Optoma HD65 Review & Screenshots - Page 5

My 4805 lamp just blew and know im concidering a new pj. Anyone who used the hd65 for normal tv with a top set-box? The 4805 with 576i from a cabel tv-receiver has been great and im afraid the hd65 will do worse with these "sad" signals. I asume the hd73 is a good choice in this matter but i have not seen that one either.

Please give me some feedback here and in the hd73 tread. As a full range user (TV, gaming, DVD etc.), will I be happy with one of these machines? It is more than important that my new projector lets me enjoy football and other difficult tv-broadcasts.

The HD71 is even brighter - may be too bright for a regular home theatre. Looks like the HD71 does not support 1080p - an interesting point for future connectivity with HD or blue ray. What else did you guys see for differences between HD71 and HD65?

I just looked up on the pdf file of HD71 manual and it states that it can support a 1080p signal. The specs on projector central are wrong

Has anyone of the HD65 owners set it up for CIH yet?
if so, could he be kind enough to let me know how the paper test go with this PJ and what was the size of the image on paper?
I have to weigh-in DIY prism lens sizes to have my CIH setup but I still am 3 months away from buying this PJ, so someone please? :-)

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

so how does the fan noise compare to HD70 or HD72 or Infocus In72

PJcentral says HD72 is quieter than HD70

Since it has such a small box and a bright lamp, I guess the fan
has to work a lot to get the heat out.

The Infocus IN72 is a very quiet unit. I sit just 3 feet behind it and
it doesnt bother me. it is also a constant white noise instead of
a high pitch color wheel kind of noise.

So does the HD65 compare well to IN72 in the eco mode?

These days there are many projectors that put out a good image
for under $1000 and pretty much they all have HDMI.
So what causes buyers remorse is mainly ergonomic issues im my opinion,
in particular for me it is the fan noise as I have to mount it on a table.

So to me a dealer with a good return policy is important.

Will the HD65 be available at BestBuy or COSTCO?

would HD70 be a better deal. It is still available for $799 ($999-200 rebate)
of course HD70 does not have the 2.0 CIH

Does it have the letter box mode or the vertical stretch mode?

Since they have the 2.01 option I thought they may not have the
stretch mode.

I have tried those cheapo prisms and in my opinion it is not worth spending the time and money on those $100 prisms as the image quality is just not good. bad focus, barrel distortion etc. Also the cheap prisms work best at zero zoom. The image is just not as sharp as the original image.
This is my experience with IN72 and 2 types of cheapo prisms that we can get in US.

Considering all that, the built in 2.01 CIH might be a better option
who cares if the sides of the 2.35 image are gone.
My only issue with 16:9 image would be if the scores in NBA or Tennis get cut. I dont care about the ticker tapes on CNN HD :-)

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and order my HD65. I'll be coming from my home made 1280x1024 lumenlab projector. The size of the HD65 will be really nice. I'll be able to sit centered in the prime viewing spot finally. Any 720 DLP looks to be a nice improvement in picture from my home built. I thought about the 7100, but I don't want to deal with it's problems. I'll probably upgrade to 1080P later down the road anyway.

Yeah the HD65 has the letterbox option and the 2.0:1 superwide feature works when the Pj detects anamorphic Dvd's wider than 1.85:1 AR
so one can use either mode or none at all.

But I'll be going with an HTPC so letterbox option isn't that important to me at least, but yeah, it's a must if your not using any external scalers and want to ad an anamorphic lens, which I definitely want to do!

From The Official Optoma HD71 Thread

Is this letter box and 2.01 the same.

What I am asking is a vertical stretch mode for anamorphic 2.35 DVD's
With this stretch mode an external lens/prism can be used to horizontally
stretch the image and get a bigger 2.35 image i.e 2.35 CIH.

Then I can compare the image quality of the 2.01 CIH image and the 2.35
CIH image with a lens/prism and pick the one that is better.

I guess you answered that at the end of your post. never mind

I just bought a HD70 (HD32) from Costco online a couple weeks ago. It arrived last week... so I was at Costco yesterday doing some shopping and look what I see! A newer model HD640, which I'm told is the HD65... so should I take back my HD70 and replace it with this? Has anyone made a comparison checklist on what would make this model better than the HD70? By the way, they are both exactly the same price ($979)! Thanks in advance for any advice.

