to my assesment.....

My Hitachi Home-1 was in excellent shape when it arrived and the lamp only had 8 hours on it and it was packed like it was new.

I had the Infocus 4805 before this and first let me say the home-1 is no giant killer. But for the price paid it is a VERY VERY nice projector. (One of the better bargins IMHO).

Out of the box it is not impressive, but using Souki's settings as well as a little experimenting greatly improved Color, Contrast and overall picture. I am only projecting a 43" wide (50" diaganol) picture right now till I can make a DIY Screen and even then it will probably on be 55" wide when done as I am only 8ft from the screen.

The 4805 had more pop to the picture, the saturation was very good on colors. It was also more film like I thought. It was a light cannon and the contrast was great! (See Specs why though).
The Home-1 has good color and shadow detail and decent contrast. It is better for DVD's than gaming, though it is decent for gaming, but if you are a gamer than I would say a DLP (X1 or 4805) would better suit your needs. I am a gamer, but I watch alot of movies so it works for me. I'm not saying the Home-1 will disappoint for gaming, but games looked better on the 4805, due to the higher contrast etc.
If I had never seen the 4805 before purchasing the Home-1 I wouldn't even notice it.
To compare the two is unfair as I think the 4805 is a step up overall than the Home-1. That being said I absolutley think the Home-1 is a fine projector and it is so quiet that I can't even here it when it's on. A big deal for me as the projector sits within a footor two of my ear. The 4805 is LOUD and it botherd me.

With movies I see a differnce in the SDE from the 4805 and I actually prefer the Home-1 in this aspect. It seems smoother and not as bold. SDE does bother me so the 2X rule applies for me, but it is less bothersome on the Home-1 overall. More noticeable if I throw a huge image, and man can you throw a HUGE image with the Home-1. I wish I had 16ft to sit back and watch an 8ft image!!!!!!! Damn!!! but that wont happen in my house thats for sure.

I LOVE the Lens shift on this projector! I don't use it much but I was always moving the 4805 alittle this way and that way to keep it centered (It's on a pull down cup holder on my couch so you understand) and now I just tweak the wheel and all is good.

So not to ramble on... I am totally satisfied with the Home -1 purchase, No buyers remorse here. Half the price of the 4805 and 80% of the goodness with no major drawbacks. I didn't use the 4805 with Dishnetwork much, but I don't see either of these projectors doing a great job, but both are watchable in a pinch. (I'll leave the Direct TV observations to Hoppy).

I am running a modded Xbox in prgressive scan for my DVD player right now, but am planning on buying a dedicated player for movies and buying a switch box so I can switch back and forth. If anyone has an opinion on a good Progressive player for the cheap I am all ears. I also am using component cables from Pacific Cable and I think they are as good as the AR's I bought at Best Buy and they only cost $14.00 compared to $50.00 for the AR's. (Yes I am on a low budget).

Well if anyone has any questions or comments I would love to hear them.

By the way I just watched The Eagles When Hell Freezes Over in DTS again last night and it was incredible!!!
I also recommend Roger Waters - In the Flesh Live for all you Pink Floyd fans. Outstanding picture and sound!!!

T out

My son had friends over to watch Star Wars movies prior to the midnight show last night and I about die when I see flashing red lights on top of the projector. Oh my goodness! It's about to fail! The bulbs going to blow up! The panels are going to...

Looked it up in the book and the two lights blink red when the filter needs cleaning every 100 hours. I have been using the Hitachi since Sunday April 10th - just under six weeks. The clock says 108 hours. This averages to 2.7 hours per day. I was unable to use the projector for 5 days due to work and travel, so the actual average for days I was home was 3.1 hours a day.

Think I will go watch a movie tonight! :D

I am extremely satisfied. More so as time passes. I have done a simple calibration using the settings suggested, A cheap disc I have, THX and some general information I have read. I have not yet purchased AVIA or DVE. That will come next.

The two things I noticed off the bat were SDE and color uniformity problems. I have a 78" wide unstretched blackout cloth screen framed with black material and curtains. At this time I am watching from about 2X - sometimes closer, sometimes farther. I have the screen bordered for 2.35-1 and make everything else less wide. (see the constant height 2.35-1 forum) The SDE is not noticeable except in certain bright sceens with motion and it is growing less noticeable as time passes.

A side note: The screen is much smaller than I thought I would want. But when I made it 2.35-1, at 6'6" wide it appears huge on the wall. Everyone likes it. I haven't settled for sure on a size yet, but this seems fine so far.

The color uniformity showed up as a slight red hue in the top right of an all black screen or as a pink tint on a display of all white. Then if you look very closely you can see a extremely faint to non-existant green tint to the far left when black is projected. The green is so faint no one can see it unless told to search for it on a black screen and nothing is visible when white or any other material is projected. The red on the right shows up only very rarely in specific colored screens. I have trouble seeing it during a movie. I think I have actually been able to detect it clearly only 3 times for seconds each time in 108 hours of viewing. If I look very closely I can sometimes detect that the right side of an image is slightly more redish than the left. The problem is that rarely is anything the same exact color across the screen anyway, so I have trouble finding the difference.

When I first saw it, I thought it was a somewhat bothersome flaw. As the hours have gone by, I forget to look for it or other flaws. I find myself watching an entire movie and forgeting about the projector. The picture seems perfect. It no longer seems a serious problem at all. I watched Vertical Limit and never noticed any problem with the snow.

