OFFICIAL Sanyo Z3 thread - Page 55

I almost never turn it on for less than and hour, as it's not my primary TV, and I try not to leave it onfor more than three or four. I finally used it this weekend and I'm glad it's back but I am more nervous now then when I first bought it.

Well, I got the call from Sanyo today. Surprisingly, they're fixing it under warranty with no problems. The guy kept mentioning stuff that sounded like he MIGHT be trying to weasel their way out of it... like the usual "it has dust in it" excuse. So I made sure to ask "Well, if you clean the filters regularly and it still gets dust, what else can you do?" He admitted that it just happens and there's no way to keep dust out completely even if you clean the filters every 100 hours.

I kind of laughed when he said that putting a static image on it for like 30 minutes could overheat the blue panel... and I'm like "Not that I would ever leave a static image up for 30 minutes, but... what if someone was using it for presentations? That would mess it up?" It just seemed kind of silly to me that a LCD projector would have an issue with this, but... that's what he told me. I use mine for DVD, HDTV and my 360... so static images aren't an issue.

Anyhoo, they're fixing it and shipping it off today, so I should have it back tomorrow. YAY! And I asked him to update the firmware, since I think mine had the original 1.0 revision, and he said they'd check it and update it. Now I get the fun of calibrating my grayscale all over again. WHEE!

Good Stuff!!!!!
It's like you are getting a new pj.

Yeah, now I have to find a bulb for it (because 3,400 hours is probably pushing it). I figure if it lasts another year, it'll be about time to buy a better one anyway. Regardless, I'm jazzed to get it back fast... 'cause man, going from playing Rainbow Six: Vegas on a 92" screen to playing on my 43" RPTV just felt WRONG.

It's good to hear some Sanyo warranty good stories for a change.

Got my Z3 back today. Note with it said that they replaced the blue panel and polarizer glass, cleaned it out, and washed the filter. Score 1 for Sanyo support.

That's good news Jeremy.

Well here's my answer to "Do the panny AE 700 and 900 have these issues?" Referning to the polarizers. The answer is yes.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=784672

Okay, dumb question... Should I replace the bulb just because it's past 3,000 hours? Because honestly, at 3,400 hours... it's still pretty bright, even for daytime viewing (though I do have blackout shades helping with that). Or am I risking the bulb popping by running it this long?

Anyone else past 3,400 hours on a Z3 yet?

Hey everyone! I have had a Sanyo Z3 hooked up in my basement for quite some time with relatively no problems. However last night when I was watching 24, I started to notice scrolling lines rolling up the screen fairly slowly, but noticably. I was just wondering if anyone had any idea what I could attribute this to and possibly how to fix it. If anyone has any ideas, I sure would appreciate them...

Usually, scrolling lines indicate an electrical problem in the hookups or another item in the house causing an interference problem. Check all your power lines and see if another item is running and causing the problem.

damn 3400 hrs!? I thought i was pushing the limit at 2500!

Scrolling lines usually means you have a ground loop problem. I had the same issue. Whenever my cable was screwed into the box, my projector would scroll lines. Ended up getting this:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=180-075

Screwed that into my cable line just before my box and all was well.

I caved in and got a new bulb for my Z3. Popped it in last night. The strange thing is that the new one really seemed very similar in brightness to my 3,400 hour bulb. Maybe slightly brighter, but not the insane amount you would expect. I held the bulbs side by side and other than some slight discoloration of the reflector around the bulb, they looked very much the same. Maybe I just got really lucky. I threw the 3,400 hour bulb in a box and kept it as a backup.

Hey Jeremy - just wanted to say thanks for the all the work that went into developing the calibration settings that you and ROne posted a while back on the the Z3 tweak thread. I finally got around to picking up a cc30r filter and was amazed with how much richer, deeper, smoother, and realistic everything looks. Wish I would have "upgraded to the Z-3.5" sooner.

AJ

For those of you that are interested, here's a link to sainthalo's PDF with the settings.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attac...chmentid=44669

so is it really worth it getting a CC30r filter? if so should i just get one in a camera shop? I mean is it more hype than anything, i wish i could get some more blackness out of my blacks right now, but i figure the filter wont help that, the colors for me look fine

Definitely worth it for me. Blacks are noticeably better and the top and bottom bars in a 2.35:1 movie are far less distracting. The Z3 tweak thread is worth a look as it has a lot of good discussion around how filters improve blacks and colors.

