Chrobins
Cable is 15' long....also tried a 20'
Could it be that the Duo player and projector can't ahve BOTH component AND hdmi/Dvi
imput at the same time?

That would be really strange is that was the problem. Actually it's surprising to me that the UP-5000 outputs via component and HDMI at the same time. I believe my HD-A2 disables component if it detects an HDMI connection. That's actually a pretty nice feature. Especially if you want to route the signal to 2 different displays.

You can always disconnect the component output to test your theory. Also, make sure you don't have any power cords, speaker wires, etc touching your HDMI cable.

What make cable do you have?
I have had the start up issue a couple of times. Last week it was multiple restarting two nights in row.
I have tried different power up sequences to understand a bit about it but have not been able to repeat the issue. It has been working flawlessly.
Here is proven way that has worked for me.
Turn the pj on first and then within a few secs turn the hd3000. The source is not that important when it is powered up but if one doesn't have the hd3k in the chain the source should be powered on within secs after the pj.

Handshake issue has a lot to do with cable quality and length.
I have a 25' and a 40'. Everytime I switch to the 40' I have issues but if I turn off the hd3k off and then on while the pj is seraching or losing sync it will sync with no issues and continues to operate w/o any problems. With my 25' there is no issues. Both cables are bluejeans series 2.

I also have a Directv hr20, HD DVR, that is connected two ways.
HDMI goes to Optoma and component goes to my Nec XG CRT fp. Both are feeding the pj's at the same time. I have done some a/b tests the CRT against the Optoma many times. Optoma works with that set up perfectly fine.

I tell you, you have to keep on Optoma regarding them working on your projector and/or scaler because I've had two experiences with them now regarding work on my scaler and both times, right after I complained about them taking forever doing the work, they let me know my item shipped. Both times, within 24 hours of complaining, I received notification that my item had shipped.

For the latest, they've had my scaler for over 3 weeks, yet when I complained yesterday, they claimed to have no idea when they would ship it to me, but today I get the email saying my item shipped.

The last time, I complained and they even said they had absolutely no idea when they could/would send me my scaler as they weren't even sure how to do the 'fix', yet the very next day I got the shipping notice. Of course, the scaler didn't work when I got it back, but that is another story.

Frustration level: red...

George

For a positive spin to get away from all the negative comments...

I ran the Rattatouli and The Kingdom on br/ps3 and boy they looked real good.
The ansi cr and color were just amazing. There are lots of good thing about this projector and the processor that have been neglected.

Seems that this threat has become the dumping ground for daily frustrations or complains.
Keep enjoying it. Despite a few annoyances this pj is hard to beat in pq unless spend a lot more.

Very true. Best projector I've owned yet. Pity I had to unload it because I needed the cash for our upcoming move but the images were absolutely incredible, especially on HD DVD and Blu-ray. Oh, and the desktop from my PC was like looking through a window viewed via DVI-HDMI-DVI.

Presently debating whether to buy it again after I move. It's either that or one of the BenQs or the Mitsubishi HC6000.

Wayne

Very true. Best projector I've owned yet. Pity I had to unload it because I needed the cash for our upcoming move but the images were absolutely incredible, especially on HD DVD and Blu-ray. Oh, and the desktop from my PC was like looking through a window viewed via DVI-HDMI-DVI.

Presently debating whether to buy it again after I move. It's either that or one of the BenQs or the Mitsubishi HC6000.

Wayne
I have had many pj's including some CRT fp and this pj competes well with my crt in color and have actually better ansi cr. Smooth and detailed and good every scence black level. The fan while not quiet is subdued imo and dosen't distract.
The host of tweaks are incredible in the hs3k and color can be tweaked to near perfection in both saturation and hue.

One nice thing about the pj is its lens. What a hefty one. Focus is sharp corner to corner with no light fall off and zero abberations.:)

Yes. My previous projector was no slouch: Optoma HD78DC3. It couldn't compete with the sharpness of the HD7100. One corner was soft or blurry. The lens for those who haven't seen it in action is truly a thing of beauty and is probably worth the price of the projector alone.

There are lots of things that I like/d about the HD7100. The lens shift is a real bonus, especially on a DLP projector. Then there's the short throw. Certainly a detriment to some setups but I love the fact that you can have a huge screen in a small room. :)

Small footprint. Some projectors require you to lease extra land in order to accommodate them! :eek:

Almost perfect calibration right out of the box. I ran my SpyderTVPro and there were only minor changes required.

Good shadow detail and blacks.

Don't forget about the legendary Optoma colors.

Oh, I almost forgot....no air filter to replace. Just a little vacuuming of the vents once in a while. Dust blobs should be just about non-existent with this projector given this fact and it's sealed light path.

Nice menu system. Not cluttered or complicated.

And once again, sharp as a tack! :)

Wayne

I agree 100%. I am as anal as one can be and my only complain about this pj is its on/off and that is only in comparison to my crt.
As you said the out of box is just fantastic. There are not many pj's out there like this. After calibration I only have altered the green and red a couple clicks.
There is zero ringing despite its tack sharp picture even when I run 480p.
Ringing and edge enhancements have been a pitfall of many digital pj's and its over looked by user's.

Having said that this weekend I recalibed the pj for d65 with instrument and I realized that it has lost a bit of red output. But that has to do with UHP lamp and comes with age. As result I have to continue to reduce the green and blue output as hours mount up. Good thing I have the free bulb in hand when I need to.

If I was in the market I would have bought this pj again. It is sad that Optoma USA is having issues with some service and repairs reported here. They should stay competetives with big guys like Sharp, Sony etc to survive or they wil be out soon. And that would be sad imo cause this company has produced some nice DLP's for anals with good results.

Guys, What's your opinion about screens for the 7100? What i'm using now needs upgrading,their ok for my hitachi
I don't want to pay a fortune but reasonably priced ie less or = to 100. Just kidding.
Have a gray Elite 92" gain 1.0 to 1.1 need to try before taking back if I don't like it. If you don't mind weigh in if it's not much trouble. I know there are lots of previous posts but I'm too lazy to go back through these threads.

I am a shameless apologetic for Da-Lite High Power screens. I paired a 106" 16:9 screen with the HD7100. I ceiling mounted the projector and there was lots of 'pop', 'wow' and 'punch' to the image even without rice crispies! :)

Wayne

Mystery,What model? By the way you said you might buy it again later. Since I have 2 7100's and
am not in a hurry to sell 1, give me a pm later if your in the market. I just want to break even. I have bulb warranties on both and probably won't open it for a while if at all.

never mind i found it

Bulb strike issue reared its ugly head last night!

78 hours showing on the clock. PJ turned on first. Bulb lit up but showed nothing on the screen. Then went dark after a few minutes. several cycles of soft ticking, then fan went into high speed. After another few minutes, bulb lit and all was good to go.

Question #1: this was the first time since I had the pj that I started it up twice in one day (several hours of off - with UPS shut off). Never had a problem with once a day - could timing have something to do with it?

Question #2: Is this something to be concerned about? i.e. is it going to get worse with time? Or, will it continue as is, once in a while, eventually starting up in 5 or minutes? I can deal with it if it will be like last night. If the problem will get worse, I'm planning on worrying (yes, I'm anal too!)

snomon1017, Make sure your auto poweroff is not on in the options menu. I know some people have chimmed in as to it not mattering, but at least it will not be the cause. Multiple startups can't be good for the life of the bulb. The root cause is perplexing.

I too am extremely happy with the image thrown by the HD7300. As long as the lamp holds out and the lamp strike issue stays away I'll be smiling all the way to the bank.

snomon1017, Make sure your auto poweroff is not on in the options menu. I know some people have chimmed in as to it not mattering, but at least it will not be the cause. Multiple startups can't be good for the life of the bulb. The root cause is perplexing.

Common thought has been to keep the "Auto off" off.
But when the logo doesn't show up, the pj will do a cooling prcess and restrike after cooling. With auto off set to on it will shut off completly. Right??
If so I would rather that be "ON" so it won't restike the lamp.

still it's another restart whether it's 5 minutes or 5 hours later. It's conjecture as
to what's worse when this happens. I've owned an infocus and hitachi and have never seen a double startup on the lamp. Since auto power off is a firmware setting and if the firmware is buggy it well may not matter except in the instance when idle for a while or when no signal is detected.

Does the lamp get harder to fire up as it ages? Lamps dim over time so is there a connection between lamp firing and age? Could it be that the problem is in the hardware that fires up the lamp, like sending out a weak signal to fire the bulb? If so, it would explain why strike issues don't occur early in the lamp life cycle. If so, one would expect to have increasing problems over time.

For those who have had the bulb strike issue, does it seem to get more frequent over time or is there no correlation between lamp age and strike issues?

I recall reading in an earlier post that Optoma has identified the strike issue and has it resolved. If so, to what do they attribute the problem?

If this is of any help to others on start up sequence and synching, here is what I have found between my Comcast 6412, Toshiba A3, HD3000, and 7300 Proj.

My comcast cable 6412 is always left on. I am using a Monoprice 15' HDMI to DVI cable and 3' MonoPrice cables between components to HD3000.

The sequence between Proj and HD3000 always needs the Projector on first or else you need to restart the HD3000 (which is essentially the same as having the projector on first).

The sequence between DVD and HD3000 also works better to have the HD3000 first. If you start the DVD first, you may need to power it off and on again to get it to work, or it might work. Its intermittent. Starting the HD3000 before the powering on the DVD always worked for me.

still it's another restart whether it's 5 minutes or 5 hours later. It's conjecture as
to what's worse when this happens. I've owned an infocus and hitachi and have never seen a double startup on the lamp. Since auto power off is a firmware setting and if the firmware is buggy it well may not matter except in the instance when idle for a while or when no signal is detected.

I think it is preferreable not to restrike the bulb right after cooling down.
Even if it is five minutes wait that is what I think is the right think to do.
Hence turning the "auto off" to off provides no benefit other than quick start up at he price of a possible damage to the bulb.

Mystery,What model? By the way you said you might buy it again later. Since I have 2 7100's and
am not in a hurry to sell 1, give me a pm later if your in the market. I just want to break even. I have bulb warranties on both and probably won't open it for a while if at all.

mkoss,

The screen I use is the model B. I'll keep you in mind if I decide to re-purchase the HD7100. Thanks. :)

Wayne

I found a service manual for dlp projector on the web. For those that have time this will give some insight into the inner workings of a projector and what happens happens during a lamp strike


http://www.toshibadisplays.com/Downloads/P380DL-ServiceManual-f%20(2).pdf

I posted this link on lamps a while back. It has some useful information.

http://www.ercservice.com/lamps/philips/PhilipsUHPLamps.html

Common thought has been to keep the "Auto off" off.
But when the logo doesn't show up, the pj will do a cooling prcess and restrike after cooling. With auto off set to on it will shut off completly. Right??
If so I would rather that be "ON" so it won't restike the lamp.

In over 900 hours of pj use, I have noticed, at most 3 times, that even though there was light in the lens, the logo/picture did not show up when on DVI connection. Then I turned on a different source on component connection and with the remote I changed the input signal to component and the pj always recognized that signal and showed the new logo/picture. Then, I turned off and on again the source on DVI and voila, the pj did show now the DVI logo/picture when asked to show DVI with the remote control. Thus, in this way, I effectively prevented a double bulb strike every time :D

The HD7100 is a woman I tell ya! :D You can't live with or without it. ;)

Wayne

In over 900 hours of pj use, I have noticed, at most 3 times, that even though there was light in the lens, the logo/picture did not show up when on DVI connection. Then I turned on a different source on component connection and with the remote I changed the input signal to component and the pj always recognized that signal and showed the new logo/picture. Then, I turned off and on again the source on DVI and voila, the pj did show now the DVI logo/picture when asked to show DVI with the remote control. Thus, in this way, I effectively prevented a double bulb strike every time :D

This is my methodology,ie to have an additional input I can cycle through manually should DVI not be detected. I'm glad to hear it works for someone on a repeatable basis. It could be that even though auto power off is set to
off, the power up routine glitches and ignores this setting(firmware) that cycling through manually averts a double start. Hope this works for others.

In over 900 hours of pj use, I have noticed, at most 3 times, that even though there was light in the lens, the logo/picture did not show up when on DVI connection. Then I turned on a different source on component connection and with the remote I changed the input signal to component and the pj always recognized that signal and showed the new logo/picture. Then, I turned off and on again the source on DVI and voila, the pj did show now the DVI logo/picture when asked to show DVI with the remote control. Thus, in this way, I effectively prevented a double bulb strike every time :D

I hope that is the case.
Last couple of days I have decided to play with different settings to explore the case a bit.
Fisrt I decided to turn the pj on and wait till I see the logo first.
So far in about six trials it has worked. No signal to pj at all and logo comes on.
Then I turned the signal and it has synced so far.

Tuning the pj on and get boot logo should not have anything with incoming signal and sync. Once you see DVI search then pj is trying to make a handshake once the signal is sought.

Does the ps3 work well with the hd7300. Thinking of getting one soon?

I hope that is the case.
Last couple of days I have decided to play with different settings to explore the case a bit.
Fisrt I decided to turn the pj on and wait till I see the logo first.
So far in about six trials it has worked. No signal to pj at all and logo comes on.
Then I turned the signal and it has synced so far.

Tuning the pj on and get boot logo should not have anything with incoming signal and sync. Once you see DVI search then pj is trying to make a handshake once the signal is sought.

I have decided to drop the 7100 - I want to spend more time watching movies then fiddeling around with the start up procedure. I shouldn't be concerned before a movie how and if the pj will start - I should look forward to entertainment. And when the movie is finished I want to spend thoughts on what I have seen and not about the way I shut down the system in order to make it work better the next time.
I am looking towards the HD65 and HD71 - small, bright, new designed machines but with no reliability record. But hard to imagine being worse then the 7100.
I know it is fun tinkering around with pj's and improving their performance - but being busy getting it started is beyond fun on my scale.

I think the entire start up procedure and strike issue are hoax.
As I learn about this pj I am leaning to believe that not every thing you read in this threat is accurate at all.

During last week or so I have truned the pj on and nothing else waiting for Optoma logo to show up on screen and it does without any signal at all. Now you figure what the heck is going here with all the posts talking about lamp doesn't strike if no signal.
In fact I have about 200 hrs on the pj and have never seen one single time that my lamp did not strike.
As far as switching to another pj, I don't know.. I don't see any issues that warrants such a move at least for me. The case is overblown. I do however think that the DVI is its weakest link of this pj and DVI chip has nothing to do with Optoma.
I do however think moving to those pj's you mentioned is a going to be a step down in pq. Best of luck.

You are right saying that some things are overblown and not accurate and we do not hear from people whose machine work flawless or who don't care. I do like the picture it produces and will check over the weekend the picture of HD65 and HD71. But thoughts and time spend on changing start up and shut down procedure, changing cables and input sources, reading forums to get this pj started got to me. I rather spend that time and thoughts on actual improvments after the machine has started up. I will report back about my findings with other pjs and how much is it worth to me putting up with a pq decrease (if any) compared to a temperamental 7100.

You do what is best for you.
There are PQ differences and you will step down whether you see it or not.
If you have sever case of no picture at start up you need to look into the cable quality and lenght and if they fine and still have issue then you will need to make up your mind.
Just turn the pj first and as soon as you see the The Optoma logo turn the signal.

Where in particular should I look concerning the pq of the HD65/71 compared to the 7100? Contrast, depth, sharpness, color....
Pointing me on to the right path would help - thanks.

Those units that you mentiones are entry level units.
You are not going to get hi contrast, accurate color with DC3. If you want to drop the 7300 better do it for a unit that is wortwhile. Yes the DVI is somewhat picky on signal feed but it is not like I am sitting here and scratching my head trying to decide what to do next.

heiwi,

I can certainly understand your frustration. We shouldn't spend all of this hard earned money and then have to put up with problems such as these. This is especially so when you don't read of other projectors having such issues.

However, I've found that sometimes you trade in one problem for another. ;)

They're all kind of finicky in one way or another unfortunately. Granted, some people have had terrible luck with the HD7100 and this is unsatisfactory to say the least. Others have found it to be a good, if not great projector.

I don't blame you for wanting to try another model. As CaspianM has stated though, you will be giving up something to go to the models that you've mentioned. But this may be a comfortable move for you for peace of mind.

My HD7100 was very consistent. It did have a few hiccups but would always come on after a re-start. There were occasions where I just had to be patient and it would take it's time to finally show a picture. A bit of a hassle and somewhat troubling to be sure but I think my particular projector needed to kind of 'burn in' a bit because after the first 50 plus hours of use it seemed to settle down and operated almost flawlessly. Many times I went literally weeks without a problem.

Whatever you decide, don't look back and good luck! :)

Wayne

Is anybody having problems getting audio out of their HD3000?

I don't have an HDMI capable audio receiver so I'm simply trying to pass-through the audio by hooking up my source to the 'From AV Receiver' port on the HD3000 and my display (my Westy LCD) to the 'To Display' port on the HD3000. This is the simplest of the three setup options available on the HD3000.

All I'm getting is static. My source is my Dish Network VIP622 HD receiver. The video is getting through fine, just the audio is nothing but static. I'm going to try to send the audio from my Tosh A2 HD DVD player tomorrow using the same setup.

If anybody is using their HD3000 in this way, please let me know if your audio is ok.