Every other aspect of the image seems flawless to me.

That is good enough for me. It's a keeper.

I know there are better, but for me this is fantastic. Everyone who watches a movie here goes wow and thinks it's great. Star Wars Episode I and II are absolutely awesome!!

I still plan on more detailed information and pictures, but first I must get DVE or Avia and calibrate the Home-1. then I will frame the screen and then I will relate my findings.

Live Long and Prosper

Glad you like your projector Yellowstone Tim. We too watched some Star Wars before heading off to the 12:03am showing--only had time for Episode I though. Those movies always look great visually and the sound is great for demoing surround sound. Approaching 100 hours here as well.

can anyone comment on how the brightness of the home-1 in cinema dark mode compares to the brightness of the x1 in film mode? how big a difference is there?

I viewed an X1 for 15 minutes over a year ago and now own the Hitachi. That is not really a fair analysis. I remember viewing the X1 in a darkened room without windows and with a door open to a lighted room and with the lights on. Very bright in the dark room, still ok with door open and completely washed out with the lights on (overhead flourescent lighting).

The Hitachi set on the Cinema Black mode is very bright in the dark, but not as bright as the X1. With ambient light it is less so, but I cannot fairly compare the two as the X1 was in an office setting while the Home-1 is in my family room with medium dark wood panelling, blue carpet and white drop ceiling. There was a difference but it does not seem significant to me. However, if I viewed them side by side or one right after the other, I might see a greater difference.

I can tell you that I must cover the window, but don't have to turn out the lights to watch my Home-1. I turn on a 75 watt bulb in a black post lamp behind my couch 16 feet from the screen and shine it at the floor/ back wall of the room or sometimes down at the couch. As long as it does not shine directly on the screen the image is bright and beautiful. I now leave the light on most of the time. On the other hand, if the 75 bare soft-white bulb in the laundry room behind the family room is left on and the door open it shines on the screen from about 30 feet away and does wash out the half the picture noticeably. Very noticeable but the movie can still be seen.

When I turn on two overhead recessed flourescent lights, the picture is very washed out and almost not visible just like the X1.

I have found that most light that is in the room - daylight or lamps - that does not shine directly on the screen is OK, while almost any light that shines directly on the screen degrades the picture.

I am more than satisfied with the picture with some lighting on in the room.

For those of you who are reading this thread and wondering if this projector is bright enough, here's a quick calculation for you.

Goal : SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers) standard brightness for a movie is 16 ft-lamberts.

Constant : ANSI lumens = 700 ANSI lumens

Formulae for projector brightness (assuming you're getting 1.0 gain from the wall/screen) :

ANSI lumens / (Sq ft of screen)

So lets take a 100" screen projected by this unit capable of 700 ANSI lumens. We'll use Projector Central's numbers for estimated figures.

700 ANSI lumens / (7.25' * 4.08') = 700 / 29.58 = 23.66 ft-lamberts.

For 120" screen size :
700 ANSI lumens / (8.75 x 4.91) = 700 / 42.96 = 16.29 ft-lamberts.

After calibration I would say a 100" screen size would provide close to 16 ft-lamberts. Critics seem to agree that this unit is capable of 96", anything beyond that then the image starts to be dimmer than what SMPTE recommends. Then again, I'm using it for 120"-130" and it looks bright enough for me at 18' away in a light controlled room.

For comparison sake here's the X1 :

With 100" screen
1100 ANSI lumens / (7.25 x 4.08) = 1100 / 29.58 = 37.19 ft-lamberts.

With 120" screen
1100 ANSI lumens / (8.75 x 4.91) = 1100 / 42.96 = 25.61 ft-lamberts.

Note : Not sure if I've done this correctly as I've just taken the 16:9 screen size in a 4:3 area for calculation, as the X1 is a 4:3 projector, it may lose some brightness more due to the black bars top and bottom of the 4:3 image. But as you can see the X1 has enough brightness to handle more ambient lighting. If the light is controlled, the image this PJ produces is way too bright. Not as easy on the eyes as compared to the Hitachi unit. Then again, brightness isn't everything. The Hitachi is certainly bright enough for HT use meeting SMPTE standards up to 96" after calibration.

All this talk about Star Wars and PJ calibration got me all worked up, I think it's time to pop in Episode II for a re-cap before I watch Episode III tomorrow! Man, can't wait to watch the DVD on the Hitachi when it's released!!

In case you've missed it, here's an article from Projector Central about 480p vs 576p vs 720p native resolution : http://www.projectorcentral.com/choosing_resolution.htm

Originally posted by Souki
For comparison sake here's the X1 :

With 100" screen
1100 ANSI lumens / (7.25 x 4.08) = 1100 / 29.58 = 37.19 ft-lamberts.

With 120" screen
1100 ANSI lumens / (8.75 x 4.91) = 1100 / 42.96 = 25.61 ft-lamberts.

...But as you can see the X1 has enough brightness to handle more ambient lighting. If the light is controlled, the image this PJ produces is way too bright. Not as easy on the eyes as compared to the Hitachi unit. Then again, brightness isn't everything. The Hitachi is certainly bright enough for HT use meeting SMPTE standards up to 96" after calibration.
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The X1's 1100 lumen spec refers to maximum brightness in presentation mode and is not accurate when the PJ is in video mode with the white segment turned off. In that case the lumens has measured at around 300. Just something to consider in any brightness comparison between the two...

