JVC RS 45 / Sony HW30 / BenQ W7000 / Epson 5010 mini-shootout - Page 88

It is very easy to get a usb power source for these glasses. Just make sure that the output 1A current 500ma does not seem to be enough. Just plug the USB came into the power source and into the transmitter and use the included Ir transmitter.

Two measurements from the same member/calibrator.

Epson 5010:
Using the Natural Mode, Low lamp after calibration
Long throw: 467 lumens and 6635:1 contrast
Short throw: 618 lumens and 3867:1 contrast

The auto-iris seems to provide a 3x multiple. I got just over 15,000:1 compared to about 5,000:1 native.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=188

JVC-RS45:
The contrast you would expect under ordinary conditions is 17,660. You can get higher contrast simply by using the High lamp mode, but that derives from a larger peak white value rather than a lower black level. The 52,000:1 figure from the iris fully closed position is an estimate only. The actual value is somewhat higher.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=1601

This review of the Epson -- equivalent to the 5010/6010 rates the 3D as excellent. I think AVForums has some issues deciding what is "excellent 3D". The 6010 I own has very good 3D, but I would not rate it at the top of the heap for 3D. The fact that it has very bright 3D does set it apart from most other projectors. What is interesting is that Projector Reviews, PC and AVForums all rate the Sony HW30 a notch down.

http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Epso...66/Review.html

Hey Bill, is there a link for this site?

The Micca EP950 arrived today and appears to be DOA. I can't get any response with the remote or the front panel button. I've connected the power (the brick gets REALLY HOT), Ethernet and HDMI. I tried several different sets of batteries, including those from another working remote. It says to remove a piece of protective plastic from the front before use, but there doesn't seem to be one. Am I missing something?

I might have considered going with a BenQ, but believe that the blacks and 2D aren't as good as the Epson 6010. I also gave it a ding on issues/firmware vs. excellent service from Epson. Maybe all the issues with BenQ have been resolved, but it's hard to beat Epson's service record. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.

Even with a 1.4 gain screen, I still greatly appreciate the brightness of the Epson, especially in 3D. It's blows my RS40 out of the water in that area. I needed it for 136" dig 2.35:1 screen. The JVC was, well, horrible after 200 hours.

Ghosting is very minimal on the Epson IMHO too. So yes, I'd say that its 3D is excellent, or at least very, VERY good. Active lens 3D requires light and the Epson is bright in my setup. There's also no annoying flicker thanks to higher chip ref. rate. And the 2D and blacks are good enough to relegate my RS40 back to it's box, either as a backup, sale, or gift to family.

I also went ahead and ordered two MonsterVision 3D glasses/transmitters for primary use for $107 shipped after coupon. Thanks in part to your review/recommendation. The great price helped too.

Sorry you unit arrive D.O.A. It sounds like the power supply. Did you get a red light on the front when you plugged in the power supply. If you did it could be the remote

No, I never saw a light on the front. It's not the batteries. I'll just send it back and get another.

Thanks! Unfortunately, I can't do stacked PJs easily. I needed a single 2D/3D solution for simplicity and I wanted something that was as bright as I could get without sacrificing too much black floor coming from a JVC. The Epson has exceeded my expectations. I hope that opinion won't change.

I've tried to stop buying everything that says 3D BD and limit myself to things I'll like and might watch more than once. And native 3D is getting to be a must too. I need the studios to produce more GOOD movies shot with 3D cameras. I'm looking forward to some good titles already announced for this year.

I do have a fairly substantial 3D collection/subset. Not quite as many as you have, but pretty close or at least close enough for me. Still, I'll have to consider getting Sammy though based on your recommendation! Might as well add more to good looking 3D's to my collection.

Zoobie's quote: "I don't need the 1400+ lumens on my HP screen since i'm getting nearly 3.x gain with my optimal projector location. This is nearly 3000 lumens in 3D on the HW30.. but the Epson 3D torch mode will cause me to squint with bright scenes on my HP.. how cool is that when the general complaint is that 3D is too dim in the HT? [/quote]

I disagree with you here. I use my 6010 in 3D mode on my120" HP screen and it is not too bright in dynamic mode with glasses on since you lose 70 to 80% of the brightness. Those 3000 to 4000 lumens are suddenly 900 to 1300 lumens and that's with a new bulb! If you lose 20% to 30% brightness over the first 500 hours then you're down to 700 to 900 lumens with glasses on. If you lose more brightness over time then you're out of luck. Making assessments about lumens with new lamps is a mistake in my opinion and only gives part of a much bigger picture. I'll take the brightest image I can get and tame it and then I've got head room when the bulb starts to dim, as they all do.

So, did you like Epson more than Sony? My impression from your shoot outs was that Sony was overall better projector. Same story I got from my local installer. Epson wouldn't work for me due to gaming lag, but without the lag would you rank Epson higher overall?

