Optoma HD81 1080p DLP official discussion - Page 152

This is the one that bugs me the most. Not only were we promised this - in WRITING, but they've already moved on to the HD81LV - seemingly ending any new firmware updates for the HD81.

So Optoma promised this and never delivered. Anyone want to join a class action suit, PM me.

Simple,

I am the last person to defend Optoma but I never saw anything in writing about upgrade ability via the Internet. If I am wrong OK but I never read this.

Yep we talked about in this or another thread early on, an item inside had to be replaced causing the heat related problem. That's all I really wanted to say.

Enjoy your HD81LV's, very nice toke. I know more about the LV which makes it great. Can't be talked about though, just believe me it's big and it's inside the machine. Trick or Treat.

Just to be clear, I am on my third HD81 so my current problems couldn't be a result of those early boards. As I mentioned, the current projector recently developed three new problems:

1) Spontaneous power-off after watching any source for a couple minutes. There is no blue screen. The TEMP light blinks blue for a couple seconds then the lamp goes off. If I pause whatever input I am watching as soon as the TEMP light blinks but before the lamp goes off, I am fine. This happens about half the times I use the projector.

2) Sometimes it doesn't complete the power-up sequence. After a few seconds I get a blinking red TEMP light indicating fan failure and the unit shuts down. If I wait through the whole several minute cool down period and start it again, everything is fine.

3) There is an ozone smell after I have been watching for a while. I did do a search on ozone in this thread but didn't see any other references.

I am becoming worried that the projector is nearing a hard failure. Has anyone else who has experienced similar problems found that the problems continue to become worse, or do they remain sporadic at about the same frequency? I don't know what to do at this point. I saw a post a while back that Optoma no longer has the HD81 in stock. For more than 6K, I had hoped to get more than just one year of life out of the projector. The picture is dazzling when it works. I just wish I could get it to work consistently.

We did do some construction a couple months back so it is possible that some plaster dust has found its way into the projector. I thought I saw a post where somebody talked about vaccuuming the projector. Might that help? If so, would I just vaccuum the air vents, or is there a way to do a more thorough cleaning (without breaking anything).

Is it too late to upgrade to the LV? What is the cost to upgrade? Would that solve any of my problems?

I'd welcome any suggestions.

Thanks!

Joe

Joe,

I had this issue, burning smell, shutdowns soon after power up, no blue screen, just powered down in the middle of a movie. The smell went away after awhile as did the
shutdown issues for the most part--although I can't remember if this was happening
with my second or third HD81, I do know that it corrected itself for the most part,
amazingly.

All I can recommend is calling or emailing Optoma and finding out what they can do for you. There is no official HD81-LV upgrade program, and every situation is different.
Hopefully Optoma will be getting more HD81's in, that's why I had signed up for the
Gold Service Contract--they are obligated to provide a hot swap solution under the
terms of that contract. The LV has the hot swap as part of the normal warranty,
the first year you get a new unit, second and third years a loaner.

I can only tell you that Optoma has treated me well and come through every time with
very little down time--but, of course, I live down the street from them. Best of luck.

Joe,

I've experienced all of your problems with the 3 81's and one LV. It always got worse for me. Like Jeff, I have found Optoma to be responsive and magnanimous. After contacting the names provided to me by Tom and Jeff, I received excellent service on a product that is definitely a lemon. My suggestion would be to try to negotiate an LV. My second one is working beautifully. I would expect you to have the same experience. Warren Pierce is the effective person at optoma.

Thanks Art and Jeff!

I read the LV thread. I see that people have had a few problems with the LV also: greenish color without calibration, shutdown problems, and some folks have had thin white vertical lines through the image. Were you able to get yours adjusted so that you like the color as well as the HD81? There was a reference in the LV thread to the vertical offset being greater for the LV even though the spec is the same as the HD81. Was that your experience? It sounds like you both feel it was worth the cost to upgrade?, is that correct? Do you know how Optoma was able to substantially increase the brightness while using the same lamp?

