I had a problem years ago with mounting a projector at work on a ceiling. It gave out more noise when mounted than when sitting on a counter/table. An engineer suggest getting a bit of inner tube material and mounting it between the ceiling and the mount. We used a piece of absorbtion material that looks like gasket material and it immediately decreased the noise.

It seems as though the ceiling started to vibrate at the same resonance as the projector making the ceiling a speaker. Dampening the mount from the ceiling helped.

Troy
With the Z4 it's not vibration but raw fan noise as they're forced to a higher speed when ceiling mode is selected.

On an unrelated note, how do you select multiple Color Management points? Every time I try and choose a different point to adjust I end up back at the first one.

With the Z4 it's not vibration but raw fan noise as they're forced to a higher speed when ceiling mode is selected.

On an unrelated note, how do you select multiple Color Management points? Every time I try and choose a different point to adjust I end up back at the first one.

Hey Jay, I think the problem you are having is that if you pick a color that is too close to a color you have already tweaked, it won't let you do it and you'll go directly to the previous color tweak. You'll need to find a color that is significantly different than the one you already did. I'm not sure how it calculates this, but it might be a family of colors in the decoder.

This isn't exactly a tweak question but the answer may be good to have in this thread. I'm having problems learning the Z4 power on code on my Pronto 7500. I think this is a pretty common problem as I've seen another thread on AVS that offers solutions that don't work, one started on Remote Central with no solutions and one on an Italian forum with no answers.

Sanyo does provide an IR hex file in Excel format but it only goes up to the Z2. As mentioned in the other threads power off works just fine and I never have any problems with any of the other Z4 commands that are in my Pronto. I'm thinking that maybe the code is repeated a number of times so when you learn it to the Pronto and then try to send it you're only getting part of the actual "On" sequence. The other funky thing I noticed is that sometimes when I learned the code I'd get what looks to be 100 or more characters for the code whereas other times I'd get 20 or so characters. Maybe I need to emit one and then the other for the on sequence.

Since there is no problem with turning the projector off with the Pronto, with the Z4 remote one button controls on and off and given that I set the Z4 off key on my Pronto to be the larger code perhaps what we're seeing is the off function responds to the larger code set while On needs to have a sequence of the short and long codes I get when learning from Z4 remote to Pronto.

Any help or verification would be greatly appreciated. I'll try to post the codes I get with the Pronto so others can play around with it.

Hey Jay, I think the problem you are having is that if you pick a color that is too close to a color you have already tweaked, it won't let you do it and you'll go directly to the previous color tweak. You'll need to find a color that is significantly different than the one you already did. I'm not sure how it calculates this, but it might be a family of colors in the decoder.
That's exactly what's going on. I've been trying to sample multiple skin tone areas to experiment.


Since there is no problem with turning the projector off with the Pronto, with the Z4 remote one button controls on and off and given that I set the Z4 off key on my Pronto to be the larger code perhaps what we're seeing is the off function responds to the larger code set while On needs to have a sequence of the short and long codes I get when learning from Z4 remote to Pronto.
I have yet to find a discrete power ON code that works but have since given up, but strangely my discrete OFF works fine. I use the Sanyo standard ON/OFF power command to turn on the projector, and discrete OFF to power down. This works fine as the Z4 has a power off confirmation. So duplicating a power ON command for another macro while the system is already active is not a problem; you'll see a "Power Off?" message on screen that is ignored by the macro. Discrete OFF bypasses this confirmation entirely.

Jay,

can you post the discrete off code. I would certainly appreciate it! For now i use the double on/off press but obviously discrete is the way to go...

Jay,

can you post the discrete off code. I would certainly appreciate it! For now i use the double on/off press but obviously discrete is the way to go...

Per Sanyo tech support the "compusory Power Off" code is hex A1 or 161 decimal. It seems that they dropped some of the codes that were used on earlier models.

Jay,

can you post the discrete off code. I would certainly appreciate it! For now i use the double on/off press but obviously discrete is the way to go...

Or, like my Harmony 880 does, you can just program the power code twice in your macro or even in a button if you are using a Pronto. That way, one button push does the job even without the discrete 'off'. I used to have a Pronto so that is quite easy to do via button or macro. That way, as does my harmony with the power off sequence via a macro (which the harmony made automatically) it will automatically send the power off twice while my device mode, I still have to press it twice which is what I want just in case of an 'accidental' push (which I've done already anyway a few times by hitting it twice like a dummy! ha!). Without having a descrete 'ON', descrete off becomes a non-issue since the main advantage is so that if the Z4 is already on, you don't turn it 'off' by accident since you'd be sending only the 'on' code. For macro purposes, descrete 'on' is more meaningful IMO.

Or, like my Harmony 880 does, you can just program the power code twice in your macro or even in a button if you are using a Pronto. That way, one button push does the job even without the discrete 'off'. I used to have a Pronto so that is quite easy to do via button or macro. That way, as does my harmony with the power off sequence via a macro (which the harmony made automatically) it will automatically send the power off twice while my device mode, I still have to press it twice which is what I want just in case of an 'accidental' push (which I've done already anyway a few times by hitting it twice like a dummy! ha!). Without having a descrete 'ON', descrete off becomes a non-issue since the main advantage is so that if the Z4 is already on, you don't turn it 'off' by accident since you'd be sending only the 'on' code. For macro purposes, descrete 'on' is more meaningful IMO.
That's precisely the workaround. The advantage of the discrete OFF command is that it offers guaranteed performance by removing a step from the macro process (particularly if you're using an IR remote where line of site is required). Here's the hex OFF that I use:

0000 006d 0022 0002 0156 00aa 0016 003f 0016 003f 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 003f 0016 003f 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 003f 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 003f 0016 0015 0016 003f 0016 0015 0016 003f 0016 003f 0016 003f 0016 003f 0016 0015 0016 003f 0016 0015 0016 0694 0156 0055 0016 0e3f

None of the ON discretes that I found on Remote Central work so I use above for off and one Z4 power toggle for on. You just have to make sure that Confirmation Off is set to YES in the setup menu. And remember that the discrete OFF command completely bypasses this so don't tap it by accident.

Should I use ROne settings for HDMI?

Are there any special tweaks for the DVD player?

Anyone have this setup and can post settings they used?

Thanks

I was working with DVE. I noticed that unless the lamp iris is set to closed the Red ramp in the panel alignment, clips the two brightest shades of red together. Also when watching a movie via component switching the iris from closed to open makes the picture brighter (this makes sense), but switching from open to auto made the image brighter than open. Is this nomal behavior? Any way to get the red not to clip with the iris in auto? Is the red ramp in panel alignment a good patter to use? Anyone notice a green tint to yellows on some occasions? Lastly has anyone tested settings for D65 with a component input yet?

Thanks.

I am looking for clarification on what page 39 means when its says to adjust to minimize vertical lines in dark and bright part of picture for panel adjustment. Am I to adjust till I see 16 different shades of the colour like the pictures in the manual. My blue and green do look like that but my red has one large shade the size of two stripes at top and bottom of
bright dialog box.

Thanks
Dave

If you change the settings in there a little bit you will see vertical lines in the light and dark shades. Adjust the light and dark settings until you see no vertical lines. It is pretty obvious if you vertical banding. You should still see the ramp of colors. And the red seems the clip together in the brightest shades unless the lamp iris is set to closed.

Anybody want to share their modified RONE settings over L1 and HDMI for Living and CC?

I know there are still equipment and room variables to be considered, but I just want a good starting point for my non trained eye.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with RONE's color settings in Living and CC with no ambient light over L1(even with the darkened image on CC). I found that the fleshtones were too warm in living and so I adjusted the flesh tone setting to something cooler.

What other settings do I need to adjust aside from Brightness and Contrast on RONE's settings to yield a brighter CC picture over L1 and HDMI?

thanks,
Matt

You can try puttin the Lamp mode on A1/A2 or Full
Put the lamp on OPEN
adjust the lamp iris closer to 0
increase gamma

Over the weekend I went to calibrate.tv and ordered the calibration dvd. It had some excellent patterns for setting up a fixed pixel display. It only cost a $25 donation. My projector looks better than my attempts with DVE. Rone's settings did not look right to me with a component connection, even after readjusting the contrast, brightness, color and tint.

I posted this in the main thread in reply to someone saying ROne's settings looked far too dark, but wanted to post it hear since it really belongs here. This is some info that might help some people understand ROne's tweaks:

One thing to Note is that ROne's settings are for L2 DVI/HDMI only. Because L2 introduces a wider range for computer desktop white/black, things will look considerably brighter when Z4 is set to L2. For componant or L1 settings, ROne's Creative Cinema is WAY too dark. So what you are seeing is normal and not just that ROne likes really dark settings. ;) On L2 via HTPC, they are not too dark, although other pre-sets are brighter by default. That said, it may not be best to set to L2 for programs such as Theater Tek.

There was some conversation a few weeks ago in regards to which setting to use for PC outupt, L1 or L2 (L1 is video levels and L2 is PC levels which provides for the full range of white to black). From what I could gather, it seems that while PC desktop applications use L2 settings, Theater Tek & other software DVD players are really setup for L1 Video levels, instead of L2 PC levels. If this is indeed the case, L2 is good for desktop applications, but for most DVD programs, L1 Video levels are what they have been tuned to be used with. I think that's the conclusion we came to...and it's what I've found too. When I finally got my HTPC going & used my current settings, when I switched to L2, it was horrible & way to bright, however, with the original ROne settings on CC, it looked fine. With ROne's CC settings, if I set to L2, you get a picture that is pleasing and bright (if not a bit too red), but at L1 or componant, they are way too dark. If I use my adjusted settings that I setup for Componant, via my PC on L2, things are very washed out & have a white 'haze'. ROne's settings compensate for the extra brightness that seems to come with L2 thus on any other setting, they appear way too dark. So in the end, as ROne has stated over & over, his settings are ONLY for L2 DVI/HDMI from a Home Theater PC. Using them for L1 or Componant may result in less than desirable PQ and that is exactly what you are seeing I'd guess.

Hope that makes some sense.

......... So in the end, as ROne has stated over & over, his settings are ONLY for L2 DVI/HDMI from a Home Theater PC. Using them for L1 or Componant may result in less than desirable PQ and that is exactly what you are seeing I'd guess.



Has anyone posted any settings that would look good through component cables?


Joe

What would cause horizontal lines to manifest in darker images? They can be seen, to great annoyance, slowly moving upwards. Sometimes they are grayish and other times they appear to be green or blue. The Fine Sync adjustment doesn't resolve this issue. Any suggestions?

What would cause horizontal lines to manifest in darker images? They can be seen, to great annoyance, slowly moving upwards. Sometimes they are grayish and other times they appear to be green or blue. The Fine Sync adjustment doesn't resolve this issue. Any suggestions?

Sounds like a ground loop problem. Try disconecting grounding from some components and see if it goes away. A friend of mine had this kind of problem with his Z2 when he added a PVR... the problem affected the DVD picture as well.

I had a problem with horizontal lines scrolling through my display. I narrowed it down to a incorrectly wired wall plug. I moved the plug to a new outlet and the lines disappeared.

FYI for Discrete On - This is what I have and it seems to work. Testing isn't that easy since I don't turn on the projector alot. I have it programmed into the Pronto 7500 to hit this code twice to turn on. Those who can, try it and let me know if it works for you.

0000 006C 0026 0000 0159 00AD 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 0042 0015 06A7 0159 0057 0015 0E7C 0159 0057 0015 00AD

Why do you need to issue the discrete power command twice?

Why do you need to issue the discrete power command twice?

Why do you need to issue the discrete power command twice?

I don't know. One of the other things I tried was two separate codes that didn't work so I just replaced with this code and it seems to work. Try it and see if it works when sending once. I am not near the Z4 right now so I can't test.

Dweezil is on the ball with his L2/L1 debate.

I use L2 because it allows full PC (0-255) levels, that means I can have an accurate desktop setting from the PC in one User setting and a video levels "ranged" version in another.

Now; I could produce a L1 version, this would mean a brand new calibration for me - which offers me no benefit (especially as L1 clips below RGB16).

So I use L2 exclusively in HDMI and all that happens is that I range the user setting to provide 16-235 video levels.

If you use my settings with L1, the brightness and contrast will be off - and the grayscale, as the Z4 goes very wonky near the top. It will not be close to D65.

I am shortly about ready to provide some alternative settings now I've put some hours on the thing.

I really would like to provide some component settings but I'm not happy with the component picture so I am holding back.

I too am looking forward to some good settings for component sources. Just got my Z4 and 92" diag 1.1 gain screen, pretty close to ROne's setup.

Is it safe to say that two Z4's with the same settings and source will produce more or less the same picture and color balance? Obviously the lamp will be the biggest variable, but if you remove that from the equation, are there different firmwares or anything else that might throw things off?

Hi Ron

After a long time, I had the time to try out your updated Living and Creative Cinema settings (by the way: thanks for that great website, you put up!).

These settings are great, but in conjunction with the Oppo 971H (I am using interim Firmware 0228 at the moment) there is still some tweaking to do in terms of Hue and Saturation, Brightness, Contrast and Color Management (for both settings!). Please, do not have the impression, that I want to ciritizise your findings - not at all, they offer a great benefit over the standard settings - I just wanted to add a little "Oppo-information" to that!

In general, I would strongly suggest to everybody who uses the Oppo to work with a calibration disc, that offers BlackerThanBlack and WhiterThanWhite tests and those color-decoder tests, where you have a color-pattern and a little blue filter. This disc imho should be in the native format you view most (for PAL-users, I can recommend Peter Finzels disc, which offers a very wide and good range of tests).
The reason, why I am especially pointing out the "blue-filter" color-decoder test: Your settings for Hue & Saturation differ for the Oppo. So they need to be adjusted first with the "blue-filter"-test and can be fine-tuned with color management. Also, brightness and contrast values are quite different...
Also, I found, that even with your creative cinema based settings, the Oppo still needs color-management on skin-tones.
My suggestions for those who want to use your living-based settings are to not only fine-tune "blue-filter" tests and skin-tones with the color-management, but also look for yellowish tones like straw or sandstone walls and take out the too yellowish tint the Oppo produces with your settings (most likely caused by the different brightness and contrast settings you end up after the BTB and WTW calibration!).

My suggestion for adjusting is:
1.) adjust contrast with the WTW test
2.) adjust brightness with the BTB test
3.) finetune these, crosscheck them with a grayscale, that provides both black to gray and gray to white steps in one pattern (most test-discs provide that) and see to, that there is no clipping at the ends of the scale
4.) do the "blue-filter" color decoder tests and adjust hue and saturation as best as possible
5.) go into color management, step by step choose all "colors", that the color decoder test offers and fine-tune them, so that the desired patterns match
6.) Take a clear and nice, daytime outdoor shot in a NORMAL movie (no artsy movie like LOTR, where they usually process fleshtones to have a special look) and adjust skintone
7.) check, whether there is still too much yellow in the picture (look for corn, straw, sand, desert, sandstone) and adjust with color management, if necessary

With living-based setting, sometimes I thought, there is still a very little greenish tint in skin tones at certain levels, but I am not quite sure about that.
Both "living-" and "creative-" based settings give you nice black levels and a very good low-level resolution. "Creative" imho looks a bit more "real" as where "living" gives you great contrast, looks more like those DLP-pictures and very, well, living... Sometimes, though, I had the feeling, "creative" was dimmer, "living" was more "brilliant", the downside was, that with "living", night-scenes looked like the filmmakers used too many lamps - they were dark in the shadows, but overall looked a bit too shiny and bright (great contrast, though!). StarWars with "living" looks great, as where movies like "Legend of Beggar Vance" (great for testing and adjusting!!!!) looked a bit better with "creative".

ROne - thanks again for taking so much time to provide us with your findings!

Good stuff DVDR, I'm sure there are some hungry OPPO owners out there!

The main difference in PQ between LIVING & CC is that CC can provide more latitude, especially in the dark portions, and it also edges contrast.

I think LIVING gives the punch people look for while CC might be providing more picture information but can get washed out.

I think LIVING gives the punch people look for while CC might be providing more picture information but can get washed out.
Perfect description!
I will post my values as soon as I have a chance to write them down....

