Benq W1200 and W1100 thread - Page 8

I played around with the PJ tonight. Recall that I saw judder with the Paramount stars at the beginning of Iron Man I. That was at 1080p @ 60 Hz. At 59 Hz, and at 24 Hz, there was zero judder. FI was off for the 24/59 test... I'll have to try FI ON at those refreshes tomorrow. Anyway, I've changed my graphics to output 59 Hz...

I have not experienced any distortion yet.

-T

After a week of adjusting and racking up over 40 hours on the w1200, I've given up and sent it back to Amazon today. Hopefully mine was just a bad unit. I can't say enough about how brilliant and clear this pj's image is, but the strobing and judder was just unacceptable.

I've had great luck with my Mitsubishi 720p pj and TVs, so I ordered the hc4000 today; should be here tomorrow. Let's see what all the hype is about.

Posting a follow-up in the event that I could help others with the same issue.

I resolved the jittery video issue. After doing some troubleshooting, I've discovered that the jittery video was caused by my Intel Core i3 on-board graphics (DH55HC motherboard). I was cloning displays and had the VGA display the primary. For whatever reason, that was the problem. Making the PJ the primary display corrected the issue. FI was off during my tests.

When using the above cloned configuration (Digital primary + VGA), there are no jitters for anything between 24 Hz up to and including 60 Hz.

I also noticed that as long as I am driving just the projector (i.e. not in clone mode), I can display 1080p BDs with FI set to High and refresh set from 24 Hz up to and including 60 Hz - still no jitters.

Overall, this is one excellent PJ.

-T

Hoping someone can help me who has the new firmware for the w1200. I was thinking about buying one of these tonight. I had the epson 8100 but sold it about 6 months ago. I was not that impressed with the color saturation on that projector. I use it for gaming only in my 25 by 28 family room. Could anyone tell me if the input lag has been fixed. I play mostly fps's and am not a die hard but the thought of lag is making me question if i should buy this projector. I have a pc with 2 gtx 580's.

I'm actually wondering the same thing. I had my Benq PE7700 go down yesterday so I went ahead and ordered a W1200 off of amazon for $874. I read about the lag issue which really worries me. But, I also read that the new Firmware V1.04 takes the input lag to 25ms or less with all of the FI and NR settings turned off. Has anyone confirmed this? If so it would be prefect for gaming. If the lag is still bad I guess I'll return it and go with the W6000 which will cost me a bit more...

What... how in the world are you getting the BenQ W1200 only for $874?! Do you have some sort of coupon or discount?

I'm looking at the list price for W1200 on Amazon and it's $1,060

Haah they have a sign: Only 20 left in stock - order soon.

Wow just went to Amazon and they sure did raise the price back. I just bought one around 6pm Central for $874 shipped direct from Amazon. Not sure if they had a special price for a while or it was an error but it processed. With my Prime membership it'll be here Friday. I hope the new Firmware is better with input lag If not that'll be a deal breaker for me.

Here's a copy of the line item:


Items Ordered Price
1 of: BenQ W1200 300-Inch 1080p Front Projector - White [Electronics]
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$874.02
Amazon Prime: Two-Day Shipping is free

Edit: The one they still have for $1049 is being sold through Electronics Expo. Amazon themselves must be sold out. They have the 1100 for $989.

YOU GOT LUCKY LOL!!!!

Nice deal though. For a price like that it's really a no brainer!

Yeah I was trying to confirm if the new firmware helped with the input lag. But I saw that price and thought that I'll jump on it just in case it's a temporary deal and hope I can get it working good. I really hope this one is a winner for that price! Would love for this to be my new projector rather than spending $1400+ on the W6000(lol not even sure that is good on lag though either)....

I was also looking at the Mitsubishi HC4000 because I know that's good on lag but I don't think it's bright enough for my 133" screen with 1.0 gain.

hi all.

W1200 firmware 1.04. Connection to PC via 10m HDMI cable. White screen.
Tests resulted near 150ms lag. Turning FI on/off don't change it.

I use analogue sound output so need to set 150ms audio time shift in MPC-HC/KMPlayer/DaumPotPlayer. Cyberlink/ArcSoft players don't have this feature (baad for me, because i found ArcSoft TMT is the most non-problem bluray and mkv player, smooth and without freezes).
150ms lag is very annoying and for sure makes playing games impossible.

So this PJ is good one for watching movies with the ability to set audio delay in player or reciever.


Now, my settings:
Clarity Control: NR: OFF, DE: OFF
AutoKeystone: OFF
Aspect ratio: Real
HDMI Settings: HDMI format: PC Signal
Brilliant color: On
FI: OFF/Low
Projector position: Front Ceiling (makes more noise than it Table mode)
Lamp Mode: Economic
Picture Mode: ISF

The major settings of the picture i did are:
Color: -25...-15 (for HDMI connection available only in ISF mode, WTF!)
without ISF u can only lower gains and biases for colors separately.
Only after this change i've got natural colors. (Watching movies is good even in Standart picture mode, but watching still images like photos and comparing it to rather-good-calibrated monitor reveals acid colors)

And the second major setting is Sharpness setting which is totally unavailable in predefined and user modes, only in ISF.
Turning it off (ISF -> Sharpness: 0)disables sharpening algorythms of PJ making picture more soft and natural and TRUE (no more edge sharpening effects which u can see around 1-pixel lines in mspaint). I also hoped that turning sharpness off will reduce lag, but it doesn't. Also have to say, with "Sharpness: 0" PJ loses its vaunted "crystal" oversharped picture))) but it's ok.

