Viewsonic Pro8100 1080p Projector

[bouda78]

Colton because front speakers and center behind the screen

[Colton]

That's it? Is it common for home theaters to have speakers behind the screen? I guess it also helps the picture to not be too bright too?

[Dark Rider]

The high gain screens are all going to reflect more light than a matte screen. It's just the nature of the beast. I certainly have some ceiling and floor reflections that I'd like to get in check. They really aren't reflecting back to the screen and washing out the image though. It's just more of a distraction than anything. The angular reflective seems to get a lot of up and down reflections, but not much side to side. My theater is still nowhere near completed though. Here's my rough list of things that I still need to do:

Ceiling - currently drop ceiling, which will be replaced by coffered ceiling with faux wood beams and blacked out center squares. The square closest to the screen will be designed to trap all upward reflected light.

Floor - Existing Parquet flooring looks nice, but I need at least a dark area rug to deal with some harsh sound reflections and the reflections from the pj.

Walls - Currently dark burgundy, but will be repainted Dark Brown

Screenwall and columns - The screenwall will be framed with the screen recessed in its current position and the wall built out by 24". Wood paneling and column accents on the screenwall, with black acoustically transparent fabric stretched across all speaker openings. Black velvet will line the entire screen opening area. 2 additional columns will be added on side walls to recess surround speakers and hold sconces.

A/V rack - My equipment is currently sitting on the kids air hockey table . I need to cut in opening in the back wall into the room where my pj projects from. The A/V equipment will be recessed into the wall with access from the back for all my hookups.

[muzz]

Originally Posted by novasol

Opinions? Retro, angular, or just keep my matte white?

I was also thinking of painting my current screen with Silverfire, one other member here did this and I wonder how reflective it is off the walls?

Retro or angular depends on where you mount the PJ, if ceiling mount-Angular, shelf mount at center height=Retro
Silverfire has been tested, and it seems it is not a Neutral screen paint.
There are other painted screen formulas that will look great with alot less effort,I don't want to turn this into a screen thread, so PM me if you need to know.

[hessel holland]

Colton......only some screens are perforated so that you can have speakers behind them. The vast majority do not have holes.

[Fabricator]

i am in the process of making my room a cave. the walls are dark brown. the ceiling has acoustic panels on it, and i am desiding what to cover them with, its looking like black felt. and i am currently using black curtains to black out my vertical blinds,also works well for acoustics.

as you can see, i ran out of paint. and get a load of my mount, lol. but it works just fine.

DR. how about some pics of your room ?!

shameless plug = you can see the back of my mitsu 65" that is for sale.

[bouda78]

even the 8000$ thx projector cant beat the pro8100, i think all lcos projectors give very smooth images like sony vw series. i realy appreiate the pro8100 more and more after these reviews and these prices
all these images are taken from the same camera OLYMPUS E-510 and same screen gain
JVC RS25:



PRO8100:



JVC RS25:



PRO8100:



JVC RS25:



PRO8100:



JVC RS25:



PRO8100:



sports at JVC RS25:



PRO8100:



the pro8100 still the best image till now.

[bouda78]

fabricator very nice home cinema , very cool , try this put one of the subwoofers behind u at the opposite direction to the front sub ex: the front to the right , the rear to the left . then listen to the bass u just got, much more powerfull from both sub at the front , also ull get free back massage
also place ur rear speakers next to ur trees at ur ear level , same for sides lower them to ear level to get best effect sounds.

best luck high tech cave man

[Fabricator]

Originally Posted by bouda78

fabricator very nice home cinema , very cool , try this put one of the subwoofers behind u at the opposite direction to the front sub ex: the front to the right , the rear to the left . then listen to the bass u just got, much more powerfull from both sub at the front , also ull get free back massage
also place ur rear speakers next to ur trees at ur ear level , same for sides lower them to ear level to get best effect sounds.

best luck high tech cave man

i have a DAYTON SUB-120 that was my first retail sub
(and is not bad for a beginer sub)
placed directly behind my chair.
thats what some of those wires on the floor are for

now, my 2 front subs. they are POWERFULL i can ROCK the building(solid concrete condo building) . but i have em turned way down = wife and neighbor factor. though they still put out good bass. but i want as much as i can get without disturbing to much. so the 120 really makes a big difference for me. i am thinking about getting one of those wireless BUTTKICKER units.

my surrounds sound great. the only way i would change them, is if i got better ones. and for surrounds, in my room, at my volumn levels, these work just fine.