I'm a long-time lurker, and an infrequent poster, but, like many of you with the Z4-Oppo combo, I'm really pleased with my choice and I wait with baited breath DVDR's findings. I'm using a 30' DVI-HDMI cable, and my question for all of you knowledgeable types is this: are the optimal settings for the Sanyo-Oppo combo likely to differ much between DVI-HDMI and Component Video?? Thanks in advance!

...I wait with baited breath DVDR's findings.... are the optimal settings for the Sanyo-Oppo combo likely to differ much between DVI-HDMI and Component Video?? Thanks in advance!

I think I will be able to post the values tonight (MEZ). They will be for HDMI only - for one main reason: the 971H has been developed for HDMI, the quality of the component output is really really bad, with bad color decoding and bad picture sharpness and bad....
So: a few hours of patience, still, and: forget component outputs with the Oppo!

dvdr,

That will be great :-) The world awaits with baited breath! I know I am as I have both of these on order ;-).

Your work is much appreciated.

Regards

Brit

How can Video Noise be improved? Tweaking, a Vid Processor, a different Source, or what?

The Z4 has replaced a Panny 700, and it is superior in all ways except for 1: Video Noise (gnat storms and blurry/ghosty blocks on other than close-ups) and notchy Edge Effects, especially on SDTV and DVDs. HDTV is terrific tho subject to the station's output quality.

I'm especially interested in improving the DVD PQ:
- Close-ups are great, but objects at middle distance are almost blurry from the dithering. More distant objects seem to add a ghost outline to the blur. Basically we're talking about small (distant), medium (mid dist), and large objects (close-ups)
- Edges run pretty notchy, even with the sharpness tuned down to -6.
- Gnat storms are visible in most solid areas, both dark and light.

What's improve-able, and what's just a limitation of the 480 DVD content?

Francois du Nord mentioned the VP30 as a significant improvement, but what about the specific areas I've listed?

For ref:
- the DVD is a Panny S97 (720p output has been best on HDMI and component)
- calibration's done with an Avia disc.
- Screen is a Firehawk (1.3 gain)
- I've tweaked plenty using the Tweak Thread as a source, but the noise probs remain pretty much the same.

Your input appreciated.

Moderator, I posted this on the main Z4 thread, too, not knowing which is the best place. Your coaching on etiquette welcome.

yzurdiaga,

I hope you have the following set:

1) Auto Black Stretch: off
2) Contrast Enhancement: off
3) Transient: Off

If not, then these settings are probably the cause of the problems.

Otherwise:

Does it occur with all disks? I have a panasonic S688 (similar to S77), and on some disks like Hero, there is video noise I get rid of with the NR on the S688. Most disks (I connect with HDMI) have no noise at all.

Thanks for the tips.

Yes, all of those features and others on the player are disabled - the whole system runs as bare as possible.

Unless my PJ is just somehow worse than others', I may have to chalk it up to the Z4's Achilles Heel: the onboard processing. That's why I'm asking about video processors.

BTW, using noise reduction on the S97 causes a greenish cast on actors' faces. The apparent cause? The algorithm mistakes beard stubble for noise and spreads it out. By turning the NR off, the green goes away, and beard grows more clearly defined.

PS: It's pretty consistent with any disc I choose.

Unless my PJ is just somehow worse than others', I may have to chalk it up to the Z4's Achilles Heel: the onboard processing. That's why I'm asking about video processors.

The video processing in the Z4 is one of it's strengths. I have my panasonic DVD connected with HDMI, and have not really tried component. I assume that you do have progressive scan on, but I expect that you do.

Does it look the same through HDMI as component? Note that with the Panasonic, if you have HDMI connected it disables progressive scan on the component output.

Thanks for the tips.

Yes, all of those features and others on the player are disabled - the whole system runs as bare as possible.

Unless my PJ is just somehow worse than others', I may have to chalk it up to the Z4's Achilles Heel: the onboard processing. That's why I'm asking about video processors.

BTW, using noise reduction on the S97 causes a greenish cast on actors' faces. The apparent cause? The algorithm mistakes beard stubble for noise and spreads it out. By turning the NR off, the green goes away, and beard grows more clearly defined.

I have none of these issues you are encountering and have done nothing more than adjust the user end settings (such as ROne's etc...). I certainly don't get gnat storms on any part of the picture or any jaggies to speak of from DVD's. Even in long shots, edges are crisp and picture is clear. Aside from 480i processing, I have not read or seen in my Z4, that video processing is the achilles heel for the Z4. The only weakness is that the 480i deinterlacing is not very good, but if you are feeding the Z4 720p...it's displaying as it's getting so I'm not sure how the onboard processing could be the culprit. I have the older Zenith DVB318 and HTPC and with both outputting 720p, pretty much on any DVD I have, Z4 looks excellent for distant shots & closeups. If you are seeing something that is considerably worse than the older Panasonic AE700, either a setting is way off for you or you have a hardware issue somewhere. I know that's not a big help, but at least it can confirm that others aren't seeing the issues you are seeing, which can eliminate the issue being a global Z4 problem.

I will say that there was one other person in the Z4 thread that complained that his DVD picture was horrible. It's possible that you have a bad Z4 as I had previously assumed with the other person.

Hmm. Thanks guys for narrowing down the Z4's weakness with some precision. Other statements have not been so clear to me, NPI (no pun intended). :D

Come to think of it, the prob with "small object clarity" was very similar with the 700. I got to compare them side-by-side during the install of the Z4. So...

I'll switch players, after I dbl-check the Progressive setting, though I can't remember seeing it on the S97.

It seems we've eliminated most other possibilities: discs, settings, and now even the PJ.

I'll do some tinkering this w/e and get back to you.

I tried your settings (OPPO player HDMI out)

I am new to this so here goes. When I use your modified CC settings I get what looks like weird banding on movement. Once I return to factory settings all is well.

What should I be looking for? I cannot describe this any other way.

Help

Thanks

Hi

finally, I can post the 2 sets of values, that I have been experimenting with. I hope, they will be to your satisfaction. One caveat beforehand: both sets need HDMI set to L2 at the Z4, and I am not quite sure, if they still perfectly track to D65 - I am not able to measure them. Since the Oppo was developped exclusively with DVI-output in mind, the component outputs will not provide a good picture quality and the settings are useless there.
A big thanks goes to ROne and avbuzz.com, who's findings are the base for these sets of values.
I have been using Peter Finzel's great Test-Disc (PAL), which provides color-decoder-tests, BTB and WTW tests, which you will need to adjust your player perfectly. I strongly suggest, that you fine-tune my posted settings with this or a similar test-disc, since the color-decoder, your screen, residual light in your room, NTSC or PAL etc. might need a slight correction of these values.
The Oppo is set to 0 at brightness, color, contrast etc. and OFF for all picture enhancements like sharpness, CCS, TruLife etc.!

Here is setting #1
(based upon avbuzz.com and modified for the Oppo as good as I was able to do...)

First, choose CREATIVE CINEMA from the presets - this is most important (and don't forget to store as a user preset afterwards!)

Brightness -2
Contrast +3
(these values were found with the BTB and WTW tests, so that +2 valued moving objects were still visible. Please control/readjust slightly for clipping at whites and blacks with the normal, two-in-one black-to-gray and gray-to-white grayscale. The 0%/2% and 98%/100% must be distinguishable!)
Color +5
Tint +3
(those values were found with the blue filter in front of the lens and the multi-color-pattern, where you have to adjust color and tint, so that certain patterns do match ("whites" and "blacks") Match them as best as you can and finetune them afterwards with color management

Color Temp user
Red +12
Green -1
Blue -1

Sharpness between 0 and -5 to your liking (-5 is about no additional artificial sharpness)
Lamp control: lowest setting, the bulb with the shadow
Gamma 0

Lens iris -44

Advanced menu
Gain R +13
Gain G +11
Gain B -5
Offset R -15
Offset G -11
Offset B +3
Gamma R 0
Gamma G 0
Gamma B -1

Lamp Iris Auto
Auto black stretch Off
Contrast enhancement Off
Transient improvement Off or L1 to your liking

Color management:
Pink/Purple tone (taken from the test disc color pattern: Color level one notch to the right
Darkish brown (dark skin tone) COlor level two notches to the right, Phase two notches to the left
Dark navy Color level two notches to the right, phase two notches to the left

I strongly suggest to do the finetuning of the blue-filter color-pattern with the color-management: choose every color in that pattern and adjust it, so that "light patterns" match and "dark patterns" match, then choose a clear outdoor shot of a face and adjust skintone. Make sure it does have not reddish nor a greenish tint. Look for some yellowish-sandy tone as well and correct that to be natural.

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

Here is setting #2
(based upon ROnes findings and modified for the Oppo the best I was able to do...)

First, choose LIVING from the presets - this is most important

Brightness +7
Contrast +7
(these values were found with the BTB and WTW tests, so that +2 valued moving objects were still visible. Please control/readjust slightly for clipping at whites and blacks with the normal, two-in-one black-to-gray and gray-to-white grayscale. The 0%/2% and 98%/100% must be distinguishable!)

Color +11
Tint +5
(those values were found with the blue filter in front of the lens and the multi-pattern, where you have to adjust color and tint, so that certain patterns do match ("whites" and "blacks")

Color Temp user
Red +10
Green -1
Blue -8

Sharpness between 0 and -5 to your liking (-5 is about not additional artificial sharpness)

Gamma -1
Lamp control A1

Lens iris -40

Advanced menu
Gain R +2
Gain G +3
Gain B -5
Offset R -15
Offset G -13
Offset B -6
Gamma R 0
Gamma G 0
Gamma B -0

Lamp Iris Auto
Auto black stretch Off
Contrast enhancement Off
Transient improvement Off or L1 to your liking

Color management:
Pink/Purple tone (taken from the test disc color pattern: Color phase two notches to the right
Sky-tone (Picked from a movie, seems a light blue) Color level one notch to the right, Phase one notch to the left
Darkish brown (dark skin tone) COlor level two notches to the right
Sun-lit straw (Yellowish green) color level two notches to the right
Sandy desert: color level two notches to the right, phase two to the left
Grass: color level one notch to the right, phase one to the left


I strongly suggest to do the finetuning of the blue-filter color-pattern with the color-management: choose every color in that pattern and adjust it, so that "light patterns" match and "dark patterns" match, then choose a clear outdoor shot of a face and adjust skintone. Make sure it does have not reddish nor a greenish tint. Look for some yellowish-sandy tone as well and correct that to be natural.
For this setting, 7 color management positions were used. Especially look for the greenish and reddish and yellowish tint, this setting has with the Oppo.
Unfortunately, I was not able to correct this setting to be as natural as setting #1, faces still are a bit too sunny, at certain movies, there still is this golden-yellowish tint - maybe, some of you can try to improve this setting

-------


General appearance note: to me, setting #1 provides a better, more natural color balance and a good resolution of low level black detail
Setting #2 has much more punch and contrast and perceived depth, night-scenes though can look a bit like they have been using too many lamps to light the night (still black, but like a brightly moonlit night...).
Star Wars looks great with #2 (Cat Womand was way too golden with it!), Million Dollar Baby and Cat woman better with #1....

Again: thanks for all, who's input and expertise I could use as a base for these settings - I found these setting strictly visually, no measuring equipment was used. So who knows, if I am still at D65 here.....

Anyway: have fun experimenting and give me some feedback, how these settings look at your home!

Nice work DVDR.

I can't partake in this one though!

Great settings, DVDR! They look fantastic! And thanks to Rone, too for all his work. I was using Rone's settings before, and they looked excellent as well, though he wasn't using the Oppo.

One quick question, DVDR: What are your settings on the Oppo as it relates to brightness, contrast, CCS, Truelife, Noise Reduction, etc? Is everything at 0 or off? Thanks in advance!

Great settings, DVDR! They look fantastic! And thanks to Rone, too for all his work. I was using Rone's settings before, and they looked excellent as well, though he wasn't using the Oppo.

One quick question, DVDR: What are your settings on the Oppo as it relates to brightness, contrast, CCS, Truelife, Noise Reduction, etc? Is everything at 0 or off? Thanks in advance!

Hi Songshmith 7

The Oppo-Settings are ALL off (or 0 in terms of brightness, contrast etc.) and for PAL-users, Video 2. I updated the above post accordingly - thanks for pointing this out!

I have none of these issues you are encountering and have done nothing more than adjust the user end settings (such as ROne's etc...). I certainly don't get gnat storms on any part of the picture or any jaggies to speak of from DVD's. Even in long shots, edges are crisp and picture is clear. Aside from 480i processing, I have not read or seen in my Z4, that video processing is the achilles heel for the Z4. The only weakness is that the 480i deinterlacing is not very good, but if you are feeding the Z4 720p...it's displaying as it's getting so I'm not sure how the onboard processing could be the culprit. I have the older Zenith DVB318 and HTPC and with both outputting 720p, pretty much on any DVD I have, Z4 looks excellent for distant shots & closeups. If you are seeing something that is considerably worse than the older Panasonic AE700, either a setting is way off for you or you have a hardware issue somewhere. I know that's not a big help, but at least it can confirm that others aren't seeing the issues you are seeing, which can eliminate the issue being a global Z4 problem.

I will say that there was one other person in the Z4 thread that complained that his DVD picture was horrible. It's possible that you have a bad Z4 as I had previously assumed with the other person.

UPDATE: It is the player after all. 480p component output eliminates the macroblocking and the edge effects. Gnat storms are now largely dependent on the content. HOWEVER, the HDMI ouput of the S97 has the problems - in every res: 480p, 720p, and 1080i.

THANKS VERY, Mark and Dweezilz.

PS: I'll be receiving the new Spyder2 Pro Suite soon. I'll run it and let you all know the results.

Best,
ken

Glad to see you found the problem. Maybe time to get an Oppo or HTPC! :)

Speaking of HTPCs, anybody using their Z4 with an Xbox via the component (HD) pack?

I'm running Xbox Media Center and am about to embark on calibrating through its DVD Player (NOT the standard MS Dashboard/DVD player). No idea what kind of levels it is outputting currently, but it definitely needs calibration in terms of contrast and black level.

Other than that, I can tell it will be a beautiful picture. Xbox Media Center is capable of upscaling everything to 720p in hardware, which is nice.

Anyone else have experience with this setup?

Speaking of HTPCs, anybody using their Z4 with an Xbox via the component (HD) pack?

I'm running Xbox Media Center and am about to embark on calibrating through its DVD Player (NOT the standard MS Dashboard/DVD player). No idea what kind of levels it is outputting currently, but it definitely needs calibration in terms of contrast and black level.

Other than that, I can tell it will be a beautiful picture. Xbox Media Center is capable of upscaling everything to 720p in hardware, which is nice.

Anyone else have experience with this setup?

I have my XBOX setup via componant HD pack. I'm guessing with a fair amount of certainty that it's using video/studio levels although I can't say for sure. I'm also guessing that's info that'll be very very difficult to come by. You are talking about movies only to 720p right (I don't use it for that although I've tested it)? I haven't found a way for games to be upconverted, but if there is a way, PM me with the details. It's probably a topic best not disucussed on AVS. :)

Dweezilz: Yep, XBMC will upconvert to 720p or 1080i, but other programs like games are confined to whatever they were devloped for. Check out HDTV Arcade (http://www.hdtvarcade.com/xboxlist.htm) for a decent list.

New Z4 review:

http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/SanyoPLVZ4projectorreviewp1.php

Has a setting based on Pure Cinema that I'll try later. Anyone else had success with this one? Their reference graphs based on calibrated Pure Cinema are interesting. I'm also wondering if anyone has done a 5400K for black and white yet.

Jay, which part of the review had those settings? I didn't see the actual settings listed and would like to try as well. Good review though. One thing I can't resist noting (and thanks Jay for backing me up previously)...I guess the reviewer is also another person like us with 'super power vision' as far as Screen Door Effect is concerned, as I was accused of having in the other thread! ha!! Here's what he said in the review that seems to be consistant with what I see: (I guess our eyes aren't a freakish anomaly after-all. ;) )

From the review:

"With bright background elements I found 1.75x-2x the screen width was the target seated position to avoid any screen door effect."