If you can't find a filter locally (I wasn't able to) here's where I got mine:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

They also carry the Z3 replacement lamp.

Hi folks,

Having used ROne's settings for quite some time, I finally completed a calibration using HCFR and a Spyder2 (after many, many hours of learning about calibration, I still have much to learn!). My settings are for a Z3 (180 hours) with CC30R filter in place, and I use the Z3 in a blacked-out room, with home-made permanent screen (curtain blackout material). Note that the HCFR readings were done from the screen, therefore the readings take into account the characteristics of my screen material, which is how I wanted it. Note also that I'm sure the walls and ceiling would have a certain impact on the settings

I noticed quite a difference between these settings and the ROne settings - it's much more natural, and much better shadow detail. The DeltaE is great now, as is the gamma. Try loading the attached file into HCFR (see the "Display Calibration" form), and you can see the results. Green primary is off, and there is no way to compensate for it, as I'm using the HDMI input (don't want to use the service menu). I used Rec.709 as reference, and the test patterns were 1080i HD from a Toshiba HD-A1 connected via HDMI.

Settings are:
Clear all adjustments to 0
Set to "Pure Cinema"
Color - Mid
Gamma +2 (gamma is too high)
Contrast -1 (set to your environment...)
Brightness -2 (set to your environment...)
Iris -30 ( I only increased this from my previous -40 to get rid of red/green tint on left/right of screen caused by closing the iris - I found it affectes B&W scenes too much - it's a tradeoff though...)
Red +1
Gain Red -15
Gain Blue -2
Offset Red -9
Offset Blue +2

There is a considerable difference between these settings on HCFR and the original CC30R settings. As I say, these are so much more natural looking it really was shocking. I kept my original presets on another userx setting and swapped back and over in MI:3 HD-DVD and King Kong HD-DVD - skin tones are so much more natural, and I see so much more detail than before.

Might not help anyone, but I thought I should give something back, because I have gotten so much from AVSForum over the years...

-rf
And here is the calibration file for anyone interested in seeing what the above settings produced... Not perfect, but certainly close enough for me after about 14 rounds of calibration.... Thanks to all the folks on the Display Calibration forum, especially richlo.

 

z3_user1_purecinema_mid_gamma+2_cont-1_bri-2_iri30_r+1_GNR-15_GNB-2_OFR-9_OFB+2.zip 1.0322265625k . file

Yeah, my initial calibration started with Pure Cinema, but if you look at the Z3 tweaks thread, we got a lot better contrast ratio out of starting with Dynamic. I just had my blue panel and polarizer replaced and put a new bulb in, so I had to totally re-tweak mine. Picture looks better than ever now!

rmccormack, there's no hype involved. The CC30R definitely improves black. The filter is not being used to alter color - it's being used to remove the blue leakage from blacks, which makes black look much better. You then tweak the settings to fix grayscale and you end up with a much better contrast ratio and grayscale than before. I strongly recommend picking one up. I got mine from BH Photo like ajstan99, but I strongly recommend paying the extra money for the Kodak gel filter instead of the Lee polyester filter. The Lee tends to reflect light back into the lens a bit more (i.e. it can cause double images), and it definitely degrades faster (i.e. the color in the filter fades).

Surely the log gamma must be far from ideal to get a higher contrast ratio (s-shaped)? particularly using "dynamic" as a starting point? - the settings above allow for good gamma tracking across the IRE range, and D65 at around or below delta 2 from 10 to 100 IRE. I would have suspected that if your primary goal is a high contrast ratio you must be losing some detail by introducing a far from ideal gamma curve/log gamma chart, or deviating from D65?
I'll take some time to work through the tweak thread again in the near future to get more background - it was a regular read for me some time ago :-)

cheers,
-rf

ok ill give it a shot, i will go with the kodak filter, do you know how long the filters generally last? also does anyone have any photos of their results? I know its pretty hard to get a honest photo from a still camera, but was just wondering.

retrof - thanks for posting the settings that work well in your environment. FWIW, I tried them, and for me the result was washed out, lacking saturation and contrast vs. ROne's settings. Of course, I'm using different sources and my bulb has around 650 hours on it.

Anyway, always happy to try something new, so please keep sharing. Glad you found something that works better for you.

