H30 up and running since thursday. Picture is outstanding, currently running component dvd on 10m run and 10 m composite feed from scart linked digital/vcr/playatation.

Watched the F1 Grandprix at the weekend, fantastic on the big screen, surprised how great the picture is on composite. tried the football a bit tizzy but I think the bitrate on broadcast was reduced. Played the rugby world cup highlights on dvd and its definetly more exciting big.

Tried Duke Nukem, Colin Macrae rally, Diehard on playstation brilliant and so much fun, my son wants to connect up the Xbox now.

I am totally impressed by this little projector, I havent even put my luma screen up yet, just projectiing it on a pale matt green wall. Yet the whites are white.

Watched 8 women last night, colours and richness wonderful,
Young Adam the night before, very cinematic, drab grey skys and lots of murky detail.

The fifth element was suberb, I even tried the composite output and it was great on the factory preset film mode.

Thanks to Gordon at Hollywood@Home for letting me spend ages in his shop trying the H30 out. I really can't belive how good this is for the price. Ace showroom Gordon, might even by a plasma from you (once I have saved the pennies again).

[Fonzerelli]

Very glad your impressed with your purchase mate, im thinking of jumping into the projector world too. so can i ask you what other projectors you looked at before deciding on this one?

[Timh]

cspo

You sound well pleased do you know what native panel it uses, i read somewhere it uses a 4:3 panel but can output 16:9.

The H30 is excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The H30 uses a 4:3 chip but projects 16:9, the pixels at the top are turned off. It uses a 4:3 chip to keep the cost down so Ali at Decibel Audio told me. Give him a call if you want a deal 0208 858 333, great guy!

AVSForum.com (US site) has had well over 149,000 hits and 2500 replies so that must say something, surely?

The H30 Rocks!!!!!!!!!!

LongBow

[Fonzerelli]

How much was yours longbow?

i found the thread here, im gunna have a good read now :D

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=351894

[1 GND]

Dear c3po

What make/model projector is a H30? Sounds interesting...

[G a f f e r]

My bro has this and loves it. I must admit, it's impressive.
Overall better blacks than my panny ae500 but the rainbows are still way too noticeable for me. Correctly set up, I think in all other areas the ae500 and h30 are the same (ie set both up with avia disc and apart from 'black detail' and 'rainbows' can't really tell which is which).
Is anyone esle bothered by the rainbows?

btw, black detail SO GOOD cf my panny that my next projector in a couple of years will DEFINITELY be a DLP - hopefully they'll have faster wheels with more segments by then....

[ntslik]

Originally posted by Glen Dowie
Dear c3po

What make/model projector is a H30? Sounds interesting...

It's the Themescene H30 made by Optoma

Probably a useless piece of info but the Themescene H30 actually has a 14:9 panel not a 16:9 and definately not a 4:3 panel , however the projector imho is very dissapointng from both a visual and performance point of view

[theritz]

Probably a useless piece of info but the Themescene H30 actually has a 14:9 panel not a 16:9 and definitely not a 4:3 panel ,

You're right, it probably is useless........... According to Projectorcentral it has an 800x600 panel... 4:3 I reckon..... click here for specs.



Sean G.

[Fonzerelli]

I think your both kinda right, its a 4:3 but with pixels masked so it displays in widescreen, it creates some sort of light glow to the top of the screen (or bottom if hung upside down :S). thats what i gather from the avs forums link.

Most people on there rave about it, but some people are in two minds whether the masking of pixels is good rather than bad, they think the image quality is excellent but the light glow at the top spoils it slightly.

Im certainly impressed by the spec though and am interested in knowning how much people have paid for them.

[1 GND]

Thanks ntslick , will look it up

[1 GND]

Dear ntslick,

That H30 is only £1150! Is it really that good?
Have just spend a lot more on my sound side of things and am now looking at the visual side favouring a projector for the image size but would have thought to spend 3 to 4 times that , but from c3po`s original comments he seems well happy so maybe not necessary? Really exciting if it is..?

[CYRUStheVIRUS]

Im glad your happy with it, but did you compare it with any other dlp's, as i thought blacks were poor and rainbow the worst i have seen so far. Still a great price and will beat most lcd's

[ntslik]

Hi Glen,

I think this forum and AVS forum speaks for itself from people that have actually bought rather then a retail or manufacturer's opinion, but personally i think it can't be beaten, just look out for the new reviews

Hi All,

I have been an image engineer with Kodak and have worked with mutimedia presentations using a variety of projectors. For me image quality is important.

Yes I can see rainbows on the H30 but it is only microseconds at a time and over a whole movie it is not significant.

The size of the image to the viewing distance is very important, too near and too big ;then rainbow is more noticable but also the actual movie is not a pleasure to watch because your eyes jump about too much.
Biggest is not better than bigger, a slightly smaller image than the max allowed is often better if it is within your static visual cone and not beyond, less rapid eye movement leads to more relaxed and enjoyable viewing.

in regard to LCD they have no rainbow effect but the poor contrast of the models up to the same price as the H30 have constant poor contrast and it is the contrast that makes an image more realistic.
So you have a choice the odd rainbow effect on a small area or constant poor contrast over the whole image.

