[Supersonic]

Engineer turned up with replacement #2 today and I've checked the image through with my AVCHD disc and it seems fine. The unit is just as quiet as the original, so far so good. In fact the pixel convergence (or alignment) is spot on on this unit right across the image, which is better than my original one.

Apparently if any issues occur with this one I can call it in in the same way as the original unit. The engineer mentioned one chap he'd been out to was on his sixth unit in as many months, but now they were swapping his TW3200 for a different model altogether!

Can't fault Epson's response times - only a couple of days from raising the fault to the problem being resolved.

[luna_s]

My bulb just went after 1650 hours, Epson are sending me out another (great service).
I'm a heavy user (I have a tv for emergencies like this) is this the average lifespan? I've owned the projector since February this year, so I can probably expect to be paying for a replacement next june.
I'm seriously considering going back to a "normal" TV until 1080p led projectors are affordable.

[desibeo]

I would never use a projector as a tv-replacement, but it's irreplaceable for me for movies, 'big live events' and even videogames. I wouldn't like to use it to watch Coronation Street (not that I do) or anything else on tv. Most things on tv are shot with a smaller screen in mind. They don't benefit from being blown up in size IMHO.

My advice is invest in a tv for watching (most) tv. Or if you really don't mind watching on projector, resolve yourself to replacing the lamp when needed.

[luna_s]

I've ran projectors as a main source for 3 years now,I don't watch broadcast tv (I don't even have an aerial socket!) , started with Optoma (bulb replaced after 1.5 years) then moved to Epson in February mainly for 1080p, I've no problem with bulb replacement (apart from cost ;p) but this bulb going was a bit sudden the screen went dim overnight then it just went, no warning. The problem with a TV is they seem to come with so many unnecessary gimmicks (to me) e.g. I need a basic screen with no speakers, no smart features and no 3d not even bothered about a tuner not sure such a thing exists.

[desibeo]

There are plenty of LCD screens with no major features. You might have to suffer basic speakers, but just don't use them. They may not be the ones at the front of the shop (or website) either but if that's what you want you'd find a pretty decent, say, 40" one for just a little more than the price of a lamp. Well tbh I don't know exactly, but a question on whichever suitable forum here would likely give a few options.

As for the life of the lamp, I don't think lamps in this pj are any better or worse than others. I've had 3 or 4 different projectors for over 15 years and I've had lamps die at around4000 hours (SONY HS10) and around 500 hours (coincidentally also the HS10). [I also had a Sharp one -ZX1E or something like that. A friend of mine had 3 or so others around the same time.]
Usually it seems to be around the 2000hr mark when they're most likely to give up the ghost.

Not using it for short lengths at a time (if you're gonna use it, use it for a couple of hours at least -or else switch on the tv) and leaving the fan finish after shutdown are possibly the two biggest tips for helping to extend the life I would say.

Then again, mine died at 1900hrs this time so who am I to give advice?

[luna_s]

I work in IT in a school, and look after 30ish projectors and only had one bulb go in 4 years (sanyo,hitachi, benq, optoma,epson and panasonic) , and some of these projectors are very old, so the bulb going in the epson was a bit of a suprise to me! Something I should expect really especially as I run it for hours at a time.
I always had bad flickering on the epson especially in white scenes and had to stop running on eco mode - pretty much the reason I moved away from the optoma, I had to run that in high altitude mode all the time.
Since using my spare old 32" 720p TV I forgot how convenient it is, I can just turn it off and on at will - it's amazing! ;p. My setup won't allow both as I project onto a wall.

BTW this isn't a complaint about the tw3200, I think its great!

[Guap]

I'd like to know if anyone has got their 3200 isf calibrated, and what were the results like? As im thinking about getting mine professionally calibrated.

Would it be worth the money to calibrate this model and is there a big difference? I use it to watch blurays in the evenings so it for night time use really. Any info or suggestions would be very much appreciated!

[Steve Withers]

Any display will benefit from a calibration and the Epson's have surprisingly comprehensive calibration controls considering their price point.

If you're decide to get one done try the AVForums calibrator map: Look here to find a Custom Installer and/or Calibrator

[Guap]

Thanks Steve. Will look into that when I get back.

[mcspongy]

Giap

The review on these forums suggests a pro calibration will give improvements, so defo worth getting a quote or two.

[Guap]

I've got a couple of quotes for the pro calibration, £285 from Gordon at Convergent AV and £240 from Piers at Home Cinema Engineering.

