Optoma HD81-LV Discussion/Reviews

[Jeff Regan]

This is the place to discuss the new Optoma HD81-LV DLP projector. The HD81-LV is
the "Large Venue" version of the two-piece HD81 1080p DLP projector.

First internet reviews:

http://www.projectorreviews.com/optoma/hd81-lv/index.php

http://reviews.cnet.com/4505-7858_7-32469806.html

My observations:

I upgraded to this projector after having 3 HD81's since October of 2006. The HD81-LV has the same outboard Gennum processor and projector chassis, same 300W bulb, same lens and 1.2X zoom ratio.
It features a RGBCYM 6 segment color wheel. The HD81 is capable of very good images, but suffers from inflexible installation, auto iris that is useless, on/off CR of no more than 2000:1 and poor full field blacks. Lumens on the HD81 after setting for D65 are in the 600 range in brightest modes. Very good resolution, connectivity, and colorimetry sum up the HD81, as well as being a good choice for anamorphic setups with features such as Auto235. The biggest concern is the amount of owners who have had reliability issues, needing to replace their projectors sometimes multiple times in less than a
year of use.

The HD81-LV appears to have several enhancements over the HD81:

Rated at 2500 lumens, great projector for large screen setups, especially at the price.(Real lumens in brightest mode likely to be around 1000 after D65 calibration.)

UPDATE: My ISF tech measured a D65 calibrated 28 footlamberts on my Stewart 130 1.3 gain 100" wide screen with the projector at low lamp and iris closed down to 14--this is very different than the 9 footlamberts that CNET measured in their review.

Improved contrast and full field blacks--still not at the JVC RS-1 or Sharp 20K level.

Brilliant Color by TI which adds brightness to chroma and luminance, but also skews colorimetry. Big impact on brightness and CR.

Auto Gamma.

A little quieter in low lamp mode.

Warranty improved to 3 year hot swap on projector, 1 year on bulb.


Continued Flaws from HD81:

Auto Iris still unuseable due to being slow and obvious mid-scene iris changes.

Film Mode 48Hz still not enabled when in LBX or Auto235 modes(anamorphic).

Most HDMI Video sources have to be set at DVI-PC vs. DVI-Video.

Source changing is slow.

Circular light halo around the outside of the image.

Out of box set up not as accurate as HD81's, image is plus green uncalibrated.
After D65 calibration, lumens are lower, more like an uncalibrated HD81 and brighter
than a JVC RS-1 or Sharp 20K.

New Issue--Colorimetry is skewed to the plus red/magenta side in Brilliant Color mode.
Reds look maroon and crushed. With Hue set properly for color bars, flesh looks too
red, I need to change Hue to +7.(Brilliant Color mode, non-calibrated projector)
After D65 calibration of projector with Brilliant Color off, turning it on makes it plus green.

Still no sign of downloadable firmware, promised a year ago on HD81, which
went through at least 4 firmware versions in as many months after release.
The lower cost HD80 is supported by net downloads of firmware from Optoma.

Reliability still suspect, another HD81-LV owner already had a failure at 30 hours.
Reports of heat related shutdowns in low lamp mode, same as HD81.

Update-New Issues: Momentary black screens when using component sources
at 1080i. This happens to my LV when using PS2 at 1080i.

Vertical lines reported by a few owners out of the box, sometimes
at left, sometimes at right, sometimes center. Gets progressively
worse.

Projector shutdown on me when pausing PS3 Gran Turismo 4 game.

Please feel free to post reviews, opinions and questions about the HD81-LV on
this thread.

[pudljmpr]

Jeff

I cant decide if I regret not reading this forum before I purchased this projector or not.

Thanks for your recent help.

Im sure I will have some more questions for the forum shortly.

Also thanks for starting this thread.

Ira

[Dan@SI]

Well, this morning I placed an order for the HD81-LV. I have a question about the RS232 cable from the processor to the projector. Is this required regardless of whether one intends to control from a PC via RS232? In other words, if I intend to exercise all controls via a IR/RF remote control to the processor, do I still need the RS232 DB9 cable to get commands from the processor to the projector? My projector is about 45 cable feet from where the processor will be located so I will need to order a cable if it is required for all installations. If it is needed, is the cable M/M, M/F, or F/F; I can't figure it out from the pics but it looks like F/F.

Thank you!

[jmorris644]

If this is similar to the HD81, which I assume it is then yes, you absolutely need the serial cable.

What many of us did was purchase a serial straight through extension cable with M/F. We then plugged thsi into the serial cable that came with the projector so that the pins and orientation were correct.

Joe

[Dan@SI]

Joe,

Thanks for the response. It appears to me that the HD81 and HD81-LV are the same except for some lumen magic.

OK, so the included cable really is F/F and the jacks on both units really are male. So, that would make your M/F cable work just fine as an extension. Great idea; I was having trouble finding a 50' F/F cable.

I'm off to order it now. I'm sure not looking forward to pulling that cable thru the attic in this August heat.

Thanks!

[pudljmpr]

Couldnt you also use a cat 55 or 6 cable with RJ45 to DB9 converter on the ends if you wanted to?
Most of the time cat 5 cables are easier to run to the projector

[whiteintheireye]

I have just ordered mine and it should be here in a couple of days or so. Thank you Art Neill and Jeff Regan for your advice on the 81 thread. I will be removing my ceiling light/fan to accommodate the 36% vertical shift.

Look forward to enjoying the lumens -:)

[dseliger]

I did this and it worked great! There is a pinout on the HD81 thread that you can use on the adapter.

Couldnt you also use a cat 55 or 6 cable with RJ45 to DB9 converter on the ends if you wanted to?
Most of the time cat 5 cables are easier to run to the projector

[MrHifi]

I'm still not convinced that in our small venue environments, "brilliant color" offers any benefit. When I use it, it ruins skin tones and on the bright portions of the screen it washes out detail. Perhaps outside in a sunlit environment, it might improve the picture but in our small theaters, the results are quite negative. Some discussion of settings is appropriate I believe.

I keep my IRIS at 16 unless it is bright outside and light filters in through my drapes and windows in other rooms. This light provides conditions in which you would want to turn on auxiliary lighting if you were going to read magazine print but yet is bright enough that for finding a remote on a table, you would not need a light. Under these conditions I select 8 for my IRIS. On the first setup screen I find leaving everything at 0 except for sharpness works well and produces natural colors. The Advanced settings require Auto Gamma to be on, Edge Enhancement to be at 1, and Color Vividness at 1,2 or 3 depending on the source material. I can not use any Pedestal Setting other than 0 IRE/PC Video or it looses detail in the black area. Sometimes blacks are too bright at these settings in which cases I reduce brightness 5 units to -5. These values do not meet the test requirements of AVIA or Video Essentials. Why....I don't know.

I do know that at these settings, my wife and I can watch for hours with no fatigue or eye strain.. PBS material looks superb as do BluRay movies.

[whiteintheireye]

My unit should be arriving fedex tomorrow (according to their web site anyway). Looking forward to hooking up and seeing how it performs.

Anything special during set up that I should watch out for? All my sources will be HDMI hookups, including the receiver....

Also, I do plan on having a professional calibration done. What has your experience been with the regular 81 of break in time prior to ISF? Thanks.

[Jeff Regan]

Anything special during set up that I should watch out for? All my sources will be HDMI hookups, including the receiver....

Also, I do plan on having a professional calibration done. What has your experience been with the regular 81 of break in time prior to ISF? Thanks.

You will need to loop thru the receiver and back to the processor. For D65
calibration, you should wait until you have at least 80-100 hours on the projector.

[Jeff Regan]

I'm still not convinced that in our small venue environments, "brilliant color" offers any benefit. When I use it, it ruins skin tones and on the bright portions of the screen it washes out detail. Perhaps outside in a sunlit environment, it might improve the picture but in our small theaters, the results are quite negative. Some discussion of settings is appropriate I believe.

I can not use any Pedestal Setting other than 0 IRE/PC Video or it looses detail in the black area. Sometimes blacks are too bright at these settings in which cases I reduce brightness 5 units to -5. These values do not meet the test requirements of AVIA or Video Essentials. Why....I don't know.


Art,

Brilliant Color opens up a can of worms, but I'm still finding it a bit seductive
for now. I'm just enjoying the extra CR and punch. I think that once my ISF
guy comes out he will talk me out of using it.

The other day I changed my Dish VIP 622 HD DVR to DVI-Video from DVI-PC,
which all of my HDMI sources are set to. I don't know what changed, although Dish did send new software to the receiver recently. But to properly see a pluge pattern, I need to go to +5 on brightness instead of the usual
0, so it sounds like we are getting to the same place via different roads.

[whiteintheireye]

You will need to loop thru the receiver and back to the processor. For D65
calibration, you should wait until you have at least 80-100 hours on the projector.

Thanks Jeff.

I note "Most HDMI Video sources have to be set at DVI-PC vs. DVI-Video". Can someone elaborate what this references?

As mentioned before, I will have ax2, cable box, receiver all feeding via hdmi so I assume this applies to me, but not sure what it is referencing? Are we talking about setting the output at the source or on the input side. Thanks again

[inky blacks]

From what I gather from specs and reviews, the InFocus N82 may be brighter than the Optoma once the projector is calibrated. Out of the box, InFocus projectors are bright and well balanced. The Optoma rating of 2,500 lumens seems like a hoax to me. Both of them need a shorter throw lens option.

IB

[Jeff Regan]

Thanks Jeff.

I note "Most HDMI Video sources have to be set at DVI-PC vs. DVI-Video". Can someone elaborate what this references?

As mentioned before, I will have ax2, cable box, receiver all feeding via hdmi so I assume this applies to me, but not sure what it is referencing? Are we talking about setting the output at the source or on the input side. Thanks again

This would be digital input level at the Optoma processor.

[Jeff Regan]

From what I gather from specs and reviews, the InFocus N82 may be brighter than the Optoma once the projector is calibrated. Out of the box, InFocus projectors are bright and well balanced. The Optoma rating of 2,500 lumens seems like a hoax to me. Both of them need a shorter throw lens option.

IB

I would expect a D65 calibrated HD81-LV to be at the 1000 + lumens range. We
should know soon as Projector Reviews has an LV currently for review. I will
also have numbers when my LV get ISF'ed soon. What is clear to me is that
an LV will light up a screen that is 150"-170" wide without needing a high power
screen. It will be interesting to see the real lumens and CR for this projector.

