[GLW65]

Ok. I made the jump from my X1. Got a great deal at BB and bought the Optima HD70 for the same price I can get the Mits HD1000U for on the internet. In addition for an added $200 I can get a 4 year warranty for the HD70. The warranty includes a free bulb replacement. Brought the HD70 home and it truly is better than the X1 by a lot! Now that I have convinced myself that the X1 needs to go, should I take the HD70 back and get the Mits? I am using a 70 inch Da-Lite video spectra (1.5 gain) screen. Just wondering if the Mits added brightness will be better or too much. Also wondering about sharpness improvement with the Mits. Any owners of these units like to give me some recommendations? Thanks.

 

[Huey]

They are more similar than dissimilar. For 70" size, you're fine with the HD70. It's not worth the hassle and you're already set with the 4 yr extended warranty from BB. Get you the Bravo D1 for $35 from Newegg, do the mods (capacitor c1022 change, IDE cable swap with 12" rounded, single device one, possibly new LiteON IDE loader (the older, slower drives like 166 series are more compatible)). If you don't want to mess with mods, get you a good 720p HDMI DVD player like Oppo 970HD or 981HD and you're set for regular DVD (HD-DVD or Blueray if you can splurge will be even better of course).

 

[AudioBob]

I honestly did not notice any difference in the two. I purchased the HD70 and have been very happy with it's performance.

 

[BlazeMaster]

Not to make this comparision more difficult to weigh out, but I did notice that the HD70 can accept 1080p/60 signal while the HD1000 can only accept 1080i at the highest. Those that have the HD70, are you guys having any problem with a 1080p 60/24 signal?

 

[jagouar]

just to do a semi comparison i decided on the hd70 myself..... i demoed both projectors at ces and to me the hd70 looked better. Now I am 99.9% sure it was the calibration on the hd100u but it looked horrible at the mits booth and the dlp booth (it was shown at both). By contrast the hd70 was at the dlp booth but in a horrible setup which didnt show off its true abilities (much like the hd1000u) but at the optoma booth they had it in a standard place (with the rest of their projectors and while it didnt look great is was much much better than the hd100u default setup which was in a similar position light wise). But the difference is they had a nice dedicated room with pgr3 on 4 screens all of them driven by the hd70 and it was awesome.


To me you can tell very easily which company "does" projectors and which one doesnt. And while that doesnt translate into real world difference (as the reviews put both of these pj's very close) I think in the long run I will be much happier with the company that primary prodect is projectors (plus it has a 2 yr warranty vs 1 for hd1000u which also helps because I dont think im going to need to buy a extra warranty because in 2 yrs we should see nice 1080p projectors near 2k and thats what the hd70 was supposed to get me to)


As an aside.... man i wish i could afford hd81... i think that was the one being shown in their large theater.... looked awesome and to me was the best projector i saw at ces)

 

[jimwhite]

though the manual says otherwise, the HD1000 will accept a 1080p signal without issue...


I chose the HD1000 for two reasons.... glass lenses, and after-calibration brightness advantage...


at 70"

, the brightness is probably not an issue !!

 

[TroyM]

I can't say which one is "better" as I've only seen the HD70 once at Circuit City. It didn't look good but that's more due to the environment and the configuration.


I bought the Mits for the following reasons:

- Glass Lens

- Full 10 bit processing

- It wasn't white

I used Amex and they double the Mits warranty to 2-years. So, no negative there.


I'm sure they are both just fine and you should just decide which one fits your room the best.

 

[FiveMillionWays]

MM It may be time to upgrade from the VPL HS-20! Still I think I may wait a year until the 1080 P projectors are cheaper and then go for it!

 

[GLW65]

Guys, Thanks for the comments. I worked with the HD70 last night and have it looking really good. When you read this board and some of the reviews at other places it seems that lots of people think the Mits is a better projector. One thing I did, however, was go to a shop which sold only projectors. You would think that they would have the projectors set up well, but they didn't. They had the Mits HD1000U set up on an 80 inch screen and set on bright. (They didn't have an HD70). The screen was a 3.0 gain and the picture was very washed out. When I asked them to adjust it they did some playing, but never got a good picture (bad black levels and lack of contrast). I am sure that this would look a lot better at home, but I was amazed at their setup or lack of it. They had other projectors on large screens 120" plus and most seemed not very bright. I saw one of the same projectors at another store and it was set up properly and very nice. With my current setup of a 76' screen (remeasured it), the HD 70 has excellent image depth and color. The one thing I think could be improved is the sharpness. Some reviews claim sharpness of the Mits HD1000U is better. Others claim only "slightly better". I probably can't go wrong with either so I guess I will just have to decide and live with it.

 

[Sdallnct]

You could play the "should I" game forever. I'm sure in another few months there will be a price drop or new pj that could be considered.


I went with HD70 right when the Mit dropped price and I could have switched. But I stuck to the HD70 mainly because of the smaller lens offset. But I'm very, very happy with it. It has given new life to my SD DVD's, OTA HD looks awesome and BR on my sons new PS3 looks great. I have no regrets.

