*Official* Optoma HD20 Thread - Page 65

Thanks hebe4.

I will try to see how it looks...

Thanks again,

I have had a HD72 for about 3 years now, it has been a great projector. It's time to upgrade to 1080P. Doe's anyone know how the HD20 compares?

Rick

I have barely used my HD20 and still setting up the theater. But I was using the HD70 for the last 3 years. Which I think is very close to the HD72. So far I feel the HD20 is pretty much the same projector but brighter and 1080p. Other than that, remote is pretty much the same except it is lit by an overly bright blue LED instead of the dimmer green one that my HD70 has.

Other than more resolution, the blacks actually seem worse because it's a much brighter projector. So I had to make a bigger screen and move the projector farther back with bulb on low to get the brightest a little lower. Makes me wish there was an lower bulb setting.

Again, other than more res and brighter bulb, looks like the same picture quality to me. But I wanted 1080p so I upgraded. Upping my screen size from 100" with the HD70 to 124" with the HD20, the 1080p res is nice.

Other than resolution, is there anything else you are hoping to gain by upgrading your projector?

Actually, what I was trying to sum up with my HD72 to HD20 comparison, is that if you have enjoyed your HD72 and primarily want 1080p and more brightness. Then the HD20 will make you happy. I loved my HD70, but I sold it with our previous house. So I needed a replacement. Otherwise, I likely would have just waited until 1080p 120hz 3D ready DLP projectors were more finalized and cheaper. I was that happy with the HD70.

xeon2000

Thanks for the info. It's good to hear that Optoma has continued their winning ways. Hpw does the noise of the fan compare? My theater is totally light controled, but when I am waching sports, I like the lights turned up. As for your brightness if I remember corectly as the bulb gets broken in some of that harshness will go away. Enjoy your new projector.

Now I wonder if that HD72 is worth anything.

Rick

The HD20 fan compared to the HD70 fan, seems just as quiet in low and bright modes. The cool down process is different though. On the HD70, you press power once and it cranks up the fan speed while asking you to press power again to confirm. The HD20 has a dedicated on and a dedicated off button. Which seems odd. But when you press "off" it does not crank the fan up immediately. You press again and then it cranks the fan up much higher than the HD70 does. So the cool down fan speed is louder than the HD70 cool down fan speed. I haven't timed it, but the whole process seems to turn off the bulb faster and then run the fan while the bulb is off.

Probably more detail that you needed. But the important thing is that during a movie the fan noise is just as quiet as the HD70. Which is great!

Just received a new HD20, was real excited until I mounted per specifications on projectorcentral (see link below). It was ceiling mount. Turned on the projector and image is displayed on the ceiling. I'm guessing it was set to be mounted below the height of the screen and I need to do the opposite (off the ceiling). Searched everywhere in the menu and found projection sub-menu with the following options: Front-projection, Rear-Desktop, Front-Ceiling, Rear-Ceiling and neither of these moved the image...just flipped it upside down....

I'm sure it's a simple option I need to set... but can't seem to find it. anyone hit this before?

Any help is appreciated

120" screen and HD20 arrived yesterday....

The wife was extremely disappointed seeing the MASSIVE box for the screen, which looked mammoth sized for the condo

Had a guy come in to install it this morning...

Just turned it on about an hour ago (only input i have right now is hdtv, need to buy a blu ray plr still).

all i can say is wow. Even the wife has retracted all previous comments. The picture looks absolutely amazing.

only thing i need to play wiht is reducing the red a bit, but not really a major issue.

btw... the fan noise of hte projector wasn't bad/noticable. I have it set on a table right next to my ear practically, and really wasn't bad.

i thought i would wait till i could budget for the sony projector 6 months ago.

Then found some info on the hd20, read 60 pages of this thread, and man am i glad i did this.

HD20 + 120" screen + taxes/shipping + sony 5.1 audio system still worked out to almost $1000 less than the Sony projector itself!!!

I highly recommmend this to any first time projector enthusiasts.

thank you for this thread, honestly, it should receive some commission for my purchase.

Are you mounting it top-side up at the ceiling? That would put the image on the ceiling. The pj needs to be upside down when ceiling mounted, with the lens centerline above the top of the image by whatever the projectorcentral calculation says. "Front-Ceiling" will be the menu setting. What mount are you using?

Always first refer to the projector manual. Page 46 in the HD20 manual shows you how to ceiling mount.

The Projector Central calculator is only a general reference for offset and distance for a given screen size and shows an approximate brightness. But has nothing to do with how to install the projector.

As already mentioned. Ceiling mounted for ALL projectors means the feet or bottom is towards the ceiling. So when you activate ceiling mode on the projector, the only thing it does it flip the image right side up.

If you are ceiling mounting the projector, your ceiling mount should have been screwed into the bottom of the projector, which would ensure you have the projector installed the right way. How did you ceiling mount the projector without having the feet and 3 ceiling mount screws pointed towards the ceiling?

The Projector Central calculator does not show the actual projector and the generic projector image they do show does not imply any projector orientation, just that it's near the floor or near the ceiling with a mount. Also, the calculator is just a very close approximation of where you need to start. Always use the projectors own manual for how to mount it.

