Acer H5360 HD3D (DLP 1280x720) Video Projector - Page 18

I know, the resolution kick is curious--we all saw it here. In 2D it's obviously 720p looking, but in 3D, it's 1080p. It must be something to do with both eyes seeing slightly different pixels and combining them into double the resolution.

Also, yes Space Station was in 3D and fantastic--but in the first few minutes it was 2D and then switch to 3d--did yours do that too?

That's too bad because there is not much point other than gaming in 3D unless you like cartoons. Hopefully by the end of the year more movies worth watching will be 3D.

If you have your mind set on the nVidia setup, here are the drawbacks:

1) The biggest drawback is the emitter range. nVidia stated 15' as the max range and they are not that far off. I got about 20' from my setup. nVidia glasses don't work in the last 10' of my theatre - very annoying for me. There's no way to extend the range at the moment. Multiple emitter setup doesn't work (and yes I have 4 emitters).

2) nVidia glasses are more expensive than the $60 no-name DLP-link glasses (which seems to work perfectly well for many people - they just don't look as nice). I have 4 pairs and plan to buy about 8-10. That's a significant chunk of money than 8-10 pairs of DLP-link glasses.

3) Line of sight is very important. Things such as people moving in and out of the HT may block your signal for a second or so.

There are minor things such as PowerDVD won't work with dual screen setup + protected disks. I use Any DVD HD to work around this issue. You need a dual screen setup to get HD audio to the receiver.


Don't over look the software cost. Don't forget that you need Win7 for nVidia solution.

Other than that, I have no other issue. I use a dual projectors setup (2D and 3D separately). I didn't even bother with a proper HTPC setup, no media center and such. I just launch the players directly from the desktop.

hello guys I really need your advice I got a fourlemma.

I want to enchance my gaming and movies experience. Notes: a) I do not watch any tv at all ever. b) I have 3d vision kit and a samsung 22rz i will connect one of these devices to my pc. I got pros and cons for each choise. Budget maximum 1300 euros

1. Plasma 50" screen full hd. Pros :Perfect image quality, Full HD gaming, no input lag. cons: No 3d, image retention, only 50 inches (!!!), I dont watch tv
2. Plasma 50" 3D. pros as above with :3d cons : 3d working in 720p due to hdmi 1.4 limitations, expencive solution, 3d is probably dark like in my samsung monitor (the only thing i hate about 3d)
3. H5360 : pros 200+ inches , (i got a big living room), huge screen 3d, I get to keep my 3d vision kit. cons: don't know if 3d is dark like on the samsung, games look bad at 1280x 720 on my monitor maybe a 200 inch sceen makes up for it, I cannot see it no store has a projector here especialy 3d one. Maybe have to paint the wall with reflective color for 3d
4. Full hd projector. Pros: Hd gaming , hd blue rays. 200+. Cons: Expencive to buy and maintain, I loose 3d

don't know what to do.

One clarification: no silver screen is necessary for a 3d projector that uses shutter glasses.

First post for me as well, hello everyone.

I upgraded from a 22" samsung 3d monitor this Christmas, and the h5360 in 3d is unbelievable. The main advantage is ghost-free 3d image.

If you have the samsung you know what I'm talking about: 2 images where you're supposed to see one of them. In gaming it is a great issue, since - as far as my experience with the 22"syncmaster goes - you're limited to small separation from the 2 images, hence low depth perception.

First thing I tried when connecting the h5360 has been cranking the depth all the way up to see if I could spot some double image (especially on critical spots like white parts, lights, etc); nothing. Everything is perfect and much brighter then the lcd.

So, for 3d gaming, I don't think there's a better solution, having the room for a projector.

I haven't seen a plasma 3d screen in action though, only lcd (at home with the syncmaster I own and in stores with Sony Bravias and Samsung led tv), but the acer blows them all away. Really impressive.

