Viewsonic Pro8100 1080p Projector - Page 284

Your questions are exactly as most have had during the length of the thread .. the AVS search option is a good place to start .. and immediately set the menu timeout higher than the default .. see if you have PCS turned on as well ..

Tried those setting and the contrast is good and black level excellent, but the color tints are off. Those setting don't seem to have any way to shift actual colors. I see some numbers that have R,G & B settings. How do you get to the menu to set those? One set of calibration numbers in this thread I saw had settings for a 2000+ hour bulb. Do I need to leave the PCS on or off? Even the manual that came with the projector is hard to understand. Even so, the image quality is good enough from what I can tell already to invest some time learning to adjust it. Thanks for the help. This thread will hit 285 pages soon. That is almost unbelievable.

Glad you got the newest settings working to your liking! It's hard to believe how much difference a good calibration can make, until you see it for yourself! The gamma glitch pops up when you make adjustments sometimes. The good news is that if you don't change anything, it likely won't pop up again any time soon!


On a brand new bulb and a newer build unit, I'd recommend starting with Ranger's original numbers here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...9#post18418729. These were done on a unit with very low hours, and should give you good results. Don't be afraid to experiment with your settings or try different calibration numbers as a starting point, if you're not pleased with the results.

Dark Rider, thank you for pointing me to the post. I think I can figure out how to get into the menus to change those. My old Mitsubishi projector didn't have near this many places to adjust the image. Was easier, but maybe not as customizable as the Pro8100. If you looked through the numbers that are in the post, do you see anything you might change if you were running a grey screen as I am? If I continue to not get a good image even after adjusting some more, I may go to a matte white 1.0 gain and see what that does. The grey screen is really giving good black levels though. Thanks again.

I'm not sure how much if any color shift is introduced using the gray screen, but the big thing would be gamma. I would just set it at 2.2 first, and see how it looks. It shouldn't be too dark, but you will need to adjust both contrast (maximum white level) and brightness (to eliminate any black crush). After that, I'd start with the general saturation setting, which can be adjusted to your liking. At that point, if you're seeing any color shift/push, let us know.

Okay, will start adjusting once I get a chance this evening. Only thing I know for sure is off is the people's skin tones. They don't look like they have enough tan in them. Most are too red and purpleish looking. Thanks

I haven't tried the downloadable cal disk but the Disney WOW and HD Basics are good for starters. At least for a non-pro like me.

Agree about the menus. Also if mounting upside down, I found it much easier to invert the image before turning it over. Also that other thread that old corps mentioned is a treasure trove of info.

Good luck and enjoy your new toy.

I just updated my firmware with 2.51. I didn't understand the difference between 2.5 and 2.51. So I went with the later. Updating was pretty easy to to do. I will post my results soon[img]http://www.******************/zhaojh.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.******************/zhaoht.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.******************/zhaogd.jpg[/img]

Something happened to your pic links.

Might try going to Advanced mode and use the Manage Attachments link.

Thanks for the mounting advice, but it came too late. I had to stand on my head to get the image rotated for ceiling mounting! I still have not had a chance to dig through the menus to try the calibration numbers posted by Ranger.

That must have been quite a sight!

LMAO!

Ed

Dark Rider, the settings from Ranger are working much,much better than anything I came up with on my own. I think the skin tones are a little off, but I put a large piece of white poster board on the screen and they were better with the white surface than the grey one I have. I think I may go to a white screen. The black level on this projector is so much better than my old one, I don't think I will miss the grey screen. I did not use the 30 or so gamma settings, I just adjusted the gamma to 2.2 Does changing the 2.2 change all of the individual gamma settings at the same time? Also what does the 3D color setting do? I put all of those as listed in the setting values. How did anyone ever figure out what all these settings do? I don't think the manual is detailed enough to instruct the user to set all of them. Anyway, I will start working on a white screen and if it needs more tweaking, I may have to post back to get some help. What a nice projector though. I am really glad I went with this one. Thanks.

You could likely calibrate with the gray screen and get excellent results, but the only way to get the color perfect would be to either buy a colorimeter/software package and do it yourself, or hire someone to do it. Otherwise, the majority just makes some manual adjustments to others' calibrations and makes do with the "good enough." The 3D CMS is where you can adjust the hue, saturation and luminance for each primary and secondary color. The 2.2 gamma setting does manipulate all of the points to give what's actually closer to a 2.1 measured gamma setting, which is good if you have any ambient light or on the gray screen. I've found the 2.4 setting to be exceptional if you've got a bright enough image in a dark environment though. While the Pro8100 will never match the best projectors as far as blacks, it certainly holds its own in shadow detail! I have yet to see a projector, regardless of price, that can do noticeably better!

Okay, I understand the gamma is changing the individual values, but what is the difference between the "Memory" and the "3D" settings? I am pretty sure I am going to go with a white screen and increase the size a little also. The white poster board test did too well to keep messing with the grey screen.

