Optoma HD8300 Home Theater Projector Review - Page 2

esdwa,
Its a typical living room with rather bright walls and white ceiling, but I've covered the ceiling and walls near the screen with black cloth, and it has made a big difference.
Screen is 93", distance from lens to screen currently is 3.7 meters. From celing to screen 50cm.

The projector like hd8300 deserves good quality screen with gain chosen based on screen size and amount of scattered as well as reflected light in your room. Your room looks much like mine except I am unable to darken walls or ceiling cause my family would not appreciate it.
But yesterday I had a chance to install my hd8300 under the ceiling and I found picture improvement without additional upgrades beyond that. It looks like projecting light beam downwards reduced ceiling reflections and improved contrast so I could enjoy several well know movies overnight with iris off.
Anyway this projector surprises me every day and with so many setting options there is still a lot of room for improvement. Overall I am very happy I decided to upgrade to this model. The picture is stunning and reference IMAX blue ray movies makes my jaw drop everytime I watch it as much as anybody who has a chance to stop by.

What about gaming lag? BenQ W7000 weakness for me was it noticeable gaming lag.

The lag is insignificant in 2D. I haven't measured, but it feels just like PC monitor.

In 3D (FullHD SBS) lag increases noticeably. It isn't completely unplayable, just not as good as 2D, not as good as my old Samsung 3D plasma. "Pure motion" and stuff are disabled of course.

It looks like Top-And-Bottom mode gives shorter lag than SBS for some reason. Not sure though.

Just have tried Battlefield2 in 3D Top-And-Bottom (using TriDef driver). Definitelly can't play multiplayer online with that lag. But singleplayer is quite enjoyable, just have to aim carefully.

Have tried also "Dear Esther". For that kind of games lag is totally acceptable.

And "Limbo". Scariest game I ever played (except maybe Doom3), twice as scary in 3D.
Edited by Ilya Volk - 1/13/13 at 10:51pm

About iris again.
Watched "Girl with the dragon tatoo" yesterday, the scene in the beginning where Lisbeth is talking with Dragan Armansky and Dirch Frode in office.
While camera switches from Lisbeth to Frode several times, there is noticeable brighness pumping. Mode is Cinema1.
Well, I can live with that.

Similar disappointment comes at the opening scene of Star Wars A New Hope with story text flowing away when iris kicks in pumping brightness without a reason as episode title appears. It makes me turn off iris.

Hi all, I would really appreciate your advise, specially from Ilya and esdwa.

I currently own a LCOS LG AF115 Full HD projector and I am satisfied with it in 2D. I am Rainbow Effect sensitive and love the way LCOS show pictures.

For 3D I have an Optoma HD67N 1280x720 which I use for 3D gaming (nVidia 3D vision, VGA connector) and 3D movies (HDMI together with Optoma 3D-XL adaptor). While using VGA connector HD67 shows no lag at all for gaming in 3D and there´s no crosstalk at all (none AT ALL, nothing, zero!, I don´t know if all HD67N are perfect like mine, but mine is perfect with crosstalk, I am also extremely sensitive to this) But picture quality has nothing to do with my other projector, not only for resolution, but for color quality and... blacks are not black :-)

My HD67N lamp life has come to an end, so I was thinking of upgrading to HD33 or HD83. Unfortunately, none of them are nVidia 3D Vision supported, but both are nVidia 3D TV Play supported. I fear this means some lag.

I am a bit lost, I need an advice to decide between HD33 and HD83 considering the big difference in price, for my special case.

It is important to understand that I don´t care about 2D improvement as I will keep my LCOS LG (unless you tell me HD83 is much better, but I think it is not the case). So I am just interested in 3D upgrading. FYI, to consider brightness, my viewing distance is only 2 metres (about 6.6 feet).

I have read, esdwa says about HD33: "I watch in factory resets with cinema mode and dynamic black and results are stunning comparing to my HD33 (...) I went through around 20 movies last night both in 2D and 3D mode and both looks stunning on hd8300 comparing to hd33, especially in 2D mode. 3D results are similar".