The H30 delivers a consistantly good cinematic film like image, yes the lower resolution chip does give a less defined edge to text but in terms of enjoyment it is wonderful. Of course if i had more money I would have bought the top of the range SIM or an ILA but i dont , i bought the best image I could for £1200 and that was the H30.

[Fonzerelli]

C3po, you have me very interested now mate how would this compare to say an LCD of greater resolution?

imlooking at a 6 foot screen with a 9 foot throw distance with me sat somewhere in between, is this too large/close for this kind of projector?

[Timh]

Theres a review in Junes HCC and they liked it enough to give it a best buy.

[StAnToN]

HiM8ys

ive had a AE300 and a Sony HS10 and the image and quality of this compared to them is exelellent its true i do see rainbows from time to timebut for the quality of the image and the backs of this its beats an LCD hands down every time.

thanks

StAnToN

hi i got my h30 to day .run it from component to rgb and the colours and the blacks are fantastic better than my ae300
and no rainbows got it from www.audiovisiononline.co.uk
good price.

I got my H30 too and it beats any LCD PJ hands down with detail and black levels.

Rainbows are there but really small and much less frequent comparing my previous Infocus X1 which I sold.

Originally posted by Fonzerelli
C3po, you have me very interested now mate how would this compare to say an LCD of greater resolution?

imlooking at a 6 foot screen with a 9 foot throw distance with me sat somewhere in between, is this too large/close for this kind of projector?

Hi Fonzerelli,
I am sitting directly under my projector which is ceiling mounted (Unicol close ceiling mount), so the distance from lense to screen is about 275 cm and it fills my 176 cm 16:9 luma screen. Which is roughly about the same set up as you are proposing ( you will be less than this given projector depth and cables about 250cm lens to screen giving diagonal of about 165).

try and sit as far back as possible or reduce the image size as it makes more comfortable viewing, action movies can be too demanding on the eyes if you are too close to the screen. Think about where you sit in the cinema do you enjoy front seat viewing or further back.

Dear H30 Brigade,

Spoke with my guy at Decibel Audio ( www.decibelaudio.co.uk ) yesterday about the pixels that have been turned off.

Optoma have produced as an add-on a circular black disc that sits in the lens. The disc has a 16:9 cutout and helps eliminate/reduce the "dead pixel glow" and increase the contrast, to about 2500!!!. My dealer thinks its about £25.00?

Bloody simple ideas are the best, that’s what I say!

LongBow

[G a f f e r]

Just a thought:

the H30 is native 4:3 800x600 pixels (480000)

watching a 16:9 film means you actually watch a screen with a non-output bar at the top of 800x75 pixels, another one at the bottom of 800x75, with the remaining center of the screen displaying a 16:9 image of 800x450 pixels (360000)
That's a reduction in native pixels of 25%

Compared with a Panny 500 that has native 16:9 1280x720 pixels (921600). That's a massive 256% increase c.f. H30 when watching the average anamorphic dvd.

Yet the H30 still manages amazing PQ

Just goes to show it's not how much you have, it's what you do with it that counts

Anyone know where I can get a good 15pin vga to 3 phono (RGB) from, 10m. On the other hand, can I run a VGA to VGA lead with the adapter I get. Whats best?

The H30 still Rock!

LongBow

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LongBow
[B]Anyone know where I can get a good 15pin vga to 3 phono (RGB) from, 10m. On the other hand, can I run a VGA to VGA lead with the adapter I get. Whats best?

The H30 still Rock!

Hi Longbow,

I am using a vga L shaped connector cable on the back of the projector, this allows me to have the projector further back against the wall, this is then run down the wall to the D type to component adapter supplied with the H30, result =component input no problem through a vga cable.

I have also tried my computer output throught a vga to vga cable to the H30 again no problem.

everyone that has seen movies on my H30 now wants one, it is just cinematic, true home cinema with change in your pocket !

hi
i got one here. telephone 01442828188 for 15-pin-to rca x3 cable
i got one for my nec vt440 and i is ok on my h30
thanks joe

H30 Owners,

Had a problem with my H30 showing scrolling text from SKY.

Its just had a firmware update by the guys at Optoma and that has fixed the problem. Its something to do with the PixelWorks scaling chip?

I have to say that the picture now looks even better than before, or am I seeing things. Has anyone else had theirs modified and noticed an improvment?

LongBow

RIP: LCD

Originally posted by LongBow
Optoma have produced as an add-on a circular black disc that sits in the lens. The disc has a 16:9 cutout and helps eliminate/reduce the "dead pixel glow" and increase the contrast, to about 2500!!!. My dealer thinks its about £25.00?
LongBow

Anyone tried this? Sounds like a great idea.

I have a sanyo plvz1 projector, i am thinking of a H30 what be
the benifits of this. I understand that the dlp chip will give higher contrast levels.