I keep a 42" panasonic full hd plasma in the same room, in case I'm not satisfied with bluray rendition. For now I must say that the bigger screen makes it up for the resolution loss. Of course the plasma has an incredible image quality, but since I'm still projecting on a wall (that I still need to fix and paint), I'm really happy.

If your main objective is playing 3d games on a big immersive screen, buy a projector. 3D needs the biggest screen you can get to shine.

Your monitor has a 1680x1050 resolution, so 720p images don't quite look that good on it. The acer has a native 720p resolution; if you have a good graphic card (I have a gtx480) at that resolution you can add every post-processing effect and filter you like without compromizing performances.

Hope this helps.

As others have said, the best solution would be having 2 different projectors;but it's expensive and maybe impractical.

thanks so much you have helped a lot.

About ghosting yes the worse thing besides darkness on 3d vision on my samsung is the separation of images, this makes games like wow unplayable. It so annoying on the main character and especially on the mouse cursor that you get dizzy from seeing 2 images even if you add a bit of depth.

About the resolution you may also be right. Lcd s don't work good with resolutions other than the native, and mine gets ultra blurry at 1280x720. I have a gtx460 and i can usually have 2x anti allising at 720p 3d.

What games have you tried on and how much does 1280 x 720p sucks on a game? Is the difference big when having native 720p resolution? Does the blurriness disappears? Please try setting 720p on the samsung on a game and then check out the projector and tell me what you think you will help a lot! Also when you run a game in 1600x1200 or something and the projector downgrades it (2d) do you get a better image than running it at 1280 x 720?

Games REALLY suck at 720 p on the samsung monitor and that's what I am afraid the most atm.

thanks in advance you are the guy I need

Bob7145 -- I don't want to get into that argument here, but there are quite a few 3D movies currently available (discussed in other threads). Granted there are a lot of 3D "cartoons", but there are some good 3D movies also (I already have 3 of them). I tend to stay away from 2D movies that have been 3D modified & re-mastered, since I would rather watch a good 2D Blu-Ray movie instead on my 1080p PJ.

NK215 -- I don't "have my mind set on the Nvidia setup". However, I have a good desktop PC that I am building, which will be located in my LR/HT next to my seating location (with a dual-boot Windows 7/Linux OS). I have a reasonably good setup with a 1080p PJ (and a 106" diagonal, 16:9, screen) a new Oppo BDP-93 BD player, a Pioneer SC-05 AVR and a good 7.1 channel surround sound system.

My PC was not intended for HTPC use, but I did have a Nvidia HDMI video card in the original parts list (non-3D capable). My 1080p PJ has 2 HDMI inputs so I could display the PC output on it, if I chose to.

Since my other half expressed an interest in 3D, I was looking for the lowest cost way to obtain a 3D capable display. Spending over $2K for a 40" to 50" (relatively small) 3D flat panel TV is just a waste, IMHO (especially since there is not much 3D video that we would watch).

From what I have read, the Acer H5360 seems to be the best choice, and it is not that hard to rig it up as a secondt PJ (and my SC-05 AVR has available inputs for the audio). Given those facts, I am looking for the lowest cost, overall, solution to send 3D BD movies to the H5360. There are only 2 of us, so only 2 pairs of glasses will be needed (at least to start with).

If both the Nvidia and DLP-Link methods, of providing a 3D video signal to the H5360, require the use of a HTPC with a compatible video card (plus a BD-ROM drive and either PowerDVD 10 or TMT 5), then the choice seems to be between (costs are approximate):
1) An ATI card (about $230) and 2 pair of DLP-Link glasses ($50 to $80 each), or
2) A Nvidia card (about $70) and a Nvidia 3D Glasses Kit ($170) plus one extra pair of Nvidia glasses ($120).

Therefore, my total cost for 3D capability (over and above my existing equipment and PC software) is for the H5360 plus either of the #1 or #2 choices above plus the video player software ($80-$100) and BD drive (~$75). Either way, the total comes to $1100 +/- 5% (so the choice between the DLP-Link system and the Nvidia system is a wash on cost). The choice then boils down to performance, and the Nvidia system appears to have the edge, from what I've read so far.