The X1's 1100 lumen spec refers to maximum brightness in presentation mode and is not accurate when the PJ is in video mode with the white segment turned off. In that case the lumens has measured at around 300. Just something to consider in any brightness comparison between the two...

Ouch! 300 ANSI lumens ain't gonna do much good, especially after calibration.

With 100" screen on X1
300 ANSI lumens / (7.25 x 4.08) = 300 / 29.58 = 10.1 ft-lamberts. And that's just calculating the 16:9 image, assuming no light loss on the 4:3 overall picture. Not really recommended for HT use I would say.

Ouch! 300 ANSI lumens ain't gonna do much good, especially after calibration.

With 100" screen on X1
300 ANSI lumens / (7.25 x 4.08) = 300 / 29.58 = 10.1 ft-lamberts. And that's just calculating the 16:9 image, assuming no light loss on the 4:3 overall picture. Not really recommended for HT use I would say.
Sorry - I should have mentioned the 300 lumens was after calibration. I'm basing that on Krasmuzik's comparison of the H30, 4805, and 4800 (X1) that you can find in his sig.

I think just about every X1 owner would disagree with the statement that the X1 is not suitable for HT. I had one for a while and as long as you don't go too big with the image the brightness is fine. As a point of reference, you mentioned that you're watching a 120" - 130" image on the Home-1. The spec for the Home-1 is 700 lumens in high lamp mode, but after calibration it's probably in the ballpark of 450 or so. If you calculate out your lumens based on that, you'll see you're also getting around 10 lumens, give or take. You think the image is bright enough and the X1 owners probably think theirs is too.

Hi,

I have just read this entire thread with interest, as I am in the market for a cheap, entry-level projector. My list consists of the Home-1, 4805, BenQ pe5120 and Optoma H31. Obviously all are good projectors, as this forum shows, so my specifics are:

Going to be used primarily in the bedroom, on a side table next to the bed, about 9 feet from the wall. Will be used for HTPC (SD, HD, and DivX) through RGB, Xbox and DVD player through component. I am 90% convinced for my usage that the Hitachi is the best choice, but any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Like all purchases in these days of information overload, at some stage you just have to say, "that's enough agonising, just buy one!".

My second query is, if I do choose this model, I live in Australia but wish to purchase the PJ from the States (as it is half the price!), as I am fortunate enough to have a cousin who lives in Nashville. TigerDirect have the projector for $799 + shipping with a 1 year warranty, presumably not refurbished, and the other cheap option appears to be the Ebay seller (Item number: 5764790826) for $649. I am very reluctant about Ebay, having had friends who have had poor experiences, and as I am in Oz, will have difficulty arguing in the case of a problem. Any one have an opinion on my options here?

Thanks to all,

Sean

Going to be used primarily in the bedroom, on a side table next to the bed, about 9 feet from the wall.

I think you are right. While you could get the other projectors to work, in this instance the great zoom range and lens shift will work well. You should be able to project a decent sized image centered in front of the bed.

My second query is, if I do choose this model, I live in Australia but wish to purchase the PJ from the States (as it is half the price!), as I am fortunate enough to have a cousin who lives in Nashville. TigerDirect have the projector for $799 + shipping with a 1 year warranty, presumably not refurbished, and the other cheap option appears to be the Ebay seller (Item number: 5764790826) for $649. I am very reluctant about Ebay, having had friends who have had poor experiences, and as I am in Oz, will have difficulty arguing in the case of a problem. Any one have an opinion on my options here?
Thanks to all, Sean

Tiger Direct sounds like a good deal and yes it is new. The eBay units are all refurbished and only have a 6 month warrranty. I know there are risks with all dealers. Make sure you read the fine print. If you have trouble I don't know how you would deal with service: Ship it to your cousin, or ship it direct to Hitachi. Call Hitachi and ask point blank about warranty service in Australia.

The Ebay seller is not a private person, but one of Ebay's "stores". If you pay by credit card through Paypal, you have certain protections. I never bought anything on ebay before, but took the risk. So far, I have heard no complaints from all who have bought through this seller. Do note that there are no returns. He told me to make sure I wanted the projector. Once you buy it, unless there is a serious problem, you cannot return the projector.

In my opinion, given your situation and location, new from Tiger sounds pretty good.

Good luck!

As a point of reference, you mentioned that you're watching a 120" - 130" image on the Home-1. The spec for the Home-1 is 700 lumens in high lamp mode, but after calibration it's probably in the ballpark of 450 or so. If you calculate out your lumens based on that, you'll see you're also getting around 10 lumens, give or take. You think the image is bright enough and the X1 owners probably think theirs is too.

Agreed, good thing I have a light controlled room. And 120" of pure 1:1 854x480 DVD rez is sweet non-the-less! Plus, I really don't notice much of a brightness difference between 100"-120". So, I prefer the larger screen size, more impact.

Just a word of reference for Home-1 owners, SMPTE 16 Ft-Lamberts can be achieved at 92" assumming a screen gain of 1.0. My white wall, for some reason, has the same gain as the Dalite Cinema Vision of 1.3. Compared the samples myself. Therefore, I'm looking at 105"-106" for 16 Ft-Lamberts. At 120" I'm getting roughly 12 Ft-Lamberts. A bit below regulation, but amazingly good look'n still. Oh, and BTw, I own the PJ-TX10 model, which is rated at 750 ANSI lumens. Small differences I guess. :p

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I spoke to Hitachi Australia and the unit will not be covered, so I am just torn as to whether to buy the cheaper refurb, with the extra money in reserve if I need to get anything fixed once it arrives!