So, i think PJ is ok for it's price. If W1000 have no ISF mode -> have no ability to reduce sharpness, W1200 is better one imho.


P.S.: such a huge thread, but only 3-4 posts where users share their settings for PJs, what a shame.

P.P.S.: i have a slight hope that there is technical(hardware) possibility to reduce lag in W1200 (turning off all image processing), to make so-called "game mode". But i realize that it can happen only if WE ALL ask BENQ to make this changes in firmware.

murrko,

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like I'll sadly have to send the W1200 back if it's not doing better than 150ms. I'll play with it a bit but sounds like it might be a lost cause at least for the time being. I do so much gaming that I just don't want wait for a firmware update that may or may not come. I'll call Benq and see if anything is in the works.

Does anyone know how the W1100 or W6000 are with games?

thanks for the response. i was waiting to order. Amazon had this 2 days ago for 861.00 now 1060 is not worth it anyway.

The W1200 is actually a very nice PJ... I use it for HDTV and movies. I posted my CAL settings in this thread. Amazon dropped the price to 942 on Thanksgiving day, then it dropped to 896 3 days later, and then dropped to 860 thru yesterday (12/7). So their sale lasted a long time.

-T

$860 with no tax and free shipping! That's a great deal. I paid $950 for the W1100 before taxes. That's was when it first came out.

Can someone who successfully upgraded the firmware please post the instructions here?

I followed the instructions in the link on page 5 or 6 but couldn't do the upgrade. It just didn't work.

How far did you get? I got up to the part where I was prompted for the USB drivers, but that part failed. I am using Win 7 64-bit.

-T

Not very far. Usually when Windows doesn't recognize a new hardware, it will give the user several choices like: look on the internet for driver, or install driver from disc, etc. I didn't get any prompt like that. Basically, my computer does not recognize the projector.

Not what I wanted to hear I shot BenQ Support an email last weekend asking for the USB drivers. I even mentioned that I'd return the PJ to Amazon for a replacement if that meant a chance at getting an updated firmware, but that I preferred to upgrade it myself - still no respone from them yet.

I'll post something once I hear back from support... but I won't hold my breath.

-T

Ok I got the W1200 in tonight. A few issues...The picture from my Directv DVR in 1080Pis just great once I made a few adjustments! But it wouldn't read a 1080p signal from my PS3 or Xbox??? Not sure why any ideas? When I switched them to 720P the picture came through just fine?

Outside of that I'm really impressed with the picture for movies but even with the 1.04 firmware the gaming input lag is too much for me to keep it. I'm going to go ahead and get the W6000.

Please let us know how the w6000 comapred to the w1200 in overall PQ. Try to memorize a scene or two on the w1200 before sending it back, then play the same scene on the w6000.

Ok been using the W1200 for a few days before my W6000 gets here. I think I might have a bad one.

The PQ once adjusted looks great but there is a flash of interference coming across my screen every once in a while. While watching Directv. Not sure why? It's a good HDMI cord and the same one that I was using with my PE7700.

Also it won't display a 1080P image from my PS3 or Xbox 360. Had to turn them both to 720P to get a picture?!?!

Any ideas? Or is this just a bad W1200? 1080P pay per view on my Directv HR24 look fine and are displayed.

My W6000 will arrive tomorrow. Hope it works good for gaming.

I am feeding mine via an HTPC.

I noticed that if I change my video card's output refresh rate, or if I change from cloned mode to single display mode (i.e. just driving the PJ), I find that I usually have to press the proper source button on the remote so that the PJ can re-sync to the source.

My guess is there is a mismatch between the PS3/Xbox and the PJ since you said D* displays 1080p correctly on the PJ. Try re-synching the source after changing the input to the PJ.

Finally, I saw flashing several times, and it was consistent... but it probably was not the PJ's fault. When in cloned mode with the VGA to LCD as primary monitor, and the HDMI to PJ as the secondary monitor, the Intel HD on-board graphics (I have a Core i3 CPU) introduced the flashing. Once I went to a single monitor, the PJ), all worked well.

I only mention this because I would not have guessed that my graphics card could cause the issue.

-T

Interesting, I'll experiment a bit tonight and see what I come up with.

Tonight will be the last might I have the W1200 hooked up. In fact I need to move my projector mount back a bit for the W6000 for my 133" screen. Hope to do that tonight as well.

Sadly, I had to return my W1200.... but I got a replacement today Gotta love Amazon. They overnight-ed (for free) a new PJ via FedEx, and I have the old one boxed up and waiting for the UPS guy. Nice that they sent out a replacement without first receiving the old one.

