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Viewsonic Pro8200 -- it exists. - Page 28

post #811 of 1057
11/10/12 at 2:27pm
Yeah, I wouldn't worry about getting an ND filter, most of us don't use it. BSE53 is our specialist in that area, even Coderguy and me don't have one, but it is nice to know we could get one that worked if we needed one. BSE53 is in Batcave with black everything (walls, ceiling, etc). But the average guy/gal using this PJ is probably in living room , den, bedroom, porch , with regular colored everything. And although the pro8200 is very bright out of the box, it gets tamed as you put some hours on it.

I rather have it this way, than get a PJ that looks GREAT out of the box in brightness and over 2,000 hours or 3,000 hours on bulb is too dim. Coderguy is doing the testing on the Pro8200 at different hours, and he is at 3,000 hour mark, but it would be nice to have tests like this on the other PJ's too (optoma hd20, mits hc4000, etc) so we get real numbers as what we can expect down the line with bulb life as to picture brightness. It could be that the mits hc4000 at 3,000 is 1/2 the brightness of new bulb and so you would need 2x the bulbs as the pro8200, I don't know, but it could be right. So testing in this area would be useful for all these PJ's. Maybe graph or something.

Now, also the testing might have to be done, all in eco mode, because there is difference in what we can expect in lamp hours depending if we use eco mode vs regular mode. 6,000 hours compared to 4,000 hours. Not sure the mits hc4000 would be bright enough in eco mode, but the pro8200 certainly is, so 3,000 hours might be the upper limit for the hc4000 but not with the pro8200. Something to look into, I guess. I am babying my pro8200 in eco mode to get the most hours out of the bulb.
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post #812 of 1057
11/10/12 at 3:02pm
A brighter projector helps make it stay bright longer generally unless there are lamp failure issues or the lamp DIMS faster than it should (which can happen). Every lamp on every PJ of even the same model PJ is different, so you could have a bulb blow in a Pro8200 at 1000 hours, one DIM too much at 3500 hours, then buy another bulb and it lasts 8000 hours. It is somewhat random, but in general since we cannot control the previous things I just mentioned, then the one indicator of how long a bulb is BEARABLE from brightness is how bright the projector starts out. So brighter projectors are easier to get more bulb life out of them in the sense of how long we can put up with how much brightness they have left. As the lamp gets too DIM, you can put it in high mode to compensate.

ND filters are nice to have, since you can remove them at any time (it's not permanent after all). At 3000 hours an ND filter has no use to me because my LAMP is starting slowly to get on the DIMMER side, I will probably need to change into HIGH lamp mode in another 1000 hours or so.
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post #813 of 1057
11/10/12 at 3:24pm
If you read that thread, many of the users were putting on nd filters to try and increase the black levels, not because their projectors are blindingly bright.

There are only a few applications that require a nd filter. My room is one of them. Even with the filter in theater mode with eco I can watch tv with a light on. I'm at 800 hours and I expect at some point I'll have to remove the filter as the bulb dims. It's nice to have that flexibility.

If it is too bright, move the projector back, project the largest image you can and then consider a nd filter. As too deep blacks, painting the walls and ceilings a dark color, controlling the stray light from the projector (the barn doors are a novel approach and I bet very effective) will do more to effectively give you deeper blacks.

I could have gone with the Mits hc4000 (not nearly as bright), and in a dedicated movie theater it may have been a better choice, but we showed a couple of movies in the back yard this summer and use it more for watching sports (F1, ALMS, Rolex series) than movies, so I'm very pleased with the Viewsonic.
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post #814 of 1057
11/10/12 at 3:28pm
Yup, an ND filter cannot improve contrast because it is on the outside of the lens, all it does is lower both white and black levels (lowers brightness to give the perception of darker blacks). Once the light in a projector leaves a certain part of the lens, that is it and the on/off contrast is now fixed. Now getting the room darker (black ceilings, dark walls, etc...), this will help a lot with any projector as far as how not only dark scenes look, but also a bit to bright scenes as well. This last point is a function of how well a projector does at the ANSI contrast measurement. Getting the room darker can actually improve bright scenes as well because less light is hitting the screen washing out the contrast of objects on the screen.

