Viewsonic Pro8200 -- it exists. - Page 22

Sorry, I have an ignorant question to ask. I have the Pro8200 hooked up and all seems okay, but I did have to go into the ps3 menu and set the RGB full range setting to full, instead of limited. I guess I've always had it set to limited, and never had any issues with any of the other projectors I've hooked up, out of the box. Am I going to have to change the settings on all my sources now, or is there something I can do with the Viewsonic? Besides the ps3, I've only tested it with my htpc and a friend's laptop. Both of which exhibited a washed-out look, like when the ps3 was set to limited. Thanks.

When I first got my pro8200 and turned it on, I was at friends house and it was mid day. I turned on the 360 and put the picture on his white wall. The curtains were open and the picture looked washed out. I thought that this sucks. It was ok, but it wasn't that great. Then we closed the curtains and it looked better. Then when the sun went down it looked really good. The same day the SCREEN I ordered was delivered to my home. I went home to pick it up and went back to my friends house. We put up the 100 inch screen, and fired up 360 Forza 3 (car racing game) and were BLOWN away by how bright, sharp, clear, good the colors were. It was Amazing.

Can you fill in a couple of things. What other projectors did you have before ( 1080p, 720p, 800x600) , can you list the names of them, so we know what you are comparing it to. Have you gone into the Pro8200 menu and tried to adjust some of the setting or modes? Standard, User 1, Dark room, etc. How much did you troubleshoot? Maybe list steps.

How long have you owned the pr8200? Is it brand new or used? Fill in the blanks because it should look as good or better than your other projectors, your post was kind of vague. How far away from screen is your projector? What size room? Is the room DARK?

Maybe someone with a PS3 that has a pro8200 can comment. I only have 360 and wii.

Hi, thanks for the reply, and sorry if my post seemed vague. I haven't had much time at all to really dig into it. I did a quick look though of the menu and didn't find anything. That's why I figured I would ask first, and see if there was a quick and right route to get on, before I really dig into it and subsequently waste time messing with the wrong settings.

It is a newly installed, refurbished model. I think that the unit itself is fine, because it does look good when I changed the rgb setting of the ps3 (but the washed-out effect was the same with the ps3 as the computer, until I switched it). I'm just not sure if there is the same type of setting with the computer. In the past I've had Panny 900u, Epson 1080ub, Optoma Gt720, Acer H5360, and Benq w6000 (it was only up for a day or two). Although, I think I've only had the Acer hooked up to the computer.

It is a living room set-up, but I do a fairly decent job of controlling light during the day. Main problem is I do have off-white ceilings, and the screen is a large 147" diagonal, Seymour 1.2 AT screen. It lights it up fine though. Everything is through hdmi. If anyone has a ps3 hooked up, they should be able to go the the rgb settings (in the display settings menu) and switch it one way or the other to see this washed-out effect I'm describing. I remember seeing it on my 1080ub one time when I was messing with the ps3 settings, but I've always left it to limited since - until now. I also seem to recall that the Epson had a full and limited rgb setting of its own as well.?. Not sure about these others.

Sorry, I feel that I may still not describing everything properly, but I can assure that it is not a room problem. Hope that makes a little more sense. Thanks.

Maintman
The other guys will be able to help you with the ps3. Sounds like you have had experience with PJ's that are pretty current. You know about screens and other basic stuff. Have fun playing around with the settings on the pro8200. You can always revert back to "factory defaults" , if you screw it up too much. I've done that.
Look at this thread for tips on calibrating it .
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1390576/viewsonic-pro8200-calibrations

Usually, I might have to adjust settings in the games "brightness" ect... many of them have them, adjust brightness, etc. And same with hooking up to my PC via hdmi. I adjust the graphics settings until it looks good. Sounds like you have good sense about this stuff, I'm thinking you should play around with the settings on the ps3/PC/ and the pro8200 until you get AWESOME picture.

