The Offical Epson 8350 Owners Thread - Page 250

Besides the true resolution (which is a fixed, hardware-based value), is there a "sweet spot" where there's a maximum depth-of-field (which equates to best center-to-corner focus uniformity) and minimal chromatic aberration (an optical-path phenomena affecting the color spectrum which looks like convergence problems)?

You bring up a really good point. I don't understand anything you said.

I had dust blobs and followed the advice found at Post #7219 on this thread to open and blow out the dust blobs - and it worked!!! Be advised that the dust blobs are very stubborn to move and I had to do it twice before I got get rid of them. I figured it was better to try this before exchanging it in for a rehabbed machine from Epson.

Did I get a bad projector?

Hello!

I have waited for over a year to buy an Epson 8350. Finally moved into our new home with dedicated media room. Had perfect timing with an 15% refurb coupon from Epson store, got the 8350 delivered two weeks ago. This morning, while going to set it up, I decided to plug it in and throw the test pattern before hanging the thing off the ceiling.

I have it on two boxes, at 4 feet high, throw to blank wall is 15 feet. The test pattern is completely messed up! Regular DVD movie very blurry.

From what I understand, there is no convergence adjustment.

What do I do??

Epson "private line" is not open on the weekends, and that is my only free time.

The pictures below have been taken at an angle, so that my shadow does not fall in the way.

u got a very bad projector
exchange it

Hi Epson 8350 owners

Having read 250 pages of posts, I have observed two things that may or may not be correct.

1st is that this is an awesome HT projector in a darkened room since that's how Ill use it GREAT !

2nd Does the failure rate "seem" as bad as the many posts seem to show?

Could people with multiple failures like 4 "bad" 8350's just have something unique to their environment
that might cause the failure? Has anyone tried to determine the approximate failure % ?

Has anyone had theirs for 2 trouble free years?

Finally looking at the epson website for a refurb should I be concerned that they warranty the bulb for only 90 days?
Should I try to buy new spend $200 more but get 2000 hrs on the bulb or would it be a wash ?

Thanks in Advance

That is terrible, the worst convergence I've seen in this thread. Get it changed immediately!

I have had one for exactly a year now and use it regularly, has almost 700 hours on it. No problems at all, zip. Love this projector. Bought a spare bulb and have it in the closet ready to go when I need it.

^^^^^Another happy Epson 8350 owner here with 483 hrs and about nine months in. Just remember while many here have had very frustrating and maddening experiences here, there are many more that have ZERO issues. Many post here for suggestions, ideas, solutions to their issues so you will see what appears to be more problems and issues than you might be comfortable with, but just remember very few come here just to post "Love my PJ and I'm having no isssues".

JMHO I would spring the extra 200.00 and get the new PJ.

Regards,

RTROSE

Thanks for the replys, It can be hard to sift thru so much ancedotal information.

I almost wonder if the stories of getting 4 "bad" epson 8350 projectors are made up.
Perhaps disgruntled Epson employees or familywith an axe to grind.

It would seem statistically astronomical to get that many defective projectors.

Given that seemingly many on here have had theirs for 1 or 2 years with NO ISSUES which indicates there is
obviousy some quality to the product,

Best Buy has a sale for 1179.99 for new which is a fairly good price, I think I'll get one.

If there is something environmental (dust seems to be one of the biggest problems for this projector) I'd think that is a far more likely catalyst than any kind of anti-Epson agenda. I've only had mine up and running for a little over a week, but I can tell you that I've never experienced movies like this before. Once you get the 8350 setup, calibrated, and running normally it is pretty incredible. Sat and watched 6 hours of Blu-ray movies back to back over the weekend (Fifth Element, Princess Bride, and The Matrix) and I saw things in all 3 films that I never noticed before. Detailed patterns in costume fabrics, people doing things in the background of certain scenes... the difference between 50" of 1080p and 100" is bigger than I expected.

After having experienced this kind of viewing though, I would most likely be even more bummed out if I started having regular problems. I'm guessing I'm not alone which might explain why it's more common for folks to come here and post their woes. I was bummed to see the latest post regarding the convergence problems sksahai had for instance. Whether that was a result of poor handling during shipping or left the factory that way who knows. Hopefully the replacement unit arrives quickly and runs like a champ!

Epson has sold and continues to sell a ton of this projector, it's a very popular low cost model. With that kind of volume there are bound to be some problems and yes, people with problems are more apt to complain and rightly so. That said there is no reason for anyone to cast doubt on the people posting. Be assured that they are all sincere with no vested interest.

Thanks everyone. I was able to talk with Epson and emailed them the link to the photos. The tech was rather impressed with how bad it was. I asked if refurbds went through some sort of quality check before shipping and they said that they "should"
I had to be referred back to the Epson store to get a another refurb shipped out and send the current one back.