Optoma does offer a .8X wide angle adaptor for short throw applications for
the EP910, which looks to be the same projector chassis and lens as the HD8X
series. This would make a 1.8X throw a 1.4X instead. I saw it on the Optoma
Canada site. Might be worth looking into.

[dseliger]

Hopefully my LV will be here this week!!

I'm assuming they didnt add Rack Mount ears in the kit for the processor did they?

I've already purchased the Middle Atlantic kit but would be nice if they had and ear option, i would guess that a good number of people that spend this kind of money on a projector are using a rackmount system for their components.

[MrHifi]

dseliger,

This kind of money is pretty low when you compare it to the cost of a cheap CRT system 10 years ago. I paid over $17K twice to bu DWIN stuff that was considered bottom of the barrel.

[dseliger]

heh i didnt mean it to come out like that, i just meant $5k+ is a lot for a projector (for me anyways) and with a projector like this comes several other $1k+ components that are all rack mountable (in my case anyways)...just would be nice to have the option in the box.

Didnt mean it to come out like it must have, i've already bought the MA kit and it works great.

[Jeff Regan]

heh i didnt mean it to come out like that, i just meant $5k+ is a lot for a projector (for me anyways) and with a projector like this comes several other $1k+ components that are all rack mountable (in my case anyways)...just would be nice to have the option in the box.

Didnt mean it to come out like it must have, i've already bought the MA kit and it works great.

I wanted rack mount ears as well because my whole system is in a 6' tall 19"
rack, but now that I know how hot the VXP gets, I'm happy I didn't mount it
with anything directly above or below. With rack mount ears, you'd still want
to put vertical spacing between it and other components--same with my HD
DVR's, they get very hot.

[jmorris644]

I wanted rack mount ears as well because my whole system is in a 6' tall 19"
rack, but now that I know how hot the VXP gets, I'm happy I didn't mount it
with anything directly above or below. With rack mount ears, you'd still want
to put vertical spacing between it and other components--same with my HD
DVR's, they get very hot.

I agree. I put the VXD on a shelf and then put a 2U spacer above it. I also had to do the same with the Motorola HD PVR that I got from comcast. It was overheating and failing.

Joe

[dseliger]

Good point, i actually do have like 2U above it up to my Anthem D2 (but i dont think it gets really hot) my Dish 622 is about 2U below it and i know it gets toasty.

But yes, good point...i'll stop complaining now :)



I wanted rack mount ears as well because my whole system is in a 6' tall 19"
rack, but now that I know how hot the VXP gets, I'm happy I didn't mount it
with anything directly above or below. With rack mount ears, you'd still want
to put vertical spacing between it and other components--same with my HD
DVR's, they get very hot.

[MrHifi]

So guys, tell me about these racks you use for equipment. I use a walnut horizontal 6' piece and stack everything. Getting to the mile or more of wire behind that cabinet requires my small wife. I have been looking for a rack on rollerss that I could spin around to wire. I have 24 pieces of gear to place so I might need two 6' racks. I would place the amps near the top so I could access the necessary equipment from a seated position.

[dseliger]

http://www.middleatlantic.com/enclosure/roll/axsm.htm

Thats the one im using, its super nice and i can manage all the cable slack inside behind the rack and just have enough there so the rack can slide out.

The rack is on rollers and you buy tracks that you screw on the front when you need to roll it out and spin it to work on stuff. Its pretty slick and loots great!

It tucks in the hole really nice and neat, i'll take some shots of mine so you can get a better idea.

You do need ventalation inside the hole though it gets toasty in there, when i built my theater room i landed a return air duct inside there and it does a great job of keeping the hot out. (just turn on the AC fan when im watching movies). We did a Starwars marathon (all of the movies straight through) and nothing overheated. They do have a fan kit that mounts right on the top if you need it though.

Here is a link to their custom shelves for your components that dont come rack-mountable.

http://repnet.middleatlantic.com/RSH/mainRSH.asp

[Craig Peer]

So guys, tell me about these racks you use for equipment.

I've been using the Studiotech Ultra U 48 racks - they are excellent .

http://www.studiotech.com/products/component_cabinets/index.html

[MrHifi]

Thnks dseliger and Graig. I am looking at them now.

Also, I ran my LV last night for 3 hours on normal fan and low brightness. No BLUE SCREEN. Yay.

[jmorris644]

So guys, tell me about these racks you use for equipment. I use a walnut horizontal 6' piece and stack everything. Getting to the mile or more of wire behind that cabinet requires my small wife. I have been looking for a rack on rollerss that I could spin around to wire. I have 24 pieces of gear to place so I might need two 6' racks. I would place the amps near the top so I could access the necessary equipment from a seated position.

Art,

I took a wall that was adjascent to a closet and built the rack into it. All I purchased was the two rails and the shelving and spacers that I wanted.

So I built the frame in the wall with 2x4s and then lined the inside with nice 1x6 cherry boards. I then screwed the rails to these cherry boards. I then put cherry cabinet doors on the front of it all so it looks more like nice cabinetry rather than a rack of equipment.

The nice thing about the closet it that it is 4x8 and provides more than enough space for cooling purposes.

Take a look at my theater build. I am pretty shure that I have pictures of it there.

Joe

[guitarman]

My unit should be arriving fedex tomorrow (according to their web site anyway). Looking forward to hooking up and seeing how it performs.

Anything special during set up that I should watch out for? All my sources will be HDMI hookups, including the receiver....

Also, I do plan on having a professional calibration done. What has your experience been with the regular 81 of break in time prior to ISF? Thanks.

You got the PJ on the 21st, don't desert us now, how does it look?

[Jeff Regan]

Projector Reviews is supposed to have their HD81-LV review up before September 1st. I will be having my LV ISF'd on September 4th by an
ISF tech who was trained by Joe Kane. I wanted to wait until the
projector had 80 hours on it, which it now has.

I am still being seduced by Brilliant Color, but am pretty sure that it is
partly the cause of the wine colored reds. We'll see what my new ISF
tech has to say about it.

[MrHifi]

It does push it into blue/red area Jeff.. I do not find it improves my picture at all. I do not use it. I believe it would help in a large outside environment.

[guitarman]

The budget model 1080p that I have has brilliant color and things look pretty natural on it. There's no control for brilliant color at all, just the True Vivid thing.

[Jeff Regan]

The first review I've seen of the HD81-LV is up at projectorreviews.com. Art
had previously reviewed the HD81 and owns a JVC RS-1.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/optoma/hd81-lv/index.php

Some highlights:

Brightest under $10K projector by far that he has reviewed. 2900 lumens in max. settings!

Twice as bright after gray scale correction as JVC RS-1 in best movie modes.
(1474 lumens in high brightness, iris off, low power 1061 lumens)

Very good black levels and shadow detail.

Poor out of the box color accuracy, but easy to correct.

The Panamorph sourced anamorphic lens is also reviewed.

Art said the next projector he buys to replace his JVC RS-1 might be an HD81-LV.

[Jeff Regan]

Some observations about the review:

I predicted weeks ago that lumens in low power movie settings would be
around 1000 and I was correct, according to Art's measurments.

He complained of green flesh tones out of the box. This is not the case
with Brilliant Color turned on--it is too red/magenta. With Brilliant Color
off, the colorimetry does look cold to plus green uncalibrated.

I wish he would have said more about Brilliant Color by TI. It seems like the
purpose of the feature is to not saturate colors, but brighten them, although red seems to go in the other direction, losing luminance and also shifting towards magenta.

I also wish a contrast ratio spec had been provided which calibration software
such as ColorFacts offers.

No mention of 24p source handling in Film Mode 48Hz and the fact that it is not possible to use in LBX or Auto235 modes with anamorphic setups on 2:35 material.

Two of the HD81-LV menu pictures look to have come from an HD81. The first menu, "IMAGE", does not show a line item for Brilliant Color. The display menu shows, "HD81 C06 2006/10/03". Clearly from an HD81, not an LV, which shows firmware level D02 2007/03/xx on my projector.

Certainly a very favorable review and reflects what I think about the LV for
the most part. I hope Greg Rogers reviews this projector, but I doubt it. It
will be interesting to read the HD80 review on projectorreviews.com to see
how it compares to the HD81 and HD81-LV.

[MrHifi]

I enjoyed reading the review and like you Jeff find that it agrees with most of my observations. If you recall, I mentioned the poor "out of the box" setup when I first brought up this projector to all of you. I have not found a setting with which I am universally comfortable. I wind up tweaking every viewing.

[Jeff Regan]

Art,

Yes, you immediately said you weren't happy with out of the box performance,
unlike your last two HD81's, which you were happy with. When I received my
HD81-LV, Brilliant Color was turned on, so I wasn't aware of the cold/plus green
balance.

Regarding the other Art's review, I thought it interesting that he minimized the
effect of a low iris setting. I think we both agree that it pays dividends in CR
and full field blacks. With the LV and iris is very important because it's so bright of course, but I always ran my iris as low as I could with the HD81 to try to
extract better CR and blacks.

[MrHifi]

Hi Jeff,

I am so happy just to have a projector that is working reliably that everything else I consider gravy. Bu seriously, like you, I find myself using a setting of 15 or 16 after the sun goes down and my home is dark. I live in the country on 2 acres of heavily wooded acreage so when night comes, it gets very dark. My "light" comes from reflected screen light that bounces off the white textured ceiling. I also used to get some light reflecting off the two speaker towers that are 7 ft. tall on either side of the screen. I have minimized that by setting the black speaker grills up on the inside edges of the cabinets. This dampens that source of reflected light. Nevertheless, the 1.3 gain DaLite screen is just too bright and I have to temper it down normally. I love this picture. I van honestly say tat fo the first time, I have a video setup that I amm proud of. Anyone on the fence about a DLP can buy this one knowing that the picture will satisfy. Later Jeff...

[pudljmpr]

Hi All
I just purchased a HD81-LV with the anamorphic lens.
I need to get a screen, any recommendations?
I was also wondering if you guys have any idea if this projector will go 156" diagonal on a 2.35:1 screen?
I was looking at a Stewart screen with masking.
Does the projector need to be mounted above the top of the screen?

Any recommendations on a mount?
I saw in the HD81 thread that people were saying to go with a ball & socket mount.

From this thread I realize the processor must have good cooling.

Any other tips would be great, Im dying to get this finished so I can play with it.