Thanks,
George

Bob, I Think the HD3000 don't process audio only video.

The MUX should pass audio but not the TX. The switcher is the MUX.

Bob, I Think the HD3000 don't process audio only video.

On page 9 of the HD3000's User Guide,
"Option 3
If you have a single HDMI source, you can hook the Video source directly up to the "From AV Receiver" port on the back of the HD3000. Connect a second HDMI cable to the "To Display" port on the back of the HD3000 and attach the other end to your Plasma TV or Projector display system.

This configuration will provide the 2.1 audio and high resolution video for your display."

This is how I have my HD3000 hooked up to my Westinghouse LCD. I get only static. I've tried switching out all the HDMI cables, no luck. Tried switching different HDMI ports on the Westy, no luck. Tried cycling different on/off sequences of the two devices, no luck. Video is displayed correctly, even 1080p 60Hz.

I don't have an HDMI capable audio receiver though to test any other of the two configurations, nor do I have a different display with audio capabilities to test either.

Optoma says they tested the audio of my HD3000 using more than one configuration but not the simplest one, the one I'm using which is merely passing through the audio signal. Which when you stop and think about it, is an interesting thing to say (that they tested the audio capabilities of my HD3000 and it worked fine on the different configurations they tested). The manual says pretty clearly that it will only pass audio using option 1 or 3 but not option 2, yet Optoma claimed to have tested different configurations, but not option 3, and said the audio was working fine on all tested configurations. Hmmmmm.... Maybe they were talking about different configurations of option 1 with a HDMI capable audio receiver? If so, then that makes sense.

Anyways, just thought I would ask to see if somebody else would be willing to check theirs. Maybe we owners could figure it out amongst us.

When Optoma sent me my 'fixed' (although not really fixed) HD3000 the first time, there was audio (although along with the static) using option 2. Interestingly enough, as mentioned in the HD3000's User's Guide on page 8 and 9, this option should not work for audio, "The HD3000 will be used only to process the Video signals." When I got my HD3000 back this last time, this exact same setup using the exact same cables and devices passed only static, no audio at all.

Now, I would just like to be able to pass audio using Option 3, simple pass through. By the way, the static I get now using option 3 is the exact same static I get using option 2, both now and before.

Thanks for the help,
George

Well, I just had what appears to be a lamp blowout at 385 hours. The projector starts up but there is no logo and no light coming from it. I have both DVI and Component connected to it. I unplugged it and tried again this morning and still nothing. It seems that it is trying to do a restart after a bit, the light flashes blue once and I hear some different sounds, but eventually it shuts itself off.

Optoma is sending me a new lamp. Fortunately I am still under warranty. The lamp lasted a whole 60 days! This leaves me very concerned about lamp life! My kids are usually watching this on Component. Yesterday I was watching it and switched it to DVI. When we tried to start it again later in the evening the lamp wouldn't go on. Leaves me concerned that leaving it off in DVI could be causing some lamp problem. I have auto-off turned off.

This isn't good if the lamp only lasts 400 hours or so! My kids use it a lot! It is ceiling mounted, so it isn't getting bumped or anything. And we are carefull not to turn it on and off a lot during the day.

Yesterday, though, I watched it for about 3 hours, then asked the kids if they were going to use it and they said no, so I shut it off. Of course they changed their mind 20 minutes later and went to turn it on but it wouldn't work.

there are peoples that have the 7100\73000 with a bulb life of a near 1000hr?

(This isn't good if the lamp only lasts 400 hours or so! My kids use it a lot! It is ceiling mounted, so it isn't getting bumped or anything. And we are carefull not to turn it on and off a lot during the day.)

How old are your kids? For me a projector is an adult toy and not a kids toy. Are you around when they turn it on and off? I believe somewhere in the avs forum studies show
bulbs last longer if left on longer with less on/off cycles. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Well, I just had what appears to be a lamp blowout at 385 hours. The projector starts up but there is no logo and no light coming from it. I have both DVI and Component connected to it. I unplugged it and tried again this morning and still nothing. It seems that it is trying to do a restart after a bit, the light flashes blue once and I hear some different sounds, but eventually it shuts itself off.

Optoma is sending me a new lamp. Fortunately I am still under warranty. The lamp lasted a whole 60 days! This leaves me very concerned about lamp life! My kids are usually watching this on Component. Yesterday I was watching it and switched it to DVI. When we tried to start it again later in the evening the lamp wouldn't go on. Leaves me concerned that leaving it off in DVI could be causing some lamp problem. I have auto-off turned off.

This isn't good if the lamp only lasts 400 hours or so! My kids use it a lot! It is ceiling mounted, so it isn't getting bumped or anything. And we are carefull not to turn it on and off a lot during the day.

Yesterday, though, I watched it for about 3 hours, then asked the kids if they were going to use it and they said no, so I shut it off. Of course they changed their mind 20 minutes later and went to turn it on but it wouldn't work.

Who did you talk to in Optoma?
Did you go thru RMA or just phone call?
If you want you can PM me. Thanks

FYI, my kids I am referring to are in college, watching a lot of football, movies, and Xbox gaming over this Christmas break. As I said, we try to limit the on/off cycles. Our previous Hitachi PJ-TX100 player lasted 2.5 years and over 4000 hours on the bulb (and we didn't know enough to be concerned about the on/off cycles on that one!).

I talked to Robert at Optoma by calling the number on the online warranty service page. He is sending a new bulb and I have an RMA to return the other one.

Is there a way to tell if it is for sure the bulb that is bad and not something on the projector? I will look at the bulb when I take the projector down to send the bulb back. I am thinking, even if it is something wrong with the projector, I would like to get a new bulb first while covered by warranty.

Robert diagnosed the problem over the phone as a bulb, but he at first said it was a power supply. I explained that the projector would show a blue light when shut down, and the fan was running, just no light, and then he said it was a lamp problem. I also can't see any light looking into the lens or from the side of the housing, and nothing comes up with the menu, etc.

By the way, I may have had a couple of times in the past where it may have needed a restrike, where I have had to shut it down and turn it back on again. But it could have been other issues at the time, such as not synching, etc, which I wasn't as sure of.

I had called service one other time, because I had shut down the projector and left it like that at night, but the fan never shut off. Got up in the morning and the fan was still running but no lamp. I called service on that and they told me to unplug it to shut it off, which I did, and then it worked normally after that, shutting off appropriately. That was about a month ago.

I agree about the pj-tx100(I own 1 too), it doesn't have the finicky startup issues the Optoma has. I have just a few hours on it so no startup issues yet. However getting it to sync to a signal is a bit of labor in the beginning. I'm very impressed with the image once running.One difference is the hitachi is a 150 watt bulb and the Optoma is 250 watts which runs hotter. when a bulb strikes there's around 20 kv applied initially to the bulb which applies a lot of stress. Once running the voltage drops to 50 to 100 volts and is current regulated I believe.

By the way my kids are college and high school age and are not careful how they use electronics. They leave games and computers on when not in use. I'm constantly monitoring them

I hear what you say about kids being careful with electronics. But actually they are the ones that yell at me if I happen to leave their xbox on, that I had used for testing etc. And how can we not be careful with the projector, other than turning it off and on too many times, which they are not doing? What else could they do to it up on the ceiling?

For the first month or so I had the device only connected through component until I got an HDMI/DVI cord and strung it through the ceiling. I wasn't having any problem with it through component and the TV/Xbox/DVD were just connected through the component switching receiver. Only one item to change that way. Now that I have the HD3000 connected, the kids still watch the TV through component because that is what they are used to and it is still connected that way as well. It didn't have the bulb problem until I was watching TV through DVI and shut it off that way.

I love the picture quality compared to the TX100. It really does blow away in comparison. I got the HD7300 because I need the short throw capability. Still not as good as the Hitachi but the HD7300 one of the better if not the best at short throw.

I just got off the phone with Optoma again and they are telling me that the HD3000 will not switch audio.

There are 3 options for hooking audio up to the HD3000;
Option 1, utilizes an HDMI capable audio receiver
Option 2, audio is separately routed directly to the audio receiver bypassing the HD3000
Option 3, single HDMI source using the HD3000 as 'pass through' (for lack of a better word)

I can't get audio out of the HD3000 no matter how I set it up. I don't have an HDMI capable receiver but I have tried both option 2 and option 3 without success.

My sources are Dish Network VIP622 HD Sat receiver and the Toshiba A2 HD DVD player. My display is the Westinghouse TX series 1080p LCD.

How are you guys hooking up your HD3000 and are you getting audio out using either option 2 or option 3, from the HD3000 manual, page 8 and 9?

Thanks for the help,
George

If manual says it does (the MUX) pass the audio then it should. I don't take every think they say.
This company has a record history of inconsistency and not telling the truth. They sorta play it by the ear day to day if not hour to hour. They say different things to different owners who have issues with their equipment.

I would check mine with another reciever that I have with HDMI but it is not in the theater room right now.

I just got off the phone with Optoma again and they are telling me that the HD3000 will not switch audio.

There are 3 options for hooking audio up to the HD3000;
Option 1, utilizes an HDMI capable audio receiver
Option 2, audio is separately routed directly to the audio receiver bypassing the HD3000
Option 3, single HDMI source using the HD3000 as 'pass through' (for lack of a better word)

I can't get audio out of the HD3000 no matter how I set it up. I don't have an HDMI capable receiver but I have tried both option 2 and option 3 without success.

My sources are Dish Network VIP622 HD Sat receiver and the Toshiba A2 HD DVD player. My display is the Westinghouse TX series 1080p LCD.

How are you guys hooking up your HD3000 and are you getting audio out using either option 2 or option 3, from the HD3000 manual, page 8 and 9?

Thanks for the help,
George

Never tried option 2 or 3, but option 1 worked with my Panny SA-R700. Sorry I can't be more help then that.

Is there anybody out there with the HD3000 and a flat panel display that would be willing to switch to option 3 for hookup to check if audio is passed correctly?

All you need to do is run your source into your "From AV Receiver" port and out to display on the "To Display" port of the HD3000. I would suggest unplugging the other inputs for testing purposes just to make sure there is no interference.

I would greatly appreciate it. Optoma is telling me that Option 2 and Option 3 do not work and that in order to send audio through the HD3000, I will need an HDMI capable audio receiver. I am finding this hard to believe!

Option 3 simply passes the video and audio signal through the HD3000 from the source to your display device.

Option 2, the manual states that to "...ensure proper audio connections...", you will need to directly connect audio from source to display (bypassing the HD3000). The problem I have with this is my video is still going through the HD3000 and it is introducing very loud static to the audio of my display device. If I follow Optoma's instructions and route a separate audio connection to my display device, I'm still going to be receiving the static over the HDMI connection that is being generated by the HD3000.

In essence, the HD3000 will only work using Option 1, which includes an HDMI capable audio receiver. Everybody else is SOL.

Either there is something wrong with my HD3000 or there is something wrong with everybody's HD3000. Optoma tech told me that they could/would swap out my HD3000 but that the replacement is going to behave the exact same way.

First, they sell you the neutered HD3000 without disclosing it, charge $314 to de-neuter it, then advise you that 2/3 of the audio capabilities don't work. Absolutely no response from Optoma CEO Otto King either, been waiting over two months now.

I really would appreciate it if somebody would be willing to check their HD3000 under the option 3 hookup parameters, page 9 of the manual.

George

I'm currently using Option 2. I routinely swap the HDMI output between the projector and an LCD TV. With the LCD connected I get terrible static over the HDMI audio.

I've never tried option 3, but I'll give it a shot tonight and report back.

Spec says it does pass audio thru its MUX and it does.
I have tried both a receiver and direct input to the Toshiba LCD flat panel and both worked. No audio pass thru TX as the manual says. Must be your unit!

I'm currently using Option 2. I routinely swap the HDMI output between the projector and an LCD TV. With the LCD connected I get terrible static over the HDMI audio.

I've never tried option 3, but I'll give it a shot tonight and report back.

Thanks chrobins, confirmation finally.

Do you hear any of the audio signal at all or only static?

George

Anybody else having issues with audio not using option 1?

It's been a while since I tried it, but I recall hearing the audio with an overlay of nasty static. Since I don't have an HDMI capable receiver, I'm using the optical inputs on my receiver from each individual component. I probably won't get the itch for the HD audio formats until I pick up a Blu-ray player. For now I'm stuck using DTS since my HD-A2 doesn't have analog outputs.

It's been a while since I tried it, but I recall hearing the audio with an overlay of nasty static. Since I don't have an HDMI capable receiver, I'm using the optical inputs on my receiver from each individual component. I probably won't get the itch for the HD audio formats until I pick up a Blu-ray player. For now I'm stuck using DTS since my HD-A2 doesn't have analog outputs.

I have the A2 as well. Have you tried running a separate audio cable to your display at the same time video is being passed through the HD3000 under Option 2 to see if you get both the audio and the static? Just curious because my LCD is across the room from my rack and I don't have an audio cable long enough to test.

Anxious to hear what you have to say about Option 2...

Thanks again for your efforts,
George

Here's what I discovered tonight testing the audio switching capabilities of the HD3000.

Option 1:
I don't have an HDMI capable reciever, so to test option 1 I ran the output from the "to AV receiver" port to my LCD TV. With this setup the HD3000 is acting as an HDMI switch. For some reason I could not get the TivoHD to synch properly on the TV. I'd see a picture without sound for about 1 second, then a screen full of snow for a second. If I switched to HDMI input 2, the HD-A2 audio/video would pass through perfectly. I don't get it.

Option 2:
This is my normal configuration. I have the TivoHD and HD-A2 connected to HDMI1/2. I'm using the short jumper cable provided by Optoma. With this setup I get perfect video on my LCD but no audio at all. I was mistaken before about hearing static with this setup. The result the same with both sources.

Option 3:
With this setup I got perfect video with severely distorted audio. You could make out the vocals but it sounded like it was being routed through a tin can. This is strange because it should have produced the same result as option 2.

Clearly routing the audio through the video scaler causes distortion. Routing it through the switcher and the scaler results in no audio.

I hope that answers your questions.

It is not supposed to pass audio thru the scaler but the switcher.
Tonight I watched NCAA MBB with audio thru the switcher with HDMI connection with my Toshiba 46" LCD. Feed was directv HD receiver.
Just played a bit more and sent the Toshiba a feed from the scaler with seperate Audio feed. It looked so much better than Toshiba itself w/o the scaler. So much smoother and 3D with more fine detail. Very clean PQ.

Well, I got my new lamp today, so opened up the projector and replaced the old one and it works. Now, looking at the old lamp I can see the wire coming out of the tip is broken. It looks like there is a glob of white substance right where the break occurred. I don't know if that is what the metal filament turns into when it breaks or what it looks like is that someone tried to glue or solder the wire together and it just broke.

The bulb looks fine. It just has a broken wire. Looking at my old lamp that went out on my Hitachi, it looks very different. The wires are in tact on the bad Hitachi bulb but the bulb itself is blown up in side. About half of it is broken into pieces of glass lying in the container. That was a bulb well used.

I just wonder if these are defective bulbs that Optoma gave us and that is why they were offering some with the extra bulb. I didn't get in on that deal. Fortunately we used the Projector enough that it broke the bulb within the warranty.

The new bulb looks different. I don't know what the wires coming out of the bulbs are supposed to look like. But on both my Hitachi and this new Optoma one, there is a wire that sticks straight out of the bulb and then the other wire connects in front of the bulb with a rectangular looking metal piece.

On my broken bulb the first wire comes out of the bulb but then it bends 90 degrees to the side right away and then connects to the rectangular piece on the other wire further away. Looking at it closer, this rectangular piece looks like it some type of splicer and it is at this splice where the wire is broken

[QUOTE=FlyingBoat;12864502]Well, I got my new lamp today, so opened up the projector and replaced the old one and it works. Now, looking at the old lamp I can see the wire coming out of the tip is broken. It looks like there is a glob of white substance right where the break occurred. I don't know if that is what the metal filament turns into when it breaks or what it looks like is that someone tried to glue or solder the wire together and it just broke.

The bulb looks fine. It just has a broken wire. Looking at my old lamp that went out on my Hitachi, it looks very different. The wires are in tact on the bad Hitachi bulb but the bulb itself is blown up in side. About half of it is broken into pieces of glass lying in the container. That was a bulb well used.

I just wonder if these are defective bulbs that Optoma gave us and that is why they were offering some with the extra bulb. I didn't get in on that deal. Fortunately we used the Projector enough that it broke the bulb within the warranty.

I said the same thing in a previous post but was poo pooed about it. There well may be problems in certain batches of these bulbs or in the bulb manufacturing in general. If there is, these should be heavily discounted since they don't even come close to the 2000/3000 hours lifetime stated.

Read more through these forums and my bulb issue was exactly the same as in earlier reports with the 7100 such as in post #561, where the guy is going through a new projector every 2 months.

Update... for those wondering why I have been missing... I have been and am very busy at work.... new year, a lot admin crap to take care of...

Optoma send me a supposedly new projector and upgraded the firmware on my scaler. However, my PC still doesn't see the new projector... so I am back to square one. Haven't had time to hook up the scaler yet... I hooked up the projector last night, could not get the digital output to work with the PC.

Over the holidays I bought a DVI Detective... I was able to connect the projector to the PC with DVI detective in the loop... but no HDCP pass through, so I can't use it for BD/HDDVD playback.

