*Official* Optoma HD20 Thread - Page 118

From their website:

* Projection screens are available to US residents within the contiguous 48 United States. We are unable to ship to AK, HI, PR, US Territories and international countries due to product size. (Oversized item, special handling required. Expedited shipping methods are not available.)

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If you do it through optoma's out of warranty repair service, its going to around $400 or so. That's the place I sent mine the first time the main board failed.

Thanks Arative. Somehow I missed this post.

Well I ended up sending the projector to Projector Doctor because Projector Central linked them and there were a lot of decent reviews. They had a chance to look at the projector and this is the description for the problem:



Its about half the price of the projector, and what sucks is I haven't even had this thing for 2 years and this is the second time its needed major repairs (the first time was under warranty though). I use this projector as more of a tv set alternative than a proper movie projector, so it gets some heavy use. I really love it, but I'm wondering if maybe I should invest the $400 into another projector that might be a bit more durable for the type of use it gets. I'm out a $65 evaluation fee if I don't get it fixed (its waved if I let them do the repairs), and then $30 on top of that for shipping. So I'm leaning towards getting it fixed anyways.

So... Any thoughts or advice from you folks? Jeez, this hobby is expensive :P

Yes and no. It used to be you pretty much couldn't even start with SD projectors under $5,000. While they still have ultra expensive projectors, the entry level is way cheap.

I use my HD20 only for theater and gaming. And I am a light gamer. So while mine if over 2 years old. It's no where near the life expectancy of it's original lamp hours. And so as you can imagine, I haven't had it break yet.

Sounds like repair would be a good option. Then you can have a good portable 1080p protector if you want, or set it up for lighter use somewhere else.

Yeah, I think I'll get this one fixed again. I'm thinking of maybe getting a second, cheaper projector later on as a back up... there are some pretty affordable looking 720p projectors that are 3D ready. Thanks for chiming in.

Ok, well I went ahead with the repair. Everything seems to be in tiptop shape as far as normal functioning goes. There was a bit of an odd email mix-up at first after I informed Projector Doctor to do the repairs; About a week after giving them permission they were only a few days away from sending the projector back (which would have cost me the diagnosis fee), but I contacted them again before they sent it back. Once that was cleared up, it only took about a week to fix and ship back. Anyways, the email issue aside, if anyone needs out of warranty repair I don't have any problem recommending them.

So recently I bought the Disney WOW (World of Wonder) blu-ray to do some calibrating with. I'm having some difficulty with the calibration (which I've mentioned in another thread), in that I may be clipping whiter than white and blacker than black, and that may be due to my source (htpc with 2 GTX 460s in SLI). I'm on my second bulb in less than two years. The original bulb didn't burn out, but it was getting pretty dim, so I replaced it about 5 months ago. As mentioned previously, the projector gets very high use which, no doubt, accounts for the quick lamp dimness, and the associated issues I've had. I don't know exactly how many hours I've had on this particular bulb since the "lamp hour" has been reset a couple times over the time I've owned the projector, but Projector Doctor did not reset the lamp hours after I received the projector back.

According to the service menu I'm running:

Display Hours 2774
Lamp Hours 823
Bright Lamp Hours 137
STD Lamp Hours 686
Normal Use 609
Abnormal Use 1
Color Wheel Index 286
Temperature 37

I'm currently running the projector in high lamp mode. Using the WOW disc, and using the Cinema Mode my Brightness is set to 60 and my Contrast is set to 40. In User Mode, the Brightness and Contrast are pretty similar. The Brightness seems pretty high to me, but I'm assuming that may be due to so many lamp hours (though I could be wrong).

Does anyone else here have high lamp hours? And if so, can you tell me how you have your projector calibrated?

Thanks!

So I've been tempted by the Woot! Hd20 refurbs for quite some time now but up until the last couple of months I have had not place for a projector. I'm interested in putting one in my living room with the idea of having my plasma on the wall and a screen that comes down in front of it when I want to watch a movie. From the little reading I've done it would seem that it's not going to be as easy as buying a screen and a projector and wham. Movie theater. For instance the placement of the projector seems to be very important. I have a 20ft long room with an opening at the opposite end from where the screen would go. I thought maybe I could mount the projector in the back and to the side somehow but it doesn't have the corrective ability to do something like that does it? And is it ok to be that far from the screen? I have a ceiling fan right in the middle of the room so now I'm thinking I would have to mount the projector from the ceiling and below the ceiling fan which means this thing is going to be hanging head level in the middle of the room. NOT the most attractive look for a living room. How might I educate myself quickly so that I can have a good enough knowledge of what I need to know to get this setup before I purchase without having to read through thousands of threads? The refurbs are up again tonight on Moofi and I was hoping to have this sorted out before I saw them again so I could jump on the deal. I'm just not educated on the matter enough yet though.

You may have a few options. First, you need to use the Projector Central calculator to see what range you can mount the projector from the screen. As you are going a drop down screen in front of your Plasma, make sure you are measuring the distance to the screen and not to the wall.