Thanks again,

Sean

Anyone feel like taking some screenshots of dvd and hd with this projector? im going to be ordering it soon but thought it would be fun to see some screenshots.

Some screenshots from the Lion King and Winged Migration:

http://my.fit.edu/~jgillow/images/HT/shots/

Photos taken with 2.1MP Nikon Coolpix so be forgiving :)

Anyone feel like taking some screenshots of dvd and hd with this projector? im going to be ordering it soon but thought it would be fun to see some screenshots.

I got some screen shots in my gallery. They're taken with a Kodak 5.1 MP camera. For some reason the Star Wars ESB picture with Luke in the swamp seems to be the most popular in my gallery.

Thanks for the pictures, How much of a diffrence is there between this projector and a native hdtv projector in hd quality?

Thanks for the pictures, How much of a diffrence is there between this projector and a native hdtv projector in hd quality?

I think the answer to that question is two-fold:

First: Obviously a native HDTV projector is going to be far better with actual HDTV simply because the Home-1 is only 848x480.

Second: Picture quality is great on the Home-1 and will deliver great HDTV pictures. Just not as great as an HDTV projector will. A lot depends on your room and screen size, also. There are other reasons the Home-1 is a great projector such as lens shift and large zoom range. It is great for DVD's and such. So alot depends on what you want.

If you want great HD image and have the money, you will probably want to go with one of the HD projectors.

Yellowstone Time is right. Even though 854x480p projectors isn't full HD, that doesn't mean HD doesn't look good on it. Infocus 4805 owners will confirm this. Remember that the source material quality is just as important as the display quality. Most DVD's aren't utilized to it's full potential, otherwise SuperBit DVDs wouldn't have a market. Thus, with an HD source, you're gauranteed that every pixel on any 854x480p projector is not being wasted by crappy transfers. Hundreds of DVD's are priced at less than $8 for a reason. Other reasons may be the movie itself is crap and no one would be willing to pay more for them, :D

Now, you're probably asking, what about 576p displays? Unless you live in a PAL only area, you'd be surprised to know that these units with the extra resolution often don't display DVD movies as sharp as a 480p unit. Makes sense as you do get a 1:1 ratio with the 480p units.

Finally if you've got the money and expect to watch a lot of HD material in the near future, then go with a 720p unit, they're still a bit pricey for us folks on a budget. There's also a silent storm brewing with anticipated developments in the next few months. With the imminent release of HD-DVD/BluRay players soon to test the market place, you can also expect some news of 1080p units arriving around the same time or shortly afterwards. But I'll leave the pricing debate of these new panels for another thread.

As for me, well, this unit is working excellent for my current needs. When and if BlueRay (or what ever format) materializes in the future market place, it'll still be a year away before the players are affordable enough for me to even consider upgrading to a higher resolution display. Who knows, by that time you'll probably be eyeing a 1080p unit, :D

For the price I paid, I'm a happy owner of this Hitachi unit. But don't take my words for it. Just ask any of these recent Hitachi Home-1 owners in this thread whether they regretted their purchases.

If you want to read an editorial on this subject matter, head on over to Projector Central as Even Powell sheds some light on this confusing issue.

"Choosing the Resolution of your Home Theater Projector: 480p, 576p, or 720p?"
http://www.projectorcentral.com/choosing_resolution.htm
- Projector Central

Thanks for the help, Souki: You make a good point, I bet when 1080p comes out alot of people are going to wish they would have waited for it.

Ok, no screen shots yet. I'm waiting for the basement of the new house to have the dedicated screen, complete light control, etc. However, I had to say that projecting on a sandy colored wall in a room without light control I am very pleased with this projector. I was shooting a 100 inch diagonal screen to watch Spanglish last night and it really nice. Lush colors and a really nice job on the nigth scenes. Very pleased with the performace so far. Oh, I tried SD tv on it for the first time to watch the Pistons spank the Spurs in game 3. I see what people have been saying about SD on a projector now: The source is crucial. Our ABC feeds look bad on a 19 inch from 6 feet away. Blown up to 100 inches is makes me realize how gray the blacks oare and much the colors bleed. Ok, I'm off the subject, but I just wanted to give another vote of approval for this projector.

OK - time to ressurect this thread from the depths.... :)

I'll be picking up the Canadian version of this unit (Hitachi PJ-TX10) tomorrow, along with a universal ceiling mount and 92" screen. A local A/V chain is having a final clearance on this model, and the store closest to me still has one brand new and sealed in-box. As well, they have one on display in a dedicated room so I can see it before I buy!

I'll let everyone know how it goes!

(PS - This will actually be my second Proj, my first being an older Proxima XGA model which will be going to a family member. For me the reasons for trading to a lower res projector are the doubling of contrast, placement flexibility, and native wide-screen - it will be 100% used for DVD's and XBox gaming.)

Cap, Good luck on your purchase. I love mine.

On that note how many hours does everyone have on their bulbs and hows it look.

I've got 280 hours on min since May 17. Yes I use it alot!!

Talon_3 - I managed to put 500hrs on my old Proxima in the first 3 months (however I was using it for DVD's, TV, XBox, and PC display). After that it tapered off to more normal levels - just that initial WOW factor made it hard to tear myself away the first few months.