So, as of now, the whole purpose of buying this projector has not worked out, I am unable get digital devices to work with this projector.


By the way, what is the remote key combination to display the actual lamp hours?

gireesh, to determine how many hours you've clocked on the bulb go to the "options" box in menu selections. Hit the cursor to the right and scroll down to "status", that will display the total. I have 679 hours on mine with no problems. I almost feel guilty.

gireesh, to determine how many hours you've clocked on the bulb go to the "options" box in menu selections. Hit the cursor to the right and scroll down to "status", that will display the total. I have 679 hours on mine with no problems. I almost feel guilty.

Other than two times that it did not display the Optoma logo I have been doing good.:)

I have been trying to change my cables so no HDMI cable now.
Running the pj alone fed by component signal produces even better picture than with HDMI. Better sharpness, smooth and improved black level. But the problem is bluray that needs HDMI.

gireesh, to determine how many hours you've clocked on the bulb go to the "options" box in menu selections. Hit the cursor to the right and scroll down to "status", that will display the total. I have 679 hours on mine with no problems. I almost feel guilty.

That shows the number of hours after the reset and not since the unit left the factory. There is a service menu option that shows the total hours that the projector has been used.


I hooked up the scaler to my plasma that supports 1366x768. From System menu, changed the resolution to 1366x768. My tv showed "No signal" for that resolution... go figure. I did not try 1080p, as my plasma does not support it. Feeding 1080p into the scaler works, but then again, that has always worked. Now, I have a scaler that is open, but the only resolution above 1280x720 that I my display can sync to don't seem to work. 1280x720 works at various frequencies, so I know the firmware has been upgraded. I can also select multiple resolutions, and the version is D07.

That shows the number of hours after the reset and not since the unit left the factory. There is a service menu option that shows the total hours that the projector has been used.


I hooked up the scaler to my plasma that supports 1366x768. From System menu, changed the resolution to 1366x768. My tv showed "No signal" for that resolution... go figure. I did not try 1080p, as my plasma does not support it. Feeding 1080p into the scaler works, but then again, that has always worked. Now, I have a scaler that is open, but the only resolution above 1280x720 that I my display can sync to don't seem to work. 1280x720 works at various frequencies, so I know the firmware has been upgraded. I can also select multiple resolutions, and the version is D07.

When I first used the 3000 with the 7100 I was able to get 768p to give an image on the 7100 until I set it to 720P. Go figure.

Feeding 1080p into the scaler works, but then again, that has always worked.

Sorry to hear about all the troubles you continue to have with your HD7100 and HD3000.

About the HD3000, you had yours 'de-neutered' correct? Are you saying that you CAN feed it a 1080p signal? I thought it could only accept 1080i maximum. If this information is correct, what are you using to feed it 1080p? Is it 1080p 60Hz? Have you tried sending it 1080p 24Hz or 1080p 48Hz (which is one of the 'de-neutered' HD3000's quoted output resolutions)?

Thanks,
George

I have been trying to change my cables so no HDMI cable now.
Running the pj alone fed by component signal produces even better picture than with HDMI. Better sharpness, smooth and improved black level.

When you say that component looks better than HDMI please explain your setup. Is that without the HD3000 in the loop? Are you saying that component direct to the projector beats the the HDMI output of the HD3000, or component direct beats HDMI direct without the HD3000?

But the problem is bluray that needs HDMI.

Why do you say that Blu-ray needs HDMI? It needs HDMI in order to get a 1080p signal to the projector, but you can send 1080i via component just fine.

Bluray needs HDMI for 1080 AFAIK for bluray movies and/or upscaled DVD but not the games.
Direct component looks better than direct HDMI and yes no hd3000 in the chain. It could be the source too hard to say.
I will try both component & HDMI to hd3k and then hdmi to pj but I need to get my hdmi cable which is on order. I switched to bluejeans series 1.

You do need HDMI for upconverted DVD's, but not for Blu-ray movies. You only need HDMI if the image constraint token flag is present on the disk. I don't believe the studios have used it on any Blu-ray movies so far. There are still plenty of HDTV's out there that only have component inputs, so they'll probably hold off for a few more years.

The downside to component is that you are limited to 1080i output.

You do need HDMI for upconverted DVD's, but not for Blu-ray movies. You only need HDMI if the image constraint token flag is present on the disk. I don't believe the studios have used it on any Blu-ray movies so far. There are still plenty of HDTV's out there that only have component inputs, so they'll probably hold off for a few more years.

The downside to component is that you are limited to 1080i output.

OK that is a good news! 1080i is fine. My CRT does 1080i well and Optoma is 720 anyway and even if I buy a 1080p unit it will deinterlace it. I am going to try a bluray movie in 1080i with my CRT with that creamy rich analog look.:)
You all should give component a try with Optoma. I won't disappoint.

I've run my current HD7100 for about 475 hours. I have been through a few units and have had all the problems noted in this thread, but this unit is running well and I know so much about the HD7100 now that I can work with issues like flicker, etc. (When the bulb starts to flicker, I put it in high mode for a few hours and the flicker is gone for a good while.)

BUT...I've been a little sloppy about vacuuming the ventilation holes. The manual says to do it every 100 hours, and I've done it only twice, the second time after about 250 hours. I've sworn to myself to be more careful from now on, but I wondered--since this is DLP and the light path is closed, is there any evidence that cleaning the holes that often is really necessary (unless you live in the dustiest house ever)? I've never had overheating issues... I certainly intend to try to remember from now on, but I'd like to hear others' experiences and opinions on this.

Thanks!
--johnmn

I've run my current HD7100 for about 475 hours. I have been through a few units and have had all the problems noted in this thread, but this unit is running well and I know so much about the HD7100 now that I can work with issues like flicker, etc. (When the bulb starts to flicker, I put it in high mode for a few hours and the flicker is gone for a good while.)


Thanks!
--johnmn

Do you mean you have had bulb failures/double starts? How did you resolve them if so?

Can anybody who has one of the higher end HD DVD players or Blu-Ray players that can output 1080p see if the HD3000 will accept the signal?

If it can and your source has the capabilities, could you also check 1080p 24Hz? That would be awesome if the HD3000 would accept the 1080p 24Hz.

Please make sure that the HD3000 can also process the signal and output properly.

Thanks,
George

Hey All,

Not sure if this is a kosher post, but I have my HD3000 on ebay if anyone wants to add a scaler to their HD7100. I just used Steve's original ad as it was so good and to the point.

item #120213838936

Mods, if this post is breaking any rules, please delete.

What did you get in place of hd7300?

What did you get in place of hd7300?

Hey Caspian,

I decided to just keep my Marantz VP4001 for the moment. I am hoping that a good and affordable 1080P will come along in the near future to replace it. Maybe a good rebate on one of the present crop.

Hey Caspian,

I decided to just keep my Marantz VP4001 for the moment. I am hoping that a good and affordable 1080P will come along in the near future to replace it. Maybe a good rebate on one of the present crop.

Forgot you had the VP4001. I like to go 1080p, 2.35 too but that needs some serious investment in anamorphic lens. So I stay put for now.:)

Forgot you had the VP4001. I like to go 1080p, 2.35 too but that needs some serious investment in anamorphic lens. So I stay put for now.:)

The difference between these two PJs is very small. I would say black levels are a bit better with the Marantz--Sharpness is a bit better for the Optoma. Everything else is pretty close.

Now that I have a PS3, though, I really want to get a 1080P PJ as well. Stupid upgraditus in the brain!!!

For those of you who are wondering about 1080p and the HD3000...

I bought an HD-A30 DVD player that can output 1080p at 60Hz and also does 1080p@24Hz during the Christmas blitz.:D

On the front panel, it displays what resolution it is syncing with the HD3000. From what I can tell, it is syncing at 1080@24Hz... I shall double check this weekend. I did notice one problem though... during dark scenes, I get red sparkles... I do not get that at 720p input... but 1080p input to HD3000, scaled to 720p by HD3000 to the projector is definitely sharper.

I remember someone else mentioning the red sparkles...

I ordered high grade 3' HDMI interconnects from Monoprice so that I can be sure that it is not a cable issue. I shall update you once I get a chance to test things this weekend... still very busy at work.

I remember someone else mentioning the red sparkles...


That was me.
HD-3000p passes 1080p but will display water marks that are introduces by the firmware. Funny things Optoma does!

I can't say it passes 1080p, I have no way of confirming that as I do not have a 1080p display (yet :D).

I am waiting for Gefen to release DVI Detective with HDCP pass through, to give this projector/scaler combo a last try... if that doesn't work, I will have to get rid of it.

Get into the menu (info) of the hd7300 and find out!

Hey All,

Not sure if this is a kosher post, but I have my HD3000 on ebay if anyone wants to add a scaler to their HD7100. I just used Steve's original ad as it was so good and to the point.

item #120213838936

Mods, if this post is breaking any rules, please delete.

I noticed the auction has ended early. Do I get a percentage?

:)


BTW, after time with both I think the VP4001 is noticeably better than the HD7100. The 7100 is sharper, but the VP4001 has better blacks, better shadow detail and can be made much brighter whilst maintaining accurate colors.

Even better, it isn't made by Optoma.

I have not used my hd-3000 for a long time but from memory and compared tp my CRT that has very accurate color, the combination of hd-7300 and hd3000 color gamut is very very accurate. The black level issue, I have hard time to believe that VP4001 can actually beat its black level at the same lumen but I imagine it is possible. And even if it does it would be a negligible margine. I think the lens on Optoma can bethe best amoung the projectors in the price range.

I am thinking to get a VP50 and if so I might try the bay to sell mine but not sure yet.

But the problem is bluray that needs HDMI.

HD DVD doesn't and it looks gorgeous in the HD7100 through component :cool:

HD DVD doesn't and it looks gorgeous in the HD7100 through component :cool:

It sure does.:)

Here is how to get into Service Level Menu... on the projector keys press:

KEYS: UP RIGHT DOWN LEFT UP RIGHT DOWN LEFT MENU

At least that is what I read... use it at your own risk... don't blame me if you screw up :D

Am currently deciding between the 7100 and the Epson 720.

Attracted to the 7100 as I think it will have the better pic, but nervous about all the bulb issues.

I will be using component cables, not dvi or hdmi, does it still have sync issues on component input or was that just using hdmi/dvi?

The epson comes in about $50 cheaper and also free bulb, but I dont mind speneding more for the Optoma if the pic quality is much better

The picture quality will be better (IMHO of course).

If you get the HD7100 from 'Moscow.ca' ;) You can try it out and it if doesn't do the trick for you it can be returned even after months and months and months of usage.

If the Epson is LCD you'll have other issues to worry about such as convergence, panel wear, smearing, dust blobs etc... With the very new D7 panels used on the 1080UB, many of these problems may be a thing of the past.

Using component cables should solve your sync worries but the start up issue may or may not plague you. This is why you need to buy from a reputable retailer with a good return policy if you purchase this pj.

One other thing. If you don't make use of HDMI you'll be missing out on what this pj can do. The difference for me between the two was very evident. I found the HDMI signal to be brighter and more vibrant. It was clearly a more pleasing image. The component is very good on this unit but I doubt you wouldn't notice the difference if you compared.

Corner to corner the HD7100 is sharp as a tack. You should see it hooked up to a computer. Unfortunately it may not always shake hands with a computer and that brings us full circle to your concern about HDMI handshake issues. So it depends on what you're going to be using the projector for. If HTPC usage is very important to you, my experience tells me to inform you to go with the Epson due to the unreliability of the connection between my HTPC and the HD7100. When it worked though, I have never seen a better image on screen. Either Blu-ray or HD DVD will look marvelous with component or HDMI. Again, HDMI showed brighter, crisper and was more pleasing but I had to try component first and then HDMI in order to appreciate the difference.

Good luck!

Wayne

IMO, the difference between the 7100 (especially 7300) and the Epson is night and day. When the 7100 works, the image is amazing. I read yesterday on this forum somewhere a comparison of 720p v. 1080p and the reviewers could not see a difference. My experience has been that higher end 720p (like the 7100) beats lower end 1080p. This is true of the 7300 (which I own).

As far as reliability, a pj is not a TV. Look araound and you'll find problems with juist about every pj. Just check out the Panasonic threads for example. With my pj, I did have a bulb strike issue back at 74 hrs (I think) but the pj started up right away on the second try - I just kept my hands off and the pj did its thing. I'm now over the 150 hr mark and have no more issues whatsoever. I'm giddy everytime I fire up the pj because it looks so good! HD DVD blows me away! When I put on an SD DVD after watching HD, I almost routinely check the focus - there is that much of a difference! I couldn't be happier with my pj and would drop the money again in a heartbeat. It would have to be a higher end 1080p (like the JVC or maybe Epson 1080UB) for me to even consider a different pj.

If you get the HD7100 from 'Moscow.ca' ;) You can try it out and it if doesn't do the trick for you it can be returned even after months and months and months of usage.


Good luck!

Wayne

Well all I get at moscow.ca is a site offering cheap vacations

Quick question about throw distance, The review on projectorreviews says 100" diag is between 12 & 15 ft, but the calculator on Optoma's site says 9.4 to 11.8. Thats a pretty big difference in measurements. Which one is right??

It's the latter - 9.4 to 11.8. I have a 100" screen with the lens 10.5 feet from the screen. This is right in the middle of the range.

Well all I get at moscow.ca is a site offering cheap vacations

You missed the meaning of the little emoticon (;)) in the post. Moscow.ca rhymes with a certain big box store that requires you to be a member. :)

Wayne

Well, received my PS3 today and set it to output 1080p 24Hz, which the HD3000 gladly accepts by the way, and set the HD7100 to output 720p 72Hz.

It does work, although with issues, and I see no artifacts in the dark part of the image as reported by someone else here on the forums. I do see 'tearing' of the image during pans. This 'tearing' is just like when I used to push my video cards to the maximum during testing, where part of the image, say top 1/3, seems to lag behind the bottom 2/3 of the image. Not sure if I can explain properly.

It's enough to know that it doesn't work well enough to be usable. Not sure exactly which device is the culprit. I tried feeding a 1080i 60Hz signal from my Toshiba A2 HD DVD player into the HD3000 and have it output 720p 72Hz to the HD7100 and the tearing was much much worse, almost constant even when the scene had no panning.

Not sure if that information is enough to target the projector or the scaler, but probably enough to eliminate the sources. Either the HD3000 does not like to scale 1080i 60Hz or 1080p 24Hz to 720p 72Hz for the HD7100 or the HD7100 does not like the scaled image from the HD3000. The HD7100 image scaled to 720p 60Hz from either PS3 1080p 24Hz or Tosh A2 1080i 60Hz is rock solid. Also, not sure if that information is enough to point the finger at the HD3000 or the HD7100. Perhaps someone here smarter than I am knows?

Toshiba A2 HD DVD Player > 1080i 60Hz > HD3000 720p 60Hz > HD7100
OK
Toshiba A2 HD DVD Player > 1080i 60Hz > HD3000 720p 72Hz > HD7100
Very Bad Tearing
PS3 BD DVD Player > 1080p 24Hz > HD3000 720p 60Hz > HD7100
OK
PS3 BD DVD Player > 1080p 24Hz > HD3000 720p 72Hz > HD7100
Moderate Tearing

George

One annoying aspect of the HD3000 is its insistence on defaulting to DVI-PC Black Level Control under Pedestal settings (see page 23 of User's Guide) instead of DVI-Video whenever it detects the source, which with the PS3 is 3 or 4 times during DVD setup. If you are using the projector as a video display, then you need to go into HD3000 setup once the movie starts (or anytime AND EVERY TIME you use the HD3000 really) and change from DVI-PC to DVI-Video. I see no way to force DVI-Video as default.

Well, received my PS3 today and set it to output 1080p 24Hz, which the HD3000 gladly accepts by the way, and set the HD7100 to output 720p 72Hz.

It does work, although with issues, and I see no artifacts in the dark part of the image as reported by someone else here on the forums. I do see 'tearing' of the image during pans. This 'tearing' is just like when I used to push my video cards to the maximum during testing, where part of the image, say top 1/3, seems to lag behind the bottom 2/3 of the image. Not sure if I can explain properly.

It's enough to know that it doesn't work well enough to be usable. Not sure exactly which device is the culprit. I tried feeding a 1080i 60Hz signal from my Toshiba A2 HD DVD player into the HD3000 and have it output 720p 72Hz to the HD7100 and the tearing was much much worse, almost constant even when the scene had no panning.

Not sure if that information is enough to target the projector or the scaler, but probably enough to eliminate the sources. Either the HD3000 does not like to scale 1080i 60Hz or 1080p 24Hz to 720p 72Hz for the HD7100 or the HD7100 does not like the scaled image from the HD3000. The HD7100 image scaled to 720p 60Hz from either PS3 1080p 24Hz or Tosh A2 1080i 60Hz is rock solid. Also, not sure if that information is enough to point the finger at the HD3000 or the HD7100. Perhaps someone here smarter than I am knows?