Now at least I know I am not the only person who sees SDE from less than 1.75-2x in bright areas. :D

Jay, which part of the review had those settings? I didn't see the actual settings listed and would like to try as well. Good review though. One thing I can't resist noting (and thanks Jay for backing me up previously)...I guess he's also another person like us with 'super power vision' as far as Screen Door Effect is concerned, as I was accused of having in the other thread! ha!! Here's what he said in the review that seems to be consistant with what I see: (I guess our eyes aren't a freakish anomaly after-all. ;) )

From the review:

"With bright background elements I found 1.75x-2x the screen width was the target seated position to avoid any screen door effect."

Now at least I know I am not the only person who sees SDE from less than 1.75-2x in bright areas. :D

It's actually embedded in the text on Page 3:

Calibration Notes
We were very pleased with the performance of the Sanyo PLV-Z4 projector. We’ve seen better “out-of-the-box” results, but these marks demonstrate this projector is no slouch. For someone looking to get a good picture without having to do any setup, the Sanyo will perform very well. One thing you will want to attend to, however, are the black and white (brightness and contrast) levels which we found were not spot on during our initial tests. In Reference System 3, we had Brightness set to -12, and Contrast set to +3. Red was set at +9, Blue at -1 and Color temp was on Low1. The lens iris was at -44 (default for Pure cinema mode). In the advanced menu, our settings for RGB Gain were (-4, -7, -9) and RGB offset was (-13, 0, -4). We did not adjust RGB gamma for this review.
They also add to keep Sharpness between -3 and -5. No specifics for color/tint so presumably you need to rely on your own calibration disc(s).

I'd agree re: SDE here as well. For me 1.5x is on the threshold. As I get farther from the 1st row (just behind) and then to the back the image is subjectively cleaner and more tightly resolved, but at the expense of field of vision. Hence I sit in the first row.

I'm now using those settings from the review with my Z4 via component with the iris setting at -23 and find it excellent.

It's interesting they used pure cinema, I've not seen above 700:1 On/off CR from that setting with IRIS.

I tried your settings (OPPO player HDMI out)

I am new to this so here goes. When I use your modified CC settings I get what looks like weird banding on movement. Once I return to factory settings all is well.

What should I be looking for? I cannot describe this any other way.

Help

Thanks

Newbie here... Any tweaks for us component users? This forum is great, thanks everyone!

Buzz

Hi all

Can anyone verify what color temp Low 1, Low 2, Low 3, Mid, and High are meant to represent?
Are these sayno's approximations of 6500k 7500k 9300k etc..? Anyone know which is which?

Without having to read threw 550+/- post, is anyone using the Z4 with a Denon DVD-3910 DVD player? I'm trying to get an idea of where my settings should be on the Z4 along with the 3910. I using component along with the HDMI from the 3910 to the Z4. I have a 92" DIA. Elite screen with a gain of 0.9. The reason for asking is the other day I was watching a movie and noticed what seemed to be quit a bit of red push in the picture. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Without having to read threw 550+/- post, is anyone using the Z4 with a Denon DVD-3910 DVD player? I'm trying to get an idea of where my settings should be on the Z4 along with the 3910. I using component along with the HDMI from the 3910 to the Z4. I have a 92" DIA. Elite screen with a gain of 0.9. The reason for asking is the other day I was watching a movie and noticed what seemed to be quit a bit of red push in the picture. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You can go into the Color Management menu and freeze the bothersome red push (probably in a skin tone, right?) and tone it down. then save it into your User setting.

But I find that most of the recommended tweak levels are too high for color. Have you tried to keep Color at 0? This is my preferred setting for he most realistic looking hd and dvd, although I do use +4 on occasion depending on the source. But I have no problem with any red push. My flesh tones are right on and Superman's cape and Spiderman's costume, as examples, have no glow in the red.

On another note, I tried the Audioholic settings based on Pure Cinema and found the picture much too dim. Their viewing environment must be a blackened cave. And I did not use their multi minus Brightness setting, just kept at 0 or else I would not have seen the picture at all. It didn't take long for me to get back to my preferred settings based on Living.

Shelly

Any ideas for black levels? Battlestar is unaccepable on a 1.0 gain screen with full light control. Is there and n2 filter or something i can use? Hell these blacks dont look any darker then on my old z1.

You can go into the Color Management menu and freeze the bothersome red push (probably in a skin tone, right?) and tone it down. then save it into your User setting.

But I find that most of the recommended tweak levels are too high for color. Have you tried to keep Color at 0? This is my preferred setting for he most realistic looking hd and dvd, although I do use +4 on occasion depending on the source. But I have no problem with any red push. My flesh tones are right on and Superman's cape and Spiderman's costume, as examples, have no glow in the red.

On another note, I tried the Audioholic settings based on Pure Cinema and found the picture much too dim. Their viewing environment must be a blackened cave. And I did not use their multi minus Brightness setting, just kept at 0 or else I would not have seen the picture at all. It didn't take long for me to get back to my preferred settings based on Living.

Shelly


I too kept the Brightness setting at 0 but also dropped the Iris setting to -23 instead of -44.

Just got my Z4 ISF calibrated and must say that the picture this thing is capable of is amazing! I've got pretty good mapping to 6500K on my component and HDMI inputs. I used Creative Cinema as the base preset before having the grayscale done. HDMI is set to L1 (Video).

I'm running component from a Sony changer, and the HDMI is coming from an upscaling Sony changer as well as from a HTPC using TheaterTek.

Share those settings for component COOLCANUCk (Drool-Drool-Drool) ;) And, by the way, very nice theater room.

CoolCanuck's Component settings -- aka C-cubed :)

Remember to take these settings with a grain of salt as your screen, viewing environment, lighting, and equipment will most likely vary.

Screen is a 128" 2.35:1 Carada Briliant White, total light control in the room, dark walls/ceiling, and Component input on the Z4 is connected to a Sony 400 disc dvd changer (DVP-CX985V) outputting 480p.

Creative Cinema preset selected as a starting point. Then tweaked as below:

Brightness +4
Contrast -8
Color +2
Tint +5
RGB 0,0,0
Sharpness -2
Lamp A2
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -44
Gain R +4
Gain G +3
Gain B +3
Offset R +4
Offset G +2
Offset B -8
Gamma R +4
Gamma G 0
Gamma B -1

I recently had two Z4's in my possession and found something interesting.

My first Z4 from ProjectorPeople was a bit too much out of convergence, where the blue was off enough to make 1 pixel white horizontal lines look yellowish. They advanced replaced a 2nd Z4, and I had them both setup at one point to A-B them. The 2nd was better convergence wise, though blue is still off a pixel or two.

Both projectors were the same distance, about 17' from the screen, a 92" diag 1.1 gain white with decent light control in the room. One was using about 50% lens shift up, the other about 40% lens shift down. So they were more or less the "same setup".

What was striking was how different the color balance was between proejctors. I did a factory reset on both and manually verified all had the same settings, and both had no input, so I was looking mostly at the greys of the menus. (I did run inputs to both at different times and these findings held).

Basically, the 2nd projector was much more red than the 1st, we're talking at least the difference between Low1 and Mid. The first still had a red shift, but it is much more pronounced on the 2nd. I did not have calibration equipment at the time so I can't be more precise, but the difference was striking.

Whether this disparity is due to panel or bulb variations, or both, I cannot say. But, this indicates that settings for one Z4 to another cannot be transposed with much certainty, even given the same screen, room, throw distance, lense shift, light conditions, and bulb age (both had about 30 hours on them when I was finished A-B'ing them).

Just my $.02 so far!

Do owners of the Z4 mostly noticed misconvergence of the panels when ceiling mounting and using significant vertical lens shift? And is it noticeable with white text or the lettering in the menu?

Would the panel adjustment within the Z4 menu be able to fix any misconvergence issue? Thanks.

I believe the panel adjustment only affects veritcal banding, not convergence.

Convergence problems can be noticeable on white text, but usually only from much closer than anyone would sit in reality. From a normal viewing distance, even misconvergence of 2-3 pixels won't be noticeable, unless maybe it is the red that is off.

What was striking was how different the color balance was between proejctors. I did a factory reset on both and manually verified all had the same settings, and both had no input, so I was looking mostly at the greys of the menus. (I did run inputs to both at different times and these findings held).

Basically, the 2nd projector was much more red than the 1st, we're talking at least the difference between Low1 and Mid. The first still had a red shift, but it is much more pronounced on the 2nd. I did not have calibration equipment at the time so I can't be more precise, but the difference was striking.

Whether this disparity is due to panel or bulb variations, or both, I cannot say. But, this indicates that settings for one Z4 to another cannot be transposed with much certainty, even given the same screen, room, throw distance, lense shift, light conditions, and bulb age (both had about 30 hours on them when I was finished A-B'ing them).

Just my $.02 so far!

I've suspected the same thing. I see no reason to believe that every Z4 leaves the factory with the same screwed up settings. Maybe Toshiro got lucky the night before and came to work in a good mood before tweaking my Z4, but God help me, I'm deeply ashamed and mortified to admit that Creative Cinema looks good to me straight out of the box. )-8

In dark scenes with projector connected with a SVideo cable from my Sat. receiver to projector In the dark scenes where there is any sort of red itys shows very saturated. I have now run same output thru a IScan ultra with DVI-HDMI to the pj and same results.
I have done a calibration on PJ.
Any ideas of why this is happening

CoolCanuck's Component settings -- aka C-cubed :)

Remember to take these settings with a grain of salt as your screen, viewing environment, lighting, and equipment will most likely vary.

Screen is a 128" 2.35:1 Carada Briliant White, total light control in the room, dark walls/ceiling, and Component input on the Z4 is connected to a Sony 400 disc dvd changer (DVP-CX985V) outputting 480p.

Creative Cinema preset selected as a starting point. Then tweaked as below:

Brightness +4
Contrast -8
Color +2
Tint +5
RGB 0,0,0
Sharpness -2
Lamp A2
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -44
Gain R +4
Gain G +3
Gain B +3
Offset R +4
Offset G +2
Offset B -8
Gamma R +4
Gamma G 0
Gamma B -1


Did you use the Avia disc? These look very similar to my settings when using the Avia disc. I think I use slightly more color and I didn't use any gain. My screen is smaller than yours (96') but everything else is similar. I think the PQ is great.

Did you use the Avia disc? These look very similar to my settings when using the Avia disc. I think I use slightly more color and I didn't use any gain. My screen is smaller than yours (96') but everything else is similar. I think the PQ is great.

This was using DVE primarily -- and some test patterns from the HTPC thread. I've run through the AVIA patterns myself and these settings look good although with AVIA you don't get the BTB data for example, so I had black level set using DVE.

I find my HDMI input to have slightly better colour and sharpness - but it's a bit subjective. Both inputs are looking great after calibration.

Do owners of the Z4 mostly noticed misconvergence of the panels when ceiling mounting and using significant vertical lens shift? And is it noticeable with white text or the lettering in the menu?
From my seating position at 1.5x I see zero convergence errors even though I'm using a fair amount of lens shift (vertical such that projector is about 17" above the top edge of the screen plus a couple of inches horizontal to center the projector on the ceiling). This includes when there is menu or broadcast text on screen. If I stand closer to the screen I see a slight (say 1-2 pixel) convergence error on the blue panel.

Same here. I can't see any from my seating position, but if I get right up to the screen, I can see blue is off by a pixel or so. There are also a few spots where red is off by 1 too however I don't see either from where I sit.

Thought I would also post my settings for the HDMI input in case anyone wants to try something other than ROne's (which were for PC levels over HDMI)

This is for a Sony DVD changer connected via upscaling HDMI (outputting video levels).

Brightness 0
Contrast -9
Color +2
Tint +5
RGB 0,0,0
Sharpness -5
Lamp A2
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -44
Gain R +5
Gain G +1
Gain B +2
Offset R -4
Offset G +3
Offset B -9
Gamma R +5
Gamma G 0
Gamma B -1



CoolCanuck's Component settings -- aka C-cubed :)

Remember to take these settings with a grain of salt as your screen, viewing environment, lighting, and equipment will most likely vary.

Screen is a 128" 2.35:1 Carada Briliant White, total light control in the room, dark walls/ceiling, and Component input on the Z4 is connected to a Sony 400 disc dvd changer (DVP-CX985V) outputting 480p.

Creative Cinema preset selected as a starting point. Then tweaked as below:

Brightness +4
Contrast -8
Color +2
Tint +5
RGB 0,0,0
Sharpness -2
Lamp A2
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -44
Gain R +4
Gain G +3
Gain B +3
Offset R +4
Offset G +2
Offset B -8
Gamma R +4
Gamma G 0
Gamma B -1

Can someone explain color calibration of red/green with Avia?
I was able to get the flashing gone using blue chart adjusting brightness/tint.

But the green/red charts flashes and adjusting only red/green channel didn't fix the blinking. Using tint/color fixes it but screws up blue... So any tips?

Also how do the gamma/offset/gain color channel work? I don't see a diff with any setting.

I haven't had the time to calibrate my Z4 correctly yet, but I put together a spreadsheet with the two posted settings each from ROne, dvdr, and CoolCanuck, complete with a boxplot so you can see general trends in their calibrations.

If anyone is interested I'll post a link.

If anyone is interested I'll post a link.

Please do!

Neither of the previously posted links for the service manual are working. Does anyone know somewhere else I might be able to download it?

RG

I haven't had the time to calibrate my Z4 correctly yet, but I put together a spreadsheet with the two posted settings each from ROne, dvdr, and CoolCanuck, complete with a boxplot so you can see general trends in their calibrations.

If anyone is interested I'll post a link.

I tried all off these and neither gave me a good white balance (on my matte white screen). But I'm using RGB right now which might cause different color output (until I get my HDMI surround system).

Strangly for living setting (and RGB connection) I had to turn down red and green. The picture looks pretty natural now but the calibration charts are still little bit flickering. This is what I came up so far:

Brightness +2
Contrast -2
R -8
G -5
B 0
Gamma +1

Here's the simple calibration comparison spreadsheet and chart in OpenDocument and Excel format (I can't vouch for the Excel version since I use OpenOffice.org... it looks like it may have broken the chart a bit for Excel, but the data is there so the chart is easy to recreate in whatever style you like)

I grouped the Living and CC presets together, and as usual, be sure to start with that factory preset. Definitely some interesting trends. I also added in ()'s the real function of the Gain and Offset parameters, at least according to the manual, which are Contrast and Brightness respectively.

Here it is: Z4 Calibration Matrix v1 (http://dvdsynergy.com/temp/Z4_calibrations.zip)

Thanks! One thing I might suggest that would be very helpful for many people here would be to put the input type (ie componant or HDMI/DVI) and then if HDMI, which level (L1 or L2). These items are extremely important as the settings are useless without knowing if it's L1, L2, or componant.

Thanks for doing this for us in the first place!!

Thanks for posting the Excel-Sheet - the comparison is very interesting!
By the way - I am still readjusting certain values, since I still do discover scenes in certain movies, where the picture does show strange beheaviour (like solarisation effects, "stepped" greyscales etc., especially in low levels).
This seems to be different from movie to movie (strangely enough) and furthermore: my posted values are for the OPPO 971H only!
I had to readjust the values, when I did not connect my Oppo directly to the Z4, but sent the signal through the DENON 4306. Even though it should leave the HDMI-Signal untouched, it seems to alter it to some degree (btw.: it is also vital to know, whether the DENON is set to PC or Studio-Levels in the Options).
So my advice at the moment would be: use the values as a base, you might need to readjust them anyway...
I never thought, that digital is not digital is not digital is not identical is not identical is not identical ;)

You are right of course, Dweez - in my case I'm using component connections, and all of these settings are HDMI anyway (with the exception of CoolCanuck's CC #1 i believe). Just looking for general trends so I know if I have one setting really out of whack and there might be a better way to do it. Just to be clear for everyone - unless you're one of those 3 people, using any of those settings verbatim is not correct for your setup! ;)

First, thank you to ROne and others that have provided their insight and time to provide the best calibration settings for the Z4.

After 200 hours I finally calibrated the Z4 to my personal tastes. I say this because I do not own professional calibration equipment. I used DVE and THX (from Star Wars DVD) to calibrate grayscale, brightness and contrast.

I have found that no settings posted here have helped me attain the right (subjective) color balance, flesh tone colour or highlight detail.

My guess is that if you are happy with the default Creative Cinema settings then these may work for you as well. I've found CC to show very well out of the box. I do not guarantee they match to 6500, but in my eyes, provide the best flesh color etc. without color management requirements.