Although the amount of hours spent with the projector went down, the WOW factor never goes away. :)

Last time I checked a few days ago, I racked up about 367 hours (a year and one month from purchase). So far the image still looks great. I do the usual vacuuming of the air filter from the outside, as the manual suggested, ever 100 hours, then reset the filter timer to remind me again in another 100 hours. When I put this baby back on the rear shelf, a little adjustment of the lens shift, and voila, ready to go again. Love this feature and can't imaging living without it.

Btw, when the warning screen comes on about turning off the projector and cleaning the filter, obviously don't do it yet, wait a few seconds or press OK on the remote, and watch whatever you've planned on watching. Like many have said, powercycling the unit shortens the lamp more than just leaving it on. When I'm half way through a movie and it's dinner time, I often just leave it on with the DVD screen saver, and go for dinner about an hour, then come back and continue the movie experience.

As for the image 8.5 foot wide image ( about 117" screen size, I have a nice big wall :D ), it looks better and better every time I use it.

Btw, I just saw in a local (Canadian) ad that you can get this thing cheaper than what I got it for last year and they even include brand new GameCube, PS2, and an XBOX!! If you were to deduct the cost of those three gaming machines off the purchase price during purchase, you too can have this little starter gem of a projector for the price of a decent A/V receiver. I loved it for the price I paid last year, and considering the prices these days, it's a steal! If you guys are on a budget, get off the fence and seriously consider this little gem. For the price and image you get from this thing, you won't regret your purchase. And replacement bulb is half what others are charging, too. The money you saved, you can put that in for your future 1080p FP PJ funds, :D

Btw, when my bulb decides to go, I'll post it here. It's pushing to 400's now on normal mode. If it's supposed to last 1000 hours, I've still got something like 2-3 years left based on what I've racked up so far. So that means based on the average price of the replacement bulb ($200-$250) and a 4 year use, it works out to something rediculous like $5.20 / month for the bulb. If it only last about 3 years, it goes up by $1.70 to $6.90 / month. Price of a couple McD double-cheese burger combo w/fries. :D

CaptainKellog, good luck with your purchase, you'll enjoy it like the many others before you, here in this forum.

Hey all,
I just joined you! I picked up an open-box from ebay for $450 shipped. Just got it last night and plugged it in - 2 hours on the lamp. Plugged in a composite cable from my DISH and threw it on the far wall and it looked great!
I can't wait to get some long component and S-Video cables and get it mounted on the opposite wall.
I plan on devouring this thread to get the best settings, and heading over to the DIY screen section to build my screen.
But the first question I had for you guys is pretty simple - do you leave the power switch on all the time (standby) and just use the remote to turn it on and off? I'd hate to have to climb up and flip it on and off all the time, but I don't want to do anything to shorten the life either.
First projector!
Joe

But mine is table mounted. I do not think it would do serious damage. I have left it on by mistake for more than 24 hours and the unit did not become hot or anything. Another thing you might try is a switched outlet, if you are not going to use a strip. Place the switch in an out-of-the-way place where it will not get tripped accidentally. You can also get little covers that go over the switch so it is not easily tripped by accident.

If it is going to be incovenient to reach, I think a switch would be a good idea.

Welcome to the club. There is some good info here. I have never done a serious calibration - I don't have either of the popular discs yet. I have just been having too much fun watching movies on my Blackout cloth screen. I now have over 200 hours.

I will still sit there and stop and say to myself, "Man this is gorgeous. This is great. Every movie seems fantastic 8 feet wide! :D

Enjoy!

Great deal, too, btw!

Hey jdfrietze I'm also a Home-1 owner.

I used to leave mine in standby mode all the time until I got a new power unit, now it gets switched off as soon as the fan finishes the cooling-off period. I don't think it makes a difference either way, because unlike some other projectors the Home-1 doesn't leave the fan running all the time so you're in no danger of overheating anything by leaving it in standby. I also have a DIY blackout cloth screen--great deal for ~$60.

Do you have a surround-sound A/V receiver? If so, it might be able to do component video upconversion if it's one of the nicer models. I have one that does conversion, so instead of buying multiple cables I just bought one 25' component cable.

Jeremy

Thanks for the quick replies, guys!
Nope, no component upconversion yet. I am lucky to have two component inputs (one for DVD, one for XBOX) with switching, and to have S-Video upconversion, so my VCR can run on the same S-Video cable with no need for a composite cable. (Yes, I know the VHS signal will look much worse, but my wife won't mind.)

I'll probably work out some way to switch the power strip off eventually.

And yeah, I'm planning on a BOC screen. I just need to buy a mitre box saw and a staple gun and then get the lumber and cloth I guess. Of course, I need to figure out what size is going to work best for me too... I'm hoping for a 100"x56" for a 114" screen, but it will probably end up smaller.

Joe

What do you anticipate your viewing distance to be? That is an important consideration when you are figuring out how big to make the screen. I went with a 105" screen and from 14' it looks great but from 10' you can clearly see the screen door effect. Also lumen output is a consideration; a bigger screen will yield lower brightness.

Also, I wouldn't expect your VHS to look noticeably worse after being converted to S-Video. The only difference is that your A/V receiver will be using its internal comb filter instead of the projector comb filter.

Some tips about the DIY screen: when you buy the BOC, tell the fabric store employee not to fold it but to roll it instead. I forgot to tell them this, and when I got the fabric home I had to iron it lightly before stapling. Also, when you're building the frame and you're ready to screw in the L-brackets it really helps to have another person there to hold while you drill. Could also be accomplished with braces if you have the right shop tools.