Drop downs (manual or automatic) are often 84-120".

http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...ulator-pro.cfm

Use that link for the calculator. Pick the HD20. Play with the sliders and such. You may even want to quickly find a screen you are willing to buy so you know the likely screen size.

With any luck you can fill your desired screen at a distance that puts the HD20 in front of your ceiling fan.

The term you are talking about is called Lens shift. The HD20 has no lens shift. Most DLP, all lower cost ones that I know of, do not have lens shift. And they have a fixed offset, which the calculator will show that in a diagram for clarity and the actual distance of the offset based on screensize and distance from the screen.

So the HD20 will need to be centered to the screen left/right. And depending on the height of your ceiling, you might be able to do a coffee table setup. For a short time I was able to use a coffee table that had 2 levels. The top surface as normal and a mid level for magazines, etc. And I just put an HD70 there while working on my screen and mounting setup. And if I had a complex ceiling setup, I would have left it that way. So that might also be an option.

So, run with the calculator. Pretty much all DLP projectors under $3000 will not have lens shift and a low zoom range. Making DLP in general more strict in placement. But an LCD PJ with good zoom and lens shift, like the Panasonic models, will cost you a lot more than the HD20.

Just had color wheel shatter. Called to Optoma to order a new one and it looks like they are out of stock until mid-June.

Any suggestions on where I can purchase one before then?

Will it hurt to run the projector with the color wheel broken, other than it just being black/white?

Thanks!

[quote=xenon2000;22063096]So the HD20 will need to be centered to the screen left/right. And depending on the height of your ceiling, you might be able to do a coffee table setup. For a short time I was able to use a coffee table that had 2 levels. The top surface as normal and a mid level for magazines, etc. And I just put an HD70 there while working on my screen and mounting setup. And if I had a complex ceiling setup, I would have left it that way. So that might also be an option.
QUOTE]

So if a coffee table setup is possible then it would seem that it's not terrible sensitive to placement. I am thinking of using a rolling cart that could be moved into position behind the couch when I want to use it. Does this sound like an effective idea? I may have to focus it each time but that's not too difficult?

Incorrect. I am only saying that I was able to put my HD70 on a specific coffee table and then I temporarily placed my screen exactly where the projector was projecting. I say temp, but if you have a table/surface that is low enough and your screen is high enough and the distance between the 2 is within range of the HD20, then that is a permanent option for you. Look at the projector calculator. It will make it very clear what the limits of the placement will be.

The only thing that can be adjusted on most DLPs is the zoom. And that is only so you have at least some range on the distance from the screen. So for 1 given screensize, you will get a small range listed for the distance. And at that point the screen and HD20 have to be in exactly 1 location in relationship to each other.

Update: And when I say exactly 1 location, I truly mean 1 location in the other 2 axis. The Z-axis is the depth, which the zoom will give you a tiny range dictating if it can work in front of your sofa. The other 2 axis are a fixed location in relationship to the DLP projector.

You would only be able to do a non-ceiling mount behind your sofa if your ceiling is really high. As the edge of the image starts offset from the PJ lens center. Which again is fully evident when you use the calculator link I mentioned.

Example. If you have a 92" 16:9 screen. You can put the projector between 10.0' to 12.0' from the screen. At 10.0' from the 92" screen, and if you are not ceiling mounting the HD20 upside down. Then the bottom of the projected image will be 7.2" above lens center. So if you put it behind your sofa and have it clear your heads, the 92" screen bottom edge would need to start higher than the HD20 which would also be higher than your heads. This would be awkward even if you had a high ceiling at the image would be way up above you. The 2-level coffee table worked for me because my sofa was way back and the bottom level put the HD70 only 6" off the ground.

Ok. I understand now. I think I may be better off buying an HD180 new from Costco and trying it out to see if it will work in my setup than to buy the $650 refurb from Woot and having to deal with potential return hassles. Plus Costco has 2year warranty. I just bought the HD20 a few minutes ago too. I guess I can cancel. Where are you in AZ? I'm in Tucson myself. Nice day today.

Absolutely. I bought my HD20 from Costco for those very reasons. It has now been over 2 years since then.

I am in North-West Phoenix. About as far North and West as you can go in the Phoenix zip codes. lol. It's going to be a great 3 day weekend here.

Ah so you live in South Flagstaff basically? ha.

Have you had any issues or have you heard of people having issues with the refurbs? It's almost $300 price difference after tax so I'm on the fence if it's worth $300 for warranty.

lol. Phoenix zip codes stop much sooner than that. Across the street is Glendale and above me is Anthem. I am near the I-17 and 101 loop junction. I am exactly the same distance from Tucson as I am from Flagstaff.

Well it would be $300 for the warranty and new vs refurb. While I have seen several people here with issues, I don't recall how many have said if they were new or refurbs.

I think the Woot ones only have a 90 day warranty right? If it was 1 year, I would go for it. But I am too nervous about spending over $500 for a refurb anything with only a 90 day warranty.