I am running this on a HTPC, HDMI, ATI 9600XT, Zoomplayer, DScaler, YV12, DaLite HighPower

Adjust Brightness, Contrast and Color to your liking, viewing environment.

Based off Creative Cinema
HDMI L2
Auto Black stretch OFF
Contrast Ench. OFF
Transient OFF

Brightness -10
Contrast +5
Color +1
Tint 0
RGB +9,0,-1
Sharpness 0
Lamp Low (economy)
Lamo mode Auto
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -63
Gain R 0
Gain G -2
Gain B +1
Offset R -2
Offset G -2
Offset B +6
Gamma R 0
Gamma G 0
Gamma B 0

Cheers
JSNorth

I've found CC to show very well out of the box. I do not guarantee they match to 6500...
Not sure how much variability will be found from unit to unit or what degree the screen material will influence but in my rig (Z4 onto a Da-Lite HCCV) Creative Cinema is very, very blue in the grayscale. When compared to a grayscale ramp calibrated to 6500 it's way off. Again, different units may be more accurate than this and likewise different screen materials.

On two different notes I have a couple of questions/observations...

Color Management Reference Points

I've been wondering about objective references to adjusting color decoder performance without having access to the proper instrumentation. Looking closer at the test patterns in Avia I found SMPTE bars for RBGCYM against white reference. Using the red, green, and blue filters included with Avia it is easy to see which are out. If calibrated global color/tint using the standard pattern with the blue filter comparison on this screen will show uniform blue bars (primary and related secondaries). Viewing the same pattern with the red and green filters will show deviations from standard. Targetting whatever is out with color management and adjusting until all are uniform seems to be a good start. I'm wondering if anyone else has tried this and if it makes sense.

Related to this, are there commercially available cyan, magenta, and yellow filters similar to the RGB that come with Avia? With "calibrated" filters you could apply the above logic but match each specific filter to the color bar in question and adjust from there.

Gamma

The Z4 has a global gamma control plus individual RGB gamma. How and why are these adjusted and what is used as a reference point?

I'm at wits end. I keep re-adjusting my Z4 (to the suggested settings from ROne), but the projector is not staying with those settings. How can I save the settings? For example, I want the "progressive" mode turned off (options include L1, L2, film, and others as I recall). I want it off. I can go through the menu and turn it off, but once I work back out of the menu to watch the movie, I can tell progressive setting is back on.

How do I save my settings?

I'm at wits end. I keep re-adjusting my Z4 (to the suggested settings from ROne), but the projector is not staying with those settings. How can I save the settings? For example, I want the "progressive" mode turned off (options include L1, L2, film, and others as I recall). I want it off. I can go through the menu and turn it off, but once I work back out of the menu to watch the movie, I can tell progressive setting is back on.

How do I save my settings?

The projector always displays a progressive image. I am assuming that the progressive setting you are looking at is based upon your input to the projector. You could disable the de-interlacing in your DVD player to prevent that, and if the de-interlacer in the Z4 is better than the player, you might improve picture quality.

The internal de-interlacer is disabled if the input is progressive.

I'm at wits end. I keep re-adjusting my Z4 (to the suggested settings from ROne), but the projector is not staying with those settings. How can I save the settings? For example, I want the "progressive" mode turned off (options include L1, L2, film, and others as I recall). I want it off. I can go through the menu and turn it off, but once I work back out of the menu to watch the movie, I can tell progressive setting is back on.

How do I save my settings?

I don't recall seeing a choice for film or other de-interlacing opitons. This makes sense since the Z4 displays at 720p. I haven't turned on my Z4 today to look, but a quick read through the manual doesn't show any choices in regards to de-interlacing that I could find.

I have found that any setting can be saved into the user settings. For example when I switched from L1 from L2 and then went to the save section and saved it to one of the 4 user settings, it was saved from that point on. Now I'm not positive if it's saving it for that input as a whole or per individual user setting, but it does definately save it. I haven't seen any setting that didn't save. Keep in mind that if you make a change in any of the presets however, those settings will not save & will revert back to the default settings the next time you go to that preset. You'll need to save to a user setting to save it.

Once you have a change to go back & look at what's happening, let us know exactly what menu settings you are changing & what menu settings seem to revert back.

I don't recall seeing a choice for film or other de-interlacing opitons. This makes sense since the Z4 displays at 720p. I haven't turned on my Z4 today to look, but a quick read through the manual doesn't show any choices in regards to de-interlacing that I could find.

I have found that any setting can be saved into the user settings. For example when I switched from L1 from L2 and then went to the save section and saved it to one of the 4 user settings, it was saved from that point on. Now I'm not positive if it's saving it for that input as a whole or per individual user setting, but it does definately save it. I haven't seen any setting that didn't save. Keep in mind that if you make a change in any of the presets however, those settings will not save & will revert back to the default settings the next time you go to that preset. You'll need to save to a user setting to save it.

Once you have a change to go back & look at what's happening, let us know exactly what menu settings you are changing & what menu settings seem to revert back.

Actually when you change from L1 to L2 or back again, there is no need to save this as it ia automatically implemented and saved for all user settings, but only with the hdmi input. Only changes within the Setting menu itself need to be saved.

Shelly

OK...thanks Shelly. I wasn't sure, but I did know it saved, be it via the user save or automatically for the HDMI input across the board (as L1/L2 only pertains to that).

I changed it once when I was re-adjusting the ROne settings back in January (after realizing that L2 wasn't what I wanted) and saved my user settings and haven't touched it since.

We still will need to know exactly what isn't saving for WestShorstudios to help since L1/L2 does indeed save.

I'm at wits end. I keep re-adjusting my Z4 (to the suggested settings from ROne), but the projector is not staying with those settings. How can I save the settings? For example, I want the "progressive" mode turned off (options include L1, L2, film, and others as I recall). I want it off. I can go through the menu and turn it off, but once I work back out of the menu to watch the movie, I can tell progressive setting is back on.

How do I save my settings?

L1 and L2 are choices the Z4 allows for just the hdmi input. There is no film or others among the choices.

Saving any changes you make to parameters in the Setting window is done on page 2, the line down from Advanced settings, as youprobably know.

Otherwise, I'm not sure (and others seemed toalso be puzzled) what your specific problem is with the Z4. It does sound like those choices relate to your dvd player.

Shelly

Hmmm... I ceiling mounted and have never heard the fan (maybe I have the speakers too loud :rolleyes: ) But seriously look at my DIY mount... I have isolation couplings between the PJ and mounting board... not for any reason but they allowed me "tilt" of the PJ if needed without putting a bending moment on the bolts and allowed me to have a forgiving drill pattern of the holes :D but maybe the thing they really do is isolate the vibration... just dumb luck I guess.

http://joannesmart.com/images/theater/DSCN3106.jpg

i noticed that you are using component input what setting are you using for your Z4? i am going to have the same setup. thanks

I like the settings posted here especially those posted from JSNorth.
I use very similar settings with my HTPC/Theatertek using L2 HDMI input.
Now i just purchased an HD sat receiver.
I guess i need to use L1 input for HDMI because that unit doesn't use extended video levels like a PC.
Do i need to switch every time from L1 to L2 using both sat receiver and PC?
And in this case, I suppose settings good for L2 are not correct for L1.
Maybe for people in my situation a good solution will be to find settings for PC good also for L1?

L1 & L2 settings will be very different in contrast & brightness & won't work well with settings intended for one or the other. L2 will look way too bright & will have a white haze to it when used with setting intended for L1 and vice versa. L1 will look too dark for settings intended for L2. Also, from what we've been able to determine here, while PC levels do extend the video levels so to speak, TheaterTek and Windows MCE are ISF'd at L1 video levels, not L2. Even though L2 PC levels are setup for desktop applications, TheaterTek is geared towards L1 DVD video content. Someone who seemed very knowledgable posted this info a while back (and it was confirmed by ROne) and the results I get confirm. For your HD Sat reciever, you'll use L1, so maybe it's best just to use settings for L1 for both.

L1 & L2 settings will be very different in contrast & brightness & won't work well with settings intended for one or the other. L2 will look way too bright & will have a white haze to it when used with setting intended for L1 and vice versa. L1 will look too dark for settings intended for L2. Also, from what we've been able to determine here, while PC levels do extend the video levels so to speak, TheaterTek and Windows MCE are ISF'd at L1 video levels, not L2. Even though L2 PC levels are setup for desktop applications, TheaterTek is geared towards L1 DVD video content. Someone who seemed very knowledgable posted this info a while back (and it was confirmed by ROne) and the results I get confirm. For your HD Sat reciever, you'll use L1, so maybe it's best just to use settings for L1 for both.

I totally agree, the point, now, is to find good L1 settings since all the settings posted here and in some others forums are L2 based.
Maybe someone can do this nice work? ;) :D

i want everyone to know that i am one of the unfortunate ones who has a shading problem with his new Z4. it has a pink tint on the left most side of the screen, i noticed this when we were watching a movie with alot of white scenes my projector is ceiling mounted. Bummer, has anything been done to correct this problem. :(

Hi there, I tried a number of the tweaks mentioned here and whenever I use them I get a large increase in screen door. The best colouring I can get right now (with my untrained amateur eye) is simply using CC. I have tried the tweaks that start with CC and Living. I know that you guys are much more knowledgable than I, so this means I must be doing something wrong.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

I have just replaced my PJ-TX100 with a Z4 and would like some help on suggested settings.

I have it hooked up to a pioneer elite DV59avi through HDMI.

I have tried Rones CC settings withe L2 and am slightly happy but feel something is not perfect with the skin tones as well as brightness of the picture.

If I switch to L1 the pciture looses all of the shadow detail.



Also I am getting light leakage from the connectors (s-video, component etc....) at the back. Is this normal.


Any help would be gretly appreciated. I am finding so far that the colors and black levels are better than the hitachi but the hitachi was not as dim as what I am seeing.


P.S. I am running on a 95" firehawk.


:) :) :) :)

I have just replaced my PJ-TX100 with a Z4 and would like some help on suggested settings.

I have it hooked up to a pioneer elite DV59avi through HDMI.

I have tried Rones CC settings withe L2 and am slightly happy but feel something is not perfect with the skin tones as well as brightness of the picture.

If I switch to L1 the pciture looses all of the shadow detail.



Also I am getting light leakage from the connectors (s-video, component etc....) at the back. Is this normal.


Any help would be gretly appreciated. I am finding so far that the colors and black levels are better than the hitachi but the hitachi was not as dim as what I am seeing.


P.S. I am running on a 95" firehawk.


:) :) :) :)

I found the creative cinema settings too dim as well. If you look through this thread, there are several other settings you can try for the living setting & others. Those are considerably brighter, but also more difficult to tweak for color. I use L1 video levels instead of L2 PC levels. The white balance is totally different for L1 and L2 so settings for one can't be interchanged.

I have a setting for the Dynamic preset that I've been using on & off. It's very bright, however the drawback is that the lamp iris will need to be tweaked using the process outlined in ROne's document. It also requires that you use the normal lamp setting which means it's not adaptive & uses max power (might reduce lamp life a bit). I'll try to post that later. Color also will need to be tweaked as you see fit via color tool. I don't know how close it is to D65 but it looks good for many movies I watch. When I don't like how it looks, I switch back to my living setting.

When i first turn on my Sanyo Z4 i hear a high pich wine, then in about 3 to 4 minues it goes away, is this the bulb and is it anything to worry about? thanks

When mine is warming up as soon as I turn it on, I hear a high pitch wine as well. It's the fan. It's not super loud, but I can hear it. I don't think it lasts 3 to 4 minutes however, so it's hard to tell if you hvae an issue or not without hearing. Maybe you can somehow record how it sounds to an mp3. That might help diagnose if it's an issue.

Hello Everyone, I have just finished installing my Z4 and screen,
At the moment I only have component out from my AV amp and DVD player,
I have a dark room ( full light control ) .

DVD is A Denon 3800.


Can some one please give me a link or some info on how to setup my projector for Component In. I have found several for HDMI In but not for Component.

Any help would be very welcome.
Regards Peter

When mine is warming up as soon as I turn it on, I hear a high pitch wine as well. It's the fan. It's not super loud, but I can hear it. I don't think it lasts 3 to 4 minutes however, so it's hard to tell if you hvae an issue or not without hearing. Maybe you can somehow record how it sounds to an mp3. That might help diagnose if it's an issue.

Mine wines for about 2 minutes or so untill it warms up. It's been the same since I owned it (1.5 years).

Mine wines for about 2 minutes or so untill it warms up. It's been the same since I owned it (1.5 years).

Not to be difficult, but just out of curiosity, how have you had yours for 1.5 years when it didn't come out until September / October 2005? I think you might be speaking of the Z3, not the Z4.

Yeah Z3 - I meant to mention that when I started the post, sorry. I would imagine that haven't changed the cooling system in these things since the Z3's seems to work just fine.

Is there some way to have the fan running at full speed all the time no matter what the lamp is set to? I was thinking that a higher fan speed would make the bulb last longer. My projector puts out a lot of heat--it will be great for the winter time!

somewhere in this thread there is a fan tweak where it might be possible to do what you want. Do a quick search & you'll find it.

Hi, I have recently purchased a Z4, When I am watching a movie that is 2.35 : 1 ,
The black bars don't go completely black, they are more like a dark grey.
The same when I have up just a black screen in a totaly dark room, it still looks dark grey, I am not sure if I have explained this correctly, but I am sure others on this forum will understand what I am saying,

Can I improve this situation with some sort of setting adjustments, the input for Z4 is component coming from a Denon DVD 3800.

any help will be greatly welcomed.

Peter

You'll never have a totally black screen.

Why is that,

LCD panels can't block all the light to create a dark black. They are getting better and better each generation though. Also, ambient lighting in the room can affect the perception of black as well. You could create a horizontal masking system to hide the bars.

After 250 hours, I finally decided to clean the filters. It required me to refocus and adjust the pj lens shift.

There did not appear to be any dust as I vacuumed one half side and compared the two sides.

I had some diffculty reinserting the number 2 filter cover, probably because of the position I was in bu the pj would not start up once I finished. I found that I had dislodged the power plug.

All is well now. By the way, I do not have the high pitched whining noise at startup, and continue to use my custom Living setting with L1 hdmi. The 6 color management adjustments I made are the most important part of my excellent picture. My 4 presets all use identical Living custom settings, with only Color and Gamma changes. I use color 0, gamma 0---color 0, gamma +2--color +4, gamma +2-- and color +4, gamma +4.

This allows for the differences from dvd to hd broadcasts. I find that all the other numbers work consistently with all program sources. DVD is hdmi and hd is component.

Shelly

I also cleaned my filters after about 200 hours. There was no visible dust on the filters. I used compressed air to clean the filters and surprisingly very fine dust particles did come out. I had a hard time with the filter cover also, after flipping the filter a different way the cover snapped in.

At about 280 I cleaned mine and it was good that I did. My long filter was really caked with dust!! Must be because I hung the Z4 only a few days after my basement was completed & there was tons of dust from that probably. The little filter on the left was clean. The long filter was a tad troublesome to get back on, but after a little wiggling, it snapped in.

I have not cleaned the panels as I was told they don't need to be cleaned unless there is a blob or obstruction.

Here are those Dynamic based settings I use for Componant input. Keep in mind, you may have to tweak the auto lamp iris too if you use this for darker content. It is amazing for outside stuff without the tweaks if you don't want to go into the service menu to tweak the iris. These settings were given to me by my buddy who I consider an AV expert. The setting might result in a bit too blue for some, but it creates more fine detail than I've seen with other settings, plus, it's extremly bright! I use these for Cable HD content and a slightly tweaked version for HTPC via HDMI. If the auto iris is still troublesome after tweaking, use a different setting. That's what I do, but it's usually ok. Only for movies that switch light to very dark often can it be annoying still. Keep in mind also, that it doesn't use the adaptive lamp to you are going full tilt which could decrease the life of the lamp. It's hard to say how much, but it might shorten from the average...or maybe not.

Use DYNAMIC as base for Componant but works nicely with HDMI with a few adjustments:
B= 0
C= -4
C. Sat = +5
TINT = 0
Color Temp = MID OR HI (personal pref)
R = -10
G = 0
B = +5
SH = 0
Lamp Cont = Normal (full)
Gamma = +1
Lense Iris = -40
Lamp Iris = Auto
Turn off all artificial enhancements in adv. menu
Needs color management to personal preferences
Might need to decrease offset blue a bit (again personal pref)

I was watching the Carolina/Edmonton hockey game last night and I noticed that when the play went into either defensive zone the ice became less bright and therefore less white. What I think was happening was less white ice was in the picture and more of the dark stands, and the Z4 was lowering the brightness to make the blacks in the stands look blacker. I have an HP screen and was using the Living setting. Can this be disabled in the Z4 for hockey games?

