The official Epson 8700UB thread - Page 53

Really, you had to write "txt" instead of "text"?

Either way, both projectors he's showing screenshots for have poor convergence. It'll never be sharp in that condition, but natively both should have about the same sharpness. Individual projectors vary in their sharpness, let alone a different model. Epson QC is a total joke.

After reading so many posts with quality issues, I am a bit scared since I live in Europe and my 8700ub is traveling with my family from US. Of course I will demand an exchange in case it is faulty in any way but it would be somewhat difficult.

Is Epson going to do something with QC? It looks strange at the very least.

and your point is ?

After some deliberation I finally took the plunge and ordered an Epson 8700UB. The PJ should be arriving next week and before that I need to prepare the room for the new guest and need some help from you guys.

The dimensions of the room are the 12.5' x 11' with 7.5' ceiling. Due to the rather small size of the room I can't go beyond 11' for the throw distance. There is one window, which will be covered with thick, dark curtains so as not allow any ambient light. The walls are light blue and the ceiling is white.

Screen size:
-my preferred size would be 110" (at least 106") and according to the projector-calculator, with a throw distance of 11' I'll have to use the zoom almost to the max (2.06x) to get the screen size I want. Is it OK to use such a high zoom or can it have some adverse affect on the picture quality?
Also, the calculator give a brightness value of 42 fL, which seems rather high. Curiously, for Panny AE4000U the same dimensions give an acceptable brightness of 21 fL (even though both PJs are rated for same lumens). Does this mean that epson is "too bright" and if it is anything can be done to combat that?

Screen type:
-again, based on the brightness of the projector and white ceiling/light blue walls, what would be the best type of screen, gray or white? any suggestions for the screen manufacturer are welcome. (am leaning towards Elite screens).

I'll bug you guys some more once I set up the PJ and have to calibrate. Thanks.

If you can add a little more to the budget, i'd recommend going with a Da Lite screen over the Elite. It's a little more but you get a lot more in picture quality.

Benito

Well we can only try.....


Ambient light is not so much your main issue as is "reflected light" from the PJ. That low a ceiling (89"), combined with a 110" screen (54" high)
leaves you with just 35" total wall remaining to set your screen onto.

So let's say you mount the Screen so that the actual edge of the Screen...whatever screen is chosen (I'll get onto that later....) is at 12" down from the Ceiling. That will only leave your 23" space above the Floor.

Why stay at least 12" from the Ceiling? Because that white ceiling is a giant reflector. Essentially, if you cannot...or will not consider a change in your room's color scheme, ANY PJ/Screen combo will suffer because of those light Blue Pastel walls and that Gawdawful White Ceiling.

Change 'em...or you must spend more elsewhere just to mitigate the issues they present. And...mitigate doesn't translate into "solve" unless you really spend extra.


You'll be OK. I've done likewise several times with the 8700 and it's very good at zooming at that size. It's the larger sizes (120" +)that tend to show aberrations when maximum zoom must be employed.



It is to chuckle.....

You simply run the PJ on Economy, and calibrate it to resolve the maximum Black Level possible. Having extra brightness means you can always adjust downward. If you don't have enough lumens, you can't grow more. All you can do is go for a high gain screen...and that itself opens up additional caveats...such as extra cost, artifacts, reduced viewing cone, hot spotting. You want to avoid the need for such a screen unless conditions absolutely dictate such a need. So far...your's do not.

BTW, the 8700 is WAY brighter at it's stated luminosity level because it employs a Lens specifically designed to optimize the light passing through. The Panny's lens is not nearly as proficient, and there is a reason. It achieves it's higher contrast levels via attenuation. Yeah. It make the image darker so the Blacks get darker as well. Not good as far as I'm concerned.


Lean further and come visit the DIY Screen Forum.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...ysprune=&f=110
We got what you need at the size you need, and at 1/10th the cost. The image quality possible takes no back seat to Mfg., no matter what someone who sells Screens might say. Strong words, but well proven ones.

Your ideal Screen choice would be a mid-tone Gray with at least 1.2 gain. Easy stuff for a DIY'er to get'ter dun.


Better bug well before that, as I see you need considerable input to achieve results you can be "Suspender Poppin' Proud" of. Got to far too fast, and it's either a case of; "I guess I shoulda...." or worse, "I really wish I woulda..." The later is always a case where the sour grapes are particularly bitter tasting.

I am not an expert, but from what I understand, using max zoom will give you max brightness out of the projector. Min zoom will give you maximum contrast out of the projector. It is perfectly OK to use max zoom, although most lens systems tend to lose performance at min zoom and max zoom. I think the ability to keep the edges of the screen in razor sharp focus is the main issue at the zoom extremes.

Are you going to wait to purchase a screen? If so, you can play around with image size, and therefore zoom, to see what the tradeoff is in image quality versus image size. Some white backdrop photo paper is a good temp screen.


Too bright is not a bad thing to start out with. You can buy neutral density filters (NDFs) to place in front of the projector lens. The NDF will reduce the image brightness while not effecting image quality. As the lamp ages and loses brightness, you can remove the NDF and have a bright image again.

Thanks a lot MM and kentd98 for the detailed replies.

Now I know that the brightness should not be an issue in my case.

