*Official* Optoma HD20 Thread - Page 116

Sorry, I don't have both projectors to answer that. But if you download the PDF manual of both from Optoma, I know the HD20 manually clearly gives the location dimensions and screw type and length. So you could then compare the two.

I have no idea what's causing this. I recently put in a new lamp but I took out and re-inspected the bulb and housing and everything seemed fine.
I also recently installed a new color wheel, but this was the reason I replaced it in the first place (obviously that isn't the problem)!
Can someone help me figure out how to fix this?

Well, I finally got some nice black out curtains to go in my living room and foyer. Now the image looks brilliant even in the middle of the day!

That issue is most definitely not the color wheel or circuitry. Since you are testing with a white background, you can clearly see the white uniformity. The only thing that affects this is the light source (bulb and housing/reflector), the light path (mirrors, etc), and the lens optics. Based on the type of distortion seen here, my first guess would be the light source. This minor of a distortion would not be something you would be able to see wrong with the naked eye when inspecting the housing and bulb.

My biggest guess on what is wrong with the bulb is a slight variation (very very slight) in the reflector coating and/or bulb location or bulb glass.

Unfortunately I highly doubt there is anything you can do. When you put in a "new lamp", I am guessing this is not an Original housing with bulb assembly. So did you replace just the bulb and reuse the housing? If so, it's definitely caused by that. Was the bulb at least an Original Manufacturer's bulb and not a cheaper knock off OEM bulb? There are huge differences in OEM bulbs.

Personally, I would call it defective and seek a replacement to try. I bet that even if it has issues too, the distortion will look different proving that it is indeed the replacements they are using.

That is my best guess of course. I could be wrong completely. But the distortion doesn't make sense to be anything else.

That coloration looks very similar to what I experienced when I replaced my bulb. I got one off of ebay without the housing, installed it, and noticed a rainbow colored splotch at the top of my screen. It wasn't as large as yours, but (and this may be due to your photos) it seemed more opaque. I tried cleaning everything I could touch with both compressed air and a clean cloth to see if that would make a difference, but it didn't. As noted in my previous posts, what seemed to eventually resolve the issue was running the projector on High Altitude, and over the course of about 3 weeks the coloration eventually faded to the point that it disappeared altogether. I run my projector pretty heavily though (5 to 7 hours a day), so it may take longer. I don't know if the fans eventually blow off whatever particles are causing the issue, or what, but that's what worked for me.

Incredibly noob question coming up...

h.t.tp://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-HD20-projection-calculator-pro.htm

Says that mounted I need the projector to be about 9 inches above the top of the screen I'll be using. Why? Still need to buy a mount/screen, leaning towards Fixed Elite and 4 inch from ceiling mount, however I'm wondering why I can't just project the image to the top of my ceiling (where I want the screen to go, covering basically entire wall area before the ceiling drop). I held the projector up as high as I could myself and the image appeared to project up there, but perhaps the image was a bit distorted and I didn't realize? What's the advantages to projecting 9 inches below and the disadvantaged to projecting same height level or in this case about 3-4 inches above the lens?

Yes, the HD20 is a fixed offset projector. So it will always cast the image edge a fixed % from the lens center. So with no keystone adustments, mounting the project flush to the ceiling will have an offset.

So if you angled the projector to move the image up, you will have to use the digital keystoning. If you are going to use a computer/laptop with the projector, I highly recommend not using any keystoning. But that would also mean for a squared up image; if will be down away from the ceiling.

Also, if you have a light colored ceiling, having the image close to it will cast light back on the image and cause the top to appear a little washed out depending on the scene of the movie or content.

Anyway, those are your only 2 options.

1. Tilt projector and use digital keystone. This causes the image to not be 1:1 from a 1080p source. It does a great job, but the affect is noticeable with a computer where the straight lines will not match the projectors pixel structure due to digital keystone.

2. No keystone. But then no PJ tilt. Then the only way to adjust image position is to shift the whole PJ up and down, left right, back forth. Keeping it square with the screen and parallel with the ceiling/floor.

I am currently using a 125" DIY screen with option 2.

There is a third option:

Tilt the projector up and mount the screen so that the top is tilted away from the wall (toward the projector) in order to square up the image.