[MrHifi]

I would buy a 1.0 screen. The closer you can get to a flat -non ribbed surface, the better the picture will be. I use a 1.3 gain DaLite Cinemavision screen because that is what I used with my CRT projector but I do not recommend it because of thesurface texture that you can see with a projector like this that is capable of so much detail. I have a gray screen but do not like what it does to the colors. Avoid Gray. Find a scren that is washable.

BTW, the VXD cooling is not that big a deal any more. Mine runs cool.

[TomHuffman]

In one of the more amusing examples of the variability of online reviews:

"During setup, I discovered the unfortunate truth that the HD81-LV is not capable of producing bright pictures if you want them to be accurate."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/29/optoma/index.html

"Bottom line: The HD81-LV has the horsepower for serious watching of TV, and even a movie (for those less critical) in family rooms with significant lights on, or even some daylight sneaking in. In a properly darkened room, the Optoma should handle screens 10 or even 12 feet across with no difficulty for normal movie watching."
http://www.projectorreviews.com/optoma/hd81-lv/imagequality.php

[lprager]

In one of the more amusing examples of the variability of online reviews:

"During setup, I discovered the unfortunate truth that the HD81-LV is not capable of producing bright pictures if you want them to be accurate."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/29/optoma/index.html

"Bottom line: The HD81-LV has the horsepower for serious watching of TV, and even a movie (for those less critical) in family rooms with significant lights on, or even some daylight sneaking in. In a properly darkened room, the Optoma should handle screens 10 or even 12 feet across with no difficulty for normal movie watching."
http://www.projectorreviews.com/optoma/hd81-lv/imagequality.php
I find that I do not agree with many of CNET's reviews on items that I have viewed or purchased. The CNN review is a reprint of a CNET review. I personally believe that they are not impartial. I do not have personal experience with projectorreviews reviews, except that they seem very thorough.

Does anyone have any feedback on good (inexpensive) places to purchase the HD81-LV?

[Jeff Regan]

In one of the more amusing examples of the variability of online reviews:

"During setup, I discovered the unfortunate truth that the HD81-LV is not capable of producing bright pictures if you want them to be accurate."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/29/optoma/index.html


Tom,

Thanks for the link, I have placed it at the beginning of this thread. Wow,
it's like two reviewers living in a parallel universe. This is why I'm having my
LV ISF'd in a few days by a tech who was recruited and trained by Joe Kane.

I'm hoping that the wine colored/crushed reds can be improved, but have a
feeling that this will not be possible, given the CMS limitations of the LV.

As far as lumens, I know my HD81 lost a fair amount of brightness when
D65 calibrated, but I have a difficult time believing that the LV won't be
able to light up a large screen after calibration. I will post all the numbers
my tech gets.

[TomHuffman]

I do not have personal experience with projectorreviews reviews, except that they seem very thorough.Yes, but they are also technically very shallow. For example, he defines color accuracy solely in terms of the user Color/Tint setting and gray scale tracking.

In this particular case, it could be that the color gamut of this PJ is only reasonably accurate when you substantially tamp down the brightness. If this is the case, projectorreviews wouldn't even comment on this.

[guitarman]

In the past Art might get Mike to come over with his progressive labs tuning equip. I don't know if art sprung for some equipment. You need a pro system and at least a good light meter. Then the specifics on how to apply them.
Noing the details on what was used is helpful to validate. Projector Central is the same way, what are they using? Imagination I hope not. :)
Maybe PC has Sencore, don't know.

[Jeff Regan]

In the past Art might get Mike to come over with his progressive labs tuning equip. I don't know if art sprung for some equipment. You need a pro system and at least a good light meter. Then the specifics on how to apply them.
Noing the details on what was used is helpful to validate. Projector Central is the same way, what are they using? Imagination I hope not. :)
Maybe PC has Sencore, don't know.

Art uses Avia Pro and a Optic One sensor for gray scale calibration. He always
says he is writing for the 95% of the audience that just wants to know if a
projector will work in their room, is it bright enough, how does it compare to
another model? Not us hardcore AVS Forum HT buffs.

[guitarman]

He needs a dedicated light meter not a color sensor to get the lumens right.

Which Art, I know Art/MrHifi uses the Optic one? Ok I got it he sprung for the Optic one.

[Jeff Regan]

Art Feierman, Projector Reviews. Don't know if he has a light meter, assume so.
I have a nice Sekonic digital light meter, but it only reads out in F-Stops or
T-Stops. Watched the HD DVD of "Hot Fuzz" tonight in 2:35:1 anamorphic.
Fantastic image quality, great contrast range, really awesome.

[MrHifi]

Hi guys,

What joy!!! I can even use the projector on low blower and normal brightness. My God I am in heaven!! I am aiting a bit longer to do some serious setup. To my eyes, it is moving towards green as the bulb ages. I am at 160 hours and love what I am seeing. Have any of you tried the values posted in the review? I will try tonight.

Getting someone in here to do what I 've always done bothers me. There is just too much variability in the source material. I find myself adjusting all over the place in order to get reasonable pictures. In the end though, after a few minutes of educated adjustment, I can achieve a superb result. While i agree that someone like myself can set up a projector to provide volor temperature uniformity within a few hundred degrees K for 80% of the IRE levels, I find that the DVD's and TV station broadcasts often lok bad with these settings. Jeff, I believe you said th same thing.

Hey Tom, is the Transcanner working for you? If you hear of someone who wants an HD500 and an LD5, I have both for $500.00. The tubes have less than 600 hours on them.

[Jeff Regan]

I am aiting a bit longer to do some serious setup. To my eyes, it is moving towards green as the bulb ages. I am at 160 hours and love what I am seeing. Have any of you tried the values posted in the review? I will try tonight.


Hi Art,

I'm still blown away by the CNET review that says the gray scale "goes into the toilet" when using larger screens. This doesn't make sense to me, unless he is saying that changing iris position affects color temp. or white shading drastically. That would imply some very poor optics, which is not the case
with the HD8x series.

So we have Projector Reviews settings and CNET's settings to try out. Last
night's HD DVD really left me with a sense that I couldn't come up with anything wrong with the image I was seeing. Really, the only thing that came to me was that it was a bit too bright with iris at 14!

[TomHuffman]

I'm still blown away by the CNET review that says the gray scale "goes into the toilet" when using larger screens. This doesn't make sense to me, unless he is saying that changing iris position affects color temp. or white shading drastically. That would imply some very poor optics, which is not the case with the HD8x series. I think what he meant was that the settings required to produce sufficient light output to adequately fill a large screen harms the gray scale. At least that's what he claims he saw.

[Jeff Regan]

Thanks Tom. That makes more sense. Does that imply not having enough
range in red and blue gains and bias to balance to a higher green(luminance) output?

[MrHifi]

Jeff,

We must be genetically linked at the eyeball. Like you, I find the whites almost too bright. If I ever buy a new screen, it will have unity gain. The whites tend to burn a hole in the back of my eyes. I am amazed at the coment that the projector only works with smaller screens. I think there is some anti Optoma crap going on. That is just plain wrong.

[jmorris644]

Hi guys,

What joy!!! I can even use the projector on low blower and normal brightness. My God I am in heaven!!

LOL, What have you done with the real Art? Is this the same guy from a year ago at about this same time?

After all of the crap you have been through over the last year it is absolutely fantastic to hear this.

Joe

[Jeff Regan]

Art,

Something to try to mitigate the crushed/maroon reds, go to Vivid Color, select USER and
change the hue of most of the red levels to around 8. This seems to have helped, just
like bringing overall hue up.

[TheHDMan]

Can someone please confirm that this projector "will" do 1080P/24. Over at projector central website it doesn't include it in the specs...:confused:

[Jeff Regan]

Yes, you must put the projector in Film Mode 48Hz at which point the 24 FPS is doubled.
It will not work when using vertical stretch(LBX, Auto 235) for 2:35:1 anamorphic display,
however.

[lprager]

Can anyone recommend a place to get this projector at a good price?

[Jeff Regan]

Jason at AV Science would be a choice. Why not check with our hosts?

[Jeff Regan]

I had my LV calibrated by an ISF tech today. The projector has lost a lot of
brightness compared to its uncalibrated output, but it still measured a whopping
28 footlamberts at D65, twice as much as a typical commercial movie theater.

I'm not sure why CNET was only able to get 9 footlamberts on their screen,
although they used a Grayhawk vs. my Studiotek 130.

Like my HD81, green gain had to be brought down, as did blue to compensate
for the lack of red gain to balance for D65. This affects lumens, as does turning
off Brilliant Color. The LV is still plenty bright, but not the eyeball searing monster it used to be when uncalibrated.

[dseliger]

Can anyone recommend a place to get this projector at a good price?

Yea talk to Jason @ AVS...I just ordered one from him and their price was good.

It seems to be back ordered at the moment though, nobody seems to have them in stock.

[dseliger]

Did it help with the magenta problem you mentioned in a previous thread?


I had my LV calibrated by an ISF tech today. The projector has lost a lot of
brightness compared to its uncalibrated output, but it still measured a whopping
28 footlamberts at D65, twice as much as a typical commercial movie theater.

I'm not sure why CNET was only able to get 9 footlamberts on their screen,
although they used a Grayhawk vs. my Studiotek 130.

Like my HD81, green gain had to be brought down, as did blue to compensate
for the lack of red gain to balance for D65. This affects lumens, as does turning
off Brilliant Color. The LV is still plenty bright, but not the eyeball searing monster it used to be when uncalibrated.

[Jeff Regan]

Yes, I'm happier with the reds now. The tech said the color decoder was very accurate.
Color bars look great, but more importantly, real life looks much better. I had found a way
to change the reds with going into the Vivid Color user settings, but don't think it's necessary now.

When I had my HD81 calibrated to D65, it not only lost a lot of lumens, like my LV today,
but it looked desaturated. Not this LV, it still looks very rich and saturated but with
color points more accurate and very neutral gray scale tracking. It's much warmer than
it had been, with better detail in the whites. I am happy with the look, even if it's not
nearly as bright as it was. It was really too bright before and not accurate.

[dseliger]

Sweet, i cant wait for mine to arrive.

I sold my HD81 because the LV's were shipping and now it seems the LV are a few weeks out.

It sucks being projectorless :(

[MrHifi]

Jeff,

But what does it look like now?
Every attempt I have made adjusting this thing to agree with my so called dreference, produced lousy pictures but excellent numbers. I am back to the following settings for user
Red Contrast: +14
Green Contrast: -2
BlueContrast: +2
Red Brightness: 0
Green Brightness: 0
Blue Brightness: 0

Color: +10

Everything else on that page is 0 except Sharpness which I keep at 5.

