The official Epson 8700UB thread - Page 82

Isn't Theater Black 2 the preferred option instead of THX?

That is what I preach. The THX mode is just gimmicky is overly blown with colors and doesn't look correct to my eyes. TB2 looks much closer to my calibrated LCD than THX mode does.

It isn't "gimmicky", just a different setup. I happen to prefer it to TB. I need to set up my Calman and recalibrate sometime soon since my lamp replacement and will post my results/changes.

I sent my Panny 220 BD player back to Amazon yesterday, no subtitle button, phooey! I'm back using my old Momitsu V880 upscaling DVD player until I order another BD player, likely a Sony S390. I'm wondering what video output should I use from the Momitsu to the 8700ub.

I could use components or HDMI, the Momitsu will output 1080i, 480i, 480p and 720p, maybe some other stuff. What should I use for best DVD upscaling on the 8700ub?

I'm thinking of getting an 8700UB refurb as a replacement for my Epson 6500 that is suffering from the dreaded "red bar" on the top of the image. I am also considering a new Epson 5010 but I'm really not very interested in 3D.

Is the 8700 comparable in 2D performance to the 5010? The 8700 has a much higher rated contrast ratio. Does anyone know if going from a 6500 to the 8700 would be a significant improvement in performance?

One last thing, I've seen refurbs on Visual Apex. Are there other sellers?

Thanks,

Denis

My upgrade was a much bigger quantum leap, from my 1300:1 contrast ratio to the 200,000:1 8700ub. I'm thrilled with what I'm getting. I haven't painted my ceiling yet (a low grade virus has sapped my energy this week), but will do it as soon as I'm feeling 100% (painting the ceiling in my HT room is for a gung ho day!). I have the paint, the tools.

I thought about the 5010 because at the time, my choice of a BD player (the Panny 220) was 3D capable, besides as a kid 3D at the movies knocked me out! However, I'm grown up now, have relatively sophisticated tastes, figure that movies made in 3D are apt to not please me on an artistic level the great majority of the time. If it were not much more money, I'd have gone for it, but my refurb from Visual Apex at $1599 was way cheaper than the prices I was seeing for the 5010 (around $2500), so I figured black black black / contrast contrast contrast, 3D be damned.

Your saying the 5010 has inferior contrast ratio I think is in error. At Amazon it says:

The PowerLite Home Cinema 5010 brings the power of 3D right to your living room with Bright 3D Drive technology and full HD, 1080p performance. Immerse yourself in eye-popping 3D adventures, 2400 lumens color and white light output1 and an astounding contrast ratio up to 200,000:1.

For myself, that 2400 lumens compared to the 1600 of the 8700ub is total overkill. In fact, the 1600 is overkill, even toned down (Eco mode, rolled back brightness) it's way brighter than my old Sanyo Z2. However, that Z2's bulb has ~4500 hours on it!

but I thought the 5010 was a LOT brighter. To me, that would be worth a lot more

Yes, it should be a LOT brighter, 2400 vs 1600 lumens compared to the 8700ub. If you have a long throw or a low reflectivity screen, maybe a lot better for you. Neither is true for me, even 1600 is much more than enough.

I meant to say the 8700 has a much higher contrast ratio than the 6500 not the 5010. My bad. My expectation is that, for 2D, the 8700 should be roughly equal to the 5010.

BTW: I have a man-cave (black carpet, maroon walls, dark gray ceiling and good light control on the windows) and a modest screen (100" diag Fire Hawk) so I'm not really worried about brightness.

I just ordered the 8700 from Projector People for $1450.

I can highly recommend the Oppo BD player. Outstanding performance for the money.

There appear to be several Oppo BD players.

Could someone using a calibrated Theater Black mode please post their RGB values? It seems a little off to me by default, and ARt at projectorreviews.com only posted values for THX and Dynamic.

Just two...the 93 and 95. The 83, which I have was replaced with the 93. Prior to that I owned the Oppo DVD player that also blew away the competition.
The main difference is the superior DAC and analog out audio of the 95. If you need an audiophile grade CD player, then it might interest you. The video performance is the same. Here's a comparison.
http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-b...5-Compare.aspx
There are a number of in depth reviews if you google. You could buy a cheaper player but are hard pressed to find a better one at this price point.I have read reviews of players at 2-3 times the price that do not match it's performance.

