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Optoma HD65 Problems

post #1 of 16
8/12/09 at 10:18pm
Thread Starter 
Hi I apologize in advance if this problem has already been addressed but I am new to the boards but heard this is the absolute best place to come for any advice from the experts. So now to the problem...

I just recently purchased an Optoma HD65 projector and it connects to my AT&T U-Verse Box for television through the YPbPr source. My audio is connected to a Harmon Kardon HK3390 amp and Bose In-Wall speakers (not sure that even matters). The problem is, while I'm watching tv the projector randomly loses connection to the source, the audio of the television stays on but the screen turns to blue while it is searching for the source and eventually (3 seconds max) clicks back to video. Typically I wouldn't mind a few random blue screens but recently it has been happening 10+ an hour.

I have checked to make sure it's not just a loose connection to the box but the cords are all securely fastened. Any ideas on what the problem could be? Thanks in advance for putting up with my novice explanations.
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post #2 of 16
8/12/09 at 11:45pm
How are you connecting your video and what cables are you using? Is it HDMI, Component, DVI, etc... Are you passing the video through your receiver or directly into the projector from the source, (AT&T U-Verse Box)? How long is the video cable you are using to connect to the projector?
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post #3 of 16
8/13/09 at 10:40am
As you've surmised, the audio is completely separate and not relevant to picture issues with component signals. And, you should be seeing zero random blue screens. It's not normal, indicates a problem somewhere, and you shouldn't have more than one of them at the beginning, or when switching sources, once your problem is dealt with.

It's more than likely a cable problem, IMHO. The projector is loosing sync (obviously), which is carried in the (Y) component cable, along with luminance information. The other two cables (Pb..blue & Pr..red) carry color information only. The machine can't 'hold sync' unless the sync signal is stable in the Y cable, so if it's flaky, for whatever reason, one can wind up with the problem you're seeing.

A simple way to see if it's the cable is to swap the connections around. Remember that all three cables are generally identical, the difference is the color of the plugs on the ends.

Let's isolate the problem by trying another plug in the Y jack. (It's not necessary that the PJ be off when swapping input connections around, in case you're not aware. Far better to leave it on than to switch it off and on repeatedly.)

So, unplug all component connections on both ends. Then, plug either the Pb or Pr plug into the Y jacks (use the same color plug on both ends, of course). Leave the Pb and Pr jacks empty. You should now have a glorious black-and-white picture , assuming this cable isn't faulty also. Watch a while and see if the picture remains stable. If it does, you likely need a new component cable.
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post #4 of 16
9/1/09 at 1:29am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, now I realize how stupid that question was.

Now for a trickier question... Over the past few weeks I have been reading the boards and tweaking my settings to get the best picture possible. After making far too many mistakes with my gain/bias, my only thought was to reset to factory settings and start from scratch. After i reset the projector it now doesn't offer the feature of color and tint under the image settings. Additionally, it now will only play my direct tv hd channels as high as 720p and when i try to change my tv resolution to 1080i (like i had it on prior to resetting) it loses connection to the source. Any ideas on what is the problem? Thanks in advance
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post #5 of 16
9/1/09 at 3:31am
I don't own a 65, but I do know you should only be sending it 720p anyways, to avoid using the projectors scaling, causing signal degradation.
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post #6 of 16
9/1/09 at 4:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pmdollar90 View Post

After i reset the projector it now doesn't offer the feature of color and tint under the image settings.

How do you have the HD65 connected to your source? I believe that over HDMI you can't adjust the color and tint. Component you can. Of course, I could be wrong. What is your setup (source/cables/etc.)?
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post #7 of 16
9/1/09 at 10:48am
Thread Starter 
The HD65 is connected to a HDMI hub which runs to the back of my direct tv box and a blu ray player. I tweaked with my direct tv settings (1080i + strectched resolution) some more and managed to keep the signal at 1080i but the picture doesn't look all that great. Instead of just messing with it some more, i would like some opinions on what gets the best picture watching tv. I can have resolution up to 1080i but I also know that 720p is native. Also what about blu ray player resolution?
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post #8 of 16
9/1/09 at 11:40am
720p projector set all devices to 720p if you can. About TV, standard TV I would try not to use overscan, delete the white noise on the top with the edge mask or digital vertical shift, use native if you can.
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post #9 of 16
9/1/09 at 11:50am
Well a direct TV box probably doesn't scale as well as the HD65 does, so I would set the direct tv box to outputting a native signal if possible.
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post #10 of 16
9/1/09 at 9:43pm
Thread Starter 
okay great thanks for all of the helpful advice. I feel so spoiled dedicating a thread to my lack of knowledge in this field. I have one other minor question though that relates to more of the audio field. I have harmon kardon hk3390 connected to definitive 7004 BP speakers. Anyways, I was wondering how you can tell the loudest it can reach without blowing them out. I play it safe (between -24 db and 38) but I was wondering where you can find this info online. Thanks
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post #11 of 16
9/28/09 at 10:04pm
Hi all,

My old HD70 died on me one too many times so I used my BB product replacement plan to change/upgrade to a new HD65. I've had it for a few weeks now and since day one I've been having the same problem the OP was having.

To be more specific, while I'm watching TV the projector will randomly lose the source and will go to the blue "Searching" screen. The audio stays on, I only lose the picture. I've set source lock to "On" so it finds the source again pretty quickly (1-2 seconds). Up until now it's only been a minor annoyance. It loses the source when going between some commercials and when I'm watching a show where the image on the screen quickly and drastically changes from one scene to the next. Up until last week I only noticed this on shows like CSI where they make use of flashbacks.