Toshiba A2 HD DVD Player > 1080i 60Hz > HD3000 720p 60Hz > HD7100
OK
Toshiba A2 HD DVD Player > 1080i 60Hz > HD3000 720p 72Hz > HD7100
Very Bad Tearing
PS3 BD DVD Player > 1080p 24Hz > HD3000 720p 60Hz > HD7100
OK
PS3 BD DVD Player > 1080p 24Hz > HD3000 720p 72Hz > HD7100
Moderate Tearing

George

One annoying aspect of the HD3000 is its insistence on defaulting to DVI-PC Black Level Control under Pedestal settings (see page 23 of User's Guide) instead of DVI-Video whenever it detects the source, which with the PS3 is 3 or 4 times during DVD setup. If you are using the projector as a video display, then you need to go into HD3000 setup once the movie starts (or anytime AND EVERY TIME you use the HD3000 really) and change from DVI-PC to DVI-Video. I see no way to force DVI-Video as default.

George,
I do not have the HD3000; however, with the Bravo D1 DVD player, which outputs custom timings, I have fed the HD7100 with 720P at both 72 Hz and 48 Hz successfully.
The 72 Hz resolution produces great PQ but written warnings like the FBI and other titles, etc, jitter a bit. At 48Hz PQ is just as good and no jitter with warnings/titles.

George,
I do not have the HD3000; however, with the Bravo D1 DVD player, which outputs custom timings, I have fed the HD7100 with 720P at both 72 Hz and 48 Hz successfully.
The 72 Hz resolution produces great PQ but written warnings like the FBI and other titles, etc, jitter a bit. At 48Hz PQ is just as good and no jitter with warnings/titles.

FGM, yes I remember now you saying that. I too have the Bravo D1 (how did you get custom timings for 720p may I ask?). Maybe that points the finger at the HD7100 then? Too bad the HD3000 doesn't have settings for 720p 48Hz or even better 720p 24Hz.

What timings are you sending the D1 before it passes along 720p 48Hz or 72Hz? From what source?

Thanks FGM, maybe we can get this thing figured out,
George

You missed the meaning of the little emoticon (;)) in the post. Moscow.ca rhymes with a certain big box store that requires you to be a member. :)

Wayne

LOL sorry wayne, was being too literal.
Anyway I have decided on the epson, understanding that it wont be as good, but the kicker was the throw distance, I have a drop in my ceiling that runs across the middle of the room from 6 ft out to about 13 ft out from where the screen would have to go. That lowers the cieling by about a ft the 3-4 more inches for the mount and 5 or so for the projector. That just wont work for the room, which is a shame :(

:) No problem. I took a look see at that website myself and thought it quite comical that there actually was such a thing.

Too bad about your room situation. We're moving but presently our rec room where the HD7100 used to reside has a bulkhead where it was mounted. The highest up I could put the mount was on the wall near the bulkhead resulting in all of my projectors being 6' 3" from the floor. That's fairly low as these things go. I was last using a 106" 16:9 screen (Da-Lite High Power) about 12 to 13 feet from the lens. The screen was hanging by chains fairly low but enough off the floor to clear the middle speaker.

In this set up, the lens shift on the HD7100 proved easily adequate and I didn't have to keystone.

Your situation may be worse than this but I thought I'd give you a real world example from someone who's actually had an odd placement of this projector. Unfortunately the HD7100's lens is short throw and it seems to work best in smaller rooms or with screens that aren't overly large.

All the best to you with your decision though and I hope you're thrilled with the new projector. :)

Wayne

Here is how to get into Service Level Menu... on the projector keys press:

KEYS: UP RIGHT DOWN LEFT UP RIGHT DOWN LEFT MENU

At least that is what I read... use it at your own risk... don't blame me if you screw up :D

Hi, for me this combination does'nt function, there is someone to work this combination?


P.s but only projector keys? Not the remote?

Hey guys,

I have a 7100 hooked up to my HTPC through DVI, works beautiful dont have any problems, but i am interested in trying different custom timings, the default it picks up is 720 @ 60hz, how would i change this on my pc?, would i need to use something like power strip? if so what settings would i be changing exactly.. or would it be simple as changing the refresh rates on the monitor settings because i think i tried that and didn't see a 72hz..

i have a geforce 6800 video card.

any help is appreciated thanks!

p.s. what is the name of that DVD for calibration? is it avia ? is there a torrent out for it?

Hi, for me this combination does'nt function, there is someone to work this combination?


P.s but only projector keys? Not the remote?

I wait about 5 seconds before I push the menu key. I always work on the pj and it works the 1st time most of the time. Hope this helps :)

FGM, yes I remember now you saying that. I too have the Bravo D1 (how did you get custom timings for 720p may I ask?). Maybe that points the finger at the HD7100 then? Too bad the HD3000 doesn't have settings for 720p 48Hz or even better 720p 24Hz.

What timings are you sending the D1 before it passes along 720p 48Hz or 72Hz? From what source?

Thanks FGM, maybe we can get this thing figured out,
George

George,
I am not sure I understand your question. The D1 is the player and it generates the timings as per the settings you chose. I just followed the instructions in the Bravo thread and I remember there was a link to a little program that generates a string of numbers to be used in the Bravo. Are these numbers what you are looking for?

George,
I am not sure I understand your question. The D1 is the player and it generates the timings as per the settings you chose. I just followed the instructions in the Bravo thread and I remember there was a link to a little program that generates a string of numbers to be used in the Bravo. Are these numbers what you are looking for?

Hey FGM, yes that is what I was talking about, that program that spit out the final numbers for the D1. I mis-spoke when I asked what source, I know the source is the D1.

So, the D1 is sending 720p 72Hz (or is it 720i, if there even is such a thing)? I can't remember, but I thought when I was using the D1 with my IN72 480p projector, it was sending 480i 48Hz as timings and letting the IN72's processor de-interlace as SD DVD's are encoded at 480i. I wonder if that has something to do with the tearing I'm seeing, HD DVD's being encoded 1080p 24Hz with the focus on the 'p'? I am sending a progressive signal from the HD3000 to the projector, not an interlaced one. I'm just thinking out loud here.

There must be someone around smart enough about these things to have an idea what is going on.

I guess I could try and bypass the HD3000 and send the HD7100 the 1080p 24Hz signal directly from the PS3, although I'm not sure it would accept that signal. Is there any documentation what timings the HD7100 accepts?

Don't get me wrong, the image from both the A2 and the PS3 is great at 720p 60Hz but I'm looking down the road when I upgrade to a 1080p projector. Will the HD3000 be able to pass along the 1080p 24Hz signal without the tearing that I'm seeing now. And, I see it with both the A2 and the PS3 (the A2 is much much worse, 1080i 60Hz > 720p 72Hz vs. the PS3's 1080p 24Hz output).

George

I just noticed that on page 31 of the HD7300 manual, there is a film mode setting that allows adjusting of the reverse telecine, 3:2 60Hz, 2:2 50Hz etc... I'm wondering if this is on by default and if it is, that is what is causing the tearing? Let me check...

Hmmmm... Both the DVI Input and the De-interlace options are grayed out and not available. It does say 'DVI Hide' underneath the De-interlace option. I thought I was onto something there for a second. I thought I might be able to turn Film Mode off or something. Anybody have any suggestions?

I wait about 5 seconds before I push the menu key. I always work on the pj and it works the 1st time most of the time. Hope this helps :)

Yes it works for me only from the projector, but what is the CW setting? what mean?
There is the possibility in the menu to see the total hours of usage?

Thanks, Dario.

Hey guys,

I have a 7100 hooked up to my HTPC through DVI, works beautiful dont have any problems, but i am interested in trying different custom timings, the default it picks up is 720 @ 60hz, how would i change this on my pc?, would i need to use something like power strip? if so what settings would i be changing exactly.. or would it be simple as changing the refresh rates on the monitor settings because i think i tried that and didn't see a 72hz..

i have a geforce 6800 video card.

any help is appreciated thanks!

p.s. what is the name of that DVD for calibration? is it avia ? is there a torrent out for it?

Also I have problems to set other timings, there are with ati drviers the possibility to set 50-60-75, but it seems that every setting I try is ever 60hz from the Pj...:confused:

P.s Sorry for english...:)

Hey FGM, yes that is what I was talking about, that program that spit out the final numbers for the D1.
Is there any documentation what timings the HD7100 accepts?

George,
I will look for a link to the program; I have not used it for a long time.
The HD7100 user's manual specifies the following video settings:
640x480i at 59.94/60Hz(not supported by DVI)
768x576i at 50Hz "
720x480p at 59.94/60Hz (DVI and component)
720x576p at 50Hz "
1920x1080i at 50Hz "
1920x1080i at 59.94/60Hz "
1280x720p at 50Hz "
1280x720p at 59.94/60Hz "
1280x720p at 48Hz (silent re support)
1280x720p at 75Hz "
Under computer compatibility chart, the manual specifies "vertical frequency: 50-85 HZ, Pixel clock:25-108 MHz

As I have posted before, I have successfully used 720p at 48Hz and at 72Hz even though 720p at 72Hz is not specifically mentioned in the manual:D

Yes it works for me only from the projector, but what is the CW setting? what mean?
There is the possibility in the menu to see the total hours of usage?

Thanks, Dario.



Also I have problems to set other timings, there are with ati drviers the possibility to set 50-60-75, but it seems that every setting I try is ever 60hz from the Pj...:confused:

P.s Sorry for english...:)

Dario,
CW stands for Color Wheel setting- DO NOT TOUCH IT if you do not know what you are doing!!
As for hours of use, the user menu, under Options>Status, gives information about the bulb hours of use. Also there, it gives information about the input signal resolution/timings.
The HD7100 user manual specifies: Horizontal frequency 25-75 kHz, Vertical frequency 50-85 Hz and Pixel clock 25-108 MHz.
What connection(s) are you using from the HTPC to the pj?
Different connectors seem to support different resolutions/timings. You may wish to experiment with that.
Good luck.

I have acquired a Toshiba HD DVD HD-D3 and I use it to drive the HD7100.
When connected through HDMI to DVI adapter, the 1080i resolution is cut down to 720p by the Toshiba. This happens with HD dvds as well as with SD dvds.
When connected through component, the 1080i resolution works very well with both HD and SD (DVD+R) dvds. However, as soon as I connect the HDMI to DVI port, the resolution goes down to 720p automatically, even when the component signal is still received by the pj.
I have done the Toshiba FW update to v1.3 and still the same, no change.
Is anyone here with this set up (or the HD-A3 twin) having the same problem? If so, pls. comment because I would like to know if this is a general problem with the D3/A3 or just my player.
TIA for your comments.

Dario,
CW stands for Color Wheel setting- DO NOT TOUCH IT if you do not know what you are doing!!
As for hours of use, the user menu, under Options>Status, gives information about the bulb hours of use. Also there, it gives information about the input signal resolution/timings.
The HD7100 user manual specifies: Horizontal frequency 25-75 kHz, Vertical frequency 50-85 Hz and Pixel clock 25-108 MHz.
What connection(s) are you using from the HTPC to the pj?
Different connectors seem to support different resolutions/timings. You may wish to experiment with that.
Good luck.

Thanks for the explantion I asked becouse some pages agò there is a user who lowered that setting to the europe metavison clone, but I just not touched anything, I went in the service menu only to see if I there was the total hours of use not only of the lamp, but I have not founded anything about total hour usage....

I have two possibility of connectivity with pc, with a notebook with mobility x1600 and with desktop with a nvidia 6800, with the ati every setting I try between 50-60-75-85, seems to be ever 60hz just as if changes anything in the reality (I see frequency and resolution from the status menu), and I don't know how to add custom resolution-timing with ati drivers as is possible with nvidia drivers, I don't want to use powerstrip becouse there are so many parameters for the custom refresh rate that I don't want to add confusion in windows...

For now I have not tried the connection with the nvidia 6800 mainly becouse the card has dvi+vga, my monitor is in dvi and than I would connect and disconnect monitor to connect projector, plus the notebook as much more power to see 720p files with filters (with barton 2300mhz it's just quite impossibile for me, only vlc is ok but it's not as good as kmp for filters and decoders options, over nb is silent desktop is noise)...


P.s sorry for english:rolleyes:

P.p.s I have a 7300 without scaler

I have acquired a Toshiba HD DVD HD-D3 and I use it to drive the HD7100.
When connected through HDMI to DVI adapter, the 1080i resolution is cut down to 720p by the Toshiba. This happens with HD dvds as well as with SD dvds.
When connected through component, the 1080i resolution works very well with both HD and SD (DVD+R) dvds. However, as soon as I connect the HDMI to DVI port, the resolution goes down to 720p automatically, even when the component signal is still received by the pj.
I have done the Toshiba FW update to v1.3 and still the same, no change.
Is anyone here with this set up (or the HD-A3 twin) having the same problem? If so, pls. comment because I would like to know if this is a general problem with the D3/A3 or just my player.
TIA for your comments.

FGM, when I first got my A2, I too had limited output resolution to 720p with my HD7100 that came in my HD7300 package. I could not force the A2 to output 1080i.

I had a problem with lamp flicker on my HD7100, which Optoma offered to exchange the projector. The replacement HD7100 does get a 1080i signal from the A2. EVERYTHING else was exactly the same, the old HD7100 came down, the replacement HD7100 went up, with all the exact same cables and connections. The replacement started right up with the 1080i signal from the A2, I never did anything, just turned it on.

I can't explain it at all.

George

Hey FGM, yes that is what I was talking about, that program that spit out the final numbers for the D1.

George,
Here is the file

While watching Spiderman 3 on the new PS3, after about 1/3 through the movie my lamp failed. I've got about 100 hours on this replacement HD7100 (my original HD7100 started severe lamp flicker at just over 100 hours and Optoma exchanged the projector).

The projector kept running but the lamp went completely dark. I turned off the projector, then cycled it again after about 20 minutes. It started and ran normally for the remainder of the movie. But, I kept waiting for the 'axe to fall' again.

I hope this isn't a bad omen that I'm going to get another projector failure.

George

FGM, yup that's the program alright. I'm certain I have that downloaded somewhere from my IN72/Bravo D1 days.

While watching Spiderman 3 on the new PS3, after about 1/3 through the movie my lamp failed. I've got about 100 hours on this replacement HD7100 (my original HD7100 started severe lamp flicker at just over 100 hours and Optoma exchanged the projector).

The projector kept running but the lamp went completely dark. I turned off the projector, then cycled it again after about 20 minutes. It started and ran normally for the remainder of the movie. But, I kept waiting for the 'axe to fall' again.

I hope this isn't a bad omen that I'm going to get another projector failure.

George

FGM, yup that's the program alright. I'm certain I have that downloaded somewhere from my IN72/Bravo D1 days.

George, what do mean when you say that the lamp went completely dark: do you mean that there was no light at all inside the lens or that the image disappeared, leaving a dark screen?
My bulb is quickly approaching 1000 hours of use and in a couple of instances the screen went dark (no image) but there was light inside the lens. I just swichted sources and everything was OK again. Go figure.

Have you tried the Bravo with custom resolutions on the HD7100? To this moment, I have it as my preferred source for SD dvds. Imo, the PQ of the Bravo beats the Toshiba D-3 noticeably.
I have to get now a DVI switch to have both units ready to be used.
I think I have seen a manual one at Monoprice quite inexpensive. I wonder if it is any good and if it will do for my application? Any comments? Anybody?
TIA.

FGM, the problem I have with using both the A2 and the D1 is cabling. I run HDMI to the projector with a HDMI/DVI mini adapter. If I wanted to use the D1 as well, I would have to run a DVI cable and then get up on the ceiling to switch between the two.

There was no light at all. I did switch to the SVideo input, not sure why I even have that cable run still hooked up as I could easily run that through the HD3000 as well, and back to DVI but there was no light. Everything else was still running. I just shut the projector off and 20 minutes later, cycled it on again and it worked for the remainder of the movie.

I'm concerned about the lamp failing or something wrong inside the projector. I will report the incident to Optoma for now, just so they have a record of my initial issue in case it blossoms into a full blown problem. I don't want them claiming I'm out of lamp warranty or something, since they replaced the entire projector last time I felt I had a lamp issue (severe flickering).

George

Never received a response from Optoma CEO regarding the issue I'm having with them selling me a neutered HD3000 and charging me $315 to have it de-neutered (now, Optoma is trying to tell me that the HD3000 will not pass audio either as noted in their manual and online sales literature, there are three options for audio setup for the HD3000, only the first one works, according to Optoma techs the two options that don't require an HDMI capable audio receiver do not/will not work as advertised). I've sent another letter to Optoma CEO, certified this time so that I know somebody has to sign for it, reminding them that I am not going to 'go away' on this issue and that I will pursue other possibilities for a resolution.

I use a 2X1 HDMI switcher with remote from Monoprice. I input from a Directv H20 and an upconverting Sony DVD player into the switcher which outputs to a HDMI/DVI cable (also from Monoprice). Sometmes my HD7100 has difficulty in recognizing a device so I toggle between the 2 devices and that seems to aid the HD7100 in recognizing the signals. If I had to manually switch cables on the PJ I'd go nuts. Monoprice no longer makes the same switcher but they have new, improved units priced under what I paid 18 months ago.


http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=3728&seq=1&format=2

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=4067&seq=1&format=2

Not sure the links will work.

[QUOTE=bub;13016182]FGM, the problem I have with using both the A2 and the D1 is cabling. I run HDMI to the projector with a HDMI/DVI mini adapter.

Meant to say that the HDMI/DVI mini adapter may be a weak link in the cabling.

