Official Sony VPL-HW30(A)ES Owners Thread - Page 67

Thanks for the reply. The mount I have is a "Sanus Universal Projector Mount". Nothing special to be sure, but did the job. The problem being I placed it so the lens would be centered on a Sanyo PLV-Z5 projector....

I'm not sure is I could find a "lateral shift bracket accessory" that would work with my mount - but if the picture is reduced to the point where I can notice it from a seated position (and maybe even if I can't now that I know it's likely not ideal) I'll have to look into my options I guess.

Thanks again - lurked here for years and have only now had a question where I didn't see asked already.

I contacted Sony support again referencing the KB document. Hopefully I get a little farther. If that doesn't pan out I will just call them and order them.

The original response from CS was just from low level TS.

BTW, did I read in this thread that the official PS3 3D Display glasses are also compatible with this projector?

Also does anyone know why you need polarizer with the BR50 glasses? I am confused since most matte white screeens are not designed to retain polarization from the projector? Is poloarizer interacting with the lenses on the glasses? I guess that is more likely. So is the polarizer filter actually reducing the ghosting or just masking it more (making the image darker so it is not as noticeable)?

So you're the guy who beat me to the punch for his HW30. I've been trying to buy one used but mist out on his and another one that was posted in the avs for sale section just days ago.

Enjoy!

Tom

i do it and it's fine!!! In all seriousness, jcdennis, I have the same exact Sanus mount as you and vertical shift quite a bit, and horizontal just a little, and I don't notice any difference...

Sorry about that... but in this case the timing was just perfect for me. The guys here at AVS quoted me a great price on one new. But a local big box chain here in Canada had an even crazier sale on the ES (no glasses) which I was just about to jump on when I saw Dave's post....


LOL

That's sort of what I'm thinking... at least for now. I'm kicking around the idea of renovating the room now that I've learned a little from my first baby steps into the world of front projection. But until I do I'll likely just use the shift. I'm pretty sure I'll still enjoy the picture vs. the what I'm used to from the Sanyo Z5.

Milez - Do you have an Onkyo receiver? I re-purchased the HW30 from a forums member and have it running through an Onkyo 809 and was having the exact issue as you - Blacks were dark but clipping and no matter what I did I couldn't get shadow detail right. I decided to hook my DirecTV box into the projector directly and the picture was night and day improved. I went into the receiver and had the output for HDMI set to "through" which apparently screws up everything from black levels, color saturation, etc. I set it to "Direct" and now all my issues are gone and it looks fine. Not sure why this is happening as "through" should not be touching the signal but it is.

Actually the HW30 in Canada comes with one pair of glasses, mine did and I don't think there is any other way to buy the HW30.

No, I have a Marantz sr8002. Since its an older receiver I have my signal going through a Monoprice 4x2 switcher.

I just got the Disney WOW disk so when I FINALLY get my screen in coz its been on order for over a month so I been watching it on a white bed sheet (don't know the thread count)I'm planning on using that to help calibrate it a little.. Maybe it will help

Question to you all, I have an hw30, previously my only 3d experience was anaglyph 3d. My 3d experience is good, no ghosting at all really but I am a little underwhelmed by anything jumping out of the screen at me.

I don't know whether its because I have a stigmatism in my eye or I have expectations that exceed what's actually possible.

For example in the anaglyph version of journey to the center of the earth there's a scene where a yoyo jumps out of the screen, I haven't seen anything like this so far with the Sony. Depth is really good though, legends of the guardians was very good.

I am using a denon bdp1611 and everything is bluray 3d. Projecting onto a 100 inch screen.

I must say I didn't buy the Sony for 3d, I chose it because of low gaming lag and am very happy with gaming, movie and 3d.

Should I be expecting things jumping out at me near my face?!

Cheers

have you seen the new version of Journey to the Center of the Earth? it's finally in frame packed 3D and quite a roller coaster ride in 3D.

this is a general complaint about 3D, I believe many folks are expecting more popouts and the majority of 3D BD's that I own don't do this.. maybe once in a while like the beginning of Final Destination 5, Resident Evil Afterlife, etc.

If you want a movie that is 'in your face' check out Sammy's Adventure (you will have to import it).. there are so many 'outside the window' moments your eyes will be crosses at the end of the film.

Cheers, haven't tried the new release of journey 3d but might as a good comparisson point.

As you say I just don't know what I should be expecting, especially when you speak to people, their idea of things popping out of the screen may be different to mine!

I may order sammys tonight, have heard a lot if good things about that.

Cheers

What's a good screen to pair with the HW30? My old setup was an HS20 with a 110" 1.0 gain screen. Is it OK to stick with a 1.0 or should I go higher with the gain?

Fwiw, this magazine is nowhere to be found. Not Barnes & Noble, books-a-million, or other places I've looked.

I see I can purchase the issue online, but I thought it would be nice to have a physical copy.

I"d like to read that review if anyone can paste it here.

I have a Hi Power 2.4 screen from Da-lite. 133" 16x9. I wanted to go bright for 3D. The pic is still great, and 3D is very bright. With my projector ceiling mounted, i figure i'm getting about 1.8 gain.

I do find that the black levels are slightly lacking during regular movies, only very dark/mixed bright and dark scenes, so i just put it in low lamp mode. Also, i bought an ND2 lens to put on for better blacks. Looks awesome to me.

Really, i'm just super critical with these things

I'm curious how much the ND2 filter actually improved the blacks.

