Official Epson Home Cinema 8500UB thread! - Page 13

I was afraid this might happen and posted that fear on the other 8500 board here. Sounds like a defect across the 8500/9500 line which has not been fixed!

I have a 9500ub, 1200hrs, a soft line of red tinge across the superior border of the pj image.

Sounds like its a common if not ubiquitous problem.

as long as the support is good, i dont mind a great deal.

Also, because i only just got this PJ (second hand), I've got a few questions which i'll post in a moment, hope i could find some answers!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1301709

i am planning to buy 8500UB used from an individual owner, approx 800 hrs. would Epson owner warranty within warranty period of two years, if i do not have an invoice from original owner?
also, does Mitsubishi also have smae policy of warranty for 2nd owner? because my other option is used Mitsubishi HC3800.

thanks in advance.

Epson's warranty is non-transferable so the warranty will not apply to you. Mitsubishi's warranty is also non-transferable. It's definitely a shame.

-- jaydillyo

It was between this and the 8350 that Epson offers... I am pulling the trigger and ordering it off amazon now.

I hope the 800 dollar difference for the 8500 is worth it.

This is my first projector btw.
going to be on a 120" stationary screen.


-Nigel

Why would you buy an 8500ub for roughly 2k off Amazon when the 8700ub can be had for the same price or less and comes with an extra bulb (via mail in offer)?

I was not aware of this...

I will look now.

Is there a website that has this deal or is it just on our site?

Thanks,
-Nigel

??

-Nigel

There's refurbished unit of 8500 on Epson clearence site, going for $1599

Hello,

I bought Epsom 8500 ub. Lamp hours 120. My problem? I can't follow the suggested calibration settings in this and other threads. Too confusing for me! Have tried and given up.

If ANYONE with a little patience could provide me with settings for movie viewing at night (blu-ray ps3), I would be greatly appreciative. I would love to experiment on my 84inch white kreische screen.



In image, should I choose dynamic, living room, thx, theatre, theatre black1, theatre black 2, or x.v.color?

Brightness?
Contrast?
Color saturation?
Tint?
Sharpness?
Abs Color temp?
Skin tone?
Advanced:
Gamma?
Rgb: offset r
Offset g
Offset b
Gain r
Gain g
Gain b

Rgbcmy:
R hue? r sat? r brightness?
G hue? G sat? G brightness?
B hue? B sat? B brightness?
C hue? C sat? C brightness?
M hue? M sat? M brightness?
Y hue? Y sat? Y brightness?

Contrast enhancement? Off/1/2/3
Super-resolution? Off/1/2/3

Power consumption?
Auto Iris? Off,normal,high speed

Signal:
Aspect?
Frame interpolation?
Noise reduction?

Again, if anyone would like to share their settings with me, I would be very happy.
I plan to use them with blu-ray viewing (ps3) at night.
Overscan

Settings help anyone?

I just had my 8500UB replaced undeer warranty due to the pink/purple area on the lower part of my screen. I've had the projector for about a year and a half, but only 183 hours on it.

The warranty replacement was fairly painless, but I did end up with a refurbished projector. I vaguely remember there being a place in the menu where you could see the projector life, vs lamp life? Epson said the lamp would be brand new (the menu does show 0H) but obviously that counter can easily be reset. Is there any place any in the menu I can check other counters?

I have a epson 9500. Just recently, it developed a round spot that can be seen in black background. It looks like a dust spot, rainbowish in color and about 3inches in diamater. Its not a dust and seems to occur all the time.
I have the unit about 1 yr and very limited hrs..200hrs? Any idea before i call epson?

Hello fellow enthusiasts. I have a 8500UB and I have had it since March of 2010. I today have now hit 3900 hours on my lamp. I want opinions on what you guys think about my situation.

I watch movies everyday and use my projector for the computer as well as TV. Since I've had it, I've always ran it on economy and to my eyes, I have not noticed a change in the dimness. Now, that may be because it's been so gradual that I just havn't seen it, but as I sit here right now there is enough sunlight in my room coming from the windows to read a book and my projector display doesn't seem dim to me. It appears to me as it did 3900 hours ago. I just can't see a noticeable dimness. (yes i know this is relative to the eyes of the beholder) I attached a screen shot with light and without light in the room on economy mode, but be aware that it was taken with my cell phone and is a little hazzy. It doesnt do my display justice.