Does anyone know how long it usually takes for Costco to ship out orders? I placed one for the 7100 the other day and it still hasn't shipped out. Maybe I'm just being impatient.

It actually ships from Optoma Canada and depending on their stock at the time it could take up to a couple of weeks if not a little longer.

Wayne

I just ordered from them 2 weeks ago and it took 6 business days counting the day I placed my order (in the morning) for me to receive the hd7100 and screen.

Both arrived in great shape and I was impressed that the screen had no dints in it. So far so good!

Kyle

EDIT:

Nevermind, I found the answer to my question.

It was mentioned here that you could return the projector to Costco anytime. Didn't they change their policy to 90 days on home theatre tv's and projectors with a 2 year extended warranty?

I don't think that the Canadian operation adopted that policy.

Wayne

With 138 hours showing on the clock, I had my second startup glitch. Lamp lit, but nothing showed on the screen. Following was a series of rapid ticks, then the fan cranked up and pj **** down and restarted. On the second restart, everything went fine and the pj was good to go. I've followed all the advice on this this thread, so all settings are where they should be.

Question: is this endemic to other pj's as well or is this an issue unique to the 7100/7300? I have a 5 year old Toshiba DLP TV with 1,000s of hours (and 2 lamps) and have never had so much as a hiccup. It's like my "old reliable." With the same basic technology, why should the 7100 be any different?

Send it back if you can - it is a horrible feeling getting ready for a movie and just praying the pj will start. I had two of those with the same issues. Had the H31 before (very reliable) and have the hd65 now. Want to spend my thoughts on the movie and not on the pj.

I guess I'm a glutten for punishment because I still love the image that the pj projects. If this happens again though, I may have to impose the 3 strikes rule. I am getting worried.

True, it has an excellent picture but the new generation of pj's (the 7100 technology is 3 years old) is very competitive in quality. And the only thing you worry about is the choice of the movie.

True, it has an excellent picture but the new generation of pj's (the 7100 technology is 3 years old) is very competitive in quality. And the only thing you worry about is the choice of the movie.

What exactly the new models bring about that 7300 doesn't other than HDMI which is also a problematic interface?
7100/7300 is a DC3 machine.
I noticed that if I disconnect the pj from power line (or have power failure) that is when I get a no logo start up.

The only possible option that might worthwhile doing is to move to 1080p units if you are ready to spend more. Getting another 720p unit would be a downgrade for the most part.

Actually come to think of it except for my last start up all my previous ones had no logo.
Since I tear down each time between viewing and put the projector away, power is always removed. I don't have as many hours on mine as most people here and my auto power off is set to off, I have yet to see a double start as described. I also not only have components connected through the scaler but also through the component connections of the pj. I start initiatiating a manual search for inputs shortly after bulb warm up.

at 160hr I had a problem:

1-I power up the Pj
2-You can see only a white light in the Pj no image (also changing input no difference)
3-The pj restart itself but no image
4-Than I must power down the Pj with the normal cooling down process, and than power up and all goes ok

There is a solution? The first time that I have the problem was a ta 160hr, than no problem for other ten hour e yesterday onother time the problem:( but when it power up correctly I have no problems for all the time that I use it)
My lamp is dying?

P.s I have the pj collegated to a notebook, and when I power up the pj, the notebook is already "functional" as extended desktop.

P.p.s there is anything better than the only bulb for 22x$?

To avoid no logo issue keep the pj in stand by.
I turn the pj on and wait for the logo shows up then I turn my source. Works great with no issues. Just keep it in stand by from last shut down. Do not unplug the pj if it is in cooling down stage unless you are not planning to restike it thenafter.
Let it finish the coolingdown and it will restart itself.

Fortunately I am free from my Optoma, but Caspian and the others are right about it's great image. I think the Marantz VP4001/Sharp zv3000 are better, but that's because I'm a black fan. I don't think previous high end 720P models like the Sharp z12000/Marantz S3 are a real step up.

Unfortunately, in terms of upgrading, I also don't think the cheaper 1080P units are any improvement. Yes, if your screen and seating position are right you may see an improvement on some material, but most of the time you will see worse blacks, sharpness, shadow detail and colours.

I moved to an RS1 and, considering it cost 3x my 7100 or VP4001 with no major jump out and bite you improvement, I can't say that was money well spent.

Personally I would flog the HD7100 for whatever you can get and buy a Sharp/Marantz. Some have had bowing issues (not me), but at least they pretty much all work when you turn them on. And the image is great.

Then wait for a real improvement. That's probably two years away with lasers.

Take it from me, the 7100 is very good. When it works.

If you go 110' wide with optoma you get the same black level and still better lumen. If running it with HP forget the black level.
Marantz is good for 8' wide or smaller to run it in hi contrast. Optoma is a better pj overal with the scaler (much more accurate color than green bias sharp/Marantz) in pq and it works 99% of the time AFAIK. Optoma has a better measured ansi as well peaking above 900:1.

In 250 hours I have had three failed logo issue with no sync issue after upgrading my cable to twisted-paired from BJC.

To avoid no logo issue keep the pj in stand by.
I turn the pj on and wait for the logo shows up then I turn my source. Works great with no issues. Just keep it in stand by from last shut down.

Than You say to avoid the problem:

1-remain the pj in standby after use of it
2-power up it, and do not connect any source to it
3-wait that the optoma logo show up and than see the black image for the search of the source
4-connect the source and....cross the fingers
5-After use, do the cooling down stage and remain it in standby (usually before of your recommendetions I unplug it), and for the next use go again to step one, right?

But for the "4 step" if I unplug the hdmi from the notebook before the Pj goes up (with the notebook just powered on before the Pj), and than I plug the hdmi, it's the same as connect the hdmi with the notebook powered off and the powered on?


Do not unplug the pj if it is in cooling down stage unless you are not planning to restike it thenafter.
Let it finish the coolingdown and it will restart itself

I don't understand (sorry but I try to do the my best with english) if you say this for the procedure to avoid the problem, or when there is the problem...

When there is the problem, after the auto-restart, there is no light (and than I shut it down with the normal procedure, and after the cooling down stage I re-power it up), you say that if I wait the pj goes itself correctly on?


P.s Only a last thing, with very black scene I can see sometime some blu sparkles, it's the cable?
And the noise (of the image) of the dlp, is the little changing fast of the pixel in dark areas of the image and visible quite close to the screen?

Leave your source connected but just don't power it up until you see the big OPTOMA logo on the screen. And yes keep the pj connected to steady power in stanby mode.

Let the pj cooldown then it restarts itsef. No need to unplug and plug it back in.
If it fails to show the OPTOMA logo, it turns the bulb off goes to cooldown phase. You can hear the fan. Let it finish the process. Once done it will restart itself.

Leave your source connected but just don't power it up until you see the big OPTOMA logo on the screen. And yes keep the pj connected to steady power in stanby mode.

Ok, I will try, I hope only that the lamp will last 500+ hours...


And only those curiosity:

-With very black scene I can see sometime some blu sparkles (almost invisible), it's the cable?
-And the noise (of the image) of a dlp, is the little changing fast of the pixel in dark areas of the image and visible quite close to the screen?

[QUOTE=CaspianM;13101340]What exactly the new models bring about that 7300 doesn't other than HDMI which is also a problematic interface?
7100/7300 is a DC3 machine.

"The HD65 uses a new colorwheel with RGB/CYM instead of typical RGB/RGB. It used this in conjunction with Brilliant Color II from Ti. BC II with this color wheel produces high brightness while keeping the colors natural, specially flesh tones which was a slight problem with BC1."
I copied the above from another experienced member who evaluted this machine.
I myself saw both projectors next to each other with the same source material and the only difference were deeper blacks on the 7100 (but not a signifact amount).
It features also hdmi 1.3 which can transmit deep color from HD players and a super wide feature which adds 100 horizontal lines to 1:2.35 movies on the expense of loosing a small part of the picture left and right.
The significant brighter picture is helpful as well and cutting the size of this projector to a third of the 7100 is ideal for moveable pj's. In my opinion it certainly shows significant advances compared to 3 year old technology. To be determind how reliable this HD65 will be.

HD65 is an entry level pj.
HD7300 offers six segment with ND built in and it is the only pj that I have seen with no RBE and very minimum dithering error and it is a bright pj. HD7100/7300 was intruced early last year or late 06 not three years ago.

HD65 is DCII and has a very cheap lens. The truth is Brilliant Color is a gimmick and most opt to disable it for faitfull color production. The contrast ratio on HD65 is barely over 2K:1 whereas HD7300 is mid 4K:1 and gitarman says it is 5500:1. You are comparing two different class of pj's. I believe 7300 has been Optoma's flagship in 720p class and HD65 is not the replcement for it. But if you like the hD65 over 7300 then sounds good to me.

About HDMI 1.3..while 1.3 HDMI support deep colr the pj has to process it and not all of them support deep color and doubt that is featured in an entry level pj.

As I said - seeing them next to each other at the same time on the same screen with the same source material the difference is truly minimal. How they manage to do this out of such a small machine with inferiour optics and DC2 I don't know.
And reading all above suggestion how to start, shut down, connect or whatever doing with a pj so that it will work is pure ridicoulus.
Marcia Nutt from Optoma advised me to send the machines back - she said: a projector has to start and shutdown with no hesitation - if not it is faulty! You pay full price for this and you can expect full perfomance.
May be the position of the moon should be also considered when starting the 7100!!!

As I said - seeing them next to each other at the same time on the same screen with the same source material the difference is truly minimal. How they manage to do this out of such a small machine with inferiour optics and DC2 I don't know.
And reading all above suggestion how to start, shut down, connect or whatever doing with a pj so that it will work is pure ridicoulus.
Marcia Nutt from Optoma advised me to send the machines back - she said: a projector has to start and shutdown with no hesitation - if not it is faulty! You pay full price for this and you can expect full perfomance.
May be the position of the moon should be also considered when starting the 7100!!!

Before you sell this get the HD65 and try it. Don't make assumption based on one limited comparision. The lens of HD7300 is probably as heavy as the entire HD65 at about 4 lbs.:)
Good luck!

Exactly what I did - had the 7100 and the HD65 at home with the same DVD player, cables and DVD's for 5 days and played around with them including basic calibration.
Decided to keep the HD65 and send the 7100 (2nd unit already) back to the seller. Professional pj reviewer will probably detect more differences - but as a critical movie observer with average sight the difference is less then minimal and my movie enjoyment is not anymore distracted by "engineering" the pj!

well my 7100 is acting up again 2 unit 270 hr and ya i do all the start ups right been doing this for a long time now . when it does it it does not matter what you do to correct it . the only way to stop it is unplug it . this is the 6th time now in the last 3 weeks and on super bowl day it took 6 times i did not think it would make it last unit took out the bulb . even if optoma gave me a different projector or refunded me i have a 120 screen and the projector is 13 ft back and 7 feet off the ground i dont think there is another projector that will install in the same place . i cant believe this is that hard of a problem to fix for optoma i think its all about the money this is my last optoma projector it seems like all optoma projectors have some sort of problem. this sucks:(

Steve try this. Just power up the pj with no source powered up. Once you see the Optoma log then power up your source. If you have done this already then it really sucks.

My projector came in yesterday and I had a chance to mess with it a bit. I played some 360 and watched most of Deja Vu on Blu-ray. It booted up with no problems and run for a long while last night without any hiccups.

However, I have a quite noticeable bowing issue. I don't think it's with the projector itself, but more with how my screen is installed, as I think it's tilted slightly. Luckily, I was able to 'mask' the issue into the black border.

Does the projector have an "overscan" setting? I couldn't find anything about it in the menus. My previous Mitsubishi set overscan to 3% everytime I fed it a new resolution; I'm curious if the Optoma is always at 0%, or if I can adjust it at all.

Also, how do I view total lamp hours used?

Steve try this. Just power up the pj with no source powered up. Once you see the Optoma log then power up your source. If you have done this already then it really sucks.

ya i have done everything i even came up with some of the fixes befiore they where made public . botom line is when this thing wants to act up theres nothing you can do other than unplug it before it blows the bulb. optoma knows whats going on . its not the bulb my bulb fires everytime it acts up i get no optoma screen saver and get no input on screen display (dvi etc)so i hit the menu button and it comes on the screen upside down and purple it is a firmware or hardware problem than the projector trys to restart again and that is when it will blow the bulb the last projector would take up to never stricking the bulb and turn off than one day it tryed to restart and the third time it blew the bulb . i highly recommend if your projector goes into a no start to pull the plug let it sit and then plug it in and try again it normaly works after this .if this projector did not have this problem it would be one of the best . to bad optoma has poor management and company practices.

It might be a long shot but those who have repeated startup issue (optoma screen fails to show) should statrt the pj from standby with no source powered up for a while and see if that helps.
Secondly I would suggest that take a digital voltmeter and read the voltage across the ground and neutral of the outlet they use for the pj and the sources and post here.

It might be a long shot but those who have repeated startup issue (optoma screen fails to show) should statrt the pj from standby with no source powered up for a while and see if that helps.
Secondly I would suggest that take a digital voltmeter and read the voltage across the ground and neutral of the outlet they use for the pj and the sources and post here.

ha ha ha i have actually done this knowing it would not be the problem . it was 121 . i have a whole house protector and a surge/conditioner on a dedicated line just for the projector . i have done no source ,source first, source durring, etc etc ect . it works best to turn on the source first than the projector (dvi) but like i said it does not matter when this thing does it .it just does it . we need to stop trying to work it out and start getting optoma to do something about there products . i garuntee you theres a reason optoma does not have a rep on here promoting there products like some of the other oems because they are sub par . every optoma projector seems to have a problem . why ? im sorry to ramble its just that this is very disapointing to me .this will be number 4 and i know very well the next one will do it anywhere from 100-300 hours . i did not pay 1000.00 i bought it for much more if it would have been 1000.00 it would not be so bad but just as annoying.

Your neutral to ground was 121v?

I think doing a line voltage check is a good routine practice anyway.
I am not trying to cover up or defend a faulty pj but some seems some have more issues than others with this. As I said it is long shot but it won't hurt to know about your wiring.

As far as going with source first or last, I have done both and appears the pj first has been working for me but I am not definite.
Once you power up the pj it runs a diagnostic every time and not have a signal feed seems more in line with elimination process. PJ should display the optoma screen with or w/o a signal feed but since DVI is the weakest link I want that be out of loop during start up.

I am all for going after Optoma for a fix. Is there a new firmware available or a fix that has been known?

http://www.newworldvideodirect.com/productdetail.asp?ProductID=1035

Wanted to get a bulb warranty. Has anyone seen the Mack warranty cheaper than this? What are the specifics with the warranty, it has to be purchased and registered within 30 days after I bought the projector?

That is the best I have seen... I bought from them and registered without any difficulty.

Hi, finally seems that powering the source after the pj, solve the startup problem, but it's too early to confirm that the problems semms to be solved...

I would ask if anyone could give me links to shops for the bulb or the complete lamp module for our projector that also do international shipping (I'm from Italy , )...I found the best price in US for the simple bulb from my search is 225$ Osram and complete lamp module for 360$-400$...

But it's simple to change only the bulb from the complete lamp module?

[/QUOTE]
Wanted to get a bulb warranty. Has anyone seen the Mack warranty cheaper than this? What are the specifics with the warranty, it has to be purchased and registered within 30 days after I bought the projector?[/QUOTE]

I bought mine from here -cpscentral.com $99 3 yr. w/3 bulb replacements-after origial mfg. warranty expires

Mack was only 2 bulbs in a 3 yr. period

Also, I purchased my hd7100 a month ago, and although I never had any misfires, my bulb just went last night. At least I think it was the bulb, screen went dark in the middle of watching it. No noise, just black screen. With my previous proj.-X-1, it would actually EXPLODE!, when the bulb went.

Anyway, what is the procedure for bulb replacement @ less then 90 days since purchase? Do they just send you a new bulb or do I have to send the whole freakin' thing in?

I probably only had 300 hrs on it-hope they all don't burn out this quickly:(:confused::mad:

I would bet your bulb did not blow. I would suggest simply starting your projector again. It is common knowledge that the HD7100 has issues, one of which is the bulb going dark during use on occasion. It has happened to me, once so far with about 150 hours on bulb.

I'm not saying it isn't a bulb issue, just that I doubt the bulb actually blew. It might blow in the future but for now, try restarting.

George

Your neutral to ground was 121v?

For those who actually are interested to know and have measured the neutral-ground voltage, it should not exceed .9 v. Otherwise have it checked out by someone.

Sent my HD3000 back in again to Optoma for service, this is the 3rd time. My HD7100 will not sync with my PS3 without the HD3000 in the loop. Anybody have any ideas?

I keep seeing the 'detecting/searching' in the bottom right corner but it never syncs. I will try to see if it will sync with my A2 later. I guess I should also try to sync with my Dish Network vip622 while I'm at it.

George

Just noticed something, not sure if it is something new although I can't imagine I could have missed this before...

At the bottom right hand side of the projected image, I am seeing a ton of wash out. This is light that is coming from the lens of the projector, not light spill. I have about a 100 inch diagonal 16:9 screen and this light is about 8 inches below the bottom of the screen across about half the width and arcs upwards towards the top right, just like it is following the curvature of the lens, about 1/3 the height of the screen, maybe covering 15% of the total screen area.