Jeremy

I'm up around 350 hours since January. Still looks great, though I admit I'm pretty excited about the Canon SX50 right now - if only it had HDCP on that DVI input. . .

I have never turned my Home-1 off, just the standby mode. If I lived in lightning territory I'd probably unplug it for big storms, but that's it really.

Watching it on a wall painted with Behr Silverscreen - about 160 inch diagonal (6.5 to 7 ft vertical). Seated at 15 feet. Yep, there's SDE, but it's there at 110 inch too, so why not go bigger. Shrink it for dark material, like 24 or dark movies/bad transfers.

Still running the bulb mostly in Whisper, though I give it about 10 hours of Normal per 100, just to keep the arc points on the bulb wearing evenly to avoid flicker.

Oh yeah, I've been thinking the new Greywolf screen would be a good idea, I'd like to put some pictures back on my wall. Problem is it's so small - only 106 inches.

We'll be about 15 ft back most of the time. Maybe have some people closer when we have friends over.

Joe

Whoa! Got the PJ on a shelf. Got the Blackout Cloth tacked up. Fired it up to check it out, and Whoa!
This is too cool.
I am seriously impressed with the quality of just a composite signal (cause that's the only length of cable I had that would reach). SDE is there, but not really annoying even when you get close to it.
And I expected the picture to completely wash out when I turned on the kitchen light (the dining room is open to the living room, and the kitchen is open to the dining room, so the light spills onto the screen. But it's still quite visible. Wow.

Just got my 50' Component (DVD and X-Box) and S-Video (DISH and VCR) cables from stsi.com so I'll have some wiring to do over the weekend. Sure hope I see a better picture, or the wife is gonna wonder why I spent so much money on cables. :)

-Joe

Cool, glad you like the picture so far. S-video and component should make an improvement in quality. Dish looks pretty nice on this unit even if you don't get HD.

My blackout cloth screen gets pretty washed out and my kitchen/living room is set up the same way yours is. We've still managed to play Halo while having a party with the lights on but you won't get anything close to black because of the ambient light. Normally watching movies in total darkness gives a nice picture.

Anybody feel that their Home 1 is too hot on the reds/purples. I used the settings recommended earlier in this thread and the THX optimizer (on a ME painted mdf screen) and it just seems like i cant cool the reds. I really notice it on standard definition stuff.

I don't have a problem with reds on mine unless I select the cinema video mode (I think that's what it's called) so I use normal mode instead. Dynamic mode over-accentuates the blues on my screen. You should be able to calibrate those manually but it sounds like you've already tried that.

I've decided its just the standard def satellite picture that has the red problem. Also, anybody had the power go out while running their projector? No cool down. Is this a terrible thing to have happen?

I haven't had a power outage occur during projector usage yet. I used to have it connected through a UPS just in case, but I decided the stepped sine-wave output of the cheap UPS would probably be more harmful than the longer cooling off period without the fan running. Most things I've read seem to indicate that the cool-down period is mainly so that you can turn the projector back on sooner (not that you should be power cycling anyway, to preserve bulb life).

I need a new filter. I've vacuumed it and it just isn't getting clean and the projector is starting to run hot (flashing red lights) way before its due to be cleaned again. Anyway, I've googled several different variations and haven't found anything yet. Any ideas? could I wash the filter? Bad idea? Help.

I've washed my filter before... no problems for me. Of course it doesn't get very dusty in the house anyway.

I need a new filter. I've vacuumed it and it just isn't getting clean and the projector is starting to run hot (flashing red lights) way before its due to be cleaned again. Anyway, I've googled several different variations and haven't found anything yet. Any ideas? could I wash the filter? Bad idea? Help.

I would wash the filter very carefully. Remember that anytime you blow air, vacuum or wash the filter, always have the air and water flow through the filter in the opposite direction that air flows into the projector. This will drive anything back out of the filter and not deeper into it.

Becareful and use a mild detergent, if any.

Check the Hitachi site and you can purchase bulbs and filters. It would be good to have a second anyway.

Here is the model number on Hitachi's website for the lamp and filter: HOME1LAMP
Lamp and Filter for Home-1

I put in a request for information to Hitachi because I want to purchase an extra filter also.

I am now very close to 1000 hours and loving my Home-1!!

Has anyone ordered a replacement bulb and if so, did they include the filter? It doensn't mention a filter on any site I've seen (Although it does on the Hitachi site.).

Hi all I am on my second bulb. The first I replaced at 750 hours just so I could have a backup in case mine failed. Yes they send a new filter with the new bulb.
My hitachi is still rocking!!! Hope all of you are enjoying yours as much as I am :D

T

Hi all I am on my second bulb. The first I replaced at 750 hours just so I could have a backup in case mine failed. Yes they send a new filter with the new bulb.
My hitachi is still rocking!!! Hope all of you are enjoying yours as much as I am :D

T

Where did you buy your bulb? Direct from Hitachi? Locally? Online? Was it advertised as just the bulb or did the ad say bulb and filter?

Hitachi's website seems to imply that bulb and filter always go together. This seems like a smart idea that all manufacturers should do. Filters are inexpensive and replacing one when replacing the bulb is wise.

Yes, I am enjoying mine immensely!! Watched Aeon Flux last night. Cool. Very cool.