Nice job on your comparisons between these projectors. Guess I will stick with the Acer 5360 for 3d only and monster RF glasses. No green tint like you show with the nvidia glasses. Using VIP Theatre for frame sequential output to the Acer.

If I were to get one projector I think I would go with the Sony.

It really is a good deal. Just last night I was able to adjust greyscale with DE's under 2. In fact most points were almost perfect. All I used was the RGB offsets to balance greyscale and found a degamma of 1 to be close to a 2.4 gamma curve. The default degamma 3 was more like a 2.7 gamma and the image is too dark.

I can get a good greyscale taking measurements through the glasses too. The RF glasses do favor green. Maybe not as bad as some like the nvidea but they do still favor green.

Well, it looks like there are some significant improvements going from the HiMedia 900A to the Micca EP950, despite the fact that the hardware seems to be identical. Here is my preliminary report:

1. With a directly attached hard drive, the Micca works perfectly, just like the HiMedia.

2. With a USB 2.0 drive attached, the Micca works perfectly where the HiMedia would stutter on higher bitrate ISOs. This alone is a significant improvement, as you can attach at least 2 USB drives (and a third one via the USB 3.0 port), as well as drop a drive into the unit itself.

3. This unit is networking with my Windows machines perfectly. I can play back even high bitrate 3D BD ISOs over the network without even the slightest hiccup - again this is a SIGNIFICANT improvement over the HiMedia box!

4. I am still having problems streaming from my UnRaid (Linux) server to the Micca box. Since I now have the same problem with both the HiMedia and Micca units when networking to my main server, I decided to post the problem in the UnRaid forum. One user posted that he had the same problem, so he switched from using Samba shares to NFS shares. I am a total Linux noob, so I am not sure of how to get this accomplished, but I am working on it and will report back as soon as I figure out how to do this and test it out.

5. The Micca unit plays 24 FPS very smoothly with no dropped frames that I can detect, but then again, I never saw any dropped frames or stutters with the HiMedia box either.

6. The Micca firmware also has an option to "ask before playing" BD ISOs to determine what method of menuing you want to use. I like this feature a lot! One of my IMAX ISOs would play the "Making of" feature instead of the main feature when using the HiMedia, but by choosing a different menuing method with the Micca I was able to get the correct feature to play, something I could not get around no matter what I did with the HiMedia.

Basically, the Micca firmware seems to be considerably better than the HiMedia firmware, and since it uses the same hardware and costs less than the HiMedia box, it is a no brainer to me to buy the Micca EP950 instead of the HiMedia 900A (or 900B, for an apples to apples comparison). Now if I can only get it to play .MKV and .ISO files back SMOOTHLY from my main server, I will use this box exclusively in my system...

Thanks for the tip on this box, Zombie! Great call!

Are you having issues with MKVs? It looked like your ISO experience was smooth, so I'm curious about your comment.

I am having issues with both 2D MKVs and 3D ISOs (the only 2 formats I use) when streaming from my main Linux UnRaid server. Both MKVs and ISOs play back smoothly when sourced from *anywhere* else. Please remember, these are only preliminary findings, as I have only had one day (Sunday) to play with this box, but so far so good except for streaming from my main server...

Zombie, your PM mailbox is full! i've been tryin to send you something. Figured this was relevant as you are the OP

NFS shares work!

This will be of particular interest to unRAID users...from klgray in the UnRaid forum:


I simply entered

*(ro)

in the unRAID WebGUI NFS shares box for each share I wanted the Micca box to use and then followed the rest of Ken's instructions - works like a charm!

Now I can stream either format (3D ISO or 2D MKV) from my unRAID server and everything runs smooth as silk...I would assume that the HiMedia box will respond in the same manner, though I don't have the box here to verify (I lent it to a friend).

I still don't understand why Samba is giving me a hard time, but at least this workaround is easy and works great...

I would guess you can attach many more USB drives with a USB hub.

You are probably right, but since I have two 40 TB unRAID media servers (80 TB total), you can imagine how concerned I was about getting the Micca box to work without stuttering.

Oops, sorry for the OT....

Yes, IMHO the Micca box is significantly better than the HiMedia unit, but I suspect that the difference is in firmware, not in hardware, though I could be wrong and you could be right. Regardless, the performance I am now getting from the Micca box makes it the bargain of the year for hardware media playback solutions. Thanks again for turning me on to this box!!

80 TB, that's a huge amount of disk space (wow). You can start your own online backup service with that much disk space :P

I was wondering if anyone was using a Seymour Center Stage XD electric screen with the Epson 5010. If anyone is, do they see any moire with the Epson. I had a Viewsonic Pro8100 and it was visible with that projector.