Hi Bub,
How was this issue resolved? I am experiencing the same problem in almost exact same area, except that the light wash starts at the bottom of the screen, about 1/4 to 1/3 the width. My projector is suspended behind and below a boxed in drop ceiling that runs across the room. I was suspecting that the projector wasn't mounted low enough, but the similarities between our problems seems to be a very big co-incidence.

Has anyone else experienced this light wash out?

Regards,
Greg

Hi Bub,
How was this issue resolved? I am experiencing the same problem in almost exact same area, except that the light wash starts at the bottom of the screen, about 1/4 to 1/3 the width. My projector is suspended behind and below a boxed in drop ceiling that runs across the room. I was suspecting that the projector wasn't mounted low enough, but the similarities between our problems seems to be a very big co-incidence.

Has anyone else experienced this light wash out?

Regards,
Greg

Greg, I was lucky that I never had to deal with it because my lamp started flickering and Optoma tech insisted that the projector was defective and they swapped it out. The replacement doesn't have the washout... yet...

I started to think that it might have been caused by the way I attached my ceiling mount to the projector. I tried to center the mount over the center of the lens (a throw back to my pre-lens shift projector, the IN72) instead of the center of the projector. Of course, with the replacement, I went ahead and centered the mount to the projector. This is all speculation on my part.

I've got about 175 hours on this projector and I don't notice any washout. If I remember correctly, I started to notice the washout on the original projector at about 100 hours or so. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Sorry to hear that you are having problems. I would contact Optoma tech about it. If yours is as bad as mine was, it is totally unacceptable.

Good luck,
George

Sent my HD3000 back in again to Optoma for service, this is the 3rd time. My HD7100 will not sync with my PS3 without the HD3000 in the loop. Anybody have any ideas?

I keep seeing the 'detecting/searching' in the bottom right corner but it never syncs. I will try to see if it will sync with my A2 later. I guess I should also try to sync with my Dish Network vip622 while I'm at it.

George

George,

VIP622 should work fine, it is constantly on... A2 will be interesting... mine doesnot sync with A30... without HD3000 in the loop.

A2/A30 are door stops anyway.

You are experiencing the same issue that I am experiencing with the HTPC and A30. I don't think they got the firmware corrected for DVI sync issues.

George,

VIP622 should work fine, it is constantly on... A2 will be interesting... mine doesnot sync with A30... without HD3000 in the loop.

A2/A30 are door stops anyway.

You are experiencing the same issue that I am experiencing with the HTPC and A30. I don't think they got the firmware corrected for DVI sync issues.

Well, I know for sure the original HD7100 I had worked with the A2 because the HD3000 was at Optoma for the better part of 2 months and I watched many HD movies while it was gone. Now, I've never tried the replacement projector yet without the HD3000 in the loop.

The projector did sync up with the DN vip622 HD receiver this morning. I will report back later today when I get a chance to try the A2 and the PS3 again.

George

I just hooked up my HD7300 this last weekend (I got in on the newegg deal waaaay back)

I'm projecting onto a 92" screen and am VERY impressed w/ the picture quality thus far... great brightness, great color. Blacks seem a bit off but I haven't done anything yet to calibrate. Hopefully I'll get to that in the coming weeks.

I had some signal loss issues when hooking up the HD3000 "directly" to the projector. (25' HDMI cable, 3' HDMI cable, two wall connectors, and the HDMI/DVI cable that came with the unit) I'm now running it through my Onkyo 805 to help boost the signal and it works great so far *knock on wood*

How have others solved this problem? Was anyone able to use a monoprice switches/repeaters to solve the problem? Having all my video hook into the HD3000 to one HDMI port in the reciever causes a big PITA when it comes to the audio side of things on the 805.

Thanks!

I just hooked up my HD7300 this last weekend (I got in on the newegg deal waaaay back)

Blacks seem a bit off but I haven't done anything yet to calibrate. Hopefully I'll get to that in the coming weeks.

Thanks!

I can't help with the HDMI issues, but I do know that the HD7100 defaults to Gamma that is way out of whack. Changing it to 2.0 helps the blacks a ton. Also, the HD3000 defaults to the pedestal settings of DVI-PC. You should also switch that to DVI-Video.

Unfortunately, every time you turn on the HD3000 or it searches for signal, it defaults back to DVI-PC. It's a major pain in the ass to keep switching it back to DVI-Video, but if you don't, it sets up as if you are feeding it a PC signal and it sucks for movies.

Good luck,
George

Both these settings will hose your black details and I've found no way to 'fix' it without changing the above two settings. You might want to also consider changing the color temp. The default is not right there either, 65K is the suggested setting.

You should leave it at DVI-PC. It is mislabled.
Once you do that, set the gamma in 7100 to 2.2 and you should never have any black level issues. Opting for vidoe level (which is actually PC level) will crush your black level and even with gamma 2.0 you still would be crushing the black.
AFA sync, I switched to Belden twisted pair cable and have had no issues since the switch. The cable is available at bluejean.

It looks like the HD7100 does not like the 1080p feed from the PS3. If I limit the output of the PS3 to a maximum of 1080i, the HD7100 syncs no problems. Also, had no problems with 1080i out of either my DN vip622 HD sat box or my Tosh A2.

George

Thanks for all your help Caspian and George! I've actually ordered some replacement cables a couple days ago and will give the Blue Jean ones a try if I still cannot go directly from the HD3000 to the projector w/o my receiver in the loop with the ones I ordered.

Do either of you have any more settings changes which could be of help, especially pertaining to color correction?

*sigh* I had my first bulb misfire last night, 3 days after first time turning it on. I did not have any sources on at the time. After waiting a minute or two when I figured out the bulb had actually misfired, I was actually able to turn off the unit the normal way by using the On/Off button and then Enter. After the projector powered down, I turned it on again w/ the source on and the projector booted w/ no problems. Hopefully this does not become a normal coinsurance.

It looks like the HD7100 does not like the 1080p feed from the PS3. If I limit the output of the PS3 to a maximum of 1080i, the HD7100 syncs no problems. Also, had no problems with 1080i out of either my DN vip622 HD sat box or my Tosh A2.

George

Cool... that is good to know... I have not tried connecting my replacement projector with the HD-A30 yet.

gireesh,

you were saying the a30 and a3 are doorstops. They still can be used for upconversion of sd material and hopefully the hd movies already out become very cheap. Even though I unfortunately picked up the a30, albeit at a lower price, i still bought the a3 from costco for 79 dollars. With the 5 free dvd's it almost pays for itself.

True... were you able to connect it directly to HD7100?

True... were you able to connect it directly to HD7100?

I've always connected through the scaler. I have only used the blue ray to date.
Haven't had the a30 or a3 that long. I always connect something to component
just to prevent start up issues and source recognition. As soon as the unit starts up I initiate a manual search. My hours on the pj are short in comparison to others here experiencing double starts. I have a a hdmi switcher now so soon I can play around with the various sources.

Remember that it was when I started using the switcher that I ran into trouble...

Remember that it was when I started using the switcher that I ran into trouble...

You didn't have the scaler them correct? Your right I should keep the switcher
out of the loop until I'm sure things work properly first.

No I did not...

Now, the scaler does not sync with the PC on HDMI either... I am waiting for the Gefen HDMI EDID device.

Does anyone's unit make a quick "zap" noise during the initial startup sequence? Mine does and it sounds like an "electrical zap", if that makes any sense.

Thanks!

Never heard a zap, but I had the most unnerving startup a couple days ago. Twice before, I had a double start on the lamp, but everything went fine keeping my hands off. This weekend though, I thought I was having my third. But instead of restarting (lamp went on then off), it was like a computer crash. Fan going on high . . . ticking noise trying to light the lamp . . . lamp lights but ticking continues . . . fan going low . . . then high . . . then low . . . still ticking . . . lamp goes out . . . fan still going up and down . . . I'm getting worried - trying to manually select inputs, selecting menu, etc. PJ was not responding to any commands, including power. Fearing that the whole thing was going to blow up, I shut down power. Turned back on after about 10 minutes and everything was OK - no problems at all.

Now I'm pondering what to do with this thing: "3 strikes" after all.

snomon: After my bulb would fail to strike, it would go through an abnormally loud restart sequence and would never actually strike but I'm not sure if mine was as bad as yours sounds. I always had to keep pressing the power and enter buttons on my remote until the shutdown sequence started (this could take several times to register w/ the proj) My bulb had less than 80 hrs on it and had two lamp strike failures before it the lamp died.

I think this "zapping" killed my first buld (which really angers me b/c it had less than 80 hrs on it). I'm going to try to get my unit RMAed through Optoma w/o the bulb. I really don't want to get a replacement bulb and have that one get fried too if Optoma hasn't "fixed" the unit yet :(

Never heard a zap, but I had the most unnerving startup a couple days ago. Twice before, I had a double start on the lamp, but everything went fine keeping my hands off. This weekend though, I thought I was having my third. But instead of restarting (lamp went on then off), it was like a computer crash. Fan going on high . . . ticking noise trying to light the lamp . . . lamp lights but ticking continues . . . fan going low . . . then high . . . then low . . . still ticking . . . lamp goes out . . . fan still going up and down . . . I'm getting worried - trying to manually select inputs, selecting menu, etc. PJ was not responding to any commands, including power. Fearing that the whole thing was going to blow up, I shut down power. Turned back on after about 10 minutes and everything was OK - no problems at all.

Now I'm pondering what to do with this thing: "3 strikes" after all.

thats what everyones does that is the no start problem . next time it does it unplug the power from the unit . it almost always starts back up normal after this . i have lost a bulb during the retry so when it does it i pull the plug . funny you say this as mine is going in at the end of the week for projector # 5 . yes #5 . I LOVE YOU OPTOMA :D pretty soon i will have to get a shipping acount set up with ups to get a discount:)

Gosh. It's been sooo long since I've posted on this thread...

A lot has changed: I recieved a replacement unit for my original HD7100, which went bad itself about 1 month ago suffering from the same lamp strike issue. I then returned the second 7100 to Costco for a refund (painless, by the way).

I now have the Sanyo Z2000 (an absolutely amazing projector IMO), which was DOA with a bad mis-convergence problem in the LCD panels. I must have REALLY bad luck!

So basically, I'm glad to be done with the Optoma, and I will soon find out how good the Sanyo warranty program is:)

thats what everyones does that is the no start problem . next time it does it unplug the power from the unit . it almost always starts back up normal after this . i have lost a bulb during the retry so when it does it i pull the plug . funny you say this as mine is going in at the end of the week for projector # 5 . yes #5 . I LOVE YOU OPTOMA :D pretty soon i will have to get a shipping acount set up with ups to get a discount:)

#5 ?!!! I was thinking about sending my pj back to Optoma, but now I'm wondering if this is just life with a 7100/7300. Should I just expect this all the time? 90% of the time, the pj works just fine. So I'm pondering what to do: send it back and have the same problem with another 7100 (mine's a 7300 actually) or just live with it?

Next time, do I shut down power at the first sign of trouble or do I wait to see what happens? It seems that I can tell from the sound immediately on powering up whether things will go right or not (that, or my imagination is getting the better of me). Maybe next time, I might try shutting down power (UPS) at the first sign of the "sick" sound.

Hi, leaving the Pj in standby I resolved for now (I hope for ever) the bad startup problem, fifth power-on and no problems so far...:)

P.s I have the 7300 without scaler

Hi, leaving the Pj in standby I resolved for now (I hope for ever) the bad startup problem, fifth power-on and no problems so far...:)

P.s I have the 7300 without scaler
That is my experience too.
If I cut off power to the pj and then power up I will get no Optoma start screen. Now I don't unplug the unit at all and I first power up the pj wait for the logo then the source.
So far no issues.

I'm going to give that a shot and see (with some finger crossing thrown in). I've been cutting power every time, as I seem to recall reading about doing that here a long time ago. Gotta say, when I bought this pj I never expected it to come with a personality.

Gotta say, when I bought this pj I never expected it to come with a personality.

:D
I'll tell you, reading around it seems all these pj's are POS suffering from some issues. Getting rid of this one is no option at all since there is no real replacement for it without shelling out at least twice more to go to 1080p even then I hear misconvergence, bad color or else. So here we go. we're stuck. :)

:D
I'll tell you, reading around it seems all these pj's are POS suffering from some issues. Getting rid of this one is no option at all since there is no real replacement for it without shelling out at least twice more to go to 1080p even then I hear misconvergence, bad color or else. So here we go. we're stuck. :)


You got that right! When I spent the extra 1K (well, a little less than that including the rebates) on the Z2000, I definitely was not expecting quality problems on a 1080p unit. So much for that logic!

After the journey that I've been through, I would reccomend holding onto the 7100/7300 until we get some cheaper 1080s this fall.:D

My lamp just hit 200hrs. To date, I've had one lamp strike issue that occurred around 140hrs. The PJ fired up fine on the 2nd attempt. That gave me considerable anxiety for a week or two, but the problem seems to have gone away for now.

The 7100/HD3000 definitely have some quirks, but all in all, I've very pleased with my purchase. The lamp strike issue and weak HDMI output are the biggest negatives. The excellent PQ of the 7100 along with the solid video processing and 3 HDMI inputs of the HD3000 make up for the quirks. The ability of the HD3000 to mask the image horizontally and vertically is a huge plus with my defective screen. As I mentioned in a previous post, my screen isn't really 16:9. It measures 91 7/8 x 52 3/8 (should be 92x52). That makes the aspect ratio 1.75:1 instead of 1.77:1. It doesn't seem like much, but it translates into 1/2" of image over spill horizontally. The HD3000 lets me mask it off nicely.

For the money, this projector is very hard to beat. My recommendation is to buy high quality HDMI cables, and enjoy it while it lasts. The 1080p front projection market is evolving rapidly. If I can milk the 7300 for another 15 months I'll come out way ahead.

Has any one tried to use an anamorphic lens with 71k?
The reason I ask is that its lens is throw ration is 1.623 and HTB lens min requirement is a 1.6 but they prefer 1.7 and higher with 2 be the best to avoid housing blockage and least pincussion..

I threw my HD3000 scaler up on Ebay if anybody is interested. Started it at 99 cents with no reserve. Just do a search for HD3000 and it will show up.

A question for people with the HD7300. When you have a source that's sending 720p to the projector, and you're using component, are you getting a number of white lines at the very top of your image? At first I thought this was a Playstation 3 thing, but last nite it happened with my Xbox 360. Apparently, I've been running the 360 in 1080i to the projector, and didn't even know it. I switched it to 720p, and immediately got the white lines at the very top of the image.

This was originally happening with my PS3 when I was using 720p via component. I switched to a DVI to HDMI adapter, and didn't have any more problems. Apparently, my 7300 has issues whenever receiving 720p via component. As long as it's anything but 720p via component, no issues, and if it's 720p via DVI, no issues either. So far, it hasn't really affected me too bad, cause I don't have any source that absolutely has to be 720p via component. I can switch the 360 to 1080i via component, and I can use the HDMI to DVI adapter with the PS3. My Direct TV HDTV box gives me the option of 1080i or 720p.

I wonder if this was fixed with a firmware upgrade or something, and I just need to do a firmware upgrade?

Anthony, I did not have that problem.

Anthony, I did not have that problem.

Hmm, I wonder if I should try to contact somebody from Optoma and ask them about it. Right now, this issue isn't really affecting me, because I can either choose to change the output resolution to 1080i, or I can use a HDMI to DVI adapter and avoid the problem that way. It seems to only happen when the source is outputting 720p, and going into the projector via component inputs.

I'm going to be getting a new receiver soon, and it's possible that the receiver that I'll get will be able to take a component source, and output it via HDMI, so maybe that will solve the issue for me as well.

Wow. Haven't had any bulb strike or startup issues yet (fingers crossed) but now I'm nervous every time I fire up the projector.

Anyway, I had two other lesser issues that I noticed with my 7100 and was wondering if anyone here had any insight with....

First, the sync-on-signal via component inputs (haven't even tried the HDMI yet) seems sort of flaky from two different sources, for different reasons. With a Sci Atlanta PVR, changes in aspect ratios during an HD broadcast such as going to ads, or studio->reporter during newscasts triggers a re-sync cycle. Alternatively, with my NAD DVD player which admittedly is somewhat flaky, extreme action such as cut-to-black dropouts or full-white flashes such as after an explosion also triggers a re-sync. Neither of these is a particularly abnormal circumstance, and I've never seen any other display make a mess of them. Any ideas?

Also, occasionally on really bright frames (especially when paused, or viewing a test signal), I notice what appears to be 60hz flicker in the picture. However, ground loop interference tends to produce rolling lines rather than flicker, and the projector is also being fed clean power via a very beefy Belkin PF60 console on its own grounded 20A circuit (I have a dedicated HT setup) so I'm not convinced that it's a powerline thing and wondering whether there is a problem with the pj. It doesn't happen always either - I notice it maybe 20% of the time.

Has anyone seen these issues?

Do you have the lamp set to normal or bright mode? You may find that bright mode gets rid of the flicker. Also, I've heard that after a few hours you can go back to normal and be okay.

Lamp flicker is a matter of time to go away. At least mine did.