Just finished reading through this thread. I have the greatest respect for all posters here. What a great job people are doing.
I of course have some questions :)
I am putting my system together tonight. Using a Oppo 971h player and of course the Z4.
All these setting have confused me. Mostly the L1 and L2 setting. When using the Oppo with dvi to hdmi cable should I set the Z4 to L1 or L2?

Just finished reading through this thread. I have the greatest respect for all posters here. What a great job people are doing.
I of course have some questions :)
I am putting my system together tonight. Using a Oppo 971h player and of course the Z4.
All these setting have confused me. Mostly the L1 and L2 setting. When using the Oppo with dvi to hdmi cable should I set the Z4 to L1 or L2?

L1 video level is what you need to use for the Oppo. L2 is for PC levels like desktop applications and games. If you do use a HTPC, Media Center and TheaterTek have been optimized for L1 levels as well.

L1 video level is what you need to use for the Oppo. L2 is for PC levels and desktop applications and games. If you do use a HTPC, Media Center and TheaterTek have been optimized for L1 levels as well.

Thanks for the answer.

I only have 2 more hours of work then it's time to get home and start setting everything up. Sometimes life isn't all that bad...

I was watching the Carolina/Edmonton hockey game last night and I noticed that when the play went into either defensive zone the ice became less bright and therefore less white. What I think was happening was less white ice was in the picture and more of the dark stands, and the Z4 was lowering the brightness to make the blacks in the stands look blacker. I have an HP screen and was using the Living setting. Can this be disabled in the Z4 for hockey games?

Set the IRIS to Open and it wont go dim.

JSNorth

Anything new going around in this thread?

Had a quick look, it seems there is a bit of a need for L1/L2 seperate calibration settings.

I've not had any time to watch movies or calibrate at all for the last few months...

Might be worth an updated calibration now I'm 500 hours or so in.

So I've got almost everything set up. Of course the ceiling mount did not fit as I previously was using a Panasonic-300. After a trip to the store and some drilling I got the new Sanyo up.

I am feeding it component cables from a Denon 2900, still waiting for a Oppo971 to arrive or actually a Bbk 971h as it is called in my country. I let the pj run for a while while hooking up some cables and generally fixing things then I started to try out one of the component settings I found in this thread, I believe it was Coolcanuck's settings.
Short story... I am so happy with everything. Picture is outstanding.
My wife went to bed and I put in Star Wars III just to have a quick look. I ended up seeing half of it and I don't even like the movie that much :)

Will be fun to see what the Oppo player can do in the upscale department.
THank you again to all posters here, you have made my life easier.

Good to see you back ROne! I have a question. I am ready to pickup a Z4 (been using a Z1 for the past three years) I also have one of the Toshiba HD1 hddvd players. Since it is pretty much computer based, should I use the L1 or L2 setting? Thanks.

Well I've always used L2, because of the compatibility with the PC based side of things. And my calibrations have been such.

Good to see you back ROne! I have a question. I am ready to pickup a Z4 (been using a Z1 for the past three years) I also have one of the Toshiba HD1 hddvd players. Since it is pretty much computer based, should I use the L1 or L2 setting? Thanks.

L1 is my guess. I don't think any stand-alone DVD player is set for PC levels. I would check with Toshiba, but I'd be surprised if it was set for L2. Even for using PC, most of the popular DVD software like MCE and TheaterTek are tuned for L1 as well even though it's via a HTPC. For HTPC, if you tweak to L2 and adjust for the extra range, it'll come out just fine as ROne does, but on a stand-alone, L1 is what players are set for usually. Again, check with Toshiba to be sure. I use L1 for my HTPC and my Zenith DVB318. There was a post a long while back by someone he was very knowledgable who explained about L2 vs. L1. It's a post worth searching for.

There are so many different combo settings here that I get confused. I am using the oppo 971h through dvi/hdmi.

Can someone with a similar setup post their settings. A lot of settings here seems to be for HTPC(L2) setups.

Yep, most of the settings here (there aren't many) are based on ROne's L2 setup. For those that use their HTPC for other applications besides DVD programs, which are still based on L1 even though it's on a HTPC, can use L2 and get the additional range when using graphics programs or picture viewing or games. For a stand-alone player though, they will look washed out and have a haze to the picture so you shouldn't use them for the Oppo. Shelly had posted her changes which were still based on ROne's settings but adjusted for L1 and Oppo. They are here somewhere. Also, there have been a few componant settings and those seem to work better for L1 than L2 settings. You can start with the componant settings and then tweak from there. I would get the Digital Video Essentials DVD or AVIA and use those to help tweak. They may not give you all the different RGB settings that the Z4 has but it'll be a good start.

ROne had mentioned that he might have some time to do L1 and componant tweaks for us, so that would be great!!

It seems that ROne's living settings look's the nicest for my setup(oppo 971h). Only thing is that it looks very dark. When I use something easy like thx setup on one of the Star Wars discs it shows that I need to bump up brightness to about +10 instead of around 0 that I see people using here. Could this be right or am I doing something wrong? It looks pretty good but I just wanna make sure that it look as good as possible.

It seems that ROne's living settings look's the nicest for my setup(oppo 971h). Only thing is that it looks very dark. When I use something easy like thx setup on one of the Star Wars discs it shows that I need to bump up brightness to about +10 instead of around 0 that I see people using here. Could this be right or am I doing something wrong? It looks pretty good but I just wanna make sure that it look as good as possible.

I don't want anyone to think that I'm saying ROne's settings are anything but great, but they are set to L2 which isn't what a stand alone DVD player (or some DVD software) use. Again, we all appreciate everything ROne does for us as most of us don't have the ability to do the type of tweaking he can do. For that we are always 100% greateful!!!

I'm guessing the reason for your darkness issue is because you are using ROne's tweaks for L1 on a DVD player. Unfortunately, those settings are intended for L2 on a specific PC, which your Oppo is not tuned for. For me, if I set to L1 and use ROne's CC, the output is way too dark. If I set it to L2 as it's designed, it's washed out and has a white haze to it. I'm guessing the darkness for L1 is because L2 has more white range than L1 and since TheaterTek and MCE don't use that range it throws things out of wack. Since the tweaks take into account the extra white range of PC levels, they are probably by default darker settings as they don't need the extra brightness. So if you use L1 for those settings, you don't get that extra range of white, thus the result is far too dark. That is a total guess, but it's what I came up with without really knowing! :) I get similar results with my Zenith DVB318 so it sort of confirms that those PC programs are tuned to L1, not L2. At any rate, the only way I could use ROne's settings was to use L1 and then bump up the gamma and some other items as specified earlier in the thread by Shelly. However, I've found that doing that throws things off in other respects and basically makes that setup totally different than what ROne intended. I do use a very modified version of his Living settings usually, however the CC settings just don't work for me at all for some reason. I also use the Dynamic settings I gave last week in this thread with the iris tweaks. For shows that don't switch too much from very bright to very dark, I find those to be the best, giving the most detail and brightness.

I hate to say it, but I think what is needed is a pro setup for L1 Video Levels and Component. Hopefully our great friend ROne will have some time to give that a whirl and share his results.

Use DYNAMIC as base for Componant but works nicely with HDMI with a few adjustments:
B= 0
C= -4
C. Sat = +5
TINT = 0
Color Temp = MID OR HI (personal pref)
R = -10
G = 0
B = +5
SH = 0
Lamp Cont = Normal (full)
Gamma = +1
Lense Iris = -40
Lamp Iris = Auto
Turn off all artificial enhancements in adv. menu
Needs color management to personal preferences
Might need to decrease offset blue a bit (again personal pref)

Are these the settings you are using Dweezils?
You think they could work with the Oppo player? I see that you have tweaked for component but I am using HDMI, any tips on what needs to be different?

Yes, they will work with the OPPO and HDMI. You may need to adjust a few items for HDMI, but for me it was very close. Can't recall what I did different but it wasn't much. I think maybe a different color management tweak and a gamma change but I'm not positive at this point. Let me know what you think of these. They are not my tweaks, they are Chuck's from this thread (before he sold his Z4 for a Sony Ruby). I find these very bright with great blacks and great details that I don't see with some other tweaks. The ONLY drawback is that once in a blue moon, I'll see the auto-iris...but it's not often. Do the iris tweak and it will help.

Yes, they will work with the OPPO and HDMI. You may need to adjust a few items for HDMI, but for me it was very close. Can't recall what I did different but it wasn't much. I think maybe a different color management tweak and a gamma change but I'm not positive at this point. Let me know what you think of these. They are not my tweaks, they are Chuck's from this thread (before he sold his Z4 for a Sony Ruby). I find these very bright with great blacks and great details that I don't see with some other tweaks. The ONLY drawback is that once in a blue moon, I'll see the auto-iris...but it's not often. Do the iris tweak and it will help.

Just had a quick look at your settings. They look pretty good. They are a little bit blue/cold but I am gonna try and get rid of that. I am sure you already tweaked that.
Tried to get into service menu but for some reason coudln't get it to work.
Have you tweaked all the offset color stuff and so on? If so, would you care to share settings or did you just leave them at dynamic default?

I left them at the default. The settings are a bit blue/cold because Chuck who came up with these settings prefers less reds and more blue. I am from the Sony camp of HDTV's so I'm use to more red...probably too much. You can try to compensate by testing out different blue settings and see what works. I know I tweaked a little for less blue, but can't recall what I did. I also did color management too. I didn't use the high setting as it was too blue for me. I changed to medium I think.

Hi guys,
I have a copy of Get Grays , DVE and Avia, when adjusting the brigthness, on my Z4, I cannot see any info that is below black, DVE has -2 and -4 below black and Grays has similar, can anyone tell me if I am doing somthing wrong, my unit has been check by Sanyo and they said its working fine............can I get blacker levels as poer the Calibration discs

Peter

Peter, the ability to show below black is a function of the DVD player. Are you sure your's can pass blacker than black? If it's been reviewed by the folks at "Secrets" this will be in the review info. See this link: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi

Peter, the ability to show below black is a function of the DVD player. Are you sure your's can pass blacker than black? If it's been reviewed by the folks at "Secrets" this will be in the review info. See this link: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi
Hi, I went to that site you mentioned and you were right, I found my player in the list , and sure enough It failed the "Below Black"..................So now its time to look for a new player I guess.

Peter

Guys,
I have just changed my old Panny 300 to Z4. It is a significant improvement however there is one thing which worries me. The picture an all presets seem to be very red/rich. I would prefer more natural colors (not red faces). I can't image this is a defauld factory setting of such class equipment. Can you tell me if my unit is maybe proked or decalibrated. Or is this normal for the out of the box picture of Z4. Please help. What should I do to achieve the picture as on my friend's AE900? Thanks in advice for your help.

Nope that is more or less normal to be red outa the box. Skim thru this thread and you will find 2 sets of non factory menu tweaks, one for component cables, and one for dvi cables. Worked for me. Also while its not on mine, it is within specs to have one side of the pic slighly reder(redder) the the other side.

The dvi tweaks corrected the colors on mine, I just had to do some minor tweaking after that for brightness and contrast. If anything the tweaks made my pic a hair too blue, but that is on only scenes with florecent lit indoor scenes(HOUSE), outdoor and candle lit scenes were perfect, so it might just be the material. I see alot more color shades on the projector then i do on the lcd pc monitor.

Guys,
I have just changed my old Panny 300 to Z4. It is a significant improvement however there is one thing which worries me. The picture an all presets seem to be very red/rich. I would prefer more natural colors (not red faces). I can't image this is a defauld factory setting of such class equipment. Can you tell me if my unit is maybe proked or decalibrated. Or is this normal for the out of the box picture of Z4. Please help. What should I do to achieve the picture as on my friend's AE900? Thanks in advice for your help.

The easiest approach is to freeze frame your dvd picture when the "too red" face appears, and then go into the Co;or Management in the men and tweak the color intensityh fown 2 clicks, and then adjust the tint and gamma of the facial color as well if needed. Once you are satisfied (and you should be) just save it into the User setting, or all the User settings.

The color management tool is the easiest way to enhance blues, move greens away from yellow and red away from orange, or whatever. Jus remember to save it. You can always delete any color management settings and start over if you want.

Shelly

Thanks for your clarifications. So my unit isn't broken and everyone here had such problems. I will follow your recomendations on colour management. How , from your experiance, you expect to tune reds: 1,2 or3 steps right in the top slide?

Thanks for your clarifications. So my unit isn't broken and everyone here had such problems. I will follow your recomendations on colour management. How , from your experiance, you expect to tune reds: 1,2 or3 steps right in the top slide?

There are five steps for each color, with the default being in the middle. Thus, you can only increase (left) or decrease (right) two steps. Just see what looks best to you.

Shelly

I just bought a Tvix 5000U to be able to stream Hd movies from my computer harddrive. I am using the HDMI connection on the Sanyo. Here's the question: Should Hdmi be set to L1 or L2 in the settings? I know it should be L1 when using dvd but the Tvix is something sort of in between?

It's hard to say. It all depends on what the internal programming for that unit outputs and what setting it's geared towards. Also I suppose if the content doesn't have the data for PC levels that would come into play as well, but that's something I'm totally unsure about. I'd guess L1. I'm guessing it just takes the raw stream and then acts like an external player thus L1 makes more sense. Maybe call the manufacturer for the unit and see what they say. They might not even know.

Germans have a red/orange filter that it designed to fit the Z4. Available here?[B]

I just had an ISF Calibration done on my Z4. Here are the settings: I have component input from a Comcast box and DVI/HDMI input from an Oppo 971 DVD player

Component Settings:
Brightness +5
Contrast 0
Color -2
Tint +5
Sharpness 0
Color Temp User
R +10
G 0
B -5
Gain R +3
Gain G -2
Gain B +7
Offset R +3
Offset G -1
Offset B -11
L1
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -26


DVI/HDMI Settings:
Brightness -9
Contrast +7
Color +5
Tint 0
Sharpness 0
R +10
G 0
B -5
Gain R +3
Gain G 0
Gain B +11
Offset R +6
Offset G -1
Offset B -12
L1
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -25

I have a Carada 118" Brilliant White Screen
The picture looked pretty good before the calibrartion. Now it looks spectacular.
I don't know what any of these numbers mean I just watch it. I am posting them for whatever they are worth.

What mode were these numbers based on? Without knowing whether you started with Living, Creative Cinema, Powerful, etc., the numbers aren't useful.

This is great, thanks for posting, but please let us know which preset these are built upon.

Thanks,
FG3

Sharpness at "0" after an ISF calibration seems kind of high. Did the calibrator use any test patterns when setting sharpness, or comment on why he ended up where he did?

I also use Copmcast component output and Oppo dvi output.
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Not only is important for us to know which preset was used as the basis for the calibration as has been noted, we also need to know about the light control in your room. A -9 brightness setting seems to be that you have total light control, i.e., your room is very, very dark.

In any case, welcome to avs forums and thanks for your first post.

Shelly

I'm checking with the calibrator as to what preset he started with. I don't know because I wasn't here while he was doing it. As to light control, the room has only 2 small windows and they are covered with dark curtains so the light control is pretty complete. I'll let you know when he gets back to me about the preset. If he remembers. It's not indicated on the sheet he left me with the settings. Is it possible to zero everything out and start from there?

No, he had to have started with one of the presets.

Since the very first preset is Ceative Cinema, the liklihood is that he started from there.

Shelly

The Calibrator just gor back to me. He believes he started with Creative Cinema. His reasoning was like Shelly said....it was the first one.

I used the new settings last night starting with Creative Cinema and was impressed. I have Rone's settings on one user setting and these on another. They are pretty close with the new ones perhaps a little more red.

I have a question for the few who haved the lens drifting problem. What was the fix? I called tech today and they never heard of it. I might bring in the pj (there only 10 minutes from me) and they'll take a look at it and I can pick it up the next morning. Just wondering how you fixed it on your own.