I bought my replacement bulb here, they were the cheapest I could find.

http://www.goelectronic.com/Merchant2/4.23/00000001/catalog/p_HITACHI_HOME_1LAMP.html

Yes the filter comes with the bulb. These people were very nice to work with. (I called them). The bulb was B/O they said for two weeks but was shipped in less than a week.
It was shipped directly from Hitachi in Ca. I think it was about 188 bones after all said and done. Hope this helps. I hope Hitachi keeps these bulbs out for a while as I plan on using mine at least until flat panels come down to a price I can afford.

P.O.

Addendum...

It was 175 bones not 188 and I ordered online only. Never talked to anyone at GoElectronics. I also talked to Projector Lamp Center. Long story short. It was B/O'd there as well, and they were the ones that told me two weeks. I placed an order with both companies and they both arrived on the same day. So I returned PLC's and it took a long time to get a refund. I wrote a nasty email to them and spent sometime on the phone. I think the salesperson was the hold up as they must work on commission. I wont deal with them again unless I can't get it from Go Electronics.
Please post where you buy your bulb and your experience for future references..

Time to watch a movie!!

T out

Thanks for the info (and the link to the great deal). I just ordered my replacement bulb.

I tried cleaning my filter and then put it back in the projector, and watched at most 10 hours when the dreaded power down and clean filter warning came on. I decided to finish watching the last episode of Lost S1 (for the first time!) and then Capote. I thought, How bad could it be? Well I start getting the two flashing red lights ont the top, so I shut it down and will just take the filter that came with my replacement bulb that is in storage (I've only got 490 hrs on the first.) How do I get the filter clean? Did I destroy it by putting it under a water faucet? Schould I have used soap? Ideas?

Maybe a stupid question, but did you remember to reset the filter hour counter?

That is a legitimate question. Yes, I remembered to reset it. I put the new filter (from the new bulb) on it and washed the old one in a water with a little dishwashing liquid. When this new filter doesn't respond to the vacuum, I guess I'll give the old one another chance. That should be next year some time. And I still live my Home 1. I watched my first Pixar movie on it yesterday and the CGI animation looks so good I will now use Finding Nemo for my demo disc.

OK, I was watching Munich last night and the same thing happened. The warning popped up on the screen and the two flashing red lights on the projector. 22 hours on the new filter. Any ideas? I've emailed custor service buy who knows how that will go.

It appears the filter may not be the problem but rather the fan is not cooling effectively enough to prevent overheating.

Are you operating in Normal mode or Silent mode for the fan speed? Might want to try the opposite setting for a while and see if it keeps the bulb cooler.

OK, I'm an idiot (maybe). I was reading the owners manual for the first time in ages and saw to wipe of the clear plastic peice that is attached to the edge of the filter cover. It goes in front of a little sensor in the back of the projector. Wiped it all with a lens cleaning cloth and I think that did it. 3 hours on Munich and no warnings. I hope I'm an idiot. Thanks for the help and remember to read the manual first.

Michael,
Just read about your problems. Hope this takes care of it. How often do you clean (vacuum) your filter? I vacuum mine everytime I vacuum my rug and have never had the problem. Can't vacuum the filter enough in my house. It's the house of dust!! Let us know if your problems are cured. I have my fingers crossed for you :D

I vacuum it right at 100 hours, sometimes a little sooner, a little over if I'm in the middle of a movie. We've watched a about 4 movies since my latest attempt and no problems.

Ok, so I've had the Home-1 for almost a year now. I'm just about ready to order a new lamp (1700+ hours). But lately I have been noticing an odd blue effect. It first started in the lower left corner, and has recently migrated to the top of the screen all across the upper edge. It's a medium blue hue, kind of pluming out into the screen. Not moving, just sitting there. Luckily with so much 2.35 material you don't really notice it, but with 16:9 stuff it's really apparent.
Any ideas? I recently plugged it into an APC UPS as we had been getting some electrical flickers and I didn't want to damage it. Could the UPS cause this? I'm going to try to plug it directly into the wall again this weekend to check it, but I thought I'd check with you guys while I'm stuck at work.
Thanks.

Ok, as I noted in a separate thread, my Home-1 has bit the dust. I'll be getting my money back from the ebay warranty company, but I doubt that I will find another one for a similar price.
The bad news - I had just bought my replacement lamp. I've got less than 100 hours on it. The tech said I could have it back if I swapped it with the old lamp. Would one of you fellow owners want to purchase a slightly used lamp?
-Joe

That's too bad. I can't believe I've had mine for almost 2 years now. And lamps are down to $166 - amazing.
I've got a little polarizer wear in the dead center of the screen, but nothing to get excited about.
It still supports the mega screen , though I'm down to 5.5 ft vertical. Wathcing HD baseball right now, and loving it for weekend Eagles games. HD-DVD is still good.
Think I'll grab an AX-100 in a few months, when the inevitable rebates kick in.
THen the Home-1 will be retired to the bedroom.

I'm approching 1000 hours on my original bulb, and I've got a replacement sitting on the shelf. Should I go ahead and change it out? Reading about the Home1 dying before 2000 hours makes me think I should go ahead. Anybody out there over 2000 hours with now signs of the end (colors off, dead pixels, etc.) I am still very happy with the picture on mine and am happy to wait for HD players to get a lot cheaper ($100 maybe?) before I get a HD projector.

I'd change the bulb. My polarizer was getting spotty at only 750 hours.