As I won't be able to get to it again until the weekend, is there a "owner checklist" checklist I should run through before I even attempt to hang it? besides the test pattern that you get when you click "pattern" on the remote?

I guess this could be counted as a comparison post.

The color wheel in my Optoma H77 finally went after about 5000 hours over 5ish years. Paid $2800 new back then. It is a single chip DLP with a 5x, 8 segment color wheel.

The projector is shelf mounted, 19.5' from the top edge of a DaLite Model C 119" Hi Power (2.8 gain). The room is 14x22 with a bay window on the wall opposite the projection surface.

The 8350 has been great right out of the box. Picked up from Best Buy as I didn't want to wait for shipping. The resolution increase is very nice and the brightness on "Living Room" was excellent with the high gain screen and copious ambient lights for the pounding my Chicago Bears gave yesterday. Dynamic hyper-saturated the colors, specifically the Breast Cancer Awareness pink uniform items.

Cinema mode looked excellent for the Avengers (under better light control than the football game) but I found myself attempting to improve the blacks by enabling dynamic iris and the low end contrast by adjusting gamma.

Simply put, the blacks do not look as good as the Dark Chip 2 DLP on a white high gain screen. That said, if you haven't stared at the other projector for 5000 hours it would be difficult to tell the difference. The difference isn't enough motivation to replace the screen at this point. I am expecting "WOW" reactions for the walking dead premier next Sunday.

I will not discard the H77. It's worth the $200 to replace the color wheel and hook it up in my man cave as a spectator view for LAN parties.

-Chris

The only problem I've had with mine is dust blobs. They seem to come and go, so I guess there are dust particles getting in, and then being eventually moved on by the cooling system. When I see people mentioning returning their projector because of dust blobs I'm surprised. My previous two Panasonic models suffered from this too, although the AE300 was much worse than the AE900. It seems to be just a function of the filtering design the projector has, not a unit to unit variation. Obviously the 8350 doesn't have the best filtration. Maybe some clever person can come up with a better filter for it and this problem would be gone for good.

two years later now, and the 8350 still seems to be at the same price. in the world of projectors, this is like 1-2 generations. I understand that the 8350 is still a great projector, but isn't it there a successor about to come out, or a considerable price drop about to happen? I like the low noise of the 8350; and presumably in eco mode, it isn't too bad a heat engine.

/iaw

That's the whole reason why I'm waiting for Black Friday or the 3020/5020 to see a price drop. If this was the PC building world this should cost 1/4 of its original price LOL it's 2 yrs old and people still want to charge 1100-1300 for it!!!! XD

These Epson projectors have never really dropped in price as far as I know unless you move to the refurb unit's. You might squeeze out a couple hundred bucks but is that worth 6-12 months of waiting?

Anyway I've put at least 5000 hours on this projector in 2 years and it's still fine for me. I thought I would just give some feedback since I have used this projector so heavily.

Great picture however I think the optics could be a bit better, I will randomly need to re-focus every now and then it's pretty difficult to get a razor ship image from edge to edge. It's a bit out of focus till it heats up though so make sure you make your adjustments after 10 mins of use and I guess "endure" those first 10 mins when you turn it on. It's mild to be honest but I can be picky.

I ran xbox/ps3/htpc equally... used it for internet viewing and I never had complaints from any usage... if there is "lag" for gaming I can't tell... and I would likely mop the floor with you in battlefield 3

I ran mine on a completely open shelf.... Epson has replaced 2 bulbs for free...I'm not sure if they still offer that as part of their warranty on new projectors however it was when I purchased it. First bulb failed after a year at 2300'sh hours (12 months) of normal mode, they replaced without a hiccup, second replacement was about 2 months ago after about 3000'sh hours of normal mode again. Yeah it gets used a lot! This was about 22 months into the 24 month warranty and I was honest about the usage and while they said the bulb failed within it's lifetime I mentioned that was unlcear as their warranty stated bulb replacements for the length of the warranty so they caved quickly and replaced it for me. This is as a Canadian customer dealing with Epson Canada with a projector I purchased online from the States. I can't say enough good things about Epson support, they are always kind and effecient. The reason I run the bulbs on normal is because it would seem to me the bulbs burn out quicker on eco... at least mine would definitely flicker first in eco mode then run fine for a long time on normal mode. I have no idea why, the projector is so quiet in eco mode I kind of assume it runs hot and that could be the reason... pure speculation.

I have 2 dust blobs, I've replaced the filter twice. The only time I see them is when there is no input so who cares.

