Official epson 6500ub owners thread

Well. Glad to see this thread backup. Anyway, I have a question. How long is the bulb life on the 6500? This is my first projector and I am unsure how long projector bulbs usually last.

Thanks

The bulb is rated at 4000 hrs, regardless of high/low lamp usage, which is the highest i've ever seen (usally 2000hrs). The bulb is also suppose to be cheaper than standard bulbs to. Win/Win!!!!

For those interested, I sold my 1080UB and bought the 6500UB so I will post my impressions between the two once I receive it.

epson owners or soon to be. I think ill pull the pin on a 6500 or 7500, im also new to projectors.
What screen company, gain and do i need a high contrast (grey) screen? The home is south facing, walk out basement with windows along the room.

I will do window treatments to block most or almost all the light. Give me something to work with.

Oh the projector will be 11 feet away from the wall, thinking of a 92 or 96. Thanks

I'm not convinced that the 4000 hr. rated lamp life applies to the high lamp mode because on page 36 of the owner's manual under the setting for the "Brightness" mode setting it says: "Decrease the brightness for dark rooms or small screens; this also reduces power consumption and fan noise, and helps to prolong the life of the lamp."

Also in the specifications sections (where it lists the 4000 hr. lamp life) of the owner's manual on page 66 under "Lamp" there is a note that reads: "Note: Lamp life results will vary depending on mode selected, environmental conditions, and usage."

hopefully we can get a clarification on the lamp life and power mode from Epson.

Yeah, I believe in the "missing thread" peteer01 mentioned there were two differences between the TW4000 (Japan equivalent) and 6500UB's manual. IIRC:

1. TW4000 manual says lamp life unaffected by usage
2. 6500UB manual says lamp usage counter starts displaying after 10 hours, TW4000 starts right away

Maybe there will be an underground market for super secret long lasting Japanese bulbs. In fact, I think I had some mail in my spam folder that promised almost exactly that, lemme check ...

The teaser review on www.projectorreviews.com indicates that this projector has amazing depth of field (3D). If that's with frame interpolation off then with it on we should be able to jump into the screen and join the action! I think this one will prove it was worth the extra wait.

People on swedish boards have started to get their hands on these projectors today. Seems very promising!

About the lamp. I dont know if this has anything to do with it but in sweden anyways this projector comes with a 3 year/2000h warranty for the lamp. I have never seen this before and maybe it is becuse they have a more stable lamp this time around? Just some speculating on my part here.

Sold my Z2000 last night , and i'am 99% sure of getting this one soon enought, now it's a couple of weeks without a display

That guy really needs a handiwipe or wetnap or something to clean up after himself after all that gushing over the 6500UB. Sorry, I just cringe when I read things like "3D" or "wow and pop" because those terms are nebulous, unscientific and often on the subjective side. This guy loved the AE3000 until the new girl (6500UB) batted her eyelashses, then suddenly the AE3000 became "lackluster" (his words). It sure would be nice to have a more objective side-by-side comparison of the two.

So I bought the Epson TW100, then the Mits HC5000 and the difference between the two was worthy. Now I am going to look at the Epson 6500 tonight, will the diffence between the Mits HC5000 and the Epson 6500 be wothy of the purchase? The diffence in lumens from the TW100 and the HC5000 was only 200. With the difference between the Mits HC 5000 and the Epson 6500 being 600 more lumens you would think it should be a major WOW.

to be fair he did preface the piece about the informal nature of his blog. just wait for the official review and try to appreciate his enthusiasm

Art said that he would be using humor and emotion in his blog...it's just a blog for first impressions. He also said that his official review would not include the humor and emotion that his blog did. I'm sure many AE3000 owners are not happy about the comparison he makes but Art is usually honest. He likes Epson for sure but imho he wouldn't put his reputation on the line unless it was an honest impression. btw, he also said that he might be a bit less impressed after a week of usage.

I'm deciding right now if I want to get the DLP w5000 or will the new 6500ub have the "pop" that I NEED to be happy with my purchase. Those are my final two options after four months of research. I like the lamp life of the epson, I like the "replacement" warranty of the epson...however I like the FW upgrades that BenQ has made to the w5000 and it's now a proven product.

I was all set to buy the w5000 but after reading Art's initial reaction I'm leaning towards spending a little more for the Epson. I've trusted his opinion to buy a projector before and it worked out great. I just don't want any buyers remorse attatched to this next toy for the HT.

Can't wait for some first impressions, some actual reviews...and I'm interested in misconvergence issues, dust blobs etc etc associated with LCDs.

Yeah, I didn't mean to savage the guy (Art). I did read his formal review of the AE3000 and I know the blog is more informal. I just get frustrated with phrases like "wow and pop" which don't really mean anything to me. I'm sure Art knows better, but oversaturated colors and execessive contrast might equal "wow and pop" for some people.

I might just have to order both the 6500UB and the AE3000 so I can decide for myself... unless someone knows a place in the Seattle area where I can see them both. The Epson certainly seems to have the edge as far as sharpness and black levels, although I don't think we're talking night/day differences. A longer lasting, lower cost bulb would be great too. FWIW, I'm looking to upgrade from a Panny AX100.

I am just waiting to hear form Jason...Anyone else hear anything yet?

The 2nd paragraph states that the 6500 was calibrated, so I would guess the colors weren't oversaturated.

And with regards to his gushing over the Panasonic AE3000:

From the Panasonic Review:

I think that's a pretty objective view of both units...oh, and he's referring to the Epson 1080UB, not the 6500. And I think it describes what he means by "Wow and Pop"

just in case anyone misses it at the top of the page, Jason's posted an update about the 6500 for those of us who have ordered from AVS:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1099411

just got mine ordered. Cannot wait to get it! I have everything ready and waiting for it. I was glad to read a good pre-review by Art. I have been reading his reviews as i have been doing my research and if he was impressed then i am sure i will be. this is my first projector and he has seen most of them.

