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Optoma HD70 review and screenshots

post #1 of 625
9/19/06 at 9:33am
Thread Starter 
The new and best budget priced true High Definition DLP projector is here and making some waves.

Brightness 20.50ftc, that's 818lumens on a 106"diag 1.0 gain screen. You can lower that by 200 lumens using econo mode. Projector is very quiet in Econo mode 28db, you won't need bright mode for a long time.

Great blacks and detail in the blacks. Contrast measured 2700.1. Very good for such a bright projector.

Abundance of tuning features with even more with Ti's Brilliant Color. Optoma's 7 Segment Color Wheel RGBwRGB for high color saturation and brightness.

The projector is like two projectors. You can start with Cinema and Film gamma for Movies. Then you can try Bright in place of Cinema or just choice Video gamma and you'll turn the projector into a brightness powerhouse. Great for Sports or the Daily News.

Here's some pictures, enjoy
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70front.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70back.jpg

HD from a Toshiba HDA1, HD is where the HD70 really shows you something.
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70blazzing1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70blazzing2.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70blazzing3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70blazzing4.jpg

SD/DVD also played on the Toshiba, not too bad either.
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd705.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd706.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd707.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd708.jpg

Dark with detail SD/DVD
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70dark9.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70dark10.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70dark11.jpg

http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70glad1.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70glad3.jpg
http://www.cigarbest.com/sales/hd70glad2.jpg

When I bought my first Optoma projector the H30, probably had the first one around. I would hv never thought an HD2 Darkchip 720p model could be bought for less money than my SVGA 12degree mirrored Optoma H30. MAP price on the HD70 is $999, huh! New buyers and upgraders are very lucky indeed. This is an excellent performer with a very broad range with all it's adjustment features. If Optoma wants to give it to you for a song, well that's allright for me.
enjoy it.
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post #2 of 625
9/19/06 at 10:01am
Nice review. This one is high on my X1 upgrade list!

One thing: Can you clarify this color issue. Some reviews have mentioned 8-bit
color processing on this puppy. Have you done any specific checks for color banding, compared to say an HD72?
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post #3 of 625
9/19/06 at 10:02am
Quote:


When I bought my first Optoma projector the H30, probably had the first one around. I would hv never thought an HD2 Darkchip 720p model could be bought for less money than my SVGA 12degree mirrored Optoma H30. MAP price on the HD70 is $999, huh! New buyers and upgraders are very lucky indeed. This is an excellent performer with a very broad range with all it's adjustment features. If Optoma wants to give it to you for a song, well that's allright for me.
enjoy it.

This really does mean that the people who just don't have a ton of cash will be able to get a truly great image. KILEER MACHINE, Im buying one and it fits perfect the phrase Hold me over till 1080P drops below $2k. I mean How much can you loose on this thing Buy it online for $1K here at AVS then ebay it in 1-2 years for $600 thats like $16/Mo to have an incredible image.
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post #4 of 625
9/19/06 at 10:31am
Tom, there's a bit of controversy about the zoom on the HD70.
Optoma's calculator says one thing & PC says another.
What's the zoom range on this baby?
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post #5 of 625
9/19/06 at 10:52am
Thread Starter 
I'd go by what Optoma says. I do have it in the same spot I use the HD71000 which is a short throw PJ, about 10/11' away from a 106" screen. I can't use my HT1000 in that position nor the HD81.

Very nice! Got The Fugitive going right now on the Tosh HDA1, Graywolf screen, it's daytime and my white room is mostly lit up, but still the picture looks great. Fugitive is mostly a daytime movie though. It would be worth while picking up an HD/DVD player and get started on some top-notch HD Librarying with this projector.
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post #6 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLidlessEye View Post

Some reviews have mentioned 8-bit
color processing on this puppy. Have you done any specific checks for color banding, compared to say an HD72?

See post #148 on this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=710466&page=3

According to this poster, Optoma confirmed 8-bit processing in an E-mail he received from them.

So, does 8-bit processing mean the projector can display 255 shades of R, G, and B, for a total of approx. 16.6 million colors? And as such, a 10-bit projector can display a little over 1 billion colors? Interesting that there is artifacting, considering Photoshop has 255 shades of each color. Of course, I don't have Photoshop CE, but I know as of Photoshop 4, it was 255 levels for each color.


