[custard10]

Originally Posted by nwgarratt

I assume they also have one for the HD200 as well as they are essentially a HD20 anyway.

Is the scart cable fully wired with all pins? That is needed to get RGB through the cable.

What number did you use to contact Optoma?

yep, i would think that it would apply to the HD200x.

i'm not using a scart lead. the scart adapter fits into the back of the source which is connected to a vga lead which in turn fits in the hd20 vga port.
the adapter working with other sources indicates that it has the pins necessary for RGB.

the number for optoma is: 01923 691 800 - press 1 for service.
optoma service direct line: 01923 691 865.

[swiftpete]

Originally Posted by Richnoob

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Its soooo frustrating! all i need is the correct cable!
Iv just tried loadsa different ones and there all wrong!!
My sky box has a scart and vga port with 2 rows of pin inputs.. and the hd20 projector has a vga port with 3 rows of pins on inputs!!!

What cable do i need lads

I didn't realise you had a standard sky box. Sorry, my info was incorrect then. I''m not sure about what lead you need for your current box I'm afraid, but have you thought about upgrading to sky hd? It's not that expensive and you can then connect a hdmi lead to the sky box for a decent pic and an optical lead for 5.1 surround.


As far as the projector goes, now its all set up right and I've sorted the border out, I'm very chuffed with it. On decent quality source material, the picture looks a lot more colourful, more vibrant and sharper than my trusty old hitachi pjtx300, so if anyone is thinking about it then it is a good upgrade.
Projector point sold me mine for £850 and delivered next day so pretty happy with them as well.

[custard10]

i have edited my second post in this thread with my current settings

211 hours and the colour gamut is looking better.
two calibrations this time. one retains brightness slightly better.
these settings are using a PS3 via hdmi. rgb was set to FULL with superwhite ON.

REGULAR CALIBRATION

mode: user
contrast: 47
brightness: 40
color: 47
tint: 49
sharpness: 7
noise reduction: 0
gamma: standard
curve type: 1
offset: -2
color temp: warm
red gain: 4
green gain: 0
blue gain: -5
red bias: -2
green bias: -2
blue bias: -2
lamp bright mode: off



MY CALIBRATION SETTINGS

mode: user
contrast: 47
brightness: 37
color: 47
tint: 49
sharpness: 7
noise reduction: 0
gamma: standard
curve type: 1
offset: -2
color temp: warm
red gain: 7
green gain: 2
blue gain: -3
red bias: 1
green bias: 2
blue bias: 2
lamp bright mode: off

[andyman2]

Thanks Custard, these settings are very useful for those of us who don't have the ability to make such measurements. I do have DVE so can set the Brightness and Contrast accurately, but the rest is a bit of a shot in the dark. I appreciate local viewing conditions also play a part, but at least these settings give me a good starting point.

A question, you mention

rgb was set to FULL with superwhite ON

what determines the use of these? I also use a PS3 over HDMI for HD/SD and an older component DVD player for region coded SD discs.

Also was the old SD version of The Matrix a pretty poor transfer? I was happy with it before, but seeing it now on this projector, a lot of it seems very poor (grainy?) excepting the Lobby Scene and the daylight scenes.

In general I'm starting to notice a big difference in SD DVD quality that I wasn't aware of before. Lord Of the Rings looked absolutley fantastic, so I don't believe I have a major problem with setup, but I watched TransSiberian last week and spent most of the time noticing how poor the video looked.

I have tried upscaling in the PS3, the denon receiver and the PJ. As yet I'm not really sure which is best, which makes me think there isn't a lot of difference in how they handle the job

Andy

[custard10]

Originally Posted by andyman2

Thanks Custard, these settings are very useful for those of us who don't have the ability to make such measurements. I do have DVE so can set the Brightness and Contrast accurately, but the rest is a bit of a shot in the dark. I appreciate local viewing conditions also play a part, but at least these settings give me a good starting point.

exactly - use them with a pinch of salt

A question, you mention

what determines the use of these? I also use a PS3 over HDMI for HD/SD and an older component DVD player for region coded SD discs.

