New Optoma HD33 HD3300 1080p 3D Projector Review - Page 164

Not all of my glasses buzzed, just 1 out of the 4. I don't know why, didn't seem to be a power issue. As I said I don't know if I'd hear it with audio on, but the glasses are of course close to your ear.

Hey guys,

Just jumped on the HD33 bandwagon. I bought one from a AVSforum member... Quite a few hours on it, and its firmware is 01. Does Optoma have a Do-It-Yourself firmware upgrade available, or do we still have to send it in for them to upgrade??

Thanks.

Did this have to be done in the past? Very strange? Never heard of having to send a device back to manufacturers for FW upgrade?

Firmware upgrades usually happen at the same time the manufacturer services a unit under warranty. However a few projectors do allow firmware upgrade via the 15 pin connector, and a very few projectors that have network ability can allow upgrading via a internet connection. However , almost no projector manufacturers allow firmware upgrades to be undertaken by the consumer.JVC & Optoma have both made the very occasional exception... rarely.

It is just generally accepted that firmware upgrades are done by the manufacturer, which makes them responsible for the outcome.

Interesting. Never heard of this before.
So should the unit be sent in for a service within the warranty period or only if it is defective?
Dunno why they don't allow update via internet or usb key like every other piece of electronic gear?

What if some issues were fixed via firmware update, do you have to wait for your unit to break down before it gets sent back for repair and then updated?

Seems very odd to me.

Well I intend on sending it in when the bulb is close to the end of its life. I have an Optoma HD20 I can use in its stead. Not sure if I could go without my theater room... Im a bit spoiled.

Is anyone on here from Ireland?

If so, I was wondering if anyone in the cork/west cork area owns an Optoma HD33?
I am really interested in getting one, but can't find any store to demo it?
Having never used DLP tech before, would really like to see one running first to see if I am prone to seeing RBE.

Anyone that has one and wouldn't mind me coming to take a look at some fast 2D and 3D content to see if I can see the rainbow effect, I would greatly appreciate it.

Shame there is no store around that even stocks them , never mind demos them.

Thanks,

Mark.

well there is a mini video review done by HD Nation that talks about the HD33

http://revision3.com/hdnation/3d-projector

Would really like to see one for myself before shelling out over a grand and a half for it.

Cheers for the link though mate.

well it talks about the rainbow effect that through watching various movies in 2d and 3d that he did not notice any rainbowing, the only time he saw it was under certain test patterns and moving his eyes left and right really fast that he could see it outside of that he said he saw none.

Yea just watched it.

It's very person dependent though.
Saw some guys say they had to return it as the RBE was so bad, so really need to see it for myself and how it effects me.

Yes, it's an individual thing. My brother in law cannot watch on my $10,000 projector because of RBE. It's really too bad as DLP produces a better picture than LCD, IMO.

Don't go looking for the imperfections in your image. If you project a large image, watch on a very bright scene, and shake your head left to right quickly - you're going to see a minor rainbow.

I wouldn't fret as much as you are gladiator. If you don't like the unit, return it (if they let you) - or sell it to someone for a minimal loss.
Edited by elmalloc - 11/18/12 at 7:57am

Guess so

Regarding the room. At the moment the walls are painted white, soft sheen finish. Is this unusable and will I need to paint it matt red or something, or can I make do?

I would say repainting my theater was the least expensive and largest improvment I made. Painted my pop corn white ceiling a dark flat gray and walls a dark flat maroon from a semi gloss pastel light color. It miminized all the reflected light and made eveything POP.

Well have a nice wooden varnished ceiling and not prepared to wreck that
Might paint the walls mocha or chocolate or something from the screen back to the seating position, and maybe get a dark red rug for the floor in front of the screen, to cut the reflections from the laminate floor?

Yeah, so I'm building one of my rooms out and I put laminate down (haha). I knew it was going to be a reflection problem. I have a 5-6 ft stage in front of the screen that I carpeted black yesterday, you can still see the laminate. I'm not that worried. The laminate was good so I could put underfloor heating (which doesn't work well under carpet).

Anyway yeah paint the side walls dark, put a dark rug on the floor in front of the screen (at least 6ft in depth). You will be OK.

Do you think this would be a better colour to paint the walls form the screen back to the seating area, than the white that they currently are?
http://www.dulux.ie/servlet/ColourAvailabilityHandler?name=gentle_gold_1

or this..
http://www.dulux.ie/servlet/ColourAvailabilityHandler?name=labrador_sands_2

Don't want to go too dark as the room is small.

okay so I just came across this projector, Epson PowerLite 3D Home Cinema 3010 LCD Projector which can be had at about the same price point as the HD33 but comes with two IR not RF active shutters, what opinions are floating around about that unit compared to the HD33?