Thanks again for your help!

Joe

Hey Joe,

Good to see you back!

I vacuumed mine and it didn't help at all. Warren replaced mine. But now the new one is starting to have blue screen problems. On my first one the color wheel died.

I ahve only had about 3 blue screens so far. I ahve had this new projector for about 1 month now.

I did buy the gold service as Jeff had recommended.

Let me know what you find out from Warren if you end up contacting him.

Thanks

Joe

Art and Jeff,

One more question: I've been going back through this thread and I saw posts from two other people who were having trouble with their HD81s and contacted Warren to see if he would let them upgrade to the LV. He turned both of them down. One of them even had a broken color wheel & he said Warren suggested her try to sell it on ebay. It looks like you two may be the only two who were able to upgrade. Can you offer any suggestions?

Thanks!

Joe

Having spent well over $8,000.00 on Optoma projector issues, and taking into account the fact that i am on my 5th yes (5) projector, I feel Optoma owes me something. I believe that when you reach this point, Optoma might want to help you too. Also, I do not feel that I "upgraded". I believe that I had to accept an LV or loose my large investment in time and money. In other words, I had to take the option I was offered. If I had my choice and if they had been available, I would have bought a Panasonic AE2000 with a VXD 3000 or simiar external box.

My suggestion to you is decide what you want. Ask for it. If you don't get what you want, you can pursue legal remedies or accept whatever Optoma offers. We are at Optoma's mercy. Before I began experiencing this blue-green issue, I was very hppy with my LV. Now, I am not so sure. BTW, I see that on several of the newest projectors, there are filters to compensate for the blue green tinge that seems to permeate everything as the projector gets older. Right now I have +24 dialed into my Red contrast in order to achieve a decent gray scale. Another point.... I would not pay a nickel to have this thing set up. By the time the guy goes out the door, the colors will probably shift enough to require a new setup. Quite depressing if you ask me.

Trying to watch football today I got a blue screen at least once each quarter. It was the flashing blue temp light.

I experimented a little. If I kept trying to switch input while it was blinking it would eventually switch and then I could go back to the original input, which was component2.

If I let it alone it would turn off.

This sounds like the original blue screen heat issue rather than any hdmi signal loss issue.

Joe

Hi Joe,

The flashing blue TEMP light indicates RS232 error. That is the one I keep having. Only when it happens to me, there is no blue screen. I get the flashing light followed by the projector shutting down. Do you get a blue scren or just the flashing light and shutdown?

I also sent you regular email.

Joe

I get the blue screen AND the flashing temp light.

I will check my email.

Thanks

Joe

You are right - I quoted a statement that said via the net. But we were promised, in writing, the ability to update the firmware ourselves via the serial port, and Optoma has failed to do this. I'm quite pissed right now and if I get enough PM's I will contact a lawyer about a class action suit.

To think I shelled out over $5k for a projector promising I could upgrade it myself, but in reality I will have to take if off the mount, pay to mail it to California (insured no less), then wait three weeks to get it back, only to have to reinstall and realign it. It's why I'm still on C05 - because its not worth the cost and time to get C08 when C08 isn't upgradeable.

Optoma seriously sucks and I'm telling everyone who see's my theater (nine people today watching the Colts-Patriots) to stay away from Optoma completely.

Simple,

I am not sure how I can be "right" when I say that "I never saw anything in writing about upgrade ability via the Internet" therefore disagreeing with your belief that you believe Optoma promised upgradeability via the net. AFAIK, Tom was the one who said that, not OPTOMA. I believe Jeff also said that C08 was necessary for an on line upgrade but to me that is not Optoma promising an on line upgrade.

This was a PAIN to locate, with so many posts on this thread. But take a look at Post # 224, where Tzunglin is answering questions.

kiwishred asked in post #12:
- Was the CES demo at iris full open ?
- Will the HD81 be capable of user firmware upgrades ?

