I noticed there are tweaks listed for the Z4, but not any for the Z5. First let me say that I am not a professional at this, but I do believe I have an excellent eye for detail and color. I highlighted the settings in a greenish yellow color for those that want to skip my wordy mumbo jumbo and get right to the settings.

I do not think the Z4 tweak threads completely apply to the Z5, as the Z5's color accuracy, lens options, and brightness differs somewhat from the Z4, which means the settings will differ as well. So below I give my opinions for others to experiment with, and hopefully others will contribute as well (maybe even with better suggestions than I have). I have tried a calibration CD, and what I found was that it made faces look really natural, but I did not always like the colors across the board for every type of viewing after the calibration CD. I have also found that different channels are skewing the settings of the color calibration (even different HD channels). I therefore find myself adjusting the picture depending NOT only on what type of content I am watching, but also what channel I am watching (go figure). Whether this be sports, scenery (like Discovery HD), or movies. Of course a professional calibration wrould likely provide an even better starting point, but not all of us wish to go this route (I am saving my money for 1080p eventually).


First my setup:
Screen: Apollo 1.0 Gain White Matte 70" Diagonal 16:9 Screen (have an 84" elite but haven't had a chance to mount it yet). I also have an off-white wall that I have projected large images onto, up to 130" or so.
Sitting Distance: about 10 feet to 12.5 feet (varies with my recliner)
Mount: Mounted at 5' high on a shelf and image is projected at virtually perfect centered angle (no keystone usage and only 2-4 slides/clicks of image shift)
Media Formats I use Time Warner HD Cable and have about 10 HD channels. I also have an HTPC (home theater PC), and a Pioneer progressive DVD player (480p)
Lamp Usage: Currently at 120 hours of lamp from when I first bought the projector
Cable Box and Hookup Methods I use the Scientifica Atlanta 8300 HD-DVR over HDMI connection. I have also tried component and I saw no difference in PQ. I have tried VGA and HDMI for my HTPC and saw no difference between the two here either. (let me stress I did not do a live comparison of these though)
Ambient and Reflective Light Conditions I have a pretty dark viewing environment, as all windows are blocked with blackout curtains. However, I do not quite have a "black hole" for a viewing room, as the room has beige carpet and white walls. There is not much light reflection because the only wall close enough to reflect any has black curtains on it to stop this. I would say my setup is a 7 or 8 out of a possible 10 as far as blocking ambient light, with a 9 or 10 being black carpet with black walls, etc...


Does the brightness noticeably fade over time from lamp usage?
One thing to take note of is that your pre-100 hour calibration will differ from your post-100 hour calibration (this is not exact but it is a good standard estimate for when most brightness change takes place). The brightness does drop off quite significantly once you get over 100 hours, but the projector does still have enough brightness at this point (even for 100" screen). Some people have said they cannot tell it has changed in brightness, but I can easily tell. You may want to get a 1.5 gain screen for 92" or more (not necessary but may give you more kick for the life of the bulb). Under 92" you probably want to stick with a 1.0 gain screen. As stated above, I currently have 120 hours on the projector's lamp, so I cannot say if the brightness fades further after this point.

Getting Started on adjusting for the BEST PQ
The biggest problem with the Z5 is definitely the color accuracy, which is why I generally recommend starting with either Creative Cinema or Natural Mode and
then going from there. These 2 modes seem to have more accurate colors as compared to the other modes, even if the reds are still off in these modes (which is not bothersome to me). You can of course base your adjustments from any factory preset, but the above is simply my recommendation based on what I have found by experimenting. One thing worth noting is I used to prefer Creative Cinema, but after 100 hours of lamp usage, I seem to get better results starting my tweaking from "natural mode".

Skip this paragraph if you are not a newbie
For those unfamiliar with the Z5, the way you change colors based on a factory pre-set is by saving your custom settings into a user pre-set (there are 4 user modes you can store your own tweaks in) . Changing the factory preset never actually changes it, so you will need to store any changes you make in one of those 4 user slots. The 4 user modes are located in the same menu as the factory Modes (keep scrolling down and you will see them after going down below Vivid setting). So you choose a factory pre-set mode (like Natural), make your own adjustments, and then from the "image adj." menu you click "store". From this point on it is self-explanatory.

Continuing on...
Your settings will of course vary due to sitting distance, ambient light conditions, lamp usage time, personal preferences, and various other reasons... Even though this is all true, I still think this might help some people since I am on a pretty standard setup in a dark room. I have given a range of settings in most cases, since I believe most people will find the sweet spots somewhere close to this range.

Scenery / IMAX Type Viewing:
I find the below settings look good for IMAX or scenery type viewing, as well as other viewing. For non-scenery viewing you will want to tone down the color saturation (color temp and color).

Start with Natural Mode by choosing this from the first menu (Image)...
Next, go to the Z5's second menu (Image Adj.) and begin changing the below

Color Temp = Mid or High I usually set this to "High", but sometimes use "Mid". I find it provides a superior starting point over the other options. Going to Low1 or lower adds more orange to the picture (warmer color temperature), while the highest settings (med or high) give a cooler color temperature
Color +5 to +20 (depends on your preference of color saturation) Adding more color will give more punch by making all those leaves look greener, butterflies will have more color, etc... Even if this is somewhat of a fake addition, I use +10 to +20 sometimes just to see the color pop. This doesn't usually make animals or scenery look fake, but it can make people look bad. You will likely need to tone this down for normal viewing, but for the most pop try raising during a few scenes to see just what this Z5 can do. It truely can provide some incredible color pop in this situation!

Contrast +5 to +25 You will get a more punchy and less washed out image once you find the correct balance between brightness and contrast. If you see crushed whites, which can show up as shiny spots on someone's face, or clouds in the sky that have too much of a solid look, then you need to re-adjust your contrast or brightness in some cases. However, there is some trade off in getting the punchiest image, which may cause some things like clouds to look crushed and lack detail. The problem is at least in part the nature of light in general, as clouds are often reflecting the sunlight back to the lens, so this area of the image will be very sensitive to contrast. Attempt to get the contrast levels where things appear acceptable in most situations, without too many shiny spots or crushed whites. Generally a higher contrast combined with a lower brightness will provide a better picture, as it will give the picture a higher contrast range/ratio overall.
Brightness - 20 to + 10 (really depends on lamp usage and personal preferences, that is why I gave a huge range, at first you may go down even more). Mine is set at 0 to +10 usually, since my lamp is already worn in.

Gamma = 0 I left this at the default since this basically appears to primarily change brightness and contrast as a sort of all-in-one setting. This can be useful to adjust if you are having a hard time finding your sweet spot for brightness and contrast.
Lamp Iris = -30 This is another setting that affects brightness, I leave this at -30. I believe where you set this also affects how much room you are giving the automatic iris to move on its own (that is if you have the automatic iris enabled, see below under advanced)
Lamp Mode Economy Why use anything else since this makes the lamp last longer, you can simply adjust the brightness to compensate.
Progressive = L1 I leave this at L1/default, as L2 caused me some fringing. I did not see much difference in PQ with it off or on L1 however.
Sharpness = 0 I did not notice any difference between the full range of sharpness settings, but some do suggest setting this to -6 to reduce image noise and edge fringing. I actually leave mine at the default setting of 0.

I did not find many of the other settings in the standard menu that useful, but you may wish to add individual color correction or changes to the tint settings.

Change to the Image Adj. Advanced Menu (same menu as image adj. but click advanced)
Lamp Iris = Open This is where you can change it to automatic if you wish, but I really do not like it on automatic as I can hear it change and it makes some scenes too dark. Although I do sit only a foot away from the projector, so this is probably why. I did not notice that much difference in black levels with it set to Auto 1 or Auto 2, all I really noticed was a difference in brightness across the board. Feel free to experiment of course, just my observations.
Auto Black Stretch = Off Saw no noticeable differences either way.
Contrast Enhancement = Off This basically provides a small tweak to increase contrast by either raising or lowering brightness slightly (I do not think it changes like the iris, but it is a one-time set it and forget it. The setting did not appear to cause any harm to the picture, but I leave this OFF generally. You might try to use L1 to L3 if you like the picture it gives you.
Transient Improvement = L1 This is one of the few "effects" I do like. What this does is add a sharpness filter, similar to adding sharpness in a program like Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop. I would turn this off for video games or animated viewing, since this type of material is already at maximum sharpness. Also note that anything beyond L1 became a bit too much in some video scenes, but L1 seemed to provide that extra oomph of overall clarity, without making the image look pixelated or grainy. You may notice a tiny bit more pixelated look on some scenes, but I did not really notice any bad traits to the image, and to me it was worth any barely visible trade off. For instance, I noticed with Transient set to L1 that all the underwater fish shots in the Coral Reef Imax adventure looked sharper, more detailed, and a good bit clearer.
Color List = 0 I usually leave this at default, although it is a useful setting. It further alters your color settings to provide some corrective abilities. I noticed setting this to other color lists can help faces look more natural in some respects. It basically just changes the RGB scales a bit automatically. Remember though, the settings I am providing here are for an emphasis on scenery and color pop, while preserving the natural look as much as possible. You can experiment with the Color List all you want without seemingly causing any major changes to your actual viewing experience (other than the color scale of course).
Dynamic Gamma = Off This setting basically goes along with the automatic Iris, I am guessing this is part of the second IRIS / automatic brightness adjustment. I prefer this off because I like to keep my brightness pretty uniform for the most part. An irony is that on really dark scenes I don't always want better blacks because sometimes it loses detail to the point of not seeing anything! You can mess around with this and all the other Iris settings without seemingly causing any major differences in viewing experience (other than a bit of sound coming from the iris moving).

With the above settings as a reference, I mainly only feel the need to adjust the "color" (color saturation) and brightness when viewing different material. For sports or sitcom viewing (like Miami: CSI for example), then I usually lower the colors back down to somewhere around -10 to +5, and I may raise or lower the brightness depending on what I am watching.

The Z5 manual will also explain each setting somewhat, although it could be a little more detailed at times. You may want to consult the manual for more specifics. I hope some of this proves useful. Remember, this is just based on my own experiences and my own viewing environment, so constructive comments are welcome.

Another important item - Loud or whiny fan:
I noticed the lamp being louder when my room temperature got to around 75 (I usually keep the room around 72 Farenheit). I then heard a relatively quiet, but yet high-pitched whining sound, but don't worry about this if you hear it, and don't send your projector back just yet. Just let it run for a few minutes and it usually goes away. You can either lower the brightness or turn your A/C up and this will also make the lamp quieter. The room temperature affects the fan speed and noise as the fan is temperature controlled. A cooler room makes for cooler parts inside the projector, which then makes for a lower fan speed (quieter).

Thank you for starting this thread, it will help new Z5 owners (even thought I'm not one of them - at least not yet). Regarding your room temperature comment: since lamp tempertures are very high (around the lamp itself), the cooler the room, the longer the lamp life will be. In general, I try to never run my PJs (over the years) when my room temperature ecceeds 75 degrees (F). At this time of year, my LR/HT is usually around 65 to 68 degrees (yes we like it cool). The big problem was in the summer time, when it could get up to 85 degrees inside (which is why I bought a room A/C). Keeping the air filter clean will also help the air flow, and proling the life of the lamp.

I spent 13 years as a reliability engineer in the spacecraft industry. The probability of part failure increases by a factor of 2 for every 8 degrees C = 14.4 degrees F. Therefore, operating the PJ at 80 degrees instead of 70 degrees will have a very large effect on the life of the lamp, as well as the other electronic parts in the PJ.

coderguy, thanks a lot for taking the time to create this thread and post in detail about your settings! i just got my Z5 last Friday and love it so far. i'm looking forward to trying out your settings sometime this week.

I have a question for you tweakers. Have any of you seen one of the later model DLP projectors like the HD2+ chips or the Darkchip2 or Darkchip3’s? I am wondering how you think you’re tweaked out picture compares in terms of black level “punch” and overall brightness.

I had compared and reviewed a Mitsubishi HD 1000 (DC2 no auto-iris) vs the Z5 (LCD w/ auto-iris). The Z5 beat the black levels of the HD 1000 90% of the time even with the Z5's auto-iris off, this being while the lamps were still new. I only ran the HD1000 for 4 hours, but I can tell you that the current black levels of the Z5 after burn-in (125 lamp hours) will beat a new lamp on the 1000U likely every time.

At this point, I don't think I've once seen an image and said to myself - "darn these black levels", actually quite the opposite. A very bright outer space image of the earth looked incredible, and the black space surrounding the earth was plenty black, even with the image brightness fairly high and setup to give a really good punch. The only time the blacks suffer at all is if there is spaced out white spots or a really bright image in the black (the sun in space for instance), but you do not notice it at this point because the overall scene has too much light anyhow.

The DLP's will have a little more color punch in some cases, but I don't think it is significant. I prefer LCD over DLP naturally, so I am biased, but I am not biased on the black-level front, and the Z5 has incredible black levels. I think anyone complaining about the Z5's black-levels did not run the lamp for at least 100 hours, at first the Z5's blacks aren't near as good (but still acceptable).

Black levels are VERY important to a point, but I think once you get to the Z5's black level capabilities, any further improvement is a pretty minor increase in picture quality. You can also enable the auto-iris and lower brightness slightly if you are a real black level junkie. Sometimes the Z5's blacks are so deep that it darn near matches my completely black border around my projector screen.

Has anyone observed something like vertical "combing" on scene transitions and rapid field changes using the Z5? I'm on SC Time Warner cable using an SA 3250HD converter. This looks as if crawling dots instantaneously expand vertically into evenly spaced 2-3 pixel wide columns, separated by 2-3 pixels (sort of like corduroy) for the duration of the field. This occurs only on analog channels, not the digitals, and on every input, including HDMI, even with the converter set to "pass-through", and the Z5 set to progressive "off" and screen image "normal through". The effect seems to be more severe on some channels, particularly the SPIKE channel. Is this an MPEG artifact?

It sounds like image noise from Time Warner, I don't think it's your equipment. Generally the Z5 is good at handling noise. I have a CRT hooked up to my cable as well, and believe it or not, the Z5 filters the image better than the CRT does, as far as the static.

I have seen some tiny dots and static on some scenes, but very rarely and it is mostly on channels with a weaker signal. I don't know if this is the problem you are talking about though.

blipnitz -- That sounds like a problem with excessive noise (interference type) in your TWC analog signals (especially since you don't see it on the digital feed - it's not a Z5 problem). That is one of the reasons I dropped my local Comcast cable service (the other being excessive prices).

This problem may also be due to faulty connections in your the distribution box for the feed to your residence, or a defective SA 3250HD STB. You might want to try to get TWC to fix it, but don't hold your breath.

NB - We are diverging from the subject of this thread. I appologize for my contribution to it.

More a "TIP" then a "TWEAK", but here's some info I posted in another post. The First tip gives a handy hidden menu. The second provides access to the "Service menu":

Z5 Hidden Menus - what I know so far

Checking Lamp time: This menu shows how many hours the projector has been on and how many hours the lamp has been in "Normal" mode and how many hours in "Eco" mode.

How to Access it: Press and hold the POWER ON/STAND-BY button on the remote for more then 20 seconds. The screen will pop up briefly.

Service Adjustment Menu: This menu allows you to adjust the service data.

How to Access it: Press and hold the MENU button on the remote for 20 seconds. A "S" will appear on the screen. Now press and hold the "SCREEN" button on the remote for 3 seconds. You are now in the service mode. To exit press the POWER ON/STAND-BY.

WARNING: The OK, MENU, and pointer buttons all change service data values. Don't press them unless you know what you are doing or record the original values.

I received my DVD essentials disk this weekend. I'll start by saying I'm an absolute novice when it comes to calibration and in the past lived with the settings my tv came with. After spending untold hours reading the posts by knowledgeable forum members I decided my Z5 could benefit from a basic calibration.

I started with the user 1 preset.

Brightness -8
Contrast -7
Color +5
Color Temp = user
Red =0
Green =0
Blue=0
Sharpness -3
Lamp Control = Full
Gamma =0
Color List=1
Dynamic Gamma = off
Auto Black Stretch= off
Contrast Enhancement= off
Transient Improvement= off

The color bar seemed nearly perfect for Blue and Green but the red was a little off on the magenta square (this might be the red push everyone has discussed with the Z5 although again I'm not qualified to say).

After the adjustments I can say after viewing some previously recorded football games and Discovery hd programs that to my eye it was a definite improvement. Colors seemed much more natural especially greens and the overall picture had more depth.

Thanks for the advise.

I don't get dots or speckles, just parallel narrow vertical columns. I have a few more tests to perform, but I've tried multiple converters on different feeds to different TV's, and observed similar artifacts.

Thanks, anyway.

I received my DVD essentials disk this weekend. I'll start by saying I'm an absolute novice when it comes to calibration and in the past lived with the settings my tv came with.
I started with the user 1 preset.

Brightness -8
Contrast -7


Your contrast seems too low, I can't imagine the image not looking somewhat washed out at these levels. Try raising your contrast to more like +10 to +20, and lower the brightness to -10 to -20 to compensate. It will give a more punchier and rich image, even if it is not within calibrated specs, it might look better (it looks much better to me). Also, you might change the transient to L1 and let me know if you notice things appear sharper. You might prefer the contrast that low, but on mine it definitely looked washed out around that level.

My only dissapointment with the Z5 so far is the PC input. I am unable to acheive a perfectly clear picture. It's acceptable for video, but it seems to be missing that last bit of focus no matter what I try. I have tried 3 different video cards, VGA, HDMI, and different computers. I have not tried an ATI card though, as all my cards were NVIDIA's.