If I knew how to make a home-grown IRIS and attach it to the inside of the lens by opening up the projector, then I could increase contrast, but that would be very hard due to the elements inside are not made for an IRIS to fit unless a PJ has an IRIS. Another thing that determines contrast is the light-scatter in the lens, the optical coatings inside the light path, and the optical coatings of the mirrors.
Edited by coderguy - 11/10/12 at 3:57pm
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post #815 of 1057
11/19/12 at 6:38am
Hey everyone, recently set up an 8200 and it appears that blacks are being crushed. Here is some background:

projector: pro8200
time on lamp: ~50 hrs
screen: 106" matte white 1.1 gain
ambient light: none
room: not a bat cave, but fairly dark paint
player: Sony BDP-BX18 / S185

settings:
RGB: 60, 50, 35
color mode: standard
ECO on
Gamma: 0
sharpness: 5
saturation: 40

Was watching Brave which has quite a few dark scenes and noticed alot of black on the screen, seemed like there should have been much more noticeable detail. Tried using the AVS 709 calibration disk, could not get any flashing bars to appear on the black level adjustment no matter what I changed the brightness/contrast to. The black background did turn gray with higher brightness but no bars, and the whole background seemed to get lighter at the same time not from the right side first. Also messed with gamma with no luck. Tried going straight from player to projector, no change. Tried the player on my LCD TV, bars show up no problem.

Anyway, don' t know if this is just a known limitation of this projector or if something else is going on. Please let me know if anyone has ideas on what other settings I could try or any other suggestions.

Thanks!
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post #816 of 1057
11/19/12 at 6:53am
I think the problem may be the settings in your dvd player. Try setting it to RGB standard. In the case of the Panasonic I'm using, there were two places that had to be set.
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post #817 of 1057
11/19/12 at 1:34pm
Hi everybody,
I bought this projector a few months back on Coderguy's and a few others recommendations. I've logged a little more than three-hundred hours on it mostly with playstation for games and blue-ray. Worked flawlessly and couldnt of been any happier with my purchase until........
A few days ago while watching some recorded stuff through my ps media server I noticed that the skin tones suddenly looked off. My first thought was that it was the content. So I went back and watched a different video that I just watched moments before to see if the same thing would happen. Sure enough, that looked like crap as well.

The problem seems to be like a "limited color scale" or "brownout highlights" or maybe even a "compressed dynamic range" but really only noticeable on brighter parts on the scenes and parts where there is very similar colors like in some cartoons and video games. The closest thing that I can find to my problem is what bse53 had with his first one.

So at this point I decided to restart the playstaytion to see if maybe something went funky there. nope!

I then check to see if anything had changed with the settings on the projector. I couldnt find anything different except strangely the lamp hours had been set back to zero. Mind you I know for a fact that when this happened all of the remotes where clear across the room on the coffee table so there is no way that I could of changed any of the settings by accident. I also couldnt find any other settings that went off from normal. I have 2.40 firmware by the way.

Anyway, I have checked all the variables that I can think of and I am getting really bummed out about this, So if anybody has ran into this or has any ideas I would love to hear them. Other than this problem I have almost zero complaints about this projector.



Thanks in advance!
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post #818 of 1057
11/19/12 at 5:14pm
Just trouble shooting, but when lamp hours went to zero, it could have changed all your settings, some sort of resetting to factory specs. So you might have to calibrate it again. Now you can go into engineering mode with remote, check earlier in thread how to access that mode, it should give you your real hours on bulb.

You could have accidentally hit the reset to factory a few days earlier and you only noticed the problem, shouldn't be a problem , you might have to remember the settings for the ps, like switching from auto mode to RBG mode, and recalibrate it to your liking.

I have reset my pro8200 a few times and then calibrate it. It could be something else too, but, I would go through the menu on pro8200 to make sure settings are right for the ps3 or devices.
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post #819 of 1057
11/19/12 at 6:46pm
You have to force the projector to use the RGB colorspace to avoid crushed blacks. When you do that, you should be able to see the flashing bars in the screen and a great deal more black detail. By default, it is set to Automatic. If the whites are getting blown out, turn down the contrast.
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post #820 of 1057
11/19/12 at 6:49pm
Just a heads up for people thinking of picking up a NEW pro8200, newegg has it for 699 and they give you a 50 dollar gift card, so 650.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116466

Amazon is selling it for 700 dollars without gift card.
http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-PRO8200-1080p-Theatre-Projector/dp/B00465W7EC
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post #821 of 1057
11/19/12 at 6:49pm
Changed player setting to RGB, problem solved. Thank you bse53 and DarkVenture.
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post #822 of 1057
11/19/12 at 9:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgtaa View Post

Just a heads up for people thinking of picking up a NEW pro8200, newegg has it for 699 and they give you a 50 dollar gift card, so 650.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116466
Amazon is selling it for 700 dollars without gift card.
http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-PRO8200-1080p-Theatre-Projector/dp/B00465W7EC