Here is my concern. I've always thought that my bulb would just go dim, and upon witnessing this dimness, I figured that would be the point at which I would purchase a new bulb to have on standby. But, for me this isn't happening, so now I'm thinking I will just get a whole lot more hours out of this bulb or just one day it will blow?

What do you guys think of me being at 3900 hours? Should I be seeing dimness by now?

I am an owner of a 6500ub. I've searched every which way, but can't seem to find any discussion on this matter.

I'm trying to figure out if the 8500ub made any improvements on the speed of the HDMI handshake/sync over the 6500ub.

I am pretty happy with the 6500ub, but the hdmi handshake is terribly slow, anywhere from 10-30 seconds. I often miss the opening screens of movies, or quite a bit of programming if I'm changing the Tivo between 1080i and 720p channels.

With the low price on the 8500ub refurbished, it is tempting to upgrade if the HDMI issues can be improved.

If not, then I'll just stick with the 6500ub.

My lamp just died or at least the projector 8700ub things it did... Had the lamp for about a year.. Probably played xbox 360 3-6hrs a day for a while (nephews) I'm going to be pissed if I have to get a new lamp every year honestly.

-Nigel

how many hrs you had on it? i would suggest you talk with Epson and share that bulb blew after say, 800 hrs and that was not expected. from what i have heard, they will send you one for free.

My projector Epson PowerLite 8500 UB is getting dimmer with about 670 hrs on the lamp. I switched to Living room from THX and adjusted brightness and contrast for black and white and I have a bit of green at the edge of the screen. Blue and Red seem ok when looking at the color bars (AVS disk) through the resp. filter, but green seems a bit off. The yellow color is relatively too dark compared to green and Cyan? when looked through the green filter. What do I need to adjust to make that yellow lighter, RGB, Offset, Gain or RGBCMY Hue Saturation Brightness? I tried everything, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Thanks for your help.

Problem solved itself as the projector did not start tonight, red light blinking, asking for new bulb.
Thank you

got a new canon rebel t4i camera and was testing it while recording some blops2. I use an 8500ub on 100" screen... still a good projector. had it for a little over 2 years now.

i can get this with full two year warranty for 999 or a 8350 for 899 PLEASE help me decide

I think if you want the best blacks, then the extra $100 on the 8500, just be aware you may need to deal with convergence issues, so make sure you will have the support of Epson, on your purchase. http://www.avsforum.com/t/1424829/epson-8500ub-vs-8350-a-modern-take

I will have the full epson warranty. I am pretty sure I am going with the 8500ub.

I just ordered the 8500ub. Praying that I get a good one. All the posts about problems with this and the 8700ub (basically the same one) scare me.

*Disclaimer - The fan setup I did was designed to not impede or create a situation where dust is able to bypass the filters because too much air force is being applied to the intake or exhaust vent. The fan is pointed at a side with no vent, just bezel. I would not recommend directly blowing a fan on the intake or exhaust vents of any projector as it can cause dust blobs or negatively affect the cooling due to induction.

So previously on this thread I had my Bulb replaced back in May 2012. Well, it died Dec 2012. The May replacement was 2 months before the 2 year warranty expired. I called Epson, again they told me they had come up with some new and magic bulb......just like they said in May......just like they have said every year. Now in case your off to cancel a purchase of an 8500UB because of that last statement, don't its still an awesome Projector, period. I don't even think the Bulb is the issue but I will explain that further below.

So they wanted to charge me $299 for a replacement, I told them I know it was out of warranty but these keep dying at 700H for me every time. So without putting up any real fight on my side, they gave me "One Last Bulb" as they put it. I just saved $299 but I also realized that in less than 12 months I would be paying said $299. A grim reality indeed and yet I love this projector so very much.

Being an IT guy, I put on the hat and looked for a solution as I wasn't getting any more free bulbs. Using my black and decker IR gun, I gathered data on the problem. As most have noticed or found out, there are three really basic areas that significantly impact the life of the bulb and which Epson only tells if you really dig.