You have a bigger screen than me, at 147 inchs. How far back is the projector. Maybe as troubleshooting, move the PJ closer to make 100 inch screen and see if the picture still looks washed out. Again, the others should be able to offer suggestions that could help you. Did you try a Blu Ray Movie with your pro8200, yet. You should get an Awesome picture , if not, don't settle. Keep troubleshooting.

Thanks for the link, I'll do a read-through of it later tonight. I am going to remount it. I just put it up where the Acer was, (which if I remember correctly, is around 17 or 17.5 ft.) but I think I can move it a little closer for max brightness.
I haven't had a chance to do any sort of critical blu-ray viewings, but I threw in Inception last night, and it looked really good on the ps3. I did back-and-forth test with that disk between the ps3 and computer just to make sure I wasn't crazy. PC = washed out, Ps3 = Normal and great.
It's definitely an awesome picture, especially considering the price - major bang for buck factor!! I just need to figure what settings to set on either it or my other devices so that they will all share the same awesomeness.

I'm thinking of replacing my old InFocus SP5000 with the Viewsonic Pro8200. One thing i don't understand clearly is the offset shown on the projector calculator.

My current screen is 132" diagonally. Its top and bottom edges are each 10" from the ceiling and floor respectively. The InFocus is ceiling mounted 16'6" away with the lens 6" below the ceiling. This perfectly fills my screen.

The calculator shows the Viewsonic can be positioned for exactly the same measurements. But the display is shown with a 22.3" offset from the lens to the top edge of the screen. Am I going to be able to mount this to compensate for the difference between 10" and 22" or not?

Thanks.

Maintman, you should be able to adjust your PC settings so that your image isn't washed out. Nvidia and ATI/AMD both have fairly extensive setting control to fine tune your image to get it spot on. I would follow the suggestions in the calibration thread and have that as my base projector settings. You can then adjust your PC's video card settings to fine tune the image. What version of Windows are you running and what video card do you have? This info is needed to give you more exact detail on what settings to change and how to get to them.

Clint, as for the vertical offset, you have structural limitations as to how big of a screen you have. If your projector is flush mounted to the ceiling, you simply cannot go any higher. From that point, the top of your screen must be a certain distance lower than the projector's lens. This vertical offset varies depending on your throw distance (distance from projector to screen). The larger your throw, the larger your vertical offset. This is a relationship that cannot be changed. You have two choices to center your picture. You can either move the projector or you can move the screen. If you only have 10" of wall from either top or bottom then you're pretty much resigned to moving the projector to the appropriate throw to get the image centered. Probably not the information you wanted to hear but, that's simply how it is with this projector, or any projector really. Sadly, with this one, the vertical offset is HUGE and if your room's layout/size doesn't allow for you to move the projector to where it needs to be then you need to go with a different projector.

Clint, your screen size and room do not support using this projector. A 132" screen with this projector needs 16.3ft of throw, minimum, which you have 16.5' so you're good there. The problem comes with your vertical offset. You simply don't have enough wall between the floor and ceiling. You have a ceiling height of just over 7ft (85in). Your screen is 65in tall. With a vertical offset of 22.3" and taking into account the distance of 3-4in between the ceiling and the lens, you would need a ceiling height of at least 91in. And that's with the screen going all the way to the floor. It's just not going to work. You either need to get a different projector or use a different, smaller screen.

I'm running Windows 7 on a Nvidia GT430 card. Unfortunately, I had zero time to do anything with the equipment last night. When I walked in, though, my roommate had the Xbox 360 on, and it had the same thing going on as the computer as well. It probably won't be until Friday night that I am able to tinker around with all of it.

I did have a side thought. I am also going to check my Denon 4311, and make sure everything is set up fine with it as well. I usually have its hdmi set on pass through, and never use its video processing..but who knows, maybe something happened there.