On the second page everything is at 0 except Color Vividness which is at 3 and Edge Enhancement at 1. I now have Auto Gamma at off.

I have a question: If you leave it on 24 fps, what happens if you are watching 30 fps material?

[Jeff Regan]

Art,

Here are the gain settings my tech used:

Green Contrast -12
Blue Contrast -10
Red Contrast 0
Green Brightness 0
Blue Brightness +2
Red Brightness 0

Color 0

There is very good saturation and I even backed color off
for my standard DVD player. Strangely, we had to leave
the SD DVD player in HDTV color space and he doesn't
want me to use Auto for color space on any source, so
everything is HDTV.

I'm not seeing luminance noise anymore now that the
projector isn't as bright.

He used a Tektronix HD waveform monitor to first check
sources for proper levels via component. He was impressed
by how much detail the LV resolved without any artifacts
from optics.

Like you, Art, I felt the LV was going plus green as my lamp
aged and I'm glad I waited until I got to around 115 hours
for calibration.

Auto gamma is off, as is Brilliant Color.

I need to spend more time with these settings, but I am
happy so far. It is definitely warmer overall.

As far as your question about 30p signals being fed when in Film Mode 48Hz,
I don't know since all of my sources are 60i until I get my Samsung combo player.

[MrHifi]

Jeff,

Your ratio of red to green is the same as mine. The blues could go +/- 5 without a major impact. Interesting, I think. Remember, I did mine with the CA-1 then tweaked it to arrive at what I typed in the last message. I find such variability that settings are almost meaningless. One setting that is relatively painless is the color temperature setting. The "standardized" settings using the CA-1 provided a picture that was too green. I tweaked things until the grayy looked gray on a stairstep gray scale setting pluge. With the 81 set on "warm" the top (light) bars look pink. On "Standard", they tend towards blue-green, on cool the whole thing is bluish. By using Contrast setting of 14, -2 and +2 for the R,G, and B and 0 for the others I get a perfect black and white stairstep. Try it and let me know please if fyou like it.

[lprager]

I did talk to Jason as suggested, but he got me a bit scared about Optoma reliability. I have certainly read that the Optomas break down a lot. For those who have owned them before, what are your observations? Also, does anyone have any experience as to how long projectors shipped under the express warrantee take to arrive?

[MrHifi]

Reliability? I've replaced 4 HD81's and 1 LV. Yes, I was upset but the important point is that Warren, the service manager, overnighted every one to me. I agree that Optoma has a problem but frankly, this HD81-LV produces the finest images I have seen anywhere and that includes theaters. I bought the first Kloss Novabeam CRT and owned dseveral others and set up almost 60 projectors since the late 70's. The 81-LV is the cat's meow.

[MCBRacer]

I did talk to Jason as suggested, but he got me a bit scared about Optoma reliability. I have certainly read that the Optomas break down a lot. For those who have owned them before, what are your observations? Also, does anyone have any experience as to how long projectors shipped under the express warrantee take to arrive?

I'm very happy with my HD81 but I am 'upgrading' to the LV simply because it seems this model has overcome the only problem I have really had ... overheating, leading to blue screen. Even with an amazing cooling system (within the hush box), devised by my mega installer, I still have to run the PJ on High Altitude mode (and therefore higher fan noise), unless I keep the room temp. at almost refrigerator levels! I understand that the latest, standard, HD81's have also been sorted in this regard, but reports from Jeff Regan and MrHiFi (Art) regarding that extra bit of brightness, slightly better blacks, etc, etc, on the LV version, have convinced me to take to the upgrade path. Having said that, I'm going to Cedia tomorrow and who knows what I'll come across!

[ls1115]

Yes, you must put the projector in Film Mode 48Hz at which point the 24 FPS is doubled.
It will not work when using vertical stretch(LBX, Auto 235) for 2:35:1 anamorphic display,
however.
Could the included scaler be "tricked" into providing 48hz in an anamorphic setup by doing the anamorphic stretch with another scaler? I will be using an Anthem D2 regardless of which projector I will ultimately choose. I liked the original HD81 at last year's CEDIA, then got scared away by the horror stories on this thread and decided I would go with the RS1 instead. But since my 2.35:1 screen will be 10 ft. wide, the extra lumens from the HD81-LV make Optoma seem very attractive again.

[dseliger]

Could the included scaler be "tricked" into providing 48hz in an anamorphic setup by doing the anamorphic stretch with another scaler? I will be using an Anthem D2 regardless of which projector I will ultimately choose. I liked the original LD81 at last year's CEDIA, then got scared away by the horror stories on this thread and decided I would go with the RS1 instead. But since my 2.35:1 screen will be 10 ft. wide, the extra lumens from the LD80-LV make Optoma seem very attractive again.


I have a 10 ft wide 2.35:1 (panamorph 380) and i would suggest you reconsider the LV. I had the HD81 and it did a wonderful job but am upgrading to the LV so i can keep that level of brightness for a longer period of time (before having to replace bulbs). (plus all the other benefits that come with the LV). I just passed through the HD81 system and used my D2 for the processing and switching as well and it worked great.

[dseliger]

I'm very happy with my HD81 but I am 'upgrading' to the LV simply because it seems this model has overcome the only problem I have really had ... overheating, leading to blue screen. Even with an amazing cooling system (within the hush box), devised by my mega installer, I still have to run the PJ on High Altitude mode (and therefore higher fan noise), unless I keep the room temp. at almost refrigerator levels! I understand that the latest, standard, HD81's have also been sorted in this regard, but reports from Jeff Regan and MrHiFi (Art) regarding that extra bit of brightness, slightly better blacks, etc, etc, on the LV version, have convinced me to take to the upgrade path. Having said that, I'm going to Cedia tomorrow and who knows what I'll come across!



Let us know what you find at Cedia :) I coudlnt make it down but the stuff ive been reading sounds pretty interesting.

[Larry J]

Just wondering if anyone has tried a HTPC at 1080P on this PJ. We, (meaning its not my pj) got one in this week but so far it will not work at 1080P with Vista. Vista was installed again, tried three different video cards, and it just doesn't work, and no we aren't new at this.

I saw in the HD81 thread some having problems but they never seem to say what happen. It kind of works with XP but everything else is grayed out but 1080P, but XP isn't going to be used anyway. I'm pretty sure nothing else has been over looked, but just thought I'd ask just in case someone has tried it.

Everyone at Optima is gone to Cedia it appears so they aren't any help for now.

[jmorris644]

Which port on the processor are you using?

Joe

[Dan@SI]

Larry J,

I use an HTPC to feed my LV 1080P and it works fine. I am however still using Win XPMCE 2005 with 7950GTKO card. I had a problem for a little while as I use a GEFEN DVI Detector to maintain EDID to vid card so that I don't have to reboot the HTPC everytime I want to use the projector; with that arrangement, the video processor detected only 1080i even tho the vid card was showing 1920x1080x60. I had to get the newer version of the DVI Detector with 256bit EDID to get 1080P and the functionality of the DVI Detector but now it works fine. I'm guessing that the EDID info from the video processor is telling the vid card that it wants 1080P and that may explain why other resolutions are not shown to be available.

[Larry J]

Which port on the processor are you using?

Joe


All the port's have been tried. It appears right now the PJ is getting the desktop at 1080P, but only if 50hz is selected. So if he (I'm not there right now) selects 1980x1080, it will only work at 50hz. 1080i and everything else appears to be ok, its only 1080P that won't lock in, at 60hz.

Powerdvd Ultra isn't loaded yet, so not sure what will happen with that since only 50hz is working. This is kind of weird, but dealing with pc's and pj's usually is. But we don't usually have this problem.

Dan, thanks for the information but only Vista is going to be used, so it has to work with that.

[ls1115]

I have a 10 ft wide 2.35:1 (panamorph 380) and i would suggest you reconsider the LV. I had the HD81 and it did a wonderful job but am upgrading to the LV so i can keep that level of brightness for a longer period of time (before having to replace bulbs). (plus all the other benefits that come with the LV). I just passed through the HD81 system and used my D2 for the processing and switching as well and it worked great.

Thanks!! If the D2 can get the LV to 1080P/48hz anamorphic, I will definitely keep it on my list. Besides, with this brightness level, a Firehawk (or even Grayhawk) screen will probably help squeezing a bit more contrast while keeping the picture nice and bright at 120" wide.

[MCBRacer]

Let us know what you find at Cedia :) I coudlnt make it down but the stuff ive been reading sounds pretty interesting.
Optoma were not at Cedia! JVC RS1 & 2 seemed to be hot deals on the front projection platform ... blacks were impressive. I'm sticking with my HD81LV!

Cheers. MCB

[scottyb]

Where can the LV be purchased.
PM is OK

scott

[Jeff Regan]

Give Jason at AV Science a call, our hosts.

I am very happy with my HD81-LV post-ISF calibration. Unlike my first HD81, I have good
color saturation and lumens. With the HD81, I had to go from an iris setting of 11 to 8 in
low bulb mode. With the LV, I have kept the iris at 14 and have 28 footlamberts. I am
happy with lumens, color points--including reds, which I didn't like out of the box.

Everything is great, now I just need some longterm reliability, and all will be well.

[lprager]

I am pretty much sold on the HD81-LV. Just waiting to hear how long it will take to get one. That brings me to screens. I have not owned a projector before, so please bear with me. I am looking for something that will work well in darkness to view movies, or in 1-2 fcs of ambient light to view football games while playing pool and using the bar on either side of the screen. The projector will be mounted 16' from the 110" screen. Any suggestions from those who own this projector? The rep I spoke to recommended the firehawk, but I am concerned about the high gain and hotspotting (mostly) and reduced viewing angle (a little, for football). Any thoughts from those with this projector or a similarly bright one? Thanks.

[dseliger]

I use and acoustically transparent SMX Screen so i can have my speakers behind it...it works excellent and i probably wouldnt do it any other way if i ever build another theater.

AVS sells the SMX i beleive, www.smxscreen.com for info.