 

[augiedoggy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by GLW65 /forum/post/0


Guys, Thanks for the comments. I worked with the HD70 last night and have it looking really good. When you read this board and some of the reviews at other places it seems that lots of people think the Mits is a better projector. One thing I did, however, was go to a shop which sold only projectors. You would think that they would have the projectors set up well, but they didn't. They had the Mits HD1000U set up on an 80 inch screen and set on bright. (They didn't have an HD70). The screen was a 3.0 gain and the picture was very washed out. When I asked them to adjust it they did some playing, but never got a good picture (bad black levels and lack of contrast). I am sure that this would look a lot better at home, but I was amazed at their setup or lack of it. They had other projectors on large screens 120" plus and most seemed not very bright. I saw one of the same projectors at another store and it was set up properly and very nice. With my current setup of a 76' screen (remeasured it), the HD 70 has excellent image depth and color. The one thing I think could be improved is the sharpness. Some reviews claim sharpness of the Mits HD1000U is better. Others claim only "slightly better". I probably can't go wrong with either so I guess I will just have to decide and live with it.

the hd 70 was the first and cheapest....thats why it took a lot of negitive critisism...the mits originally cost more...and dropped a lot in price this convinces many right off that bat that it must be superior...it is brighter...(with slightly worse black level as trade off..and it does have the glass lens...although that means absolutly nothing because thier is absolutly no evidence to say the mits lens is better than the HD70's. most of what you read here is opinion..and on top of that most of the opinions are biased...coming from individuals who have only seen one or the other and own one or the other...they are trying to make blind comparisons...the truth be told the difference in these units is probably not worth one of the threads devoted to the subject..BTW the 8 bit thing is also a mute point..and the HD70 from what I've read is only 8 bit through the hdmi input..and even with that I notice no difference in color I could easily say I bought my HD70 over the mits because

1. it is white and blends into my white ceiling nicely

2. the deinterlacer is better than the mits (less jaggies)

3. the offset is lower makeing the installation more versitile.

4.the lbx mode is nice for blowing up non HD widescreen material to fill the whole screen at proper ratio. also comes in handy for anomorphic lens.

5 no vga 720p res issues and native is real res unlike real mode on mits

6. two year warranty over 1 year on the mits.

7.remote layout is better.

But the reality is I just bought it because it was cheaper at the time..and it was the hyped up projector at the time...just like the HD1000u appears to be now... If I had to do it all over again I would probably want to see them both for myself...because in reality all those advantages I mentioned above are really minor...and not important at all to some ...just like the added brightness and better out of the box calibration are to others...The fact of the matter is when all the dust settles and somthing else becomes the "rave" here both the hd70 and HD1000u are gonna be considered to perform virtually indentical. this will happen after all facts are weeded out of all the one sided and uneducated or biased opinions are weeded out through discussion (and somtimes arguement) here.unfortunatly most likely by the time the facts are straight most won't care because thier will be somthing new to gripe about.

 

[TroyM]



Quote:
Originally Posted by augiedoggy /forum/post/0


I could easily say I bought my HD70 over the mits because

1. it is white and blends into my white ceiling nicely

I think this is an excellent point to expand upon. You like the white case and I like the dark case. Neither approach is bad and neither means anything when it comes to the PJ performance. But we each have a reason. White blends with your white ceiling (where you mounted) and dark blends with my dark floor (where mine sits -- on a low shelf).


I think most of us in this (and other threads) have said the same thing. The HD70 and HD1000u are very similar units. But, each have features that make them appeal more to some and features that appeal less to some.


No PJ is the best for everyone. Since buying a PJ really comes down to which unit offers the best compromise, it would be interesting to discuss the flip side -- what we don't like about our choice of PJ. I think this would be on topic and beneficial for those still deciding. I'll go first:


-- The HD1000u (which I own) has flakey support for 720p via VGA

-- The remote has very tiny buttons and the back lighting is minimal

-- No support for 1080p input via VGA

 

[augiedoggy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by TroyM /forum/post/0


I think this is an excellent point to expand upon. You like the white case and I like the dark case. Neither approach is bad and neither means anything when it comes to the PJ performance. But we each have a reason. White blends with your white ceiling (where you mounted) and dark blends with my dark floor (where mine sits -- on a low shelf).


I think most of us in this (and other threads) have said the same thing. The HD70 and HD1000u are very similar units. But, each have features that make them appeal more to some and features that appeal less to some.


No PJ is the best for everyone. Since buying a PJ really comes down to which unit offers the best compromise, it would be interesting to discuss the flip side -- what we don't like about our choice of PJ. I think this would be on topic and beneficial for those still deciding. I'll go first:


-- The HD1000u (which I own) has flakey support for 720p via VGA

-- The remote has very tiny buttons and the back lighting is minimal

-- No support for 1080p input via VGA

I could'nt agree more...basically thats the point I was trying to make..