Hello, from Australia - I am new to this 720p limitation on the HD3000 but now have one that is locked. Are Optoma finally unlocking/upgrading these? Where do I ship it? What are they charging?
Thanks in advance. Robairdo

Hello, from Australia - I am new to this 720p limitation on the HD3000 but now have one that is locked. Are Optoma finally unlocking/upgrading these? Where do I ship it? What are they charging?
Thanks in advance. Robairdo

I'm curious about this too. I was under the impression that Optoma would unlock the 1080p if you paid $299 and sent it in to one of their authorized service centers. I'm selling a HD3000 on Ebay right now, and this one dude asked me a question about it, saying that he heard that Optoma was no longer providing the option of unlocking 1080p by paying $299 for the firmware upgrade.

Has anybody heard anything about this? I need to update my Ebay auction with this information if this is true. I don't want to be misleading anybody. Last I heard, you contact Optoma and can pay $299 to have the 1080p unlocked. Of course, you have to send it in to an authorized Optoma service center to actually have it done, but I never heard anything about Optoma discontinuing this service. Anybody know anything about this?

Thanks for those links, I will really buy it within one week.

Jay

I'm curious about this too. I was under the impression that Optoma would unlock the 1080p if you paid $299 and sent it in to one of their authorized service centers. I'm selling a HD3000 on Ebay right now, and this one dude asked me a question about it, saying that he heard that Optoma was no longer providing the option of unlocking 1080p by paying $299 for the firmware upgrade.

Has anybody heard anything about this? I need to update my Ebay auction with this information if this is true. I don't want to be misleading anybody. Last I heard, you contact Optoma and can pay $299 to have the 1080p unlocked. Of course, you have to send it in to an authorized Optoma service center to actually have it done, but I never heard anything about Optoma discontinuing this service. Anybody know anything about this?

Anthony, I have no idea if Optoma is still upgrading the HD3000's but here is the number I had to call to get it done back in November...888-942-2929.

I was charged $314 ($299 for the upgrade and $15 shipping) plus I had to foot the shipping charge to send the HD3000 to them, was about $22.

Also, they took about 3 weeks, sent it back to me and it wouldn't even turn on without cycling the power switch and when it did come on it was in the service menu. Had to send it back, they paid for shipping both ways (2 day air even). They kept it for another 2 weeks and when they returned it to me, it worked fine (as far as I can tell, I don't have enough equipment to check all possible permutations).

I do know that it does not like to be hooked up without an HDMI audio receiver and my Westinghouse TX42 1080p LCD panel. If you look at the HD3000 manual, you will notice that there are three options for hookup, 2 for non HDMI capable audio receivers. One of the two is supposed to pass audio, but only passes static and the other is NOT supposed to pass any audio at all (you are supposed to use a separate audio cable) but it too passes the static to my Westy. Optoma claims it is an HDMI issue with my TV (and they also claim that this issue is repeatable with other displays in their service center, some displays work and some do not). Obviously, this is not an issue for projector users as nobody would use the tiny speaker that is available on some projectors for their sound.

I would consider selling my de-neutered HD3000 but I'm not sure I would get a fair price on ebay nor am I willing to take that chance. My HD3000 will accept a 1080p 24fps signal from my PS3. Also, 1080p 48Hz is a selectable output option as well as 1080p 60Hz along with all the typical PC resolutions and timings (obviously as well the resolution and timing for the HD7100). The thing works really well, I'm surprised. The options are virtually endless...

I hope that information helps,
George

Have you tried to feed the hd7300 any other refresh rate other than 60?

Have you tried to feed the hd7300 any other refresh rate other than 60?

I no longer have my HD7300, it was replaced by Optoman with the HD7100 (if there is any difference).

I have tried sending it 1024X720 48Hz but there was considerable tearing, more so from a 1080p 60Hz source than the 1080p 24Hz source. But tearing for both made it unwatchable.

I don't know if it is the projector not liking that timing, the HD3000 not outputting correctly or some combination between the two devices. I'm thinking it has more to do with the projector as there was a difference in the amount of tearing depending on the timings from the source (all fed through the HD3000 obviously).

There are other available timings besides the ones mentioned above but since I was only interested in the HD7100's native resolution and HD-DVD/Blu Ray sources, those were the only ones I tried. I would be willing to try others if anybody is interested.

George

Some have fed 72hz with success. Try 720@72hz to bypass pulldown with film based naterial see if it works.

Some have fed 72hz with success. Try 720@72hz to bypass pulldown with film based naterial see if it works.

I will have to check but I think I was in error when I mentioned 720p at 48Hz, it was the 72Hz you mentioned. It DID have considerable tearing with the 1080p 60Hz feed and less so (but still unwatchable) at 1080p 24Hz.

It was my mistake, I don't think there is a 720p 48Hz option, it was 480p 72Hz.

George

Earlier on this thread some had good success with 720@72hz.
If it does I will send it in to unlock the refresh rate. I will be interested in 1080&720@72hz as well. But if you say it is no go then I might have to rethink sending it in.

Earlier on this thread some had good success with 720@72hz.
If it does I will send it in to unlock the refresh rate. I will be interested in 1080&720@72hz as well. But if you say it is no go then I might have to rethink sending it in.

The person who said they were happy with 720p 72Hz was feeding it with a Bravo D1, which is a standard definition dvd player that does custom timings. So, he was taking 480p 24Hz material and converting it to 720p 72Hz, inside the D1, for the HD7300/HD7100.

I'm not sure how, or if for that matter, that information applies to our attempts to take 1080p 24Hz > HD3000 for conversion to 720p 72Hz > HD7x00.

In my attempts, there is something going wrong somewhere (I think with the projector taking the signal from the HD3000) getting 24Hz to 72Hz. With 1080p 60Hz, I noticed a ton of tearing. With the 1080p 24Hz source, not as much. So, in my opinion, that points to the projector stumbling somehow doing the conversion of the timing, 24Hz to 72Hz. But, I could be completely wrong about that.

If the HD3000 is properly converting the 24Hz signal to 72Hz, then why am I seeing tearing but the Bravo D1 user is completely happy with that image, I'm assuming zero tearing? Maybe it is the HD3000...

I'm almost 100% certain that we would not be able to get an adequate answer from Optoma technicians. In my experience, this would be over their heads (no offense intended).

I have a Bravo D1 myself but am not very interested in running a DVI cable to my HD7100 to see if I see tearing with it and SD dvd material.

hmmm... just thought of something... I could run 480i 24Hz into the HD3000 and have it convert to 720p 72Hz to see if there is tearing. Shoot, does the HD3000 even have a DVI input? I don't think that it does.

Any smart people in here that know the answer to this issue?

George

George, you can use a DVI to HDMI converter to connect a DVI device to HDMI. There is a pin to pin map for signals, no conversions involved.

I fed 480p to HD3000 yesterday and then output 1280x720@72Hz to the projector. I did see some tearing. I am going to try 1080p@24Hz today and see what happens. I didn't think the projector supported 1280x720@72Hz over DVI... but last night I set the output to 72Hz and it worked :D


There was one other thing that happened last evening, for the first time...

Once I turned the projector on, and selected DVI input, I had it at PC, after a couple of second locked up on "DVI Searching" that is, would not respond to remote commands, and then shut itself down. To me this indicates that what we are calling "lamp strike" issue may be a firmware bug. The light came back on after couple of minutes and synced with HD3000 without any issues.

I agree with the firmware bug hypothesis. As I noted above, I had a problem a while back with what seemed like a computer crash. With the "lamp strike" too, whenever I had a problem, the lamp would illuminate but the pj would not respond as it should. I had a couple more startup issues, also seemilg like a computer crash where the pj would not respond to commands. Like a locked up computer, I tried pressing and holding the power button on the pj (rather than cutting power) and the pj shut down after about 10seconds, even though one short press would do nothing, just like it would not respond to remote commands. After restarting, the pj would start up just fine. It's like dealing with a grumpy computer.

George, you can use a DVI to HDMI converter to connect a DVI device to HDMI. There is a pin to pin map for signals, no conversions involved.

I fed 480p to HD3000 yesterday and then output 1280x720@72Hz to the projector. I did see some tearing. I am going to try 1080p@24Hz today and see what happens. I didn't think the projector supported 1280x720@72Hz over DVI... but last night I set the output to 72Hz and it worked :D



Ok, so you are saying that I can use a DVI > HDMI cable and hook the Bravo up that way to the HD3000, output 480i 24Hz custom timings from the Bravo to the HD3000, let the HD3000 scale to 720p 72Hz to see if there is tearing?

Would this information even translate to the PS3 outputting 1080p 24Hz to the HD3000's scaling to 720p 72Hz?

George

Why don't you output 480p@24Hz and have HD3000 just do scaling and triple the frame rate... de-linterlacing will introduce its own issues... let the bravo output a progressive image.

Why don't you output 480p@24Hz and have HD3000 just do scaling and triple the frame rate... de-linterlacing will introduce its own issues... let the bravo output a progressive image.

I was under the impression that the Bravo would only do interlaced with custom timings, no?

I used the InFocus IN72 with that Farjouda (sp?) processor so fed it an interlaced signal from the Bravo.

If I remember correctly, in order to output a progressive signal from the Bravo, I couldn't do custom timings at the same time.

George

I just received a 2nd day air DHL letter delivery that is my official response from Optoma regarding my attempt to get them to refund the $314 they charged me for unlocking the HD3000 that I purchased as the HD7300 package, which included the HD7100 projector and the HD3000 that was locked to a single output resolution and timing frequency, even though all the available sales literature showed the HD3000 as having multiple output resolutions and multiple output frequencies/timings.

Basically, the letter justified their charging me for unlocking the HD3000 and also they pointed out that, "Optoma did not promote (the HD3000) for 1080p." and, "In the user's manual we did specify that certain versions have been factory preset for a single output range."

Of course, in my opinion, they DID promote the HD3000 as having 1080p functionality according to their HD3000 sales literature on their website. Nowhere on the HD3000 sales literature page is there any mention of any different 'version' of the HD3000 that did not have full functionality.

As well, it is my opinion that it wasn't sufficient notice by Optoma to place in the user's manual the information that there were 'certain versions' of the HD3000 that were 'factory preset for a single output range.' This information might be common knowledge to Optoma but obviously isn't to their potential customers.

I believe that they have misled their customers by not disclosing on the HD3000 sales literature page that there are some HD3000's that are fully functional and some that are not fully functional. I don't believe Optoma can HIDE this information in the user's manual and then claim that they have disclosed this vital piece of information to their customers BEFORE they have made their buying decision. This is a very important piece of information, the functionality of their product, that needed to be disclosed on the HD3000 sales literature page.

Furthermore, I feel this information should have been prominently displayed in such a manner as to make it obvious that there were different versions of the HD3000 being sold and easy for potential customers to find out which version, and which features were disabled, they were buying.

In all my discussions with Optoma, it is their position that they fully disclosed the fact that the HD3000 sold with the bundled HD7300 package was locked at a single output resolution and timing matching the HD7100 projector's display, by stating on page 51 of the 60 page user's manual,

"Note: Not all displays or projectors are capable of receiving and displaying their complete lists of resolutions. Please refer to the documentation that came with your projector or display for the exact compatibility match. Certain versions of the HD3000 have been factory preset for a single output range."

(bold and italics were added by me for emphasis, neither were in the user's guide)

This is not disclosure! This information is materially different from the information available on the HD3000 sales literature page at Optoma.com. Since there are obviously different versions of the HD3000, some are unlocked fully, others are set to 720p only and others at 1080p only, this information should have been prominently displayed on the HD3000 sales literature page so that potential customers could make an informed buying decision without having to read through the 60 pages of the user's guide to stumble upon the vague reference on page 51 that the HD3000 they were contemplating buying might not have the full functionality as noted in the available sales literature.

I have filed a complaint with the BBB, although I'm not holding my breath that they will assist in a resolution. I've filed one complaint with BBB before, against Ford Motor Company over a dealership who serviced my vehicle without authorization and subsequently forced me to pay the bill or face losing the right to use my own vehicle that I owned, and BBB was less than helpful. All FMC had to do, according to BBB, was simply respond by saying that they thought they did have authorization to service my vehicle. It didn't matter that the dealership promised not to do any work without notifying me first. So, this is why I'm not optimistic that BBB will assist me.

My next step would be to notify my state's attorney general. This isn't worth hiring a lawyer but I think it worthy of at least going through the free available legal channels.

I hope I haven't been ranting, just bent out of shape regarding this entire fiasco. I wanted to keep anybody that was interested informed about what is going on. It only took Optoma over 4 months to notify me that basically Go Jump is their official response.

George

I agree with the firmware bug hypothesis. As I noted above, I had a problem a while back with what seemed like a computer crash. With the "lamp strike" too, whenever I had a problem, the lamp would illuminate but the pj would not respond as it should. I had a couple more startup issues, also seemilg like a computer crash where the pj would not respond to commands. Like a locked up computer, I tried pressing and holding the power button on the pj (rather than cutting power) and the pj shut down after about 10seconds, even though one short press would do nothing, just like it would not respond to remote commands. After restarting, the pj would start up just fine. It's like dealing with a grumpy computer.

thats exactly whats going on . i just got mine back and the repair order said they replaced the dmd ? there was nothing wrong with the chip so i am asuming they replaced the dmd because it is part of the mother board .we will see with time what happens . i will say it wont fix anything and it will eventualy do a no start again . optoma seems to have a problem with every projector they sell . i will probably not buy another optoma product again. this is a great projector with what seems like a very easy fix problem that optoma does not see fit to fix just string it along till its out of warranty. what is wrong with companies these days? all these companies going out of business and wounder why . bring back the guys who built these companies from the school of hard nocks and fire these idiot collage grads who never had to work for anything . sorry for the rant

Ah... the wonders of outsourcing... Optoma does not make these projectors, it is built by an OEM in Taiwan, I posted a link to their website a few weeks ago... OEM probably stopped making updates to the firmware.

I still have not resolved DVI connectivity issues with my computer. I bought a Gefen DVI-Detective plus with HDCP pass through, that device will not read the EDID information from the projector, if I set it to one of the preprogrammed EDID, the computer now recognizes the projector, however, I cannot enable HDCP playback.

This is the weirdest piece of electronics that I have owned/used, the firmware sucks, worse than Microsoft V1.0 software.

On a different note. How good is the sharp xv-z10000. I have the opportunity to buy 1 used with screen. Any thoughts. The unit is even bigger than th 7100. Cables included , new bulb etc.

1500 beans total cost.

I'm replying to myself here but the 12000 can be had for 1400 to 1600, so not such a deal.

Just discovered something. Just received my new Tosh A-35, which does 1080p 24Hz (was using the Tosh A2 that was limited to 1080i 60Hz).

If you all remember, I also have the PS3 and was trying to match up its 1080p 24Hz output through the HD3000 converting it to 720p 72Hz for my HD7100. Well, that wasn't working as I was seeing considerable tearing, less so at 1080p 60Hz but horrible at 1080p 24Hz.

Well, I was really hoping that the A-35's 1080p 24Hz output would work without tearing. I was wrong, and had determined that it wasn't the source but something either the HD3000 or the HD7100 that was creating the tearing. I mean, it couldn't be BOTH the PS3 AND the A-35 right?

I was sitting there scratching my head when I decided to look at the HD7100's remote (I never use it as its functions are programmed into my MX500) and that's when I remember the 'pixel to pixel' button. I press it and viola', no tearing. I quickly pop in Spiderman3 into my PS3 and no tearing either.

So, there is nothing wrong with the HD3000 or the HD7100 as far as converting 1080p 24Hz to 720p 72Hz. The magical pixel to pixel button solved the tearing problem. So, now I am enjoying both my HD DVD's and my BD DVD's without 2:3 pulldown. The image is awesome!

Just wanted to share...
George

George,

Will the HD7100 accept a 1080p 24Hz signal without the processor in line?

Moe

Oooops, I guess I jumped the gun a bit. After awhile, one of the pieces of equipment starts having trouble. At first, it gets a bit jittery (almost like a computer game with a bad video card, low frame rate) then the tearing comes back. Sometimes, cycling between the two settings, 16:9 and pixel, will clear it up but then eventually everything starts breaking down again.

As well, I noticed that the image was very washed out, almost like the color wheel was spinning so fast as to not let enough light through. Blacks were gray and colors were pastel. I switched back to 1080p 60Hz on the source end and 720p 60Hz on the HD3000 and the image saturation was good again and the tearing/jittering disappeared.

I have output 1080p 24Hz to the HD3000 and had it do 720p 60Hz and everything was fine so something is going on when I feed the HD3000 the 1080p 24Hz signal and convert that to 720p 72Hz to the projector (not sure if it is the HD3000 or the HD7100 that struggles).

Z, I can't remember if I've pushed 1080p 24Hz to the projector without the HD3000 in the path but I will do that and report back.

Sorry about the mis-information guys, I really thought I had hit on something there.

George

George,

Will the HD7100 accept a 1080p 24Hz signal without the processor in line?

Moe

Moe, ok here is what I can tell. When outputting 1080p 24Hz, both the PS3 and the A-35 list as an option 'up to 1080p 24Hz'. So, I don't think it is a forced output resolution, meaning it will output up to 1080p 24Hz but could also output 1080p 60Hz. This is what happens with the HD3000 removed from the 'loop', both the PS3 and the A-35, while the option 'up to 1080p 24Hz' is selected shows on the HD7100 screen as 1080p 60Hz.