I am not sure what the issue is, but I have seen at least one other person with a similar issue. The text does not look as clear on my Z5 as it does on my $300 22" LCD monitor.

My only dissapointment with the Z5 so far is the PC input. I am unable to acheive a perfectly clear picture. It's acceptable for video, but it seems to be missing that last bit of focus no matter what I try. I have tried 3 different video cards, VGA, HDMI, and different computers. I have not tried an ATI card though, as all my cards were NVIDIA's.

I am not sure what the issue is, but I have seen at least one other person with a similar issue. The text does not look as clear on my Z5 as it does on my $300 22" LCD monitor.


I finally got my Z5 today and I just love it. I have to say that out of the box it wasn't bad at all. The sharpness is truly to be seen to be believed. I've seen my share of last generation pj's up to $30k but I don't remember such minute, detailed sharpness where you can see EVERY pixel clearly if you go close enough to the screen.

To have the sharpness available is wonderful because you can dial it down a bit if necessary. In the reviews of the panny 100 it always seemed weird to see the effect of "digital" smoothing because it was so strangely mixed, a few odd pixels were visible sharp and others smeared. The Z5 is fully sharp or globally out of focus and the user can decide the exact amount and we should have that control. I just wish the focus ring had a finer control when turning.

No news on calibration, has to wait till tomorrow. I have a few ATI cards I can try tomorrow, 9800 pros and a new 1650 pro which should show her stuff...

Sorry about interrupting but I'm so happy with the darn thing, "finicky red" or not.

Your contrast seems too low, I can't imagine the image not looking somewhat washed out at these levels. Try raising your contrast to more like +10 to +20, and lower the brightness to -10 to -20 to compensate. It will give a more punchier and rich image, even if it is not within calibrated specs, it might look better (it looks much better to me). Also, you might change the transient to L1 and let me know if you notice things appear sharper. You might prefer the contrast that low, but on mine it definitely looked washed out around that level.


Thanks I'll give it a try this weekend.

Is it possible to use two very different user settings like A) daytime and B) night time to accommodate the influence of some light on the screen?

My only dissapointment with the Z5 so far is the PC input. I am unable to acheive a perfectly clear picture. It's acceptable for video, but it seems to be missing that last bit of focus no matter what I try. I have tried 3 different video cards, VGA, HDMI, and different computers. I have not tried an ATI card though, as all my cards were NVIDIA's.

I am not sure what the issue is, but I have seen at least one other person with a similar issue. The text does not look as clear on my Z5 as it does on my $300 22" LCD monitor.
You may have already tried this but make sure your resolution is 1280 X 720 and that the overscan is set to 0. I use DVI to HDMI and it looks pretty good.

Is it possible to use two very different user settings like A) daytime and B) night time to accommodate the influence of some light on the screen?

hey art, not sure if i'm answering your question, but you can save 4 user defined settings on the projector. you can save your nighttime settings on one and daytime settings on the other and with the press of a button, you can move from one to the other depending on what time of day you're watching.

You may have already tried this but make sure your resolution is 1280 X 720 and that the overscan is set to 0. I use DVI to HDMI and it looks pretty good.

I use DVI to HDMI on my computer too. I remember when I first plugged it in, the picture looked off. I saw that overscan was initially set at 10. after I changed it to 0, the picture looked good.

I plugged my hp laptop in (VGA to VGA cord) but get only a blue screen. Do I need to change something in my pc or should it just display on the screen what I see on the monitor? As above, sorry for the off topic issue (well, not off the one above) and thanks for the calibration tips. I'm new to this and it all boarders on overwhelming.

Is there a setting to eliminate the blue blob in the upper left corner and lower right corner?

I plugged my hp laptop in (VGA to VGA cord) but get only a blue screen. Do I need to change something in my pc or should it just display on the screen what I see on the monitor? As above, sorry for the off topic issue (well, not off the one above) and thanks for the calibration tips. I'm new to this and it all boarders on overwhelming.

smile, it sounds like your computer might not be sending a signal through the vga cord. keep the cord connected to the projector. right click on your desktop, click properties, click display properties, click settings tab, there should be an advanced button. click on the advanced button, and depending on your video card (mine is ATI), there should be a tab called Displays. go to that tab, and you should be able to set your computer to output to monitor. HP should also have a quick key, for my HP if you hold down [FN] and [f4] keys, it should be able to cycle through the different output settings. hopefully this works.

Anybody in this thread care to weigh in on this:

Does the Z5 need calibration? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798074)

Click on the above link and let me know your thoughts

You may have already tried this but make sure your resolution is 1280 X 720 and that the overscan is set to 0. I use DVI to HDMI and it looks pretty good.

Yah, I've tried everything normal (even stuff abnormal). It looks ok. Text in video games looks fine. It's just that thin text or small fonts do not look as sharp as an LCD monitor. Again, even text in video games is fine.

Anybody in this thread care to weigh in on this:

Does the Z5 need calibration? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=798074)

Click on the above link and let me know your thoughts

There are like 3-4 modes that have "ok" color accuracy. If you add a bit of color saturation to Natural Mode (color +3 up to maybe +6), then change color temp to med or high, and finally save it as a user preset then you get color levels similar to a some RPTV's I have seen, which isn't perfectly 65K (I believe it's more on the blue side), but it still looks fine. I personally don't like 65K color for nature scenes, sometimes it makes stuff not look as vivid as I like. I like things close to 65K with a bit more saturation. 65K is great for sitcom or news type stuff.

The Z5 is harder to get the colors right than other projectors I've seen, but a non-professionally calibrated Z5 can come close enough with user adjustments in my opinion. The biggest problem with the Z5 is that the bright reds are slightly too light (some have called this orangish). It's not that the red's really look orange, they don't, but on a fire engine red corvette I noticed the corvette's red color was closer to orange than it should have been on the RGB scale. I am not sure if there are any pro-calibrators that can calibrate around this issue, maybe. Also, I don't know if a professional calibration will really improve the Z5 much at all compared to a user that has a good understanding of the Z5. I know there is a service menu which allows more sophisticated tweaks, but the only way any of us would know for sure is by comparing a pro-calibrated one to a user-calibrated Z5 (A-B'n them).

Video Game Tweak:
Turn off Transient enhancement when playing games btw. Games are already much sharper naturally since the content is primarily rendered, so using transient L1 for a sharpness increase is not advisable when playing games or watching rendered animations.

Is it possible to use two very different user settings like A) daytime and B) night time to accommodate the influence of some light on the screen?

You can try either dynamic cinema, or even vivid mode as a starting preset. Then adjust these manually to make them look better (adjust brightness, contrast, color temp, etc...). Save this as a user preset. Another option, start with natural mode, add the normal +3 to +6 or so color, and then raise the contrast and brightness very high, as well as raise the lens iris, and then add some dynamic gamma or auto-iris to further increase the brightness without making the image washed out.

I have a question that relates to the zoom. In what way does the zoom feature restrict lumen output? Is wide angle letting through more light than fully engaged zoom?

I have some flexibility but due to the low lumen output I would want to do the best I can, relative to my small living space.

As the image size increases, the light output decreases. Take a flashlight and shine it 2 feet onto a white wall and you will see a bright spot, now move back 10 feet and you will see a larger and duller spot. Same thing applies to a projector.

took a picture of what the image look like with my camera, what do you guys think?
http://shingo-r6.dyndns.org:8080/photos/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=6869&g2_serialNumber=1
http://shingo-r6.dyndns.org:8080/photos/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=6869&g2_serialNumber=1

As the image size increases, the light output decreases. Take a flashlight and shine it 2 feet onto a white wall and you will see a bright spot, now move back 10 feet and you will see a larger and duller spot. Same thing applies to a projector.

That is a nice explanation for a different question...but I was asking if the arrangement of lenses inside the zoom objective let less light through in its extreme positions. e.g. same screen size, different distance...

I have a question for you tweakers. Have any of you seen one of the later model DLP projectors like the HD2+ chips or the Darkchip2 or Darkchip3’s? I am wondering how you think you’re tweaked out picture compares in terms of black level “punch” and overall brightness.

I have both a Z4 and darkchip2 based optoma DV10, and the DV10 pips the Z4 for overall brightness when calibrated - black level is pretty similar. Contrast looks to be quite a bit better on the DV10.

That is a nice explanation for a different question...but I was asking if the arrangement of lenses inside the zoom objective let less light through in its extreme positions. e.g. same screen size, different distance...

I don't think there is that much variation in light from different distances for the same screen size, but there is probably a small amount. I am basing this on the projectorcentral.com throw calculator. It always use the same FL light rating for any given image size, regardless of throw distance.

I have a question for you tweakers. Have any of you seen one of the later model DLP projectors like the HD2+ chips or the Darkchip2 or Darkchip3’s? I am wondering how you think you’re tweaked out picture compares in terms of black level “punch” and overall brightness.
I settled on the Z5 for price versus performance. I have tried the HC3000, the HS60 and the DT-500. In my opinion the HC3000 and DT-500 gave the best punch/contrast. For me the rainbows (RBE) were too distracting on the HC3000 and this projector seemed to magnify video noise from the source (maybe just because of the big screen). The DT-500 has a 5x wheel and that really helped the RBE for me, but the fan noise level even in eco mode was too loud for me. If not for the fan noise I would have kept the DT-500. Again the source video noise seemed amplified. I went through two HS60s, the first one had visible vertical banding and color uniformity problems and the second had color uniformity problems. The HS60 picture seemed to be very similar to the Z5. The Z5 I have has some color uniformity problems, but not as severe as the HS60s I tried. The Z5 puts out a beautiful picture which tends to reduce the noise level from the source (PC running PowerDVD 6 and ATI HDTV Wonder TV tuner card). The Z5 does not have quite as much depth as the DLP projectors but it is still good. I think if the HC3100 (5x wheel) had been available for around $1600 in the US I would have ended up with it. The DLPs were brighter and black level is hard to tell since I did not do a side by side comparison. By memory I would say that the Z5 probably has the worst black level, but still pretty good, but side by side is really needed for that test. These opinions are based on the projectors set up for dark movie watching settings, not necessarily fully optimized.

I do really appreciate the silence of the Z5 in eco mode, I do not like to have the volume up (sensitive ears?). My PC is louder than the projector, the projector is on a shelf about three feet above my head and the PC is about 11 feet away. My ranking of projector versus noise from softest to loudest is: Z5, HS60, HC3000 and DT-500. That’s my opinion.

Hi,

I just got off the phone with a Sanyo technician and he told me that the Z5 will display 1080p if it comes in through HDMI at 50 or 60 hertz. Is this true?

Hi,

I just got off the phone with a Sanyo technician and he told me that the Z5 will display 1080p if it comes in through HDMI at 50 or 60 hertz. Is this true?

I think he mean, it will downscale the 1080p to 720p wich is the native resolution.

I specifically asked him if it would downscale and he said no. Is he wrong?

I currently have a Z4 and my neighbor wants to buy it which leaves me looking at the Z5. The Z4 will spin the fans up to full throttle (28db) when ceiling mounted which I didn't expect when I bought it. It's still quiet just not 'silent' (22db) like I was expecting. Does the Z5 do the same thing?

The Z4 will spin the fans up to full throttle (28db) when ceiling mounted which I didn't expect when I bought it. It's still quiet just not 'silent' (22db) like I was expecting. Does the Z5 do the same thing?

Yes, it runs louder when ceiling mounted. I'm going to find a way to table/shelf mount ours, as it's noticably louder, and I can't move it any further away due to room size limitations.

Cheers!

Jeff

Most projectors run noiser in ceiling mode, but I did not think it was the same as running in normal mode when it is set to eco mode. Is 28 db vs. 22 correct in ceiling eco mode? 6 db seems excessive to me.

Yeah it's 28db. Fans are what make the noise and the Sanyo spins them up all the way when inverted, same as if table mounted on hi lamp mode.

The lense does not have a constant f-stop. As you zoom the lense, less light will pass through it. As the Z5 has a 2:1 zoom ratio, the light loss at full zoom compared to at full wide will be significant. You are going to lose/gain at least an f-stop between the extremes, which would translate to at least a halving/doubling of the light that passes through.

Constant f-stop lenses are very expensive. I rather doubt that any PJ discussed in this forum has one.

The PJ Central throw calculator uses the manufacturer's specified light output to calculate screen brightness (see the footnote). This is not very useful. The image brightness does not vary across the throw range because the calculator does not take into account the effect on light output of zooming the lense (IOW, the calculator assumes the light output is constant across the zoom range). This makes the screen brightness calculation even less useful.

I have a coffee table setup with a 106" Da-Lite High Power screen. The PJ is just a couple of inches back from as close as it can be for this size screen. I own a Sony HS61, which is comparable to the Z5 in many ways including light output.

Pluggin my numbers into PJC's calculator and considering the likely output of my PJ after a couple of hundred hours on the bulb, I figure I would have to cut the estimated screen brightness by a factor of two. And, this is with my lense nearly at full wide. If I were to zoom in to 2X to cover the same screen size, I figure I would have the cut the estimate by a factor of four.

There have been discussions on this topic. Reviewers really should note the zoom position when providing light output measurements, but most don't.

The lense does not have a constant f-stop. As you zoom the lense, less light will pass through it. As the Z5 has a 2:1 zoom ratio, the light loss at full zoom compared to at full wide will be significant. You are going to lose/gain at least an f-stop between the extremes, which would translate to at least a halving/doubling of the light that passes through.
...
There have been discussions on this topic. Reviewers really should note the zoom position when providing light output measurements, but most don't.

Just to clarify: Full zoom Full Wide = largest picture displayable at a given projection distance
............................................................ .= highest light output

Full wide Full Zoom = smallest picture displayable at a given projection distance
............................................................ .= lowest light output

Is this correct?

EDITED: Thank jstein, good to get that cleared up!

Fortunately, there are only two possiblities in terms of image size and the other one is the correct one. At full-wide, the lens produces the widest image possible. At full-zoom the projector produces the smallest and narrowest image possible.

As to light output you have it right - at full wide, the lens is passing as much light as it can. At full-zoom, the lens is passing considerably less light.

The net of it is that the output increases the closer the projector is to a screen of a given size, and that the output decreases the further the projector is from a screen of a given size.

Such are the laws of optics. Don't blame me - I didn't write them :D

Fortunately, there are only two possiblities in terms of image size and the other one is the correct one. At full-wide, the lens produces the widest image possible. At full-zoom the projector produces the smallest and narrowest image possible.

As to light output you have it right - at full wide, the lens is passing as much light as it can. At full-zoom, the lens is passing considerably less light.

The net of it is that the output increases the closer the projector is to a screen of a given size, and that the output decreases the further the projector is from a screen of a given size.

Such are the laws of optics. Don't blame me - I didn't write them :D

It's a while that I had optics in school. The fascinating aspect of this is that one really shouldn't use the zoom then unless utterly needed. A natural larger screen would still be more effective than a smaller screen plus a use of the zoom.

A clear case of argument for a big screen considering all possible options. I like it.

I had totally missed this important aspect of the lenses in a projector. My brain is not what it used to be...

Sometimes the Z5's blacks are so deep that it darn near matches my completely black border around my projector screen.
I just got a Z5 over the weekend (previously had a SP4805) and have only a couple hours on it...haven't had time to do more than a quick calibration, but I have to say the blacks on my unit aren't anywhere near that good. Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed in them at the moment. Even on the 4805, (which had noticeably superior black levels than the Z5) the blacks were distinguishable from the velvet black border on my screen. I'll head back into the menu later tonight for some real calibration, but until then I remain skeptical about your claim. :)

I'm still waiting for my DVE disk, I can't do anything serious yet to dial the Z5 in. I followed coderguy's instructions and it is quite decent for a start but the green gamma must be a bit off or so. I can see where the "orangey" red is rising its ugly head but one should be able to tame that a bit. The advanced image menu is so deep, it really leaves it to the operator to screw around with all parameters.

It becomes quickly clear that one might even have to dial in nuances between movies again e.g. between Miami Vice and Deep Blue and King Kong were quite a few differences in skin tones visible, obviously personal choices by directors rather than flawed transfers.

In regard to BLACKS we should remember that this is an LCD PJ, even if it is an advanced one at that, but here at home with almost total light control I have no complaints about the black levels. I have a white ceiling and that will always compromise darkness somewhat. Once you get through the calibration process and start to watch engaging movies you'll forget about the black levels, the eyes actually adapt quite well to a given contrast ratio over time as long as we don't get bored with the movie.

I run my Z5 with an OPPO 981 and at 720p it looks real nice, better than 480p somehow (less SDE makes a difference), I see some macro blocking with some movies but I'm optimistic that I can dial most of that down or get rid of the movie, I see very little mosquito noise and SDE is not an issue at a regular seating position.

My screen isn't finished yet and so I'm watching on a 55" DoAble board right now which might have a gain of 1.2 or so. Brightness is almost too high on it tonight.

For first impressions: I'm quite happy, it's actually a bit higher quality than expected, next week my second Z5 will be here and then I will run them next to each other to see what difference there is, if any.

I really like the film-like quality of the Z5, it's sharpness, the wonderful BLUE and GREEN colors it produces in water scenes, the 2x zoom for convenience of mounting, the absolute quiet fan, 2 HDMI and component inputs and what have you...for a great price after rebate.

There is no close competitor anymore right now, the panny 100 has made a lot of unhappy campers here in the forums, with teething problems on panel alignment it seems. I almost bought a panny myself, I just hope they can fix their problems soon, it's more than a handful of people suffering from it.

