Official BenQ W7000 Owners Thread - Page 106

Hey guys. I was looking on BenQ's website and noticed they have two versions listed for the W7000. There's a W7000 and a W7000+

I read the specs of each and found no differences between them. Any ideas?

There doesn't seem to be any. The differences are something internal. My understanding is that the W7000+ is sold in some markets, but not north america. On the other hand new W7000s in north america had the firmware version go back to 1.0 on new units even though they have all the fixes of the 1.03 of the original model, so the suspicion is that W7000s sold now are actually W7000+ with a W7000 label. I don't know if that has been confirmed by anyone.

That doesn't make any sense! Why would they go back to the original 1.0 firmware when the upgraded firmware already fixed the problems?!! I've never heard of such a thing.

I'll be getting my new one here tomorrow (Tues the 19th). I'm curious to see what firmware it has, etc, etc.

Because it is now version 1.0 for the new revision of hardware, while the other is 1.03 for the original revision of hardware. The two designs don't use the same firmware build. They both are called W7000, they both have the same specifications, but internally they are not entirely the same electronics. So if you have an original revision with firmware 1.02 and ask for an update, they will give you 1.03. If you have a new one with 1.0 and ask for an update they will tell you it is already the newest version.

It's like the old Linksys WRT54G where the v4 had linux based firmware, and the v5 had vxworks based firmware. The v4 had more ram and flash than a v5, and different software and hence different firmware revisions, but both had the same featureset and the same UI (as far as I know) and were sold in the same box for the same price as a WRT54G. The hardware revision and changes to the software to go with it meant the firmware revision only applied to a given hardware revision. What the hardware revision to look for on the W7000 is I am not sure, but there is at least two main revisions of hardware now, one of which should have firmware 1.03, and the other which should have 1.0. Both are then up to date with all known fixes.

See: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1451062/w7000-w7000-1-03-w7000-confusion-benq-canada-claims-the-w7000-is-actually-a-w7000

I just hooked my BenQ up after having gotten it back from repair.It had a very strange transparent blooming effect. Well it is still there and is actually worse. The effect shows up any white scene or light grey. Even shows when someone is wearing a white T-shirt. Before I had sent it CoderGuy suggested there may be something on the color wheel. Funny thing is they sent me a different Projector and it has the same effect only worse. I have tried disconnecting everything in the chain to eliminate possible issues with a device and I have a very clean fixed screen. Guess I will send it back again. To bad because this projector is so sharp it looks fantastic.But the effect is beyond annoying especially during hockey games.

That's wierd... with 2 brand new projectors?!! Are you sure it's not your screen? Do you have another screen or another projector to trial-&-error with?

Sorry it is the same PJ my mistake:p I have no other screens or PJs unfourtunatly, don't even have a descent wall to use. Might be time to do a DIY screen.
Edited by cardoski - 3/18/13 at 6:16pm

I don't think it's the screen, I'm sure it is not. A couple others have seen it as well.
Here is how we can know if the issue is actually universal and others are just not noticing?

Toe or Zombie or anyone, can you try this?

Open up a white screen or something on an HTPC..
Go into the Service Menu, and change the Aperture Position to 4 or 5 temporarily (a couple above pitch black), do you see a shadowy uneven blob that is moving/flickering?
Edited by coderguy - 3/18/13 at 6:58pm

I have the BenqW10000 and I went in the service menu and somehow mess up the color wheel several years ago and I start see that uneven blob on white or very dark shadow.
I went back in the service menu and readjust the color wheel control little bit at a time until it went away. Have not try to get back in the service menu since then.

Good idea, if someone can post all their SM settings just from TAB's # 7 and # 8 in the Service Menu, I will post mine to compare...
Anyone care to do it, only takes about 3 minutes to write it all down, I'll go first. I'm not doing it for myself, because I could care less as I can barely see it, but figured it would be interesting to compare settings just to see if anything jumps out. I am only going to post settings from the two tabs that have some applicable settings...

Tabs 1-6 Generally Non-Applicable


Tab # 7 of Service Menu
CW Index = 114
CW Multiplier (2x) -- This is just the color wheel speed of course (2x@120hz, 4x@60hz), mine in 4x mode...
CW Sequence = Sequence 1
Lamp Waveform = Waveform3
Lamp Sync Delay = 0

Tab # 8 of Service Menu
Aperture Position 6
Aperture Max 70
Aperture Min 6
Aperture Strength 2
Dynamic BLACK = OFF
Edited by coderguy - 3/18/13 at 9:58pm

I saw the issue before first going into the Service Menu. There is a Factory Hard Reset which I already tried. Anyhow, I changed the likely offending settings (color wheel index and all those), but that has no effect to the shadow nor does a factory reset. I want to see someone else say if they see it or not. I did not see any other color wheel settings adjustable that could effect it, but I suppose it could be a combo, but I have doubts. It doesn't bother me, I have to close the IRIS to be able to see it really, though there is a tiny flicker in some cases.

I still think in this case it might just be a side effect of the IRIS settings, probably go away once my lamp DIMS enough to set the IRIS back to DI ON.
Edited by coderguy - 3/18/13 at 9:54pm

I noticed mine more as my bulb aged. I noticed in my Service Menu that some of my settings were different there yours.
CW Sequence = Sequence 0
Lamp Waveform = Waveform 4

Also my settings in Tab 8 are different. What affect does it have to change aperture settings? The rest of the settings are the same.
Edited by cardoski - 3/19/13 at 2:21pm

There are a few theories here.

Yah, it is only noticeable as the lamp gets dimmer, or when you clamp the IRIS settings. Your above observation might lean to indicate that we see it in darker images regardless of IRIS settings. My other theory was the reflection might be bouncing off the aperture causing it ONLY when the IRIS is closed, hard for me to test unless my LAMP dimmed severely.

