Reviews of Marantz VP4001? - Page 92

I picked up a used VP4001 that had taken a knock on the focus ring, which cracked the plastic focus ring itself pretty badly. But the rest of the lens assembly looks undamaged. It appears the focus ring took the shock itself.

And after checking out the projector, testing some DVDs, all seems fine. The lens assembly zooms and focuses fine, etc. as well.

But here's my question: Is is normal for the lens assembly to have about 1mm worth of side-to-side "wiggle" while one focuses, or should it normally be "rock steady" through its focus range?

At this point, I got a partial refund for the projector, it came with a new lamp, and it does seem to work so even if this "wiggle" is abnormal I guess I can live with it as it doesn't seem to affect the picture. But I'm just curious if there normally is a tiny bit of play or not.

Although if "not", I wonder if there is some adjustment inside to tighten the lens tube back up?

Thanks,
Al

Mine is solid so I wouldn't think it's normal.

Hey fellow owners

I'll be receiving my replacement bulb sometime this week and since I've already upgraded to 1080p, how much should I ask for or expect if I sell my VP4001?

I got little over 2000 hours with zero issues to this day. With the new replacement bulb, this should easily go for another year to 2.

Would $550 be about fair since I have original packaging + remote+manual?

Thanks, that's what I thought.

I'll call my local Marantz service center and see if they have any suggestions.

Al

Sounds fair to me. What 1080p unit did you go with? Do you see a big difference over the Marantz?

Does anyone know where I can download the service manual for the VP4001?

I'd like to see how the lens assembly disassembles to see if it is worth opening it to see what may have come loose.

Thanks,
Al

OK, I was impatient, I took the lens off

The lens, like any optical unit.... say on a quality camera, is a clockwork piece, and whatever has become "loose" is deep inside. I'm not going to attempt to take the lens assembly/stack itself apart, as that surely will not turn out well

So I just put it back in and re-tested the projector, and all looks well.

But the good news is that it seems to be a single monolithic unit that could easily be swapped between one projector and another.

Interestingly this minor "wiggle" doesn't seem to be affecting the optics any. After all, it has to "wiggle" to be a problem, so as long as it is still, no problem. But I'd rather have a more solid lens assembly none-the-less.

So, does anyone have a broken(anything except the lens) VP4001 that is just gathering dust they may like to sell? I need the lens assembly/plate, plastic focus ring, and dust cover. The rest would just be more spare parts

I'd still like to find a copy of the service manual

Thanks,
Al

Anybody interested in my 4001? You can find it in the classifieds here. It needs a new home.

Which pj you upgraded to?

watching my very 1st MakeMKV creation (new to all-thing-MKV) on my toshiba a205-s5810 (screen=1280x800 per http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache...esolution&cd=5 ) laptop hooked up to VP4001 by VGA cable but it seems the peripherals are missing on PJ (vs what I am able to see on laptop's screen)

what do I need to adjust to see 1:1

How much are you mjissing? This pj is not 1280x800 native.

~1.25" of left side of laptop i don't see on projector (eg, i don't see the Windows START button, the one at bottom left)...and missing about ~.75" plus minus some RIGHT hand side

Set your laptop resolution to 1280x720 and see if that works.

changing laptop to 1280x768 looks to be working now, thanks gang!!

loving the picture quality on this PJ!!

hey scooterboy,

768 is the given resolution of VP4001, but when I try 720, it seems to also work except for the part where I use VLC to play my above^^ very 1st MKV, the VLC video time slider control goes missing but not @768

is one better than the other...like sharper? more resolution? and which would be the better setting? which is 1:1 ?? what additional adjustments i can do to get the laptop desktop to be as sharp as possible (text etc, using PJ as a computer monitor)????

EDIT: more info/question: in PJ menu for RGB input, under OPTIONS >Special Modes >there's TWO choices: 1280x768 AND 1280x768-A...WHICH SHOULD I CHOOSE? WHAT'S THE DIFF? WHAT DOES THE dash-A DENOTES??

thanks again in advance,

As long as your screen is big enough so that 1280x768 completely fits in it, then use that. Not sure why you lose the slider control at 720.