In general I feel that the current state of technology is truly impressive with projectors, they provide a level of quality now that rivals small theaters. We all tend to want better and cheaper and more features...but sometimes we should just sit back and enjoy what we have.

The Z5 is GOOD ENOUGH for now, at least for me. After all I still need money for food and Netflix.

more later when my DVE disk gets here

artinhawaii: I'm certainly not complaining, the unit is a great value. The blacks really only bug me with 2.35:1 AR movies. The bars tend to wash out the picture in darker scenes, making it hard to tell where the picture ends and the bars begin. I'm looking into some black masking material that I can use to matte off the bars; that should take care of the issue.

I specifically asked him if it would downscale and he said no. Is he wrong?
He's mistaken or explaining it wrong. It will receive the 1080p/60 signal and downconvert to 720p. The Z5 is a 1280x720 projector...you can't shove 100 pounds of sand into a 50 pound bag. ;)

Even on the 4805, (which had noticeably superior black levels than the Z5) the blacks were distinguishable from the velvet black border on my screen. I'll head back into the menu later tonight for some real calibration, but until then I remain skeptical about your claim. :)

The blacks won't be that great at first for 2 reasons. The lamp is abnormally bright at first, and the projector's settings do not match up as well on the initial lamp power. To get better blacks, try lowering the iris and brightness, then raise the contrast. You won't always get great blacks, I've seen some blacks wash out, but at times it's great. LCD projectors do have a higher variation of black levels and are not as consistent as DLP, but in my opinion the Z5 has very good blacks once you get it tuned in, it beat the Mits 1000 which is DC2.

Hmm. How long will it take for the lamp to "burn in"?

Give it at least 25-50 hours.

Fortunately, there are only two possiblities in terms of image size and the other one is the correct one. At full-wide, the lens produces the widest image possible. At full-zoom the projector produces the smallest and narrowest image possible.

As to light output you have it right - at full wide, the lens is passing as much light as it can. At full-zoom, the lens is passing considerably less light.

The net of it is that the output increases the closer the projector is to a screen of a given size, and that the output decreases the further the projector is from a screen of a given size.

Such are the laws of optics. Don't blame me - I didn't write them :D

Curious. My Z4 is ceiling mounted 9'6" back of the 92" screen, would I be throwing a brighter image if I moved it back to 15' (which would put it over my head)?

Is anyone currently running a Samsung DTB H260F HD tuner? Watching the game tonight, the colors were horrible. I am a complete novice when it comes to color tweaking, but I couldn't tell if something was green or red. The blues were incredible, but the challenge flag looked dark brown, and everything else looked orange. I can't even get the colors close. Its absolutely a green and red problem. When I watch images from other sources (DVD or SD via Dish) the colors look just fine (at least very close). I have gone through all the menu options on the tuner and have found no way to adjust colors there, is it possible my unit is defective? Has anyone else had luck with this combination? I am projecting onto a Wilsonart DW screen in a very light controlled room. Thanks in advance.

Don, it works the other way around. The closer the projector is to the screen, the brighter the image will be.

I sat down and did a good calibration with DVE last night; blacks are now quite a bit better. I dialed in some of the settings coderguy posted, and I have to say they were way off for me. Contrast/Brightness like those he posted crushed whites and blacks big time.

I started with Natural.

Contrast +2
Brightness +1
Color +8
Tint 0
Sharpness 0
Transient L1
Progressive off
Lamp: economy
Auto Iris: A1
Iris: -45
Dynamic Gamma: On
Contrast Enhancement: Off
Black Stretch: off
Color space: L2

This is on a HD-A1 via HDMI, displaying on a 1.0 gain 77" Grandview fixed frame screen. The room is totally light controlled and the walls are painted a flat navy blue. Seems like the biggest thing that affected blacks was setting economy lamp mode (thanks coderguy), the manual iris and turning off the contrast enhancement/black stretch stuff. More to follow as I tweak.

Stupid question, unrelated to tweaks.... :D

Where's the UPC on the Z5 box? There are 4 barcodes on my box. One is printed on the cardboard itself, the other three are on a label below it. Which one do I need for the mail-in rebate? :confused:

Stupid question, unrelated to tweaks.... :D

Where's the UPC on the Z5 box? There are 4 barcodes on my box. One is printed on the cardboard itself, the other three are on a label below it. Which one do I need for the mail-in rebate? :confused:

Ship them all! Weight or size won't matter anyway. If you miss the right one they won't honor your rebate.

I sat down and did a good calibration with DVE last night; blacks are now quite a bit better. I dialed in some of the settings coderguy posted, and I have to say they were way off for me. Contrast/Brightness like those he posted crushed whites and blacks big time.

I started with Natural.

Contrast +2
Brightness +1
Color +8
Tint 0
Sharpness 0
Transient L1
Progressive off
Lamp: economy
Auto Iris: A1
Iris: -45
Dynamic Gamma: On
Contrast Enhancement: Off
Black Stretch: off
Color space: L2



I just discovered that you can store Color management info in EIGHT slots. I love that idea! Can't find the setting where you change the color phase even though they're talking about it. Their manual could be improved on, obviously there was a language barrier of some sort. Too bad I can't read Japanese, I bet everything is perfect in that language.

Finally found a DVD that showed natural colors, Stargate Unlimited Ed., looks like my settings are quite good already considering working without my calibration disk.

Does anybody know if the Z5 would accept computer input over HDMI (from DVI) even if the pixels don't match (1280x764)? Or should I use the analog RGB input?

Re the bar codes I called the 800 number on the rebate form and it is the bar code on the cardboard.

Re the bar codes I called the 800 number on the rebate form and it is the bar code on the cardboard.
Thank you very much! :)

Finally found a DVD that showed natural colors, Stargate Unlimited Ed., looks like my settings are quite good already considering working without my calibration disk.
Do you have any of the Star Wars DVDs? The THX optimizer is a decent basic contrast/brightness calibration tool, and if you have a blue filter you can do color, too.

Does anybody know if the Z5 would accept computer input over HDMI (from DVI) even if the pixels don't match (1280x764)? Or should I use the analog RGB input?
I'd think the Z5 would just scale to its native res. How that might look, I don't know.

Do you have any of the Star Wars DVDs? The THX optimizer is a decent basic contrast/brightness calibration tool, and if you have a blue filter you can do color, too.

My DVE is on the way but they send it with MEDIA post service...takes forever!

No star wars here. I never got the hang of it.


Did anybody else notice that the Z5 is sucking air in around the front lens? That shouldn't happen, no filter there!

And what is that opening in the back for, that shows the little pad lock...security devices? (on plastic, yeah right!)

My DVE is on the way but they send it with MEDIA post service...takes forever!

No star wars here. I never got the hang of it.
Many THX certified DVDs have the THX optimizer on them...if you get bored, check out any titles you may have.

I purchased the Sanyo PLV-Z5 to replace my Z3 on Jan 22. It is a definate improvement over the Z3 in contrast, black levels and on a 106 inch Carada brilliant white screen from
11 feet I have not seen any SDE as I did with the Z3. I contacted a local HT dealer that does ISF calibrations and I am gettiing it calibrated tomorrow evening. The ISF calibration technician called me last week and said that after getting service information from Sanyo on the projector, he claims that he should be able to calibrate it without getting into the service manual. That statement has me a little concerned because I was under the impression that ISF calibration required access to the service menu. At any rate he is ISF certified (10 years experience) and uses sencore equipment. If he is able to calibrate without using the service menu, I will post my settings after he finishes.

I got the Z5 recently and it being my first pj I am quite overwhelmed by the amount of settings and adjustments. I use mine on a 105", gain 1 Projecta screen mainly with a Pio 696 dvd via HDMI. From out of the box settings Creative Cinema probably looks best in my case. Pure cinema seems to be the most accurate one but my room isnt 100% light controlled so it looks a little dim. Has anyone played around with the creative cinema settings? I would love to try other peoples' settings and see how they look in my case.

I tried the Z4 settings of this guy called Rone I found on another forum. He had two one for Living and one for Creative Cinema but did not find either to be appropriate to mu eyes.

aaroen -- I don't have a Z5 (but contemplating getting one). From reading Art's review of it (http://www.projectorreviews.com/Manufacturers/sanyo/PLVZ5/index.asp), the majority, if not all, of the Z5 adjustments are in the User Menus (go to the "General Performance" page). There are also a number of user memory areas for saving the settings for each input or viewing conditions. These are detailed in your manual.

You should get a calibration DVD anyway (for your own use (see my following discussion).

sapkan -- Art found that the Creative Cinema was the best for DVD movie viewing (http://www.projectorreviews.com/Manufacturers/sanyo/PLVZ5/imagequality.asp). he also stated that the color control needs to be turned down a bit. It is recommended that you get a calibration DVD like AVIA "Guide to Home Theater". The GetGray calibration Caldisc (www.calibrate.tv) is better, but it requires some experience and you need to get a blue filter, (see the free ReadMe file on his web site - if you understand what needs to be done, you should be able to use it).

NOTE: Each PJ, screen and viewing environment is different, so using someone elses setting is usually not right for you.

aaroen Art found that the Creative Cinema was the best for DVD movie viewing


That is interesting since I lost my patience today and bought another DVE calibration disk; after cycling through the menu to find the easiest start for Contrast and black levels, Creative Cinema showed all three reference bars already clearly, the other settings did not so well. Which meant that I didn't have to change every setting and saved a lot of time.

Even after half a hour of tweaking with DVE I see already huge improvements. The DVE comes with three color filters to make it easier to align color levels and gamma values.
It's quite different from AVIA and the menu structure is a huge pain, but it was way cheaper also at $20.

The gray levels on the Z5 are in great shape out of the box, so everything else is just a matter of patience. Flesh tones are great at most levels already. I fiddled a bit with the sharpness control on the Z5 and at -5 or so any appearance of SDE is even more diminished and film looks again more film-like. Movies on big screens are never totally "sharp" either due to the grain emulsion. So far my contrast is still at "0", but I'm sure that will change again later.

The more I watch, the better I like the Z5, it's an incredible bargain at its price. Today I, got my blackout curtains, so tomorrow I can really "go to town" with the PJ.

more results tomorrow...

Does anybody know if the Z5 would accept computer input over HDMI (from DVI) even if the pixels don't match (1280x764)? Or should I use the analog RGB input?

I've tried a short DVI to HDMI cable, no problem. Plugged in the cable to the computer with the projector off, then turned on the projector. Computer recognised "Sanyo PLV-Z5" and set the output rez to 1280x720. No problem under Win XP Pro or Apple OS X.

I sat down and did a good calibration with DVE last night; blacks are now quite a bit better. I dialed in some of the settings coderguy Contrast/Brightness like those he posted crushed whites and blacks big time.


MY lamp had 125 hours on it so contrast probably needs to be a bit lower on newer setups, as contrast affects brightness in a way too. I agree the settings I posted do crush whites and blacks a bit, but I optimized this for bright scenery type viewing. You will need to tone these down to get a truer image. I liked the increase punch though for some types of viewing. I often adjust contrast and brightness depending on what I am watching. When wathing bright Discovery HD type stuff, I like the more contrasty image even if it crushes the blacks and whites a bit. Your iris was at -45 which also affects this, as well as screen size. I gave a range to what I considered a punchy image. I tried the calibration DVD's, they do produce better results for some things, but I still like that overly punchy image for nature stuff :P

Other than your contrast being 3 lower than my minimum range, considering other factors you turned on, your settings are still within the range I listed.

BTW: Creative Cinema is another good choice for starting the calibration. I have different calibrations saved based on both Creative Cinema and Natural, these are the best two it seems.

No offense, but I can't understand why anyone would want to display anything other than an accurate image. For me, the goal of calibration should be to get a video display that most closely resembles the intent of the original film maker, etc. But hey, if you're happy with your setup then that's all that really matters. :)

BTW: Creative Cinema is another good choice for starting the calibration. I have different calibrations saved based on both Creative Cinema and Natural, these are the best two it seems.


A related question question here: How long do stay any settings that are based on Factory seeings e.g. Creative Image? We have frequent power outages in my neighborhood, does a "reboot" delete my old settings that only refer to factory settings? I'm sure my user settings are save.

Quick question about lamp modes:

Do you all just keep the lamp in “Eco” mode? I switched from Eco to regular (I forget what it’s called) and the image brightness did not seem to go up any. Is that correct?


A ranting aside:
I just set my Z5 up last night. I ran it through the Digital Video Essentials for a calibration. What an annoying DVD. It takes ages to get through all the history of the video standards. And then the actual calibration explanations are less than obvious. You can’t skip to a section of just the test patterns. And it doesn’t seem to explain how to make all the adjustments that I’d want. (e.g., There was a section for blue, but not for red and green.) OK, maybe I’m getting old, grumpy, I was tired, and in a hurry. Rant over. :)

At any rate, I calibrated it to what I think DVE recommended and the image was totally flat. I liked the image quality and colors of the Pure Cinema mode but the light level was too dim for my room, cloth screen, etc. So I’m just running it in Dynamic mode. The colors look a little crazy (e.g., flesh tones too orange) but it’s bright and, overall, not too bad. I’m sure it could be better. But I’m not sure how to make the colors, etc. better. I don’t think DVE will do it for me.

Quick question about lamp modes:

Do you all just keep the lamp in “Eco” mode? I switched from Eco to regular (I forget what it’s called) and the image brightness did not seem to go up any. Is that correct?

The manual iris might be preventing you from seeing the increased brightness...


A ranting aside:
I just set my Z5 up last night. I ran it through the Digital Video Essentials for a calibration. What an annoying DVD. It takes ages to get through all the history of the video standards. And then the actual calibration explanations are less than obvious. You can’t skip to a section of just the test patterns.

You can navigate using the TITLE button on your remote. Title 12 has most of the display patterns you need. ;)

At any rate, I calibrated it to what I think DVE recommended and the image was totally flat. I liked the image quality and colors of the Pure Cinema mode but the light level was too dim for my room, cloth screen, etc. So I’m just running it in Dynamic mode. The colors look a little crazy (e.g., flesh tones too orange) but it’s bright and, overall, not too bad. I’m sure it could be better. But I’m not sure how to make the colors, etc. better. I don’t think DVE will do it for me.

It all comes down to if you want an accurate image or an artificial image. Just like there are people who like Bose speakers, even though they're awful at accurately reproducing sound, there are people who prefer a blown out/crushed picture with borked colors because it looks pleasing to their eyes. In the end, what's right or wrong doesn't really matter if you are happy with the results.

A related question question here: How long do stay any settings that are based on Factory seeings e.g. Creative Image? We have frequent power outages in my neighborhood, does a "reboot" delete my old settings that only refer to factory settings? I'm sure my user settings are save.

I think the factory image presets are stored in ROM, so you shouldn't have to worry about them going away from a power outage. Any settings you change from a preset need to be saved under the USER settings so I'm not sure I get your question.

I think the factory image presets are stored in ROM, so you shouldn't have to worry about them going away from a power outage. Any settings you change from a preset need to be saved under the USER settings so I'm not sure I get your question.

Maybe he's asking how to make changes to one of the presets (e.g., Dynamic) and then save it as a user preset?

Come to think of it, I'd like to know that, too. :)

Jim-

Thanks for the help. I was getting a little annoyed with DVE because my new toys had just arrived, but I got stuck late at work and didn't get home with much time to play before it was already really late. And the disc kept talking on and on about the history of various technologies... :)

You can navigate using the TITLE button on your remote. Title 12 has most of the display patterns you need. ;)

Good to know. I'll take a look there.

The manual iris might be preventing you from seeing the increased brightness...

OK. So there is increased brightness. I didn't touch the iris settings. I'll look in there and see what I can change. I'm willing to take the hit on lamp life for a brighter image because it's needed in my particular setup.

It all comes down to if you want an accurate image or an artificial image. Just like there are people who like Bose speakers, even though they're awful at accurately reproducing sound, there are people who prefer a blown out/crushed picture with borked colors because it looks pleasing to their eyes. In the end, what's right or wrong doesn't really matter if you are happy with the results.

Exactly. And I thought a calibration would get me to accurate. But it didn't look accurate, near as I could tell. Although the Pure Cinema mode looked pretty decent, for what I might expect. Of course, I'll never know what the filmmakers really intended it to look like. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to look as flat as it did last night. I'll have to play around with it some more.

Maybe he's asking how to make changes to one of the presets (e.g., Dynamic) and then save it as a user preset?

Come to think of it, I'd like to know that, too. :)

I gotta learn to ask better , more detailed questions obviously.

My point was, that sometimes we fiddle with standard settings in e.g. Pure Cinema to improve on it and than leave it like that without saving into one of the 4 user slots. This happened to me yesterday, had a nice setting, kept watching movie.. and next morning it was gone, back to factory setting due to power loss over night.

I gotta learn to ask better , more detailed questions obviously.

My point was, that sometimes we fiddle with standard settings in e.g. Pure Cinema to improve on it and than leave it like that without saving into one of the 4 user slots. This happened to me yesterday, had a nice setting, kept watching movie.. and next morning it was gone, back to factory setting due to power loss over night.

Yeah, I'd say that's because the presets are in ROM (read only memory). So when you adjust something based off of a preset, it only stays active as long as there's power to the unit. To avoid loss of these settings you'd probably have to store your changes to one of the four user settings.

Maybe he's asking how to make changes to one of the presets (e.g., Dynamic) and then save it as a user preset?