[Dan@SI]

I have the LV and my throw is about 15'. The reason I bought the LV is because of the lumen rating as I have a room with a lot of ambient light before sunset (great view before sunset that we choose not to cover up). My previous projectors were rated at 2500 and 3000 lumens. I use a Stewart Grayhawk 0.95 gain screen (about 6 years old) to attempt to reduce the impact of ambient light when I want to watch something before sunset, like a football game. Given the light output of the LV, in my opinion, you don't need a high gain screen. The Stewart 0.95 gain screen has a viewing angle that is very good; I think they advertise 160 degrees and I would believe it as in my setup I have never found an angle where I could not see a very good image on the screen. The downside, if any, is that since the gray, low-gain screen is a contrast enhancing screen, you may think the uncalibrated image is a little too harsh in low/no light viewing... so you will need to tweak the processor to arrive at a satisfactory contrast level. The other thing to accept is that even with a low gain screen, a front projector of any reasonable light output level is just gonna get washed out with any amount of ambient light, so choose the screen gain that matches the projector output for the dominant use you plan to make of it.

[MrHifi]

I use a DaLite Cinemavision 1.3 gain screen. I have an LV projecting a 96" wide image from about 15'. Until 2:00 PM I have considerable ambient light on my screen. At night a white ceiling produces a lot of anbient light due to reflections from the screen. I get some hot spots during the night but in daylight it is gorgeous. A 1.0 or 1.3 white screen is the way I would go. Avoid a gray screen. I have an old curved gray screen that destroys the color balance.

[jmorris644]

I would see if you can get a sample of the SmX screen material to view. Personally I would highly recommend it. I really like having my center speaker right behind the screen rahter than below it. I am also able to have a larger image now that I can place the left/right speakers behind it too. I think i is a 1.3 gain.

Joe

[dseliger]

I actually have a large scrap of smx you can have, contact me via PM if you want it... I did a DIY back before they stopped selling the material separate so i have a couple feet left on the roll.

[dseliger]

I hate to ask this, but if anyone knows an authorized reseller for the LV that would have it in stock please send me contact info via PM. I do have one on order with AVS (i'd prefer to support them if possible, they have been an awesome resource for everything else in my theater), but I really need it in the next week or two and they arent sure when stock will be arriving.

[MrHifi]

I would agree with jmorris about having the speakers behind the screen. It makes for an awsome soundstage. Unfortunately, if you sit within 10 ft of the screen, you will see thelittle holes (at least I did). That is why i went with the STIII's whose speakers line up with the centerline (height) of my screen. I have a speaker at the bottom and one at the top of the screen for the center but frankly prefer not to use the center and use phantom mode. I get the best soundstage that way and use my best speakers.

[ls1115]

I live in San Juan PR and will be in Miami this weekend. Does anyone know about Optoma dealers in South Florida who may have an HD81LV setup?

I checked with Optoma about their dealers in that area. They were not sure (??!!) but suggested Magnolia. After calling several locations, the closest I got was one HD80.

PM OK.

Thanks,

Luis

[jmorris644]

if you sit within 10 ft of the screen, you will see thelittle holes (at least I did).

The holes of the screen? Which screen were you using?

Also, can't you get a center speaker that matches the L/R paid?

Joe

[jmorris644]

Hey Art,

What happens when I hit 1000 posts? Anything magical?

Joe

[jmorris644]

Art and Jeff,

I am about to swing for a LV. Before I do I would like to here again your impressions. Please don't hold anything back. Remember, I have a fully functional, no error HD81 that I am extremely happy with. If you were me, is it worth the upgrade?

Thanks

Joe

[1Sharpdog]

Art and Jeff,

I am about to swing for a LV. Before I do I would like to here again your impressions. Please don't hold anything back. Remember, I have a fully functional, no error HD81 that I am extremely happy with. If you were me, is it worth the upgrade?

Thanks

Joe

You are one of the few who still has smiles after owning an HD81. I think you would be pushing you luck abit. I can just imagine the tears and moaning and crying if you sell yours and need a replacement LV evey few weeks like MrHIFI.

I agree they do sound appealing. I am attempting to hold off as long as I can.

Luke/1Sharpdog

[jmorris644]

I think you would be pushing you luck abit.

That is exactly what I am worried about!! :o

Joe

[scottyb]

Hey Art,

What happens when I hit 1000 posts? Anything magical?

Joe

You end up spending more $$ on HT Equipment than you ever dreamed.

[jmorris644]

You end up spending more $$ on HT Equipment than you ever dreamed.

LOL, that is what happened at 100 posts!!!!!!

Joe

[Jeff Regan]

Art and Jeff,

I am about to swing for a LV. Before I do I would like to here again your impressions. Please don't hold anything back. Remember, I have a fully functional, no error HD81 that I am extremely happy with. If you were me, is it worth the upgrade?

Thanks

Joe

Joe,

If you feel that you need more lumens after D65 calibration, the LV makes
sense. If you feel that more CR would be important, the LV could make some
sense.

How much the above is worth to you in dollars, only you can answer.

[MrHifi]

If you have a working HD81 that you are happy with, I would not spend the money. Hate to say it too loudly but I liked the colors of the 81 a tad better. I never use the Brilliant Color option bcause frankly, it makes for a garrish picture. I know Jeff believes in the D65 setup from ISF. I've been doing it for so many years that I understand the compromises you have to make to get something that is called D65. I think Optoma does a great job out of the box. The sources and inputs are all over the place so why waste the money to adjust to something that no one relly adheres to anyway? Find me 2 movies or even 2 scenes where the color balance and temperatue are adjusted properly and I'll use it as a reference.

I would use that 81 until you get sick of it or it breaks. If it works, don't mess with success. Obviously, you have a good one.

[bkhawk]

To cinema scope or not to cinema scope.

I'm considering getting an LV but haven't chosen a screen yet. I think it would be cool to have a cinemascope screen, get the anamorphic lens and curve the screen to compensate for the distortion. This would do it for cinemascope be it higher resolution and brighter (which I'm not sure the later is needed with an LV). I'm also not sure I fully understand what happens with the 16:9 content. I've heard it said that the majority of viewing will probably be 16:9. If you have a cinema scope screen do you use the lens to compress the 16:9 content onto the 2.35:1 screen? Seems this would make things look very distorted. Or do you keep the 16:9 aspect ratio and have black bars on each side?

My room will limit the width of either screen to 108". My choice seems to be either a 61" high 16:9 screen or a 46" high cinema scope screen. Cinema scope content on either screen can be projected up to a diagonal of 117" (108" wide). Wide screen 16x9 content on a wide screen can be projected up to a diagonal of 124" (108" x 61"). However wide screen 16:9 content on a cinema scope screen will only be projected up to a diagonal of 94" (roughly 82" x 46") if you keep the 16:9 aspect ratio. If my math is correct, the 16x9 content on a cinema scope screen will be 75% the size it could be on a 16x9 screen [given a fixed width].

Am I out in the weeds on 16x9 content and a cinema scope screen? Any other thoughts on the screen selection would be appreciated too.

Thanks
Bryan

[guitarman]

I have an HD81LV here now. It's not mine it's another members, I'm grayscale tuning it for him. But this gives me a chance to get some measurments, should be interesting. Thanks Larry I'll take good care of your baby for ya. :)

[Jeff Regan]

To cinema scope or not to cinema scope.

I'm considering getting an LV but haven't chosen a screen yet. I think it would be cool to have a cinemascope screen, get the anamorphic lens and curve the screen to compensate for the distortion. This would do it for cinemascope be it higher resolution and brighter (which I'm not sure the later is needed with an LV). I'm also not sure I fully understand what happens with the 16:9 content. I've heard it said that the majority of viewing will probably be 16:9. If you have a cinema scope screen do you use the lens to compress the 16:9 content onto the 2.35:1 screen? Seems this would make things look very distorted. Or do you keep the 16:9 aspect ratio and have black bars on each side?

However wide screen 16:9 content on a cinema scope screen will only be projected up to a diagonal of 94" (roughly 82" x 46") if you keep the 16:9 aspect ratio. If my math is correct, the 16x9 content on a cinema scope screen will be 75% the size it could be on a 16x9 screen [given a fixed width].

Am I out in the weeds on 16x9 content and a cinema scope screen? Any other thoughts on the screen selection would be appreciated too.

Thanks
Bryan

Bryan,

I have an LV with the Panamorph UH380 lens and M380 sled. I only use the
lens when watching 2:35 material in a 16:9 frame or 16:9 material in a 4:3 frame. Therefore, 16:9 material is left as normal, with black bars on the sides. A curved screen is nice, but the pincushion distortion is not very
evident on normal live action material, so you could save money on the screen
and put it into the motorized sled for the lens.

The LV set in Auto235 mode does a great job of automatically engaging the
vertical expansion in the scaler and triggering the lens sled. It's pretty slick,
and the optical quality of the UH380 is very good, no chromatic aberration,
not much softening, good light transmission, just some pincushion distortion
noticeable on the edges using cross hatch patterns.

[Jeff Regan]

I have an HD81LV here now. It's not mine it's another members, I'm grayscale tuning it for him. But this gives me a chance to get some measurments, should be interesting. Thanks Larry I'll take good care of your baby for ya. :)

That's great Tom! I would like to see you take full measurements before and
after D65 calibration, lumens and/or foot lamberts at low power with different
iris settings, and your subjective impressions of the LV vs. the HD80, ideally
without things like Brilliant Color, Auto Gamma, edge enhancement, B&W extension, Vivid Color, True Color or any other additional processing(gimmick).

I'd like to see what combination of iris, bulb setting you use to get max CR.

Thanks very much!

[guitarman]

I don't know how much I can get in one night, but I'll get some important details.

[jmorris644]

I don't know how much I can get in one night, but I'll get some important details.

Tom,

Like your signature says, "VideoDementia". Just imagine you have 5 days instead of 1. You should be able to get a LOT of measurements then. Heck, you won't know the difference anyway. :p

Joe

[guitarman]

Well on first look I like the black color on the projector itself, nice to have the scaler around also. It's a good amount of equipment to work with.

[guitarman]

I got the OTB light level, 32.5 ft-candles at factory. Tuning the blacks and whites to max levels 100IRE 44.7 ft-candles. No problems with brightness. : I didn't have time for much more, just grayscale tuning for the gentlemen and a few screen shots for a review. You really need more than a couple of hours for extensive reviewing. But from what I've seen the HD81LV looks great. It conforms to D65k tunups nicely, colors look very natural, face tones look natural, detail is 1080p excellent. Overall a very nice projector for high brightness yet capable for a dark enviorment for HT viewing with the Iris control.

[guitarman]

I got the OTB light level, 32.5 ft-candles at factory. Tuning the blacks and whites to max levels 100IRE 44.7 ft-candles. No problems with brightness. : I didn't have time for much more, just grayscale tuning for the gentlemen and a few screen shots for a review. You really need more than a couple of hours for extensive reviewing. But from what I've seen the HD81LV looks great. It conforms to D65k tunups nicely, colors look very natural, face tones look natural, detail is 1080p excellent. Overall a very nice projector for high brightness yet capable for a dark enviorment for HT viewing with the Iris control.

