Optoma H79 review & screenshots

[guitarman]

Setup, 106" diagonal Dalite Mat White screen, Toshiba SD5709 HDMI/to DVI DVD player tuned with colorfacts. Comcast Cable HDTV tuned by eye.

Received my new Optoma H79 just in time for the Superbowl, perfect timing.

First off the first look at the H79 tells you it's super bright, black is still very black so contrast looks excellent. Plenty of Pop with the H79. My wife usually doesn't care but this time she says "this is the best picture image I've ever seen in my life". "Cup your hands and blot out the outer screen area and it's like you're there". This was with HDTV, playing the big game on Sunday.

I tuned the DVI progressive signal with colorfacts but didn't move much in the RGB area's. Maybe up 1 on the blue brightness and up 2 on the contrast red, that was it. So OTB for DVI the colortemp was very close.

I took a guick look at a couple of dither scenes and the H79 played them best I've seen with no ripples or contour dither. (Dwarfs getting ring & Gandalfs first staf light as the fellowship moves in the cave). The speed of the new chip makes for a better picture, also there's more upgrades to the H79 than just the chip. They worked on the Optical path and hand picked other components, each item helps in the final results/contrast etc.

Now for the good part, how it looks.
Enjoy

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79troy1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79troy2.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79troy3.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79glad1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79glad2.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79glad3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79glad4.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79glad5.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79superhd1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79superhd2.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79superhd3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79superhd4.jpg

Some cartoon color -
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79austin1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79austin2.jpg


Proof
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79logo.jpg

New shots -
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth2.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth4.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth5.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth6.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth7.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79dtheater1.jpg

It's ify using numbers per each machine and device but I'll give you a couple. A problem though is I calibrate in the service menu, but maybe not a problem since using my service numbers will better give you a shot at a match.

Both signals tuned with colorfact to D65k, tuned up to the limited color.

DVI progressive I use a Bravo D2 at 720p.

First Service area

ADC
R gain 188
G gain 191
B gain 187

R offset 43
G offset 54
B offset 46

Picture
Gain R 155
Gain G 139
Gain B 136

Bias R 109
Bias G 113
Bias B 113

Second User area
Cinema
Contrast 9
Brightness -1
Sharp 3
gamma 1

Image mode
White peak zero
CT 2
Image TV

Advanced Adjusments
R contrast 9
G contrast 6
B contrast 2

R brightness -10
G brightness 0
B brightness 0


Now Analog progressive from a Denon 1600
First Service area

ADC is identical to the numbers above for DVI.

Picture
gain R 127
gain G 124
gain B 128

bias R 121
bias G 120
bias B 116

User settings
Cinema
contrast -18
brightness 2
color 10
sharpness 3
gamma 3

image
white peak zero
CT 2
Image mode Film

Advanced all at zero


That's it, pls don't examine other areas of the service menu you'll be ok with just looking at ADC and Picture. There's a pandora's box in there and examining certain area's can cause you a problem. Write down all your original service Picture & ADC numbers. Remember just stay with ADC & Picture.

To get in the service menu
Looking from the back of the PJ to the front, the four buttons in a row, hit the left two buttons and the right buton at the same time. You can use your remote to move in the service area, menu and enter buttons will take you in and out of service functions, to exit there's an exit Icon at the bottom.
Pheww! it's tuff doing this numbers thing. If you give it a try lmk how it went?

__________________
Tom/guitarman

[GetGray]

WooHoo! It's alive! Anxiously awaited this post Tom. Thanks for the great shots. Other than the obvious DarkChip3 enahncement, have you noticed any other changes yet? Does it:

a) Have the same remote (I'm watchin out for those desirable discretes)
b) Have the same or similar service menu?
c) Have that same super quiet chassis?
d) same optics (throw range, shift range)?
e) DVI input?
f) any new digital inputs?

And have you noticed any change in the syncing setup or the syncing speed when changing sources?

Picts look great, I'm super envious! Those HD shots are sweeet. I look forward to seeing more about it. Can't wait until it's available!! Cheers, Scott

[guitarman]

Scott,
Remotes the same, syncing is the same. I find it best to have sync lock on and than hit the discreet button for the planned signal rather than wait for the PJ to figure it out. Didn't time it but will, seems to take about 5secs.

Mostly evertythings the same menu/chassis, optics, inputs. Except in the service are there's a CWI 50hz and a CWI60hz. I assume they're geared up for PAL.

I think the big change is the speed of the mirrors helping out those hard to render dither scenes. Very noticable difference there.

[SpecialK-MD]

Awesome review. I didn't know it was released yet. Or is it? Did you get an advance unit or are they available for purchase?

[GetGray]

Very cool. Thanks again, Drooling here....