Has anyone tried to drive the H5360 directly from a 3D BD player, using the DLP-Link system? Does it work, or is using a HTPC the only way to display a 3D movie? If it does work, I can save around $500. FromHas anyone tried to drive the H5360 directly from a 3D BD player, using the DLP-Link system? Does it work, or is using a HTPC the only way to display a 3D movie? If it does work, I can save around $500.

EDIT: From the information I have gathered so far, the only way is to use the proposed Optoma converter box ($400 to $500) with the DLP-Link system. In that case, I will go with the NVidia system as my best performance choice.

I agree there is lots of content out there. Most if watched in 2D is so-so, but in 3D--wow. Christmas Carol is like that. It really draws you in. There is one scene where the floor of a building opens up onto other buildings and the city landscape that in 2D is confusing, but in 3D is fantastic to watch. I'm now buying up every 3D bluray i can find especially the IMAX movies. IMAX Space Station was great. I am going to switch from ATI to nvidia, though, as I think the it might be less troublesome, but we'll see. I can't get to it until next week though.

And everything I've read here so far indicates that a 3D Blu-ray player hooked directly to an htpc will not work because the signal needs processing that can't be done on a PC, only through the Optoma box.

couple notes on the ati/nvidia comparison -
- the cost estimates you have for ati are off. You have 230 for the card. Even if you do stick with the most stringent requirements (6xxx card), that still puts you at $170 before rebate (just looked at lowest current price on newegg for a 6850), and if you've got a good cpu you could step down to a 5xxx series to get a much lower price (<$100 if you don't care about 3d gaming, which if you're looking at a sub-$100 nvidia card I assume you don't).
- When working, my experience is that the ati system was much better than my experience with the nvidia setup.

Still, it looks like it has issues sometimes with h5360's, though, so there's still plenty of reason to stick with nvidia if you use the acer projector. So, not necessarily trying to steer you ATI, just making sure your comparison is complete

Anyone know if this projector can be mounted vertically,lens pointed up or down? I've been messing around with mirrors trying to get a bigger image. My throw distance to the wall is 11'6" giving me a 102-106" diagonal image. The wall I'm projecting on can take a 140" image however.

If I mount on table top projecting backwards off a mirror, I can fill the wall and it looks pretty good. Problem is the projector is now right next to my chair, and I have fan noise and light leaking out the vents in my peripheral vision.

I'd like to mount from my usual high shelf pointing down into the mirror, or up from the floor to the mirror. I'm worried about heat issues. I read through the whole manual and didn't see anything about off axis mounting. anyone tried this with this pj?

Can you hang backwards from the ceiling and project into a mirror on the opposite wall. i would think this would work. Projecting up or down would not be recommended, especially down. Up might be okay as the heat vent is in front. Or you might try a right angle mirror from the back wall and have the projecter sticking out from the wall on a shelf.

defiancecp -- I was wondering about that (the needed ATI card). You are right, neither of us are interested in the gaming aspect. We are still talking about a $100 (or less) difference between the 2 systems (about 10% of the total cost I quoted).

From owners of the H5360, that have used both systems and are picky about the results (and sensitive to movie image issues like me), the Nvidia system just works better. After looking at the total costs, it's still a cost wash, so performance is going to be my criteria.

jimmy3d -- Most PJs cannot be mounted vertically. Some even say so directly in their literature. The electronic parts are not effected. The less expensive the PJ, the more susceptible it will be to mechanical damage by vertical mounting (due to the manufacturing shortcuts taken to keep the costs down).