[guitarman]

The 100IRE 44.7ft candles is a factory setting and also that was econo mode, you can add another 25% with bright mode. You figure lumens by ft-candles times screen sqft. So that's near 1900lumens in bright mode on a 106" daig 1.0gain screen.

[guitarman]

I took some pictures of Larry's HD81LV after tuning, looks good.

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvfifth4.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvfifth3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvglad2.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvd65k.jpg

[pudljmpr]

Hi Folks
I have just purchased a LV and I was wondering if those with them could guide me.

My main viewing area is about13 feet from the screen and I want to use a 2.35:1 screen, any idea how big I can go without sacrificing quality either from pushing the image too large or viewing from to close?

I have already measured and could easily put in a 144" wide screen.

I appreciate any help from you who are more in the know

Thanks

[guitarman]

The LV has a 33% screen height offset, you have to figure how high you can hang the projector and how far back can it be. How high is the ceiling, is there alot of room to move the PJ back. You can sit close to 1080p machines an not see the screen door. You have options.

[MrHifi]

pudljmpr,

Mine is 96" wide and I often sit a few feet from the screen to get the WOW effect magnified. Make it as big as you can. Your limiting factor will not be PQ degradation.

[fastturb]

does the HD81-LV have lens shift?

[mkerdman]

Is the Optoma HD81-LV a more reliable polished/finished product than the Optoma HD81?

Does the Auto 2.35:1 FW work as it should with the Panamorph Lens?

Is it any less heat sensitive?

Is it any quieter?

[guitarman]

No lens shift on the HD81LV, so far it doesn't have any of the short comings the early HD81's had. According to Optoma they detected the heat related problem on the HD81 and fixed it, anyone that had the earlier machines were told to send them in for a swap or fix. They should all be running smoothly by now. I did hear it's quieter, but I didn't think the sound level on the HD81 was high when in econo mode. The fan has a smooth dull type sound. Not objectional to me, certainly not like an Infocus 72xx or early presentation machines I've owned.

[mkerdman]

I read where Mr. HiFi has already had 2 (or more?) HD-81LV's and Jeff Regaen had reported some shortcomings he had been told (or expected) would be fixed in HD-81LV (I do not recall if Jeff needed an exchange).

I am considering all the current/pending 1080P suspects (mostly DLP but some LCD & LCOS) under $10K as well as the remote possibility of an InFocus 777 3-chip 720P.

I need a 2.35:1 (11.5 foot wide) capable projector at 16-17 foot seating distance with a light controlled room but with the desire to also watch some daytime weekend sports without going bat-cave with the drapes.

However, whatever I buy, I do not want to be taking it down to ship it back or rebooting in the middle of a movie because of a loss of sync or image.

[guitarman]

Those gentlemen did have early machines but that problem has long been identified. They don't own the HD81 any more and have moved on to the HD81LV which ofcourse won't have the problem the early HD81 had. If you buy an HD81 now it should be new stock with no problems. The HD81 looks like a bargin now, if you have more money to spend the HD81LV would be recommened. I totally enjoyed the HD81LV I tuned for a member, I did some screenshots a little ways back, which I thought to be the best renditions of the same screens shots I've done on other models. The coloring of the RGBCYM colorwheel gives excellent color, I could see it in the colorbars patterns. Excellent Blue/Red/Yellow, Green was deep but with a slight yellow/ very slight. That's to be expected for this level or brightness push. 1900 lumens on a 106" screen if you wanted lumens that high. Which can be toned down with the Iris.

[mkerdman]

1900 lumens on a 106" screen if you wanted lumens that high. Which can be toned down with the Iris.

Is the "1900 lumens on a 106" screen" a diagonal 16X9 image fiqure?

Is the HD81-LV iris entirely manual - i.e. does it require easy access to the projector to make adjustments?

Is the bulb life on an HD81-LV expected to be shorter than other 1-chip DLP units, including the HD81?

[MrHifi]

Thought I should address some of the issues that have been raised. My first HD8-LV failed within a few days. The second unit has worked well 99% of the time. As I approach the 8 hour on time limit, I do get some minor color blotching which is fixed dby turning up the fan speed. This has happenedd twice. The recurring issue that i have not solved is that the VXD will switch from one input to another with no action on my part. this has hapenned a dozen times or more and is unpredictable. Those are the only negatives with this machine. It is superb and I love the picture. I had an interesting experience yesterday which I will recount. I was watching the Brothers Grimm. Up until now, i have not liked the Brilliant Color control because of the way it destroys the color pallate. Yesterday, I found that setting it on 3 created what can only be described as a movie-like/theater-like experience. The image was 3 dimensional and lifelike.

mkerdman,

The IRIs operates from the remote control. I see no reason why bulb life should be different than the life one should expect with other projectors. The sound from the LV at the lowest speed is acceptable. It is the whine of the color wheel that one hears.

[Jeff Regan]

Is the Optoma HD81-LV a more reliable polished/finished product than the Optoma HD81?

Does the Auto 2.35:1 FW work as it should with the Panamorph Lens?

Is it any less heat sensitive?

Is it any quieter?

The HD81-LV is a progression of the HD81, it's reliability is yet to be seen and
there are issues that carried over from the HD81, such as; poor auto iris implementation, slow source switching, full field blacks still not class leading,
nor is CR.

Vertical offset seems to be the claimed 36%, whereas the HD81, although claimed 36% was only 27%, so I now have to tilt the projector up due to 8' ceiling, resulting in vertical keystone. There is still light leakage, halo effect outside of the frame, out of the box gray scale is not good, there is a large loss of lumens once calibrated to D65, but still at least as bright as an uncalibrated HD81.

Auto235 works well, but can be bothersome if channel hopping. I have not
had any heat shutdowns or blue screens, although the projector did shutdown
once for no apparent reason--probably an HDMI issue.

I do not find the noise to be bothersome in low lamp mode, it is loud in bright
mode.

The warranty has been improved to a three year hot swap and based on my
HD81 reliability issues, this is essential. The bulb now has a one year warranty.

I recommend a review of my first post on this thread, which I have continued
to update over the weeks.

[guitarman]

"As I approach the 8 hour on time limit"

Good practice not to run a PJ 8hrs straight, maybe 6hours and not too often either.

[mkerdman]

Have there been many other AVS Members who have purchased the HD81-LV who are lurking here but less inclined to post than Jeff & Mr. HiFi?

If so, please weigh in on your experience with the HD81-LV.

Mr. HiFi/Jeff,

If you had your money back in your wallet from your
HD81-LV purchase and had no unique room/installation offset/throw distance prohibitions, would you buy a different 1080P Projector from the Fall 2007 crop of Q3-Q4 units that have been announced or are shipping now?

[pudljmpr]

Guitarman so Im clear on what you are saying if I went with a 144" wide X 61.25 High 2.35:1 screen the offset would be approximately 20" above the top of the screen?
Do I have that right?
As far as going back I have 21 feet to go back

[guitarman]

61.25 x 36% will be 21.96" center lens above the screen.

[MCBRacer]

Have there been many other AVS Members who have purchased the HD81-LV who are lurking here but less inclined to post than Jeff & Mr. HiFi?

If so, please weigh in on your experience with the HD81-LV.

Mr. HiFi/Jeff,

If you had your money back in your wallet from your
HD81-LV purchase and had no unique room/installation offset/throw distance prohibitions, would you buy a different 1080P Projector from the Fall 2007 crop of Q3-Q4 units that have been announced or are shipping now?

Mine is being installed some time this week, replacing the HD81. I'll keep you posted. It looks very nice with its sparkly black case ... much better looking than white!

[Dan@SI]

Murray,

Since you asked...

1. Bought my LV on 8-15-7; installed it myself around 8-20-7. Physical installation was no problem as I had already ceiling mounted 2 other PJs in the same spot over the past 5 years so I already had the video cable in place and pulled in the control cable while waiting on Brown to bring the PJ and mount.
2. Fortunately, my room sets up OK to use the lens and zoom capabilities...barely. I am just about at the extreme of the zoom range with my ~15' throw and 80" wide screen. Fortunately, when I first bought my Stewart Electro-mask Trapdoor screen, I got a 4x3 screen. So, I had enough screen height, masking height, and motor range to accomodate the (IMO) extreme fixed vertical image offset. Actually, the viewing height is very comfortable for me and very close to the bottom of the original 4x3 PJ image.
3. I have found it harder than I thought it might be to get all the setup knobs tweaked. There are plenty of setup adjustments and enough to make for a great picture with almost any kind of equipment and physical layout you might have. And enough to exhaust your thought process if you let them get control of you. I think you will find that turning fewer knobs is better than tweaking a lot. For color, in my opinion, all you need is the 'user' temperature controls, RGB contrast and brightness. For black/white balance, I only needed to turn the basic brightness control to -8 (I think). After that, it's only a matter of how much light you choose to shoot across the room.
4. My remote control has already died as of last night. It began with backlighting staying on all the time, which of course killed a set of batteries in about a day's time. After putting in new batteries, it worked for about 30 seconds until the backlighting freezes again and the remote becomes useless as it no longer will control anything. It doesn't appear to be a stuck button but whatever the reason, it is useless. So, today I e-mailed my RMA request to replace the remote. I hope the complicated stuff lasts longer than the remote. I can't remember any other remote I have owned failing and I've had a bunch of them.
5. The PJ puts out a bold picture--high def stuff looks awesome. I had already been using my HTPC to scale SD DVDs so I can't tell much scaling quality difference for them but they are still better than with my old 1366x768 PJ that is now headed to one of my children. A million pixels makes a big difference.
6. If it keeps working, I am gonna like it--A LOT!

[mkerdman]

Murray,

If it keeps working, I am gonna like it--A LOT!

Dan

What did the Optoma HD81-LV replace?

