Optoma HD8600 - Page 5

That is a nice review by Art. If this projector avoids some of the reliability problems seen in Optoma's other top of the line FP, this could really be a nice projector. I wonder what the On/Off CR is when the manual Iris is clamped down. What would really be cool is if the Vivitek gives much of the performance for half the price. All I have to do now is wait a few months and see how the reliability plays out...the rec room can wait.

The Vivitek warranty is only one year, no hot swap, 90 days on the lens. The three year warranty with hot swap on Optoma high end products is very nice. Nicer still would be to not ever need it.

That's my man Bruno, check it out, good times ahead.

It's a very quiet projector in standard low lamp mode. The machine doesn't get hot like my H79. looks good in that it stays cool, should help lamp life. We won't know until people put say 1200 or 1400 hours on it. Plus these are a new version of UHP lamp. 280watts puts out high brightness, more than a 300watt older version. Lamp reliability we need it.

This projector sounds awesome, except for the price

Is their any info if the vivitek is the same version?

Maybe I can get them to let me try it out. Looks good to me.

Tom.... you are "tight" with Wing.....

Can you find out if they (Optoma) are taking Art's and Bill's comments on the DI seriously... ??

Has Optoma ever provided updated firmware after a projectors release? I know there were requests for or talk about updates years ago, but I do not remember what Optoma's response was. (this is not an attack... just an honest question as I do not know the answer)

That's good to know, thanks Tom.

They had a firmware update for the HD80 shortly after it came out. Initially, the iris would always reset to default when powering up. People complained about this, and I remember Tom and his Wing friend getting on it. A new firmware came out , which owners could do at home to update their projector. After installing it, the iris would retain the desired position when powering up.

Jumping the gun they'll be no firmware at least for the DI, it's absolutely great. Bill says nothing about it, now we just have good old Art's I saw something on a very rare ocastion. Badges we don't need no stinking firmware.

This was a baiter post wasn't it?

Hey here's a new one just for you hi ho.
http://www.videodementia.com/sales/hd8600joker.jpg

Ok, I'll take the bait this time.

You keep saying the same "Art's I saw something on a very rare occasion" comment. I dont see where Art said it was only on rare occasions. To me, it seems like it is continual.

Here are his comments:
"On the downside, once again, another projector with a less than polite dynamic iris. Two settings, the one they call Cinema 2 would provide the blacker blacks but its iris action needs real work. It almost casts a “moving shadow” across the image as it works.

I gave up on that mode, and focused on Cinema 1. Much better! Still the iris is a little rough. It’s just a little jerky, noticeable mostly on those mostly dark scenes that are slow moving with a larger moderately light areas. In that case, as the lighting changes slightly, you can see the iris action almost flicker. In some cases, though there’s also a bit of a yo-yo effect. As if if overshoots its target slightly then opens back up (or closes back down) a little to compensate."

Read the whole review you'll find the info at the end final statements he says very rare. Get off this kick and wait for several other owners to view movies on it. Then you'll have a better idea on how it looks.

That was a nice review by Art. Not in so many words but it came off that he preferred this over the Planar. Time will tell but I would sure like to see the dlp camp get back in the mid priced game.

And still no one knows what kind of video processing is integrated and at what rate 24p is displayed...? My apologies to keep harping on this, but is this not important to anyone else, especially at this price range?

guitarman - you should get off this kick of attacking people who have issues with Optoma. You are apparently Optoma's "main technical consultant and firmware advisor" and come on the forum always pimping their products. Over the last several years, Optoma has released one disaster of a product after another and you seem to take it personally when people notice this. I'm not really sure why you continue to post here with nothing but positive comments about every Optoma projector that comes out. It just makes anybody that knows any of the history of Optoma doubt eveything else you may say, even if it is valid. Your "perserverance and troubleshooting abilities have made" you "an internationally recognized expert at calibration" and your "integrity and honesty" have made you "a well reputed business operator". Your "modus operandi is "no unhappy customer", which to this day, stands unchallenged." This is all cast into doubt when you find nothing wrong with all of Optoma's new projectors and sing their praises to people who know enough to be very skeptical about any Optoma products.

It is probably taken for granted that any aspiring 1080p projector can display a 24p signal at a multiple of 24hz. I would now expect this to be standard.

I just turned on 24p on my BD5000 and the projector reads it as 1080p/24Hz.

My local BB says they have 20 of the vivitek 5082's in their warehouse. Maybe I'll buy one and check it out. The flyer they printed had these specs. Darkchip 3, 1920 x 1080 res., 1700 lumens, 30,000:1 contrast, manual zoom/focus 1:25:1 zoom ratio, pixelworks proc., vivimotion engine, 280 uhp lamp, 28 db operation, lamp life 3,000 hours, 1.54 - 1.93:1 throw ration range, $3,499.98.