1. The so called "Cool Down" period where it runs its little fan for 30 seconds or so after shutting down is woefully inadequate.

2. There is no obvious method to increase fan RPM, you have to turn on the High Elevation setting which ups it a little bit. I can't measure it but the sound is slightly louder.

3. This PJ generates serious heat in standby! Epson actually tells you to not only power it off, but pull the plug itself from the wall! Because at idle, it is still generating heat and slightly damaging the bulb. Wish I knew that 2 years ago..........

So here is the issue we face, heat and lots of it. Here are the numbers and they are not pretty. Note I keep the room cold so its starting temp is about 5 degrees above room temp. Also, due to my shelf, I couldn't measure the bottom. The real stat to focus on is the bulb side as you will see.

Start Power

• Top - 69
• Right (Bulb side) - 69
• Left - 69
• Vent - 69

5min

• Top - 81
• Right (Bulb side) - 80
• Left - 71
• Vent - 90

15min

• Top - 85
• Right (Bulb side) - 90
• Left - 73
• Vent - 114

30min

• Top - 91
• Right (Bulb side) - 100
• Left - 76
• Vent - 134

1 Hour

• Top - 91
• Right (Bulb side) - 104
• Left - 78
• Vent - 141

Power Off (Standby)

• Top - 91
• Right (Bulb side) - 103
• Left - 79
• Vent - 125

5 Min

• Top - 85
• Right (Bulb side) - 100
• Left - 77
• Vent - 100

15Min

• Top - 82
• Right (Bulb side) - 93
• Left - 75
• Vent - 81

30Min

• Top - 82
• Right (Bulb side) - 85
• Left - 74
• Vent - 73

1 Hour

• Top - 76
• Right (Bulb side) - 80
• Left - 73
• Vent - 75

2 Hour

• Top - 73
• Right (Bulb side) - 74
• Left - 72
• Vent - 72

As you can see, even with 2 HOURS of cool down time it still isn't back to the original temp but that is not the really scary part. 15 minutes after shutoff, the Bulb section is still cooking at 93 degrees and the bulb itself will be hotter. So with this information I looked into as elegant a solution as possible. I originally thought I would have to rig up some 120mm fan to help with cooling the outside.

I ended up finding a somewhat elegant solution in the pic below. It is actually quieter than the projector itself at its highest setting, doesn't vibrate, mounts to the wall, has a unique motionless oscillation feature, and is $30. The effect is a 20 degree drop across the board! That means that even after running for an hour, the bulb section is only at about 84 degrees. When I turn it off completely, the fan takes about 10-15 min to cool down the project back to 70-71 degrees. Overall I think this will greatly extend the life of the bulb and hopefully it helps others dealing with the Epson bulb issues.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009RAVM/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Edited by taskman - 2/28/13 at 6:50pm

Actually forced induction is not always a 'proper' solution to a cooling issue and you'll likely create far more possible dust issues.

Cooling a recently shut off lamp too rapidly can cause issues as well.

Best of luck though,
Jason

I agree, thanks and I need to put a disclaimer on my original post. I definitely did not go for the classic "Lets put a bigger fan behind the existing fan to force more air" situation. I tried to minimize any impediment of the natural flow as the side I'm blowing against has no vent. I'm just blowing air over a relatively sealed surface on the side of the projector. There could be some effect of the rear intake but the fan jets out a bit from the wall so its hopefully minimized as well.

My main concern all along was not when the fans are running so much as when they are not. Once they go off 30 or so seconds after power down, the projector no longer has any active cooling protection. Also good point on the rapid cooling of the lamp, I'll watch for not putting too much air flow on it.
Edited by taskman - 2/28/13 at 6:53pm

folks.. i have 8500UB, with approx 900 hrs now. i had bought as refurbished from epson. i love it, but just fear .. what if it breaks down someday, now that my proje is out of two-year warranty. should i..
1- sell perfectly working 8500UB and upgrade to a newer model like 3020? or
2- continue enjoying 8500UB for a long time to come, and deal with it if any issues come up?

Unless your want to get 3D, I vote for #2.

ok, slightly rephrasing my question.. is there anything specific in 8500UB that typically breaks or is feared to break .. after say 2/3 years (or say 2k hrs) of use?