One thing a lot of screen shots I've seen have in common is they are not full resolution. A 3MP camera would be sufficient (2048x1536) even for a 1080p screen.
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post #7 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarman View Post

I'd go by what Optoma says. I do have it in the same spot I use the HD71000 which is a short throw PJ, about 10/11' away from a 106" screen. I can't use my HT1000 in that position nor the HD81.

So you're doing a 106" image from 11' away? Can you measure to be sure? If so, that is insanely exciting news and makes me going to the HD70 even more enticing!
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post #8 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:43am
Thread Starter 
Nope not 11 it's 13', just got out the tape measure sri. I'm at max zoom also.
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post #9 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:43am
quick question....how does the de-interlacer work on this puppy? i still have a PS2 that demands consideration...
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post #10 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLidlessEye View Post

Nice review. This one is high on my X1 upgrade list!

One thing: Can you clarify this color issue. Some reviews have mentioned 8-bit
color processing on this puppy. Have you done any specific checks for color banding, compared to say an HD72?

Sri I don't see it, things look like other Optoma projectors, H31, HD72 etc.
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post #11 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by blitz6speed View Post

So you're doing a 106" image from 11' away? Can you measure to be sure? If so, that is insanely exciting news and makes me going to the HD70 even more enticing!

That would be a screen width of 92 inches. 11 feet being 132 inches, that makes the viewing distance about 1.4 screen widths, which seems about average.

Personally, I prefer to be 1 screen width away.
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post #12 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MinisterVado View Post

quick question....how does the de-interlacer work on this puppy? i still have a PS2 that demands consideration...

Deinterlacing is up to the Faroudja level, I assume this uses the same Ti 1chip solution the H27 uses. I've tested that chip many times and it's excellent, the HT510 NEC used it. Optoma's is the latest version.
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post #13 of 625
9/19/06 at 11:56am
hmmm... so is it safe to assume that I wouldnt be able to get 106" image from my throw range of 12'?
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post #14 of 625
9/19/06 at 12:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarman View Post

Deinterlacing is up to the Faroudja level, I assume this uses the same Ti 1chip solution the H27 uses. I've tested that chip many times and it's excellent, the HT510 NEC used it. Optoma's is the latest version.


WOW, I had the HT510 and the deinterlacing was incredible I could find no difference from it and my HTPC set up. I have had a Panny RP30 with DCDi and it was everybit at that level. Just another feather in the HD70 cap. So I take it the scaller is very nice too. On 1080i material will the Ti 1 chip be used or is the deinterlacer only for 480i and below.
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post #15 of 625
9/19/06 at 12:14pm
Nice screen shots, thanks Tom. I just ordered this projector an hour ago and will be drop shipped to my house directly from Optoma. I should have it by this weekend. It will be replacing a Barco 1209 CRT, who would have ever thought a $1k projector could replace a $20k projector. The Barco is still hanging from the ceiling, will be interesting to compare. Scaler is Lumagen ProHDP so can compare with and without.
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post #16 of 625
9/19/06 at 12:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarman View Post

Nope not 11 it's 13', just got out the tape measure sri. I'm at max zoom also.


One last question. Are we talking Diagonally or Wide?
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post #17 of 625
9/19/06 at 12:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rrhomes View Post

WOW, I had the HT510 and the deinterlacing was incredible I could find no difference from it and my HTPC set up. I have had a Panny RP30 with DCDi and it was everybit at that level. Just another feather in the HD70 cap. So I take it the scaller is very nice too. On 1080i material will the Ti 1 chip be used or is the deinterlacer only for 480i and below.


AAAAaaaaahhhh...........chit.

why'd you guys have to say such nice things? the lot of you (and the folks from the budget king thread) are making it painfully obvious that its time for me to upgrade.....
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post #18 of 625
9/19/06 at 12:48pm
Tom I've had the Nec ht1000 the same amount of time you have, I watch a lot of hd throught it, in fact i'm now on my second bulb(thanks to the forum when the bulb recall was going on), only have 400 hrs on this bulb. Should I wait for a 1080 projector or is it worth it to go ahead and upgrade to this optoma?
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post #19 of 625
9/19/06 at 12:52pm
Tom

Have you measure the the actual performance. Are you using CalMAN and if so can post the actual measurements

Thanks
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post #20 of 625
9/19/06 at 12:58pm
I believe it was the PJC review that mentioned the HD70 was very close to D65K out of the box, which is very nice to see from Optoma.