What would describe the type of iris contol this has.

Ken

Totally. Although, I think it can also lead to it being overlooked.


That's telling you what it's inputting, not outputting.

For example, the current Marantz DLPs specifically tell you the PJ's output rate is 48Hz when using frame rate conversion on 24p material. As I understand it, with DLP 1-chippers, it is a bit more complicated than LCD or LCOS 3-panels to get a 24-multiple rate as it involves adjusting the speed of the DMD *and* the color wheel.

Thus, I am extremely skeptical the HD8600 is able operate outside of 60Hz. The only possible indicator is the fact that they offer a CFI of any sort, but this just could be 2:3 pulldown or other cadence variations within that narrow range.

Having said that (for all you Curb fans), I haven't been keeping up with the latest PJ advancements until recently (upgrade bug!) and could be completely missing something. I'm looking to possibly replace my trusty Sharp Z12k and want to stay with DLP, but I may end up with the RS25 or something instead.

More on the DI from Art's review:

"I strongly suggested to Optoma that they take another look, and see what they can do to improve the iris action, to make it a bit less disturbing at times.

with the current iris action, I personally would still stick with the JVC projectors. Fix the iris, and I'd personally really consider the Optoma as a viable alternative to the JVC

The ball, as they say, is now in Optoma's court. I have expressed my concerns at a recent conference call, and am waiting to hear back. At this point, however, I have no confirmation or reason to believe any change is in the works. For now, therefore, what you see, is what you get. If Optoma decides to improve the iris, I will be the first to let you know."

It looks like Optoma is soooo close to a world beater under $10K DLP projector, just DI and reliability concerns remain.

I you crazy man you haven't even seen the projector yet. sheesh

Please don't go calling Optoma on one person's opinion without seeing it yourself. They might believe you and start mucking it up, it's perfect as it is and I wouldn't want to see it any different. I told you I watched now all of Dark City which you mentioned and the Iris was killer.

Bruno has one, he knows his stuff wait for him to come back with the review.

Guitarman,

Correct, I haven't seen it. I remember you posting how great the HD-81 DI was(wrong), then the HD81-LV was really supposed to be good(wrong), then the 8200 was great(went to Optoma to see it for myself, wrong), now the 8600 is "perfect".

I trust Art's reviews. Yours, not so much. I'm sure we will be getting good input from owners as far as DI and reliability. Until then, Art's eyes are the ones I will go with. I love my HD81-LV, despite its quirks, the main thing that bothers me are black levels, this is why DI is so important to me.

By the way, it was "Dark Knight", not "Dark City" that I saw the 8200 DI have issues with.

I called Optoma and told them not to listen. Wait for more users to post. Right dark knight is what I meant. I also watched Dark City and that went excellent also.

Don't put words in my mouth you know I didn't say the early irises were great.

Yeah, what does Art know? He's only spent weeks living with and reviewing most LCD, LCOS and DLP projectors available under $10K for the last how many years? He should only review Optoma products so he has no baseline in which to compare with! Seriously, the 8600(and maybe Vivitek 5080) sound very exciting. I hope Optoma hits one out of the park! I've just been disappointed too many times.

Do you want me to find your posts from the HD-81 thread and HD81-LV thread? I'd be happy to cut and paste. They'd be very reminiscent of your gushing on this thread and the 8200 thread.

You wanna come up here and look at the projector, love to see ya?

Thank you for the invite. You're in Sacramento, correct? It would be easier to run down to Optoma--it's a trip I've made many times to exchange faulty projectors. Milpitas is close by, thankfully.

I truly would like to see the 8600 and love all about it, including the DI. That would only leave the reliability question.

I'm in the East Bay Clayton area near Walnut Creek. Still the Factory is closer go take a look bring Dark Knight.

On the DI front, I now have over 50 hours on mine, including Ironman last night which a fair test. I turned the manual iris up to 8, which is very very bright on a 106" screen, with the DI set to cinama 1, and actually looking for iris action, I saw and heard nothing. If you put cinema 2 on and do something like a bright scene going to end credits then you will see the light come down, but it is silent and what else would you expect?

I do agree that people should not be commenting on the performance of the DI if they have not seen it yet! I suppose at the end of the day it will be down to personal preference, I don't like motion smear (which the HD86 has absolutely none) it doesn't bother others, so if you see the iris working and it bothers you, move on, there are plenty of other to see, which will make you happy.

Cheers

What is the best native contrast measurement of this machine when the iris is off?

I don't think I'll get around to CR tests. I'm on the hook for this thing if something goes wrong with the projector I have to pay them the full $7500.00, it makes me nervous.
I'll be sending it back Monday.

Anyway I got the lumens info out and now I know you don't have to pay to have this projector calibrated.
http://www.videodementia.com/sales/hd8600test2.jpg