I wonder if Black Friday or Cyber Monday will bring even a better deal!?
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post #823 of 1057
11/19/12 at 10:09pm
It is hard to tell if a better deal will turn up, at this point, this is the rock bottom price any of us have ever seen on a NEW pro8200. And since many companies seem to be having Early Sales this year to beat the other companies (it's been in the news) , this could be the best price on this PJ. That is not to say they could post other good sales on other PJ's, they could. It took newegg from dec 2011 to this deal to beat the 659 price some of us got last dec, so who knows. If someone was planning to buy the pro8200, it beats the 799 price it's been most of the last year. We are only a few days away from black friday and cyber monday and this deal ends before either of them. Hard to know if you should wait or not. Especially if you live in area where newegg has no tax, since this deal is FREE shipping.
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post #824 of 1057
11/19/12 at 10:29pm
Thanks for the reply rgtaa
Yeah I can actually pin point the moment that the problem started so even if I did accidentally change something the problem started on a delay. Having said that I still re-calibrated it about a thousand times from the playstation and projector. To me the problem seems to be more that just tweeking some knobs. I was just hoping that someone here knew what I was talking or ran into this and I was just overlooking something.

I also have this problem with all inputs and several different cables...so I know its not that either.

Would a bad bulb or dlp chip cause this type of problem?
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post #825 of 1057
11/19/12 at 11:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgtaa View Post

It is hard to tell if a better deal will turn up, at this point, this is the rock bottom price any of us have ever seen on a NEW pro8200. And since many companies seem to be having Early Sales this year to beat the other companies (it's been in the news) , this could be the best price on this PJ. That is not to say they could post other good sales on other PJ's, they could. It took newegg from dec 2011 to this deal to beat the 659 price some of us got last dec, so who knows. If someone was planning to buy the pro8200, it beats the 799 price it's been most of the last year. We are only a few days away from black friday and cyber monday and this deal ends before either of them. Hard to know if you should wait or not. Especially if you live in area where newegg has no tax, since this deal is FREE shipping.

True enough... no guarantee's anything better will turn up for BF or CM or if anything at all. Ill be getting it shipped to WA state and I believe newegg does not charge tax to WA. Its a very good price indeed. Im sure everyone can find a use for the $50 gift card at some point.
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post #826 of 1057
11/20/12 at 10:10am
Guys...I'm down to 2 projectors and 3D is not really that important to me...I've seen the mits7800 in person 3 or 4 times and there's a possibility that the mits gave me some mild headaches. No rainbows. So, I'm wondering it appears the viewsonic PJ has a better color wheel, so I was thinking I would be in better shape. Your thoughts please...
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post #827 of 1057
11/20/12 at 10:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stkguy View Post

Hi everybody,
I bought this projector a few months back on Coderguy's and a few others recommendations. I've logged a little more than three-hundred hours on it mostly with playstation for games and blue-ray. Worked flawlessly and couldnt of been any happier with my purchase until........
A few days ago while watching some recorded stuff through my ps media server I noticed that the skin tones suddenly looked off. My first thought was that it was the content. So I went back and watched a different video that I just watched moments before to see if the same thing would happen. Sure enough, that looked like crap as well.
The problem seems to be like a "limited color scale" or "brownout highlights" or maybe even a "compressed dynamic range" but really only noticeable on brighter parts on the scenes and parts where there is very similar colors like in some cartoons and video games. The closest thing that I can find to my problem is what bse53 had with his first one.
So at this point I decided to restart the playstaytion to see if maybe something went funky there. nope!
I then check to see if anything had changed with the settings on the projector. I couldnt find anything different except strangely the lamp hours had been set back to zero. Mind you I know for a fact that when this happened all of the remotes where clear across the room on the coffee table so there is no way that I could of changed any of the settings by accident. I also couldnt find any other settings that went off from normal. I have 2.40 firmware by the way.
Anyway, I have checked all the variables that I can think of and I am getting really bummed out about this, So if anybody has ran into this or has any ideas I would love to hear them. Other than this problem I have almost zero complaints about this projector.



Thanks in advance!