How much Lumens would i lose with the filter? right now i do not have the most ideal lighting situation and dont want to lose alot of lumens, my screen is 12 ft away from the PJ, however i do have a Hi Power screen and right now i have my iris at like -30 and brightness at 0

anyone?

I'm not well-versed on the subject (so anyone should feel free to jump in and correct or add to this info), but found the following through Google:

According to this site, CC30R is "a red filter with a density of .30, or 1 f-stop"
http://www.bandprodigital.com/cgibin...ogno=SCH-COLOR

I believe that this means the filter will reduce light output by 50%, but doesn't mean the image will appear to be only half as bright to the human eye:

Of course as you'll be adjusting brightness, contrast, iris, and other settings, I would think that the reduction in light output after calibration will be less severe as the filter allows you to boost settings that you could not without the filter.

Also read through the Z3 tweak thread for more info on calibrated measurements with the filter:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=468801

That being said, you could just have a cc30r filter delivered to your door for less than 20 bucks, try it out, and see for yourself. In any case, good luck.

I get the filter tomorrow, time to screw around with it, i think i actually get more than enough light with the hi power screen, ill let you know how it goes

Wow, it looks amazing! never seen my projector like this before, the blacks look a hellava lot better and the color overall is amazing on the hd stuff. Def worth the 25 bucks for the Kodak CC30R filter. Thanks everyone.

Have owned my z3 since August 2005, unit is installed on my family room ceiling via a mount having a 12 inch drop, have cleaned filters every 100 hours. Started seeing blue spots at the bottom of the screen about a month ago. Called Sanyo and advised them of issue. After faxing them original invoice they issued me a QRP number and shipping instructions. Unit left on a Friday via Fedex and was received by them on Monday. Received a voicemail message on home phone @ about 2:30PM Tuesday(I work swing-shift, so I didn't get message until getting home), I call back the next morning, they forward me to the voicemail box of the technician who is working with my projector. I receive call back while at work, advising me that filters are extremely dusty, I start to read to technician EXACT dates of cleaning dating back nine months-copied onto my PDA, after he asks me how often I clean the filters, tech states he needs $600.00 to repair unit, I tell him i'm not paying for anything as this thing is only about half way through it's three-year warranty. Ok, now here's the clincher: The tech then tells me "WELL, YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO", and then proceeds to hang up on me. I know there's always two sides to every story, but I not quite seeing how I deserved that. I didn't raise my voice, and I kept the conversation quite civil. I'm not quite sure how to go about getting this resolved, but I know for sure that the z3 is the last Sanyo projector i'll ever own

BurgEnder, I hear you. Although I don't have a problem with my Z3 this will be my last Sanyo projector as well. This scenerio goes back to Z2. Their 3 warranty is not a deal maker the way it is being handled and more like a breaker. You might want to cut & paste to the link below.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=611288

Well, it looks like Sanyo is gonna try to extort me using their fake dusty filter pictures and fax showing me their repair rates. Fortunately for me I actually don't live too far from where their repair center is located so I will be filing suit against them in Los Angeles County as well as filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commision.

Sorry to hear Sanyo has made another unhappy customer. I just got mine back from them (they had it for several months while I was arguing with them via the BBB & etc..) unrepaired. FTC is an interesting idea...maybe I'll try that too. They sent me pictures as well & stated that it was my fault because it was ceiling mounted & wasn't kept clean (it was ceiling mounted upside down which I understood it was designed to do when I bought it). The techs I spoke to were alternatingly rude and apathetic.

The thing I don't understand is - there are people on this forum who have had the same problem repaired under warranty so how can Sanyo say it was my fault when the product has demonstrated that it fails with regularity, the same way for others and it's Sanyo's fault? They're on shaky logic there IMO...

Holy crap I'm a Z2 owner who was lucky enough to know what to say (thanks to people on this forum) when mine went in for service so I didn't get screwed. I can't believe Z3 customers are now going through the same thing as us Z2 guys went through. Sanyo rots and I'll never buy another Sanyo product no matter what it is. And to think I feel like this and I'm a guy who had his fixed under warranty and I have 5000 hrs on my original lamp(still nice and bright) and can still achieve a AVIA calibration and watch with the ligts on. If it wasn't for Sanyo being such a lousy company and not honoring their warranty I'd be a prime candidate for another Sanyo projector, but because of the way they treat people I'll never buy from them again. I got lucky and my luck might run out next around with them.