As guitarman pointed out earlier:

The HD65 has 1600 lumens vs. 1000 lumens of the HD70, making it measure higher in brightness by a few hundred lumens and is very close to it's rated lumens, so it has more basic contrast, and also the HD65 has a new brilliant color 2 and special RGB/CYM color wheel (vs. no brilliant color 2 and RGB/RGB in HD70, thus producing a super bright and blasting colors

My choice HD65

Good points. Too bad there isn't an official review out there yet (although this one does help out for sure).

Does anyone have a link to the differences between brilliant color 2 vs brilliant color 1 and RGB/CYM color wheel vs RGB/RGB color wheel? I'm more concerned with image sharpness than color, but that's my own personal preference.

I couldn't find any spec sheets that says the HD65 has Brilliant Color 2, you think they'd include that?

I just got back from the store and thought I'd share some observations (both from the pyscial inspections and what I've read from the spec sheets).
- The build quality doesn't seem as good as the HD70, it just feels and looks cheaper all around.
- I noticed that the IR receiver is also a lot smaller which might make it a bit more of a pain using the remote on it when ceiling mounting.
- The HD70 also has horizontal and vertical keystone correction while the HD65 only has vertical.
- One other item of note, it looks like the HD65 only has a 1.10 zoom compared to the 1.20 on the HD70, that can further limit placement options.
- It did seem very bright. Costco just had one out projecting onto a small (very small, maybe 16' x 12') piece of white cardboard in a fully lit store. The image was as crisp as expected with a non calibrated projector displaying a 480i DVD signal over component. When I looked at the image real close up during a white scene, the brightness hurt my eyes a little bit. I don't recall that in my initial tests (well, playing around with) on the HD70.

I'm going to do some more research before I swap them out. I had everything all ready to go (placement wise) on the HD70 and will need to recheck calculations now for the HD65. I'm just waiting for my ceiling mount and 6x2 component switch to come in. Does anyone know if a universal mount made for the HD70 should fit on the HD65? I didn't measure, but the mounting holes look different. Still the pattern of three holes, but they seemed a little closer together than the HD70.

Hehe, fair enough.

Does anyone have a picture of the mounting holes on the bottom of the projector? I already ordered my mount and would have to pay for shipping both ways if I need to return it. So I'd like to avoid that. I'm trying to determine if a HD70 mount will work on the HD65? This is the mount I bought: http://www.mountdirect.com/PMS_Proje...ount_p/pms.htm

also the HD65 has a smaller offset (19%) for people with lower ceilings that don't have to worry about having an image thats close to the floor and the new HDMI 1.3a connection.

Thanks for posting the offset, I have limited space in my apartment and that makes a big difference. Looks like it is time to order me a HD65.

Anyone got one of these projectors up and running yet. I am about to pull the trigger and just curious if there were any quick impressions.

Thanks

I am ordering an HD65 and have a question. I am am debating between a matte white screen or a high contrast grey. I am going to be projecting on a 92" and during the day there is going to be some ambient light (not much but some comes though the blind. I am thinking High contrast grey do help with black levels.

I bought HD65. Now, waiting to set it up. Here's some photos:-









It is indeed a very small projector. I havent got the time to test it out yet. Hope it doesnt disappoint

I have been playing around with the HD70 and am impressed. I'm going to keep it because the offset and zoom ranges work better for my theater area compared to the HD65. It's my first projector so I don't know what I'm missing by not going with the HD65.

Watched a 2:35 movie yesterday and wanted to enable the super wide function but it was not on the menu. Connected dvd player through hdmi, AI off and native resolution. What am I doing wrong not seeing the super wide function?

How would the HD65 do in a rear ceiling mount? My current projector has lens shift so i use very little keystone correction. Will I have any trouble getting a straight image?

I know it sounds like a bit of a noob question, but I'd hate to get it home only to find out it won't work for me.

Tom,

I'm guessing this is better than the Mitsubishi HC1500, yes? Does this thing display, or just accept 24fps? I know the HD70 did have such a display mode.

Walt

Perhaps this image help:




Peter

Woohoo!!! My HD65 is sitting at home waiting for me! I'm projecting on to my a Da-lite High Power. I can't wait! I'll post a mini review, check back later.