However, tonight I watched the first episode of FlashForward on my DirecTV DVR and the show was completely unwatchable. Whenever they showed one of the characters' flashes the screen would essentially lose the source, go blue, and be in searching mode for like five seconds because of the constant flashes. I had to pause the show every time it lost source so that I could see what the heck was happening in the flash forwards. Very, VERY annoying.

I saw this thread earlier this month and I did everything that Ron Yost suggested (i.e., changing cables). I rearranged the red/blue/green connectors I was using to make sure one of the connectors wasn't loose or defective. I also changed to a brand new component cable altogether. Neither solution fixed my problem. I haven't tried changing to HDMI yet because I don't have a spare HDMI cable lying around, but that wouldn't solve my problem anyway because I need to connect my DirecTV receiver via component rather than HDMI.

I read somewhere (not sure if it was this forum) that the HD65 is particularly sensitive to scene changes and will lose connection like mine does, but this is ridiculous. It can't possibly be THIS sensitive for everyone, can it? Do I have a defective unit? Is there something I can do to fix this problem myself?
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post #12 of 16
9/30/09 at 8:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwlaw99 View Post

Well a direct TV box probably doesn't scale as well as the HD65 does, so I would set the direct tv box to outputting a native signal if possible.

Forgetting all the other issues present here (bad cables/flaky interfaces/display format), I would NOT make this assumption. It certainly isn't true in my experiences.
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post #13 of 16
9/30/09 at 11:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by goodrev05 View Post

Hi all,

My old HD70 died on me one too many times so I used my BB product replacement plan to change/upgrade to a new HD65. I've had it for a few weeks now and since day one I've been having the same problem the OP was having.

To be more specific, while I'm watching TV the projector will randomly lose the source and will go to the blue "Searching" screen. The audio stays on, I only lose the picture. I've set source lock to "On" so it finds the source again pretty quickly (1-2 seconds). Up until now it's only been a minor annoyance. It loses the source when going between some commercials and when I'm watching a show where the image on the screen quickly and drastically changes from one scene to the next. Up until last week I only noticed this on shows like CSI where they make use of flashbacks.

However, tonight I watched the first episode of FlashForward on my DirecTV DVR and the show was completely unwatchable. Whenever they showed one of the characters' flashes the screen would essentially lose the source, go blue, and be in searching mode for like five seconds because of the constant flashes. I had to pause the show every time it lost source so that I could see what the heck was happening in the flash forwards. Very, VERY annoying.

I saw this thread earlier this month and I did everything that Ron Yost suggested (i.e., changing cables). I rearranged the red/blue/green connectors I was using to make sure one of the connectors wasn't loose or defective. I also changed to a brand new component cable altogether. Neither solution fixed my problem. I haven't tried changing to HDMI yet because I don't have a spare HDMI cable lying around, but that wouldn't solve my problem anyway because I need to connect my DirecTV receiver via component rather than HDMI.

I read somewhere (not sure if it was this forum) that the HD65 is particularly sensitive to scene changes and will lose connection like mine does, but this is ridiculous. It can't possibly be THIS sensitive for everyone, can it? Do I have a defective unit? Is there something I can do to fix this problem myself?

Change your output on the DVR from native to 720p and see what happens.
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post #14 of 16
9/30/09 at 8:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by reconlabtech View Post

Change your output on the DVR from native to 720p and see what happens.

Thanks for your reply. I already tried this, I think. I set native to "Off" and I told the DVR that my TV supports only 720p (and not 480i, 480p, 1080i, or 1080p). That should have the effect of having the DVR output at 720p, correct?
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post #15 of 16
10/1/09 at 4:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by goodrev05 View Post

Thanks for your reply. I already tried this, I think. I set native to "Off" and I told the DVR that my TV supports only 720p (and not 480i, 480p, 1080i, or 1080p). That should have the effect of having the DVR output at 720p, correct?

That should have corrected the Native part which would cause you to lose signal between shows and commercials since many commercials are spliced in at a lower resolution still. If you can convince BB to swap it out, see if you can do that and check another HD65 for the same problems.
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post #16 of 16
10/1/09 at 12:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by reconlabtech View Post

That should have corrected the Native part which would cause you to lose signal between shows and commercials since many commercials are spliced in at a lower resolution still. If you can convince BB to swap it out, see if you can do that and check another HD65 for the same problems.

Looks like I solved my own problem this afternoon!

I checked the inventory of all the local Best Buys to see if any of them had an HD65 in stock so I could try to switch it out as you suggested, but I couldn't find a single one within hundreds of miles of me. Desperate, I decided to broaden my Googling and look for people with ANY projector experiencing sync loss problems rather than just people with HD65s. Sure enough I found tons of people with various other projectors (and some with plasmas and LCDs) with my exact same problem.

For many of them it turns out that their receivers or component switchers were the culprit. I completely neglected to take into account the fact that I also am using a component switcher... shame on me! So today I plugged the DirecTV DVR directly into the projector, bypassing the component switcher, and that instantly solved my problem.

I'm by no means an expert when it comes to video technology, but perhaps the lag/relay time from the DVR to the switcher to the projector was causing the signal to be dropped for just long enough to cause my problem? If so, the HD65 must be really sensitive about that because I was using this switcher with two different HD70s for almost three years without a problem. Oh well, at least I figured it out.

Thanks for your help!
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