Also, I give your self a little space with the mounting distance from the screen if you plan on getting close to either end of the zoom range on the lens. So you have room to minor adjust the size and focus. Again, it's a basic tool to help you determine the offset and about how large and bright the projector 'might' be at a given distance.

Very few projectors have lens shift, like the Panasonic LCD based AE series. With it's extreme lens shift, you can do a high shelf mount so the projector is sitting on it's feet right side up, but near the top of the projected image. You then just lens shift the image down. But most DLPs have a fixes optical offset above the feet for general table top use. That is why it includes 3 mounting holes on the bottom so it can be held upside down for a proper ceiling mount adapter.

The HD20 and other DLP and Optoma projectors like the HD70, are some of the quietest and often smallest home cinema projectors you will find for any amount of money.

As for the red. I am curious about your room conditions and viewing source video.

If your room has any ambient light. That will easily give it a red or yellow push. Also, the color of surrounding walls, flooring and ceiling will cause reflected light to push the color and contrast. Do you have any red or light colored walls or flooring? Just some thoughts. Hopefully you can adjust to compensate if you can't change the room colors.

what type of screen is everyone pairing up with the hd20? im thinking about going light grey DIY screen to get those blacks more inky. or the elite vmax 2.

Thanks.
Throwing at a distance of about 14-15', on a 120" screen. Watching from about 12' away. very little ambient light (watching at night + all drapes shut, no real street light seeping through). All my walls are white, and hardwood floors.....

one thing i am having trouble with.

I have my hd pvr connected through hdmi (still have to buy a blu ray player).

Anyways, every 5-10 mins, i "lose HDMI signal", it comes back within a few seconds, but it's very annoying to watch, then suddenly lose audio/video in spurts.

Any body encountering this? Could it be my hd box, cables, or projector?!?

Thanks in advance.

(note: my hd box goes thru hdmi to my sony receiver, from which i send output to my projector)...

Not saying this is your issue too. But I have seen this issue with poor cables or equipment that is not very sensitive or other causes of weak signals.

As a test, try 1 HDMI cable from the PVR to the projector directly. At least that cuts the troubleshooting down to just the source, the projector, and 1 cable. If the issue still happens, it's likely a poor long HDMI cable. Though it could technically still be either end still. But likely the cable. Now if it works just fine. Then you know it could be the receiver or the other HDMI cable.

Just a thought.

I am using a DIY stretched black out cloth screen. I used it with an HD70 and now again with the HD20. Blacks are ok in a dark painted room. But they could be better. With the extra brightness of the HD20. I would love a darker screen that gives me blacker blacks and still good dark details and highlights.

So like you, if anyone has any proven ways to paint a blackout cloth screen in such a way to improve blacks. I would love to hear it too. Seems all the paint ideas on with painting walls. I will search again. Maybe by now there are some ideas on painting a cloth screen to improve blacks.

Ok guys, I've read this complete thread twice. Once before buying and once after. My thoughts.

a. This is my first projector and yes I get the wow effect. I'm currently just shooting on a tan wall. My screen ordered from Ebay is on its way(white 1.2 gain). If I hadn't already ordered the screen before I got the projector I wouldn't have got one! I'm at 50 hours and love this thing as does my wife who was lukewarm about the idea.

(realize the rest of my thoughts are prescreen and I'll address issues raised during thread, used cal setting from earlier in the thread as I don't have a DVD for calibration)

b. Even though this is my first projector I'm very critical of video and audio. I've had several HD tv's and currently my living room has a 46" LCD 120HZ with Blu Ray. The blacks do leave something to be desired. While it's pretty good, often times during dark movies I find myself missing parts. Maybe its the lack of a screen or bulb not at 100hours but I understand what people mean when they say "entry level blacks." Bright scenes are awesome as are sports. But public enemies was rough in parts. Blacks kind of run together.

c. Noise: Not bad. I have a light controlled room but I do run with bright mode on. Still the noise isn't bad. I like the Home Theater turned up and don't notice it. My wife doesn't either. In econ mode you really don't hear anything(we are about 5 feet from the projector)

d. Picture: Well on blu ray its awesome. Xbox awesome. Cable, don't even bother with SD. HD channels are good. Upconverted DVD is ok. Of course my viewing is 10feet. So when you go to 15 feet HD and reg. DVD look great as well. I understand what people mean about when they say it doesn't upconvert well. I have it set at 100"

e. setup: Well, before I bought it I used the optima calc. to find out if it would work in my room. I did some geometry as I have some beams and knew i'd cut it close to get 100" at 12.7 feet with a beam in front and minimal keystone. It has limited zoom and mounting but with research and measuring you'll know if it works for you!

In closing: I've very happy with it. Of course now I'm curious what another $500 like the mit3800 would have got me!