Ah, that is true. That is actually the route I took with my HD70 and 100" DIY fixed screen. I had a low ceiling and the HD70 has a big offset. So I custom mounted it flat to the ceiling pointed the image upward. And then tilted my DIY fixed screen top forward until it was square. You couldn't even tell unless you looked at the side of it. No one ever guessed the screen was pointed a little down.

So you could do that. But it does require a fixed screen and that your projector isn't at either zoom extreme since you will need some adjustments for size in the end. This is a cool method and I forgot about it as my current ceiling is higher than when I had my HD70 and the HD20 has less offset so I didn't have to go this route this time.

Either way, certainly avoid keystone adjustment if you can help it.

Ok, my 2 year old HD20 all of a sudden started displaying distorted color images like many of the videos on youtube. I was also getting incorrect display resolutions and timings. I eliminated my HDMI, my receiver, and connections in general. After googling the subject, I found references here and on a few other places with the majority of opinions stating it to be related to dust on the color wheel. I concur fully...at least at this time some three hours after cleaning the projector and color wheel. Just a few notes for doing the procedure....after removing the 3 screws in the bottom of the projector, there are 2 screws to remove the lamp cover - I had a sticker covering one of the screw holes so I just poked through the sticker and found the 2nd screw. I pried the top cover off with a small flat head screw driver gently along the front, back and sides till it was free noting to only pull up slightly as there is a ribbon connector from top piece to the main body of the projector. What I discovered which I didn't see stated anywhere else is that if you pull back on the black piece where the ribbon inserts, it flips up and lets the ribbon slide free and reversely when you put ribbon back you flip the black piece back on the ribbon till it clicks thus holding the ribbon in place. I used residue free canned air to blow out the projector. Both the large and smaller fans were pretty dusty. For both I held the fan blade with one finger while applying a strong stream of air rotating one blade at a time till all blades were clean. As for the color wheel, I placed on finger on top to the wheel to keep it from spinning and lightly applied some air which dislodged a little over half the dust, turning the wheel slowly till completely rotated and repeated for both sides. Instead of using a Qtip and alcohol which I was leery about, I cut a piece of microfiber cloth about 1/2 an inch wide and about 1 inch long, I then folded it between a pair of tweezers and then place the cloth held by the tweezers so that the folded cloth covered both sides of the color wheel. I then turned the wheel slowly one complete revolution and viola the color wheel was completely clean of dust. Since microfiber is not supposed to scratch and I didn't like the idea of applying a possible harmful solution, I found this to work quite nicely. I also note as several others have that the "filter" located in the back corner was dislodged with the tape they used to hold it in place....REALLY?....I took some super glue and glued it in place as well as applying a thin strip of duck tape. As I say, after putting it all back together and ceiling mounting it back into place, I was experiencing no issues some 3 hours later. If anything develops, I will post an update, otherwise mission accomplished.

left a couple of things out...obviously after removing the 2 screws for the lamp cover I also loosened the two screws holding the lamp in place and removed it. Also had to remove the plastic focus ring from the front of the lens by gently pulling straight and with a slight side to side wiggle. Be sure when you go to put the ring back over the lens that you center the zoom wheel by moving a steel peg you can see inside when looking from the lens back to the center position....I found this out after mounting and had to take the projector back down to center it up.

Color issue has returned, so my problem is not just the color wheel. Also twice got 1080i 30hz signal when should have been 1080i 60hz. I'm due for a lamp change but really don't think that will solve this.

Well, if its messing up that bad, I'd probably consider replacing it.

I own an HD20 with 1250 hours of low-lamp-only use on the original lamp, in perfect condition. I just purchased an Epson 5010 for 3D and my HD20 is available if anyone would be in need of an inexpensive replacement. I'll be posting it up online very soon, just gotta dig out the original packaging from storage and get it ready.

Other than cost is there any advantage to buying a bare bulb as opposed to a bulb and module combination. Thanks.

johnf

Has anyone experienced display shift when going from 1280X720 to 1920X1080?? I have a dedicated theater room with a HTPC hooked up to play my movies. 1280X720 fills the screen perfectly, but when I try to change it to 1920X1080, there is a 4 inch black margin on the right side of the screen. The Windows start icon is off screen to the left. If I select 60i... the screen fills correctly. Is there any way (other than moving the projector) to output 1080p@60 correctly??

