New - Optoma HD73 720P DarkChip3 - $2k MSRP - Page 11

This is great news! Now all thats left to do is wait. I dont recall reading if this unit is going to be a 5x wheel or a 4x. Also, are the optics going to be sealed? As far as RBE I could force myself to see rainbows by darting my head on the older DLP's but they didn't actually bother me. Well I'll be using my HD73 with a Prismasonic 700M in around a month I guess. That gives me more time to save for the screen and go over the different configurations I could do. Anyone else have the PJ in front of them?

Later,

Nate

The HD72 is 4x; guitarman indicated the HD73 is 5x in this post (I can't find any specs on it to indicate one way or the other):

I talked about it yesterday, HD73 has a 5x wheel.

Just received an response from Optoma customer service yesterday that "This model will be released in Jan. '07." Now, you might get a different answer from 3 different inquiries for all I know, but thought I would report on the response I got.

This is annoying. It was supposed to be November, then pushed back to December, now pushed back to January. How long will they keep pushign it back? Looks like I'll just have to import a 3100, as long as it doesn't have altitude issues.

I would tend to agree, but at the same time, if it is a delay in order to make it a better projector by tweaking the color wheel, then hopefully it will be worth the wait.

If I keep waiting and waiting I'll have my new projector after all the time off I'm getting in December/January. And I'll have had to wait that much longer to start playing Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Looks like it's either going to be an imported HC3100 or something else if nobody is ready by mid December.

I E-mailed Optoma today. I got the same January 2007 response.

Well, sorry Optoma. Since you couldn't get the product out, I just ordered a Mitsubishi HC3100. Better luck next time.

There's only three things the Optoma had going for it.

Faroudja - not too big an issue. NES, N64, and SNES are my only 480i sources now. Other than that, it's Bravo D1, PS3, and Wii.

Possibility of better optics - no info, so could go either way.

High Altitude Mode - if I have problems with the Mitsubishi, it's a simple matter to attach an extra external fan or two.

How are all of the imported 3100s doing so far? Anyone had any issues? Still waiting for some in-action pics guys P.S. Have you all ordered direct-from-japan or have you used the canada or florida retailer.

I used the Canada retailer. The Japan place, while $400 less, does not do returns or refunds. The Canada one has a 15-day all defect guarantee which includes dead pixels. And you can return the projector for a 5% restock fee plus shipping.

Pictures aren't a good indicator of performance unless you have a camera that costs as much as the projector, and somebody with some knowledge of setting up a camera manually.

Some popular retailers are taking preorders and claiming ship dates of "late december." Looks like this thing is right around the corner now.

Knock wood. I pre-ordered mine. I don't want an additional 3-4 week wait after the ship date because I wasn't in the pre-order queue, like what happened to me when the Infocus SP4805 came out.

Last I heard, Optoma was still telling people "January", but if they want to surprise me by shipping in December, I will have no objection.

COMPLETE Newbie to the home video thing...

I'm an audio guy and have that part down Here is my space:

L 17.5 ft. - W 13 ft. - H 17 ft.

So this projector looks like an excellent start...

Do you have to get a screen? I've been looking at the The Elite ezFrame R100H1 (100" diagonal) I have flat white wall paint on now...

What would the best screen size for the room?

How far should the seats be away from the picture? My chairs are at 15 ft. and a couch on a side wall is closer... but not much watching from the side couch...

thanx
-michael

A 17 Foot ceiling?! - you are going to have problems. If you ceiling mount your projector, the top of the undistorted picture will be 1 - 2 feet below the lens of the projector depending on offset and distance (see lots of threads on this topic). If you tilt the projector to match your screen, you will end up with a "keystoned" (trapezoidal) picture. This can be corrected by the projector, but that process degrades the image somewhat.

You might want to hang a platform in the middle of the room (as someone said "like a pinata"). Otherwise, it probably needs to go on the back wall, and that will require a large screen. Optoma has not yet posted the full manual for the HD73, but it has a basic screen size calculator for the HD72 here that you can use in the meantime. With a projection distance of 17.5 feet, you are looking at a minimum screen size of 127 inches diagonal. Wow. Nice if you can do it, I guess. That means 111 inches wide, which with a 36-degree vewing angle (see below) means you sit 14.2 feet back (if my trig is right) - so might be Ok for you.

I think you really want a screen - even if it is just fastened to the wall. There are tons of posts on AVS about DIY screens using special paints, MDF boards, or real screen material stretched over a frame (you can get a good price from AVS) , or you can buy one ready-made, as you mentioned. I like pre-tensioned as opposed to pull-down, but each has its advantages.

There are a lot of interdependent variables. Most people want the biggest screen they can get, for bragging rights, but the important thing really is viewing angle. You don't sit in the front row at the cinema. Viewing angle, seating distance and screen size all vary dependently.

THX recommends 36 degrees as the optimum viewing angle for actual movie theaters; they also recommend that you sit with your eye about 1/3 of the way up the screen vertically. I used those numbers to size my setup (in a smaller room than yours)

This site also has a useful calculator.
calculator

Have fun!

Yeah 17' ceiling

thanx for the help besides people walking in front of the projector - any issues putting it on an end table at 14.2 ft' ? I don't think i want to go beyond the 100 diagonal screen - wouldn't yours eyes have to dart around too much?

anyone know of a place in outside chicago (i'm in bartlett) where i could see the optomas and others up and running?

thanx

-michael

You may want to pursue an LCD projector with flexible install options for that. These fixed offset DLPs with limited throw range are really designed to be installed on a standard 8-9ft ceiling at a specific throw (+/- 1ft or so) and aligned dead center with the middle of the screen.