Tzunglin replies

So we were CLEARLY told we'd be able to download our own firmware. This was an outright lie, and I definitely would not have bought this unit if I had to take it down and mail it back for firmware upgrades.

I remember being told that we had to ship our units in so that a board could be replaced which would allow us the internet downloads.

I also remember hearing about beta testers for the download.

I am now getting really frustrated with the blue screens. In Minnesota we have lemon laws that are fairly strict. They even work for cars.

Joe Linn - You should check into those. I think the magic number is 3. I am only on #2.

I am going to contact Warren and see what he says.

Joe

Please get back to us after you talk to Warren. I'm in the process now of compiling a list of lawyers who do class action lawsuits.

Hi Joe,

Did you try running in high altitude mode? My projector #2 had blue screen shutdown issues. Art suggested that I try running it in high altitude mode. That did seem to stop the blue screens. I suspect that there may be components in some projectors that begin to fail as the temperature in the projector rises. High altitude mode runs the fan much faster and keeps the components cooler. I didn't consider that an acceptable long term solution. My fear was that the failing components would get worse and even high altitude mode wouldn't fix things. Still, it might be helpful in isolating your problem to see if high altitude mode makes a difference.

On your suggestion I did do some searches for Minnesota lemon laws. The only references I could find were for motor vehicles.

Please do let me know what Warren says. I'm still trying to determine what to do. The last two nights the projector has worked without any problems. I'm wondering if I just have a temporary reprieve or if things are getting beter. When it works, it throws a great picture.

Joe

I think that has been the main reason that we have all been so patient. When it works it is an amazing picture. I still get stunned at times even after watching it for a year.

Joe

Are any of you experiencing the green shift?

Not on any of my HD81s. Is that an LV-only issue? Have you been able to adjust it so that it looks good, or are the colors off no matter how you have it adjusted?

Joe

It is shifting dynamically. At any point in time, the high IRE levels appear to be blue green while the lower levels have a slight red/pink hue. I can almost get it neutral again with a lot of work bu then it may go to another error level requiring readjustment. Tonight it looked beautiful with the factory settings for 4.5 hours. Last night was terrible.

To determine whether you are experiencing what I am, click on the Film/TV/Graphic/PC to get the gray scale pattern at the top of the screen. The highest two bars will appear blue green. Lower IRE's are pink.

I brought up the Film/TV/Graphic/PC menu. I noticed the same thing. The highest two bars looked blue green. The next couple had a pinkish cast. The rest looked gray to me. I've never noticed anything when I am watching TV normally. I'm curious if a gray ramp from Avia or DVE would exhibit the same thing, or if it is possible that there is a problem with the internal gray bars it is generating. Do the colors look off when you are watching TV or a movie?

I had another shutdown after watching for about an hour tonight. There was no blue screen. The lamp just suddenly shut off. The TEMP light was flashing blue along with the flashing blue power light while it cooled down. This is really frustrating! I've had three CRT front projectors (going all the way back to an Advent in the 70s). I had an NEC LT-100 for about 7 years before I got the HD81. I never once had a shutdown on any of those projectors. This is my third HD81 and I have shutdown problems with all of them. I'm worried that even if Warren did let me upgrade to an LV, I'd end up paying a lot of money and ending up with a whole new set of problems. The posts from people with the LV don't sound all that comforting. I really don't know what to do. I just want a projector that works. Do the people who have switched to an LV feel that they are more reliable?

Joe

Joe, Art,

I had my ISF tech set the gray scale to be a bit plus red, and on the grayscale
ramp I am seeing warm whites, no blue/green. My HD81-LV has not drifted from
100 hours to the current 240 hours that I can detect by eye.

My LV has performed almost perfectly, had one shut down which I think was an
HDMI handshake issue. I always run at low bulb mode. Of course, I had HD81's
that worked well until the 300 hour point, so it's too early to tell about my LV.

I'm crossing my fingers.......