The steps I've tried: moving the dials so they have slack and then lock. Also tried leaving the dials with some tension and then lock. None of these worked for me. I believe the fix was to go into the service port, but unsure on what to do.

Thanks very much.

I have some graphs sent to me by the calibrator. They show reading of certain items pre and post calibration. If anyone thinks there is any value in this I can upload them. Can xls files be uploaded or do they have to be zipped first? Also, how do you upload here?

I have a question for the few who haved the lens drifting problem. What was the fix? I called tech today and they never heard of it. I might bring in the pj (there only 10 minutes from me) and they'll take a look at it and I can pick it up the next morning. Just wondering how you fixed it on your own.

The steps I've tried: moving the dials so they have slack and then lock. Also tried leaving the dials with some tension and then lock. None of these worked for me. I believe the fix was to go into the service port, but unsure on what to do.

Thanks very much.

I don't recall there being a fix for this. The lense shift is mechanical, not digital so I don't know that the service port would be of any use.

My lense drift happens when the ceiling vibrates or if the kids run right above the ceiling where my projector is mounted. I know a few others had it drift when none of that happened but it's hard to say what the issue is. I'm guessing there's no cure of the Z4 being jarred when the ceiling joists bounce from the kids! :o

eagles4--I would like to see the spreadsheet.

thanks,

Dick

eagles4 -- I'd like to see them as well.

I don't recall there being a fix for this. The lense shift is mechanical, not digital so I don't know that the service port would be of any use.

My lense drift happens when the ceiling vibrates or if the kids run right above the ceiling where my projector is mounted. I know a few others had it drift when none of that happened but it's hard to say what the issue is. I'm guessing there's no cure of the Z4 being jarred when the ceiling joists bounce from the kids! :o

Thanks for the reply. I could've sworn that a few Z4 owners where in the service port or some other method changing internal value's. I spoke to the tech yesterday and he mentioned, while changing the lens shift, push down on the lens (where the focus ring is) and once you have your desired location (with the dials in the tensioned position), you can lock in place. We'll see how that goes.

The graphs are attached

Thanks for the reply. I could've sworn that a few Z4 owners where in the service port or some other method changing internal value's. I spoke to the tech yesterday and he mentioned, while changing the lens shift, push down on the lens (where the focus ring is) and once you have your desired location (with the dials in the tensioned position), you can lock in place. We'll see how that goes.

Since lense shift as far as I know is 100% manual, I don't think that port can do anything about that. If there were motors controlling the lense shift and those were controlled by the internal programming (remember we aren't talking about digital shift) then maybe it would, but I was under the assumption it was totally manually adjusted and maintained. Now if the problem is not the manual lense shift and that the Z4 is digitally shifting the picture that would be interesting and would be a firmware bug.

So explain again what the tech was talking about in regards to pushing on the lense? So use the dials on the side while you are pushing down on the lense? That sounds kinda scary since it would seem that's forcing it. Is he saying that you can push it down to ensure it's in a stable position and won't move? I'm just leary of pressing down on the lense when that is the 1st I've heard of it.

I'm going to call Sanyo to see what they say as far as the drifting.

Since lense shift as far as I know is 100% manual, I don't think that port can do anything about that. If there were motors controlling the lense shift and those were controlled by the internal programming (remember we aren't talking about digital shift) then maybe it would, but I was under the assumption it was totally manually adjusted and maintained. Now if the problem is not the manual lense shift and that the Z4 is digitally shifting the picture that would be interesting and would be a firmware bug.

So explain again what the tech was talking about in regards to pushing on the lense? So use the dials on the side while you are pushing down on the lense? That sounds kinda scary since it would seem that's forcing it. Is he saying that you can push it down to ensure it's in a stable position and won't move? I'm just leary of pressing down on the lense when that is the 1st I've heard of it.

I'm going to call Sanyo to see what they say as far as the drifting.

It does sound a little strange to push the lens down while moving the dials. From what I gathered, your not pushing the lens in the opposite direction of the way you want to go. Rather, push the lens in the direction you want to shift and then lock. Not sure if I'm gonna try this, I just might live with the drifting.

Finally got my free 92 inch flat white screen from Sanyo [thank you Sanyo].
I have been exploring increased contrast ratios by using a slightly curved high gain 4/3 screen masked to 16/9 [VUTEC, Hollywood, FL]. With a lens iris at -20 or more there are no soft focus corners and the picture is greatly improved compared to a much a much 'flatter' picture using the Draper [Sanyo} screen with super sharp and far brighter scenes allowing reduced "Brightness" and "Manual Iris" settings in the "ECO" lamp mode.
Result is a much higher contrast ratio.
The movies look far better than they did on my former projector ($14,000 Sony D50HTU].

Guys,
I have managed to play with this PJ a little bit (in the free moments between work and new house refurbishing). I have used both Rones settings CC and live versions. Both for me are not acceptable - are too dark and I loose shadow details. How U guys think they are so great.
Maybe this is because of my set up - the source is PC with Gforce 6800 via DVI-HDMI cable. I use the latest drivers. Rone is talking about WMCE and NVIDIAdvdfilters. What is this? How to check what am I using? Eventually where to download and how to install?

WMCE is Windows Media Center Edition. It does not come with any video decoders so he is using the NVidia Pure decoders most likely. It can use any decoders but nVidia pure seems the standard. Neither MCE or NVidia pure decoders are free to download althought the nVidia decoders are cheap ($19.95). What are you using to play the DVD's via your PC? Each software package can make a HUGE difference as well. If you are using XP Pro, Theater Tek is the standard and considered the best. It has been set to ISF standards thus right out of the box is great. It also uses the nVidia decoders. There is also the Zoom player although I found it far less user friendly than Theater Tek or MCE. Another factor is the type of screen you have as well as the room layout, lighting, color, etc.. It's been pretty obvious that sharing settings is really just a starting point and that everyone needs to tweak to their own eyes and environment.

My suggestion is to get yourself the Digital Video Essentials DVD and use that to tweak to your room and how you want it to look.

Guys,
I have managed to play with this PJ a little bit (in the free moments between work and new house refurbishing). I have used both Rones settings CC and live versions. Both for me are not acceptable - are too dark and I loose shadow details. How U guys think they are so great.
Maybe this is because of my set up - the source is PC with Gforce 6800 via DVI-HDMI cable. I use the latest drivers. Rone is talking about WMCE and NVIDIAdvdfilters. What is this? How to check what am I using? Eventually where to download and how to install?

I have always taken posted settings with a grain of salt.

What I want to achieve is a good black and white picture. I know that it is also ok if my black and white has a slight reddish quality, as well, as my flesh tones and colors will look fine to me. Great black and white will assure great colors.

But if you want more shadow detail, increase the brightness and increase the gamma.

I have found that the color is pushed too hard for most settings so I usually keep it at 0 or +2 at the most.

I also use te color management to tweak all the colors I am not satisified with.

My user settings are all identical, indluding the color management, except for Color and Gamma. User 1 has color at 0 and gamma at 0. User 2 has color at 0 and gamma at +2. User 3 has color at +2 and gamma at +2. User 4 has color at +2 and gamma at +4.

At least one of these settings is pefect for me depending on the source.

Shelly

Konrado, you shouldn't be using anybody's settings for brightness & contrast. Those you should calibrate yourself. Greyscale settings are another matter and that's where Rone's settings are useful. However, variances in lamp performance will skew your results somewhat.

Thanks for yor advices. I am using Power DVD 6.0 for playing movies. Do i need to order the nvidia decoders in such circumstacces?

No, powerDVD has it's own decoders I'm pretty sure, however, to be honest, I wouldn't use Power DVD as it's just not up to snuff video quality-wise. If you can swing the cost, I'd recommend you purchase Theater Tek as it's well worth it. Next to using Windows MCE, it's going to be your best bet. It comes with the newest nVideo drivers as well. Next best would be the free Zoom player along with purchasing the newest nVidia Pure drivers. I found Zoom to be a hassle though so for a 100% user friendly package, you can't go wrong with Theater Tek.

powerdvd is nice in that "not 3 million settings that just lag my computer and irritate guests when i cant get the movie to play" kind of way.

Yeah, I definately understand that. Trust me though, Theater Tek is just as easy if not easier than PowerDVD (I've had PowerDVD and WinDVD etc...), not loaded with all sorts of crazy options and will give you a better picture. It's totally worth it. Download the demo to give it a try.

ok, I will buy theater tek and will try it.
*Is it exactly called Thearer Tek? Is there any best verssion, must have plug inn etc..?

I have 2 more questions:
*I am tempolarly using my z4 with almosy full side lens shift. When I come v. close to the screen s see some lcd panells miscoverage. Will it be fixed if I do zero lens shift in my new home installation?
*with the current set up I have noticed that the left part of the screen has a very slight like a red rainbow effect. Will it also be fixed once I throw the picture on the middle of the screen?

Just download the newest version of Theater Tek from their website. No plug-in's at all.

As with any projector, the more lense shift you use, the more it can negatively effect your picture. Using some shift will not be noticible at all, but if you are nearly 100% shifted, it definitely can decrease picture quality and cause some issues with the colors. Some LCD projectors will have perfect convergence and some will have a pixel or two misconvergence even with no lense shift. It's just the luck of the draw (my red is one pixel off) and a few pixel misconvergence is withing tolerance so there isn't anything that you can do. It isn't noticible unless I'm within a foot of the screen or so. It's possible it will go away without the lense shift or it may not. As for the rainbow effect, that is a DLP issue, not LCD, so it's hard to say what the issue is that you are seeing. Full lense shift can cause some other distortions with color, but it's hard to say with only those details.

I have had my Z4 for 3 days now. So far so good. I am wondering about upgrading to the Oppo 971H and going all digital.

The conditons presently are;


I am using component only from a SA cable box and the Neu Neo DVD both at 1080i output through a Video Storm component switcher.

25' Component cable run

DIY white pearescentl screen (actually works ok)

Room has complete light control


I would like to change to the following setup;

SA cable box and Oppo 971H player to be Monoprice 3' DVI to HDMI cables connected to Monoprice 2x1 HDMI Switcher with a 25' run of Mononprice HDMI cable to the Z4.

Does this sound like it will work?

I am concerned that I may have either cable, switcher or macroblocking problems with Z4/Oppo 971H combo.

I have searched all threads that relate to the Z4 and there are a couple of people using the Oppo with this projector and neither one has commented on problems.

ok guys im new here and i got the z4 yesterday. im noticing some scrolling horizontal lines that go up the picture when i feed it my hdcable through component. its really noticble if the picture is dark. when i feed the other component input with my 360, this doesnt occur...any thoughts or should i get in contact with sanyo

Sounds like ground interference... not a Sanyo problem if it is.

thanks, im gonna try to get a nice powerstrip with coax in and coax out and plug the cable box into it and see whats happening. its got to be the signal because when there is no input the blue screen doesnt exhibit this horizontal noise

ok guys im new here and i got the z4 yesterday. im noticing some scrolling horizontal lines that go up the picture when i feed it my hdcable through component. its really noticble if the picture is dark. when i feed the other component input with my 360, this doesnt occur...any thoughts or should i get in contact with sanyo


You may also be seeing what is known as a "ground loop" probably associated with your house electrical circuits grounding and your cable grounding.

I experienced this on my old projector a BenQ PB6200. If you feed your coax through a filter and that does not stop this, try using an adaptor that is used to plug grounded equipment into older un-grounded outlets (hardware stores have these).

If the horizontal lines disappear using the adaptor there is very good chance it is a ground loop.

This is how I determined that was happening to me, I was never able to cure the problem.

As I understand it, ground loops are caused by two different voltages at the ground itself or possibly some where else in the circuit. They can be very difficult to locate, isolate and correct without experience and instrumentation.

Do a search here and on the internet for ground loops if your filter does not correct the problem. I doubt it is your Z4.

where would i get one of these filters?? what does the adapter look like?

where would i get one of these filters?? what does the adapter look like?

I was referring to the coax in/out on the powerstrip you mentioned.

ok guys im new here and i got the z4 yesterday. im noticing some scrolling horizontal lines that go up the picture when i feed it my hdcable through component. its really noticble if the picture is dark. when i feed the other component input with my 360, this doesnt occur...any thoughts or should i get in contact with sanyo

Is it possibly this problem? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=687666&highlight=madbrain)

could somebody please link me to some good tips/tweaks to get my Z4 up and running. I will do a basic Avia calib, but need some color tweaks/settings, which mode is best for dvd, etc.....

read the first 6 pages of this thread and you'll find what you need.

Is it possibly this problem?

nope its like scrolling horizontal lines that go from the bottom up. about 12 inches apart. its only really noticable when the picture is dark. like i said its only when i have my hd cable running to it. i think tonight im gonna hook up my 360 to that input and see if it does it

nope its like scrolling horizontal lines that go from the bottom up. about 12 inches apart. its only really noticable when the picture is dark. like i said its only when i have my hd cable running to it. i think tonight im gonna hook up my 360 to that input and see if it does it

This is classic visual symptoms of ground loop hum, which is caused by an improperly grounded cable TV system. Good luck getting it fixed. Consider yourself lucky in that your audio receiver isn't picking up the terrible hum. The audio of this problem is much worse than the visual.

My Setting, i used several setting available here and tweaked them for the HD A1 , to my eye it look good

With HD DVD player Toshiba HD A1 in HDMI

Shrapness = 0
Lamp = Low (Eco)
Gamma = 0
Progressive = L1
Lens Iris = -63
Brithness = -1
Contrast = +10
Color = +6
Tint = +6
Red = +10
Green = -1
Blue = -8
Iris = AUTO
Black Enhancement = OFF
Contrast Enhanc = OFF
Trans = OFF
Gain R = +2
Gain G = +3
Gain B = -5
Offset R = -15
Offset G = -13
Offset B = -6
Gamma R = 0
Gamma G = 0
Gamma B = 0

Now use the custom HDDVD test pattern that a user has made here, it's available in HD DVD Software forum and other part

Go to the Color Bar and check the Yellow, it should look Greenish, Use the Color Manager to bring this Greenish Yellow back to 'Banana' Yellow (should be 2 notch down the first one)

Been trying a lot of settings posted in this thread and most of them are pretty good.
However, I seem to have some problems getting brightness/contrast setting correctly. I just can not keep it at those low values people have posted here. If I do I can barely see anything.
Am I missing something? Tried fiddling with the iris and so on but I just can't seem to hit the sweet spot. Any tips? I usually end up with brightness on +15 or something crazy like that.
Using an Oppo 971 if that could matter....

What input are you using? If HDMI, are you at L1 or L2?

Using HDMI and set to L1. L2 seems brighter but from what I have read here that is for pc setups.

Yep that is correct. One thing you need to be careful about is using settings that are intended for L2 with L1. What you will get is a super dark unwatchable screen. I use L1 for my HDMI even from my PC because MCE and Theater Tek are setup for L1, so if I use a bunch of settings from here that are intended to be for L2, I need to totally tweak the gamma, brightness, and contrast.

I think this is probably the issue you are having.

So what exactly IS L1 and L2? What does Enhanced Mode on a DVD player do anyway? Are we talking about passage of 'blacker-than-black' and 'whiter-than-white' signals? ...or is that something else altogether?

On my HTPC, L2 seems to 'brighten' all the dark places... too much so! The dark areas tend to dither and I can never seem to obtain a black like I get with L1 no matter what I do. So, again... What IS L1 and L2 exactly? Anybody here really know?

Yep, it's the range from black to white. PC levels go from 0 to 255 while studio levels are 16 to 235. L1 is video/studio levels so it set the projector output to accomodate for 16 to 235 input, while L2 allows the extra range that a PC can output. (obviously a very general description) Different tweaks take this into account thus brightness, contrast, gamma reflect the type of range being displayed.

The problem is that a stand alone DVD player (even the OPPO) is set for Video levels. So if you use a setup that is intended for L2 PC levels, there won't be that extra range displayed, thus the settings will be off (too dark or too light depending on the settings used). Windows MCE and Theater Tek are also set to use Studio L1 levels even though they are run on a PC capable of doing L2. This is because most DVD's have been mastered in the L1 range, not L2. This all causes a ton of confusion however. At any rate, each videocard and driver will also make things different on each PC too!

Enhanced modes on DVD players try to artificially enhance the blacks. Since most DVD's don't contain levels under 16 or over 235 anyway, it does something to enhance it. I'm not sure if that makes the player output L2 however but either way, the range has to be artificial if the DVD doesn't contain that data.