If this is so, there´s no sense for me in investing the difference in money for HD83. HD33 should be enough. ¿Will I really see real dark blacks in 3D? ¿"Black space"? There´s a realy big difference between them in contrast in specifications (at least, on paper) ¿Is your advice to save the difference and get HD33?

But I also read Ilya saying: "It looks like Top-And-Bottom mode gives shorter lag than SBS for some reason. Not sure though. Just have tried Battlefield2 in 3D Top-And-Bottom (using TriDef driver). Definitelly can't play multiplayer online with that lag."

Do you, or any other one, know how does HD83 lag compare to HD33 lag? May we expect to be the same? Have you tried PS3 or nVidia 3D TV Play versions or only Tridef? are you using HDMI or VGA connector? Maybe I´ll just forget about upgrading if time lag is so big. I´m used to 3D Vision on VGA and that´s perfect :-(

Thanks for your advice.

Regards!!!

I would not spend extra money on hd83 to use it just for 3d gaming. Not sure about lag difference since I do not play games. I could however plug my ps3 through hdmi and give it a shot (Tron is only game I have) but only with hd8300 cause my hd33 is already gone.

Outside gaming I can still see a difference with more shades of black which makes picture more derailed in hd8300 even in 3d but not to the point room justify extra expense. Unless used for 2D where hd8300 is amazing beyond anything I have seen so far in this price range.

Well I will use it not only for gaming, but also for 3D movies which I´m very fond of. I compared some movies in 3D on my HD67N with a friend´s SONY VPL-HW30ES (LCoS) and the later, having exactly the same hardware my LG has, makes my HD67N pale. Anyway, I can´t stand crosstalk in the SONY, so I prefer less resolution and much poorer contrast and black levels but no crosstalk.

Actually I spend much more times with 3D movies than 3D games but I´ll take your advise about saving money.

Abyway I don´t want to ruin my gaming experience. Maybe I would wait instead for a future projector so I will also appreciate your testing with PS3, as I think Ilya has tried SBS and Over Under, but not framepack which is the technology nVidia TV Play uses, as well as PS3. Maybe in that case there´s shorter lag. Maybe frame rate decreases, as packing frames may take some time in the computer/PS3, but lag may also decrease as the projector will only have to unpack. Er... I´m an ignorant with this, it may also take longer time than reading SBS :-?

Thanks for your help!

echeva,
I use HDMI, didn't try VGA yet, the idea is interesting, will try.

I don't think driver can be related to lag.

With hd8300 I have full resolution, great contrast and deep blacks without absolutely no crosstalk. To be honest I do not even know how it looks like since with single chip dlp such issue does not exist.

With hd8300 you should not see rainbow either which on hd33 I have seen from time to time.

Just have watched "The Avengers" for the first time. I've chosen deliberately to watch it in 2D, as its 3D version is fake and thus is not worth to watch.

I can say this film left me speechless. Not just the movie itself, which is really great (everything in it - the plot, the dialogues, the characters, the fx), but also the picture produced by HD8300 is spectacular and breathtaking. Lot of the times I couldn't hold my smile just because of the beauty of the picture.

Bright/mid scenes are truly amazing. Now I see by myself what people mean when saying about "2D picture looking almost three-dimensional". Dark scenes are also good despite some imperfections, which are not even noticeable most of the time, and sometimes are slightly noticeable. I don't want to switch off dynamic Iris, it makes dark scenes look so serious.

I'm very happy with my decision. From reviews I expected "imperfect 2D" for the sake of perfect 3D, but in reality 2D looks way much better than expectations. I'm not sure which I like more - its 2D or its 3D.

The only my regret is a screen size. Its only 93", now I realize I should had got screen as big as possible (130" max for my room).