You sir are suffering from a polarization/solarization issue that is related to the DMD controller board. Nothing you can do except document and RMA device. The problem will get worse over time.
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post #828 of 1057
11/20/12 at 11:25am
Hello everyone,

I just ordered this projector yesterday from Newegg via the $699 w/free $50 gift card deal. I also have a Shop Runner account so I'm excited to report that it will be here tomorrow already! I'm making reparations to replace an aging Mitsubishi HD1000 that has served me fabulously. These preparations will include trying to figure out where I will need to mount this new Pro8200 for use with my new screen. I'm going from a 100" screen to a 122" Polywall screen and will need to figure out where this new projector needs to be mounted at for an optimal setup. Currently my setup for a 100" screen with the HD1000 is:

Distance from floor to bottom of screen: 26 1/8"
Distance from floor to ceiling: 105"
Length of room: 25'
Current distance from screen to front of pj: 12'
Current pj mount drop from ceiling: 12"

Now, I would like to keep the bottom of the screen that height because it works well for my subs and center channel. I would like to go lower but unfortunately those items won't allow for that. I also will use the same mount so 12" drop from the ceiling needs to be taken into consideration. Other than that, things are relatively open and I hope make for a pretty easy install with the only exception being an HVAC duct & an I-beam support that run perpendicular in front of it but I will assume that it will continue to not be a problem since this projector should be even further back than my current one which clears with plenty of room. This 'obstruction' is about 8' back from the screen and hangs less than 10" off of the ceiling so I doubt it will come up at all but is the only possible issue so I thought I would list it.

Does anyone have a link or could answer my optimal distance for this projector given this measurements? I plan to swap screens this afternoon and run a new outlet for power to the new mounting location so I'm all ready.

Thanks for the help!
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post #829 of 1057
11/20/12 at 1:07pm
Thank you coug7669
and noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! I cant RMA it. I bought it open box. pooooop!

Can I ask how you know what the problem is? Have you fixed these things before? What would cause this to happen? How impossible of a fix would this be?
I have some experience fixing tv's, monitors, xboxs, and other electronics (hence my handle)

If you could point me in the direction of any info that would be majorly helpful!
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post #830 of 1057
11/20/12 at 1:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stkguy View Post

Thanks for the reply rgtaa
Yeah I can actually pin point the moment that the problem started so even if I did accidentally change something the problem started on a delay. Having said that I still re-calibrated it about a thousand times from the playstation and projector. To me the problem seems to be more that just tweeking some knobs. I was just hoping that someone here knew what I was talking or ran into this and I was just overlooking something.
I also have this problem with all inputs and several different cables...so I know its not that either.
Would a bad bulb or dlp chip cause this type of problem?



Now just to clarify, you did the setting to RBG, not AUTO, right? It helps to spell it out all your trouble-shooting because it really could be some setting you did when you first got it and until it was reset, it worked. Again, it could be the pro8200 is screwed up too. smile.gif

You tried to use a PC or other sources, other than the playstation, right? , we are trying to find out if it's the playstation or the pro8200 and the only way is to bypass the playstation and use pc ,laptop, or some other devices that work with the pro8200. Now if you see same thing using different devices, than yeah, sounds like something is wrong with PJ. Do you have 360, or wii, or pc you can test.

I've had a number of 360 xbox's crap out on me, and I got wierd graphics as it was going bad. So that is why I'm suggesting you test with other eqiupment and bypass playstation.

Have you plugged your playstation into hdtv to make sure the playstation is not the problem. Plenty of videos on you tube about people having graphic problems with their playstations. Something to test.

You are a good warning to others to buy NEW pro8200. 3 year warranty covers our butts. You mentioned you got it OPEN box, from where, they gave no warranty at all?
Edited by rgtaa - 11/20/12 at 1:45pm
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post #831 of 1057
11/20/12 at 1:37pm
yup. cable box, ruku, pc, laptop, even antenna. Same with all sources.
Even tried several different cables on all different inputs. At this point its safe to say that it has something to do with the pj.
and yeah tha was one of the first things that I had tried was switch the signal type.

Believe me If I could RMA it, I would at this point. Such a shame before this, It was an amazing projector.
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post #832 of 1057
11/20/12 at 2:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stkguy View Post

yup. cable box, ruku, pc, laptop, even antenna. Same with all sources.
Even tried several different cables on all different inputs. At this point its safe to say that it has something to do with the pj.
and yeah tha was one of the first things that I had tried was switch the signal type.
Believe me If I could RMA it, I would at this point. Such a shame before this, It was an amazing projector.

Gee, that is too bad. It does sound like you tried everything.

Maybe coug7669 can point you in the right direction to finding the component to replace for the pro8200. I guess start researching DMD controller board.
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post #833 of 1057
11/20/12 at 2:56pm
What does RMA mean?
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post #834 of 1057
11/20/12 at 3:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremyhelling View Post

Hello everyone,

I just ordered this projector yesterday from Newegg via the $699 w/free $50 gift card deal. I also have a Shop Runner account so I'm excited to report that it will be here tomorrow already! I'm making reparations to replace an aging Mitsubishi HD1000 that has served me fabulously. These preparations will include trying to figure out where I will need to mount this new Pro8200 for use with my new screen. I'm going from a 100" screen to a 122" Polywall screen and will need to figure out where this new projector needs to be mounted at for an optimal setup. Currently my setup for a 100" screen with the HD1000 is:

