*Official* Optoma HD20 Thread - Page 33

My thinking is that if you can afford a house that has a room that is 23 feet deep, you shouldn't be looking at entry level projectors Then again 4' is a really short ceiling. I'm assuming you have all IKEA furniture in this 4' high room

He said the room is not that high just the space he has available for the screen.

Hmmm, here's how mine reads, I'll ask what the changes were from C001 to C002

HD20 (C004) Jul 9 2009
8051 FW Version C002

I just re-read that, that is one short ceiling

Tom,
I have same fw as yours. Optoma box sticker shows 1 of 12 units shipped from China to dealer in NY in July, 2009.

Please do! I have been having HDMI swapping issues (freezing when swapping after turning source off) as well as lines going across the screen being caused from keystone. I wonder if the reason why some have keystone issues and some don't is because of a firmware update that not every unit got that should have gotten... I'll e-mail optima about this and see what they say.

Optoma has been trying to let users do the updates so ask about it.

Can't hear it in econ mode....regular you can barely hear it at 3 feet.

Thanks for the info guys. I picked the HD20 because its the cheapest that I can find with 1080p. Its been a tragic month and the wife and I trying to spend a little money on something to take our minds of it all (not a healthy habit but whatever). But I can't spend too much so the cheaper the better.

After thinking a little clearer and using the calculator I figure I'll just get a screen. I got room for 64" x 114" in the room. The seating area is 23' away from the wall I was going to project on but I guess with a screen I can bring it up a little. I want as much viewing area as the room will allow so if any body has some suggestions on good screens for a good price I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for the help. I'm learning....

I have been watching this thread since early August because of the breakthrough pricing on this true 1080p projector. All the specs looked good so I was waiting for the reviews to come in. The initial reviews were very promising, although some had complained that the BL were "middling" so I was hesitant as to whether I should buy the HD20 or wait for others to become available in the next month or two. Originally, I had been about to by the Infocus X10, but had some concerns about it as well.
I was browsing a particular web site of a wholesale/retailer located in Kirkland, WA almost daily hoping they might begin to carry the HD20. Early last week, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the HD20 listed on their web site! That's not all. It included a 106" Panoview Graywolf II and free shipping for a total of $999. The cheapest I've seen the Graywolf II 106" screen online is $299, so, technically, because I was going to buy a new screen anyway, the projector only cost me $699! In addition, they included a two-year warranty. I just couldn't pass up the offer. I ordered it, but then had to wait over a week before it shipped. No sooner had I ordered it when the HD20 was taken off their web site. It had been on their web site for less than a day! I was worried that there had been a mistake and my order wouldn't be fulfilled.
The projector and screen came yesterday in perfect condition. I was afraid that the screen could be damaged in shipping, but the shipper had been very gentle with it. After removing my 76" infocus white screen, I mounted the 106" screen and waited until it was dark (my theater room has too many windows for daytime viewing). I must say that the HD20 is very small. It has almost the exact dimensions of my Infocus 4805 I'm replacing. I think the build quality is very good, better than my 4805. I've heard people complain about the lens cover, but I find nothing wrong with it. When I turned on the projector, I found that the fan noise in eco-mode is very low. I would say it's lower than my 4805 (I use a small table for viewing). I found the settings out of the box to be very good. I stuck in the Blu-Ray version of Coraline and I was VERY impressed. The black levels didn't look "middling" to me. I found them to be perfectly acceptable. I put in a 480p disk upconverted through HDMI and, while no where near as sharp as the true 1080p disk, was very clean with no screendoor effect. I have to say I really like the Graywolf II screen. I think it is glass-embedded so it has a 1.8 gain. It has a luminous quality to it that I really like so far. I haven't tried to tweak anything yet. I have been using theater mode which seemed to produce the best blacks for me. I might try some of the suggested settings, however, my gray screen might make the settings a little off.
Anyone still concerned about the black levels shouldn't be worried. The image quality is fantastic! I see no reason whatsoever to spend more for a 1080p projector.

Can someone recommend an inexpensive mount for a drywalled basement ceiling. It doesn't have to be flush mounted as I may need to drop the projector down an inch or two. I would just like an inexpensive mount that will work with the HD20 without any modifications being needed.

