Optoma HD81 1080p DLP official discussion - Page 4

I would assume they won't add the lensshift back in this unit because they don't have a lens to use right now, in other words, they (or whoever builds these for them) need to design one, which will take time...

The link to the photos in my Optoma HD81 CES 2006 Pics & Screenshots - Best HT Projector at the Show - thread is now fixed if anyone is interested.

I am in the very same boat and my thoughts are quite the same. However, I'm prepared to live with 720 for a while longer until things sort themselves out and am focusing on calibration and optimizing my Optoma (sorry) H79 until CEDIA. After that, it'll be a ~7-8K$ street priced Ruby (II?) or single chip 1080 DLP with lens shift. I, too, doubt that any 3-chip DLPs will be in that price neighborhood for a couple of years, but 1080 LCOS or LCD offerings may be very interesting by then.

Dan

TzungILin,
Hopefully, your adjustable iris will have enough range to reduce the light output and bring up the contrast to lets say, in marketing speak, to 9,000:1. With Optoma's traditional discount off MSRP, and flexibility in the light output and contrast, would make this projector a winner.

Can Someone Tell Me If The Hd72 Can Be Mounted Between The Top And Bottom Of The Screen Or Does It Have To Be Above The Border Like The H81? Thank You Very Much. Sam Zeoli

I like the adjustable iris also, but I doubt it will affect the contrast ratio much in my room. I think at full open that the projector may be too bright(at least with a new bulb) on certain screens. It would also allow you to open it up when more ambient lighting is present. I would hope it would also be powered since it looks like most people that would buy this projector would have at least 9 foot ceilings.

I copied the following post from another thread. I've been reading this forum a long time and have come to respect Alan Gougers's opinion. I think it is unusual to have someone selling projectors to be so honest as Alan. I have never suspected him of even exaggerating about one technology or the other for personal gain, he just tells it the way he sees it. So here is where a 4000:1 contrast ratio projector beats a 15000:1 contrast ratio projector. He's talking about the 3 chip Mercury.


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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tryg
Alan, lets not be cryptic

Is the picture from this 720p projector better than the 1080p Ruby?



Clearly in every way. Ive invited Darin and we will get together in a few months to have a look at some of this side by side.

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The Optoma HD81 was also the best projector I saw at the show, and the scaler is most impressive in number of inputs and features. Sony didn't even have the Ruby hooked up; the only place to see one in Las Vegas was the Sony Style store in the Forum mall.

I am somewhat suseptible to eyestrain with 1 chippers but had absolutely no difficulty with the Optoma H81 (unlike the Infocus demos). I stayed for quite some time, and could have easily stayed there all weekend..

For my humble experience, this was the projector to come closest to the ideal size, brightness, detail, color saturation, and smoothness of image.

A real beaut...


Oh yeah, thanks Sony for having the Ruby on display..... on a pillar.

Guys,

There are some creative ways to use a high offset projector in low ceiling or type of enviroment.

Here is an install of HT1000 in a 7 foot ceiling HT.



How did he get a high offset projector down so low? Digital keystone correction? Nope. Serious overscan? Nope.

He tilted the projector up slightly and the screen forward slightly. A 5 degree tilt will give you 1 inch vertical image shift per foot of throw.

With the specs Tzung posted earlier, on the H81, it works out to about 4 degrees of tilt to turn it from a 27% to 0% offset projector. (0% means the lens lines up with the top edge of the picture.)

Some tilt is actually visually appealing IMO. 4 degrees is definitely not too much. Here is rough sketch if you still don't quite follow me:



The sketch is only for reference. (I free-handed it and then told the program to rotate it 4 degrees - I think it actually turned out fairly accurate)

This level of tilt is not objectionable. For the person in the chair the tangent line is still above their eyes so it doesn't look like the screen is falling forward.

Anyway, where there's a will there's a way. High offset is not that difficult of a problem to overcome.

-Mr. Wigggles

There's a couple of side benefits to this:

1. Less reflection from high mounted lights

2. As Peter (Cineramax) pointed out, this reduces visual keystoning from the top of the screen being farther from your eyes than the bottom

Will tilting affect focus uniformity at all?

I guess that means Peter is collecting royalties.

Yes, when you first walk into the room the slight tilt will be unusual, but once you sit down I think it makes viewing more enjoyable. You don't feel like you are looking up at the screen but the screen has been pointed more towards you. It is a subtle thing, either way, but doesn't detract from the movie at all.

-Mr. Wigggles

Lots of question but no replies from optoma expert. I wonder why.
Paul

Ummm, maybe he is on a long plane flight back to Taiwan.

Ericglo

Good question. I think the lack of a lens shift option is going to be a show stopper for many of us here.

Hopefully they are reading thses posts and will do something by the time this thing ships.

Weren't they saying late Q3 for this projector ??

I had a nearly identical setup in my previous theater (ceiling was 8ft, but a Panamorph added offset). Two more benefits:

1. Smaller angle = increased gain on High Power screen
2. Breaks up sound reflections between screen and back wall

Overall, I liked the effect. It seemed very natural, and I never felt like I was looking up at the screen.

--Dan

Clever!

Clever enough to work too! does this address the screen gain issue raised?

Might just be an option, because I have a real hard time bringing myself to put money down for a 720 when a 1080 unit will soon be available.

BTW I actually do this with my current PJ to overcome a poor mounting height, Mr. Wiggles, thanks for the reminder!