I bought mine from Woot just about a year ago and it is our every day TV. It is going strong and we have not had a problem with it. You really need to take your time and mount it perfectly though. I hung the screen first and used a string attached at the upper corners to draw arcs at the mount spot to find the center point where the lines intersected

The Woot ones are 90 days and 30 days on the bulb. The new ones are 2 years on the bulb and unit and I heard if you buy with AMex they extend it another year for a total of 3 years. The bulbs alone are like $250 right? And a few posts back is a guy with an estimate for $400 for some other issue. I'm frugal but I'd be bummed if the bulb blew. I think I'll get one at Costco and see how it works in my place. I can easily return it there if it doesn't work out.

Yeah, I'm the guy with the $400 dollar issue. I probably run the projector a lot harder than most here, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with my woes, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd pay extra for a longer warranty since I've already had it in the shop twice now (once under the year long warranty, once not). The HD20 is an amazing projector for the price, but in my opinion, (and this is my first and only projector) you have to take into consideration the price factors in the stamina of the machine. Course... there's probably plenty of folks in this thread who've had affordable Optoma's who've never run into any major issues over the years.

As far as the lamp goes, you can get a fully assembled lamp for as little as $150 something, and bulbs for about $100.

That's good insight. Thanks. I usually don't buy anything that isn't a great deal for what it is so the refurb units seem to fit the bill considering you can't find them cheaper. The measly warranty freaks me out a little bit though so I guess I'll hold off for now. This may be a case where the additional money actually gets you additional value so I'll ponder it some more.

Good to know the bulbs are not as much as I thought.

My bulb just blew... kind of a loud pop. The power light is flashing orange and right next to it is a red light. I can hear glass shards inside the enclosure. The fan was off after it happened. Could it be possible the fan burnt out causing the bulb to blow??

Please post your blown bulb experience so I can rest assured the bulb will fix my issue.

Thanks

Pull out the bulb and check that the glass on the front of the housing is still intact. Otherwise it could take out the color wheel as well.

I picked up an HD20 on the VERY cheap and had to replace a shattered color wheel ($78 from Optoma direct) and bulb ($85 from China).
I bought a cheap bulb as an experiment, because I was not sure what else the projector needed and didn't want to risk too much until I knew it was fixed.

The color wheel is actually simple to replace, so should not scare anyone with basic skills and a few good screwdrivers.

So for a total outlay of around $300 I got myself a nice HD20 to play with. Worth it.

Although I use an Epson 8700UB in my theater, the HD20 with a Neutral density filter stuck in front of the lens and properly calibrated came damn close!!
It's a capable little projector, especially if you can get the blacks down a bit. However, total light control is a must with the filter.

The small piece of glass facing the color wheel is intact, although their are a few small pits in it. Will this effect the image?? I bought a replacement bulb, cant see any reason not to just change it out... seems easy enough. Should I wear gloves when installing the new bulb? I think I read somewhere saying finger prints could degrade life expectancy.

You should be fine. No gloves needed, since you will only touch the housing. Err.... unless you are replacing just the lamp itself.... then YES, wear clean gloves!

Just replaced the lamp. Initial powerup is fine. But if the projector is on for a while... turned off, sits for a while (20min). Turning it back on I'm having an issue where the lamp will not turn on, the fan keeps cycling low to high speed... the lamp doesn't light up. I have to unplug the PJ and plug it back in. When the fan is cycling, the air coming out is warm, not hot.

Any ideas why its doing this??

It's possible that the projector needs to be blown out with some compressed air.

Just picked up an HD20 on Woot's deal last week. Rather than weed through all 118 pages of this, can someone advise the best mount for the buck for the hd20?

Funny - I just re-mounted my awesome HD20 to my ceiling, in my own design super-duper low profile ceiling mount



Cost, $7.00 for the plate at home depot. It bows a little, and not really complete, and since I'm also going to enclose it, I'll probably pull it down and make it stronger, so $14 :-) plus mounting hardware - 4 screws, anchors, and 3 M3's for the projector - about $5. - total $19 maybe?

If you're looking for something with more (any) adjustment, my first attempt was a Monoprice 3875 for unbelievably cheap, but not low profile enough for the esthetics committee. The Monoprice was excellent, easy to put up, decent adjustments, plenty strong for the HD20 projector that doesn't weigh very much. Most of the others I found are for much bigger projectors and way more expensive.

Perry

This is what I have. Solid, adjustable, great price, perfect for this PJ.
http://www.mountdirect.com/Projector_Ceiling_Mount_NPL_Series_p/npl.htm

Just received mine, mounted it where my old one was. Thanks for the rec!

Sorry for being a total n00b, but the image is either way too big or way too small (depending on resolution selected) and the zoom won't cover the difference. Does this mean I have to re-mount it closer or is it possible there's a way to adjust it in the settings?

So don't want to redo it and rerun all my wires LOL

I'm an Xbox/PC gamer, and can buy this HD20 used for $400, it works fine and is still under warranty.
Can this DLP projector handle FPS games? And movies? I own a Pioneer KURO, and know what good image quality looks like.
I don't know how old this particular PJ is, but I'm worried it might be "crappy just because it's from 2009, and was cheap back then" - is that a valid concern? What's the biggest shortcoming of this PJ?
Any advice is welcome.
Edited by Acid Snow - 7/24/12 at 7:57am