Not as good at all for 3d as the HD33 from what I have read. And lag is higher than DLP. Those are the 2 points that would interest me and it fails on them,

Projector must be in 3D mode (playing 3d), hold down the joystick to the left until 2nd LED is on then release. Up/Down to fine tune sharpness, Left/Right to fine tune brightness.

Oh, and I found out the glasses I got was defect so fine tune doesn't help at all.

Thanks!

You could maybe find some safe double sided tape or velcro that is made to not hurt the surfaces it is used on, and use it to put up some very light weight felt. You could probably find a way to string the felt from side wall to side wall and then there would be no need, to touch the ceiling at all. Since you will only need a narrow strip of it, like you would do on the floor with a strip of dark carpet it should be doable somehow.
Edited by The big picture - 11/18/12 at 2:48pm

I see what you mean. Good idea.

Kinda wanted to leave the ceiling exposed though I meant. Like the look of it.
It makes the short room look longer.
There will have to be a tradeoff I think between being aesthetically pleasing and PJ friendly

My main issue now is trying to decide on a screen.

Shame I am limited to a pull down one due to the fact that on my budget, I could make a better fixed one probably.
It is covering the main window though, so can't sacrifice the window to the projector gods unfortunately.

I read a few fellas say that the electric pull down ones might be slightly better with having less ripples, due to the fact that the very act of pulling down the manual pull down ones can add ripples.

Then some other folks say all the cheap pulldown ones are rubbish, so just get the cheapest one until I could afford a better screen.

Dunno if it's better to get a more expensive manual pulldown one, like the optoma panoview series? Wondering if the material might be stronger and not ripple as much?
Or just get either a cheap elite manual, or elite electric?

What size screen, are you thinking of going with MarcusarilliuS ?

yeah I too am wondering about screens, I figured on going with a 100" screen but as for materials, gain and so on Im not sure, I do plan to go with an electric motorized screen. So outside of that Im not sure what else I should be looking into.

100-106"


Also regarding using the HD33 with a PC, if you have your desktop res set to 1920x1080@60hz and you want to play a bluray, do you have to actually change your desktop res to 1920x1080@24hz for it to play properly in 3D, or will the 3d mode on the PJ take care of that?
Also for gaming, if my desktop is 1080p@60hz and I want to play in 720P@120hz, have I got to change the desktop res every time, or is it all done on the projector side?

That could get quite annoying having to change res and refresh rate for every use.
Edited by MarcusarilliuS - 11/19/12 at 1:51am

I think this is all handled by what ever software, video card and drivers. I I have nividia gt430 running power DVD rev 10 and once I set it up to play a blu ray in 3D Power DVD remembers the settings will change the res to match what ever your playing. I have PS3 for games and have not played any PC games so I don,t know about them. The projector handles the 24hz, 60hz and 120hz on its own.

Ah ok, good to know.

So if I set the game to run at 720p in 3D then the Pj will set 120hz on it's own?

I need help troubleshooting my setup for 3D playback. I have a 3D capable HTPC using TMT5 for playing ISO rips. That is hooked up to a 3D capable Onkyo receiver, which is then hooked up to my HD33.

When I play a movie, it looks odd (as though its displaying 3D), the 3D icon is usable in TMT5 and I can toggle 3D on/off. The projector does not automatically switch to 3D mode (frame sequential is greyed out in HD33 menu). After syncing my glasses... Everything looks odd, both top/bottom and SBS settings.

Putting the physical disk in the PS3... It states it doesnt detect a 3D capable display.

Do I need to buys HDMI 1.4 cables between all of my devices??

Ive had my HD33 for about a month now, and the handshake time is really starting to bug me. Basically, any time the video source changes refresh rates (like going from a 1080/60p desktop to a 24p movie, or when the bluray player interface changes over to the movie interface, I get 12 seconds of black screen with a "HDMI 1 Searching" message in the lower screen.

I have the projector hooked directly to the Onkyo tx nr818 receiver. I was setting up XBMC Cinema Experience script to play some coming attraction trailers, a couple old 60's drive in commercials, and the dolby digital or DTS intro clips before my movie starts, plus some trivia.

Well some of the content like the trivia and the apple trailers streaming is 60hz, while the THX, DTS and movies are 24hz, so I don't get to see 1/2 of the intro movies.

I don't know how to check the firmware version.

Is there any settings I can make in the menu or in the receiver menu to get it to handshake quicker ?

The only workaround right now is to tell xbmc to not adjust the refresh rate to the video, so that it stays at 60hz.

What happens when I play 24hz content on a 60hz display ?