I question about ceiling mounting. Why can't you angle the projector downward a little so it goes to the screen the right way. I do. If it's level, yeah , it might not work, but if you angle it, it works. There are options to flip screen , so you can use it regular or upside down image. The other option could be to lower the ceiling mount and have it right side up, I see ceiling extentions so the PJ is a couple of feet lower than ceiling. . Generally I do angle it, just a little, and the picture looks good to me, maybe use a little keystone, not much. Most PJ's don't have lens shift , so you mount the PJ closer or further away to get best picture.
Now I usually only go for around 80-100 inch screen size, so I haven't tried 146 inch screens , yet and have no experience with that.

Gee, guy, you should have probably told us it was going through a Denon 4311, in the first place, right? By the way, that is a very nice unit. We are trying to trouble-shoot your PJ, so first things first, take ps3 or 360 or PC and put it directly into back of PJ. If picture looks good, then next step, attach to denon 4311. Let's make sure your pro8200 works first. If it does, then you can have fun, figuring out your denon settings or check cables.

One of your devices is passing black level as Level 0 (the PC) and your Playstation is passing the black as video level 16. Basically this means your brightness (black level) and contrast (white level) are going to be out of whack on the PC. So the brightness control on the projector or video card is what controls your black levels, and the contrast the white peaks. Go into the NVIDIA or ATI control panel and just adjust brightness and contrast, or change the video level in the control panel (if that setting is in there, forgot what they call it in there). Generally, cut the brightness control on the PC (from video control panel) at about half or so, and you may also need to adjust the contrast control a bit. You need a pluge pattern though to check it properly. Here is a pattern generator for the PC: http://calman-htpc-pattern-generator.soft32.com (it tries to install AD junk, so choose advanced install and uncheck the advertising stuff).
You can also use the AVS Rec 709 disk which has test patterns (Google it for the download).

As far as to how to handle the installation with that low ceiling (besides returning the PJ), well you're going to have to fudge it a bit. The best option is any of the below 3 (or combine them);

1) You can fudge the install a bit by over-zooming the image and you just have a little bit of overflow into the black border areas of your screen. This will overflow the geometric error so that it won't be nearly as noticeable. Most screens have an inch or two of black border around them allowing for some installation error. This can allow you say about 3" to 5" of a lower offset (maybe more).

2) You can in some situations tilt the screen to counter the geometry (mostly with fixed permanent mount screens). For instance, as you tilt the projector to allow it fit in that low ceiling, the image will be geometrically off, but this geometry problem can be countered by tilting the screen towards you a little.

3) You can use keystone (but I'd keep it minimalized). If all else fails this is the easiest and most flexible of the 3 solutions.

You can buy a good HDMI switch for $40 or less if you're receiver is flaking out the HDMI, Denons are notorious for this.
Edited by coderguy - 6/21/12 at 12:18pm

Thanks for the help. I'll be putting some good time into it tonight and through the weekend. Cheers!

Warranty Question -

Has anyone had any experience using the 3 year warranty on this?

I will be purchasing the projector from amazon most likely (unless they go on sale before august somewhere else) and will be taking it with me to China.

I have already checked if China has a Viewsonic office and they have one in Shanghai. But will I have to ship the unit back to the US for warranty or will I be able to get the warranty stuff taken care of in China?

I think that is a hard one for most of us to answer. I would call viewsonic and ask about it, tell them your situation and how they would handle it. Are you gonna be in china a year or 3 years or only a month or 2. Maybe you should contact viewsonic in china and also ask them or email them. Also, check prices in china, who knows maybe it's cheaper but don't know warranty info. I would think if you have usa warranty, you would have to mail it back to USA. It's vague how long you are gonna stay in china from your post. If for month, I wouldn't worry about it, but if a few years, I would email viewsonic in usa and china for clarification. Also, do the different versions have right power supply etc. I don't know. Also do the china version has the same standards of quality control. Does USA version have higher standards, I don't know. In order to come here they have to pass certain tests, be approved to meet usa standards.
Now, people could respond generally about viewsonic warranty support, but not if you go to china, if that makes sense.
I haven't had to deal with them. But some of our members have, it will be interesting to see what they have to say.
You are buying NEW, so you have FULL warranty, some people bought refurb and only have 90 day warranty.