It's all a matter of what the tweak was intended for. To match DVD's, L1 is what should be used. Color, contrast, brightness all have been geared to L1 on most DVD's so it makes sense to use L1. If you do use L2 for a HTPC, you need to have tweaks that account for the extra range (such as ROne's). It's up for debate if that makes the DVD look better or worse considering the software players aren't geared to output L2 and the DVD's aren't either for the most part.

Thanks, that all makes sense. So that's why the dark areas lighten up and I would suppose the bright areas had darken some but I didn't really notice that. The fact that DVDs are mastered using 16-235 levels makes using L2 rather useless to me, even though my HTPC can output 0-255. So in the end I did switch it back to L1 because of the better blacks I get with DVDs ...and for SD and HDTV, I have successfully adjusted the 'brightness' and 'contrast' controls (in each respective software) to make blacks look good and yet still be able to see good shadow detail. So L1 is where it stays and again thanks for the info.

I've been following this thread for some time and found it very informative. I have recently purchased the Z4 about 1 month ago and I'm still fiddling with the settings. I cannot settle on a picture setting and I have tried some of the suggestions on this forum but they are for L2 not L1. I'm currently using an Arcam DV-29 dvd player connected to the Z4 via an HDMI cable. I chose Creative Cinema as my starting point and found it pleasing, but I've tweaked the standard settings a little and turned off the 3 main settings (eg. Black stretch) found in the advanced menu . The screen I'm using is a Cinescreen V4 100" 1.2 gain and the projector is about 4.4m ceiling mounted and my room is almost pitch black (ambient light is very minor) but my walls and ceilings are white. I use Star Wars ROTS as my test dvd to make the necessary adjustments and it looks great but I can t help but think theres more I can do to make it awesome. Also I have used the Sound & Vision calibration dvd to adjust brightness, contrast and sharpness. It would be great to have someone with a similar setup post their settings so I can try them out. Theres nothing in the dvd setup to adjust picture as Arcam dont have that on their players. I would appreciate any suggestions that others can offer. Thanks in advance. :)

Folks,
I will be replacing the screen for my new living room soon. I am keen to spend some money on class screen. I need your advice which kind of screen would be good for mu Z4. I like bright picture thus I am not 100% grey screen will be good.

I am going to project on a 2.3 meter width screen from the distance of ~~6 meters. My questions:
1. What type of screen surface would be best (white matt, grey, others?)
2. What gain factor shopuld I look for (g=1?)
3. Should I chosse smaller screen (I prefer not as 2.3 m is just right i my living room).

The light in the room will be 90% controlled during the day and walls are light colour.

I am leaning towards Projecta Cinema Video High Contrast S. Is this a good choice for my PJ and working conditions? It is not cheap thus I don't want to spend money and then be still not happy:)

Looking back through the posts here it seems that the Z4 is over-complex in terms of settings, and I can really feel the pain - especially the L1 and L2 confusion which is poorly documented.

For me, I've just moved house and lost the dedicated cinema room, but I've gained an Optoma DV10 for quick and easy projection, it makes and interesting comparison to the Z4.

Still have the Z4 though, and very frustrated we didn't get around to nailing the L1 component issue.

I would imagine the Z5 will be around the corner!

Folks,
I will be replacing the screen for my new living room soon. I am keen to spend some money on class screen. I need your advice which kind of screen would be good for mu Z4. I like bright picture thus I am not 100% grey screen will be good.

I am going to project on a 2.3 meter width screen from the distance of ~~6 meters. My questions:
1. What type of screen surface would be best (white matt, grey, others?)
2. What gain factor shopuld I look for (g=1?)
3. Should I chosse smaller screen (I prefer not as 2.3 m is just right i my living room).

The light in the room will be 90% controlled during the day and walls are light colour.

I am leaning towards Projecta Cinema Video High Contrast S. Is this a good choice for my PJ and working conditions? It is not cheap thus I don't want to spend money and then be still not happy:)

Because of the nature of LCD, black levels are not as good in comparison to DLP projectors. This is why I always recommend a high contrast screen which are usually gray. If you get a top quality gray screen with proper gain, brightness is not an issue. Da-Lite's High Contrast Cinema Vision is a great material for the money (the screen will cost you about $500-$600 with frame) with a 1.1 gain which provides plenty of punch for anyone and enhances the black levels which are extremely important to your picture. If you go with a white screen with high gain, you will lose a great deal of black level which in turn, effects the contrast of your picture anyway. Most of the higher end companies make a very nice gray high contrast material with gains over 1.0. Stewart and Carada also make very good gray high contrast material as well, although for the money, DaLites is a great choice. I'm not sure about the screen from Projecta, but from their website, it does say it's a high contrast material to improve blacks and usually those types of screens are either gray or have a gray base material. I have the da-lite HCCV material and my picture is very bright. The material is almost a silverish white color and not the standard standard gray. I guess it lives up to the old movie name "The Silver Screen"! ha!

I think the gain depends on the screen material, but in the high contrast materials, 1.1 to 1.3 is what you should aim for in order to obtain the best picture quality. As with all of this, everyone has their own personal preferences and opinions so what's good for one person may not necessarily be good for another. Because of this, before spending $600-$1000 on a screen, I would get material samples from all the companies and see what looks best. They all will send you samples at little to no cost.

Your screen size is fine and there is no reason to go smaller.

ROne

I have followed your setting advice for the Z4 after having just recieved it. A couple of questions.

Did you ever try a set up for component and if so can you reprint them for me I know many people were asking for this at the beginning of the thread?

What is the "Sat" setting you are referring to in the first page of this tweak thread?

If I follow your recommended setup for creative cinema then save it. One of the user memoeries pops up will it then remember this setting every time craetive cinema is chosen or do I have to choose user in this case?

I must say that in the few hours I have spent with the Z4 that the tweak options are mindboggling. The picture is superior to my previous LCD's by a wide margin and the noise factor is non existant.

ROne

I'm sure you can always use another question. Why is poor SD pic quality a concern, when HD stbs normally upconvert SD to HD. Don't most people using a 720p projector have an HD programming source with a stb?

I can't think of any reason for this to be an issue, however, if someone is not using an HD STB for their cable then they have no choice but to send 480i (or buy additional equipment) and it'll look really bad. I agree with you that it doesn't make that much sense to get a projector like this if you do not have HD service along with an HD STB. For those few people who have cable companies that don't do HD thus only have an SD cable box, it would be a problem. Most cable companies do have HD and will provide an HD STB at no additional cost over the regular digital STB even if you do not subscribe to any additional HD tier.

Thanx Dweezilz. The projecta HC screen is a grey one. The gain is g=1. Isn't it to low? However to get de-lite screen in Europe is difficult so projecta is much easier to get (projecta belongs to the de-lite company group)

Dweezilz said

Most cable companies do have HD and will provide an HD STB at no additional cost over the regular digital STB even if you do not subscribe to any additional HD tier.

I wish that were true always. My cable provider wants a whopping $500.00 for the standard HD boxand $800.00 for the PVR-HD. I am wondering if I could go the used route or if they have a special tag for thier company only?

Do you know what ROne was referring to with the Sat adjustment?

Dweezilz - Right, I didn't think about cable companies with no HD.

kiki2000 - Sat probably refers to color saturation.

Thanx Dweezilz. The projecta HC screen is a grey one. The gain is g=1. Isn't it to low? However to get de-lite screen in Europe is difficult so projecta is much easier to get (projecta belongs to the de-lite company group)

1 gain is proably ok but it's hard to say without seeing it. The DaLite HCCV screen was lower than 1.1 in the past (I actually think it was 0.8) and they bumped it up to 1.1. Maybe you can call Projecta and ask if their material is close to the dalite high contrast cinema vision.

I wish that were true always. My cable provider wants a whopping $500.00 for the standard HD boxand $800.00 for the PVR-HD. I am wondering if I could go the used route or if they have a special tag for thier company only?

Do you know what ROne was referring to with the Sat adjustment?

Where did ROne mention that?

Man, that really stinks about your cable company!! That is definately not the norm. I can't believe they won't rent you a box and they actually make you buy it. That's nuts! At that rate, you are better off getting a free HD box from Dish Network for a year.

Thanx Dweezilz. The projecta HC screen is a grey one. The gain is g=1. Isn't it to low? However to get de-lite screen in Europe is difficult so projecta is much easier to get (projecta belongs to the de-lite company group)You should get Projecta Proscreen with High Power material (only 4:3 and 1:1 sizes are available with HP-material). It's the same as Da-lite High Power. It looks awesome with Z4 if you are able to mount the projector low enough to get at least 2.0 gain. Read more on the Screens forum on this board. I had earlier Da-Lite High Contrast Matte White and it looked dim and had wrinkles, and I only have 1.8 meters wide picture.

TimoJ I understand what you are saying but it is totally different what Dweezliz said. I am confused now. I am not convinced gain of 2 is best for HT projector.

TimoJ I understand what you are saying but it is totally different what Dweezliz said. I am confused now. I am not convinced gain of 2 is best for HT projector.High power does raise black levels, but at the same time it makes whites and colors so much better (plasma-like) that I'd take high power any time over grey screen. But that is just my opinion. Then again, when new generation LCD-projectors with lower black levels arrive, high power will look even better :)

Dweezilz said
Where did ROne mention that?

On page one of this thread.

Konrado

For your screen question talk to the screen company and get them to send samples and watch them with your Z4 or go to your local AV store and view the different materials for yourself. I viewed the HCCV, DaMatt, Pearlecsent, High Power, CinemaVision, Silverstar, and others. It is a very subjective purchase but the screen dealers wil be more than happy to send you samples to try and make your decision easier.

The viewing angle was extremely important to me, the major reason why I did not simply purchase an RPTV, it might not be for you. I would recommend for this projector a DaLite or comparable High Contrast Cinema Vision or Cinema Vision, remember the darker the screen the more noise the fans in the projector will make.

I would also recommend a tensioned screen because you have the ability to raise it when not in use and possibly put a plasma or LCD TV behind the screen for occasional viewing. Something you could not do with a fixed screen mounted on the wall.

I had the chance to audition a 77 inch diagonal screen when I first began shopping and turned it down because I thought it smallish. It was offered at a great price as it was a demo unit. Keep your options open. The smaller the screen, the brighter the picture ( with similar screen material), the quieter the projector.

Does anyone have L1 settings that they wish to show? I'm curious what pre-set you chose and what changes you made to suit your room. Awaitng arrival of the DVE disc so I can start testing.

ROne

I'm sure you can always use another question. Why is poor SD pic quality a concern, when HD stbs normally upconvert SD to HD. Don't most people using a 720p projector have an HD programming source with a stb?

Not completely clear on the question ...

But in the UK, hidef is a bit of a joke at the moment - other than the odd WMV file and bad SKY broadcasts I only have my HTPC to supply upscaled SD content.

90% of my viewing was SD upscaled. Poor SD upscaled to HD is still poor SD upscaled to HD!

Dweezilz said

Most cable companies do have HD and will provide an HD STB at no additional cost over the regular digital STB even if you do not subscribe to any additional HD tier.

Do you know what ROne was referring to with the Sat adjustment?

Saturation.

ROne,
I assumed Sat meant saturation but do you mean the color button in image adjust from -31 to =31 ? I do not see a Sat adjustment in the menu tree in the manual.

I had my first dissappoinment with the Z4 watching "Inside Man" a very dark movie consisting mostly of people running from darkened room to another darkened room(I don't mean the movie I am referring to the presentation of it by the Z4). I closed down the iris to -40 but the dark scenes just got lost as the characters blended into the set. Up to this point I was very impressed by the depth the Z4 was able to produce. I still have not read through this entire thread for tweak tips maybe now is the time. I have used Video essentials and have not been able to reslove fully the gray scales from dark to light as in the last two light blocks are blended together. If I could get a distinction of these last two possibly that would improve the dark scenes a bit.

I used "Creative Cinema" for the viewing and am wondering if another preset would be better for viewing darker movies.

ROne,
I assumed Sat meant saturation but do you mean the color button in image adjust from -31 to =31 ? I do not see a Sat adjustment in the menu tree in the manual.

I had my first dissappoinment with the Z4 watching "Inside Man" a very dark movie consisting mostly of people running from darkened room to another darkened room(I don't mean the movie I am referring to the presentation of it by the Z4). I closed down the iris to -40 but the dark scenes just got lost as the characters blended into the set. Up to this point I was very impressed by the depth the Z4 was able to produce. I still have not read through this entire thread for tweak tips maybe now is the time. I have used Video essentials and have not been able to reslove fully the gray scales from dark to light as in the last two light blocks are blended together. If I could get a distinction of these last two possibly that would improve the dark scenes a bit.

I used "Creative Cinema" for the viewing and am wondering if another preset would be better for viewing darker movies.

Many of us use the preset. Living, as the base as it has more punch than CC.

However, you can use the Gamma control to brighten the darker parts of the film. My presets use Gamma running from 0 to +4.

Or you can adjust the Gamma on the fly. Remember that the Image button on the remote will remember (recall) the last parameter that you adjust, so that if you make an adjustment to Gamma (and without saving it), you can bring Gamma back up at any point to change it to a lower (or higher) value by pressing the Image button. Thus you can temporarily increase it to brighten dark scenes and then reduce it again when the movie is showing brighter outdoor type scenes. (Or you can save a preferred gamma seting.) It makes a difference.

Shelly

ROne,
I assumed Sat meant saturation but do you mean the color button in image adjust from -31 to =31 ? I do not see a Sat adjustment in the menu tree in the manual.

I had my first dissappoinment with the Z4 watching "Inside Man" a very dark movie consisting mostly of people running from darkened room to another darkened room(I don't mean the movie I am referring to the presentation of it by the Z4). I closed down the iris to -40 but the dark scenes just got lost as the characters blended into the set. Up to this point I was very impressed by the depth the Z4 was able to produce. I still have not read through this entire thread for tweak tips maybe now is the time. I have used Video essentials and have not been able to reslove fully the gray scales from dark to light as in the last two light blocks are blended together. If I could get a distinction of these last two possibly that would improve the dark scenes a bit.

I used "Creative Cinema" for the viewing and am wondering if another preset would be better for viewing darker movies.

What DVD player are you using? Some players have black crush so I thought it's possible that could be the issue with the last two blocks. Just a thought.

For your screen question talk to the screen company and get them to send samples and watch them with your Z4 or go to your local AV store and view the different materials for yourself. I viewed the HCCV, DaMatt, Pearlecsent, High Power, CinemaVision, Silverstar, and others. It is a very subjective purchase but the screen dealers wil be more than happy to send you samples to try and make your decision easier.

The viewing angle was extremely important to me, the major reason why I did not simply purchase an RPTV, it might not be for you. I would recommend for this projector a DaLite or comparable High Contrast Cinema Vision or Cinema Vision, remember the darker the screen the more noise the fans in the projector will make.

I would also recommend a tensioned screen because you have the ability to raise it when not in use and possibly put a plasma or LCD TV behind the screen for occasional viewing. Something you could not do with a fixed screen mounted on the wall.

I had the chance to audition a 77 inch diagonal screen when I first began shopping and turned it down because I thought it smallish. It was offered at a great price as it was a demo unit. Keep your options open. The smaller the screen, the brighter the picture ( with similar screen material), the quieter the projector.

I agree with this and agree with the screen material recomendations. Get sample material as everyone has a personal preference and every room, angle, projector placement and DVD player etc... for each individual makes it hard to say for sure what's best.

As for the screen material discussion, a gray screen makes the blacks better and may not be as bright as a powerful white material, but if you get a good quality high contrast screen, brightness and color are not a problem. Not all HC material is created equal remember. :) My HCCV is very bright with colors that pop off the screen. These HC types of materials boost the perceived contrast by lowering black levels so you get better blacks and more contrast. This is what you want with an LCD. The HCCV is closer to silver than just dull gray. High power screens are better suited to projectors with better black levels however, it is all a matter of taste so that's why it's best to get sample material if you are unsure. Some people don't care as much about black levels and just wants the brightest most colorful screen possible. Even so, black levels are deemed by many experts as one of the most important part of a good picture. If you have a dedicated theater like mine, I think a perminant mount screen is best as it will stay flatter over time. If you do want another TV under it, then obviously you need one that can rollup. That would mostly be in the case of a familyroom application.

