[K-Spaz]

I have a number of questions about my W7000 that came today. I upgraded from an Infocus X10 which I've had for a number of years. From strictly and image standpoint, I can see this was a substantial upgrade. However, somewhere along the lines I completely missed the boat. The placement research I did on this thing let me to believe I'd need to modify my mount some, and that from there, I could use this thing to project onto my existing screen till I get a new one.


To begin with, I used the ProjectorCentral calculator. I think I found a bug in their brightness calculations, or at least in the lumens value they used, but, now weeks after having sent emails to suggest they change that, nothing has happened. I guess I should have taken that as an indicator of the dimensional accuracy, which ain't much better.


My old projector was ceiling mounted, on a homemade mount (I have a machine shop) and the mount is fairly nice. I had to redrill that to make it fit the W7000 bolt pattern, did that today, works fine.


I put the projector up, and as expected, the image is too high for my screen placement. No problem. I wanted to measure before making modifications. However, if I use the lens shift full the other direction (projecting down as the projector is oriented, up to the ceiling), I can put the entire image on the ceiling. ????? huh??? It is upside down, and has more shift toward the ceiling than it does toward the floor? Not only can't I hit my screen perfectly, which I sorta expected, I have so much shift I can actually miss it 100% the other way. Maybe 150%??? Now, what am I missing here. Why does a projector when upright, have more shift in the down angle than it would up? At that rate, why even bother putting a ceiling mount screw holes in the thing? The only way I can use this upside down is if I put it on a table at floor level. This thing is totally crazy. Image looks fine, square and well focused. I just don't understand the placement options.


Then, I read lots of old threads before I purchased, and many of them said about the 1.0 firmware and replacing it. These threads were from 2010/11, so I figured that by now, certainly the one I get would be updated. Wrong... Ok, so given that I use this for a HTPC monitor too, should I send it back for the firmware update? I am quite disappointed and really don't want it to spend another 1000 miles in a truck. But I will since the sharpness is important to me.


Any advice is appreciated.

 

[coderguy]

The lens-shift is center-based and perfectly centered, it does not have more lens shift one way or another.


First the angle of a ceiling is 90 degrees to the wall, so this is not the same as moving the lens shift up a long a flat wall. I assume what you are seeing is because the angle of the projection, +90 degree ceiling transition, and the lens position changes when you flip it upside down, in combination with you not having the lens shift knob at the default position is making you think it has more one way or another.


To get the max sharpness on the Benq w7000, the projector should be placed as close to the center of the screen as possible. Hence, I know doing this is difficult because it means you will place the projector in a position that will not be "head friendly" to passer byer's that are walking in front of the projector.


My suggestion, use a drop pole extension with your mount to lower the projector as close to the center of the screen as possible.

 

[K-Spaz]

Thanks for the reply.


I had planned to make a drop tube today, but I'm considering putting up a shelf instead.


I wished I'd known this ahead of time. Chalk it up to my ignorance from no experience with a PJ with lens shift, but I never would have guessed that the projector wants the lens centered for height. I guess the offset I had on my X10 seemed so intuitive, I thought everybody would do that.

And, nowhere in either of the projection calculators I used (2 of them) did I get the impression that this is the case. Again, ignorance, maybe this is just projector 101, but I didn't know...


I keep reading sniplets about people sending theirs back for a firmware update. Mines at 1.0 and I guess there's a 1.3 available that resolves a sharpness issue. I'd rather do it sooner than later if I'm going to. I was just surprised to see that 2 years later, they're still shipping with the 1.0 fw. Especially if BenQ knows there's a noticeable issue. Lastly, the user not being able to update the fw is crazy.

Would you say this is a worthwhile pursuit (fw update, shipping back,etc)?

 

[coderguy]

Let me clarify, the Benq can be placed about 6" above or below the screen for a 100" screen OR anywhere within the screen area, a little more play for larger screens. I just meant the optimal position is shelf-mounting with the lens near the center of the screen, that does not mean that is where you need to mount the PJ though. I have my Benq mounted just under the top of my screen, there is a bit of CA, but very little, the sharpness is not that much different. However, if I move the lens shift dial anymore than where I have it (towards the extremes, the sharpness is lost somewhat).