[finthen]

bouda78
Senior Member

Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: middleast- SYRIA-DAMASCUS
Posts: 334
"even the 8000$ *thx projector cant beat the pro8100" in Still Photos comparison, obviously as can be seen on your computer screen with much more saturated color, pop, sizzle and shizzle too, No Contest. Though movies may be another matter if one were to consider the intent of the production content, ie. *"thx projector" .

Though I enjoy the picture of the Pro-8100 for it's color, "Pop" and sharpness it can be over the top and cartoonish at times which becomes apparent with some content more than others. End of commentary~

[bouda78]

Posts: 172
Location: South County, R.I.
Join Date: Aug 2002

Member
finthen

thx is only a trade mark and using its calibration for image or sound dosnt mean that u got the best, indeed all gamma calibration and color the pro8100 have cover all thx and other film color calibration, and if u notice cartoonish images simply u can decrease color saturation then ull have film like colors btw the projectorreviews site and all other display testings sites have still images as a count for their comparisions unless u have super sight that u can notice every detail during playback. thats beyond commentary!

[bouda78]

Fabricator ur rear subwoofer will do as the BUTTKICKER feeling to ur seat, also u can try to turn up the rear sub volume for more kicking feelin just kidding for more vibration effect.

[Fabricator]

Originally Posted by bouda78

Fabricator ur rear subwoofer will do as the BUTTKICKER feeling to ur seat, also u can try to turn up the rear sub volume for more kicking feelin just kidding for more vibration effect.

yes, i know. but, i would rather not have that box back there. and then the wires running to it. though, it will do for now.

sure would be nice if i didn't like my front subs where they are so much.

[bouda78]

Fabricator whats the kind of ur front sub woofers? they look professional piano black, very interesting

[Fabricator]

Originally Posted by bouda78

Fabricator whats the kind of ur front sub woofers? they look professional piano black, very interesting

DIY, with CCS 12" drivers. EP2500 & DCX2496.
that is just a satin black latex paint.
they look good, as long as you don't look to close.

[bouda78]

Fabricator 12" thats means over 300w rms (700w+ ) , also EP2500 1200w x2 !!!!!!!!!!! wow u can open a disco with that , DCX2496 10Hz to 35kHz so so deep bass, now i know why u say u have a cave, but u must watch for rocks fallout due to this super bass system , btw i think buttkicking thing will only scratch ur back with this power

[Fabricator]

if i could, i would have 6 15" drivers, 3 each side. with 1 ep2500 for each driver.
that would be about right for me.

nobody wants to make fun of my mount ?

also. my new filter element, it is working just fine. and i can recommend it.

[bouda78]

Fabricator with ur woofers dream u need u to get a pair of ear replacement

btw ur crucified mount is realy very clever idea but could it hold the pj weight easly because as i see its above ur seats and its dangerous if not.

[Rick P.]

Followed this thread for awhile now and don't have an 8100 (sat on the fence too long and now everyone's out of stock ) but most of the screenshots I've seen look like both the sharpness and colour saturation are turned up way too high. They can be tamed, right?

Rick

Originally Posted by finthen

Though I enjoy the picture of the Pro-8100 for it's color, "Pop" and sharpness it can be over the top and cartoonish at times which becomes apparent with some content more than others. End of commentary~

[Fabricator]

Originally Posted by bouda78

Fabricator with ur woofers dream u need u to get a pair of ear replacement

btw ur crucified mount is realy very clever idea but could it hold the pj weight easly because as i see its above ur seats and its dangerous if not.

nah. you never been to a ROCK CONCERT, or a NHRA TOP FUEL drag race (one of the loudest things there are to be heard).

that mount is plenty strong. i am not Fabricator, for nuthin.

[Fabricator]

Originally Posted by Rick P.

Followed this thread for awhile now and don't have an 8100 (sat on the fence too long and now everyone's out of stock )

but most of the screenshots I've seen look like both the sharpness and colour saturation are turned up way too high. They can be tamed, right?

Rick

wanna buy mine ? lol, just kiddin..... uh......em.....

i can't speak for the others. but some of my SS's are to high. some was calibration, and sometimes its just a camera thing. but, in my case, yes, they are tamed.

[yellowcanary73]

Originally Posted by Fabricator

nah. you never been to a ROCK CONCERT, or a NHRA TOP FUEL drag race (one of the loudest things there are to be heard).

that mount is plenty strong. i am not Fabricator, for nuthin.

Just nothing like a day at the NHRA race the sound,smell of nitro and burning rubber.