Come to think of it, I'd like to know that, too. :)

Select a preset mode and tweak it to your liking. Then at the bottom of the "image adjustment" menu there is a option that says "store". Select it and it will bring up the four user settings and allow you to choose which one you'd like to save your settings to. That's it. :)

ISF calibration of my PLV-Z5 took about 2 hours last night. Afterwards calibrator commented that the grey scale tracking was one of the best he had seen. Less than 2% error from IRE 10 to 100. He started with "creative cinema" preset and with the pattern generators connected directly to the Z5 via HDMI at both 720p and 1080i, these are the reference numbers:

Brightness +3
Color +6
Contrast -2
Tint 0
Color temp user
Red 0
Green 0
Blue 0
Sharpness +1
Lamp control economy(low)
Gamma 0
Progressive off
Lens Iris -42
Advanced Menu values (these are the values adjusted using Sencore for grey scale tracking)

Lamp Iris Auto 1
Auto Black Stretch off
Contrast Enhancement off
Transient Improvement off
Color List List 0
Dynamic Gamma off

Gain R +1
Gain G +2
Gain B -8

Offset R +13
Offset G -12
Offset B -6

Gamma R -3
Gamma G 0
Gamma B 0

When we connected the Direct TV HD DVR the picture was beautiful, flesh tones the best
I have seen on the Z5. But the overall brightness seemed too high and so he reduced the
brightness to -11 and color to +1. I stored these values under user 2 and kept user 3 at
the reference values above. Then I viewed some HD DVDs on my Toshiba XA1 and I was
very pleased.

Aaroen,

Thanks for sharing the settings. How big of a screen do you have, throw distance, screen gain, and lamp usage?



No offense, but I can't understand why anyone would want to display anything other than an accurate image. For me, the goal of calibration should be to get a video display that most closely resembles the intent of the original film maker, etc. But hey, if you're happy with your setup then that's all that really matters. :)

Having one preset of an "ICF like" calibration is good. There is a reason Sanyo gave us 4 presets and also reasons they have things like Vivid, Dynamic, etc... For films a calibrated image is usually the best, but some stuff just looks better to me with variations in contrast, color saturation, and brightness.

aaroen-

Thanks very much for posting your numbers! I'll punch them in and see how they look in my setup. Should be interesting to see. Could be nice or totally different.

Just curious: Roughly what does it cost to have a calibration like that done? Just a ballpark figure.


Select a preset mode and tweak it to your liking. Then at the bottom of the "image adjustment" menu there is a option that says "store". Select it and it will bring up the four user settings and allow you to choose which one you'd like to save your settings to. That's it. :)

Thanks, Jim. Obviously, I haven't spent much time with the projector yet (3 hours total), so I haven't poked around enough to even try that. I must be getting old- no paper manual bugs me. Got to pull out the computer and CD to look these things up. Maybe this weekend I'll get a chance to play with things in depth.

I have a 106 inch 16x9 Carada brilliant white screen with gain 1.4. The projector is shelf mounted at 11 feet from the screen. I have about 50 hours on the lamp. Now that it is calibrated, it is so close to my BenQ PE-7700. And the first Sanyo LCD I have had that I see no SDE from 11 ft viewing. Technician that calibrated it last night commented that it was the best LCD projector he had seen.

Cost will depend on your area but I was quoted anywhere from $350 - $500. in Chicago western suburbs. I paid $400. and now that it's done, I think it was worth it. I learned a lot just watching him and he explained everything he was doing. Basic equipment he used was a laptop, test pattern generators and Sencore light measuring sensor mounted on a tripod in front of the screen.

ISF calibration of my PLV-Z5 took about 2 hours last night. Afterwards calibrator commented that the grey scale tracking was one of the best he had seen. Less than 2% error from IRE 10 to 100. He started with "creative cinema" preset and with the pattern generators connected directly to the Z5 via HDMI at both 720p and 1080i, these are the reference numbers:

Brightness +3
Color +6
Contrast -2
Tint 0
Color temp user
Red 0
Green 0
Blue 0
Sharpness +1
Lamp control economy(low)
Gamma 0
Progressive off
Lens Iris -42
Advanced Menu values (these are the values adjusted using Sencore for grey scale tracking)

Lamp Iris Auto 1
Auto Black Stretch off
Contrast Enhancement off
Transient Improvement off
Color List List 0
Dynamic Gamma off

Gain R +1
Gain G +2
Gain B -8

Offset R +13
Offset G -12
Offset B -6

Gamma R -3
Gamma G 0
Gamma B 0

When we connected the Direct TV HD DVR the picture was beautiful, flesh tones the best
I have seen on the Z5. But the overall brightness seemed too high and so he reduced the
brightness to -11 and color to +1. I stored these values under user 2 and kept user 3 at
the reference values above. Then I viewed some HD DVDs on my Toshiba XA1 and I was
very pleased.

Thanks aaroen for posting your settings. I tried them this morning and they look great. I originally used DVE and it was an improvement IMO over the standard settings but after reading others posts I was thinking about getting spydertvpro or having an ISF calibration as you did. After trying your settings I'm content.

Thanks again,

Greg

ISF calibration of my PLV-Z5 took about 2 hours last night. Afterwards calibrator commented that the grey scale tracking was one of the best he had seen. Less than 2% error from IRE 10 to 100. He started with "creative cinema" preset

Wow, just like me...I should consider getting paid for calibration...



Yes, the grays are incredibly neutral, they contain most video info and are an important step towards a great picture.


Thank you VERY much for the data, this will be very useful for most of us with white screens at least. My bulb is approaching 50 hours also right now.


"Technician that calibrated it last night commented that it was the best LCD projector he had seen."...

I have a feeling he tells that everybody...looking for a tip... :cool: , but yes, I believe we got a great PJ in the Z5.

thanks for your data aaroen, I'll give it a go and report back. Was HDMI at L1 or L2?

I have HDMI set to L1

After copying the settings onto my Z5 I noticed large improvements on black levels but also unsatisfying results in very dark scenes where green and blue levels were way off it seems and I get muddy green/yellow colors all over the place on most DVD's.

But in general all colors were just spot on in medium to very bright scenes, really wonderful, a clear improvement over any of my old settings.

I wonder if your extreme screen gain of 1.4 might cause the difference to my setup or if all Z5's have small tolerances when they leave the factory. This might be an important question to answer before we can just copy other people's settings.

On the weekend my white screen with 1.25 gain should be up and I can say more.
Until then I'll fiddle with RGB settings in the advanced color menu a bit. It is very telling that your calibrator didn't change gamma and RGB in the main menu. He must know better.So I will observe that rule also.

I turned on the "highland" setting to cool my Z5 better, the fan is louder but not that much. The air blown out now is substantially cooler which should indicate lower bulb temps inside the case and resulting hopefully in longer bulb life.
The tweaking never stops....

P.S. Rule of thumb: Each starting of your PJ takes about 1-2 hours out of your bulb life, independent from how long you keep it on then.

Well, I changed a few settings in a minimal way and I'm very happy now. I went through a whole bunch of "dark" movies like Se7en and Aliens and others and now I'm sure that I'm 99% on the way to a "perfect" picture.

My small changes to the above prof. calibration numbers are only to Gamma RGB values in the Advanced Menu:

Gamma R 0
G -3
B 0

In essence I brought RED back to zero and reduced GREEN by three points.

I'm not just happy, oh no...I'll have a decent drink to celebrate the Z5...

It all comes down to if you want an accurate image or an artificial image. Just like there are people who like Bose speakers, even though they're awful at accurately reproducing sound, there are people who prefer a blown out/crushed picture with borked colors because it looks pleasing to their eyes. In the end, what's right or wrong doesn't really matter if you are happy with the results.

There is no truely perfectly calibrated image for every scene, want to know why? It's because the projector's limitations go far beyond the limitations of what an original studio camera or what the director intened to reproduce on the highest end video equipment. Until we see consistent contrast ratios of 15,000:1, incredible shadow detail, and have a black-hole for a viewing room, you can forget that perfect calibration for every different type of viewing. You are just lying to your eyes if you think the same brightness/contrast levels or ICF levels look the best with all content in an average homemade theater room. Accurate primary colors are the important thing in my opinion, but contrast, brightness, and a bit of saturation are variable depending on what you are watching anyhow. In my experience with my projector, it is variable enough to the point where some content where you seemed to have that near-perfect image, now look washed out. My primary colors are not perfectly accurate yet, but I haven't had a chance to mess with that much. I will try some other adjustments.

All of our setups are so different that I doubt we are seeing the same things by using other people's settings. I don't like an artificial looking image either, except a bit of added color in some nature programs, but my settings 95% of the time I use are just like color +6 to +10 with normal contrast and brightness levels. It did not crush blacks or whites that I notice. Crushed blacks are usually from too dark of an image. Crushed whites are from too much contrast. I don't see bright spots on people's faces and clouds still look natural, so no crushed whites enough to bother me. My blacks could always be darker, but if I do that then I lose all the brightness of the image and get crushed blacks, which is not an acceptable trade off. So you choose... Do you want the darkest blacks with crushed shadow detail, medium dark blacks with acceptable shadow detail, not so dark blacks with excellent shadow detail.... Do you want a more 3Dish contrasty look with the occasional shot of a cloud loses some white detail, or do you want lower contrast and darker image where whites are great and blacks are washed out...


I've seen a Samsung RPTV "factory settings" at a store which uses way over-saturated colors, and I don't watch my PJ anywhere near this level. My projector image is much closer to the Sony A2000 or Pioneer Elite which looks more realistic.

I also tried the above ICF settings Aaeron is using, but it did not work with my setup. Scenes were far too yellowish on the color scale, and everything was too dark. There was no shadow detail left and all contrast was gone, detail lost even in medium light scenes. On his setup, it might look perfect...

I have a 106 inch 16x9 Carada brilliant white screen with gain 1.4.

I just checked the price of this screen...$600...oops...

Aarons screen gain will make it difficult to just copy his numbers. But it is a way better start than from the given menus in the Z5.

Coderguy, I hear you...it IS nice that we can tweak our pictures to our hearts content. On my screen the contrast and range is holding up very nicely with Aarons settings but I had to increase brightness quite a bit.

I hope my laminate screen (wilsonart DW) is bright enough at its bigger size (49 x 87) to equal my current screen. I found such a nice balance tonight that I would hate to sacrifice. We'll see...

Cost will depend on your area but I was quoted anywhere from $350 - $500.

Thanks for the info- just what I wanted to know. And thanks again for posting your calibration settings. I’ll give them a shot this weekend and see if things improve any. This weekend I’ll also get my first chance to actually watch a movie on the Z5. OK, it'll be a bunch of movies. :)

Yes an ISF calibration is done in your home environment, screen type and room (dedicated or ambient light). The calibration was done feeding HDMI directly to the PJ from calibrated test pattern generators at both 720p and 1080i. Once calibrated I watched both satellite and HD DVD but I have HDMI switches to feed satellite or DVD to two projectors and the switches make a difference also. The ISF calibration allows the Sanyo PLV-Z5 to produce the best image possible (not perfect but as close as possible although the gray scale was very close to perfect). But the image you see is only as good as the signal being sent to the Sanyo (ie. garbage in). DVD players are different, Sat OTBs and cable boxes. And in my case there are HDMI switches in the path also. And then everyone has different preferences on contrast and brightness of the image. What's nice about the Sany is it has two HDMIs and 4 user memory settings. I have my ISF settings stored on user 3 and then I can start from there and make minor changes to brightness/contrast/saturation to satisfy my taste and store them in the other 3 user settings. Last night I hooked up my Toshiba A2 HD-DVD directly to HDMI2 and my reference settings at user 3 looked perfect but when I look at it through two HDMI switches on HDMI1, I needed to drop brightness and color to get a satisfying image.

Here is a link to a unique German HT review site that tests, calibrates and installs home theater equipment:

cine4home(dot)com

There is a detailed Sanyo Z5 review with many pictures, and a German version at cine4home(dot)de is even more revealing but you need to speak German to get the most of it.

It is truly shocking to see how detailed a review can be if technicians actually take apart the whole projector AND measure its performance also; with 30 pics or so and diagrams that let you see how the PJ is actually constructed and why.

The reviews at PP etc. are a complete JOKE in comparison, I kid you not!

Other reviews of panny's etc. are also available with pics of disassembled projectors.

ISF calibration of my PLV-Z5 took about 2 hours last night. Afterwards calibrator commented that the grey scale tracking was one of the best he had seen. Less than 2% error from IRE 10 to 100. He started with "creative cinema" preset and with the pattern generators connected directly to the Z5 via HDMI at both 720p and 1080i, these are the reference numbers:
.

Thanks for the setting. They helped my Z5 to shine on my Goo screen after adjusting brightness and contrast with Getgray.

:)

The reviews at PP etc. are a complete JOKE in comparison, I kid you not!


I am guessing you are talking about projector central? Yes, their reviews are kind of a joke, but with some useful information. The way they give 5 stars or nearly 5 stars to every decent projector is quite funny.

I went back to Best Buy and checked out the RPTV's to compare with the Z5 (in my mind's eye persay), and I have to tell you that the Z5 really shines vs. most of those TV's. It seemed to me that some of the Mits, JVC, and Sony could beat it, but not by as much as I originally thought. Hell, this is truely an amazing GIANT picture for the price we paid. One 70" Sony XBR2 costs the same as 4 Sanyo Z5's, lol.

And we can make the image as big or small as we need!
It is sad though how the brick and mortars have killed projector sales by showing them off in ambient light that is so bright not even a 2500 lumen projector could handle it. I was at Fry's and they had a projector room with a Sony setup, the amount of light in the room was near the same amount of light you get in a standard classroom or office. What a joke!

Tried aaroen's settings last night but they were some way off. My sceern is 105" but unlike his has a gain of 1. Overall the picture was darker and bleaker than I would have liked and there was a green-yellowish tint to it.

I am guessing you are talking about projector central? Yes, their reviews are kind of a joke, but with some useful information. The way they give 5 stars or nearly 5 stars to every decent projector is quite funny.

I went back to Best Buy and checked out the RPTV's to compare with the Z5 (in my mind's eye persay), and I have to tell you that the Z5 really shines vs. most of those TV's. It seemed to me that some of the Mits, JVC, and Sony could beat it, but not by as much as I originally thought. Hell, this is truely an amazing GIANT picture for the price we paid. One 70" Sony XBR2 costs the same as 4 Sanyo Z5's, lol.

And we can make the image as big or small as we need!
It is sad though how the brick and mortars have killed projector sales by showing them off in ambient light that is so bright not even a 2500 lumen projector could handle it. I was at Fry's and they had a projector room with a Sony setup, man the amount of light in the room was near the same amount of light you get in a standard classroom or office. What a joke!

Same thing here, I looked at 65" Mitsubishi DLP RP's at SEARS and it was all washed out, no true sharpness. They don't show the weight of these monsters for good reason.

I'm not sure if projectors will ever catch on with average consumers because they still need a lot of "hand holding", good calibration etc.

Hey guys, getting my new Da-Lite Cinema Vision (1.3gain) fabric this week, will also be ISF calibrated by Friday i hope.
Anyway, will let you all know what I think of the cinemavision, it better be good compared to my BOC.
Will also post my results on the calibration.
DVD is Oppo 971H so for those of you with the same unit may be of some interest.

Talk to you later in the week!

Hello,

one question:
Does the Z5 also increase fan speed at ceiling mount? Is it possible to decrease the fan speeds in the service menu (like Z4)?

Hello,

one question:
Does the Z5 also increase fan speed at ceiling mount? Is it possible to decrease the fan speeds in the service menu (like Z4)?

The fan is rather noiseless at normal setting, the inside temperature sensors will determine the final speed used. Under the ceiling it usually gets pretty warm, so I expect the fan to run at higher speed most of the time.

There is a lot of evidence that too high temperatures in the pj will damage your optical block in the long run. I wouldn't screw with the fan speed, re-direct cooler air or the hot air exhaust rather.

Hello,

one question:
Does the Z5 also increase fan speed at ceiling mount? Is it possible to decrease the fan speeds in the service menu (like Z4)?

Yes, the Z5 will automatically spin up all the fans to high speed once you tell it to invert the picture (ceiling mount). Not sure if it's defeatable in the service menu but as previously mentioned it's not recommended to do it, even if it's possible.

a bit off topic....

RE: Calibration

I originally ordered a DVE DVD from Newegg.com before my Z5 arrived but the media mail took an astonishing 18 days to get here. Obviously I bought another disk locally to get it on with my calibration.

Yesterday the DVE disk from Newegg arrived and I was not happy, having two disks now. So I get on the phone with them today to sweet talk them into a RMA even though DVD's are usually not returnable, open or not.

After a minute of explaining the issues the kind lady on the phone just told me not to worry. They refunded the money AND I can keep the disk! Now that is incredible customer service...unheard of these days... :)

back to normal programming....

Yes, the Z5 will automatically spin up all the fans to high speed once you tell it to invert the picture (ceiling mount). Not sure if it's defeatable in the service menu but as previously mentioned it's not recommended to do it, even if it's possible.

If you place the Z5 on the top of a book shelf, it´s also near the ceiling. The unit is in normal position with slow fan speed at higher temperatures.

Hello everybody, please help with Z5, one of my friends just bought this projector we are currently in the process of setting up. The problem is we can not access the submenu for horizontal, vertical, fine sync, tracking etc. The signal sent is 720p over hdmi, we have tried several other signals with no success. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

desertguy -- HDMI signals are not adjustable because they are supposed to be correct from the source. It sounds like your friend is trying to use a PC to send the HDMI video to the Z5. If that's the case, all the adjusting has to be done at the PC end. DVD players don't have those adjustments either.

Without telling us what the signal source is, we can't really be of help.