Distance from floor to bottom of screen: 26 1/8"
Distance from floor to ceiling: 105"
Length of room: 25'
Current distance from screen to front of pj: 12'
Current pj mount drop from ceiling: 12"

Now, I would like to keep the bottom of the screen that height because it works well for my subs and center channel. I would like to go lower but unfortunately those items won't allow for that. I also will use the same mount so 12" drop from the ceiling needs to be taken into consideration. Other than that, things are relatively open and I hope make for a pretty easy install with the only exception being an HVAC duct & an I-beam support that run perpendicular in front of it but I will assume that it will continue to not be a problem since this projector should be even further back than my current one which clears with plenty of room. This 'obstruction' is about 8' back from the screen and hangs less than 10" off of the ceiling so I doubt it will come up at all but is the only possible issue so I thought I would list it.

Does anyone have a link or could answer my optimal distance for this projector given this measurements? I plan to swap screens this afternoon and run a new outlet for power to the new mounting location so I'm all ready.

Thanks for the help!

So, using this site I was able to determine that my projector should be 15' from my screen and needs to pretty much be flush with the ceiling. Does this sound right? The Viewsonic calculator here makes no mention of height at all... just says that for a 122" diag screen it needs to be 15' from the screen which is no problem. Going to be difficult to get the 20.5" up from the top of the screen but the manufacturer's website makes no mention of that.
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post #835 of 1057
11/20/12 at 7:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tuxedocivic View Post

What does RMA mean?

Return Material Authorization
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post #836 of 1057
11/20/12 at 7:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgtaa View Post

Just a heads up for people thinking of picking up a NEW pro8200, newegg has it for 699 and they give you a 50 dollar gift card, so 650.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116466
Amazon is selling it for 700 dollars without gift card.
http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-PRO8200-1080p-Theatre-Projector/dp/B00465W7EC

Thanks, picked one after waiting for a very long time. I missed the deal on optoma hd20 at amazon for 650 but pulled the trigger this time.
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post #837 of 1057
11/20/12 at 10:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremyhelling View Post

So, using this site I was able to determine that my projector should be 15' from my screen and needs to pretty much be flush with the ceiling. Does this sound right? The Viewsonic calculator here makes no mention of height at all... just says that for a 122" diag screen it needs to be 15' from the screen which is no problem. Going to be difficult to get the 20.5" up from the top of the screen but the manufacturer's website makes no mention of that.

That is one thing that I over looked when I purchased this projector and I wish that I would have taken the time to read more thoroughly through some of these threads. I can can only compare it to a few others, but this projector has an abnormally high throw. In my set-up I would have to set the thing practically on the ground if you want to run it without having to prop up the back..
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post #838 of 1057
11/20/12 at 10:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgtaa View Post


You are a good warning to others to buy NEW pro8200. 3 year warranty covers our butts. You mentioned you got it OPEN box, from where, they gave no warranty at all?

Agreed. I bought it for about $600 from some yahoo on eBay. So yeah, no RMAs for me. I will admit that the pj arrived in immaculate condition clearly unused and untouched still all wrapped up and everything. It also had that familiar new projector dlp wheel hum at first as well. I think he had more than one. Anybody else buy one of these? I do find it a bit strange that Im the only one on here that seems to have ran into this problem so far.
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post #839 of 1057
11/20/12 at 10:32pm
btw....
Does anybody know of a parts supplier for this pj?
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post #840 of 1057
11/20/12 at 10:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stkguy View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremyhelling View Post

So, using this site I was able to determine that my projector should be 15' from my screen and needs to pretty much be flush with the ceiling. Does this sound right? The Viewsonic calculator here makes no mention of height at all... just says that for a 122" diag screen it needs to be 15' from the screen which is no problem. Going to be difficult to get the 20.5" up from the top of the screen but the manufacturer's website makes no mention of that.

That is one thing that I over looked when I purchased this projector and I wish that I would have taken the time to read more thoroughly through some of these threads. I can can only compare it to a few others, but this projector has an abnormally high throw. In my set-up I would have to set the thing practically on the ground if you want to run it without having to prop up the back..

Yeah, I wish I had crunched the #'s before buying but am not sure it would have caused me to pass up on the deal anyway. It's possible though. I think I saw the Pro8200 has 20deg of keystone but I was hoping to avoid this if at all possible. I don't see how I'm going to be able to do so though based on what I'm seeing. My HD1000u currently has slight keystone set so I guess it's not like it's something new. My screen would have to be so high to avoid it though that it just wouldn't make any sense.
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