I'm not sure what you mean by memory, as the memory slots allow you to save all of the Basic settings, as well as the extended 3D PCS settings? Here's a basic run down of the various extended settings...

The Gains/Offsets are used to calibrate grayscale and a 10 point grayscale calibration should get you close to the ideal color temp using the REC709 standard D65 (6500K). You'll see the grayscale calibration represented in the center of the example CIE Chart below.

Gamma controls the dithering of light to dark for each individual color, and can impact the luminosity and hue of the colors, but does not control color temp or impact saturation. Too low a gamma (brighter image) and you will loose shadow detail because there is a bigger jump between the lighter/darker shades of the same color. You may also see posterization and unnatural highlights. Too high a gamma (darker image) and the differences may be too subtle to spot (think a watercolor rendering), also causing a loss of detail, especiall given the slightly darker image. Even pros have differing opinions on what is ideal for gamma. However, most agree the magic number is somewhere between 2.2 and 2.5. Gamma does not show up on the CIE chart specifically, and must be measured separately.

The White triangle in the CIE chart represents the colorspace. Hue moves the color points along the lines of the triangle for both primary and secondary colors. Saturation moves the point either outside the triangle (oversaturated) or inside the triangle (undersaturated).

I guess what I was asking about was what was the difference in the Custom Color Temperature settings and the 3D settings? I kind of understand Kelvin and higher numbers are cooler hued and lower numbers are warmer hued. Other than that, I think I have about reached the limit of what I am able to grasp as far as the other items you are mentioning . Too bad the Viewsonic doesn't have a beginner setting and a pro setting that is separate. I understand the projector was originally intended to be sold by installing dealers, maybe that is why there are so many places to adjust the color and image. I am thinking that when I get a white screen made up, the settings that I copied from Ranger will be close enough to suit me. Thanks for the explanation.

If you decide to build your own screen, I highly recommend the Wilsonart Designer White on a 80/20 frame and black velvet border.

Hey guys. Long time owner...probably about 1500-1700hrs on my original bulb.

I have had what appears to be an iris issue for some time? The picture gets sorta dim, which you dont really notice until BAM, it brightens up again....seems to flick (not often) from dim to bright. I am not talking a huge contrast, but very noticeable.

Anyone else? Is there a setting I should adjust? Is it maybe trying to adjust to the room light?

all this calibration talk reminds me to pull out my DVD and recal this beast.

thx

smithsonga, try turning the auto-iris to off and see if the flickering goes away. Have you done the firmware update and switched the iris to mode 3?

Where in ATL are you located BTW? If you're local enough to me (Alpharetta), and so inclined, I'll offer up calibration services for beer/food I seldom turn down the opportunity to talk Home Theaters with other enthusiasts, and it's the least I can offer for another local Pro8100 owner.

I've decided to move to Alpharetta, GA ..

Willie, you're always welcome... I may need to up the ante to steaks and rum/tequila though since you've got 2 Pro8100's!

Add some Jack to that list and we're good to go ..

Has anyone that uses a timer for a period of time to eliminate VB ever turned off to see if the VB returns?

No Never want to see that VB again on my beautiful screen

Yeah, kind of what I was thinking. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Maybe I'll find out someday if the timer fails.

Not me, it took all of 5 minutes to program and install, and I haven't once considered removing it since. I imagine it would take some time to get the VB to return, but I have no desire to find out...

Hey, got the white screen painted with Sherwin Williams ProClassic White. Mounted and it made a WORLD of difference.Glad I abandoned the grey screen. The calibration values from Ranger appear to be spot on. I don't even want to mess with it anymore in fear of making it worse. I do see now that the image is larger at the bottom than at the top by 1" for a 96" diagonal size. I thought I had the projector leveled, but I guess not. Which direction do I need to move the projector? Down from the ceiling or up closer to the ceiling? My mount has few inches of adjustment either way. Thanks again for supplying the calibration settings.

No problem, and glad you're happy with Ranger's settings! They work for most newer build date Pro8100's that have low hours on the bulb. As far as the keystoning, larger at the bottom means that you're pointing the projector body/lens downward toward the screen. The bottom edge of the lens is slightly farther back making the bottom of the image slightly larger. Adjust the mount to point it upward until both top and bottom are even, same with left to right. Once all is good, use horizontal/vertical offset to adjust the image position and zoom to desired size.

I can fix the keystoning by pointing the projector upwards, but then there is not enough lens shift to center the image on the screen. Projector Central's projector calculator does not give any specs on the Pro8100 as far as vertical offset. Is there another setting that adjusts the offset instead of the lens shift? If not I am going to have to move the actual projector mount adjustment down, although it will be pretty close to someones head if they are much over 6'. Would like to have it up higher out of the way. I could give the top edge of the screen height from the ceiling if that would help.

Are you already using a lot of horizontal shift? That's the only thing I could think of that would limit your vertical shift. Otherwise, you should be able to shift a full screen height or maybe even slightly more. It sounds like the pj is already mounted fairly low. Also try going all of the way in the opposite direction on the lens shift, then coming back. It could just be sticking.