Tried aaroen's settings last night but they were some way off. My sceern is 105" but unlike his has a gain of 1. Overall the picture was darker and bleaker than I would have liked and there was a green-yellowish tint to it.

I had the same problems with his settings at first, but I got them looking good now. Just tweak some of the gains and color levels, also I definitely think adding Transient L1 is a major plus. Every time I turn it off I notice a major loss in sharpness that I do not like.

I think his settings do look better than mine and are more accurate, but that is after I tweaked his settings to my own setup. I'd say they do beat my initial settings. To my defense, his settings are based on ICF levels and mine weren't, so this is probably why. My settings were ok for an initial non-professional calibration. I still have my settings saved as well as his settings, and I switch between them sometimes.

I may pay for a professional calibration for the Z5 one day, but I doubt I will considering I want that 1080p projector ASAP!

Ok folks, here goes. Just had my Z5 done and all I can say is wow, stop screwing around and get it done, the equipment they have is amazing. My PQ was good before, now its mind blowing, thanks very much to B Garner!

with my setup,
light control
96' screen
throw 19'
seating 15'...cinemavision 1.3 much brighter than needed. save your money and get 1.0 gain matte white. Mr. Garner had to really crank down the settings because of so much light! And people say the Z5 isn't bright enough....what a load of codswallop.

Ok folks, here goes. Just had my Z5 done and all I can say is wow, stop screwing around and get it done, the equipment they have is amazing. My PQ was good before, now its mind blowing, thanks very much to B Garner!

with my setup,
light control
96' screen
throw 19'
seating 15'...cinemavision 1.3 much brighter than needed. save your money and get 1.0 gain matte white. Mr. Garner had to really crank down the settings because of so much light! And people say the Z5 isn't bright enough....what a load of codswallop.

Congratulations!

We're waiting feverishly for your data...to see how that fits in with the other data we have. Since you have a 1.0 gain screen your data should match more people with similar setups.

Is anyone else using the Oppo 981 with their Z5? I just can't get a good picture out of it. The colors are washed out and chalky and seem to fluctuate from shot to shot. The black levels are terrible. At first I thought it was the projector and everyone in this thread who was raving about it was insane ;) , but then I tried hooking up a standard 480p dvd player to the component inputs and the color and contrast look great. It's obviously not as sharp though, so I'd still like to get the 981 to work correctly.

Has anyone else had these problems? I did buy the unit the first week it came out, and I wonder if it could be buggy/defective. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Is anyone else using the Oppo 981 with their Z5? I just can't get a good picture out of it. The colors are washed out and chalky and seem to fluctuate from shot to shot. The black levels are terrible. At first I thought it was the projector and everyone in this thread who was raving about it was insane ;) , but then I tried hooking up a standard 480p dvd player to the component inputs and the color and contrast look great. It's obviously not as sharp though, so I'd still like to get the 981 to work correctly.

Has anyone else had these problems? I did buy the unit the first week it came out, and I wonder if it could be buggy/defective. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I use the 981 with my Z5 and have no problem at all, I installed the beta firmware but did not notice any great difference at all. PQ is top notch over HDMI, better than my old progressive DVD player over component. I run the Z5 with 720p from the OPPO with their supplied short HDMI cable.

You might just have a bad unit...OPPO's customer service is top notch, just call them and tell them your problems. They might recognize the problem when you explain it to them.

Look at past posts here where people show the most common settings for the Z5 and kind of follow them. Try the second HDMI port on the Z5, if the problem looks the same then you most likely need another 981....a rare failure though.

I use the 981 with my Z5 and have no problem at all, I installed the beta firmware but did not notice any great difference at all. PQ is top notch over HDMI, better than my old progressive DVD player over component. I run the Z5 with 720p from the OPPO with their supplied short HDMI cable.

You might just have a bad unit...OPPO's customer service is top notch, just call them and tell them your problems. They might recognize the problem when you explain it to them.

Look at past posts here where people show the most common settings for the Z5 and kind of follow them. Try the second HDMI port on the Z5, if the problem looks the same then you most likely need another 981....a rare failure though.

Thanks. I'll follow up with OPPO to see if there are any known issues. If I find out anything useful, I'll post it.

Is anyone else using the Oppo 981 with their Z5? I just can't get a good picture out of it. The colors are washed out and chalky and seem to fluctuate from shot to shot. The black levels are terrible. At first I thought it was the projector and everyone in this thread who was raving about it was insane ;) , but then I tried hooking up a standard 480p dvd player to the component inputs and the color and contrast look great. It's obviously not as sharp though, so I'd still like to get the 981 to work correctly.

Has anyone else had these problems? I did buy the unit the first week it came out, and I wonder if it could be buggy/defective. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I don't have a 981, I have the 971, but what I noticed is that the Z5 has overscan on by default, when I turned this down to 0, the image from the 971 was a lot better, not sure if that's the problem.

I have read this thread and its very informative. Many thanks the the users that have posted their tweaks.

I have calibrated my own Z5 based on aaron settings. I have a screen gain 1.0. size 88" I use hdmi cable directly from dvd to PJ. 15 hours of lamp time.

Here are the numbers if it's of any use the peoble with similar setup. It did it for me. Any adjustments/advice upon my settings is highly appreciated.

Mode: Creative Cinema

Brightness +1
Color +5
Contrast +4
Tint 0
Color temp user
Red 0
Green 0
Blue 0
Sharpness +2
Lamp control economy(low)
Gamma 0
Progressive off
Lens Iris -63
Advanced Menu values (these are the values adjusted using Sencore for grey scale tracking)

Lamp Iris Auto 1
Auto Black Stretch off
Contrast Enhancement L1
Transient Improvement off
Color List List 0
Dynamic Gamma Auto1

Gain R 0
Gain G -2
Gain B -8

Offset R +8
Offset G -6
Offset B -6

Gamma R -3
Gamma G 0
Gamma B 0

Cheers

Pirlo

Thank you, Pirlo

I was waiting for somebody with a 1.0 gain screen since it is closer to my laminate screen in value.

I'll be trying out your settings this week for sure. Did you "eyeball" your adjustments with DVE or AVIA or was it an ISF calibration?

Coderguy,

finally I got around to play with my computer input on the Z5 through the second HDMI input.

I got an ATI 1650pro AGP card, running under XP Pro and used an DVI/HDMI adapter to link to the Z5. After setting the desktop to 1280 x 720 with the ATI control panel everything looked just peachy to me.

There was no distortion of fonts or graphics at all. The sharpness of the Z5 is just brutal...written text looks as well or rather better than on my DELL 21" monitor.
Pictures looked just fine.

I noticed that I have the same menu for HDMI 2 as for HDMI 1, does that mean that I have again 4 user settings available for this input? The SANYO manual is not clear about this.

The quality of computer graphics over HDMI is incredible on the Z5 and the possibilities to tweak the signal in the ATI control panel are endless, e.g. gamma values, scaling, RGB values, overscan, screen position etc.

Great fun, too bad I gotta work tomorrow...

Thank you, Pirlo

I was waiting for somebody with a 1.0 gain screen since it is closer to my laminate screen in value.

I'll be trying out your settings this week for sure. Did you "eyeball" your adjustments with DVE or AVIA or was it an ISF calibration?

I have used avia's calibration dvd.

More a "TIP" then a "TWEAK", but here's some info I posted in another post. The First tip gives a handy hidden menu. The second provides access to the "Service menu":

Z5 Hidden Menus - what I know so far

Checking Lamp time: This menu shows how many hours the projector has been on and how many hours the lamp has been in "Normal" mode and how many hours in "Eco" mode.

How to Access it: Press and hold the POWER ON/STAND-BY button on the remote for more then 20 seconds. The screen will pop up briefly.

Service Adjustment Menu: This menu allows you to adjust the service data.

How to Access it: Press and hold the MENU button on the remote for 20 seconds. A "S" will appear on the screen. Now press and hold the "SCREEN" button on the remote for 3 seconds. You are now in the service mode. To exit press the POWER ON/STAND-BY.

WARNING: The OK, MENU, and pointer buttons all change service data values. Don't press them unless you know what you are doing or record the original values.

Anybody could give me the default value in Service Ajust menu because I made a change by error and I want put the good one value. Please Help me!!!

My Z5 has developed a reddish tinge in the bottom right hand corner. It's noticeable when displaying bright whites or PLUGE patterns...even the Panel adjustment pattern shows it. Cleaning the panels has not helped. I've reset to factory defaults, again no dice. The unit only has about 50 hours on it. Looks like it's time to activate that 4 year warranty. Sanyo better not give me any crap. :(

My Z5 has developed a reddish tinge in the bottom right hand corner. It's noticeable when displaying bright whites or PLUGE patterns...even the Panel adjustment pattern shows it. Cleaning the panels has not helped. I've reset to factory defaults, again no dice. The unit only has about 50 hours on it. Looks like it's time to activate that 4 year warranty. Sanyo better not give me any crap. :(


Just sent mine to Sanyo last week with a similar issue. My Z5 had a slight red haze on the left side of the screen and could be detected in any light colored scene, ie. sand looked reddish on left side normal on right, football field different color green on left normal on right. The technician claimed it was a result of the bulb changing with time ( mine has 500hrs). I spoke with the service manager an they agreed to send a new bulb. So far the uniformity is consistent across the screen with the new bulb. We'll see what happens with a few hours on it. I'm having my projector ISF calibrated Wednesday by Randy Tomlinson (Atlanta) so I hope I'm not waisting my money on a uniformity problem that may redevelop.

Please post your experience with Sanyo, it will be interesting to see what they say.

That's good info, thanks! I hope it's just the bulb.

Anybody could give me the default value in Service Ajust menu because I made a change by error and I want put the good one value. Please Help me!!!


Nobody could give me the default parameters???

any opinions on fan noise in cieling mode?

It's a while that I had optics in school. The fascinating aspect of this is that one really shouldn't use the zoom then unless utterly needed. A natural larger screen would still be more effective than a smaller screen plus a use of the zoom.

A clear case of argument for a big screen considering all possible options. I like it.

I had totally missed this important aspect of the lenses in a projector. My brain is not what it used to be...


You have to keep in mind that while full wide will give the brightest image for a given screen size, it will also introduce barrel distortion (full telephoto will introduce pin cushion effect)... so ideally you will want to set it at about half way, to eliminate both problems...

Nobody could give me the default parameters???


Do you happen to know which values you changed in the service menu? The Z5 service manual has 10 pages of initial service menu settings.

I can't seem to calibrate my Z5 with the DVE using the basic adjustments pluges... when i use the colour filters i can't get the boxes to blend into the background.... am I using the wrong pluges? same with the brightness and constrast screens... i'm confused at which ones to use... they talk a lot about crt direct view tv's... any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi All,

Seriously considering a Z-5.

If I am understanding the figures on projector central calculator, I can get over 100 inch diagonal with just under a 12 foot throw.

Can anyone tell me if I have this correct?

Thanks

Do you happen to know which values you changed in the service menu? The Z5 service manual has 10 pages of initial service menu settings.


I have DV21 on it right now, jus say to me what you have in the first page. If i reset to manufactory setting, it will fix?

Anyone else have a noisy bulb?

Actually my original bulb was (still is) OK --- it whines for a minute or so while warming up but then goes almost silent. There's still a very faint high-pitched sound but you have to really get close to hear it and I can live with that.

Then I tried out my free bulb to make sure it was OK and things were different. The first few hours it was quiet but has gradually got louder over about 18 hours. The whine is noticable during quiet scenes in a movie, so I put back the original and it's much better. That's why I'm convinced it's the bulb and not something in the PJ itself making the noise.

So I'll probably see if I can get this bulb replaced (although naturally I've had it over 90 days by now!), but I wonder how many others have had noisy bulbs (with any PJ, not just a Z5), and are there any tricks to quietening them down?

Hi All,

Seriously considering a Z-5.

If I am understanding the figures on projector central calculator, I can get over 100 inch diagonal with just under a 12 foot throw.

Can anyone tell me if I have this correct?

Thanks

Hi, yes, I am projecting a 109" diagonal screen with an 11ft throw distance.

-60-
Group: 0 ADV7403
0 SOG_SYNC_LEV 11/11/11/11/11/11/11 0 - 31 PC/480i/575i/480p/575p/720p/1080i
Group: 3 L3E06150/1060P0A (Panel Driver)
0 G_LCCOM 300 0 - 511 ✻ G Common center adjustment
1 B_LCCOM 300 0 - 511 ✻ B Common center adjustment
2 R_LCCOM 300 0 - 511 ✻ R Common center adjustment
3 G_LCCOM_GAIN 191 0 - 255 G Signal Gain
4 B_LCCOM_GAIN 191 0 - 255 B Signal Gain
5 R_LCCOM_GAIN 191 0 - 255 R Signal Gain
6 G_LCCOM_BRIGHT 0 0 - 255 G Signal Bright
7 B_LCCOM_BRIGHT 0 0 - 255 B Signal Bright
8 R_LCCOM_BRIGHT 0 0 - 255 R Signal Bright
9 G_VIDEO_CENTER 18 0 - 63 G Video Center
10 B_VIDEO_CENTER 18 0 - 63 B Video Center
11 R_VIDEO_CENTER 18 0 - 63 R Video Center
12 R_ENBX_PW 12 0 - 255 R ENBX pulse width
13 G_ENBX_PW 12 0 - 255 G ENBX pulse width
14 B_ENBX_PW 12 0 - 255 B ENBX pulse width
15 R_DXIN 2 0 - 255 R DXIN Delay
16 G_DXIN 2 0 - 255 G DXIN Delay
17 B_DXIN 2 0 - 255 B DXIN Delay
18 R_CLXIN 2 0 - 255 R CLXIN Delay
19 G_CLXIN 2 0 - 255 G CLXIN Delay
20 B_CLXIN 2 0 - 255 B CLXIN Delay
21 R_ENBX1IN 14 0 - 255 R ENBX1IN Delay
22 G_ENBX1IN 14 0 - 255 G ENBX1IN Delay
23 B_ENBX1IN 14 0 - 255 B ENBX1IN Delay
Group: 4 L3E07110K0A (Digital Gamma)
0 G_Contrast 512/512/512 360 - 535
1 B_Contrast 512/512/512 360 - 535 PureCinema/BrilliantCinema&CreativeCinema&Natural&Living/Dynamic&Vivid
2 R_Contrast 512/512/512 360 - 535
3 G_Bright 0/0/0 0 - 1023
4 B_Bright 0/0/0 0 - 1023
5 R_Bright 0/0/0 0 - 1023
6 G_Gamma_Shift 0/0/0 -512 - 511 ✻ Panel luminance adjustment
7 B_Gamma_Shift 0/0/0 -512 - 511 ✻ White balance adjustment [B]
8 R_Gamma_Shift 0/0/0 -512 - 511 ✻ White balance adjustment [R]
9 R_REF_H 1023 0 - 1023
10 R_REF_L 336 0 - 1023
11 G_REF_H 1023 0 - 1023
12 G_REF_L 336 0 - 1023
13 B_REF_H 1023 0 - 1023
14 B_REF_L 336 0 - 1023
15 DXOUTR 214 0 - 1023
16 DXOUTG 214 0 - 1023
17 DXOUTB 214 0 - 1023
18 ENBX_R 0 0 - 127
19 ENBX_G 0 0 - 127
20 ENBX_B 0 0 - 127
21 H_CHANGE_Pos 6 0 - 255
22 SH_BASE_Pos 0 0 - 1
23 R_SH_Pos 10 0 - 15
24 G_SH_Pos 10 0 - 15
25 B_SH_Pos 10 0 - 15
26 NRG_Pos 51 0 - 127
27 NRG_Width 48 0 - 255
28 OSD_Pos 2 0 - 3
29 OSD_Pat 0 0 - 7
30 Gamma_Ctrl 1 0 - 1
31 REF_GATE_Pos 1 0 - 1023
32 REF_GATE_Width 180 0 - 1023
33 R_BASE_Pos 6 0 - 15
34 G_BASE_Pos 6 0 - 15
35 B_BASE_Pos 6 0 - 15
36 RGB_ADJUST 0 0 - 7
37 RGB_ADJLEV 0 0 - 1023
38 LINE_R0 8 0 - 255
39 LINE_R1 4 0 - 255
40 LINE_R2 2 0 - 255
41 LINE_R3 0 0 - 255
42 LINE_R4 0 0 - 255
43 LINE_G0 8 0 - 255
44 LINE_G1 4 0 - 255
45 LINE_G2 2 0 - 255
46 LINE_G3 0 0 - 255
Electrical Adjustments
● Service Adjustment Data Table These initial values are the reference data written from the CPU
ROM to memory IC when replaced new memory IC. The adjustment
items indicated with “✻” are required to readjust following
to the “Electrical adjustments”. Other items should be used with
the initial data value.
No. Adjustment Item Initial Value Range Input source / Description

Ok thank's, I think a just change the page with button menu, probably I did not made any change, I justed switched the page when a pressed a menu button.

I had my Z5 ISF calibrated yesterday. 1.0 gain screen, Dark green walls, white ceiling. Ceiling mounted, 15'6" throw, 92" screen.