I heard that my old Sanyo PLV-Z2's bulb would last longer if I didn't turn the PJ on and off unnecessarily. Therefore, when I took a 15 minute break from viewing, I left it on and paused. I'm sure that the thought that turning the PJ on and off a lot wasn't good for the bulb factored into my decisions at times whether to turn it on to watch a 1/2 hour video. I'm wondering if this should be my m.o. with the 8700ub. I heard something about some PJs not applying full power to the bulbs when they are warming up in order to mitigate the deteriorating effects of the on/off cycles on bulb life. What's the situation with the 8700ub in this regard? I noticed that the 8700ub starts off quick dim, and am wondering if this is intentional in order to not stress the bulb while the PJ "warms up."

Just got an 8700 refurb from projector people. Upgrading from a 6100 with ~1700 hrs on its lamp. The image definitely has more "pop" but at least some of that has to be due to the brighter image.

One question i had was about the iris. On my 6100 it sounds like a muffled garbage disposal, not too loud but fairly constant low level noise. I'm on my third or fourth 6100 and they all sounded about the same. I turned iris to high speed on the 8700 and I couldn't hear a thing. I turned it off again and noticed a change it brightness so I think it's working but was wondering what other 8700 owners thought about the auto iris noise. Is it quieter than the 6100? Does it not have to work as hard due to the higher natural contrast of the Ub panel? Anyone have a unit with a non- functional iris?

For those of you getting the refurbs from Projector People, how did you get them for $1450? I'm only seeing $1499 when I go on the site. I was going to get this from VisualApex for $1599 before I saw folks getting it for less. Is there any difference between the Visual Apex "refurbished" and the Projector People "B-stock"? Also, how old were your bulbs?

When I went to Projector People yesterday all I saw for the 8700ub was $1599, didn't have a classification.

I got a refurb from Visual Apex ordered April 27. The bulb life was stated in to PJ as 0H, but I figured this was no proof it's a new bulb. It's easy to reset the bulb hours, the instructions are right there in the manual.

Projector People had this on sale for $1,499 with free shipping last week.
Today, it's discontinued and sold out. Every other site is selling it at an inflated price around $2,000.

Sadness

Time to do my research and find the new price sweet spot.

***EDIT***

Looks like VisualApex has some refurbs going for $1,599. There is hope!
Anybody know some comparable projectors that will duplicate the 8700ub in specs?

Yes, I saw the refurbs going for $1599 at Visual Apex today. I got one of those 19 days ago and it seems new in every respect. I checked out the picture a few minutes ago displaying 8 point arial text displayed all over my screen from my PC at 1920x1880, and saw no signs of misconvergence. When I was checking prices end of April I wasn't seeing any new ones for much if any going for less than $2000. You might want to go for a refurb. Sometimes they are a better bet than new if they have been checked out by trained technicians. Refurbs can be better bets than new equipment at times.

It's still available from Projector People, just search for the b-stock, not the new one. Comes up $1499 in cart but a quick call to them and it can be had for $1450. That's what I did!

Hi, I'm looking for a little motivation. I currently have a three-year old Sanyo Z5 (720p) projecting onto a 120 inch painted screen (using ProjectorCentral's 'Painting the Perfect Screen for $100' advice on paint) in a light-controlled theater room. I have a PS3 for Blu-Ray. I was thinking about finally upgrading to 1080p with the Epson 8350 until I came across this thread. Now the 8700UB seems to me to be the way to go even if it's a refurb. Beyond the obvious spec difference, can someone offer the motivation that I need to scrap/sell/shelve the perfectly-working Z5 we love? Blu-Ray on the PS3 at 720p looks great, but no different than regular DVD's. I've never seen a Blu-Ray disc projecting at 1080p so I don't know what I'm missing. Will sports on the 8700UB from D*TV look better than it does now? Everyone is impressed with the way it looks, but again, we don't know better. Does anyone have direct experience with these two projectors that can give me a little push in the right direction? Thanks!