Anyway, I'm a heavy user who is very happy with this projector, I'm not even looking at their competition and will likely move to a 5010 before xmas once I decide if I want a new projector or a new reciever.

it's not perfect but at $1100 nothing is, I have no regrets and I feel as though they have earned my future business.

I've owned Optoma, Acer, Viewsonic in the past.

Another Bad projector?

All:

Replacement came today, focus is ok. NO Convergence issues BUT, on running a test DVD. I get a little line at the bottom of the screen.

The DVD is Mission Impossible 2.
When set to automatic picture size via the HDMI, the black bars for the cinema scope are present, and no little line.

Little line only if DVD player is forced to output "Screen fit"

If I set the DVD player to "screen fit" I see a small line at the bottom of the picture. If I select the "overscan" option on the 8350, the problem goes away (auto setting).





Is this a projector problem or a DVD player problem?
Once again, unable to do much extensive testing due to work/life. I did not try any other DVDs or attach a bluray player. something to worry about or not?

Thanks again!

Sunil

Where did you purchase the original 8350 and hopefully you didnt box up your old one and return it yet. As others have said and i will say again. The refurbs and "new" replacement projectors epson sends you are complete junk. I swear they just take them in and wait for someone to call and send yours to someone else. I had screen and convergence issues and after epson sending me "new" units that either had worse convergence, loose parts, dustblobs or color problems. I just kept sending them back keeping my original. Finally i just went back to bestbuy and exchanged for a real "new" projector and kept it. Knock on wood i never have to get a refurb. Unless my projector truly has a major issue i wouldnt risk sending it. Now if you recently bought it id take it back to where you got it and demand new unit. If it is an older unit then id just keep switching them out and play the "epson return roulette".

I got it at the Epsonstore.com, there was a coupon for 15% off a refurbished one and it came to $850.

I still don't know if that line under the image is a projector issue or a source issue. I am going to hook up the blu ray player this weekend and see with different DVDs/blurays.

im thinking about buying the 8350 but i saw that it was released in sept 2010. that makes this model 25 months old! im guessing this is a good thing because it shows that despite the amount of complaints on this thread, enough customers must be happy with it, and buying it if they have kept it alive this long. but 25 months is a very long time in the tech world so am i right in guessing that it will probably be replaced in the next year or so? if it does get replaced, does anyone know what happens to the warranty? if it breaks down after this model gets discontinued, will they still replace it?

I'm thinking of the 8350 too. Is the current 8350 on the market still problematic? I'm searching for a projector with good reliability. Having good warranty period or service support but with frequent hiccups is useless.

So this is off the beaten path but....I recently calibrated my projector with the DIsney WOW DVD which definitely made a nice difference. Just learned that BestBuy Silver rewardzone members are eligible for a free calibration of one TV, Projector etc so I have a guy coming over in 2 weeks.....Just wanted to pass along some good info.....

247 hrs into my Epson and very happy thus far

Update:
I tested the projector this weekend, that little line is a function of the Samsung DVD player I have, not the projector. I could not replicate the issue with a blu ray player.

I'm still reading the 200+ pages in this thread, but does anyone know how much this projector can shift the image down? I plan to mount this on my ceiling and they're vaulted so the projector will be about 12 to 15 feet up from the ground (taking the length of the mount into consideration). It will be about 12 feet away from the screen and my screen size will be 120". The top edge of the screen will be between 6 to 7 feet in height, the bottom edge of the screen will be about 18 inches from the ground.

Does the vertical shift allow this much of a shift? If not, what is the maximum height I can install the projector at?

2 years and 1100 hours. Not one complaint. Not one! Still gets OOOOHs and AHHHHs! Epic projector.

Just picked up one of these used from a client of mine, he bought it last Black Friday for a conference room he was building. After many months later he finished the room and wanted to go brighter so he bought the Benq W7000. I offered to buy it from him for a fair price, he said just give me $500 and its yours. SOLD! Had zero hrs on it and I now have it in a 3 projector setup along with my Viewsonic Pro8100 and JVC X3.

Picture quality is much better on this projector than I thought, brighter, better colors and darker blacks than my Viewsonic but still no match for my JVC. Played COD MW3 last night on the 8350 and it seems to have awesome low lag times. So far very happy with the purchase.

I'm seriously considering purchasing this projector.

As of right now - I have a chance to purchase a used one with 800 hours and "0 issues" for $800. This unit still has about 1.5 months left on the warranty. The price to me is high for a used unit since it is possible to get refurbs for 850-900.

What should I look for when inspecting this used Epson 8350 and what would you offer $$ wise to the seller?

Thanks!

 

Hey! No fair 

 

Man, talk about being at the right place at the right time ... well done.