I think my power off problem is getting worse. It just powered off three times during one hour of watching my cable DVR. I think the ozone smell is getting stronger also.

Joe

I spoke with Warren and Jeff at Optoma. Jeff wants me to try high altitude mode. Depending on the resuls, I may end up needing to get the gold warranty. He checked the price and it is now $499! I tried the link from the HD81 page and the Optoma site. That is the price it shows there also. A month ago, the price was $259. Does anyone know what is going on with that? It looks like the price may have doubled since last month!

This is the third HD81 I have had with the exact same problem. I don't think I would feel very jolly plunking down $499 to try #4 when it appears to be a design problem on their part & so many people here have had the same problem. It wouldn't be as bad if I high a high degree of confidence that the fourth time would be a charm but, well, I don't.

Out of curiousity, are there any HD81 owners here who HAVEN'T had problems with their HD81? It could help my case if I could say that ALL the HD81 owners on AVS have had power off or blue screen problems.

Joe

Jeff,

Mine is working well again also. It occasionally goes into what I call "green-purple mode". Like you Jeff, I set mine up around 6000 K. I prefer good warm blacks. Growing up in the 50's on Muntz B&W 21" TV's, one's brain seems to know what it expects to see, specially when watching Hopalong Cassidy et al. I am approaching 700 hours and like you Jeff, I run on low speed. This one seems to be OK. I wish i could figure out the Green glitch. The effect is like watching a scene that is lit by flourescent lights. In those cases the light has so much higher wavelength content that everything in the scene turn green an purple. I wish everyone would use the same recording standards and adhere to them. The uncompensated TV shows are the worst. Bones is terrible. ER is wonderful. I mention these two because they both have high flourescent lamp content but ER's engineers seem to compensate properly. The very worst show though is this new show, Journey. It is so awful that I have created a special set of settings for it to compensate for the terrible engineering.

I feel I need to comment about the $500.00 "Gold Service". This is ludicrous. Obviously, they have had to double their insurance premiums because the frequency of claims required it. That does not say much for Optoma. The warranty should be enough to cover you. At a cost of $7,000.00, the addition of another $500.00 so that the customer can have guaranteed use of the projector, is a sad comment on how frequently these things are failing. Every time I turn mine on when my wife is in the room, I have to listen to "I wonder if it will keep working."

Art,

The green and purple issue you refer to sounds familiar. This is why I returned
my first HD81. In my case, this color issue was seen primarily at low IRE, shadow detail regions. I believe it was a processor issue.

Joe,

This is interesting about the Gold Service Contract price going to $499. It's
a lot to spend for just ONE YEAR of hot swap service, especially since there's
no guaranty that Optoma will even have an HD81 in stock.

Tom/Guitarman's assertion that the shutdown issues were due to a "small batch" of HD81's just doesn't hold water--I don't think his contacts at Optoma were being very forthright.

Joe, since you've now had three HD81's in a row with the same issue, I would
push very hard for an HD81-LV upgrade. $499 per year would be $1500 for
the factory warranty duration if one purchased it in the first year. I had to
pay 8.25% sales tax for mine, albeit at the previous lower cost.

Clearly there is a serious design flaw with the HD81 and Optoma needs to step
up to the plate. Charging $499 per year is not an acceptable way to treat
customers of their high-end series. What I haven't heard enough of is what
Optoma's repair turn around times are. Indeed, I'm not sure they are repairing
HD81's, and if so, what is being done to correct the overheating issue?

HD81 owners are going to need to get together and apply pressure on Optoma
to correct this design flaw or upgrade all owners to the LV, although nobody
is sure that will be a reliable solution as we've seen a few LV failures already.

Thanks Jeff!

The technician I spoke with at Optoma yesterday is also named Jeff. He said that normally turn around on repairs is 3-5 days, but lately they have been short on the board that typically gets replaces so repairs have been taking 1-2 weeks.

I agree that charging customers $499/year when Optoma clearly has a design problem is not good customer service.

Joe