the RGB full/limited scenario deals with with the range that tv/pj can output. some of them only handle the 16-235 rgb range while the HD20 can deal with the full range 0-255.
i tested setting RGB to limited. this did not change the brightness/contrast setting but it sure washed out the blacks using some calibration material i downloaded on to the ps3 hard drive.
i dont notice any difference so far with superwhite on/off. this setting is supposed to result in a wider color range with compatible tvs/pjs. it can be detrimental to the picture if the tv is not capable of using it.

although i dont play any games on the PS3 i have read that setting rgb to limited works better for them. from my experience setting rgb to full works better for me when watching video.
you should also note that these calibration settings are for HD-709 - the colour space used for hd material.
SD material is encoded using a slightly different colour space.

i have not tried dVE for calibration. i dont know whether it uses 2% and 4% dots for setting blacks (brightness setting). i'm not a fan of using that test.

i use the free AVS HD disc which can be burnt onto a dvd for use on blue-ray players or installed onto the ps3 hard drive.

Also was the old SD version of The Matrix a pretty poor transfer? I was happy with it before, but seeing it now on this projector, a lot of it seems very poor (grainy?) excepting the Lobby Scene and the daylight scenes.

In general I'm starting to notice a big difference in SD DVD quality that I wasn't aware of before. Lord Of the Rings looked absolutley fantastic, so I don't believe I have a major problem with setup, but I watched TransSiberian last week and spent most of the time noticing how poor the video looked.

I have tried upscaling in the PS3, the denon receiver and the PJ. As yet I'm not really sure which is best, which makes me think there isn't a lot of difference in how they handle the job

Andy

i havn't wathched the the matrix upscaled yet so i can't comment.
but now after watching hd material i am really beginning to struggle with watching any sd content on the big screen.

my knowledge is a lacking on how upscaling is carried out. maybe someone can help enlighten the both of us on the different systems used.
i have the ps3 set to full screen which works well.
for me the upscalers in both the hd20 and ps3 do a great job with possibly the ps3 marginally better.

[Richnoob]

Alrite guys!

Im on 45 hours+ now already!! lol only bought it last week! lol

Still loving every second of it!
Been watching loads of BBC Iplayer from the PS3 on there.

One question my Mrs asked me last night which i couldnt answer was....are these projectors expensive to run and will our electric bill be noticeably more expensive if any at all...?

[custard10]

Originally Posted by Richnoob

Alrite guys!

Im on 45 hours+ now already!! lol only bought it last week! lol

Still loving every second of it!
Been watching loads of BBC Iplayer from the PS3 on there.

One question my Mrs asked me last night which i couldnt answer was....are these projectors expensive to run and will our electric bill be noticeably more expensive if any at all...?

the spec sheet at optoma uk says 220W during operation and 1W in standby.
so its about the same as using almost 4 light bulbs (60w) continously if thats any help.

the label on the hd20 should confirm the power usage - i cant inspect it with it being mounted.

[andyman2]

Custard, thanks for the reply, but I really wish you hadn't posted the link to the calibration disc! Just starting on Greyscale & Colour Calibration For Dummies, this may take some time....

On the power usage question I have a measuring device, will check it out later this week, currently too busy reading.

Andy

[nwgarratt]

I haven't been a fan of upscaling since the HD700. It can bring out the worst out of DVD's. The BenQ W100 was perfect for DVD due to be only SD. PAL DVD actually lost resolution when outputted at 480p. However it no longer have the contrast and brightness of these newer PJ's.

The only upscaling technique I know is the interpolating method. This is like resizing a photo. It basically guesses where it has to put extra lines to make the right size. It looks at the top and bottom lines where it wants to put a new one and decides which line to replicate. It has to come up with 504 (PAL) or 600 (NTSC) new lines with a 1080 display. With a big screen, the differences between upscaled and proper HD is going to be more noticeable. No real extra information is created. With a DVD with half decent bitrate, it can still look good but lower bitrate DVD's comes out too soft and detail is lost.

I have too many DVD's to stop watching them but every BD wipes the floor with them in terms of PQ. Whatever you do, do not watch something in HD then go back to DVD. It is like watching VHS all over again.