I will be in China for at least the next year.

I already checked the voltages and the input can be up to 240 according to http://www.projectorcentral.com/ViewSonic-Pro8200.htm

I will give their China office a call and send an email to their customer service. Thanks for the tip.

Bring me back some eggrolls. Your chances of having a failure within 1 year are not that high. I've abused this projector with excessive use (and I got a refurb), and so far so good. I've left it on for days straight without turning it off. Of course a single person's experience isn't that valid, but so far there are almost zero failures in this thread anyhow.
I wouldn't even worry about it.
Edited by coderguy - 6/24/12 at 2:47am

First time projector owner here--I started with the Pro8200 due to the low cost of entry and the information I've found in this tread. I have the projector on a low table right now until I mount it more permanently using the Vantage Point Universal 12" projector mount. Here's my newbie question. Does the Pro8200 have some sort of orientation sensor that will automatically turn the image right-side-up, or do I have to go into a menu to find the setting? I don't remember seeing anything like that while browsing through the various menus yesterday, but I could have missed it. Thanks in advance!

Menu -> Setting -> Projection: toggle Front Table to Front Ceiling
Edited by plplplpl - 7/5/12 at 1:04pm

Thanks for the quick reply plplplpl.

Just ordered off of Amazon being delivered to CA on Friday then off to China at the end of the month! Exciting!


So apart from power adaptors (if the plug needs it), HDMI cables etc...

Anything else I need to do to get started?

I assume I will have to calibrate it. I am not going to bother painting the wall or getting a screen yet, but I would not mind putting up a tape border on the wall or something like that if it would help.

Any things I should be aware of? Like dont use the quick off/on feature or whatever?

Many in this thread. But a main one that I recommend is to setup calibration in Dark Room to engage ECO MODE automatically.

Standard Mode produces a better picture with a more accurate gamma, especially once you get some hours on the lamp.
I don't have a problem with Standard Mode losing any ECO settings, and I have a very old firmware. ECO setting is really only lost if you change modes, but STD mode is the best mode and closest mode to Rec709 on this projector. I would recommend that people use STD mode, not dark room.

Hey all,

I think I read a little about horizontal lines appearing, but still have some questions. I just bought the PRO8200 and am coming from a Mitsubishi HD1000 from 2007. Loved the Mitsubishi but figured it was time to move on, especially since the bulb was finally at exhaustion. With the new PRO8200 the colors and picture are all off, but I assume that it just me needing to calibrate it more correctly. Now what I have experienced are two problems:

1. While watching Netflix Streaming and Amazon Prime Video streaming through the XBOX 360 Component cables I notice real quick flashes of horizontal lines. Like little white line pops. Does anyone know what this could be coming from? Is this just a result of the streaming quality or is this a known possible issue with the project or hardware issue?

2. While streaming a video from a hard drive plugged into my XBOX 360 last night via USB, the source kept reconnecting as 1080P on the projector, but kept flashing the white ViewSonic page and then would go back to the movie every few seconds and then back to the ViewSonic page saying searching for source or something. Does anyone know what could be causing this issue? Is it possible the movie is encoded weirdly for 1080P? I watched the same movie on the Mitsubishi projector before without any issue. I am hoping this issue is an easy fix through advice from you guys, otherwise I fear I may need to exchange my projector for another new one from Amazon.

1. not sure, but the source is definitely crappy.

2. I had that problem often, which I solved with a higher quality hdmi cable (tried 3 or 4 before I found one that worked 99% of the time). I don't know about component cables, but if you plan on using good source content with the projector (read: blu-ray) then I would recommend switching to hdmi for the digital signal alone. it made a noticeable difference for me. (see earlier in the thread for more details).