I'm looking to sell my PRO1 to 'upgrade' to this model solely to get 3D since I'm tired of only using my 73" DLP for 3D and not happy with the pic quality. I believe with the exception of one spec this is an exact 'replacement' for the PRO1 with 3D thrown in. I started reading this entire thread (and I will read it all) to get more information on what people feel, tweaks etc. I have a da-lite 'normal' 106" gain screen, @12' seating from the screen so I expect this to fit into my setup with no issues and providing input on this forum. I just need to sell my PRO1 first before I can get this model (and was told it's been on backorder since before xmas).

At a minimum the the HW30 offers the following above the PRO1

1) 3D
2) 3 year warranty (ES level)
3) new bulb design (which seems to be very good and relatively inexpensive)

I'm not familiar with the PRO1, but I know the above are "improvements".

The PRO1 is also known as HW20 and if this HW30 has the same manual adjustment for horiz and vertical shifting I can say that the pic quality is not compromised when shifting. I had to shift my pic both horiz and vertical to get it 'square' on my screen.

Just so you don't think I'm focusing on the negatives, I watched 5 minutes of Casino Royal and 5 minutes if the first LOTR and it looks very good! I'm impressed with the black levels even when content is displayed (not just a black screen). Doing the "put your hand in the light path" easily shows the difference between true black and projector black and it's impressive!

Actually, it's pretty darn impressive... But I do have a couple of negatives to ask about...

1) Is your vertical lens shift dial kinda funky? You roll it and then lens moves and then there is a little "thump" and the lens moves a lot? I seem to be able to recover from this by rolling back.

2) I have pretty good convergence for 85% of the screen, but the remaining 15 is off. I can see the individual RGB lines when using a 1080p pattern. I've played with the focus and cannot tune in both the 85% and the remaining 15%. This 15% is the right side when viewing the screen. Any thoughts? (i've checked the PJ is perpendicular, using no horizontal lens shift and a bit of vertical).

I'm going to plug in my computer and see how it effects the image. I wasn't looking for this when viewing my sample content earlier.

The lens shift is the same on mine

Yeah the shift is the same on mine too, you have to sort of go past where you wnat it then back track a bit. This takes the slack out of it and keeps it in place, at least it works fine like that for me. The convergence has nothing to do with the focus, it's either converged or it isn't. My convergence was pretty good righ across, it did require a couple ticks for both H/V to make it perfect though, but from 10' back you can't tell anyway. I'd say my focus is pretty even across the board too, although I haven't yet come across a good focus pattern for the whole screen, I don't know what everybody else uses.

I'll echo what WTS said regarding the lens shift. Seemed sort of "strange" to me at first, but worked fine and I'd heard this was how it was supposed to work so didn't worry.

I can't comment on the convergence as I didn't play with it myself (I got it "gently used" and the convergence seemed great to me, although already adjusted from the previous owner). Focus is pretty uniform though, I certainly can't see any areas that are out of focus.

Boulders, WTS, JCDennis,

Thanks for the comments. I agree the lens shift works just fine, but it does have an odd feeling. Good to hear that's the way it is for everyone.

I got a little over an hour of "projector checkout time" before i needed to do some other stuff (work). Other than this convergence/focus item, I was really impressed with the HW30. This item may not turn out to be critical... I'll look at it closer when I'm back home tonight.

It's strange, however. For the 85% of the screen the focus was great and the convergence was great.

New Question: there doesn't seem to be any way to set the lens back to "center" (zero shift) because there isn't any special marking. Do you guys agree?

To set it back to center just try and make the full screen as small as possible by zooming it then turn the shift full one way then full the other way until you figure out where center is. That's about the only way to do it, which is the way I did it.

Order placed with AVS. Was going to give local dealers a shot but none of them got close to the AVS price. One dealer was even going the scare tactic route how dealers are not allowed to sell below the retail price and if they did the buyer doesn't get a warranty. I understand being careful which dealer one purchases from but there is no reason to pay retail price. I just can't believe in this economy that some dealers are still making buyers go through a song and dance to get a good deal. MAP is not the mandatory price.

I am in a final decision on the RS45 or HW30ES, what makes you guys get the HW30 and not the RS45?

I've seen the RS40 (not the RS45) and HW30, the JVC's black are much better than the Sony but I prefer the brightness of the Sony....

I seldom play games, have a bat cave, a normal 106" gray screen, seating is 13' away and the projector will be ceiling moute 15' from the screen, room size is 20'(D) x 18'(W) x 10'(H)

Coming from a 720p SharpVision Z9000 (DLP), what should I expect from a LCoS?

Ok, I've shown that this is a focus problem -- not convergence I can either get the left 85% of the screen in focus or the right 15%. If I get the right 15% in focus, the left is pretty bad. The part that is out of focus tends to look like bad convergence...

Upside? Well, my convergence is very good! Quite impressive actually. At least when the focus allows one to see it.

BTW, I can absolutely see individual pixels with this bad boy. I mean this as a good thing. If you step right up to the screen, you can see the tiny pixels. Someone said they were not visible in the past. (I probably don't need to say this, but this only applies to the 85% of the screen that is sharp.)

I know this general response isn't what you are looking for, but ultimately there is no single right answer. You need to decide what is important and see what projector matches best for you. Some items might move to solid toward one or eliminate another.

I've got a thread titled (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1381054) that may (or may not) help.

In calibrated mode, I personally don't think there is much brightness difference between the HW30 and the RS45. I wouldn't use that as a deciding factor.