Guitarman, can you confirm. Did you have to do much tweaking to get the colors right?

This is a big thing for me because I can never seem to get the colors right even with Avia.
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post #21 of 625
9/19/06 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tones3311 View Post

I believe it was the PJC review that mentioned the HD70 was very close to D65K out of the box, which is very nice to see from Optoma.

Guitarman, can you confirm. Did you have to do much tweaking to get the colors right?

This is a big thing for me because I can never seem to get the colors right even with Avia.

Personally, I don't care about what PJC think the projector is achieving. I would like to see the actual measurements.

Tom for your calibration are you using CalMAN?
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post #22 of 625
9/19/06 at 1:32pm
Tom,

Can you quantify what you get in higher end models as opposed to this one? Put aside things like mounting flexibility and the like. How much better a picture is, for instance the HD7100?

Optoma appears to have the $1,000 720p projector market all to itself right now. It will be interesting to see what competiiton come along at this price-point.
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post #23 of 625
9/19/06 at 2:08pm
THAT picture can be had for a GRAND? Man, I'll have to look into this in the future.
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post #24 of 625
9/19/06 at 2:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stopdog View Post

It will be replacing a Barco 1209 CRT.


[english accent]Have you gone off your rocker?[/english accent] You're replacing a 9" LC CRT for a bargain 720p $999 DLP?

How much you gonna sell it for and what condition are the tubes?
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post #25 of 625
9/19/06 at 2:42pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tones3311 View Post

I believe it was the PJC review that mentioned the HD70 was very close to D65K out of the box, which is very nice to see from Optoma.

Guitarman, can you confirm. Did you have to do much tweaking to get the colors right?

This is a big thing for me because I can never seem to get the colors right even with Avia.


I'm happy with the way it looks for DVD and HDTV. I use Colorfacts for tuning and a light meter for lumens level testing. Yeah I got Colorfacts and the Accupel reference generator but I didn't use them, I just tuned the blacks and whites. Avia for SD-DVD and the Accupel for HDTV (blacks & white only). As you feed different signals to the HD70 you'll see under user and advanced RGB adjustments the factory already has preset numbers. In the past Optoma machines came with no RGB tunings. Anyway it looks very good, the pictures look good. High saturation (8bit ) good flesh tones etc.

PC is correct, it's tuned close to D65k OTB.
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post #26 of 625
9/19/06 at 2:54pm
Does it do proper 1080i deinterlacing, or does it bob it to 540p? This is important for us HD DVD and Blu-ray users.
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post #27 of 625
9/19/06 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTyson View Post

[english accent]Have you gone off your rocker?[/english accent] You're replacing a 9" LC CRT for a bargain 720p $999 DLP?

Got to agree with you on this one. This seems very odd.

Dave
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post #28 of 625
9/19/06 at 2:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTyson View Post

[english accent]Have you gone off your rocker?[/english accent] You're replacing a 9" LC CRT for a bargain 720p $999 DLP?

How much you gonna sell it for and what condition are the tubes?

I'm selling the house so down comes the beast and up goes the flea. Also replacing MA Gold Ref speakers and Earthquake Cinenovas for Pioneer receiver and in-ceiling speaks. Must consider WAF and model home look for resale.

Beast tubes good shape, fabulous picture it throws. PM me for more, drive to Bakersfield this weekend you can help me take it down. Price is fleaish . I paid 1/2 flea for the celing mount , will throw in.
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post #29 of 625
9/19/06 at 3:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Person99 View Post

Got to agree with you on this one. This seems very odd.

Dave

It will be fun to compare the two. This is my first digital, so we'll see. For my new house will be a 2.35 CH set up with 1080p digital, not sure which one.
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post #30 of 625
9/19/06 at 3:17pm
Tom can you explain the large discrepancy between your lumen numbers and PJCs?

Seems to be some hotspotting issues on some of those pics. Is that just the camera?

Fleshtones seem a little pink.

I am being way too picky for a 720p projector in thes price range
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