BadBradd2
Seems like the first thing we have ask people now in this thread is, if you are connecting directly to the pro8200 or are you going through some receiver?
I guess if you have different cables try them.
I did get crappy signal when I used cheap hdmi cables, weird lines and off color stuff. Generally it's the cables.
Or the receiver that some people fail to mention when stating things go wrong with pro8200.
Hook up hdmi to your 360 and see if the same thing appears.
I don't experience anything wrong with 360 , except like I said I tried my buddies cheap hdmi cables, then I wondered what all those horizontal lines and waves and weird colors are coming from, is my pro8200 screwed up. I changed the cable and everything worked perfect as always. If you get pink color or any other type crap, ALWAYS check your connections, that the wires are seated well and then change cables. Also, maybe move the device closer to the pro8200, or shorter hdmi cable as a test.

p.s. I guess the other thing you should tell us is if you just bought a NEW UNIT or some refurb. Because it could be a faulty refurb, I don't know.
Edited by rgtaa - 7/24/12 at 6:08pm

I bought a brand new unit through Amazon. I would switch to an HDMI cable from my XBOX, but I have a release day XBOX 360 which were released with component and composite cables only, there is no HDMI on it. Maybe I will try buying another box like Roku or Apple TV and use HDMI to see if lines are still produced. I am not using any sort of received, the component cables go directly from the 360 to the back of the projector. Theyre just quick pops of white lines. Well maybe I will try VGA or hooking up my phone via HDMI and play something to see if there are still white horizontal lines popping up.

I would say it wasn't a big deal, but I notice them because I just got the unit and I look for issues with the projector. It makes it hard to enjoy a movie when your new $850 investment keeps creating white lines on your media.

BadBradd2

What were you hooking up the 360 to before you got the pro8200.
Do you get white lines when you play 360 game?
Or when you see You tube videos on 360?
Is switch on component cable set to hdtv or is it set to LOW def?
You never said, "games look good", just white lines for movies, .... so games look good? Are the white lines rolling?


Did you check 360 menu /system ... and make sure it's set to 1080p and check the other video options?
Are the component wires going into the pro8200 well seated.
How high tech a person are you? I have a few 360 xbox's, a few pc's/laptops/netbooks/ wdtv, , etc. So to trouble shoot, I just try different devices to see if same problem on all of them. Not sure why you wouldn't have used pc with vga, or other equipment you own with pro8200? I did get thin white lines at times, but it was always the cables not in tight or bad cables. But it could be the unit if you get white lines with pc, netbook, and all sources.

p.s. I think all my orginal 360 xbox's died, Red rings of Death. And if the component cables were not in right, red to red, etc, or the switch not set to high def, it would work but it would look terrible or get white lines or the color would be wrong. When you go 1080p in 360 and pro8200 it should LOOK AWESOME. If it's in low def on 360 it will look like crap. Now if the movie is low def and crappy, then on pro8200 it will really look like crap because it's blown up many times.
Edited by rgtaa - 7/26/12 at 2:57pm

The X1 actually does 576p. It's not true HD, but it still looks pretty nice.
Edited by mullet34 - 7/31/12 at 3:32pm

My Fathers projector has them. I see them, he does not. He is connected HDMI. I have tried a different source and a shorter wire as suggested... He still has the lines.
A faint line will intermittently flash in a different spot in the picture. I also changed to long HDMI in the advanced settings. Since he does not see it we have not pursued it any further.


Will the Pro8200 benefit from a QDEO or similar video processor like the one built into the Onkyo AV receivers?
Since my father upgraded to the Pro8200, some of the background images in the HD pics seem a little jagged, while the foreground image is very good.
Also SD content is not as good. Although it is very bright compared to the Infocus IN72 it replaced.
He has a HD Dish Network source connected with HDMI.
I was wanting to upgrade my projector and AV receiver and was wondering if there would be a benefit from a video processor?
If not maybe I should go with the Mits HC4000. Looking for the best bang for my buck. I do have some minor ambient light issues during the day.
Any advise is appreciated.

Thanks and have a GREAT day!