Not bashing optoma here, but I sent my hd 20 in , here a couple of weeks ago , becuase when the projector is turned on , the right and left sides of the screen are not the same shade of grey , the right side has a redish tint to it and the left has a greenish tint to it , even with no cables at all hooked up to it.



after they told me they could not find what iw as talking about , I get my projector back , so I am out $50 sending it to them and Maybe another $50 unless they may me to have it shipped back to them.

well see how this turns out , the person that I talk to on email is very very helpful and friendly , but I MISS MY BABY PROJECTOR and I just want it back working lol


I keep you guys posted..


looks like im going to be without a projector for over a month , by the time this is all said and done

anyone use a painted screen with the hd20. otherwise i might go laminate route.

Thanks

I got a call from the Optoma Repair center in California today. They say their techs and engineers are fully aware of this and that this is an entry level projector. And that this anomaly is normal and there are no plans to correct this flaw.

Are they insane!!!! How can they release a projector and then claim that having this issue is "normal" and accecptable?

For those of you knew to this. The issue I am talking about that supposedly affects all HD20's, even with the latest firmware; is that the bottom 3-4 rows of pixels (I will confirm when I get it back again), will have a refresh delay.

So as a test to see what I mean, and I will make a video of the issue as well, is to display your computer on the HD20. I used HDMI from my Windows 7 laptop. Then take a window and move it from side to side and you will see a blurring or smearing effect on those bottom rows of pixels while moving the window in that bottom row area.

Will make more sense once I post a video. But when watching movies, it's easy to see it and be distracted by it if watching a scene where building or other long vertical objects and walking people extend to the bottom of the scene and walk/pan across left/right. Then you see that same smearing effect. Looks awful.

I luckily got mine from Costco and have 90 days to return it including my shipping. So I have some time to decide what I will do. If you have to keep the HD20, you can always crop the bottom of the image with your screen masking. Not too bad for movies. But for computer usage, you obviously loose some screen area.

I just can't believe they told me they call this normal and do not plan on fixing it!

Is this a common problem? I still have time to cancel my order. Doesn't sound like they are to helpful

I've never noticed it on mine.

And why should they kiss your butt on a 1k piece of equipment? If you don't like it then don't buy from them in the future. Vote with your dollars.

If you have slow moving scenes. You won't notice it. You also won't see it with nothing moving. But if you play games or have other computer, console, or movies with vertical items moving along the bottom, you will notice it. If it really doesn't affect all units like Optoma said. Then I would be happy to exchange it. BUT, if it really didn't affect all units like Optoma said, then they would know it's not normal and they would have exchanged my unit instead of looking like they don't care.

And for kissing my butt. I don't see how I am asking for the world. I am only asking that it not be defective. That would be like having a permanent line through your screen and the manufacturer saying that is normal and sorry. The HD20 I have and that many others have, are defective and Optoma is claiming that this blurring of just the last 3-4 rows of pixels is "normal" and will not be fixed. I will make a video when I get it back.

I really don't see how the cost of the projector allows a company's reputation to be untouchable for a defect in their "entry level" products. I had the Optoma HD70 for 3 years before this and loved it. But the HD20 I have is defective and Optoma says it's normal. Not cool no matter how cheap it is.

Not saying it can't happen but I've never seen that on mine. I would have just return the unit to costco and purchase another to see.

Seems a lot easier to deal with costco than optoma. I had focus issues with my first unit and ordered another to confirm my suspicions.
I think optoma may have a QC problem.

I would have just returned it locally to Costco and bought another one online from Costco if they still have them. But I didn't because when I talked to Optoma before buying the projector, they said the issue was resolved with the latest firmware. So I figured getting another one would likely have the same firmware and since the only way for a firmware update is to send it to optoma. I did that instead. But after they got it and saw what I was talking about. That is when they said "oh that... that's normal and won't be fixed."

I could try another one. But they said it affects all HD20s. So either not many others (I know I am not the only one though) are not noticing this issue or don't know what to look for. I am going to make a video of the issue and when I get the projector back, I will see if Costco is still selling it. If so, I will buy a 2nd one and return the 1st one to see if that actually helps. But based on Optoma's comments, it sounds like it affects all HD20s.

Hey xenon2000

I just tried this on my computer running windows 7 with HDMI and didn't get this problem at all.

I am eying this right now too..... pretty much decided to go with the hd20 over the other "lowcost" 1080p projectors and I hear they are all pretty bright. Looking at a gray screen of some sort to mute the brightness some but wasn't sure what was a good one to use. Was thinking a dalite or elite fixed screen (since buy.com seems to have some pretty good priced on fixed frame screens). Trying to decide on screen material to pair with it. Looking at a max of 100 inch 16x9 screen (can't fit anything bigger in my room)

I'd be interested in what type of material is recommended for the hd20.

Thanks for checking. I would love it if this is an isolated issue. Still odd that if this is not normal, why would Optoma not just exchange the unit under warranty and keep their good image?

I am still going to make a video of the issue once I get the projector back. That way it's documented exactly what I am talking about. Thanks for your input.

I wanna see the video when you're done.

You bought a Chevy Aveo with a body kit and expect Corvette ZR1 service. You think that would fly at the car dealer? I don't. I play 90% xbox 360 on my hd20 and I have never seen this refresh problem.