[bdavidson]

Did you notice any difference in fast pans from the H77 to the H79?

Brad

[guitarman]

Originally posted by SpecialK-MD
Awesome review. I didn't know it was released yet. Or is it? Did you get an advance unit or are they available for purchase?

Main batch is set for two weeks from now or less. The first batch was for installers though I'm not an installer just an enthusiast. I like the white finish on this one especially the bold Dark Chip 3 written on the top.

[guitarman]

Originally posted by bdavidson
Did you notice any difference in fast pans from the H77 to the H79?

Brad

I don't know what to tell you really. Pans looked ok for me with the H77, it was the wavy dither contouring lines on those odd scenes that I did notice. Like when I played your Dwarf ring scene it just looked smooth and blurry like on a small tube TV. And the Gandalf's light Cavern scene all the moving Fellowship players looked smoother without the waves.

Ok if you think about it being these other scenes are fixed up it probably helps the overall panning also.

[GetGray]

Originally posted by guitarman
I like the white finish on this one

My H77 was white, too. Was your's the Beige case? I'm assuming your H79 is the same white as my H77, think?

[guitarman]

My 77 is Silver. The first handful were Silver before they decided white would be best.

I think the H79 looks noticeably better in the screens shots from the H77. The H77 is nice but you can surely see the difference. Like in the HDTV shots.

H77
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h77hd1.jpg

H79
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79superhd1.jpg

[Craig Peer]

I am assuming that the fact I can't open your photos is a sign from God that I should not spend any more money on Home Theater - at least for the next 90 days! Other than that - great review!

[guitarman]

Yeah me too. I was wondering when my server company would blow a gasket. Four or five review threads with pictures just did the trick. I guess I'll be getting a call.

[Phil_Johnson]

Thanks for the first look of the H79 Tom. I did see it at CES and really liked it. I wish I could compare it to the H77, do you think it is worth the extra money over the H77. I don't know if I should take a good deal on a H77 or wait for the H79.
I'd like to use it with a 126 to 133 inch screen in a light controlled room, so the extra brightness of the 79 might help.

thanks
Phil

[guitarman]

Is it worth it that has to be up the buyers. Yes there's a nice difference, you have to figure what's it worth to you. Kind of a big screen, better get a high output model because when the bulbs get half old there's quiet a drop in brightness.

Have to add, there's more to the H79 than just the new chip. They worked on the optical path and hand picked some other components. This all works together to produce the increased quality of the image.

[Craig Peer]

OK - now those screen shots are working!!

[TheFerret]

Its too bad no one that I know of locally carrys the Optoma brand.

[GetGray]

Originally posted by TheFerret
Its too bad no one that I know of locally carrys the Optoma brand.

Margins are too low, no controlled internet sales. Can't pay salespeople bills. Need Marantz, Infocus, etc. to do that. I expect. But that's a good thing if you like lower prices, bad thing if you'd like to have a healthy local guy to show them. If I manage to get one, you are welcome to come see it. Depends on which GA swamp you're in as to distance I suppose. Still yet to see what the street price for these will be. Anxiously awaiting. Maybe know something soon. Wish I was a patient as Craig. After my next PJ purchase, I'm gonna get a differnt hobby and see if that helps , maybe collecting wine, or flying airplanes. That ought to be less expensive. Yeah that's it....

[daggerNC]

Tom - nice snag getting one so early. Waiting to see more Colorfacts result details (got some D65 grayscale pics with dE numbers, on/off CR?). Can you comment on the fan noise level and any changes in RBE (worse, same, better)?

Cheers,
dagger

[TomHuffman]

To emphasize dagger's comment, is there a reason that, having Colorfacts, you chose not to post any objective data?

-lumen output
-on/off CR
- grayscale tracking
- color decoder accuracy

[krasmuzik]

TomHuffman

Do you mean color primary/secondary accuracy rather than video decoding accuracy? I knew SpyderTV consumer version has the colorbars measurements - are they adding them to ColorFacts?

[danielo]

Originally posted by krasmuzik
TomHuffman

Do you mean color primary/secondary accuracy rather than video decoding accuracy? I knew SpyderTV consumer version has the colorbars measurements - are they adding them to ColorFacts?

My main question is darkchip3 should have more light output by alot, what happend to that . Did they tune it back to the same 900 ansi or is the ansi number more 'real' this time or did they trade it for more bulblife by running it a lower voltage ?

All other dc3's seem to result in more lightputput sofar.

Daniel.

[TheFerret]

Scott (scotthorton), I do not see Optoma as being any different than Benq, yet even with the accepted zero dealers in the city of five million people of Atlanta I cannot find a single soul that even owns a unit. So, without a dealer or an owner it makes a case only to those willing to entertain blind purchases. And unless the selling agent has a 30-day, 20-hour, 100% money-back return policy ... I fear the lanscape in Atlanta isn't going to change at all. BTW, what is the list on this unit?