My parents just took charge of my Home-1. They're going to get a screen and put it in their family room. I bought a Sharp xv-z3000 on the recent Best Buy closeout.
The picture is better than the Home-1, but not revolutionarily better.

I do miss the flexible set-up.

I have over 1150 hours on my second bulb. I replaced my original at 750 and have it as a backup. You say you've read about the Home1 dying before 2000 hours. Where have you read that? My Home 1 is still going strong and even with the hours on the bulb it throws a great picture. I have been looking for a flat panel but with the low cost and great picture I may buy another bulb and go another year before getting a flat panel. :D

I have over 1150 hours on my second bulb. I replaced my original at 750 and have it as a backup. You say you've read about the Home1 dying before 2000 hours. Where have you read that? My Home 1 is still going strong and even with the hours on the bulb it throws a great picture. I have been looking for a flat panel but with the low cost and great picture I may buy another bulb and go another year before getting a flat panel. :D


Read back a few posts....

I don't see any thing that states the Home 1 has a history of going bad.. If a Polarizer is going bad then changing the bulb will not help. One has nothing to do with the other. If your picture is still looking good then keep using the bulb. Of course if you see signs of the polarizer going bad then don't waste your money replacing the bulb.
From day one I have put an average of 40 hours a month my Home 1 and sometimes more.
At this time I see no degradation in my picture with over 1150 hours. I plan on using this bulb to see just how many hours I can get with the usage I put on it. I hope to get at least 1700 hours, before I have to replace it.

Do you think your polarizer is bad or has the picture degraded in any way?

Yeah, what Talon said. The problem mine had (and a few others) I don't think had anything to do with the lamp. Mine was in the optical block. The blue haze started showing up around 1700 hours or so. If you haven't had that problem, then I would just keep going the way you are going. I probably wouldn't buy another lamp until it was closer to 2000 hours, but if you already have it, I'd just wait until around 1800 hours or so and then replace it. Keep the original with 200 hours left in case you have a blowout then you can replace it until a new one can be shipped.

I wish mine was still going. I love the Z4 I bought, but for the money that Home-1 was amazing, while it lasted.

Hey talon, if you want another replacement bulb, I still have one with less than 10 or so hours on it that you could have cheap. PM me if you are interested.

Do you think your polarizer is bad or has the picture degraded in any way?

No, nothing is wrong with my picture at all. Looks great. Just the opposite. I guess what I was looking for was a home1 user over 2000 hours. I don't need to change the bulb, I just don't want to waste it by holding on until closer to 2000 hours, only to see the PJ start to die with me sitting on a bulb.

Michael, I have a total of almost 1900 hours on my Home 1 now. That's two different bulbs. I changed my original at 750 hours as a back up in case something happened to the current bulb. My picture still looks amazing. Football season was excellent this year. Sometimes things go wrong nothing you can do about it. Just enjoy while you have it.

Hey jdfrietz, I sent you a PM about your bulb. I will probably buy another bulb to get me through till I can get a flat screen. I keep wanting to buy a plasma, but my projector throws such a nice picture that I figure for the price I can't get rid of it.

Sit back and enjoy...

T out

Michael, I have a total of almost 1900 hours on my Home 1 now. That's two different bulbs. I changed my original at 750 hours as a back up in case something happened to the current bulb. My picture still looks amazing. Football season was excellent this year. Sometimes things go wrong nothing you can do about it. Just enjoy while you have it.

Hey jdfrietz, I sent you a PM about your bulb. I will probably buy another bulb to get me through till I can get a flat screen. I keep wanting to buy a plasma, but my projector throws such a nice picture that I figure for the price I can't get rid of it.

Sit back and enjoy...

T out

Its good to here that you've go that many hours with a great picture. I know that it is no guarantee, but its good to hear. I'm going to sit on the bulb for another couple hundred hours I guess. The Departed looked so good this weekend, I can't see replacing it now.

I'm surprised this thread hasn't been archived yet. I saw on eBay a new Home-1 went for $610 just back in August... hard to believe somebody still had a new-in-box one.

I'm finally moving on after having mine for 2+ years, still under 900 original hours too. It has worked great for me but the lure of 720p is just too tempting.

I'm still enjoying mine and am over 1000 hours. My purchase timing was perfect as I will be ready for upgrade when the HD projectors will be a reasonable price.

I really don't "need" to upgrade, but will for HD. I am going to use the Home one as a secondary portable home theater projector that moves around. Camp, church, friends, outside while camping, and in my bedroom. My wife suggested I set up the theater in the bedroom. Did I pick a good woman or what! :)

Thought I would post on the health of my projector with 2100 hours on just this bulb. Still looks good and going strong! I am impressed with the picture and hope I can get 3000 hours out of this bulb. I would like to go to HD but with my setup I am still waiting till 1080p plasma's come down in price. Glad to hear that your projectors are still going strong. One of the best buys I have made in my Home theater.
Glad you took the time to post in this forum.

T out

I'm glad others enjoyed this projector as well. It did not receive much recognition on this forum but I really enjoyed mine. It did expire a month ago with 3 months left on my 5 year extended warranty. I had close to 3000 hrs on the bulb and had just replaced it when I suddenly had 40 or 50 dead pixels. Visions electronics couldn't replace the projection unit so that handed over a brand new SONY 720p projector (it was all they had in stock). It is miles better than the Hitachi but hey, it is a heck of a lot newer.

Couch

PS I now have a bulb with about 20 hrs on it, if someone is looking.