I found it better to use my player on 576i for DVD on the HD700 and used the upscaling in the projector. With the HD200, I am using 1080p for everything.

I got the line again last time I put the PJ on and was the first time for 30ish hours.

[Speedoguy]

Trusted Reviews seem as impressed as you guys with this PJ, with 9/10 overall rating

HD20TrustedReviews

[nwgarratt]

I have never been that impressed withn their reviews. I get the impression that the reviewers don't know what they are talking about sometimes.

They talk about lack off lens shift, but LS are not usually found on DLP PJ's anyway. If it was LCD then I could see where they are coming from.

Regarding the rainbow effect (which finds stripes of pure red, green and blue flitting about in your peripheral vision), while the HD20 certainly isn't immune to it, it's much less overt and distracting than it was on the Vivitek H1080FD we looked at recently.

How about using someone who doesn't suffer from the rainbow effect to review it.

Know idea what they arev talking about here.

As for motion fizzing, where camera pans and objects - especially people - crossing the screen can cause some quite aggressive dot crawl noise, I only spotted this happening to any distracting extent four or five momentary times during the numerous hours I spent watching the HD20. Not bad when I've seen other budget DLP models suffer with this problem nearly continually.

[kbfern]

Yes a decent enough review but why do these reviewers keep going on about the noise.

I can tell you that it's quieter than most dlp projectors in standard brightness.Sure if you boost the brightness up it gets louder but unless you are going to use a very large screen (120" +) or want to view with lots of ambient light the projector does not need the extra lumens of bright mode.

In fact I was over at MIB's over the weekend and with a ND2 filter (50% reduction in light) on a white 74" screen it was still plenty bright enough.

I have a 100" grey screen and the image is too bright sometimes.I have only done 23hrs so by 100hrs the image will be just right.

The light bleed from the front of the projector is no problem either.As far as the heat is concerned look at it as a free heater in the winter months and just open a window in the summer.

[khitomer]

Just got a HD 200x from Projector Point UK, superb to deal with. They were out of stock on Thursday when I ordered online, but they got new stock in on Monday, delivered to Northern Ireland today! Firmware version 04 as well.

I've only briefly turned it on to burn in a littlle for two hours and not set it up properlly, but its quieter than my Yamaha 500 and the picture looks excellent!

I'll let you know if I have the dreaded keystone problem. Won't get a chance before tomorrow night.

By the way PPUK do not charge extra for dellivery to N.I. which is unheard of compared to most supplliers of AV and electrical gear, a total pleasure.

[Jack A. Napes]

I've had an Optoma hd72 for the last three years and been very happy with it, but the bulb's just died, and I was thinking of upgrading to a hd200x for £800 rather than spend £200 on a new bulb.

I was just wondering if the upgrade to 1080p will be a noticeable improvement. I have an (approx) 11ft throw distance to a 92" screen.

Any advice most welcome .

[nwgarratt]

If you are using Blu Ray, it will be a very noticeable improvement. It took about 10 seconds to notice the difference for me over the 720p HD700.

[Jack A. Napes]

I've decided on an HD20, as I think the 3 year hot swap warranty and marginally better contrast is worth the extra £100. I'm picking it up tomorrow . I could demo it, but since I'm used to, and have been very happy with, my old Optoma HD72i, I don't think it'll be necessary.

I just hope that my old projector mount fits the HD20 so I don't have to mess about ordering a new one and fastening it to the ceiling. Anyone know if the screw holes for mounting are the same size at least? My mount is pretty adjustable so with any luck I can be back up and running by tomorrow evening. My 37" plasma is perfectly fine for Flog It and Eastenders, but I wouldn't want to watch a Blu-Ray on it.

[ProjectorPoint]

Hi Jack, both the HD72i and the HD20 use M3 screws. Do you have a univeral mount or the Optoma original as the mounting positions are different.

Unless you have found a reseller for the HD20 with stock already, we have a few in stock.

[daddyorchips]

I'd like to say hi as I've just joined the HD20 club. Big thumbs up to Projector Point for pricematching for me

Projector is arriving tomorrow, to take the proud place of my old HD700x. Guess my old projector will be going up for sale on the boards soon after.