Guys,

Is is possible to achieve on Z4 somthing close on what we can see on Z5 out of the box?

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=de_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cine4home.de%2Ftests%2Fprojektoren%2FSa nyoZ5Preview%2FZ5Preview.htm

ROne,
I assumed Sat meant saturation but do you mean the color button in image adjust from -31 to =31 ? I do not see a Sat adjustment in the menu tree in the manual.

I had my first dissappoinment with the Z4 watching "Inside Man" a very dark movie consisting mostly of people running from darkened room to another darkened room(I don't mean the movie I am referring to the presentation of it by the Z4). I closed down the iris to -40 but the dark scenes just got lost as the characters blended into the set. Up to this point I was very impressed by the depth the Z4 was able to produce. I still have not read through this entire thread for tweak tips maybe now is the time. I have used Video essentials and have not been able to reslove fully the gray scales from dark to light as in the last two light blocks are blended together. If I could get a distinction of these last two possibly that would improve the dark scenes a bit.

I used "Creative Cinema" for the viewing and am wondering if another preset would be better for viewing darker movies.

Sorry, I do mean saturation, I don't like to use col or colour when talking about saturation even if it's not the same on the menu.

You could have all the issues mentioned above, although it's sometimes impossible using one film as reference. Perhaps try using a different "darker" film and see if you have the same situation.

Guys,

Is is possible to achieve on Z4 somthing close on what we can see on Z5 out of the box?

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=de_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cine4home.de%2Ftests%2Fprojektoren%2FSa nyoZ5Preview%2FZ5Preview.htm

Yep, with some calibration you can get close enough to D65. Although it's relevant to see that at the bottom of the itensity graph - greyscale is still all over the shop.


So the early benefits of the Z5 (evolution rather than revolution) are:

+ It's very close to D65 in the "cinema" mode out of the box, and gamma of 2.2

+ It appears to have two refined react iris modes, a fast one and subtle one - and these both appear better than the modes that are on the z4, though you can tweak these. It's not clear whether the two modes are user selectable from the main menu.

+The Z5 now has adaptive gamma, depending on where the reacting iris is. Something the Z4 lacked.

+Useful contrast in D65 is up to 1600-1700:1.

+Two HDMI ports.

It also has an alive mode which produces on/off of 10,000:1. Hmmmm.

Could someone please send me the link for the cineforhome original review of the Z4 with the bablefish? The link I read about the Z5 was interesting and talked about the Auto1 and Auto2 settings which have puzzeled me. This could possibly improve the black problem I described earlier.

I used Eco mode exculsivly. Are other users using the Auto modes?

Deeezilz you wrote,
What DVD player are you using? Some players have black crush so I thought it's possible that could be the issue with the last two blocks. Just a thought.

I have two players both which could show the entire gray scale on the last projector, (after mucho tweaking). I believe the same can be achieved on the Z4 in time.

Here's the English version of the Cine4home review:

http://www.cine4home.com/

Could someone please send me the link for the cineforhome original review of the Z4 with the bablefish? The link I read about the Z5 was interesting and talked about the Auto1 and Auto2 settings which have puzzeled me. This could possibly improve the black problem I described earlier.

I used Eco mode exculsivly. Are other users using the Auto modes?


Eco refers to the lamp mode.

Auto to the adaptive iris.

There are two iris modes on the Z4 and these are hard-wired to the presets.

Hi there, I apologize if this seems like a stupid question, but I have not been able to find an answer.

I am trying to get the image of my Z4 to fit my 106" Greywolf and cannot get it to fit exactly within the black borders. I have tried friggin with the menu with little luck. It is ceiling mounted at about 6' and is just over 12' from the screen. The challenge I have is that the image is higher than it is wide...meaning that I can get the top and bottom of the image to fit perfectly, but then the sides go over the black borders on the side (and vice versa). The image I am using to calibrate this is 16:9, so it should fit right in there.

Is this possible to fix and if so how?

Thanks very much for you patience and assistance.

Try to adjust the pitch and yaw of the projector to see if that helps. Those will be adjustment screws on your mount that allow you to move the projector up/down, left/right and also alows you to rotate it. If not, see if the pincushion adjustment helps. I don't usually like messing with that as it alters the picture digitally, but it could help. Get it as good as you can using these adjustments. Aside from that, most often when you have a corner or two that overlap a bit while the others fit perfectly, the wall itself is not perfectly straight. That is the case in my theater. At any rate, having the image slightly over the black is not really a problem at all. It's very difficult to get it perfect and so it's expected that it will overlap a bit here & there.

Thank you Dweezilz, I will try this out. Thanks again!

anyone come up with a definitive configuration for a toshiba hd-a1 set up through hdmi?

Start with Creative Cinema!!


[... snip ...]

DVI/HDMI Settings:
Brightness -9
Contrast +7
Color +5
Tint 0
Sharpness 0
R +10
G 0
B -5
Gain R +3
Gain G 0
Gain B +11
Offset R +6
Offset G -1
Offset B -12
L1
Gamma 0
Lens Iris -25

[... snip ...]



Hi,

I just wanted to give feedback for there settings above.

Situation:
DENON 1920 connected via 10 mtr. Hama HDMI cable to a Z4 in a light controlled room, DVD set to 720p.
I watched some DVDs with these settings, and it is the *first* time, that my "built-in colorimeter" (=> to look at skin tones) was totally satisfied. Faces really look like faces, skin looks like skin. It's the "i look out of the window"-effect. Everthing looks very "real" and "matter-of-factly". *Exactly* what I was looking for. (excuse my english, i am german)

THANKs a LOT, eagles4!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :D

best regards

sincerly
yutani

I also tried these settings as well. Not bad at all! I think I'm 96% there!

I also tried these settings as well. Not bad at all! I think I'm 96% there!

When you get to 100%, lemme know and share yer settings, pleeeze :)

Bestes!

yutani

To get to 100% I suppose I would have to get it calibrated by a pro and that is not in my budget at this time.

With a grand total of 24 hours on the Z4 I have my first dust blob, dead center of the screen. It is only visible in dark scenes showing up as a round lighter part of the overall dark background about 6 inches in diameter. I have read the manual in regards to removal of these blobs they speak of different color blobs. It has been my experience that they always show themselves in this manner, as a lighter portion of the screen in dark scenes.

I cannot believe that this would occur with so little time of use! My last projector was sent in for removal of dust and returned with the color uniformity altered and never returned to spec from that point on.

Question for members is do I use "the tool" in all the holes because it is not a color as such just a lighter part of the screen and do I operate the tool as shown in the manual? Are there better techniques for removal? What have other members done in this regard? I understand the projector remains on during the cleaning which should assist in the removal, I hope.

Hi all,

I have dialed in Rone's settings for the Z4 into my projector and have found that the screen door is really bad (tried it twice and the difference between new settings and CC is noticeable). Having said that, I know that his (Rone's) settings are right and I must be wrong. I used the settings that start with the Creative Cinema setting and am using an HDMI cable into a Panasonic S77. The screen is approximately 12.5' away and is 106".

Any help on what I have done (or not done) to the settings to get such bad screen door would be wonderful.

Thanks much!

i could be wrong-but i believe Rone's settings are for a HTPC.If you are not using HTPC .i would suggest that you try the settings mentioned in Yutani's post a few posts upI have found those to be very good at least on my Z4

...I didn't realize that the source player would make a difference.

It's amazing how much I have learned in the last 8-months since going front projection; but even more amazing how much I don't know.

Living...learning...

there is no need to apologize Tryguy-we are all learning.If you do try the settings let us know the results
Jossix

You're welcome

With a grand total of 24 hours on the Z4 I have my first dust blob, dead center of the screen. It is only visible in dark scenes showing up as a round lighter part of the overall dark background about 6 inches in diameter. I have read the manual in regards to removal of these blobs they speak of different color blobs. It has been my experience that they always show themselves in this manner, as a lighter portion of the screen in dark scenes.

I cannot believe that this would occur with so little time of use! My last projector was sent in for removal of dust and returned with the color uniformity altered and never returned to spec from that point on.

Question for members is do I use "the tool" in all the holes because it is not a color as such just a lighter part of the screen and do I operate the tool as shown in the manual? Are there better techniques for removal? What have other members done in this regard? I understand the projector remains on during the cleaning which should assist in the removal, I hope.

I have 600 hours on the Z4 with no "dust blobs".
The "blob" has to be on one color panel. Put in a signal on one color (green, red or blue to find the panel or use the panel adjustment colors in the advanced menu.

Eagles4,i now have to apologize for not giving you credit for those settings-I missed the fact that you were person who initially posted them- no slight intended.
The settings were great especially on my Toshiba Hd-A1 .\watched Shawshank Redemption and the pq with your settings was beautiful.
Jossix

kiwi2000

It's a dust blob. You can try the Sanyo tool with the bulb. Didn't work for me. I used the forbidden canned air. Be sure to use the wand from the Sanyo tool for depth. Place the Z4 on its side. Hold the can upright parallel to the unit with the nozzle @ right angles to the unit. Start spraying outside until no propellant before you mate it to the Sanyo tool. They tell you not to do this in the manual, so be advised.

Hi Guys,

First time posting to this thread.

I just bought the Z4 based on the online reviews, flexibility with the lens shift, 3 year waranty, low price - ($1,500) and free extra bulb. I previously had a Piano HE3100 DLP which looked great for DVD's.

I'm projecting on to my wall which is painted off white. Ceiling mount about 15 feet from the wall, making the picture about 10 feet wide. Seating is about 17 feet from the wall. I tried using the Video Essentials DVD to set up the projector but, it left the picture took dark with no details in dark scenes. I know I should probably buy a screen but I like the look with no screen. I'm use to it with the Piano for the past five years. I'm using a HDTV cable box from Comcast in Cromwell, CT.

Big improvement over the old Piano projector. I just need to know how I can improve two things. In the dark scenes, you still miss a lot of the detail. Maybe there is nothing you can do with this without a screen?

My other problem is sometimes bright white picture information looks bloomed out - like too much contrast but, the rest of the picture looks fine. Example is the Giants VS Colts game last night. The white shirt that one of the annoucers was wearing looked like it was glowing. To a lesser extent, the white in the football uniforms also has this glowing effect. The rest of the picture looked fine.

On the DVD Ladder 59 (49?) the fire looked to be glowing too much.

I'm using component inputs.

Thanks!

Roland

I am happy to report I have removed the dust blob using the supplied tool from sanyo. I am disturbed that the dust occured with so little use however. It makes me wonder what is in store throughout its useful life, but that is another story.

Rolandl

You might want to check and see if the component cables are directional, ie. arrows pointing to the direction of signal flow on the cable jacket. Make sure they are the right way. You might have a cable crossconnected. Also check the settings on the projector for brightness, etc..

An earlier projector I purchased had this exact same problem on the initial setup, I returned it for another.

I have over 300 hours and no blobs as of yet. I wouldn't worry that the Z4 is more susceptible to it. Kinda makes me want to get the movie "Beware! The blob!" ha!

Hi Guys,

First time posting to this thread.

I just bought the Z4 based on the online reviews, flexibility with the lens shift, 3 year waranty, low price - ($1,500) and free extra bulb. I previously had a Piano HE3100 DLP which looked great for DVD's.

I'm projecting on to my wall which is painted off white. Ceiling mount about 15 feet from the wall, making the picture about 10 feet wide. Seating is about 17 feet from the wall. I tried using the Video Essentials DVD to set up the projector but, it left the picture took dark with no details in dark scenes. I know I should probably buy a screen but I like the look with no screen. I'm use to it with the Piano for the past five years. I'm using a HDTV cable box from Comcast in Cromwell, CT.

Big improvement over the old Piano projector. I just need to know how I can improve two things. In the dark scenes, you still miss a lot of the detail. Maybe there is nothing you can do with this without a screen?

My other problem is sometimes bright white picture information looks bloomed out - like too much contrast but, the rest of the picture looks fine. Example is the Giants VS Colts game last night. The white shirt that one of the annoucers was wearing looked like it was glowing. To a lesser extent, the white in the football uniforms also has this glowing effect. The rest of the picture looked fine.

On the DVD Ladder 59 (49?) the fire looked to be glowing too much.

I'm using component inputs.

Thanks!

Roland

What setting are you using? Creative Cinema, Pure Cinema, Natural or ?
Any of the last three settings, Dynamic, Powerful, or Vivid will blow the lights out unless adjustments are made in the menu. Stick with Creative and Pure to start with and go from there. Maybe try some of the settings that have been suggested in this thread.

Rolandl

You might want to check and see if the component cables are directional, ie. arrows pointing to the direction of signal flow on the cable jacket.

Cables are not directional. The electrons don't care which direction they go.

there is no need to apologize Tryguy-we are all learning.If you do try the settings let us know the results
Jossix

I have dialed in the settings that Yutani had posted and Jossix pointed me to and the difference is fantastic! Thank you Yutani. The one comment I have, is that for certain scenes the picture seems a little hot. Meaning, the red and yellows seem to be really bright but only for certain scenes. Would dialing the brightness help with that or is that a different setting?

Thanks again guys!

What setting are you using? Creative Cinema, Pure Cinema, Natural or ?
Any of the last three settings, Dynamic, Powerful, or Vivid will blow the lights out unless adjustments are made in the menu. Stick with Creative and Pure to start with and go from there. Maybe try some of the settings that have been suggested in this thread.

Sorry. I like the Creative Cinema setting. The settings that have been posted are for HDMI input and I'm using Component. Would the same settings be OK with Component?

Thanks,

Roland

They should be pretty close, at least they are with my setup. DVD player using HDMI and my HD TV tuner using the components. I did have to dial in the brightness and contrast a little when using component, but the rest of the settings stayed the same.

I did forget to mention that I had to adjust the component setting by using the colour managment tool to adjust the skin tones. It was a little too red, but looked ok with HDMI.

Start with Creative Cinema!!

Hi,

I just wanted to give feedback for there settings above.

Situation:
DENON 1920 connected via 10 mtr. Hama HDMI cable to a Z4 in a light controlled room, DVD set to 720p.
I watched some DVDs with these settings, and it is the *first* time, that my "built-in colorimeter" (=> to look at skin tones) was totally satisfied. Faces really look like faces, skin looks like skin. It's the "i look out of the window"-effect. Everthing looks very "real" and "matter-of-factly". *Exactly* what I was looking for. (excuse my english, i am german)

THANKs a LOT, eagles4!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :D

best regards

sincerly
yutani

I gotta agree with you on this one. I've only had my Z4 for a week (11 hours on the bulb) and after endless tweaking and calibrating I was getting fed up. Certainly someone elses setting couldn't work for me what with different ambient light, different screens, different DVD players - right? Wrong!

The settings posted by eagles4 are very close to perfect. Much better than I achieved on my own. Faces are faces, colors are vibrant but not glowy, darks are dark (not black but not bad!). The only issue I have currently is I think my whites are still blooming. Some scenes with windows in the background are too white. Other than that, the Z4 is finally all I hoped it would be.

You can actually tone down the whites a bit by using the colour management as well.

Hey everyone, I wanted to post my experiences with these settings. Please don't take this as an insult to Eagles4!!! I started with Creative Cinema so I hope that's right. I tried these settings last night for my Time Warner SA8300 HD box via component and for some reason, these settings aren't even close to being good for my theater. I was expecting to be blown away, yet for some unknown reason, it just didn't look all that good. I compared Monday Night Football with these settings and my old settings and my old settings were brighter and more sharp with rich colors. I was disappointed as I expected them to be great. It seems too red (without any color management tweaking). The whites were far too light and there was a white haze over the picture because it seems for my setup, brightness was far too high. I'm in a 100% light controlled room and a high contrast cinema vision screen, so maybe these settings just aren't conducive to that setup. I haven't seen a setting with the lense iris that wide open before so maybe it has to do with that to some degree too. Most common is between 30-44 and this was 26. Oh well, it was worth a shot. For now, my tweaked Living settings from ROne seem to still be the best with my Dynamic with full lamp equally good for live applications. (I posted the dynamic a while back but I don't know that anyone tried them...). To this day I have not seen any settings provide the fine detail that I get with my Dynamic settings (Chuck C. created them).

Anyway, it's always appreciated when someone posts their settings so if you feel yours are great, definitely post 'em.