Everything inside the PJ is mounted and fastened into the case with horizontal positioning included as part of the design. Mechanical components, like the color wheel, are the most severely effected by vertical positioning -- it rotates at a high speed, especially in the 3D mode. The color wheel bearings are not designed to operate with a vertical PJ positioning. Lamp performance might also be effected. The internal heat may also effect the mechanical alignment of the optical components (with vertical positioning).

NOTE: If you use mirrors in the light path (as threed123 suggested), they have to be "first surface" mirrors. You cannot use ordinary mirrors (which are "second surface", the reflecting surface is behind the glass) -- you will get a somewhat distorted image, if you do (secondary internal reflections). Remember that the larger the screen, the dimmer the image will be.

The screen brightness = PJ Lumen output x screen gain / screen area (in square feet). A 140" screen is 58 sq. ft. and a 106" screen is 33 sq. ft. in area. The 140" screen is 1.75 x larger and almost half as bright. You would be Ok for 2D, but very dim for 3D (the glasses add another ~50% light reduction).

You referred to your DVD of Space Station so I was kidding you since Blu-ray is obviously not DVD! Yes, Space Station starts out in 2D for about three minutes or so and then switches to 3D for the remainder. Many people complain about some "ghosting" in Space Station. The $10,000 Sony 3D projector and the JVCs all have some issues (although minor) with this title. If you own an Acer or other 720p 3D DLP I'll bet you're wondering what the "ghosting" complaints are all about!

Just placed an order for the Acer along with a BD player for my PC. I already use the Nvidia 3D Vision equipment for gaming and have been for the past year. Really looking forward to checking it out on the larger screen with no ghosting. I already have a JVC RS1 which I will continue to use for all of my 2D watching. The only decision I have to make is which software to get for the bluray playback. I am torn between TMT5 and Roxio Cineplayer. I like the price of Cineplayer much more but I also like the feature of TMT5 that allows use of a Droid phone as a remote control. I can see that being real convenient for me. The price difference is huge between the two though so I'm just not sure yet.

acegamer -- From what I have read, the only 2 BD player software packages that are good and are trouble free are TMT5 and PowerDVD10 (3D). When you compare the prices of the Roxio Cineplayer 3D (the cheapest) to TMT5 (the most expensive), including the cost of the H5360 + BD player, the difference is about 10% at most.

If TMT5 has features that you like (in addition to the ones that Roxio doesn't provide), I would say go ahead and get it. In the long run, it's cheaper than buying the Roxio Cineplayer and then finding out that it doesn't work all that well.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Exactly - I like cineplayer *because* it's stripped down, I didn't want the features. TMT kicks the snot out of it for features! And it's a much better supported product; roxio doesn't even really advertise cineplayer, there's no support forum, etc.
If it works for you and you want just basic functionality, cineplayer rocks, but the price difference for TMT is definitely justified if you'll use the extras.

I couldn't get Roxio Cineplayer to work with my 6850 ATI card...just fyi..PDVD10 jitters alot, and TMT5 works great (when I don't have to reboot several times to get it to work properly--ughhh).

CT_Wiebe,

I'm kind of in a similar situation as you, still have to build a new 3D HTPC. I already have the H5360 and its amazing what $500 will buy you. Its very bright, and the lamps cost only about $100! I'm very value conscious. I could afford the JVC RS40 no problem, but if the Acer can outdo it in the most important 3D criteria, namely ghosting (Acer = none, JVC = little to lot), brightness (Acer brighter than both Sony and JVC), then it really becomes a no-brainer to me. I will gladly take the few thousands saved and put them in my pocket.

Everyone keeps hoping that LCOS will magically eliminate ghosting, keep dreaming! It will not happen. DLP will again come to the forefront.

I've made up my mind to go the Nvidia/3D Vision route for better IQ. I've seen several laptops that would actually be able to support 3D vision for around $500 (one was a Samsung with the 330M discrete video). All you would need to do is add a bluray drive. I'm still undecided though if I want to do any 3D gaming, for which I will need a desktop. Decisions decisions...