Now, I'm not sure if the source is determining that the HD7100 is not capable of displaying that particular resolution or the HD7100 itself is denying that output because it can't display it itself.

I hope that is clear? Basically, yes you can select 1080p 24Hz as your source but the HD7100 will 'see' that as 1080p 60Hz, although I can't determine why.

George

My Toshiba X-A2 will be here today. I will check to see if it has a 'force 1080p 24Hz' option. At least that way, we will know if the source is actually 1080p 24Hz, it might be possible to pin down the culprit. If we can force the source to 1080p 24Hz and the HD7100 still shows 1080p 60Hz or not able to lock on signal, whichever, we will know that the HD7100 will not display that particular resolution/timing.

For two nights in a row, my HD7300 has just shut off automatically while I was using it. I'm not sure what the heck is going on. I turned the projector on, and fired up my Playstation 3 and was playing a game. I was probably using it for about an hour, and then all of a sudden the screen just went dark. The projector was still on, but no picture at all. No nothing, just total blackness.

The only thing I could do, was to hit the power button, and then press enter. I had to do that about 3 times, and then finally it started the shutdown process. I basically left it alone after that, and didn't think too much about it, hoping it was just some anomoly.

Then tonite, the exact same thing happened. Everything seemed to be working fine, and about an hour after using it, the screen goes dark. Same exact situation.

I haven't had a chance to read this whole thread, so it's possible this exact scenario has already been discussed before, and if so, I apologize for beating a dead horse. I was just hoping that if somebody sees this post, and knows exactly what I'm talking about, they could let me know if I'm going to have to send this in to Optoma, and what's the normal procedure for doing that?

Anthony,

follow Caspian M's post a couple pages back by only powering down into standby and see if that helps. This could be firmware related but who knows.

Anthony,

follow Caspian M's post a couple pages back by only powering down into standby and see if that helps. This could be firmware related but who knows.

I've read all the suggestions about the double starting issues and all that, but my scenario is a bit different. I see the Optoma logo every time I start it up, and the bulb fires and no problem with that. My only issue, is that for two nights in a row the bulb has just turned off after about an hour. This has me highly concerned.

I was reading thru some previous posts, and one guy mentioned that his screen went dark, and then he changed from DVI to component, and then it worked, and then he went back to DVI, and then it was fine, so I'm going to try that the next time and see if that works.

My process for starting the projector up, is to plug it into the wall outlet about 20 minutes before I'm about to use it. Then, to turn it on with no sources powered up. I wait to see the Optoma logo, and then the DVI searching thing, and then I turn my sources on. It's worked fine doing this, for like the last seven times I've used it. (well, the startup has worked fine)

anthony,

I always have a component input to the pj as well as dvi. If it happens again initiate a search manually for another attached input. Having a second or more sources is good to be able to see if dvi input is flakey which there is plenty of testimonial it is. Are you using the 3000 with it? try leaving it in standby instead of totally powering down next time if you can before your next viewing.

Not every thing is lamp failure unless you look thru the lens and verify when your screen goes blank..

How would you guys rate this projector in comparison to a Kuro plasma? I'm curious, because almost all Kuro owners swear they've seen the second coming of Christ after viewing their display for the first time.

On another note, I've had my 7100 for a few weeks now without any problems. I did have a bit of a flicker, but it would go away when I turned on Bright mode for a few minutes. I'm hoping I got lucky enough to have a trouble-free unit. *crosses fingers*

anthony,

I always have a component input to the pj as well as dvi. If it happens again initiate a search manually for another attached input. Having a second or more sources is good to be able to see if dvi input is flakey which there is plenty of testimonial it is. Are you using the 3000 with it? try leaving it in standby instead of totally powering down next time if you can before your next viewing.


A couple of questions:

1. I think I've heard people talk about it's better to have the projector first search for component, instead of DVI. How do you actually get the projector to search for component first, before DVI? Everytime I've started up the projector with no sources powered up, it automatically searches for DVI first. If the source I'm using is component, I have to get the remote, and press the component 1 button, to switch it to component. Is there some procedure in the menu to make it automatically look for component (during startup), rather than DVI?

2. You said... "if it happens again initiate a search manually for another attached input." By this do you mean, grabbing your remote, and pressing the various source buttons? Or is there a particular button on the remote or something in the menu that you use for it to basically do an automatic "scan" for inputs?

a couple of comments:

1. Nope, not using it with the HD3000. I sold the HD3000 recently. Pretty much every source I use with the HD7300 is high def, so I don't really need such a top of the line scaler to upconvert non High Def sources. I know that the scaler can even improve various HD signals, but I figured it was worth more to me as selling it for some cash that I could use in another area of my theater. Don't get it wrong, I would have liked to have tried the scaler combo, to see if there was any noticeable improvement, but the cash that somebody would pay me for the scaler was much more enticing to me. Maybe it was a big mistake for me to sell the scaler, I'll never know.

2. After the two consecutive nights where the screen went dark, I'm going to go ahead and try just leaving the projector plugged in 24/7. My first projector was an infocus X1 projector (480p and 4:3), then I stepped up to the Mitsubishi HD1000u (720p 16:9), and now the HD7300. With the Infocus X1, I was always told to unplug the projector from the outlet, once the fan had shut off after it's normal cooling process. The theory was that your bulb would have a much longer lifespan if you did this. So I did it religiously. Also did it with the Mits. So, it's always been a routine for me to shut off power completely, after the fan stops running during the normal cooling process. Leaving a projector in standbye mode 24/7 just seems so strange to me, but I guess I'll have to deal with it.

3. Also, regarding component, I have a couple of sources hooked up via component that I use on occasion, although I normally use the DVI (with a HDMI to DVI adapter), but I normally don't have those sources turned on, when I'm just going to be using the DVI input. But now, it appears that maybe I should always have something turned on that uses component. So I'll probably just leave the Direct TV HDTV receiver turned on. It will be turned on, but it won't be giving the projector the signal tell I switch the input on the receiver. Hopefully it will still work out ok.


Not every thing is lamp failure unless you look thru the lens and verify when your screen goes blank..


You know, that's one thing that I didn't think of doing, when it happened. Next time it happens, I'm going to try switching to the component input, hoping to see my Direct TV stuff on screen, but if that doesn't work, I'll make sure to look into the lens to see if the lamp is on at all, before trying to get the projector to turn off. It just never entered my mind to actually look into the projector to see if the lamp was on. Pretty dumb on my part.



On another note, I've had my 7100 for a few weeks now without any problems. I did have a bit of a flicker, but it would go away when I turned on Bright mode for a few minutes. I'm hoping I got lucky enough to have a trouble-free unit. *crosses fingers*

The chances of having a completely trouble free projector are pretty slim. Especially with the 7100 (7300). Still, hopefully for your sake you do. I've owned 3 projectors so far (since discovering the suprisingly affordable world of front projection), and all three have had various issues.

1st projector = Infocus X1 - Had a bad flicker problem for a little while. I think I had to upgrade the firmware, and then the flicker went away.

2nd projector = Mits HD1000u - The color wheel went out on it, and I had to send it in to Mitsubishi. Luckily, it was under warranty, and I never had any other problems after that.

3rd projector = Optoma HD7300 - So far, I've had various start up issues like everybody else, and also the screen going dark twice.

After a long time, I have good news to report... I have finally been able to get my computer to connect via DVI port to the projector. Here is what I had to do:

(1) Purchase Gefen DVI Detective Plus with HDCP passthrough
(2) Have Gefen read the EDI information from my plasma downstairs which has almost identical capabilities [Gefen was unable to read the EDID information from the projector]
(3) Connect the DVI Detective Plus with HDCP pass through dip switch enabled between the projector and the HTPC.

I watched two Blu Ray and one HD-DVD title at 720p native... awesome image!!!

gireesh

That's good to know. But unless you had the plasma you would still be stuck. Perseverance pays off.

My replacement HD7100 has about 250 hours on it now and it has started to both flicker on low lamp and also surge (the image will be stable, but about every couple of minutes I get a surge of brightness that lasts a split second (about the time it takes to blink)) when not flickering.

I believe both issues disappear when running in high lamp mode. Unfortunately, as soon as you switch back to low lamp, the issues return.

Last time, with my original HD7300, Optoma required I send it in for a replacement, that it definitely was NOT a lamp issue but something wrong with the projector itself.

I will be calling them tomorrow.

George

Also, have filed a complaint with BBB regarding the 'neutered HD3000's'. Optoma has until 4/8/08 to respond. Of course, I fully expect BBB to do absolutely nothing on my behalf. I'm not ready to give up yet though, I think the state Attorney General next.

For two nights in a row, my HD7300 has just shut off automatically while I was using it. I'm not sure what the heck is going on. I turned the projector on, and fired up my Playstation 3 and was playing a game. I was probably using it for about an hour, and then all of a sudden the screen just went dark. The projector was still on, but no picture at all. No nothing, just total blackness.

The only thing I could do, was to hit the power button, and then press enter. I had to do that about 3 times, and then finally it started the shutdown process. I basically left it alone after that, and didn't think too much about it, hoping it was just some anomoly.

Then tonite, the exact same thing happened. Everything seemed to be working fine, and about an hour after using it, the screen goes dark. Same exact situation.

I haven't had a chance to read this whole thread, so it's possible this exact scenario has already been discussed before, and if so, I apologize for beating a dead horse. I was just hoping that if somebody sees this post, and knows exactly what I'm talking about, they could let me know if I'm going to have to send this in to Optoma, and what's the normal procedure for doing that?

I had a similar situation with my HD7100, I thought that the lamp had blown. I left the PJ on assuming it would automatically power down, which it didn't do. Then two days later I went down to my theater and discovered the PJ was back on! Apparently it got too hot and shut down the bulb until the temp dropped low enough. (The was an over-temp warning displayed on the PJ image.)

Unfortunately for me, this was not a one-time deal, and eventually the lamp started "popping" off much more frequently making it unusable.

I replaced the lamp, though, and it hasn't happened since.

Mike

gireesh

That's good to know. But unless you had the plasma you would still be stuck. Perseverance pays off.


Not quite... DVI Detective plus has a preprogrammed EDID that will let you set it up so that the computer will see all the standard HD resolutions. In that mode, you will not be able to see the boot screen etc. Hence, I had to do the plasma trick.

I have said that before...if you have too many issues put a voltmeter in your outlet and read the voltage between ground and neutral (should read .9V) and to make sure polarity is correct. It won't hurt to do a check.

For two nights in a row, my HD7300 has just shut off automatically while I was using it. I'm not sure what the heck is going on. I turned the projector on, and fired up my Playstation 3 and was playing a game. I was probably using it for about an hour, and then all of a sudden the screen just went dark. The projector was still on, but no picture at all. No nothing, just total blackness.

The only thing I could do, was to hit the power button, and then press enter. I had to do that about 3 times, and then finally it started the shutdown process. I basically left it alone after that, and didn't think too much about it, hoping it was just some anomoly.

Then tonite, the exact same thing happened. Everything seemed to be working fine, and about an hour after using it, the screen goes dark. Same exact situation.

I haven't had a chance to read this whole thread, so it's possible this exact scenario has already been discussed before, and if so, I apologize for beating a dead horse. I was just hoping that if somebody sees this post, and knows exactly what I'm talking about, they could let me know if I'm going to have to send this in to Optoma, and what's the normal procedure for doing that?

over heating..... next time it does it leave it on in about 5-10 minutes it will kick back on and say it over heated . mine has over heated about 3 times now .

picked up a 12000mkII for a lot less than I mentioned above. Got lucky and saw an ad
on craigslist. So now I can compare to the 7100.

Was contacted by Optoma today, they want my HD7100 back for service. It's odd that with the exact same situation with the exact same model of projector, the resolution is two entirely different scenarios.

First projector started flickering at 150 hours. It is absolutely not the lamp and absolutely not able to be fixed, Optoma insists on replacing the projector.

Fast forward 2 months and the replacement projector starts flickering at 200 hours, now it must be sent in for repair.

Oh well, looks like I will be out of the 'movie' business for a few more weeks.

I bet if I counted up the total amount of time I've been able to use my HD7100 AND my HD3000 together since I ordered them back on 11/02/07, I could easily claim that Optoma has had either my HD7100 or my HD3000 for longer than they have been in use in my home.

Annoying... Also was notified by BBB that Optoma has responded to my complaint by again stating that they disclosed to me the fact that the HD3000 packaged in the HD7300 combo deal was locked at 720p. Their argument is that inside the HD3000 owners manual, there is the statement, "...some versions of the HD3000 have been preset for a single output range.", and that should be good enough for me to have been able to figure out exactly what I was considering buying.

I just don't understand why they couldn't differentiate the different equipment by HD3000SA, HD3000-720, HD3000-1080? Why don't they list the different models on their website, why only refer to the one model that outputs multiple resolutions/timings? If you do a search for HD3000 on their website, you only get the information for their fully functional model. There is absolutely no mention of any neutered or less than full featured model. Even the sentence in the owners manual is not clear, but even if it as as clear as day, I don't understand how any reasonable person could believe that putting that sort of information in the owners manual only (here is how the thing you already bought will function) is proper disclosure.

Luck all,
George

Well, since those two nights of the screen going dark on me, that hasn't happened since. That's the good news. The bad news is that I've been noticing lately how loud this darn projector is. Never really noticed it that much before, but I find myself wanting to turn up the volume of my receiver higher and higher to try to drown out the fan of the projector. My first two projectors were really quiet in comparison.

Oh well, what can you do...

Hi, for me the fan in eco mode is quiet, in high power it's loud but I just don't use that mode...

Finalle, leaving the Pj in standby and with the souce off, it power up correctly from when I've used this sequence...I hope it will continue so...

well my 1 week old repaired 7100 did its first no start . i am so shocked:eek::eek::eek: ;) you no if optoma told me they would warranty the shipping and garunte my bulb for 3 years i would live with it but this is just crazy at this point . this will be # 6 if i send it back and all 6 for the same thing . great .

I can not believe what you guys put up with. After my 2nd faulty 7100 I insisted on refund and fought for it. With the refunded money I bought an entry level 720 pj (HD65) which starts flawless no matter how connected or how turned off. My main objective is watching movies and not pj tinkering. I won't forget the time when this pj ruined all enjoyment for me and my family/friends trying to watch a movie/sports!

I can not believe what you guys put up with. After my 2nd faulty 7100 I insisted on refund and fought for it. With the refunded money I bought an entry level 720 pj (HD65) which starts flawless no matter how connected or how turned off. My main objective is watching movies and not pj tinkering. I won't forget the time when this pj ruined all enjoyment for me and my family/friends trying to watch a movie/sports!

Did you get the refund directly from Optoma or did you get it from where you bought the proj?

Did you get the refund directly from Optoma or did you get it from where you bought the proj?

Got it back from the retailer and it wasn't easy.
But still a lot easier then fighting the most unreliable electronic equipment I have ever owned.

I bet if I counted up the total amount of time I've been able to use my HD7100 AND my HD3000 together since I ordered them back on 11/02/07, I could easily claim that Optoma has had either my HD7100 or my HD3000 for longer than they have been in use in my home.


The same is true in my case:mad:

Does anybody know of any HDMI issues with this projector and a Marantz SR7001 receiver? I got a SR7001 today, and when I hook up the the HDMI output of the projector to the DVI input of the HD7300 (via a HDMI to DVI adapter), I get nothing. It could be a problem with the receiver, and have nothing to do with the 7300, I'm not sure.

Anthony1, I too have never been able to get an image using HDMI to DVI from my Samsung combo UP5000 to the HD7100. I tried a slew of different cables to no avail.
I've resorted to using Component and would like to hear from others if they have similar
problems.


Does anybody know of any HDMI issues with this projector and a Marantz SR7001 receiver? I got a SR7001 today, and when I hook up the the HDMI output of the projector to the DVI input of the HD7300 (via a HDMI to DVI adapter), I get nothing. It could be a problem with the receiver, and have nothing to do with the 7300, I'm not sure.

Does anybody know of any HDMI issues with this projector and a Marantz SR7001 receiver? I got a SR7001 today, and when I hook up the the HDMI output of the projector to the DVI input of the HD7300 (via a HDMI to DVI adapter), I get nothing. It could be a problem with the receiver, and have nothing to do with the 7300, I'm not sure.

I made a mistake with this statement. I meant to say "when I hook up the HDMI output of the SR7001 (main HDMI out) to the DVI input of the HD7300 (via a HDMI to DVI adatper) I get nothing.

I've gone from the PS3 via HDMI, directly to the HD7300 (via the HDMI to DVI adapter), and didn't have any problems. So I know I can get video via the HDMI to DVI adapter that I'm using on the Optoma 7300's DVI input. But if I can't get any HDMI video via the receiver, then that sucks pretty bad. Unfortunately, I don't have any other receivers with HDMI output, so I don't know if it's just a problem with the receiver, or a problem with the projector.

anthony . i put a integra 9.8 in my loop and had a sync issue . i just switch back and forth on the receivers video inputs until she syncs . so no sync switch to cable input wait 30 seconds than switch back to dvd and let her try for 2 minutes . than switch back to cable for 30 sec than back to dvd for 2 minutes . the problem i found is the projector is very very slow to sync and the ps3 and integra take 5 seconds . so the integra gives up and trys again . give that a try.or turn off the source and turn it back on . i have to do this with the cable box some times .