Service Menu Adjustments

Green Contrast 390
Blue Contrast 371
Red Contrast 512
Green Bright 33
Blue Bright 4
Red Bright 0
Blue Gamma Shift 3
Red Gamma Shift 3

Input Settings

User 1 X-Box 360 (VGA)

Brightness -17
Contrast +19
Color 0
Lamp eco
Color Temp User
Progressive L1
Lens iris -30
Sharpness +7
Overscan +10

User 2 D*HR20-700 (Component)

Brightness +2
Contrast +4
Color +7
Lamp eco
Color Temp User
Progressive L1
Lens Iris -30
Sharpness 0
Overscan 0

User 3 Samsung Blu-Ray (HDMI)

Brightness +2
Contrast +3
Color +10
Lamp eco
Progressive L1
Lens Iris -30
Sharpness 0

I can't seem to calibrate my Z5 with the DVE using the basic adjustments pluges... when i use the colour filters i can't get the boxes to blend into the background.... am I using the wrong pluges? same with the brightness and constrast screens... i'm confused at which ones to use... they talk a lot about crt direct view tv's... any help would be greatly appreciated!Try changing your color list in the advanced menu.

I am proud to say that I just purchased a Z5. It will be used as a back up should I ever need one but mainly as my outdoor theater pj! And I am thinking about using it for video games as well. After reading Art's review plus the many of happy owners in this thread I purchased with confidence. I can't go with a DLP because my Wife has the RBE issue (very badly). In fact the pj I was going to use is the Optoma DV10 (which now I have to sell). Atleast the Sanyo is HD. Playing HD DVD or Blu ray on it will look amazing! :eek: Thanks for helping me decide... :)

Can anyone confirm that the service menu location for adjusting minimum fan speeds is the same on the Z5 as they are on the Z4? After a day with a Z5, the auto-faster fan speed (louder) when ceiling mounted is really disappointing. I just switched out a Z3 and the added noise of the newer (supposed to actually be quieter) model has got me bummed.

Thanks in advance.

Dan

Nevermind. I answered my own question. Yes. The same service menu adjustment works for the Z5. For those that didn't read it in the Z4 thread, you can lower the fans' minimum speeds so you don't get the fan noise penalty for having it ceiling mounted. Keep in mind that if your mount keeps your PJ flush or "close to" the ceiling, you may be better off leaving the settings the way they are. In other words, make the adjustments at your own risk....

I was able to lower my minimum fan speeds and still maintain good temps after 3 hours + of use. This brought the PJ sound level down from annoying to barely audible.

Service menu values: Group 102, Item Number 0, set the Data Value to 1 for "ceiling" then,

Item Number 50 - Data Value changed from 1680 to 1185
Item Number 52 - Data Value changed from 2340 to 1200

These are the figures I settled on, yours may be different.

These are for the low lamp setting. I did find that if you use lamp setting of A2, you use Item numbers 77 and 79 instead of 50 and 52.

Keep an eye on the 3 temperature readings. According to the Z4 thread, "A" should be less than 26, "B" should be less than 50, and "C" should be less than 40. If your readings go much higher than these, the fans are gonna kick up higher anyway so there's no point in lowering the minimums.

For those that missed it earlier in this thread, to get into the service menu, press and hold Menu until an "S" appears, then press Screen until the service menu appears. Within the service menu, pressing Menu will change the group, up and down to change the Item Number, left and right to change Data Values, Power to exit the menu.

Now I'm happy again.....Once again, at your own risk....

Dan

It seems there are a lot less issues with the Z5 compared to the new Panny... with the new price drop, ($1299 after $200 rebate...) I'm going to ante up the extra $ from the HD100u and go for it.... I'll be tracking this thread in the next few weeks as I put in my theater. I've been waiting for several years to plunk down the cash for my first projector... Now, I'm going to do it......(You all agree that I SHOULD buy a projector, right... :p )

It seems there are a lot less issues with the Z5 compared to the new Panny... with the new price drop, ($1299 after $200 rebate...) I'm going to ante up the extra $ from the HD100u and go for it.... I'll be tracking this thread in the next few weeks as I put in my theater. I've been waiting for several years to plunk down the cash for my first projector... Now, I'm going to do it......(You all agree that I SHOULD buy a projector, right... :p )


You can do a bit better than that, just look for the forum sponser whose initials stand for V ery/A nxious (to get a good deal)!

Oops.. I mean $1295 after rebate... I was off by $4. :)

Try $1195! (Hint - 2 rebates!)

This pj may be the "best kept secret" in this price range... :eek:

Pool boy... you have a PM

If these rebates pan out then this PJ is a real bargain! I may have to call to confirm, but it sure seems legit!

They do pan out. I just did it. They also give you the option of a free 6.0 megapixel camera with 200.00 back or 300.00 without the camera... This is a great deal! :eek:

Keep an eye on the 3 temperature readings. According to the Z4 thread, "A" should be less than 26, "B" should be less than 50, and "C" should be less than 40. If your readings go much higher than these, the fans are gonna kick up higher anyway so there's no point in lowering the minimums.

For those that missed it earlier in this thread, to get into the service menu, press and hold Menu until an "S" appears, then press Screen until the service menu appears. Within the service menu, pressing Menu will change the group, up and down to change the Item Number, left and right to change Data Values, Power to exit the menu.

Now I'm happy again.....Once again, at your own risk....

Dan

I've just bought a Z5, and the only niggle so far has been the default fan speeds. It just seemed to ramp up to maximum ('natural' setting, with eco bulb), and was pretty loud. The only way I could solve it has been through changing the service menu setting to Manual Fan Control, and then putting the Voltage for all 4 fans to 60. Temps still seem good (within limits stated here after 3 hours).

It's weird because on first entering the Service Menu, the fans all decreased straight away...this is how I realised I had an issue. Much closer to the 22db stated now.

If any service menu experts here know of a better way for me to do this rather than manual control, I'd like to hear from them. The way it is at the moment won't (I guess), take into account room temperature etc.

I used the Z4 service guide for reference doing this, but it seems in this respect fairly similar to the Z5.

--
Jon

Hey guys what a great thread, fantastic info and I am looking at getting the Z5. However, I watch a lot of compressed DVDs since I am trying to convert my library of DVDs on my hard drives. I watch DVDs as well so it is not all TV. Just wondering what peoples experience is with the Z5 and compressed dvds/tv shows etc.. Does anyone currently do this kind of setup with that type of media? I am looking for how the quality is, if there are a lot of pixels vs a RPTV or what have you. Thanks for your help if you can =).

Greetings to all. Just replaced a Benq 8700+ that I've had for a number of years with a Z5. It was getting too noisy (I sit a few feet away from the projector) and was never as bright or as sharp as I'd hoped. The z5 fills the bill nicely.

However, the controls are a bit daunting to me. Maybe someone can clue me in on the differences between using the Red/Green/Blue (for what I gather is the white level (or gains/drives) of each of these) versus the advanced menu's Gain controls for the colors. The same seems to apply to gamma versus the individual gamma values. I'm assuming that the advanced menu options are for more granular control, but I'd love to get a solid explanation, since the Sanyo docs don't help.

As an fyi......I'm using a 1.3 Firehawk screen at 100" diag. I'm projecting at about 10 feet.
Recently I began using SpyderTV for setup. I began with the Natural preset, and that device/software told me the closest temperature to ideal is Low 2. So, that kicked in the base R/G/B levels. I followed the instructions which established the brightness, contrast and then the decision to go into the advanced settings to adjust the Gain and Offsets. All of this was done with the Lamp Iris set to open to avoid the Sanyo altering things with dynamic changes.

Here's what I ended up with:

Brightness = -5
Contrast = +1
Color = +3
Tint = +1
Color Temp = Low 2
Red = +12
Green = 0
Blue= -5
Sharpness = 0
Lamp Control = Eco
Gamma = 0
Progressive = off
Lens Iris = -30

Advanced Menu:

Lamp Iris Open (after calibration set to Auto 1)
Auto Black Stretch = off
Contrast Enhancement = off
Transient Improvement = off
Color List List = 0
Dynamic Gamma = off

Gain R = +5
Gain G = 0
Gain B = -1

Offset R = -4
Offset G = 0
Offset B = +4

Gamma R = 0
Gamma G = 0
Gamma B = 0

Any guidance will be appreciated.

Dan (DKaps)
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!! (for your tip on changing the minimum fan speeds setting for ceiling mounting) I just went from a Z2 to a Z5. On the Z2 at low bulb setting the fan stayed at low speed. With the Z5 I was disappointed that ceiling mounted forced the fan to high speed. That was my major complaint,,, and now you showed the fix!!
Thanks much again!!!!
(AVS is so good!!)
Joe H

I had my Z5 ISF calibrated yesterday. 1.0 gain screen, Dark green walls, white ceiling. Ceiling mounted, 15'6" throw, 92" screen.

Service Menu Adjustments

Green Contrast 390
Blue Contrast 371
Red Contrast 512
Green Bright 33
Blue Bright 4
Red Bright 0
Blue Gamma Shift 3
Red Gamma Shift 3

Input Settings

User 1 X-Box 360 (VGA)

Brightness -17
Contrast +19
Color 0
Lamp eco
Color Temp User
Progressive L1
Lens iris -30
Sharpness +7
Overscan +10

User 2 D*HR20-700 (Component)

Brightness +2
Contrast +4
Color +7
Lamp eco
Color Temp User
Progressive L1
Lens Iris -30
Sharpness 0
Overscan 0

User 3 Samsung Blu-Ray (HDMI)

Brightness +2
Contrast +3
Color +10
Lamp eco
Progressive L1
Lens Iris -30
Sharpness 0

Hi, I wanna try your settings cause my viewing space is very similar- dark green walls, white ceiling, 105" screen and 1.0 gain. However I am using a Pio 696 dvd player over HDMI. Do you think your samsung Blu-ray settings would be the closest? What is the overscan setting with your blu-ray input?

Hi, I wanna try your settings cause my viewing space is very similar- dark green walls, white ceiling, 105" screen and 1.0 gain. However I am using a Pio 696 dvd player over HDMI. Do you think your samsung Blu-ray settings would be the closest? What is the overscan setting with your blu-ray input?



Each input device is a little different. The hdmi/component settings aren't much different from each other on my setup, so try them both and see what works best for you. Using the DVE or AVIA calibration disc will work well for adjusting brightness, contrast, color and tint. Overscan is set to 0 on both HDMI and component.

Hi,

Can anyone tell me the difference between the HDMI modes (L1 and L2), and what is the best to go for? At the moment I'm using L2.

Jon

Jon:

I believe I read somewhere (maybe this was the review:

http://www.myprojectorstore.com/reviews/Sanyo_PLV-Z5_Review.php

"A dynamic gamma circuit provides rapid-fire gamma correction with changes in signal level. There are two choices in this menu, but the description is limited to “small correction” and ‘large correction”. One additional helpful feature adjusts the black level with HDMI input signals, where black may be set to 0 IRE or 7.5 IRE."

Just sent mine to Sanyo last week with a similar issue. My Z5 had a slight red haze on the left side of the screen and could be detected in any light colored scene, ie. sand looked reddish on left side normal on right, football field different color green on left normal on right. The technician claimed it was a result of the bulb changing with time ( mine has 500hrs). I spoke with the service manager an they agreed to send a new bulb. So far the uniformity is consistent across the screen with the new bulb. We'll see what happens with a few hours on it. I'm having my projector ISF calibrated Wednesday by Randy Tomlinson (Atlanta) so I hope I'm not waisting my money on a uniformity problem that may redevelop.

Please post your experience with Sanyo, it will be interesting to see what they say.After multiple calls to Sanyo LCD projector support(which seems to be staffed by two guys) I finally sent it off for repair last week. Initially Sanyo refused to honor the warranty as they said my "problem" wasn't a problem at all and that the unit was operating in accordance with factory specs. I was able to get some results by going through the vendor which sold me the projector. Anyway, to make a long story short: it appears to be a uniformity problem that can't be corrected. Sanyo claims a 85% uniformity on its LCD panels. The service sheet that came back with my projector said "adjusted panels, unit in factory specs". The problem is still there, maybe it's a teensy bit better than before.

I've got to tell you, I've some serious buyers remorse here. White screens are very distracting...the "color" of the whites varies across the screen. More than likely I will sell this projector and Sanyo will never see my money again.

After multiple calls to Sanyo LCD projector support(which seems to be staffed by two guys) I finally sent it off for repair last week. Initially Sanyo refused to honor the warranty as they said my "problem" wasn't a problem at all and that the unit was operating in accordance with factory specs. I was able to get some results by going through the vendor which sold me the projector. Anyway, to make a long story short: it appears to be a uniformity problem that can't be corrected. Sanyo claims a 85% uniformity on its LCD panels. The service sheet that came back with my projector said "adjusted panels, unit in factory specs". The problem is still there, maybe it's a teensy bit better than before.

I've got to tell you, I've some serious buyers remorse here. White screens are very distracting...the "color" of the whites varies across the screen. More than likely I will sell this projector and Sanyo will never see my money again.

Sorry to hear about yet another person getting bent by Sanyo's poor customer service. Although they gave me a free bulb and the issue I had hasn't reappeared I will exclude Sanyo when upgrading in the next year or two.

Hi All,

I started this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=814099&page=1&pp=30

I am also using that thread to gather information on how to improve my Z5. I hope that is OK by forum etiquette. I do not want to offend anyone, as I have gotten so much valuable info from several of the AVS forums.

Largely on what I learned there I decided to take a big hit selling the plasma and move on to a projector. Just got my Z5 today, and have spent a couple hours with it.

The detail can not come close to what the plasma had, so wanting to learn what I can do to improve the PQ.

My first projector, and my first DIY screen.

Screen is 1/4 inch MDF, painted FnEasy with matte poly overcoat. Light controlled room, about 94 inch dia, seating 10-11 feet from screen.

Used a little of the Avia DVD to try some calibrating.

Using "natural" picture mode,

brightness +2
contrast +7
sharpness -2
color temp - mid.

No other changes made.

No complaints about the color, though I am sure it can be improved with some tweaks, just not happy with the detail, or sharpness. Not sure how to describe it properly.

As an aside, I want to go to a larger screen soon, but playing with the zoom, it appears I'm not too far from running into the screendoor affect at 11 feet from screen.

Thanks.

I'm looking forward to getting this dialed in.

I had my Z5 ISF calibrated yesterday. 1.0 gain screen, Dark green walls, white ceiling. Ceiling mounted, 15'6" throw, 92" screen.

Service Menu Adjustments

Green Contrast 390
Blue Contrast 371
Red Contrast 512
Green Bright 33
Blue Bright 4
Red Bright 0
Blue Gamma Shift 3
Red Gamma Shift 3

Input Settings

User 1 X-Box 360 (VGA)

Brightness -17
Contrast +19
Color 0
Lamp eco
Color Temp User
Progressive L1
Lens iris -30
Sharpness +7
Overscan +10

User 2 D*HR20-700 (Component)

Brightness +2
Contrast +4
Color +7
Lamp eco
Color Temp User
Progressive L1
Lens Iris -30
Sharpness 0
Overscan 0

User 3 Samsung Blu-Ray (HDMI)

Brightness +2
Contrast +3
Color +10
Lamp eco
Progressive L1
Lens Iris -30
Sharpness 0
I went into the service menu but wasn't sure which settings were which. Do you have a list of what each number or group represents?

Hey mgh24 are you watching SDTV or HDTV, cause I got a Z5 and its sharp as
hell in HD - don't really watch SD.

So far after a few hours of play with mine the unit seems to work fine...Of course the real test will be this summer....

Hardware : Z5 projecting onto an Elite Cinitension 106" Screen
The system is brand new as of 4 days ago, The problem I am having is
the image is squewed on the left hand side. I have adjusted the image to fit
the screen as close a possable. The right hand side of the image lines up and
fills the area fully but as you pan to the left hand side of the screen the image narrows. More at the bottom then top. Top .5 Btm 1.25 inchs.
Another way to explain it is If you measure the distance from top and btm of each side the left side would be shorter.

I have played with every adjustment, Check all hardware for level and nothing I can see can fix this issue. ITs like something in the projector is squeezing the left side down. Its enough that when watching it I see teh gaps and it bothers me.

Can anyone shed any light on what might be the cause, how to fix it?
Do I have a bad unit right out the box.

Guess I should add the image looks amazing and I am real happy with the Z5.

Thanks
Mike

I am watching SD DVDs with an upconverting player.

Thanks

msherer,

Have you tried projecting the image only a short distance, like 2 meters with each input? If you still have that same trapaziodal shape, then it's probably a bad unit. You may want to check the serial number vs. the bulb use to see if your PJ was manufactured so long ago that it could be a refurb in disguise.

Ryan,

Thanks, Yes all inputs do this same issue. I will check the MFG date, should be brand new. Purchased thru visual apex. I put a call in to sanyo and will be sending some images for them to look at to trouble shoot. Just a weird problem to have. Seen no one else on here having this issue.

Thanks

It simply sounds like your not projecting straight at the screen. Turn your PJ to the left and re-adjust your horizontal lens shift.

Dan

Dan,

I wish it was that simple. The lens and CL of screen are exact. MY lens shift is being used almost none at all. But I have shifted it right and left and the angle in the images does not change.

If your mounted dead center, then you shouldn't be using any horizontal lens shift at all (assuming a correctly centered dial in relation to actual lens position)....

Anyway, my point is that turning the PJ to the left will make the left side taller and the right side narrower. Even though your mount places it in the center, that doesn't mean you're pointed perfectly perpendicular to the screen. It may be that the lens shift dial is not correctly centered. Moving the lens shift will not change geometry, turning the PJ will.

I'd do this: adjust your zoom and horiz. and vert. lens shift so your image is just inside your frame. Now make geometry adjustments by moving (aiming and rotating) the PJ while adjusting lens shift when necessary to keep it within your frame. Once you're perfectly square inside your frame, adjust zoom and lens shift to fill the screen.