I tried searching the thread but gave up and thought this would be better than starting a new thread.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

For $15 bucks its hard to beat. I put the shorter down tube next to it so you can see how close you can mount it to the ceiling. Where I have the arms mounted is the, left to right, center of gravity. Its slightly off on the, front to back, center of gravity. It needs to go back just a tiny bit but the mount will not let you. Someone on this thread said the arms on this mount are not compatible and directly mounted the PJ to the baseplate, obviously they are compatible and where optoma put the mounting screw holes is nowhere near the center of gravity so you need the arms. I checked center of gravity by hanging the PJ with a piece of twine above my table and kept adjusting it until it was as level as possible.

Thanks for the info but now I am concerned about our ductwork that is now a soffit. The mount must be but up against the soffit.

Is this going to be a major problem with the HD20, or just finding a good mount to get the projector but up against the soffit and/or the back wall?

In other words, it now appears I need a mount that allows me to be flush up against the back wall and/or soffit.

Any advice?

My local Best Buy just got them in stock yesterday, but they won't have a demo version set up 'till September 23rd. Apparently they're going to do a lot of remodeling the night before.

I've noticed the past few days that the HD200x is no longer listed on the website of the large Canadian store that we cannot speak of.

Thats cause there all sold out, and cant get them in with pre-determined date, they have sold lots of these units here, Optoma was smart on releasing a entry level 1080p before everyone else.

May I ask how you know they are sold out (versus being removed from the website)? You would think the Canadian website would just state "sold out" instead of pulling it totally.

The reason I ask is I was searching around this morning and came across a UK website that stated they pulled the HD200x due to a large number of complaints/technical issues. I realize that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Likely the keystone / line through image problem.

Well it can't really go tight against the wall in the back. I have 7" behind mine. Holding the tape measure up there and eyeballing the clearance you need for the cables I say you need 3 1/4" inches behind the unit. This is just enough to not put a harsh bend in the cables. It could be smaller if your cables come directly out of the wall at the height of the connectors on the PJ.

The keystone issue is affecting the hd20 also, it can probably be addressed through firmware upgrade.

The reason i say they are sold out is because they have had a 2 week delivery on there site for the last while, they obviously have not received a shipment on these yet and they are probably not getting there expected delivery on these so they have pulled them from there website. A company does want to make money off backorders that allow the customer to cancel out on there order, they would rather have there customers buy a different product the same day so they can make money the same day. A sale today is better then a sale tomorrow. This is the logic most company's have. I'm in sales/marketing by the way

My cables are coming directly out of the soffit that contains my heat duct.

Anyone know of a ceiling mount that can be mounted within an inch or so of the back wall, and that are likely to work with the HD20?

Mine reads like above except it says:
C001


What gives? Also I wonder what the difference is in fiwmwares.

And where is a detailed thread explaining how to set up superwide???


Thanks

You could try the wall mounted mount from Mountdirect.com and just mount it high up on the wall. This will get you around your ceiling mount issue.

The guys were busy at Cedia later I'll get the info on C002 and how to get it. You need a 2.01 screen to make superwide work. Most will use a standard setup, super wide does cut off a 5 or 7 percentage of the picture. It's considered a safe zone but it's personal choice.

I don't mind the black bars of 2.35 and they are black with the HD20.

I somehow got the projector 'pretty close' to square with the sceen without using keystone. Don't ask me how I did it because I have no clue!

I tried tinkering with the keystone and noticed the lines others are getting. I'm going to avoid it for now.

Thanks for looking into it. Mine is C001 as well. I would be curious what the changes are and how I can get the new FW.

Good for you, but that doesn't mean that's the reason. I had heard something about them selling it as the HD20 in Canada soon, so that may be true. As of last week they had them in stock in our store.

My black bars based on your gamma setting are blackish grey but more black.

I use superwide on all 2:35 movies and it makes the black bars smaller. It does make 1:85 movies lose picture information so i turn it off for that. I'm using a standard 16x9 screen.


What is the difference with your FW vs Mine?

Now that I know what to do, it takes about 10 seconds to get rid of the keystone lines I have with keystone= -5.

What do you do? Just switch the keystone on and off?

When you power on (with lines) change the keystone value, then change it back to your desired value. So for me, I change it to -4, then back to -5 (my desired value). You'll be fine until the next power off/on.

This is an easy firmware fix. If Optoma has any kind of customer support, it shouldn't be very long before a fix is made available.