As for the screen, I think I wont mind trying out the DIY, but as MM pointed out, the white ceiling is a bigger issue for me. I've never really painted anything before but I figure it shouldn't be too hard. If I do start to look for the painting materials, what color scheme would you suggest (without going completely black), maybe something that will go with light blue walls.

In any case I'll hold on and play with the PJ first before buying or hopefully DIY'ing the screen.

Take a color swatch of the Light Blue ans have it matched out with a similar shade that is 5x Darker....in a Flat. It's that simple.

But remember that the side walls are just like a Ceiling if the side edges of the Screen come closer than 2' to them.

Cool. I'll give it a try at the Home Depot this weekend after I go through a painting tutorial.

For the side walls, the screen edges will be 18" from the walls for a 110" screen.

Painting my ceiling and walls with dark flat paint made a huge difference in my last house which in retrospect also had a screen kind of too big for the room lol. Too much light bouncing off of ceiling and walls to ignore it.

Well i finally got the Bulb ring of Dimm on my Epson 9700/8700.
Final bulb count was 1648hrs,( Mostly Normal Mode)
But this is a known issue on bulbs so a simple call to Epson and they sent me a replacement bulb Next Day.

New Issue,
I am noticing a New very different issue.
Burn In.
Didnt think that was possible with Projection but after playing 5 hrs of Call of Duty the Side black bars left a shading on the image.
But only present during dark blue or green images.
White or Red they dont show up.

So i put on a Pixal flipper and some other patterns then i left the disc on a pattern image that i thought was going from image to image but it stayed on this contrast sharpness pattern and then that burned in...

So i left a moving screen saver on and after many hrs i have got the pattern off .
Is this normal with projection or is it just because i put in a new bulb?
I think it has something to do with the blue or green colour on the chip but i could be wrong....

+1000 Kilgore is 100% correct

I am considering the 8700 with a 2:35:1 CIH screen.

I am still a bit confused on what is involved with changing from 2.35 to 16:9 viewing with the 8700.

Is it all done via the remote or do you need to adjust something on the projector? Can it be done via a macro programed to a universal remote?

To be clear, I am talking without an anamorphic lens. If I am watching a movie in 2.35:1 format (on a 2.35:1 screen) and then switch to HDTV at 16:9 what do I have to do to the projector?


Thanks for any help or suggestions

Without the anamorphic lens you will overzoom your screen so that the black bars fall off the top & bottom of the screen. This is an ok thing to do. Then for 1.85 content you will zoom in manually with the zoom lens on the projector so that it fills the height of your screen.

That's what I thought. Is there a control for this on the remote or do you have to do this on the projector itself?

It can't be done on the remote. You have to turn a ring on the lens of the projector.

It would be easier on a projector with electronic zoom, and much easier on a projector with electronic zoom and lens memory.

What's a good pj in the $1500-$2000 range with the above features?

Panasonic AE4000 is the only one I can think of.

Anyone do this?

Just a quick question. I am about to ceiling mount my 8700ub and the projectorcentral throw distance calculator is saying that 13 ft 4 in. is the ideal throw distance for my 100in screen. At this distance will the lens be performing as good as it can or is there a a better distance? Also when mounting the 8700 do you want to have the lens even with the top of the screen for best performance? Thanks in advance for your answers.
bryan

Ok, thanks for the response.

if it didnt look sharp on PC than you are not setting the video card and PJ mode correctly

My spare bulb recently blew with about 700 hrs on it ( the original has 1000 hrs ) put the original back in and all is good. I got lucky i was usung the epson for a friends wifes 50 th birthday party and showing an outdoor movie on my 16' long homemade screen. I thought the image was alittle dimmer than usual but it was fine on dynamic for the party. 2 day later i used it in my theater and within 30 min it blew. I guess i was lucky it did not blow at the party with 40 people watching.
Epson sent me a new bulb within 2 days The question i have is does anyone know what the reference call number is? I am packing the old bulb up to return and i need to record that. It say it is on the bulb packing slip but nothing on the slip says that. the only other things besides order number are customer code and customer po nuber. Its saturday so i cant call epson.

Nope, I had to replace pj and the new one is fine and sharp in any mode.

than it wasnt the pc but the projector QC. glad you got it to work and happy.

bryan,

I don't think you will notice any significant difference in your viewing if the projector was mounted plus or minus 12" from the recommended 13' 4". The zoom lens has an ideal focal length so that at minimum throw distance, it may not be ideal (it will be at it's maximum brightness though). You don't want it too far either since light output will decrease. As the the relative height of the projector to the screen, you get maximum brightness if the projector is aimed dead center to the screen but obviously when ceiling mounting, you will have trade offs. Using the extremes of lens offset is not ideal. The closer to the screen center within reason the better in terms of brightness but fan noise and other considerations will modify your decision. One of the most important factor is to make sure your projector is perpendicular to the screen.

Also look at Epson's site: http://www.epson.com/alf_upload/land...ce-calculator/

How long did the original bulb last you guys? I'm at about 300 hours so far!

Your confused, I never said it was the pc.

Thank you very much for the info this is exactly what i needed. I got it all mounted up today still not done but made a lot of headway. Thanks again fujmeistr got some pics for y'all.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1343942