Dan

Dan,

Thanks for the advice. I will certainly try this tonight. Hope it works. I agree no matte how good its on CL it still can be off.

All have a great day.

Mike

Here are my "calibrated" settings. I set these up using DVE and AVIA, this is not an ISF certified calibration by any stretch.
I am projecting on to a 108" gray screen at a distance of 12.5 feet, in a completely dark room.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome...

Settings

Brightness +1
Contrast +3
Color +12
Tint +5
Color Temp low2
Lamp eco
Red +12
Green 0
Blue -5
Sharpness -7
Lamp Eco
Gamma 0
Lens iris -22
Iris Auto2
Auto Black L1
Contrast Enhance L1
Transient L1
Color List L1
Dynamic Gamma Auto2

Just wondering but how did you arrive at Lens Iris setting of -22, let alone the other exotic changes (Auto Black, Contrast Enhance, etc.)? I see you created your own Color List. How did you do so with only the DVE and AVIA discs to guide you?

Just wondering but how did you arrive at Lens Iris setting of -22, let alone the other exotic changes (Auto Black, Contrast Enhance, etc.)? I see you created your own Color List. How did you do so with only the DVE and AVIA discs to guide you?

I used a very complex algorithm...OK not really. I just started from the default settings for "Brilliant Cinema" and tweaked from there. The exotic settings were already set. I don't remember why I started with "Brilliant Cinema", I think that it appeared to be the closest to correct in my environment, so it seemed like a good jumping off point.

Based on what I have been reading I think I will redo my settings starting from the "Pure Cinema" mode and see where I end up...

Does anyone else see a lot of fixed pattern noise and/or vertical banding with this projector?
For example when I watched football today I could see noticeable VD and/or FPN as it pans back and forth on the field, is there anyway to tweak it away?

Does anyone else see a lot of fixed pattern noise and/or vertical banding with this projector?
For example when I watched football today I could see noticeable VD and/or FPN as it pans back and forth on the field, is there anyway to tweak it away?

Nope, nothing like that on mine. Sure the source of that isn't on the signal side or screen side of things?

I've got a PS2 hooked up through component which looks amazing as well as a DVD player, no banding or weird noise at all. Only issue I have seen and that is due to less than optimal cabling is some minor ghosting on the DVD signal (not there on the PS2 source which is why I say cabling).

I just picked up a new screen from Grandview and that made a world of difference.

So far my only issue is that the projector is louder than I expected and black levels are not that awesome. Other than those 2 things though it is amazing as far as detail, vividness and overall picture. Normally when I think of LCD I think "gritty", even a nice Samsung LCD TV is a little on the edgey side compared to plasma or CRT but the projector seems to have none of that. Not sure if it is the scaler or what but so far anything I put through it looks awesome, smooth.

This is with a 70" 16x9 Grandview "cyber portabl" screen.

It's bad as I am going to go through my bulb soooooo fast.

=)

Cheers

:) hello to all i am new her I just bought a Z5 from germany My first projector and I am very satisfied he is calibreted by cine4home here is my setting
Projektor:
Hersteller: Sanyo
Typ: PLV-Z5
Seriennummer: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Messequipment:
Quelle Testbilder: Peter Finzel Testdisc SE
Zuspielung Testsignale: HDMI YPbPr
Software: Milori Color Facts CF 6500
Sensor: Milori Trichromat-1 Colorimeter


Einstellungen Setup: Bild 1 - 4
(Basierend auf Vivid (Bild1/2) bzw. Dynamik (Bild 3/4) Modus)

Bright: +4
Contrast: -12
Gamma: 0
Red: -22
Green: 0
Blue: +3


Advanced
Gain R: +2
Gain G: 0
Gain B: 0

Offset R: 0
Offset G: 0
Offset B: 0

Gamma R: -1
Gamma G: 0
Gamma B: -3

Farbmodus: Liste 1

Hi All,

I've had my Z5 for 4 days now, and enjoying it. Have not done much tweaking yet.

My question is about screen size or aspect ratios.

Of the options I get when playing a DVD, the best choice seems to be the "full" screen. However, even with that selection I think the picture is just slightly spread out, or stretched to the sides. In other words, all the actors are wider than they should be. This shows up whether I am viewing a widescreen DVD or a full screen DVD.

I believe I have the projector set up level and square, so I don't think it is a question of positioning.

Is there anything I can do to correct this?

As an aside, the manual that came with the Z5 is not what I would describe as thorough.

Thanks.

Hi All,

I've had my Z5 for 4 days now, and enjoying it. Have not done much tweaking yet.

My question is about screen size or aspect ratios.

Of the options I get when playing a DVD, the best choice seems to be the "full" screen. However, even with that selection I think the picture is just slightly spread out, or stretched to the sides. In other words, all the actors are wider than they should be. This shows up whether I am viewing a widescreen DVD or a full screen DVD.

I believe I have the projector set up level and square, so I don't think it is a question of positioning.

Is there anything I can do to correct this?

As an aside, the manual that came with the Z5 is not what I would describe as thorough.

Thanks.

You should check to ensure that the source equipment is set to output correctly. Full is supposed to take what it's delivered and "fit" it properly. Try using the "Normal" setting for the screen option and see if it makes a difference. With my Motorola cable unit or DVD player I don't even get some of the options (they are greyed out) - I do get Full, Zoom, Caption-In, and Natural Wide 2. I am feeding a 720p signal output from both of these devices.

I agree with you about the manual from the CD. It's woefully inadequate in esplaning much about the controls, especially if you plan on doing any significant calibration work.

I used a very complex algorithm...OK not really. I just started from the default settings for "Brilliant Cinema" and tweaked from there. The exotic settings were already set. I don't remember why I started with "Brilliant Cinema", I think that it appeared to be the closest to correct in my environment, so it seemed like a good jumping off point.

Based on what I have been reading I think I will redo my settings starting from the "Pure Cinema" mode and see where I end up...

Thanks. That explains it, though it brings up the question of how/why the iris setting differs based on the presets. I'd assumed that closing down (going more negative on the number) would be of benefit in situations where screen size or ambient light would play a role. But now I'm not at all clear. I figured it would get better depth of focus, at least. I'll need to play around with this some I guess.

sjschaff:

Thanks,

I messed around a bit with my player, and it was set incorrectly. Not sure yet, but I think that was what I needed.

Nope, nothing like that on mine. Sure the source of that isn't on the signal side or screen side of things?


I see it on my DVD player too, for example in fire, smoke and pans. Nobody else see VB or FPN? Maybe I´m very sensitive to it, it´s annoying :) .

Hardware : Z5 projecting onto an Elite Cinitension 106" Screen
The system is brand new as of 4 days ago, The problem I am having is
the image is squewed on the left hand side. I have adjusted the image to fit
the screen as close a possable. The right hand side of the image lines up and
fills the area fully but as you pan to the left hand side of the screen the image narrows. More at the bottom then top. Top .5 Btm 1.25 inchs.
Another way to explain it is If you measure the distance from top and btm of each side the left side would be shorter.

I have played with every adjustment, Check all hardware for level and nothing I can see can fix this issue. ITs like something in the projector is squeezing the left side down. Its enough that when watching it I see teh gaps and it bothers me.

Can anyone shed any light on what might be the cause, how to fix it?
Do I have a bad unit right out the box.

Guess I should add the image looks amazing and I am real happy with the Z5.

Thanks
Mike

i have an elite cinetension, and a z5. the elite screen that i got is actually skewed higher on the left side than on the right (manufacturing defect), perhaps you have the same problem?

Stickyman,

If your mounted dead center, then you shouldn't be using any horizontal lens shift at all (assuming a correctly centered dial in relation to actual lens position)....

Anyway, my point is that turning the PJ to the left will make the left side taller and the right side narrower. Even though your mount places it in the center, that doesn't mean you're pointed perfectly perpendicular to the screen. It may be that the lens shift dial is not correctly centered. Moving the lens shift will not change geometry, turning the PJ will.

I'd do this: adjust your zoom and horiz. and vert. lens shift so your image is just inside your frame. Now make geometry adjustments by moving (aiming and rotating) the PJ while adjusting lens shift when necessary to keep it within your frame. Once you're perfectly square inside your frame, adjust zoom and lens shift to fill the screen.

Dan

Read this above. He is right I adjusted it more to the left and made it perpendicular to the screen. It fixed the sqewed problem I was having.
I'm sure its the same issue you are seeing just in the opposite direction.

stickyman,

I guess I should add that this was the image not the screen that I was having the issue with. IF you screen is angled and you have it mounted level and true then yes maybe they didn't build it correctly.

msherer

Are you sure that the center of the lens is lined up with the center of the screen (or use horizontal lens shift to make it line up)? Also, if the horizontal lens shift has been moved, then you can get the same problem. If you can't get it "square" with horizontal lens shift (read your manual), then you have a defective Z5.

I have used mine a few times now and mine seems to work perfectly fine... :)

I spent a little time using my AVIA dvd to config the projector. Now after watching a couple of shows and a movie or 2 I notice more screen door and or vertical lines. ONly more so when bright colors or certain transitions. ITs not all the time but more so the when I first used it. Any ideas on why? DO I have a setting to hight that causes this. I think the colors, contrast, brightness ect.. Look real good. I'm setting around 13' away and the projector is roughly the same distance throwing on a 106" elite cinitension gray screen.
OR is this just me be new to the projector world and I just have to get used to it.

I sent it 1080p from the Pioneer Blu ray unit and the picture was stunning...

Anyone else have a noisy bulb?
Yes! :(
My Z5 has an an high frequency sound that comes from the lamp side. I've send it to repair service, they changed me the lamp and the ballast circuit (it shold be the circuit that drive the lamp). Now it's back,it has only 2 hours but the problem still remain.
I wrote from Italy, I've posted the problem in a local forum and the result is: it seems that few Z5 has this noise and it disappear after warm up; but there are also some rare Z5 (like mine :mad: ) that has this problem that not disappear after warm up.

I must be lucky becuae mine has worked out perfectly... Not overly noisy, not lens issues, just a really nice picture. For the money this has to be one of the best pjs in its class out there!

Well, I'm super happy with my Z5 as well. I have no real issues either. There are just some minor things to ask about. Mostly it may be that I am new to the world of projectors. Also I may be to critical or picky as well.

Whats the avg est. cost to have a certified professional calibrate a projector?

Anyone

Well, I'm super happy with my Z5 as well. I have no real issues either. There are just some minor things to ask about. Mostly it may be that I am new to the world of projectors. Also I may be to critical or picky as well.

Whats the avg est. cost to have a certified professional calibrate a projector?

Anyone

IIRC, I think I read it's around 300 $ to 400 $ US... Pretty hefty price, but then again, your proj is gonna be calibrated to its best possible image.

Yea def $$, maybe someday. Will check locally to see who does it maybe I can get a deal.

Thanks

? Terminated & moved to proper section.

FYI the HDA2 is now selling for $299 from reputable dealers. Google.

According to PJCs review (just posted: http://www.projectorcentral.com/hd_disc_players.htm) the A2 does a very good job of up-converting SD DVDs. The XA2, at least, uses the Silicon Optix REON processor chip, which is, reportedly, better than the Faroudja chip.

That , of course, doesn't tell us which is better, the A2 or the Oppo 981.

This is OT for a Z5 tweak thread .

Guys,
Can anyone tell me if the Z5 does the required vertical stretch for 2.35 material necessary to use with the Panamorph U85 lens? If so, what about the horizontal stretch that allows users to keep the lens in place for normal viewing. Its not something I expect at this price but it would be extremely nice if it did.

Thanks.

Yes! :(
My Z5 has an an high frequency sound that comes from the lamp side. I've send it to repair service, they changed me the lamp and the ballast circuit (it shold be the circuit that drive the lamp). Now it's back,it has only 2 hours but the problem still remain.
That's too bad, but I think there's a chance it could improve as you put more hours on it. My first bulb had a slight sound that got better over time. When I switched bulbs it seemed quiet at first but then started to whine and got worse over 18 hours! I switched back to the first bulb and it's now completely quiet (with about 100 hours on it). Maybe my other bulb would improve too if I kept using it.

I had mine whine a little once very early on. I lightly tapped the back of the case with my index finger and the whine went away. I haven't heard it since.

Dan

That's too bad, but I think there's a chance it could improve as you put more hours on it.
I hope it :rolleyes:
Some users told me that noise get lower after some hours of use. My first lamp, after 80 hours does not sound better,maybe this one can (I really hope it)

So I've been slowly reading through the Z4 tweaks thread... A lot there, but the consensus seems to be that the "Living" mode was one of two good starting modes... anybody here have any thoughts on that?

I haven't received my proj. yet, but I've been reading a bit. Can anybody clarify the R, G, and B settings? There's the basic settings, and then the advanced menu settings (gain, offset, gamma, and something else). When is it appropriate to adjust each? I will be using Avia to adjust... I read something that suggested that the RGB settings are for setting the proper proper greyscale/white balance. What is the recommended methodology for correcting the colour decoder problems (orangish reds) with the Z5?

The incorrect reds were my only reservation with ordering this machine. I've been doing some reading to try to figure out what people are doing about it, but I haven't read anything that appeared to be a clear answer.

Thanks,
Martin.

EDIT: Scratch this post: all is revealed here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8783409&&#post8783409

anyone using an oppo 981 with the z5? I'm getting my z5 in a week or so and was wondering if there's an optimal combination of settings to use...

I am on my second lamp hour, and have finished tweaking the Z5 until the bulb has some hours.

The room is 95% light controlled, and the screen is tensioned blackout cloth. 92" diagonal screen with 13.3' throw distance and an 11' viewing distance. The screen is mounted on the inside of a dormer (covering a window), and the adjacent walls and ceiling is painted flat black. The only colour in the room to influence the room is a gawd-awful, er, I don't want to say "pink", er, it's not brilliant or anything! carpet.

Here's what I did: started with the "Natural" mode. Turned on one of the auto iris modes, set the other iris to -45 Did black and white levels (brightness and contrast) with Avia. I then checked all three color patterns in Avia using the filters, and I'll be damned if it wasn't almost perfect as is. Honestly, it only took a notch or two of color and tint on the basic menu to get the bars as perfect as I've ever seen. I then re-did white and black level, and re-did the colour bars.

Finally, I looked at the secondaries on one of the colour charts, focusing on yellow, since I have a fair idea of what yellow should look like, and tried the 5 color temperature presets to find the one with the most "natural" looking yellow. I hesitate to say what it was for me, because it won't necessarily be the same for you, but for posterity, it was the warmest setting (low 2 or whatever it's called).

And for what it's worth, I killed that sharpness feature and lowered the sharpness to -7. The picture is plenty sharp, but doesn't suffer from that artificial ringing, which I just don't like.

Tried out Fifth Element Superbit, and everything looked great. I've been fuddling with the one manual iris setting, but I think the bulb is currently still to bright for it to be working right.

I suspect I'm somehow trading off contrast ratio and the absolute black of the picture, but honestly, the correct colours is well worth it.

Perhaps I'll try something based on Living or one of the Cinema modes later to see what can be done, but for now, what appears to be a true and accurate picture will suffice.

Martin.

I would concentrate on making certain there are no problems with panel alignment, deal pixels etc. Give the lamp around 100 hours before really getting into calibration.

I would concentrate on making certain there are no problems with panel alignment, deal pixels etc. Give the lamp around 100 hours before really getting into calibration.

Yar, so far, so good. First thing I checked was for dead white pixels. Thankfully, none to be seen. Not sure about panel alignment - nothing obvious anyway. Is there a a preferred AVIA pattern for checking?

Martin.

Anyhow, I would like to throw this question out there: what, if anything, am I giving up by starting with "natural" mode? Anything in particular with regard to the auto iris, for example? Anything else which is implicit in the starting mode and not directly controlled by the menu?

Thanks,
Martin.

Anyhow, I would like to throw this question out there: what, if anything, am I giving up by starting with "natural" mode? Anything in particular with regard to the auto iris, for example? Anything else which is implicit in the starting mode and not directly controlled by the menu?

Thanks,
Martin.

Since these presets affect Color Temp values you might simply want to choose each one, in turn, and see what variables have changed. I've seen that the major changes are in the R/G/B values individually and overall Color, along with the Lens Iris and Lamp Iris. I've not ventured into the service menu, so I don't know how these are impacted. Assuming you have some tools to do more advanced calibration (Spyder or Eye-One probe) and good source material, you can pretty much start anywhere and work your way towards a solid result. The issues I have with all of the controls is the very lack of information on what they affect and how they all interact with another.

If anyone has info on the Color Lists and relationship between Color Temp and Gamma control I know I'd appreciate it.

Coderguy,

finally I got around to play with my computer input on the Z5 through the second HDMI input.

I got an ATI 1650pro AGP card, running under XP Pro and used an DVI/HDMI adapter to link to the Z5. After setting the desktop to 1280 x 720 with the ATI control panel everything looked just peachy to me.

There was no distortion of fonts or graphics at all. The sharpness of the Z5 is just brutal...written text looks as well or rather better than on my DELL 21" monitor.
Pictures looked just fine.

I noticed that I have the same menu for HDMI 2 as for HDMI 1, does that mean that I have again 4 user settings available for this input? The SANYO manual is not clear about this.

The quality of computer graphics over HDMI is incredible on the Z5 and the possibilities to tweak the signal in the ATI control panel are endless, e.g. gamma values, scaling, RGB values, overscan, screen position etc.

Great fun, too bad I gotta work tomorrow...