I'm sure HD8300 has less attention than it deserves.
Edited by Ilya Volk - 1/18/13 at 10:03pm

I had a chance to watch Avengers tonight in 3D and I must admit the picture looked stunning. I only wish this was my kind of movie so I could watch it to the end. Anyway this movie can be one of demos for someone who had no chance to see home 3D. The genre plot and action is another story and it is always a matter of personal taste.

Tried VGA. It turns out the only 3D mode HD8300 supports with VGA cable is 1024x768@120 frame sequential. Too low for me.

http://optomausa.com/webresources/files/support/11e8e5d7344545b189f17930cbed0961.pdf

Edited by Ilya Volk - 1/26/13 at 7:24pm

Pardon me but I am not into gaming very much but if I can afford spending $3000+ for a PJ, I usually upgrade player or graphics card or entire pc to squeeze most of expensive projector and use best available supported modes.

Hi Ilya,

thank you for your answer. I´ve been studying manuals. I did it before your answer and had another idea, so I have investigated why I missed that data... I downloaded manuals from HD8300, HD33 and HD83 from Spain, USA and UK, and they all do say the same and show the table you have pasted. BUT...

I have found what seems a contradiction (maybe due to my ignorance), but, if you see the PC compatibilidy chart in all models, it says 1280x720 @120 Hz as the only 120Hz mode. That seems to me a contradiction with 2D input VGA port at 1024x768 @ 120Hz you found.

Am I missing something?

Maybe I am messed with the manual, so I have send a question to Optoma.

As HDMI1.4 does not support frame pack at 60fps, because it is designed for 3D Blu-ray at 24fps, in practice 1280x720 3D (60 hz) = 1280x720 2D (120Hz) is the maximum we can get for gaming though HDMI (this is not completely true, AMD has a driver mode 1920x1080 @30 fps which is said to work, anyway, I find it unnacceptable fps). So VGA 1280x720 3D with virtually zero lag would me more than enough for me (actually it is the resolution I have now).

@echeva,

The 1280x720 3D mode is supported with HDMI only.
I don't remember the lag in this mode though, to me it (the picture) looks worse than SBS mode because of scaling. I suppose it will be not as good as your HD67 with native 1280x720 resolution too.

So if you're looking for 3D gaming proejector, HD8300 is not the one, I think.
Edited by Ilya Volk - 2/5/13 at 7:44am

If you want to improve 3D movie experience, forget about PC and look at available standalone 3D BD players or media players. My setup for example currently uses Panasonic BDT500 blu ray player but I also have KDlinks HD700 3D-enabled networked media player. Both cover my entire 3D needs and both works flawlessly for several months now producing stunning picture with my HD8300 without hiccups or headaches. And both cost a fraction of expensive PC. Again, this is just my personal recommendation or just a food for thought. Good luck.

I agree you again with that, actually I own a pair of 3D Blu-ray players, Samsung BD C-6900, and D-6900. But, it´s not a problem about the source: although I am happy with my HD67N, I´ve always missed more contrast and better blacks, apart from Full HD.

Maybe I will try HD33 instead of HD83(00) considering my LG fulfills all my desires in 2D. For 3D movies HD33 will be an improvement and, in case gaming goes worse, I will keep my HD67N saving the price difference bewtween HD83 and HD33.

Thanks to both Ilya and esdwa, maybe in some days I´ll decide and tell you my experience.

Finally I decided and got an HD33. I´m happy with that decision. I got what I wanted for 3D.

Maybe this experience is also valid for HD83:

The interesting fact is I have got it working at 1280x720 @ 120Hz smoothly, this resolution, as Ilya said, is not mencioned in the PC compatibility table in the manual (which is shared with HD83). Not only that, I got I got it working in that resolution with nVidia 3D Vision mode with VGA (even when it isn´t officially suported). Of course it also works on nVidia 3DTV Play with HDMI (oficially supported). I can notice zero lag in stereo 3D VGA mode and hardly appreciated lag (just a bit) in stereo 3D HDMI mode. Anyway I have tried playing with Black Mesa, and it was perfect. When talking about VGA I cannot find the difference with HD67N, though quality is much better. As expected it is much better in 3D and 2D, although in 2D my LG is far better, maybe HD83 can be compared, I still haven´t had the opportunity of watching one running. And, as I have a short distance of projection, I can get a slightly bigger screen with HD33, so for 3D I got what I wanted.

