Epson 6500 ub, JVC RS-10 or Optoma HD 8200 - Page 2

Surely there are more than 1 or 2 people that have compared these 3 projectors in person.I am close to pulling the trigger on an Optoma HD 8200.I would like to hear a few more solid comments before I choose.Any first hand opinions would be greatly appreciated.Thanks.

I wondered the same. I decided to go for it and sell my VW200 for the FPJ1/RS2. I liked the night scenes so much I flipped it within a week and a half for the RS20. I am not looking back!

I have seen them. I have a JVC and it does very well with sports in its "eye candy" Dynamic mode. Plus it is superior for movie watching. Still though the Epson does have motionflow which does enhance football somewhat. Especially closeups of cheerleaders! I can't do DLP pjs since my Wife is very RBE prone. Have you seen a DLP pj in person before? They are very sharp and have a lot of punch but the colorwheel can be sensitive to some. Just a few thoughts...

I have had the HD8200 for just over a week now. I'm very impressed with it. the FI works very well. I'm coming from and older LCD. I was worried about RBE but I have seen nothing -watched the NCAA finals on it... Color is great, brightness is great, much better than my old panny. Sharpness is a key factor for me and this is great. No misconvergence issues with the DLP.

No it's doesn't have the ultra-blacks of the JCVs, but the ultra high ANSI is something to be seen. I use the "zoom" method for 2.35 with it, and I can't see the spill over light on my walls - so decent enough - my old panny would light up the walls.

Lens shift works well. I posted some screenshots in the screenshot thread if you are interested. We watched HD SNL last night while stuffing plastic easter eggs and with the lights on it was fabulous. (the PQ was fabulous - SNL stinks! Man has it gone downhill!)

Yes,I have seen DLP.My brother in law has an Optoma HD72.It looks good to me.I do not see rainbows.And he has had no problems after about 2 years of use.I am concerned with picture quality comparisons,features,and reliability,between the Optoma HD 8200,Epson 6500UB, and JVC RS10.Maybe the Optoma HD8200 has not been out long enough yet?Anyone with first hand in person comparisons please chime in.Thanks

Thanks Sandwedg.What size screen do you have?16:9?

92"

My advice is not to pay any heed to screen shots. They can make any projector look good or bad no matter how good or crappy it is in reality.

If you can't watch it in person, go with the opinions of well respected reviewers and forum members, but read as many as you can.

I would have to agree.

I have not seen any but the 6500UB (which i currently own).

However, I have demoed a lot of projectors. Some...side by side.

Each technology has a very different feel.

I personally like DLP...I like the sharpness and pop...idk...just my thing.

However...there is a great feeling you get when you watch a movie on a JVC. It is wonderful.

My 6500UB in my opinion is more like a DLP than an 3LCD. Based on what i have seen that is...

The sharpness is up there with DLP and has a great pop and wow....

I probably would own a pd8150 if i had the cash... and placement flexibility.

I love the 6500UB...perfect for what i need right now and in my price range.


Best advice is to go demo the three technologies before making a decision....

It is really personal preference....

also...dont count out 3LCD...because they have made leaps and bounds in the past 2 years...many people talk down to them.


Hope this helps...

-Ethenolas

My problem is that there are very few places to demo these projectors.And the places that do sell projectors either do not carry the projectors I am interested in or they do not have them hooked up for review.In the area I live in, the audio and video stores are taking a huge hit with the poor economy.There are at least 2 that I know of that have gone out of business in the last 6 months.So I do alot of reading on the forums.But that still doesn't get you a first hand experience with your own eye's.And that is why i have asked for someone who is more experienced and has seen these projectors operate in person to please send some advice.It seem's that these projectors must be very close in picture quality.So,maybe I should just choose one and be happy with my decision.Like I said any advice would be helpful.Thanks.
Robert

As promised, here are my impressions about the HD350/RS10 as compared to the 6500ub.

After an excruciating wait, I got my HD350 on Saturday. Immediately hooked it and fired it up. Fortunately it just about fit on the rear shelf I had built for the 6500ub. First let me give you an idea of my setup which is far from ideal with white walls and ceiling. The ceiling is more than 15ft high where the screen is, sloping down to about 8 ft where my seating is and where the PJ is installed (about 20' away). The screen is 106" D 16:9, a very slight gray (black flame paint on a cheapo motorized screen) and the side walls are pretty close to the screen. The screen gives just about noticeable improvement in contrast over projecting on the bare wall. I do most of my viewing at night and do have good light control.

Since I had not seen the HD350 before ordering it, I was a bit apprehensive about the oversaturated colors everyone had commented about. And for sometime it did look like my fears were coming true. Right ootb, for some material it would look ok, but for some others colors were looking just awful. I tried fiddling around with the settings (I have no calibration equipment whatsoever, so just trying to do it based on what I see), but didn't help much. Then I came across some settings someone had posted which were very different from what I was trying. Putting in those settings with a little adjustment made all the difference. Colors became much more natural and intra-scene contrast also increased. Now I could sit back and enjoy the awesome picture the JVC throws.