For upcoming 3D movies (true 3D, not conversion), The Hobbit, Spiderman 4, Pirates 4, Aliens prequels are all slated to be filmed in native 3D! Lots more as well including HTTYD 2. Its really starting to gather momentum.

Xavier1
Can you list the laptops that you have found that support 3D?

Xavier1 -- I haven't bought my H5360 yet, so I don't know how bad the RBE is (a DLP artifact that I am very sensitive to). From what zombie10k has said, it was unnoticeable to him in the 3D mode, so hopefully it's Ok for me too.

While I don't agree that "only" DLP will work for 3D, I certainly do agree that the H5360 (and possibly the Optoma H66) is the best 3D for the buck, at the present time (at least under $10K). I am planing on keeping my present 1080p PJ for 2D viewing. I was thinking about upgrading it for a better one (with 3D capability, if possible) next year. However, that upgrade will be delayed for another year, if I get the H5360 now.

I wouldn't use a laptop as a 3D PC, especially with an external BD drive. I have several laptops and I've found that the USB 2.0 interface is not as fast as advertised. I have identical drives on one of our older desktop PCs, and the external one has a noticeably slower access time. That is why I prefer a desktop PC with an internal SATA BD drive, it seems to be at least 10x faster, plus I can use the video card of my choice.

PS -- The video card choice is important, if you plan on getting into gaming.

CT_Wiebe I do see some RBE, but very minor. Also, some quirky jitter now and then with ATI and DLPlink glasses. More to do with how good the 3D is done than a problem with the ACER, though, I think. While 3D is "great" the first few times you watch it, you begin to see all the issues with it as you view more content. I have a hunch you are a "discerning" viewer. If so, understand that some of what you read on this board is based on how well the ACER implements average 3D--and it does it very well. The problem is: average 3D content is sometimes just better looking crap ,if you get my drift. I find myself watching for 3D's sake versus the underlying story and script--I'm sure that will change once I get over my honeymoon period. I've read that now that Avatar set the bar so high, lots of studios are abandoning their 3D projects in favor of spending what little budgets they do have on making it a better 2D film. Ok, now that said--it's back to watching Resident Evil...

I didn't bookmark them, but if you're close to a Frys, here is a deal for a $599 laptop.

http://www.frys.com/product/6287640

Really good price for an Intel i5 laptop, and the nvidia 330GT is listed on 3D Vision compatablity page for Bluray3D. You'll still need to get the 3D vision kit as well as a Bluray drive.

Too bad its instore only.

Dell Home has an Alienware laptop also with a 335M 1gb discrete video for $550. It is also on the 3D Vision requirements page. I'm actually seriously thinking of getting this one. But it will probably go out of stock soon.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m...re-m11x&~ck=mn

Coupon for $50 off
BHW1L0MX0D?MCX


Disclaimer: I haven't actually got any of these laptops to work in 3D via the Acer, but they "should" based on their specs. Please do your homework too before buying.

tyee & Xavier1 -- Remember, you still have to add an external USB BD-drive. That will increase the cost by, at least, $100. That brings the total to the $700+ ballpark. As I said earlier (post #531), there is no guarantee that a USB 2.0 BD drive will have a fast enough, continuous, data transfer rate to work without some drop-outs.

A small HTPC can be built with an internal SATA BD player drive (less than $80) and a Nvidia GT430 video card ($70 or less, depending on the discount - I bought those 2 items for $130 before rebate) . A case with power supply is about $120, or less, the motherboard is around $150, a dual core processor is around $150, 4GB of RAM is about $70, and a 1TB HDD is $70 for about the same price (with no external boxes needed, except for the Nvidia 3D kit, needed in either case). Careful Internet shopping for the parts can lower that price easily (and a 500GB HDD is about $10 less).

In my case, I already have a decent (adequate) desktop PC, so all I needed was the video card and the BD player. I can buy a pre-assembled (and tested, Windows 7 included) PC from my local computer store for $600 + less than $100 more for the video card and BD drive (instead of the included DVD drive).