Very excited!! :D

[kbfern]

Well done daddy you will be impressed,well impressed.

[kbfern]

And the same to you Jack,welcome to the club.

[lovegroova]

Well, I've had mine for nearly a month now and am generally very pleased, although there are some areas where the HD20 is lacking a bit of the HD72i

It is a fair bit noisier (in non-bright mode) and changes in the pitch of the fan can be heard, the HD72i was exceptionally quiet and a lot better in this regard.

Light leakage, again the 72i was a lot better in this regard, the 20 leaking a lot more across the ceiling, and also a bright patch off to the top left hand side of the screen (this will be bottom left on a non-ceiling mounted PJ).

Of course, the 20 is a lot cheaper than the 72i was, and once must expect some compromises, so it's all ok really.

Picture quality is excellent, although I'm running mine native connected to a Lumagen HDQ. I expect that it will be further improved once Gordon Fraser has worked his magic (hopefully at some time in the next month).

DVDs look very good indeed from my Tag Mclaren player (again through the HDQ).

Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase. Thanks to Liam at Progressive-av for his patience and advice with the whole process (I also have a new Beamax tab-tensioned screen). Excellent service throughout.

[pRot3us]

Originally Posted by lovegroova

Light leakage, again the 72i was a lot better in this regard, the 20 leaking a lot more across the ceiling, and also a bright patch off to the top left hand side of the screen (this will be bottom left on a non-ceiling mounted PJ).

Yes the light leakage is a bit poor, I think I'll probably build a makeshift semi-enclosure at some point to try and reduce it a bit.

[Jack A. Napes]

Originally Posted by kbfern

And the same to you Jack,welcome to the club.

Cheers . I'll be popping across to Roy Jowett's in the morning. That's where I got my HD72i three years ago and I always liked the service they gave me. Plus it's local so no waiting around for a delivery, and easy to sort if there are any problems.

I was thinking of painting a black rectangle on my ceiling coming out from either side of my screen by about three foot deep. Sort of a compromise to avoid painting my whole ceiling black, but with the aim of improving the image. Anyone know if this will be of any help, or will it not make much difference?

[kbfern]

I am sure it will make a difference although it may look strange.

[Jack A. Napes]

Originally Posted by kbfern

I am sure it will make a difference although it may look strange.

I'd prefer to think of it as a 'talking point' .

Or an oblique reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I know I'm clutching at straws.

[khitomer]

Hooked up last night, very pleased, but I'm only getting 1080i/60 from my sony BDP 350 using a 3metre philips gold plated HDMI lead. Is it the lead? I'll get a different lead today to try. The picture is definitely an improvement over my yamaha dlp. The 04 firmware seems fine too.

[Red55555555]

I'm in the 'HD20' club , mine's coming today from Roy Jowett ..... Can't wait as it's my first foray into projection systems.. Hope it's worth it...........just need to mount my screen, projector, then find a place for my 40 inch lcd, i had no plan when i decided to go this route & still have no plan LOL...

[kbfern]

And welcome to the club too Red

We are becoming a true Band of Brothers

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by khitomer

Hooked up last night, very pleased, but I'm only getting 1080i/60 from my sony BDP 350 using a 3metre philips gold plated HDMI lead. Is it the lead? I'll get a different lead today to try. The picture is definitely an improvement over my yamaha dlp. The 04 firmware seems fine too.

If it doesn't do 1080p then it sounds like the cable doesn't have enough bandwidth.

[Jack A. Napes]

Well, I just got back home with my new hd20, so am now officially 'In the Club' .

I'll be setting it up soon. I don't have a calibration disc, so thought I'd tinker with the image after seeing what the preset picture's like, using the helpful posts in this thread as a good starting off point. I was wondering if the more recent picture settings posted here would be ok, or should I look at the earlier posts, considering it's a new bulb that's had no run in as yet?

Anyway according to the friendly folks at Roy Jowett, this batch only came in yesterday, so firmware ought to be bang up to date.

Can't wait to give this PJ the once over.