No. Having recently replaced my bulb only, the biggest benefit was cost. The bulb with housing will be easier to install though.

I'm running 1920x1080 from an HTPC perfectly fine (no margins). If I had to guess, the issue probably isn't with the projector, but possibly the cables. Are you running the PC and HD20 through a receiver?

Yeah, the only advantage is cost. Not only will it be easier to install with the housing included, if you get the correct Manufacturer's OEM lamp (bulb & housing) you also won't risk odd white uniformity issues that often occur with bulb only replacements and some cheap full lamp replacements.

I too am running 1080p with my HTPC just fine. Moving the projector would not help you as the image is shifted on the DMD chip.

I have mine running through a receiver. But my HTPC is using a dedicated VGA run to save on HDMI inputs on the receiver. But I also tested it with HDMI through the receiver with a laptop running at 1920x1080p and it works perfectly as well.

Are you using a receiver? Are you using Component, VGA or HDMI? If component, I would try VGA or HDMI. Are you using the latest video drivers? Also, many video drivers have the ability to set image shifting. Try shifting the image using your video card drivers while running at 1920x1080 and it should remember the settings between resolution changes and reboots.

The issue is with your display driver on Windows, not the projector. I only see this when using VGA, though (for example, from my laptop). Are you using VGA? HDMI does not have the same issue for me.

Hy Guys,

Today my projector had a strange problem, I turned on as usual and the projector took a long time to power on, few seconds after the logo of optoma appeared on the screen and the blue screen that I always use, was not present.

After successfully using the menu with great difficulty, because the projector is extremely slow to navigate the menus I change to English and managed to get the menu back to the original position, then put the blue screen again and the projected image was gray, turned off the projector and waited 10 minutes with the power cord out and doesn't work, after it goes off the projector stay with the green power led on, I've searched in the manual and google but did not find anyone complaining of this problem until now.

Thanks

Unfortunately, if it still exhibits the color issue after cleaning then the motherboard probably needs to be replaced.

Gotta ask a stoopid question - Is "flywheel" and "color wheel" one and the same? What exactly is the proper name for this part?

Thanks

Color wheel. A flywheel is a heavy wheel used to store energy. Most often used in cars and clocks.

For anyone having this issue, you need to clean the sensor on the color wheel. I recently went through the same issue. I installed a new color wheel that shattered. After 20-30 minutes I would get a green/purplish contrasty flashing (after install of the new wheel). Turning to High altitude mode, which runs the fan high seemed to alleviate the issue. I did some research and if you clean out the whole projector as well as the sensor on the color wheel it should be fixed.

The sensor is on the small green computer chip that screws onto the color wheel bracket. The sensor is the small black square thing on it.

Cleaning the sensor fixed my issue. Hopefully this helps others out.

That's what I thought but someone earlier in this thread was calling it a "flywheel". Thought that was kinda stupid but what do I know.

So, last night I had a few friends over to watch some movies. The projector had already been on for a few hours, but before I could start the first film the image stopped projecting. I thought maybe someone hit the off on the remote by accident, and tried to get the projector to come back on, but it was a no go.

When I attempt to power the HD20 on all I get is a blinking green light. I pulled the lamp out and noticed that there was what looked like a bit of black soot, like the bulb exploded or something, which is definitely not good. But the bulb looks fine. I swapped in another bulb I had laying around just in case, but that didn't fix the issue.

So what's the deal here? Is my HD20 kaput? Is this a mainboard issue? If so, how much is it to replace, and can I do it myself? I know that sending it in to Optoma for repair will cost about the same as getting another projector, so I'm not sure that's the answer. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

I need a favour from an HD20 owner.

Would anybody be willing to make an audio recording of their projector starting up in Eco Mode (Lamp Full brightness off) in a very quiet room.

I.e. from the time the lamp strikes until the fan switches to the lower speed about 1 mins worth.

With the recording device about a foot away from the projector and to the side.

Any format would be fine.

I have issues with noise and would like to compare.

Hope somebody can help.

Regards Dave

Can you explain the noise issue? You could get 10 recordings following your directions and all of them could and likely will sound different. Different volume levels due to mic and equipment differences. Different sound variations to the noise based on environment and mic type. Etc. Is there a certainly quality to the noise on your HD20 that you have a question about?