I got my new 7000 yesterday and didn’t waste any time firing it up. What a beefy lookin unit! It looks like a light cannon! All I can say is, WOW! I am impressed! No regrets, for sure. And 3D is amazing. I like!

I’ve read reviews from others that bought older models that said out of the box it needed some tweaking before the picture looked great, and that’s what I was expecting. So I was surprised to see that the picture looked dam nice right out of the box. I did a little tweaking but not much. I’ll be calibrating it tonight but I’ll lay odds I won’t have to do much. The whites look great and the blacks aren’t anything to shake a stick at either! During one scene, with low ambient light near the seating area, the screen actually disappeared into the dark background. That was impressive to me cuz I never saw that with my HD33! I assume that’s due to the iris on the 7000, which, by the way, I noticed was not very loud on this unit at all. Maybe that’s another fix they’ve done.

I see that this unit was manufactured last November. So it IS one of the newer models with the internal fixes that were loaded with firmware 1.00.

At this point I really don’t have any complaints. The fan does get a little louder in 3D mode as the lamp brightens, but it’s not so loud that I find it to be annoying.

Here is the best pic I could get.Try to imagine the brighter white lines moving like smoke lol.

Well to add to my issues I can no longer conect my Benq 3D glasses to my PJ. Before I sent it for repair I could but not now. Any ideas.

I have noticed a subtle flickering on both units I have had here. I figured this was just some sort of DLP or 7000 specific quirk. It does not bother me if I dont look for it and just watch normally, but if I look for it I can see it on just about anything if it is what you guys are talking about. Nothing is perfect with any of these projectors.......sigh.

In my case I don,t have to look for it it is very obvious. I can't watch hockey because it is so apparent. I am shipping it back on Monday. If it was a slight effect I would not bother since everything else about this PJ is outstanding.

Interesting. That definitely sounds more severe than what I have noticed with these units. Please report back once you get your fixed or replaced unit. Best of luck and hope they can get you taken care of quickly. I found BenQ service to be really good as far as getting my advanced replacement, but not sure how they do with a repair.

Thank you and i will let you know.

 

Is this slight on the left side of the image (if apparent at all), more obvious in the center and much more obvious on the right side? I have noticed a pulse or flicker as such on quite a few units.

From what I can tell it is uniform and not stronger in any one area. Are you getting different levels of this flickering in different parts of the screen?

The position of my flicker changes according to my IRIS settings, it widens (but becomes less noticeable) as you open the IRIS. If my IRIS is at position 5, I can see it fairly easy on the top 1/4th left of the screen. If I set the IRIS to position 6, I can still see it but just barely, above 6 I can no longer tell really (maybe a tiny bit).

Interesting. I will take a closer look at this. Maybe my unit is doing the same thing and I have just not noticed it up to this point. I have purposely not investigated this anomaly further as part of me just does not want to know as I have a tendency to obsess on these things and I am choosing the ignorance is bliss route on this particular issue!

Off topic, but...

I've been playing some games lately because got bored of watching movies and TV. Man these games just are as fun anymore compared to when I was younger :P
They are ok, but most of them feel like remakes of earlier games or repeats.

There is some new TV series coming out I guess. Tried that new series "VIKINGS" which is sort of like game of thrones I guess, but it felt kind of empty, maybe I'll give it another shot later. Already finished the best SCI FI movies/series, not much left to watch, lol...

Defiance TV series might be cool, we'll see... I'm not tied up to any particular genre when it comes to movies or TV really, I do them all (except soaps of course). Though I think I've seen one too many wilderness survival shows, I want to see one of those guys setup a home theater in the woods with solar power

OK Back on topic...

I am in kind of the same boat lately as I have run through most of the movies/TV I want to see. I tried Game of Thrones, but it did nothing for me. Besides SSX (which I am growing out of as well and have not touched in a few weeks), I play very few games and in general, I just dont stay interested in most games I do try these days for whatever reason. One exception is the latest Tomb Raider game which I thought was a lot of fun, but in general I am not as interested in games as I was 20 years ago.

Having said that, I did watch The Matrix trilogy for the first time in 3 or 4 years last night which was a LOT of fun in the HT. Great movies for the JVC contrast and the LFE from Reloaded and Revolutions is absolutely insane still! Those two LFE tracks can still go toe to toe with the best out there IMO overall.

Amen+

I was sorely tempted to go with the W7000 as my first foray into 3-D, but old DC2 chip seems like such a step backwards given that I'm currently running a DC3 (non 3-D) chip.

I need a long throw (>= 2) and the other DLP models all seem short with the exception of the W7000.

Here's what I'm hoping is improved in a W8000, relative to the W7000:

DC3/DC4
An auto-iris mode that you can actually use.
Brighter 3-D output.
RF sync for 3-d glasses.

I'm trying Eve Online right now (free 14 day trial), never played it until now. There is too much reading to do in this game unfortunately, but I'll give it a try out, and it looks too much like a "Strategy RPG" with lots of wasted brain power to remember worthless things (anytime you have to devote too much brain power to a game, starts turning me off). But the space is cool. The graphics look almost exactly like X3:Terran Conflict (Albion Prelude), Space games are KIND of cool on the JVC. Also tried Star Trek Online (not too impressed with that one, but didn't play it very long). STO is the only one that actually lets you get out of your ship on foot and do active combat, but in that one some of the graphics are bad.

Other than that, I guess there is the new Bioshock one to try or X3: Rebirth might be good.

OK sorry guys, we'll stay on topic (or try)...