@artinhawaii & Coderguy
I am very curious to know what the outcome of the whole sharpness issue through vga is, since the results on using pc sources are a bit confusing now. I plan to buy a Z5 and to use it with pc inputs only but got a bit concerned after reading about the VGA sharpness thing. Coderguy, did you use a shielded cable by any chance? was it a very long VGA cable?
Darn it, after some extensive research I had finally settled mind on the Z5 over the Epson 810 / TW700 (The low noise seems very appealing to me but now I'm once again not so sure anymore. I'll be grateful for anyone else willing to share his experiences with me on the Z5 and vga.

Do you turn off the main switch on the back each time or only the off button on top?

Wow, great thread. Thanks to all for the good tips...

I received, installed and did a quick GetGray calibration on my Z5 last night and what an improvement over My Panny 900. It's so much sharper, clearer and cleaner. The blacks have so much more detail compared to the 900 and the image is punchier. The Panny was my first PJ so I was initally wowed by it but over time I begun to notice that the the images in the middle ground and back ground were always somewhat dirty looking and out of focus. It didn't look right. So I began researching AVS for a cure. The cure was the Z5 but SDE was a problem, oh people could see it from 12" away. Well I was able to audition one a AVS'ers home and guess what- not true. I'm sitting 12' from a 92" screen and the images look great. SDE effect comes in for me at about 7' for me so not an issue what so ever. Yup, the reds look a bit orangey but I can live with this until I have some time to tweak it out.

Anyway, I have a question for all of the Z5 owners. How does your Color Uniformity look. Good, acceptable, bad? It's more noticable on my Z5 than my Panny. I'm getting notable magenta casting on the right side and a little bit of cyan on the left side. Your comments about this and any cures for this are appreciated.

After starting with "Natural" and calibrating my sources, I don't have orangy reds. The colours look perfect to my eye. Perhaps that "Color" option in the menu (where you choose a number starting from 0) is the culprit?

Anyhow, I did notice a colour uniformity issue with a 50 IRE grey from Avia, but frankly, for this price, I'm not going to worry about it. It's only visible on test patterns.

Martin.

Anybody had any issues with the vertical shift vertically shifting on it's own, when you aren't using the projector? Twice now, I've turned it on to have it misaligned with the screen. In both cases, it dropped an inch or two. The lock switch didn't seem to help.

Martin.

@artinhawaii & Coderguy
I am very curious to know what the outcome of the whole sharpness issue through vga is

Never really figured out what the issue with PC sharpness was, it was most noticeable with small text in Windows. As previously stated, I tried 3 different computers with different video cards, and tried VGA and HDMI (the cables were high quality). For video games it was fine. I played "Call of Juarez" (Fantastic game btw), and it looked good.

I actually went back to gaming mostly on my PC for now (not sure why, maybe convenience).

I have 500 hours or so on the projector now, so far so good. FYI to the guy with the whining problem, I had this problem for 4 hours and then it went way. I was scared but having been dealing with electronics for so many years, I know those whining sounds from fans and what not often work themselves out, sometimes it is just a bearing that goo'd up a bit.

FYI to the guy asking about SD-TV on the Z5, SD-TV is actually pretty decent on Digital Cable. But, my Digital Cable is very clean (really many channels are DVD quality). For instance, the On-Demand SD-Quality stuff is very close and rivals DVD quality.

I have the same conclusion as before, picture sharpness and quality is HIGHLY dependant on the source cinematography and camera qualities used in the recording. I've seen some HD stuff look not much better than DVD quality. There seems to be a HUGE range of HD quality variation in TV shows and lower budget films. In high-budget films on HD channels, the quality is always very high and about the same. Some good quality TV episodes are like CSI: Miami (very high quality cameras used), but some of the HD stuff on Discovery channel looks wrong, whereas other Discovery channel HD stuff looks perfect. Go figure...

Not much else to say, just thought I'd give some updates after using the Z5 for 500 hours now. My next projector will probably be a different brand, since everyone's experience with the Z5 warranty is basically SOL.

--Coderguy

Anybody had any issues with the vertical shift vertically shifting on it's own, when you aren't using the projector? Twice now, I've turned it on to have it misaligned with the screen. In both cases, it dropped an inch or two. The lock switch didn't seem to help.

Martin.

I think I had this problem. Is it sitting on a shelf or ceiling mounted? Mine is sitting on a shelf and it happened a couple times. It seems to happen when you have the vertical shift knob in the middle (off) and it moves slightly, otherwise it might be the feet stands on the bottom of the projector turning a little tiny bit. I don't remember what my issue was, other than it was one of those 2.

It hasn't happened again, so maybe it just needed some time to "settle" in, kind of like a house foundation settling. Give it some time, just correct it when it happens.

It is ceiling mounted. I suspected the vertical shift knob being in the middle after my last adjustment, so I made sure to set it up such that I raised the image the last inch or two, and then left the knob were it "landed". So far, no more drops. Fingers crossed.

I just want to say that this projector is blowing me away. The colours are great (properly Avia calibrated), the greyscale and shadow detail is wonderful (even with the excessive built in gamma), and it's quiet (even when it heats up and runs the fans at full speed). What an improvement over the Infocus 4805!

Martin.

Got my screen up yesterday... looks great...

Now to try some of the suggestions in here...

Methinks the lack of communication on this thread means you guys are enjoying your projectors... not spending time talking about them... :)

Hi everybody. I read on projector central that the Z5 had a lens shift of 150% up and down, but I'm not exactly sure how to interpret that. Can the Z5 put the top edge of the image below the lens without tilting? I need the top edge about 1.5 feet below the lens in my current setup. FYI the proj will be 7.5' high and 12' back from the screen. Thanks!

Arrie

It does 100% vertical and 50% horizontal so i think the answer to your question is yes it can.

Think you'll be fine. The top of my screen is 9-10 inches below the level of the my Z5's lens- and I've got much more shift left- with no tilt used.

I just ordered my Z5, and I know this is in the wrong thread, but it is a valid question...

Is the scaler in the Z5 just as good as getting an Oppo 981? I don't want to waste money on an upscaling DVD player as the format war will probably be over in the next 2-3years. I can feed it a 480p signal, and the Z5 will upscale it to its native 720p...but will it look as good as an Oppo 981?

Thanks guys.

-Robb.

Howdy. A completely unscientific comparison of 480i (and 480p) from my Oppo 970 with the PLV-ZV upscaling versus 720P from the Oppo with no scaling in the projector suggests to me that the DVD player has a better scaler.

Cheers

I have the 981 and the Z5... Much better running 720p from the oppo... GEt it....

Look and see if they have any refurbs... I got mine for $170 or so... Superbit Spiderman looks close to HD with the oppo doing the heavy lifting

Hey deathindustrial and Basement Dude, do either of you have the XBOX-360 Add-on and have you used it for upconverting SD-DVD's. I'm tryin to decide if
I should get the Oppo 981 or stick with the 360 add-on for my SD-DVD's. Do you
know which one throws a nicer image. Thanks

I don't know... but HD-DVD sounds like fun.... try asking in the 981 thread in the dvd section and see if anyone has compared both...

I don't know... but HD-DVD sounds like fun.... try asking in the 981 thread in the dvd section and see if anyone has compared both...

HD-DVD is not only fun it's a blast. Batman Begins on HD via the XA2 is stunning, really. I sat almost in disbelief last night watching this flick.

The upconversion is so much better on the XA2 compared to the S97 and 971 also. Watching Gladiator was like watching a different movie altogether. If you can come up with the extra cash I wouldn't bother with the Oppo's. I just sold my 971 & S97. The upscaling on the XA2 is in another league.

I used the calibrated settings posted early in this thread and I'm loving it! I haven't gotten the avia disk yet, but it looks pretty dang good.

I'm using a 92 inch fneasy 06 screen with 1x pearl poly topcoat. Took a day to build, including velvet trim... It looks like a $500 screen, and I think I'm getting the most out of this z5...

I can't see screen door until I'm about 4 feet from the screen.... I can't believe I was worried about it... I'm sure glad I didn't spend the extra cash on the panny 100u...

Looks like I can put that money into a nice leather couch instead... ;)

Again, is anyone using an oppo 981 with their z5? What settings do you have the oppo on?

Here's what I did: started with the "Natural" mode. Turned on one of the auto iris modes, set the other iris to -45 Did black and white levels (brightness and contrast) with Avia. I then checked all three color patterns in Avia using the filters, and I'll be damned if it wasn't almost perfect as is. Honestly, it only took a notch or two of color and tint on the basic menu to get the bars as perfect as I've ever seen. I then re-did white and black level, and re-did the colour bars.

Whats with leaving on auto Iris and -45 on the other iris? what does this do?

I am probably asking questions too early as my projector isn't arriving until monday...and I have already gone through all 8 pages of this thread at least 3 times... :D

Man, I really can't wait to get this projector, I am currently using a BenQ from 2004 (borrowed from a friend) that is a business projector. It was awesome at first, but then the pixelation really got to me (its only a SD projector, 4:3 ratio).

Maaaan I am really looking forward to this!

I can't see screen door until I'm about 4 feet from the screen.... I can't believe I was worried about it... I'm sure glad I didn't spend the extra cash on the panny 100u...

Man is this a relief!!! I was actually temporarily considering getting the Epson home cinema 1080p projector. I am now confident that I made the right decision, and that I won't see any pixelation.

hey anyone's got the z5 service manual by any chance ?

I got the z1/z2/z3/z4 service manuals if you need

thanks,

Anyone using a gray screen? What are your calibration settings?

Anyone using a gray screen? What are your calibration settings?

Using a Firehawk myself. Does that qualify? 100" diag. Fairly short throw (about 10 feet), so I'm getting quite a bit of light. And I run it in a light controlled room, but the ceiling and walls are white (so I guess I'm liable to bounce the bright stuff around). And I've only about 250 hours on the lamp.

Here goes:

Created under one of my User settings

Brightness - 0
Contrast - 0
Color - +3
Tint - +1
Temp - Low 2
Red - +12
Green - 0
Blue - -5
Sharpness - 0
Lamp - lowest setting
Gamma - 0
Iris - -30
Lamp Iris - auto1
AutoBlackStretch, Contrast Enhance, and Transient - all off
ColorList - 0
Dynamic Gamma - Auto1
Gain: R +1 G 0 B -2
Offset R -2 G 0 B +5
Gamma R 0 G 0 B 0

Hope that helps......

sjschaff,
What factory setting do you start with?

Guys, what overscan setting do you use? I am not entirely sure what is it all about. Mine came set at +10 out of the box. I use the Z5 for DVDs, Blurays and sattelite. Should they all have different overscan setting?

Guys, what overscan setting do you use? I am not entirely sure what is it all about. Mine came set at +10 out of the box. I use the Z5 for DVDs, Blurays and sattelite. Should they all have different overscan setting?Absolutely set Overscan to 0! You loose 1:1 pixel mapping on 720 inputs it you do not and that degrades resolution. If you need/want overscan, then use the zoom lens.

SJSchaff,

I'll try those settings, thanks!

Absolutely set Overscan to 0! You loose 1:1 pixel mapping on 720 inputs it you do not and that degrades resolution. If you need/want overscan, then use the zoom lens.

Dave, when I set the overscan to 0 I sometimes get gray bars on top or on the side of the image. Is that normal. I have a 105" PROJECTA 16:9 screen and the Z5 is ceiling mounted.

Dave, when I set the overscan to 0 I sometimes get gray bars on top or on the side of the image. Is that normal. I have a 105" PROJECTA 16:9 screen and the Z5 is ceiling mounted.That would be an issue with your signal source.

Right now with DirecTV HD and dvd's via my Oppo 981 ... the Creative Cinema setting is doing very nicely...

I got hosed on EBay with my AVIA disk, so I think I'll try some of y'alls settings...

I will set my Overscan to 0 as well, and see how it looks...

So, what is its purpose, if it's not good for using...?

I will set my Overscan to 0 as well, and see how it looks...

So, what is its purpose, if it's not good for using...?It really shows up with 720p test patterns from a signal generator (Accupel, in my case). ANY setting other than 0 will cause the projector not to resolve the patterns. With real images, this will mean a slight softening of the image (might not show up much on upconverted DVDs.

The reason for including it is:
1) People expect it. :rolleyes:
2) If you really can't get rid of artifacts on the edges, and the black borders around your screen aren't dark enough to mask off those artifacts (or you are bothered by those artifacts still being visible on the sides).

Why the default is at the max (+10) is another, very good question
. . (or why they don't have separate "blanking" controls too).

PS: Another little item: If using HDMI/DVI, make sure the HDMI setting is at L2. The default, L1 does not pass blacker than black signals - so you can't use test patterns to set proper black levels. Again, I don't know why the default here is L1.

sjschaff,
What factory setting do you start with?

I think I started with Creative. My SpyderTV Pro software did its readings and got me to go with a Temp of Low2 and that started me down the road to making the necessary gray scale changes, and then color changes.

It really shows up with 720p test patterns from a signal generator (Accupel, in my case). ANY setting other than 0 will cause the projector not to resolve the patterns. With real images, this will mean a slight softening of the image (might not show up much on upconverted DVDs.

The reason for including it is:
1) People expect it. :rolleyes:
2) If you really can't get rid of artifacts on the edges, and the black borders around your screen aren't dark enough to mask off those artifacts (or you are bothered by those artifacts still being visible on the sides).

Why the default is at the max (+10) is another, very good question
. . (or why they don't have separate "blanking" controls too).

PS: Another little item: If using HDMI/DVI, make sure the HDMI setting is at L2. The default, L1 does not pass blacker than black signals - so you can't use test patterns to set proper black levels. Again, I don't know why the default here is L1.

I think this is an area where Sanyo should have allowed for different overscans per one of the 4 saved settings. Where overscan really comes into play is for broadcasts. Some stations fail to clean up their signal, and expect that the display, which most CRT-based devices, to automatically mask off. I've found this to be true for my cable company's OTA channels, though not all.

So, unless you're willing to live with this, you short change your many other sources just to avoid seeing this irritating garbage at the edge of your images.

I've noticed in full white and grey picture that borders - especially down right is - somewhat red/pink. I don't remember seeing it for that long (maybe last 50-150 hours), lamp is about 300h. It might have been there from the beginning too.

Is this usually reason to send it for repairs? I've heard that lamp can too cause this, so it might not be faulty panels?

Sanyo's own settings can't help with this issue, but could they be used to show where the problem is (lamp or panels)?

Using a Firehawk myself. Does that qualify? 100" diag. Fairly short throw (about 10 feet), so I'm getting quite a bit of light. And I run it in a light controlled room, but the ceiling and walls are white (so I guess I'm liable to bounce the bright stuff around). And I've only about 250 hours on the lamp.

Here goes:

Created under one of my User settings

Brightness - 0
Contrast - 0
Color - +3
Tint - +1
Temp - Low 2
Red - +12
Green - 0
Blue - -5
Sharpness - 0
Lamp - lowest setting
Gamma - 0
Iris - -30
Lamp Iris - auto1
AutoBlackStretch, Contrast Enhance, and Transient - all off
ColorList - 0
Dynamic Gamma - Auto1
Gain: R +1 G 0 B -2
Offset R -2 G 0 B +5
Gamma R 0 G 0 B 0

Hope that helps......


sjschaff - Holy crap! I tried your settings, and my Z5 has never looked better! Thanks a bunch, dude!!!!

Me too...

Looks like a winner!

It actually doesn't look a lot different than creative cinema, just a little more natural...

I'm loving this projector...

Heroes on NBC in Hd looked pretty sweet, and so did baseball on ESPN... Just like I imagined HD should look...

Too bad TNT basketball looks pixelated... their signal is not very good...

Those settings look similar to mine. Of course, brightness, contrast, color, tint, gain and offset are going to vary from projector/source/install to projector/source/install. But all the other settings match mine + a decent Avia setup for each source.

Just to make it clear: in the same room, under the same lighting conditions, with the same projector (obviously), every single source I have requires different brightness, contrast, color, and tint settings to get the most accurate picture I can achieve.

The other settings, sure, copy those. I say that because they're the settings I like, and they're really things you can't calibrate yourself anyway. Low2 is the closest to 6500k, supposedly. It certainly give me the best looking secondaries.

Just blindly copying settings might get you a picture you like more, but it won't necessarily get you a more accurate picture. If you don't care about accuracy, then it's all good. But if you do, then do yourself a favour and calibrate with a proper disc like Avia so you can forget about calibration and move on to just enjoying your projector.

Cheers,
Creosote.

I am using my Z5 on my 240" outdoor screen and it looks awesome! I use creative cinema but will try your setting this weekend... :)

Oh, and colorlist 0 I suspect give a fairly accurate colour decoding. So use that. :)

Creosote.

I got hosed on ebay with my avia... I'm gong to wait until I get my money back... until then, this looks really good...

I don't trust ebay! Seriosuly... It is hit or miss...

I should be receiving my Z5 today and although I don`t plan on doing any real calibration on it until at least 100 hrs. is on the lamp.

I pre-ordered the new AVIA II disc but it may be a month or more until the HD version is shipped.

I know you can save 4 pre-sets with the Z5 so I was hoping someone could relay some decent settings to get me going with until the AVIA II gets here.

I have a DW 354-60 120" diag. screen with a 19`FT. throw in a light-controlled room. Seems like most of the previous settings mentioned in this tweak thread were used viewing a grey screen which I`m assuming would make a difference.

I realize all folks variables are not the same.

For now I will be using an Oppo 981 until I receive a Tosh XA2 thats on back order from Amazon.

The Z5 will be mounted on a wet-bar centered horizontally & vertically virtually dead-on.


Thanks for any replys ! ;)