I noticed the other day a blemish on the projected image... on a 110" diagonal screen, it was mid-screen, at the bottom, and about 6" long by 1/4" wide... it was wavy, like someone smeared a section of the lens with a translucent substance. Tried cleaning the lens, but that did not help. Was only visible on very bright scenes. So I replaced it.

On a side note, this new PJ has a lot less light leakage than the original. Maybe that lens defect was related to the excessive (relatively speaking) light leakage. Tells me there might be some QA issues regarding this model.

-T

I've been reading and following for a long time, first post here though. Just thought I'd give anyone interested a heads up. Amazon now has the w1200 for $839.33! Just ordered. Makes me feel much better after I thought I had missed out on the $860 price after deciding to wait a day to talk to my wife about getting it.

I posted the 839.33 price yesterday in this thread. So I beat you to it Maybe I should have posted it in this W1100/W1200 thread... dunno.

Anyway, you'll probably be pretty happy with the PJ. I love mine. And according to this shootout, the W1200 (and the W1100) held their own.

Once I calibrated mine using the ISF settings (see a few posts up for the link I posted), it looked pretty good. Although on my replacement unit, I had to set Color to -9, and Tint to 2. With those settings, my red, green, and blue colors (using the Avia colored strips and the Avia Color Decoder test pattern)are nearly dead on: red is 5% under, green is close to 0%, and blue is no more than 5% off.

-T

Go into the menu and in DISPLAY, look for "keystone". Click "enter" and switch "Auto Keystone" to "off".
This will stop the flash interference.

The W1200 is actually an excellent projector for movies and videos. It offers very sharp pictures due to its high quality lens. Colors can be adjusted, using either the ISF controls or the 3D Color Mangement System to near perfect Rec 709 High Definition Color Standards.

Input lag only applies when playing video games ie when the video does not response as fast as the finger actions on the game console or on keyboard.

As for lip sync delay, which is different from input delay, I must say on my W1200 with v1.04 firmware, I don't notice any so for.

Both HDMI ports stopped working. I tried two (2) different PCs, and two (2) different HDMI cables. Even tried all combinations with a direct feed from PC to PJ (i.e. no receiver in between) - same result.

VGA input still worked, but the video was unwatchable... very noticeable jerk every few seconds. Plus, it did not matter what resolution the PC sent... it was jerky with every VGA resolution that the PJ was compatible with. How did things go so wrong so fast? PJ was built in MAR 2011, firmware 1.02.

So maybe the Intel HD Graphics were not the blame for some of my issues... maybe it was a coincidence. Either way, this replacement unit went to hell in a hand basket real quick. Since Amazon provided one replacement, they told me to process a refund, which I did.

Too bad too, I really liked this PJ when it was working.

ptsaras: any feedback on that W6000?

-T

T-Bone, sorry to hear you were having problems with your W1200.

Mine was manufactured in August 2011 ver.1.04. Had it for nearly 4 months now, clocked close to 300 hours, still working well.

I am using it purely as a movie projector which I think this is what this projector is primarily designed for with its ISF certification, full 3D CMS, frame interpolation and full HD optimised optical systems.

Have it connected directly to a Bluray player using a 10 metre ver1.3 HDMI cable and so far without any issue.

T-Bone, like ptsaras, I now have a W6000 as well. I loved the image quality on the W1200, but my unit had unwatchable motion lag with FI turned on (on some movies), and bands of distortion top and bottom with it turned off (all movies)! FYI, despite being built by BenQ, these two pjs seem to have very little in common. The W6000 is HUGE compared to the W1200... not a bad thing, just like comparing a BMW 5-series to a 1-series... if that makes sense.

Tried the Mits 4000; total letdown. Not NEARLY bright enough for my environment, but even with all the lights off at night, the image still seemed dull even compared to my old Mits 720p pj. LOVE Amazon's easy return policy!

Now I have the W6000 (actually got it from one of the vendors here instead of Amazon because they were willing to help me figure out what I needed AND price matched Amazon!) Love the W6000, but to my memory, it does not blow me away with clarity like the W1200 did. There was quite a bit of time between me seeing each one in action, so I've not seen them side-by-side. But the brightness and color on the W6000 is great! The mounting flexibility made installation fast and easy; totally silent unless INCHES from it. Though I can see RBE on other pjs, I have detected NONE on the W6000! Despite RBE, I still prefer DLP; not seeing it on my new DLP is HUGE WIN!! I have nothing bad to say about the IRIS technology, despite what some have reported; I think the total package is awesome for my setup. Played Goldeneye Demo on PS3 yesterday... zero lag, just awesomeness. Not a big gamer anymore, but I thought I would check it out.

Totally happy with my decision to go with the W6000 and glad to have stopped playing "musical projectors." The only drawback I can think of is the relative short bulb life compared to the others I've tried. But for me, the tradeoff is well worth it. Good luck!

I am jealous of the low prices people can get the W1100 and W1200 for these days. On the other hand, my first generation W1100 has been rock solid. It has over 1,100hrs and still bright enough in my all white bedroom.