This means realistically the highest you can mount the PJ is about level with the top of the screen. The more you get away from the center of the screen, the more sharpness you lose. You can see if that loss in sharpness bothers you or not just by projecting onto a smooth surface before hanging the PJ and then moving the lens shift dial to the center position (optimal for sharpness), then move the lens shift halfway to the outer position (not bad but not perfect), then try the maximum amount of shift (check sharpness). See what you can live with.


Honestly if you want to pay a little more and return the Benq, the JVC's produce a better image than the Benq for movies and in HTPC at least my JVC looks as good or better. The Benq's are better for some content in video sharpness though. AVS (sponsor of this forum) sells projectors, and they have some B-stock JVC's sometimes which cost about the same as this PJ, or even a little less.


The Benq is however a mighty fine projector, what it does it does excellent. It is up to you if placement works or not.

 

[zombie10k]



Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Spaz  /t/1469538/benq-w7000-questions-where-did-i-go-wrong#post_23235567


I keep reading sniplets about people sending theirs back for a firmware update. Mines at 1.0 and I guess there's a 1.3 available that resolves a sharpness issue. I'd rather do it sooner than later if I'm going to. I was just surprised to see that 2 years later, they're still shipping with the 1.0 fw. Especially if BenQ knows there's a noticeable issue. Lastly, the user not being able to update the fw is crazy.

Would you say this is a worthwhile pursuit (fw update, shipping back,etc)?

your projector may already have the latest firmware. There's been conversation about folks seeing 1.0, yet it has the 1:1 pixel mapping issue that affected these projectors over a year ago.


Do you have a computer you can hook up to the projector? it's very easy to tell if your projector is mapping pixels 1:1 which will provide the sharpest image.

 

[K-Spaz]

@Coderguy, Thanks, your posts are always most informative and helpful.


I took your advise to lower it and rebuilt my mount today. I welded in a 2' piece of 2" aluminum tubing and lowered the projector. The lens is now roughly at my eye level, easily a foot under the top of the screen. I'll be building a new screen which is 20" larger, so this will put it even more toward the center. I'm not thrilled with the idea that I block the screen walking around the room, or that I get light in the eyes if I look back, but such is life. I'm thinking it is in it's permanent resting place for some years to come.

Also, I"m not the type of person who buys something and then returns it. So, the projector stays. The only thing I was contemplating doing would be to send it back for the firmware which I read about. But that may or may not be necessary given the next post below yours.


@zombie10k,


Yes, it's connected to a PC. Is there any specific things I should look for because as far as I can see, the pixels are very much individual. Typically I'd expect to see waves of focus/out of focus. This doesnt' appear that way, I guess I could turn off font smoothing tomorrow and see if that eliminates the fade of text. I'm open to any suggestions on how to confirm this. And, I'd be happy as a lark if the thing just stays here without all the shipping.


Thanks for the reply!

 

[K-Spaz]

Just to update the thread in case anyone else can use the info, I looked last night for the production date on my projector, and while I didn't have a small mirror handy to see the back of the unit which is close to the well, I did see on the box where it says Nov 2012. Might be just when the box was made, but, either way, it indicates the unit is newer. After reading some in the W7000 thread over in the $3000+ forum (I have no idea why this projector which never sold for >$3K is over there.

), I see there's a very strong possibility mine is indeed a newer version and that the 1.0 fw is just fine. A quick glance at some text appears to confirm that mine is mapping 1:1. I need to get a test image up there to know for sure, but for now I'm satisfied it's ok.


For a projector with such a stunning image, I can't help but think that my old X10 had a slight advantage in sharpness at closer viewing distance. Maybe it's just the incredible step up in brightness, maybe my room is offering too much reflection back to the screen. Might even be my lofty expectations. Whatever the cause, it made me think there's improvement to be made. It desperately needs a good calibration, maybe that will help this too. It's going to be 6 weeks till I get my screen for it (backorder) so for now I'm stuck with the smaller image and brightness that's too much for my 102" 16:9 screen. That'll be about 118" whenever I get my new screen materials in. Till then, I think it's time to just live with it.