If have also tried with TriDef drivers, but, instead of using (Half-)SBS at 1920x1080 and getting the pictures combined from SBS by the projector through HDMI, I have used TriDef Direct3D Stereo mode, which uses 3D Vision service, so I can get full-frame sequential 1280x720 3D. I find it requires less power, produces less lag, and quality is very similar.

Hope you will find it interesting. Thank you all for your hints and advise.

Found a very interesting method to measure contrast using digital camera.

You just need to make two shots from the same position before the screen - black and white frame, using manual camera settings, identical in both shots, except for the exposure time. Both shots should look like mid gray. And upload them here:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-ratio.html

Ofcourse this will not give exact absolute luminance values, but all we need for CR measurements is a relation between two. And I believe that long exposure time can give us quite a precise (relative) value of the black level.

So I tried this with my cheap Samsung WB2000, ISO 200, exposure - 8 seconds for black frame and 1/180 for white.
Several tests gave me around 1800:1 native. Seems adequate.


http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-view.php?id=6203
1864:1 with std lamp,

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-view.php?id=6205
1802:1 bright lamp.

Also tried to measure dynamic iris modes, but most of the results were too high, with warning message "image file 1: Underexposed. Please increase the shutter time." even when 12 sec exposure.

The only adequate number without error message was in Cinema1 mode, Bright lamp:

6385:1
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-view.php?id=6209
Edited by Ilya Volk - 2/13/13 at 8:51am

Here are my results:

Lamp=STD, Iris=OFF
Contrast: 2360:1
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-view.php?id=6228

Lamp=STD, Iris=Cinema1
Contrast: 54520:1
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-view.php?id=6229

Lamp=BRIGHT, Iris=OFF
Contrast: 2540:1
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-view.php?id=6230

Lamp=BRIGHT, Iris=Cinema1
Contrast: 40035:1
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast-view.php?id=6231

White Optoma test pattern used. Optoma Black background test pattern used when no signal present.
Gear used: Nikon D700, w/AF-S 24-85mm ED

The website reports black patterns underexposed with Iris in Cinema1 mode but my Nikon camera was not showing underexposure when taking both Cinema1 pictures. Camera used long exposure time instead. I repeated the test for Cinema1 with high ISO settings (4,000) and contrast results were the same with camera showing proper exposure while taking a shot. For reference, D700 is known from super low noise even at ISO 25,600.
Edited by esdwa - 2/16/13 at 7:08pm

@edswa your numbers are incorrect for several reasons

1) don't you see the red scuare catches the parts of the photos outside the screen?

2) both black and white photos should be taken from the same position, without moving cameta, so that you could get contrast of the light source, not a contrast between two different parts of the screen.

3) if the service says black photo is underexposed, it means shutter time shoud be increased, or else you are getting inaccurate black value.
iso and everything else shoud be the same for both shots.

4) measurements higher than an official manufacturer's numbers are not trustworthy for obvious reasons.

Can this projector be placed within the vertical screen area say 1/3 up from the bottom of the screen?

Is it brighter in 3D than the BenQ? Does it have FI?

Thanks,
Tom

Cannot be placed within screen that far. Yes it has FI ... It is not as bright as the Benq in 2d or 3d. In 3d it is about 20% less bright.

Hello All,

Looked for an owners thread for the optoma hd8300 but only found this. Was hoping someone had experience with it that might be able to tell me more about the picture detail option in the pure settings menu. Its an edge enhancement option that only seems to work on anything under the 1080p threshold. I've seen the difference on everything but 1080p. I'm using this projector mostly for blu rays and gaming. If anyone can provide some feedback on its limits or if this was maybe an update that Im not yet aware of that may have given access to this option in 1080p content, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you.