Clever indeed. And well explained, showcased. It's just unfortunate IMO that such cleverness is required of the consumer (and in this case only a very FEW consumers I wager) to overcome seemingly rushed production and/or poorly thought out engineering by the manufacturer. I get the "business presentation" bit, etc and understand why they thought this was the best alternative for now given box restrictions. But I question the value of the decision to bring the product out, basically half-baked. Would it not have been better to show it as prototype and explain the issue with a promise to deliver? As it is, they still had to make a promise to deliver, so the only thing to change is how long. And, in the meantime, do that many people really expect to buy a PJ with such limitations? Especially knowing it's a stop-gap product that will shortly (whatever that means) be replaced? I was intrigued by it and, as much as I find Wiggles solution wonderfully clever, I somewhat resent having to go through that many hoops just to make it do its basic job.

It almost reminds me of how difficult InFocus makes selling you an SP777. They make a nice unit but make it almost impossible to buy one due to their extremely limited distribution. Both processes seem counter-intuitive to me. But then, I used to fly airplanes and helicopters and was expected to be a bit more direct, precise and on-target. As well as on time. And that despite all the technology involved.

I have to think that Optoma will listen and will do all it can to add lens shift before they start shipping these units. Yes, I am optimistic about Optoma!

Maybe they are working on a projector with a lens shift and I would guess they probably are. Also maybe putting this projector out now(now as in 3 to 6 months) will not slow the release of a new model with lens shift, but only allow an earlier entry for the ones that desire to buy sooner and are able to use it as it is.

I don't think anyone knows when TI gave them the info they needed to start production on a new projector.Would it be possible to add lens shift to this projector as it is now in the current projector chassis?

Why is this a stop gap projector? Is it because it doesn't have lens shift? What digital projector out now is not a stop gap projector?

When was the last time anybody on this forum was invited to participate in a "round table" discussion group with a manufacturer so that the manufacturer builds to the recommendations of the "group"? Ummm... maybe never? For that matter, just for shicks and giggles, maybe Optoma already did a focus group, and discovered that the market for $10k projectors isn't really based on 8' tall or less ceilings. Maybe they discovered that the demographics say they'll sell through many more units into homes with higher ceilings and that the 8' tall or less ceiling represents only x percentage of the market. If so, then you can assume lens shift was weeded out by the beancounters through market analysis.

Regarding the Optoma rep not getting back on the forum, lately. #1 - He just went through CES. Just a little time consuming and tiring, I can promise you from my experience. Also, he's soon going to be gathering together any product bashing on this (and other) forums and then he'll go to a higher up in engineering/design/research/product development and get "company responses" to submit for approval. Only once those responses are approved will he convey those responses to this group. The hierarchy in these companies require it. So don't get down on him, just be patient. The replies will come, eventually.

Hi TzungILin - if Optoma wanted more people to enjoy it, they should add a lens shift because unfortunately there will be a lot of people that will have to pass on this pj because they simply can not fit it into their room. For instance I only have 4" of space between the top of my screen and the ceiling...

I'll try to remember to take it to the office to scan it.

I actually disagree here. Usually the simplest explanation is the right one. In this case, they used an existing model and retrofitted it. You know the old saying a picture is worth a thousand words. The images projected will be cemented in many of those minds that saw it. The timetable till shipping gives them the opportunity to implement the required features eg lens shift. Most projectors of this calibre have it. Having a static prototype with all the bells and whistles on paper and maybe with 24carat gold trim means nothing. How many times have you remembered the image of a pretty girl with XXXX walking down the street!

I know if I saw this and it said PROTOTYPE. I would probably be not as interested. We want to look at the real thing, whats available now or very soon. Just enough time to hold back a purchase from a competing manufacture.

This was Optomas and any other manufacturers PRIME opportunity to showcase to thousands a working product in real life.

Ben

Sam
to answer you question...... the H72 has a fixed offset that requires the projector to be mounted on a table below the screen or inverted from the ceiling above the screen.

There is also I thread totally dedicated to the H72 in the under $3500 forum.

Bob

If you are looking for a purchase in March the H81 would not be a starter for you anyway... I would doubt it will hit the street before CEDIA. I believe they were quoting Q3 in the booth for the H81... the H72 should be out in Feb however.

Feedback is good but in this instance all I can say is what a fabulous welcome for TzungILin (sarcasm). Especially since he didn't defend the lack of lens shift and honestly stated that there was a rush to get this to market. FWIW, I think this PJ will do quite well. Just about every client I deal with wants the PJ as close to the ceiling as possible and being able to place the PJ up and out of the way is great. Not that lens shift wouldn't be even better, but if it has to be fixed, Optoma probably made the right choice for the marketplace. As always, the wants of the marketplace as a whole do not necessarily remotely reflect the wants of the hobbyist.

"I believe they were quoting Q3 in the booth for the H81"

Q2 from the engineers I talked to. The Iris will be motorized in steps controlled by the remote. This projector with that Iris will have extremely high contrast, on and off plus ANSI.

Compare it to the Ruby? Most will prefer the DLP for the brightness power / Ansi and low priced bulb, plus the lower street price. I buy!

Design works for my 106" screen and 8' ceilings. My main problem is taming the light output, the surprise Iris will fix that. The Iris was a pleasant surprise for me at the show.

Count me in as another potential customer who can't get this PJ because of the lack of lens shift.

Bob Sorel said this a couple of days ago, bold added for emphasis:


Me thinks you might have a typo in der bold print

That should probably read something like "27% below the bottom of the screen"

Best,