As far as sharpness, one should be as good as the other (1:1). 768 uses all of the pixels of the PJ, and 720 leaves 48 rows unused (24 on the top and 24 on the bottom) for vertical adjustment if needed. You didn't say what OS you're using, but for the sharpest text you want Cleartype font turned on (Display Properties|Settings|Effects) if it's available.

I'm afraid I can't help you regarding the -A choice. I have no idea. I send 1280x720 from my desktop via VGA, and I don't see those two choices.

I am the Proud new owner of Fragster's used VP-4001 and I could not be happier. Here are some quick pics from the 2 test sessions in my lving room on a green/taupe wall. No tweaking down, just straight out of the box.

120"

I think so anyway. My daughter was watching/reading and looked up and the screen was black. The green light comes on then flashes when I power it up but it goes red and solid eventually. I took the bulb out and I see no visible damage. No picture though. Bummer. I had only about 800 hours on the bulb. This one's expensive to replace too ($360 or so).

Update: I tried the little red reset switch inside the unit, per advice earlier in this thread, but it still is doing the same thing. Bulb shows no sign of damage (no visible marks, filaments seem to be in tact). I'm wondering if it's something besides the lamp. THe grean light flashes as if trying to light the bulb, but after a couple minutes there's little click sound and the red lamp light comes on solid.

Update2: Bought a AN-100LP lamp module from Hong Kong for $229, free shipping. Wish me luck.

Update3: Worked like a charm!

Update4: Pop goes the cheap lamp. About 250 hours in. "POP" and a black screen. Contacting the Hong Kong guy now. Wish me "more" luck. lol

I keep forgetting to update my fan swap, as mentioned earlier in the thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...9#post16100289

I didn't have a lot of luck. There are three fans and I swapped in two
replacements. But the projector would shut down after just a few minutes.
So I now have it with just one replacement fan and it's been fine for the
last 1200 hours.

The single replacement fan did lower fan volume an audible level. But the
difference is so slight, that it's not really something I'd recommend unless
you have nothing better to do with your time.

I now have 1800+ hours on this projector and original lamp. I started out
watching everything with the narrow iris setting. But after about 600 hours,
I had to switch to medium iris, where I'm still at today. It still looks great
today, but I'm going to replace the bulb anyways. I'll try the relampit.com
source.

I use a 92" wide DaLite High Power screen and the projector is mounted
about 10" down from an 8' ceiling.

Here are some pics of the teardown, cleaning and fan swap.

VP4001 on left, vs. the Sharp 12k it replaced. The Sharp had a slightly
better overall picture, but was louder and way dimmer.



Underside of the top cover:



Lamp removal:



Lamp:



Lamp cavity and fan:



Internals. You can see the three fans at the bottom:





This is the original fan. Fans just lift right up. No screws.
I like that they are encased in removable rubber grommets:



Empty fan bay:



This is how the fans connect to the circuit board:



Replacement Nexus SP702512M fan spliced into the original wire harness:



Side view of where the fans are in the projector.
The Nexus is the one on the far left.

CZ Eddie,

Glad I stumbled on your post. Thank you for posting those pictures. I have the Sharp Z3000 which is identical to the VP4001 and I recently rearranged my HT and I needed a long throw projector so I bought the Panasonic AE4000 and a Da-lite HP to go along with it. Today I watched MI III on HD DVD with the Sharp Iris set to high contrast and I was amazed. I had my Sharp for three years with a white matte screen and while I have always loved the picture, I have never seen it this good. The HP is just awesome with the Sharp. So good in fact I just bought the Z12000U from TD for a ridiculous amount of money as a back up and alternate for the AE4000. (the Z3000 wouldn't work on my new set up). The problem now is to get the full benefit on the HP screen, I would like to bring the PJ closer to the eye level but the fan noise is going to be a problem. My question to you is, how you seen the inside of the 12000 ? Is the fan replaceable as easy as the VP4001?

Damn - I was hoping you'd have better luck than I did. Mine would start up and then shut down after 10-15 seconds.