The leap from 720p to 1080p feels about the same as going from DVD to 720p. For large screens (i.e. projectors) it pays off greatly. But if the projector isn't sharp enough, it can be hard to tell.

I'm finally getting ready to install my Epson 8700UB that has been sitting in its box for months and am trying to research the best screen option. I will be in a totally light controlled room with black walls at a rather close seating distance of 13'. I think I've decided on going with a white 100" screen for this environment.

I'm sure all the threads on Carada have been archived or something, but I'm not seeing any information on the quality/satisfaction of these screens? I've read all 80+ pages of the Epson 8700UB thread and several people have mentioned the Carada BW as a good choice. From this forum, I started looking at the Jamestown also.

Can anyone comment on the build and screen material quality of the Caradas vs. something like the Jamestown (lower end) and Da-Lite (higher end)? Trying to decide if Carada is a significant jump over Jamestown or if I should just bite the bullet and look at all the Da-Lite options? Thanks in advance for any insight!

I had one of the less expensive knock offs in my last house. It was fine for what it was but the Carada screens are in a different class, IMO. I have an 84 inch Criterion BW in this house and it's superior to the previous screen in every respect. Plus, the Carada is a snap (literally) to put together. I've never owned a Da-Lite, so I can't comment on that.

For those of you still on the fence about the 8700, I say grab one while you can. I upgraded from a well aged Panny AE900 and the 8700 is leaps and bounds better. Sharper, brighter, blacker, better contrast and better color accuracy...and not by a small margin either.

I don't know where I got the idea but about February 2002 I bought a piece of Gator board at an art supply store for about $50. They come in 4x8 foot sheets. It was an imperfect piece, 4x7', and one side is a little dirty. I'm projecting on the cleaner side, which is virtually perfect. I think it makes a fabulous screen, is white, but I've never used another. I have a can of misty evening paint I bought with the intention of painting the "dirty" side in an effort to better my contrast but now have an 8700ub, so don't know that I'll bother. Might be worth it. If I don't care for the result, I can always flip it over and use the side I've been using the last 10 years. At 4x7' it's about 96" diagonal, which I think is fine for my throw of just under 10', in fact it might be kind of large. My zoom is nearly all the way out. Looks great, though.

Thanks, I appreciate the input - I'm having a hard time finding any info on the Carada screens, but I've seen them mentioned here frequently. I posted the same question on the screens forum, but no response yet. If anyone can point me in the direction of some good resources on Carada, that would be great. Thanks!

I own a 120 inch diag. Carada Brilliant White screen and love it. I currently have the Epson 8700UB and previously had the 6500UB. Both are punchy and look great. My setup is a batcave, with dark blue carpet, walls, black ceiling and room darkening shades. Build quality is excellent on the Carada.

Has anyone experienced the picture flicker while watching anything? The picture on mine will occasionaly flicker or flash once every few hours where the screen will go black and then back to normal just for a second. It has happened during DVD's, OTA, and Netflix streaming so I do not think it is a cable issue since they use different cables. I have searched the 8700UB thread and the 8350 thread, but only saw one other person talk about a similar situation. Any ideas or should I just call Epson?

Hello all!

Fidelity, I have just setup my 130" white from jamestown...it took me and my father about 1.5-2 hours to setup everything and really did take 2 ppl to stretch the screen. I think it is a fairly sturdy screen, some of the the drill holes were off...but I was able to drill my own. Its a pretty cheap frame, but the screen material was cut nice and stretched very nice in the clamps with room to spare...

This is my first screen, so I dont have much to compare it to. I did see a few Stewart screens in showrooms which I heard were good, but when I saw them I wasn't blown away

So this is my first shots of the 8700ub(not properly mounted yet, nor calibratd) on my 130" jamestown...it is plugged into a Oknyo 509 with a sony BD player..

I should have taken pics building it but all I had was 2 or so dvds to try so I loaded it up and took a few pics with my cell phone...its the GI JOE dvd set so keep that in mind, the other one was a preview on the Primal Fear DVD...I cant wait to try some Blu-Rays

I have been recommended a Dragonfly screen by several of the local dealers; anyone have experience with this brand with the 8700UB in matte white? Thanks!