[Fabricator]

Originally Posted by beekermartin

I ordered the Power Gain material to try out.

how did you order just the material ? how much was it ? how long ago ?

thanx

[bouda78]

Rick P. u can decrease color saturation but for the sharpness this pj is too sharp, and i found it at here:

http://powersellernyc.com/product/vi...tor-23584.html

http://www.futurepowerpc.com/scripts...O8100&REFID=FR

[Dark Rider]

Rick P. Pictures will never do a pj image justice, because there is always going to be some color shift. Art made a comment in his review regarding the photos looking oversaturated, when in reality they weren't. Longer exposures especially demonstrate this phenomenon with the Pro8100. PCS does have the ability to oversaturate things at times (animated images mostly), but not so much from a color shift perspective. Instead, the image becomes more vivid, intense, and the colors have a lot of rich depth. It looks spectacular for some content, but can be a bit much as well. The good news is once user mode is tuned, it becomes much more neutral and can be turned on and off on the fly. The Pro8100 has more settings than any display device I've ever seen. Maybe I need to look into putting together a screenshot PP in DPP or Photoshop to deal with the color shift, but in person the image is spot on.

[Dark Rider]

I did some extensive testing of the Power Gain material over the weekend to see if the viewing angle between the projector and the focal plane had any impact on some user reports of sparklies/hot spots or textures. Here are my observations.

Vertical angle does definitely have an impact on the perceived gain, with narrow angles (under 45 degrees) having less perceived gain and wider angles having more (45-60 degrees) gain. Beyond 60 degrees, or what I would classify as pretty extreme angles, and you get substantial fall-off the further out you go. Note these are approximations only, but should be reasonable based on my testing. Keep in mind that the distance of your seating proportionate to the distance of the screen and the projector also effects the viewing angle, not just the height difference between the projector and seating height. It was helpful for me to draw a diagram, which I did a mock-up of in paint that is obviously not to scale, but will give you an idea. Notice that the reflection angles are not equal, and that the most extreme angle will typically be from the high point on the screen for those with ceiling or high shelf mounts.

So what does this all mean? Ideally, you want to keep your largest vertical viewing angle to approximately 45 degrees or less with this particular material to maintain uniformity in brightness. Otherwise, if some or all of your screen falls beyond that point, you will get at least some hotspotting. The perception probably depends on how extreme the angle is. I could notice it slightly in normal power mode at some extreme angles laying on the floor looking up at the image. However, none of my seating is impacted by it. I can tell you though that you need sunglasses when sitting on a bean bag chair on the floor directly in front of the screen (about 3' out) in normal power mode. At that position, I could definitely see sparklies, and the screen was too bright for my liking... probably the full 1.8.

As for the texture that some reported, I'm still not seeing any signs of it. However, the texture of the PowerGain screen itself is only slightly more than the CineWhite. I'm thinking that the appearance of texture is probably also at least partially linked to the uniformity in brightness, but may also be related to QC problems with the multiple layers.

My recommendation stands for the screen as being a great match for the Pro8100. The more content I watch on it, the more I like it. The only way I would be hesitant is if you perform my unscientific analysis and fall outsite of those operating parameters. If you have flexibility to move mounts or furniture, you should have great results though!

[bouda78]

Dark Rider very well info and for 3 viewers sitting at the same line next to each other wont have any gain loss , also for more viewers they can sit back with a higher position.
also if u can lower the pj lens to the center of the screen ull get more sharpness

[mgkdragn]

It looks like the deals on these have about all run out.. did anyone ever confirm that Viewsonic is going to keep up production..??

[bouda78]

mgkdragn all sites went out also viewsonic but did u try those:

http://powersellernyc.com/product/vi...tor-23584.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...4603&print=all

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...4603&print=all

[beekermartin]

Originally Posted by Dark Rider

Rick P. Pictures will never do a pj image justice, because there is always going to be some color shift. Art made a comment in his review regarding the photos looking oversaturated, when in reality they weren't. Longer exposures especially demonstrate this phenomenon with the Pro8100. PCS does have the ability to oversaturate things at times (animated images mostly), but not so much from a color shift perspective. Instead, the image becomes more vivid, intense, and the colors have a lot of rich depth. It looks spectacular for some content, but can be a bit much as well. The good news is once user mode is tuned, it becomes much more neutral and can be turned on and off on the fly. The Pro8100 has more settings than any display device I've ever seen. Maybe I need to look into putting together a screenshot PP in DPP or Photoshop to deal with the color shift, but in person the image is spot on.

How do you go about calibrating the PCS user mode?

I haven't used PCS yet. I think it looks very unnatural and oversaturated. I would like to tweak the user mode to see how it looks.