Alex, did you know that you can quote someone and delete all the pictures from the quote so they don't double-up and slow down the page reads?

The 12k can't be fan modded. The fans inside the 12k are turbine wheels. Picture the back of a huge paddle boat. That wheel that turns and moves the boat forward.
You can however, put it in a hush box.
How would you compare your old Sharp 3000 against your new 4000 projector?


I may fiddle with it again some time. Seems if you can get one to work, then there may be some way to get a 2nd to work also. I can say that once you figure out how to remove the top cover, that replacing the fans is incredibly easy. I just never got around to working on it further because the fans don't bother me too much.

I have a bunch of pics of my old 12k also. Here's a good glimpse of one of the turbine fans. That projector is full of fans like this.
Btw, I did clean the fans before I reassembled everything.

If you can stand the fan noise and low light output, this is probably one of the best 720P projectors ever made.
Very good depth of image, which is my top priority in a projector. Not as good as a 9" CRT for depth of image
in low light films. But better than any other digital I've seen. Though I haven't seen any high end 1080P's.

edit: btw, if you decide to sell the 12k, please let me know. I just took a look at the 12k thread and I can't
believe what you guys paid. What a steal.

I am sorry about that. I did that on purpose to make sure those pics don't go anywhere. I once bookmarked a page with many detailed pics and when I came back to few months later the original post was there but the pics were deleted by the poster. So, when I find pictures of something I consider very important to me, I quote everything including all pictures. But I don't do a lot. Maybe twice since I have been member here.


At first I thought he AE4000 to be a much better projector than the Z3000. The AE4000 has a better blank level, much accurate colors OTB, contrast in much better giving you a more 3D like image with more depth and wow factor. I really like the lens memory function as well as the placement flexibility of this PJ, not to mention a very quite fan. Watching a 2.35 movie on a cinemascope screen is just simply awesome. All add up to one fantastic movie watching experience.

Then I just upgraded to a Da-lite HP screen and when the Sharp Iris is set to high contrast it comes close to the AE4000. To be honest, had I bought 16 x 9 HP screen first, I probably would have given the upgrade idea a more a bit more thought . This is an initial reaction so I may think differently in a few days. One thing I like about the Sharp is it has been ultra reliable with no sticking dust blob to deal with. The Panasonis seems to have this issue. Now that I have experienced a 2.35 screen, there is no going back for me. I will be ordering a 106 16 x 9 screen next for HDTV format materials. I will have a dual screen setup in my HT and no masking to deal with. I will receive the Z12000 next week and I can't wait to compare it to the Panny.

I will be watching MI-3 and a few other favorite discs with my Sharp Z3000 before taking it down. Sad thing is I just replaced the lamp a few months back and only has about 165 hours on the new lamp. If it wasn't for the short throw, I would keep it. I now need to project from 17'. She will be looking for a good home soon.

My vp 4001 die I know someone say there is a reset button inside. but I'm have problem getting the cover off. I took all the screws out that I can see. but the cover is hanging on to the front of the projector.

when I do get the cover off where is this reset button located and what dose it look like?

Thanks

Scott

Lift up the back end of the cover a bit (30 degrees or so) while gently pushing it forward. It should release from around the lens on the front and slide off.

The red reset button is on the front of the projector near the lens. Once the cover is off you can't miss it. When you push it in, you should feel a "click". If you don't feel the click, then the thermal switch did not trip and your problem is something different.

Thanks scooterboy that did it my projector is working again. I did not want to get a new projector because I don't think I could find anything better for the price I pay for it.

Scott

Great! Glad you're back in business. Now keep the intake vents and bulb screens clean of dust to prevent it from happening again!

I just installed my 3rd bulb and I'm still loving this PJ.

Is this still a fair price? I just won one on ebay for cheap. The listing said it wouldn't power up, so I'm hoping it is just the reset button. If it doesn't power up, I'm hoping I at least got a bulb for cheap.

Thanks
KrisM

I love mine (bought it almost 3 yrs ago), but not sure I'd pay $500 today for a used one. Although, as you stated, if the bulb has no or low hours on it, that does have some value.