Since I had sold my 6500ub a week back, I could not do a side-by-side comparison, but I had the 6500 long enough to still be able to reasonably compare the two.

First of all - black levels. Even in my less than ideal setup, I can notice the difference. Its not night and day, but its there. The difference is more visible in darker scenes which seem to have more depth. In mixed scenes, the blacks look may be just a little bit blacker, but the brighter areas are definitely brighter. I'm now looking to improve my screen which is better in rejecting the light reflected from the walls.

But where the JVC really shines is in putting out a really smooth, noise/artifact free picture. Not that I noticed too much noise with the 6500, but the JVC is considerably cleaner (which you realize only after seeing it). This may be personal preference, but I definitely like the film-like and more natural look.

As expected brightness in best mode is considerably more with JVC. Finally a PJ which I can use in low lamp mode in my setup. The Epson was always used in high lamp mode and even though it was bright enough to begin with but after 70-80hrs on the lamp I had already started feeling that it was on the edge of being a little less bright for my liking. The JVC (currently having only 12 hrs on the lamp) is "uncomfortably" bright in high lamp mode (with iris at 3).
Of course, in the brightest mode Epson was wayyyy brighter and I had to use it with low lamp in that mode. Though, easily 90% of my viewing is in best mode so I would take a brighter best mode.

Another advantage of JVC is its pretty close to silent in low lamp mode and even with high lamp it is quieter than Epson in low lamp. Even though I was getting used to the fan noise of the Epson, its just so much better not having to deal with it. Also the HDMI handshake is among the fastest I have seen in any display. Its like 2 seconds as compared to Epson's 10 seconds (with the older f/w I had). Plus the motorized lens functions are definitely useful.

Epson was sharper than JVC in default setting, but bumping up the sharpness and detail settings a little bit on the JVC brings it at par without adding any unwanted artifacts (at least none that I have noticed).

To summarize the pros of JVC over the Epson -
- Smoother, cleaner and more film-like image
- Somewhat better black levels in my setup (most likely much better in an ideal setup)
- More natural colors (even though I did not have the Epson professionally calibrated, I can say from the "look" of the image it won't be able to match the JVC even if it were calibrated).
- No annoyances like somewhat high fan noise or long HDMI handshake.

The pros of Epson over JVC -
- Very bright in brightest mode.
- JVC is black and larger so does not blend in my room like the Epson did.
- seems to have just a little more pop to the image (though JVC is not bad either).
- Has FI (if you care, I sure don't).

So to the all important question - is the HD350 worth the extra price over the Epson. The answer is - absolutely if:
- you can afford it (not worth going over your budget, few things are).
- do not need the brightness of the Epson's brightest modes.
- prefer a more film-like look.

Overall I'm pretty happy that I made the switch.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I viewed the JVC HD750 vs. the Epson 7500UB and Sony VW-60 all in adjacent HT rooms showing the same HDTV feed (I know, not the ideal Blu-ray), for the record it was Discovery and D-HD Theater. To me, the Sony was very similar to the JVC in the feel of the image, just not quite as bright, sharp or punchy. So the comparison was really between the JVC and the Epson. Two things, the JVC was displayed on a 130" screen and the Epson on a 92", so, all things were not equal.
All I can say is if you haven't seen a front pj system in the last year or two either of these will blow your mind. The JVC was bright, sharp and punchy. The Epson was brighter, sharper and punchier (though this may have been partially due to the smaller screen size which would emphasize each of these attributes). The JVC definitely had better blacks with all lights off (it was also in a better room, darker walls/ceiling) but to me, the Epson was easily black enough especially in its darker theater modes and when you need the light output you can really call down the thunder with this one. One thing that blew me away about the Epson was how sharp it was...I mean, seriously reminded me of a DLP, so, I brought up the focus pattern on the Epson and it had very near perfect convergence and panel alignment, so it is possible (probably should've bought the floor model!)
As I said, I would be overjoyed with any of these (even the Sony) but for my use, in a multipurpose long-throw application with occasional ambient lighting and sports watching, the Epson does all I want it to do (and I can have the 6500 for 1/3 the price of the JVC) and it doubles as a very capable HT projector.

"The Epson was brighter, sharper and punchier (though this may have been partially due to the smaller screen size which would emphasize each of these attributes)."

Or wholly; the screen used w/the JVC is twice the area, effectively halving the brightness.

Still, interesting comparison.

"and I can have the 6500 for 1/3 the price of the JVC"

Maybe you've got a special connection, but for most people it's about half, which is certainly compelling.

pottscb got it right, if you haven't seen any projections systems in the last year
then your in for a pleasant surprise. All three of these systems are simply wonderful.
There's really no right or wrong answer. I owned a Optoma H77 for 5 years and loved it.
Got a case of upgradeitis, or should I say I wanted 1080p. My short list was the
Epson 7500ub the JVC RS10, and the Optoma 8200. And after seeing all three a number
of times, I concluded, there wasn't a lot of difference between them. Contrast, brightness
sharpness, their all eye candy. And that's my two cents. But for what it is worth, if you are
at all interested in which one I bought, email me. Good luck.