NOTE: A Dell Inspiron 560 or 580 can be had (currently) for $500 to $580 + the added cost of the SATA BD drive and correct video card. It looks like either of those should work.

threed123 -- That's the downside of the DLP-Link system. zombie10k does not report any jitter with the Nvidia system. He did say that the 2D performance did have some RBE, but (in 3D) he only saw it, occasionally, in the credit and title scenes.

So, does anyone that actually owns this projector want to comment?

First of all, sorry the late reply.

About ghosting and double images: even games that are supposed to have problems with 3d visions (i.e games that are labeled as "good" or "decent" when in 3d mode) end up looking spectacularly good on the acer.

I've tried Mirror's Edge, Half Life 2, Portal, and all looked great, while on the samsung I had to keep the depth level at minimun to avoid image separation.

About the 720p gaming issue: since the projector can do 1080p when in 2d mode, I connected my pc (as I said, nvidia gtx480 here) and tried Just Cause 2 in all different resolutions; while the native resolution is 720p, setting the game resolution to 1920x1080 actually gives you more detail, and you can clearly see it, especially on little details like foliage and details in the distance.

1080p and good amount of antialiasing gives a sharp and detailed image.

I've also tested ps3 and 360, both in 720p and 1080; as you may know, the 360 upscales games to the display resolution, while the ps3 just outputs whatever native resolution the game might have; the 360 in 1080p mode looks softer than in 720p; the level of detail remains virtually unchanged (since almost every game runs at 720p); with the ps3 there's no issue: you can just set it to 1080p, so blurays and games at 1080p will get you the little extra detail (of course it's different than having a full 1080p setup, but still the source signal carries more detail), while 720p content will just pass through in its native resolution.

I've yet to compare 720p vs. 1080p blurays and see if I can spot little differencies in detail like with pc games.

Hope this helps.

Ok, my saga trying to get the ACER to work properly continues. As you remember I started with an ATI 6850 vcard under windows 7 64bit and finally got stereo working by doing a registry hack to force stereo on. PDVD10 worked but had major stutter issues now and then. TMT5 worked great using UltraClear DLPlink glasses. I then removed the ATI card and put in a nvidia geforce 450GT; purchased a 3D Vision package from nvidia; loaded it up and turned it on. Here's what happened:

I switched the ACER to nvidia mode and the stereo vision setup worked with the emitter and I got the glasses working immediately. I then set the ACER to DLPlink, hid the emitter and tried my DLPlink glasses. They only would work within 6 feet of the screen. The white flash on the display wasn't bright enough to trigger the glasses farther away. I then switched back to nvidia mode and glasses and started TMT5 to watch Resident Evil. It started okay, then hung after 5 minutes. I did the same with PDVD10 and it started okay and hung after 2 minutes.

I could not get the players to play through any movie. After that fiasco (and disgust), I removed all nvidia drivers, plus the vcard, and reloaded the ATI vcard and drivers. It took awhile, but I got it to work again.

Sooo, I'm probably going to sell the 3D Vision kit as I have given up on it. As for the differences, here's what I saw:

The nvidia image had a hair more contrast and the colors were better, but I did see more RBE for some reason. The DLPlink glasses have a slightly brighter image and easier to watch. I seemed to notice more 24fps stutter through the nvidia glasses. The dlplink image seemed smoother. I definitely need to adjust the colors better for the dlplink after seeing the difference. Regardless of the movies hanging, I still liked the dlplink better. Both seemed to be sharp enough, but the DLPlink had the edge on brightness, but nvidia for contrast and colors (without adjustment). For the size of screen I have, (144"), the DLPlink wins.

Ugh, this was an agonizing process to go through, though...

I'm telling you.. I have way to many hours into my 3D HTPC. I can't wait to have my 3DXL converter. I still have quite a few qirks and inconsistant operation myself on the HTPC.