[guitarman]

Take a look at the screen shots of the LV I posted a little ways back. Yeah I tuned it with colorfacts but it didn't need much help. OTB the grayscale test for HDMI 1080 looked pretty close to perfect. Those pictures are some of the more natural and high ansi contrast pictures I've posted. Same shots done many times with other projectors. The LV does look aweful good. It must be the colorwheels RGBCYM. Even a colorbars pattern showed excellent color tones for RBY - Green was slighty tinted with yellow but that's understandable with this level of brightness. Overall excellent for all types of video. enjoy

Here they are -
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvfifth4.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvfifth3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvglad2.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd81lvd65k.jpg
__________________

[Dan@SI]

Murray,

The last PJ I had mounted was a Sanyo PLV-80...3000 lumen, 1366x768, 3 panel LCD, 1000:1 CR large venue HD projector. It actually did a very good job but I could not resist doubling the number of pixels and improving the contrast ratio by a factor of 10. Before that I used a Sanyo PLC-XP21N...2500 lumen, 1024x768, 3 panel LCD, 700:1 CR and it was also a great projector when I bought it.

[guitarman]

Them DLP 1 chip / no covergence devices can show some of the sharpest pictures you've ever seen. enjoy

Why do you think our buddy Greg Rodgers always mentions, very nice but not near as sharp or high in ansi as the 1chip DLP's I've tested.

[mkerdman]

If one was thinking about getting a projector as well as a
50"-65" plasma to deal with some ambient light for content other than movies, with some lights on, such as watching sports, is the HD81-LV an "all-in-one" (no plasma) solution using the units 2 different brightness modes for daytime-sports / nightime-movies use?

[guitarman]

With any front projector you need to tone the daylight down in the projector room. But you have a good shot at having a bright image with contrast with some light using the HD81LV. It doesn't have to be pitch black. I could watch football on Sunday in the day with some light in the room.

[lprager]

Have there been many other AVS Members who have purchased the HD81-LV who are lurking here but less inclined to post than Jeff & Mr. HiFi?

If so, please weigh in on your experience with the HD81-LV.

Mr. HiFi/Jeff,

If you had your money back in your wallet from your
HD81-LV purchase and had no unique room/installation offset/throw distance prohibitions, would you buy a different 1080P Projector from the Fall 2007 crop of Q3-Q4 units that have been announced or are shipping now?

I just got mine on Monday. I still need to buy a screen, speakers and receiver, so I will not be much help until I get those. I will be happy to post once I am up and running, but it will realistically not be for a couple of weeks.

[MHoefler]

What about dead/stuck pixels? What is the tolerance number of dead pixels before a unit is replaced?

I guess it should be 0, because a dead pixel would immediately show on a 1 chip DLP machine...

Thanks,
Martin

[pudljmpr]

can anyone tell the minimum amount of space needed above the projector?
Still trying to figure out screen size.

Thanks

[guitarman]

Using a flush mount like the chief mounts the projector lens center will be near 6" down from the ceiling, leaving enough room for ventilation between the projector bottom and ceiling. 36% offset of the screen height plus the 6" the mount adds to figure what screen you can fit and where it will sit on the wall between the floor and ceiling.

[mkerdman]

While we all know you can't get everything in one product, is anyone who is contemplating buying the HD81-LV at all concerned that (A) it uses a DarkChip3 and not the newer DarkChip4, and that (B) it employs HDMI v1.2 and not v1.3a?

[mkerdman]

61.25 x 36% will be 21.96" center lens above the screen.

Is there one or more spreadsheets from which these calculations were derived?

[guitarman]

The manual on the Optoma webstie.

[mkerdman]

The manual on the Optoma webstie.

Thanks.

[guitarman]

Forgot, projector central has a nifty screen calculator for each projector. The match up for the HD81LV is accurate.

[mkerdman]

Mr. HiFi, Jeff R., and other early HD81-LV adopters,

If you had your money back in your wallet from your
HD81-LV purchase and had no unique room/installation offset/throw distance prohibitions, would you buy a different 1080P Projector from the Fall 2007 crop of Q3-Q4 units that have been announced or are shipping now (i.e. Infocus IN82, JVC RS2, others)?

[MrHifi]

I did not meet the criteria of your statement mkerdman because after 4 projectors, asking me to open my wallet and throw good money after bad would have been a deal breaker. Would I select an Optoma HD81-LV over other units available today? I have not been shopping but based on my experiences with Optoma's reliability, the difficult installation process and the fact that I do not use the 2:35 external lens, the answer is probably no. If I were going to use an external lens, the answer would be yes based on Jeff's experiences. The many nice things that attracted me to the HD81 have become far less important in a year. The main reason i selected the 81 was the VXD3000 external switcher/scaler. The latest crop of processors like the Integra 9.8, have Reon scalers and lots of HDMI inputs. You would not need the external switcher scaler which would be part of the Pre/Pro.

Lastly but very importantly, getting a satisfying picture with all the interactive picture controls is very frustating. Not since the Kloss Videobeam have I run into any projector that requirs so much fiddling. To get acceptable Color saturation and acceptable hue, you must stop adjusting Brilliant Color and even the Edge Enhancement. Raising these have a not sublme effect on hue and color. Often, I wind up starting all over again after 20 minutes of fiddling. Also, forget trying to get a decent picture out of an S or video/analog ginput. WAY TOO MANY Variables to adjust.

No, I would not go through this again. The only positive side has been meeting some awfully nice guys like Jeff and Tom. Misery does love company. M., this has not been unlike the year we went through trying to get LG to fix the LST-3410A. I would not buy one or even 3 lie I have now if Ihad known that the guide would not work and that the machines would requir an unplug/replug cycle evry day or they freeze up and become useless. Nevertheless, like the 3410, you tend to love the 81 because once you get everything dialed in correctly, it is like good sex where the experience is so good that you can't wait for the next time. Enough.... My final words.

[mkerdman]

I did not meet the criteria of your statement mkerdman because after 4 projectors, asking me to open my wallet and throw good money after bad would have been a deal breaker. Would I select an Optoma HD81-LV over other units available today? I have not been shopping but based on my experiences with Optoma's reliability, the difficult installation process and the fact that I do not use the 2:35 external lens, the answer is probably no. If I were going to use an external lens, the answer would be yes based on Jeff's experiences. The many nice things that attracted me to the HD81 have become far less important in a year. The main reason i selected the 81 was the VXD3000 external switcher/scaler. The latest crop of processors like the Integra 9.8, have Reon scalers and lots of HDMI inputs. You would not need the external switcher scaler which would be part of the Pre/Pro.

Lastly but very importantly, getting a satisfying picture with all the interactive picture controls is very frustating. Not since the Kloss Videobeam have I run into any projector that requirs so much fiddling. To get acceptable Color saturation and acceptable hue, you must stop adjusting Brilliant Color and even the Edge Enhancement. Raising these have a not sublme effect on hue and color. Often, I wind up starting all over again after 20 minutes of fiddling. Also, forget trying to get a decent picture out of an S or video/analog ginput. WAY TOO MANY Variables to adjust.

No, I would not go through this again. The only positive side has been meeting some awfully nice guys like Jeff and Tom. Misery does love company. M., this has not been unlike the year we went through trying to get LG to fix the LST-3410A. I would not buy one or even 3 lie I have now if Ihad known that the guide would not work and that the machines would requir an unplug/replug cycle evry day or they freeze up and become useless. Nevertheless, like the 3410, you tend to love the 81 because once you get everything dialed in correctly, it is like good sex where the experience is so good that you can't wait for the next time. Enough.... My final words.


Art

That was a very sincere post.

I too owned a Kloss porjector, but mine was the Advent Model 750 and after a few bad CRT's the unit proceeded to work for over 15 years without a problem.

From what I understand the LG LST-3410A still has fits and starts.

I moved and am using a Panasonic AE1000 as a "placehoolder" projector.

However, I previously owned an InFocus 7205 which delivered superb images and no problem over an extended period of time. I had to sell it with the house.

For that reason, and for the fact that the next 24 months will probably bring a torrent of new tech (LED, Laser etc.) at ever cheaper $/lumen/CR, I am now considering the InFocus IN82 or the HD81-Leither the HD81-LV.

I have no idea if IF is having the IN82 manufactured to the same standard or by the same subcontractor as the SP 7205 that served me so well.

The IN82 does not have Brilliant Color, the newer color wheel design or UShape tech from T.I., and yet it is reported to be very bright and fullfill my desire to have a Day/Sports as well as a Night/Movie projector in one device which might allow me to not have a flat screen LCD/Plasma in the room behind a motorized screen.

I plan to use the Panamorph UH380 and motorrized sled in a 16:9-2.35:1 with whichever projector I get next.

On paper the HD81-LV makes a tremendous amoujnt of sense, but, I do not want to go through even 10% of what you did with your Optoma projectors over the last year as mine is a ceiling mount install and I do not have the temprament for latent defects in expensive electronics that I used to.

[MCBRacer]

So, I now have my LV installed, replacing my original 'standard HD81'. PQ out of the box is impressive, bright as reported and much improved blacks. Only one problem, I have already suffered three complete shut downs. I had suffered the blue screen issue (due to overheating) with the standard 81 but never a complete shut down. With my previous experience I decided to run the PJ in bright mode (with the 81 we had cool air being force fed in to the PJ and an exhaust fan sucking out the hot air and yet still had to run in bright mode to avoid blue screen!) and so far this seems to have solved the problem. I'm bummed as I thought Optoma had solved the overheating issue with this version and was looking forward to being able to run the PJ in its quitest mode!

I'm going to give this thing a thorough test and decide if this is even worth keeping over my standard 81 (which was boxed up ready to ship back to Optoma!) and perhaps await the newly announced LB version. I do like the added brightness and better black levels though, so if this is purely an overheating issue I may just keep it and accept that I will still have to run in bright mode and put up with that added fan noise.

I'll report back!!

MCB

[guitarman]

"I'm bummed as I thought Optoma had solved the overheating issue "

They found the blue screen/heat problem to be a hardware fix on the HD81. I thought anyone with the problem would send it in for the fix. The LV shouldn't have the old hardware that started the problem. Keep testing it maybe it's a RS-232 or HDMI problem.

[mkerdman]

...and perhaps await the newly announced LB version.
MCB

What exactly is the newly announced "LB" version?

[adidadi]

Yeah, what is the LB? What gives?

[MHoefler]

There doesn't seem to be an "LB" version - therer are a few posts on the net mentioning an LB, but these are all from earlier this year and they are typos! They were referring to the LV...

I just hope there will not be an evern newer version already, now that I should receive my new LV tomorrow... ;-)

Regards!

[MCBRacer]

There doesn't seem to be an "LB" version - therer are a few posts on the net mentioning an LB, but these are all from earlier this year and they are typos! They were referring to the LV...

I just hope there will not be an evern newer version already, now that I should receive my new LV tomorrow... ;-)

Regards!

