Yeah, Art, I agree with you. Even with my replacement lamp, I experience one unexpected shutdown on average per night. It is probably some capacitor that was not sized correctly and causing power supply problems. Also these Philips lamps are getting cheaper and cheaper looking. This "new" one takes substantially longer to warm up. I also don't think it is as bright as the last one. Timing problems, lousy EDID support (which means I have to force my BD player to do 1080p EVERY time I watch.
I've come to the conclusion that the CE companies involved in HDMI did a really poor job of defining a standard. The connector is crap, the cables are too thick, they are not robust and there are handshake issues. For example, my new computer with intel graphics REFUSES to connect to my Denon amp (which has nothing to do with Optoma
).
Anyway, I have no intention of making my next projector an Optoma. I like the lens and the brightness is ok, colours are good, but the probability of unexpected shutdowns, mediocre contrast etc. mean I'm not happy with Optoma. A lot of the HD81 series are lemons and Optoma has just washed their hands of the problems, even though it is either their poor design or their decision to purchase low quality parts responsible for the issues.