Where in Ontario are you seeing the 6500 ?? Any info you could find out on when they will be available (7500 as well) would be appreciated.

I posted a comment on Arts blog asking if he was using Frame Interpolation while viewing movies. Hopefully he replies.

I think he must have been, the way he described it. He said it looked more real than film, etc. Sounds like a winner though.

Art

6500UB is the same as the European TW5000, right? I've got one in the foyer, but holidays are intruding

I would like to know as well. I've tried calling a few places and no one seems to be able to get them in till the new year...

I've got to wake up bright and early, but I couldn't resist the temptation, so I very quickly set the TW5000 up in my batcave. These are all first impressions based on fooling around with the pj for 20 minutes or so.

1) Man, the iris is loud and annoying. It makes a sound like a PC's hard disc constantly seeking, that soft rattling sound. And it won't stay still either; I was browsing the pj's menu tree with PS3's XMB (black) in the background and the iris was rattling on all the time like a machine gun. I could hear it from 6 feet away, while standing next to a first-revision PS3.

2) Blackest black is not very black, with or without DI. With DI disabled the gray rectangle was surprisingly visible on my gain 1.0 white screen. DI darkened it down somewhat, but the rectangle was still easily visible. It took the DI a while to darken things down, too. Using the fantastic AVS pattern Blu-ray and going from full black to full white was quite a sight: as the full white appears, the DI goes nuts and the image takes a couple of seconds to fully brighten up. White visibly changes hue as it gets brighter.

3) Pj defaults to "HD" color mode, with DI off, color saturation down by -3 and some Noise reduction applied. Interpolation is also disabled by default, but 4-4 pull-down is enabled.

4) TW5000 passed the infamous Hammock test clip with flying colors (har har). No posterization/banding of skin tones here.

5) Motion resolution with interpolation: approx. 600 lines.

6) Interpolation offers three strengths: Low, Normal and High. I use Sahara Blu-ray to verify pan smoothness, and all three looked pretty much identical, i.e. smooth as butter -- but with several nasty glitches during the credits pass. Interpolation also caused visible glitches in motion resolution test clips. I preferred the look of the 4-4 pull-down which stutters ever so slightly, but looks more film-like and more natural than interpolated footage. There were a couple of glitches during the Sahara credit sequence with 4-4 pull-down as well.

7) Interpolation cannot be enabled if 4-4 pull-down is enabled and vice-versa.

That's all I have time for now, it's off to slumberland for me. Merry Xmas/Happy Holidays, everyone!

LOL. Those aren't very positive initial observations. I thought the IRIS was "fixed" from last years 1080ub which I heard sounded like a coffee grinder.

I believe the European TW5000 is most equivalent to the North American 7500UB.

Anyway, I picked up my 6500 UB today. Set it up side by side with my tw-700 (therefore, experienced user of Epson here and very familiar with noise levels and DI noises....i.e. on the 700 it sounded like a hard drive reading and writing)..

Well, some initial good news and bad news. First, the good news. I have not heard the iris yet at all and I expected to. I stood next to it when it was in "normal" and "high speed" and did not hear it at all. Makes me wonder, really, if for some reason it was not working. Really, I expected "some" noise. I will have to dig into this deeper because at this point I am over-joyed, but doubting this observation. Also, this is much quieter than my tw700 as well....even in the higher modes like Living Room and Dynamic. I have yet to find a 'separate' and unique way to move the lamp from low to high, rather, it appears that like the tw700 the lamp is low for the theater modes and ramps up (as well as fan) for the brighter modes.....but, again, noise level is a big improvement. [edited: I have since discovered that there is a separate mode for lamp level so one can use it in low or high lamp throughout all modes]

Obviously, in the 10 minutes of HD-DVD King Kong I have watched thus far the black levels and shadow detail are major improvements...but this should mean squat to readers since I am comparing to a tw700 that has 800 hours on its bulb.

Now, the initial bad news...this unit is going to have to go back to Epson. Without studying it fully, I have already identified 2 dead pixels (show up as blue stars ... one in the middle of the right half of the screen and one in the middle of the left half of the screen. AND, I "think" I have a convergence issue. when the screen is black, and there is no source content, but the input source text is on the screen (e.g. "component 1") in the bottom left hand corner, then I can clearly see that convergence is off. The blue is shifted down one pixel and the red up one pixel. You have to stand near (not right on top of, but close) to the screen to see....but it is clear. Further, it appears to be more than just the bottom left corner (at least the blue shifted down one pixel part of that description) BUT, I have not had good source to look at this in every zone yet. I will need to see if some test discs help on this. right now, when I put something like a 720p Dish Network program guide up it is obviously not possible to detect, but with fine lines of white on black it is obvious.

[edited: after further studying this and using a BR DVE test disc geometry screen on an RS1, AE3000U, and mine, I have determined that there is no real convergence issue on my 6500 UB..its native convergence is just fine...a tad better than the best dialing in my friend could do on his RS1...a very slight tad less tight than another friend on his AE3000U (and this one set at same screen size)...but, the lines were a bit smaller dimensionally on my same screen size adjustment as his so maybe smoothscreen had some small effect. Anyway, to any who read this original post and said uh-oh on convergence, chalk it up as a premature concern that is unmerited. however, I have verified that I have 3 stuck or dead pixels (on blue) and i will be calling Epson on Monday to understand if this is within their limits.]

But, very prelim pq observations seem like it is going to be rock solid....but, I have not even calibrated yet.