Sorry, my typo ... what I meant was when we get to hear of the announcement of the new LV (i.e, v2) which I had hint of at Cedia, albeit down the road a little bit yet. Optoma were conspicuous by their absence at Cedia, but rumours were flying, in certain circles.

[MrHifi]

MCB,

Sorry to hear you have a problem with your LV. Remember that my first LV died. The second one has shut down once. I run it on low blower. SEND IT BACK. If you are near sea level, and you have allowed 10cm of open space between the ceiling and the projector, it should not be turning off.

[MCBRacer]

MCB,

Sorry to hear you have a problem with your LV. Remember that my first LV died. The second one has shut down once. I run it on low blower. SEND IT BACK. If you are near sea level, and you have allowed 10cm of open space between the ceiling and the projector, it should not be turning off.

Thanks Art .... Yesterday I experimented with fan settings and I believe this is an overheating issue. My son played the xbox for two and a half hours (he was happy to join in the experiment!) and I set the PJ to bright mode (better fan efficiency as well as the extra lumens push) .... no shut off. I watched a movie for a further two hours with the same setting .... no shut down. I returned to the low lamp setting and forty minutes later .. shutdown! The room is air conditioned, set at 72 degrees mostly. The Pj is in a hush box but we have cool air fed to the in-take and hot air literally sucked out from the exhaust. As well as that we have another pipe feeding cool air across the bottom (or top, when ceiling mounted!) of the PJ!!

I can live with the bright mode fan noise, it actually seems less noticeable than the 'standard' HD81 fan, so as long as this is the only problem I'll probably hang on to it. Perhaps we will look at a more efficient fan to feed air in to the hush box, that may be a better solution.

While I'm here .... does the LV use the same bulb as the standard HD81? I hope so as I bought a spare bulb when I purchased my original 81!

Thanks, MCB

[MrHifi]

MCB,

It appears you and I have followed the same trail of tears. I too bought an extra bulb for my 81 and yes it fits the LV. Your symptoms and solutions follow what happend to me with 81 #3. I wish you the best of luck but I can almost guarentee you that eventually it will overheat and cook. I used to run mine on Bright to keep the dreaded Blue Scren from coming on too. There are dozens of messages here attesting to that fact. Good luck my friend.

[Jeff Regan]

The Pj is in a hush box but we have cool air fed to the in-take and hot air literally sucked out from the exhaust. As well as that we have another pipe feeding cool air across the bottom (or top, when ceiling mounted!) of the PJ!!

Perhaps we will look at a more efficient fan to feed air in to the hush box, that may be a better solution.

Thanks, MCB

MCB Racer,

Perhaps before viewing a movie you can place dry ice in the in-take?
Just don't let it idle too long! :D

Sorry, F1 inside joke. So much for Optoma's hardware fix on the "small
batch of early HD81's" suffering from blue screen and shutdown.

I'd RMA it. Not worth living with the issue if you don't have to.

[pcarey]

MCB Racer - hope you get your PJ heating issue resolved. In the meantime I noticed you mentioned you were sending your HD81 back to Optoma. Did they do an upgrade for you? If so what were the terms?

Thanks

Piers

[MrHifi]

Piers,

Speaking as the first person to move from an 81 to an LV, I can assure you that each of us took different paths to an LV. Let it suffice that Optoma helped each person get a working projector.

[pcarey]

Art - that's great that Optoma stepped up to the mark and helped those with projectors that were not working correctly. My HD81 works as well as can be expected in that it doesn't shut down all the time and I am generally OK with it. There are many things that could be better however so if there was an upgrade path to the LV I would be interested to hear about it. For example I just got my XA2 1080P/24 upgrade but read today that the HD81 doesn't work in 48hz when using LBX. I understand that the LV doesn't either but they are more likely to provide a future update for the LV then the HD81.

Thanks

Piers

[MCBRacer]

MCB,

It appears you and I have followed the same trail of tears. I too bought an extra bulb for my 81 and yes it fits the LV. Your symptoms and solutions follow what happend to me with 81 #3. I wish you the best of luck but I can almost guarentee you that eventually it will overheat and cook. I used to run mine on Bright to keep the dreaded Blue Scren from coming on too. There are dozens of messages here attesting to that fact. Good luck my friend.

Thanks Art!

[MCBRacer]

MCB Racer,

Perhaps before viewing a movie you can place dry ice in the in-take?
Just don't let it idle too long! :D

Sorry, F1 inside joke. So much for Optoma's hardware fix on the "small
batch of early HD81's" suffering from blue screen and shutdown.

I'd RMA it. Not worth living with the issue if you don't have to.

Hi Jeff .... & Art

I have been in contact with Warren at Optoma and he, the Optoma engineers and myself have concluded that the problem we are having is caused by the use of the hush box, even with our cooling and exhaust extraction modifications. It just plain gets hot, which is something Optoma really do need to take a closer look at. It should not be a problem to run a PJ in a hush box, particularly if you take the care to feed cool air in to it and suck out the hot exhaust air also! It has to come down to the fact that they used an office grade chassis not designed for such installations. I would expect the next incarnation of this PJ to be housed in a completely new box!

I'm going to keep the LV. I'll run it on brite mode for now, which has seemingly solved the shut down issue, but I am going to look at making our cooling system even more efficient than it is already. I hope I can then run the unit on normal fan mode. Luckily, it seems the LV is somewhat quieter than HD81 v1 so brite mode (with the hush box) isn't really obtrusive, but I was looking forward to absolutely no fan noise at all!

On another note, having won a design award at Cedia for our theater, I now have heard it will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Audio/Video Interiors. That's sort of cool. We have our Cedia trophy proudly displayed up front, atop one of the speakers. Now I need another one to balance it up!

Cheers for now.

Go Lewis (F1 talk to Jeff)

[MCBRacer]

MCB Racer - hope you get your PJ heating issue resolved. In the meantime I noticed you mentioned you were sending your HD81 back to Optoma. Did they do an upgrade for you? If so what were the terms?

Thanks

Piers

Piers,

I am sworn to secrecy! No, but Art is correct, each of us who have been able to go do our own different deals. Bear in mind that we all had various issues with our HD81's, mine being overheating, leading to blue screen and my first unit had a problem with the processor. That paved the way more easily to get some kind of deal to upgrade, not just because we wanted to simply upgrade for the sake of it. If you have no issues with your HD81 you are unlikely to be able to make an approach to Optoma.

Meanwhile, despite finding that the LV has not really solved its overheating problems, at least in a hush box installation, I am loving everything about the PQ. I'm throwing to a 122", 2.40, curved screen and it is truly awesome.

Good Luck Piers.

[MCBRacer]

[QUOTE=MrHifi;11781523]MCB,

It appears you and I have followed the same trail of tears. I too bought an extra bulb for my 81 and yes it fits the LV.

Art ... thanks for the reply.

OK, so it fits but is it the exact same light output! If it is, how the heck did Optoma get to make the LV so bright? Was the HD81 'dulled' down somehow?
I'm confused!

Cheers.

MCB

[pcarey]

Piers,

I am sworn to secrecy! No, but Art is correct, each of us who have been able to go do our own different deals. Bear in mind that we all had various issues with our HD81's, mine being overheating, leading to blue screen and my first unit had a problem with the processor. That paved the way more easily to get some kind of deal to upgrade, not just because we wanted to simply upgrade for the sake of it. If you have no issues with your HD81 you are unlikely to be able to make an approach to Optoma.

Meanwhile, despite finding that the LV has not really solved its overheating problems, at least in a hush box installation, I am loving everything about the PQ. I'm throwing to a 122", 2.40, curved screen and it is truly awesome.

Good Luck Piers.

Thanks for the update. I never put in a hush box because I was concerned about the heat issue but the noise is starting to bug me. Let me know if you manage to get the LV to behave in your hush box and maybe that will be my inspiration to try it too.

[guitarman]

[QUOTE=MrHifi;11781523]MCB,

It appears you and I have followed the same trail of tears. I too bought an extra bulb for my 81 and yes it fits the LV.

Art ... thanks for the reply.

OK, so it fits but is it the exact same light output! If it is, how the heck did Optoma get to make the LV so bright? Was the HD81 'dulled' down somehow?
I'm confused!

Cheers.

MCB

They did it with the new Ti system that's in the Sim2 mentioned by Alan, plus the colors on the wheel let more light through vs the darker colored wheels.

[Jeff Regan]

On another note, having won a design award at Cedia for our theater, I now have heard it will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Audio/Video Interiors. That's sort of cool. We have our Cedia trophy proudly displayed up front, atop one of the speakers. Now I need another one to balance it up!

Cheers for now.

Go Lewis (F1 talk to Jeff)

Michael,

I see a picture of your theater at modernhometheater.com at the Cedia 2007
virtual tours. Your theater is on page 14 of the tour. Congratulations! You
are in very elite company. I look forward to seeing your theater in Audio/Video Interiors mag.

[Jeff Regan]

I read the reviews of the Sharp 20K and Marantz 15S1 done by Jason and was
surprised by the CR and ansi numbers. In the case of the Sharp, they were
much lower than Greg Rogers review. If accurate, the HD81-LV is pretty close
in CR and ansi while putting out a lot more lumens and has the same processing
as the Marantz. Jason says the Marantz is sharper than the Sharp, but I believe the Optoma HD8x series to have very good optics which resolve every pixel
without any CA, so can't imagine how a projector could be much sharper. The Marantz does not have the same color wheel segments or speed of the HD81-LV either and is more expensive. I am very happy with the images that the HD81-LV is giving, especially now that it is tracking D65 very accurately. Fleshtones and overall colorimetry are very good, mixed field contrast is fantastic. I'd still like to have better full field blacks, but this could be said
about most any digital projector.

[pudljmpr]

So Im going to get a mount today for my LV and I want to know if anyone has an opinion.
I am considering the peerless or the cheif.

Any comments on either

Thanks

[MrHifi]

[QUOTE=Jeff Regan;11527146]Art,

Here are the gain settings my tech used:

Green Contrast -12
Blue Contrast -10
Red Contrast 0
Green Brightness 0
Blue Brightness +2
Red Brightness 0

Color 0

Jeff,

I've been trying to come up with my favorite settings for each circumstance. No luck I'm afraid. It has raised some questions about your ISF guy's efforts only because the values he suggests provide an intolerable color temperature setting on my system. Here are my questions.

1. Did the ISF guy only adjust 1 USER setting or did he provide you with values at the two ISF day and night points?

2. If he got into the ISF marked settings, how did he do i