[GetGray]

Originally posted by TheFerret
Scott (scotthorton), I do not see Optoma as being any different than Benq, yet even with the accepted zero dealers in the city of five million people of Atlanta I cannot find a single soul that even owns a unit. So, without a dealer or an owner it makes a case only to those willing to entertain blind purchases. And unless the selling agent has a 30-day, 20-hour, 100% money-back return policy ... I fear the lanscape in Atlanta isn't going to change at all. BTW, what is the list on this unit?

Yes, I know what you mean. I had to get my H77 blind, based only on other's subjective opinions and sometimes conflicting reviews. I was real nervous about it, but in th eend was mostly happy with it. As for MSRP, hell, I can't tell. I think the best answer I remember was that it would be $1K more than the MSRP on the H77. But that MSRP is moving so fast, I have no idea what the MSRP on the H79 will be. I think at one point the MSRP for the H77 was $10.9k but the street prices were WAY under that when it was new. So maybe the H79 is $11.9K MSRP. Who knows what it will really sell for. Maybe I'll get lucky and the H79 MSRP will be $1k over the current H77 MSRP. Not holding my breath. But in any event, hope to find out soon.

[guitarman]

Pretty sure the msrp is $10,000. My guess on discounted prices will be around $7,000 give of take a couple of hundred. If I guess right what do I win?

Oh I didn't post colorfacts items because I'm new to the program and mainly just go right to tunining. Infact I know I can get the picture/contrast better because I did run and save a first grayscale and my gamma was at about 2.90, way too high. Can't do CR readings with a color meter so I bought a light meter which I should get Thursday. Plenty of time for that stuff.

[guitarman]

Here you go I just did a re-tune with a higher start out gamma of 3 instead of the lowest gamma 1. Wing told me this would get my after grayscale gamma down, which it did but not enough yet. Here's the charts.

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79cie.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79luminance.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79rgbhistogram.jpg

I tell you one thing that gamma drop from 2.90 to 2.45 really helped the contrast for DVD. I watching The Fifth Element to check and contast/colors look excellent. Allot better than before. I used the Tri-chromat this time and it still bugs be aiming it at the projector. I'll take a couple of FE shots to show you what's happend.

[drtunes]

[quote]Originally posted by guitarman
[b]Pretty sure the msrp is $10,000. My guess on discounted prices will be around $7,000 give of take a couple of hundred. If I guess right what do I win?

Tom: Find it hard to believe that people would pay 3k more for the 79
with the 77's now going for 4K

[guitarman]

Jmo 3k isn't much at this stage of the game for a better picture. The 3k to upgrade will probably be similar to the other Dark Chip 3 models coming out except the Seleco and Marantz.

Here's the Fifth Element shots after tuning to get the gamma down.

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth2.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth4.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth5.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth6.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/h79fifth7.jpg

The H79 looks great OTB but the pictures show the worth of having the colorfacts program. Looks pretty nice

[krasmuzik]

Still needs more practice Tom!

The gamma curve is S-shaped rather than a smooth curve - your mid-reds are pumped up but the bright reds are drained.

What I do to survey the box is plot the different gammas to see which one fits the curve the smoothest. 2.5 is the reference but some people like 2.2. Start with that one then find the color temperature that is closest to D65 at 60 or 80 IRE by simply flipping thru your choices - no need to do greyscale at this step unless you think they are not flat. If you do the RGB adjustment at 100IRE then you can see if you are clipping (either with DisplayMates (Not ColorFacts) color steps - or by watching the RGB histogram to see if it fails to change)

I recall you pumped up the red - and I bet you did it at 80IRE because it matches there - but then when it moves to 100IRE it needs more red but you used it all up at 80. I know some people will ruin the temp at 100IRE to maximize contrast - but I hate that method as it is very noticeable in cloud highlites.

Also is your CIE chart dead perfect? Or did you just not plot the reference HD points?

[darinp2]

Tom,

Do you know if the H79 will take 1280x720@48Hz?

Thanks,
Darin

[guitarman]

Hi Kras, CIE yes I saw that. That is the result after the grayscale check. It was a pressed for time run, I just flipped back and forth between 80ire and 40ire never looked inbetween. I was in a hurry just to see my gamma come down from 2.90 which it did. Thanks for the input I could use all the help.

Darin I asked about the 48Hz with the H77, the Engineer said not likely. The H79 is faster and does have two colorwheel index adjustments in the service menu, 50Hz & 60Hz so maybe. I'll ask Wing next time.