Mike

Table mount is fine....they are designed to do that too. In fact, my boss has an Optoma H30 that is used in a table mount fashion.

No big deal.

Bonus is that it's out of the way when not being used.

Fleaman

Like the man says - table mount is fine. In that position, the bottom of the projected image will be above the lens by the offset distance, so you will need to use a low table. My big problem with it is that it puts the projector where I want to be - in the center of the screen. And as for eyes darting around - it all depends on the viewing angle. I guarantee that if you set it up so there is a 36 degree angle between the two edges of the screen from the point where you are sitting, you will have an immersive, comfortable viewing experience. Again, think of the experience in a good cinema - that's what you want to reproduce (without its problems).

In your situation, I think I might start with table mount and maybe a painted wall and then think about how to go on from there. Its certainly the low-effort solution, and you are going to want to start enjoying the projector right away.
You could try putting it on a ladder or something at the back wall of the room and see what the big image looks like, before you commit to it.

Another way to decrease the minumum screen size would be to hang the screen back toward you from the back wall, instead of right on it. My screen hangs from the ceiling 3 - 4 feet away from the back wall, which gives me a space to store some misc AV equipment, etc.

HEADS UP for all you folks waiting for the HD73 to ship - I had pre-ordered my HD73 about 4 weeks ago at "VA". I called their customer support today (January 3) and the girl said she would check on an updated ETA for me and also check to see if they would be shipping directly from Optoma to the customers or if they would come to VA first.

She actually called me back an hour later(!) to tell me that optoma will be shipping a bulk load of HD73's on January 5th to VA. Sorry, no direct to customer shipping. They are expecting them to arrive at VA about the 10th and will ship them right out to the pre-order customers, so I am expecting mine about the 16th or 17th of January (Wouldn't you know, the 15th is the MLK Holiday so probably no deliveries on Monday - SURE, make me wait that extra day!!)

OF COURSE, this may or may not be gospel, but at least I got actual DATES from them instead of just "Late December" or "Mid January" or something even more obscure...

Rejoice... The HD73 has finally Arisen!!

BEAUTY!

I'm looking forward to the first reviews.

Steve W

Just 'phoned Optoma Europe.

The HD73s are now in the country (England) and they just need to check them over before releasing them, a job that usually takes one to two weeks.

UK msrp will be £1,500.

Steve W

WOO-HOOOO!

Optoma has the info posted on the US site for the HD73

Newbie question, as i just started looking into projectors today....

If this projector has a native resolution of 720, how can it output 1080p?

Does it upscale the content somehow? Could i connect a computer to it at 1920x1080 res, with a picture as good as native resolution?

It can't. The Optoma brochure is misleading. It outputs 720p for video. It will "downscale" 1080 input. You will need to set your computer to 1024x768 for optimum viewing (not bad, my SP4805 was horrible for computer display).

Want 1080p output? Watch what comes out at CES next week, and take out a second mortgage to buy it.

why 1024x768 for computer?

If its native 720p, why not 1280x720?

This is confusing...

This projector is like the HD72; it has XGA native resolution (1280x768) which is the resolution you would use if hooking it to a PC. For 720p sources you have a small margin of unused area at the top/bottom of the image.

Yes, there was a mis-print by Optoma on some of their sales-blurbs about the HD73. It is Native 1280 x 768, which is compatable with computer video set to the same resolution - there would then be no interpolation/compression/scaling done (SXGA, I believe they call that). You could say the projector is Native 16:10 or 15:9, close enough; but it is the 1280 pixel width that is most important for full 720p projection.

The projector WILL display full 16:9 720p (1280 x 720) without any scaling as well, but you WILL have very narrow black bars at the top and bottom of the image. These will only be 24 "pixel-rows" high (about 1.5" high each on a 100" diagonal screen) when displaying a centered image. The idea here is, if you are using a proper home theater screen with black borders around the projection area, the few rows of black on top and bottom will be projected onto the black borders of the screen and will be virtually invisible to viewers - especially if the borders are textured for light absorption (as in velvet). Add to that the fact that the HD73 is darkchip3, so the blacks should be even a bit blacker than DC2, enough to lessen the visibilty of this "over-projection" even further.

Alternately, if you own a pull-down type screen with a large black border at the top by the screen housing, you can use the image shift on the projector (I'm pretty sure the HD73 has this) to move the image to the very bottom of the illuminated area, and project ALL 48 black rows (about 3" of black) onto the top border area. This would be even less noticable to viewers, since the top of the screen is much further away from the normal HT recommended line-of-sight viewing-height than the bottom border of the screen.

Does that explain the native resolution a bit more clearly?

Oops, forgot to mention in my previous post that since the native pixel resolution of the HD73 is 768 pixels high, the standard, NON-Widescreen computer-video resolution that would project without any scaling would be 1024 x 768 (XGA). the 768 height would fit exactly, and you would have black bars of on either side of the projection 128 pixel-columns wide each, since your image is only 1024 pixels (256 pixels narrower than the 1280 width)

If you normally use a WIDESCREEN monitor on your PC, and your video card resolution is set to WXGA (1280 x 768), then it would fit exactly into the projectior's resolution. Sorry, I was the one who made a mis-print this time, I said SXGA in my previous post, which is wrong - SXGA is 1280 x 1024. Gotta love those computer resolutions and their terminologies!

In summary, with all the different standard computer video resolutions (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, etc.), and all the different movie aspect ratios (4:3,1.78, 1.85, 2.35), you just need to remember these TWO, no, THREE things:

NOTHING IS EVER STANDARDIZED!

YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE BLACK BARS SOMETIMES!

BETA WAS A BETTER FORMAT THAN VHS