I'm just in two minds whether to get it calibrated professionally as the projector only cost me around £700 new. So I might just wait until I upgrade in a year or two to a higher model.

I think the Disney WOW calibration disc that I received yesterday will suffice in the meantime. There is a much better improvement from what I can see, just need to reduce the red a little I think, and there's still much left to be tweaked.

Here's some before and after pics.

[Guap]

Hey mcspongy

I'm also looking at getting an ND2 Hoya filter for this pj too. Maybe next week from amazon.

[shimo]

Hi guys .

I own an Epson TW 3200 for 1 year and 10 days .

It was used for aprox. 1600 h in ECO mode only, and on 1080p. It is connected to a desktop from where i play the media content .
I use a white wall as a screen. The screen size is around 4 m , projector siting on the ceiling at about 4.5 m from the screen. Lens are shifted down, it has a small trapeze image but i am fine with it.

Pictures with dead lamp :

This is my first projector and it won't be my last.

As the noob i am i didn't spend any minute reading the thread about TW 3200 on av forums, hence i just joined this community.

Anyway, short story the Lamp died today. I believe it exploded, i wasn't in the room when it happen. The merchant from where i bought the projector offered a warranty of 6 months on the lamp , and 24 on the projector. I don't know Epson policy regarding this, more the fact that i live in Romania and don't think the Romanian home user market is of any significance for them , so i am not expecting to have the lamp replaced under warranty .


Also prior to this around 4-5 times when i started the projector an erro was displayed : "Error in Auto Iris . Contact nearest service." I called the merchant service and they told me to bring them the unit. Couple of hours later i was there with the unit. They pull it out of the box admiring it, ask me where i was using it , i show them picture with my setup ...etc. They tell me that they aren't selling to many 1080p projectors, only 800x600 for companies . Then they plug it in , few seconds and the image is displayed with no Error message. They ask me when the error was displayed i tell them then when i started the unit from the remote control etc. Anyhow the guy tells me that the unit is fine, and i couldn't argue with him. They advice me that if it happens again to shut it down wait few minutes to cool down and turn it back on. So that is what i did the next 4 times when i got the error.

Anyway so far , excepting the dead lamp i really enjoyed the TW-3200 . My wife had a hard time getting used with the screen for 20-30 minutes but after that she rarely turned the TV on .
My next projector will be a 3D unit with glasses so kids can watch the cartoons as in cinema .

Do you guys know if Epson is replacing the lamps even if they broke after 6 months from purchasing date ?

[desibeo]

This projector comes with a 3-year/ 3,000hour (or is that 4000?) lamp replacement warranty. It should apply in Romania as much as anywhere else. Try contacting Epson tomorrow here and let us know how you get on.

They will ask for some proof of purchase that shows when/where you bought it.

[5saladz]

Hi all,

I posted this in the TW5900 thread, but reading about lens shift, I think the 3200 might actually be a better bet for me.

I am soon to be moving house into a place that has a perfect room for a dedicated cinema set up. After the move i definitely have a fixed budget and don't want to spend more than about £1250 on the projector, screen, mount and cabling, so the Epson range seems like the best bet.

I've heard that the TW5900 has greyish blacks if played in a darkened room. Is this true? The room is pretty nicely decorated at the moment, so I was thinking of just dimming the lights for a 'bit of mood' as opposed to going for a pitch black set up. Would this be preferable? How does the 3200 compare?

The room is 2.18 x 4.72 metres and the screen would hang on the 2.18 metre wall. What would be the best screen size to go for? When looking for a screen width below 2.18 metres I notice that many screens seem to have huge overhanging frames which means that screen size is sacrificed to fit the frame work in, which seems a massive shame.


Can anyone please confirm the best ceiling mount for this projector as I have seen many generic mounts that don't specify which projectors they are compatible with.

Can anyone recommend a long HDMI cable and 3x HDMI switch that won't suffer from handshake issues as this seems to be an issue with this projector.

Finally, as I have 3 HDMI sources I want to plug in - Xbox, Sky box and Blu-ray player I'll need a decent HDMI switch. Can anyone recommend a good one please?

[shimo]

Originally Posted by desibeo

This projector comes with a 3-year/ 3,000hour (or is that 4000?) lamp replacement warranty. It should apply in Romania as much as anywhere else. Try contacting Epson tomorrow here and let us know how you get on.

They will ask for some proof of purchase that shows when/where you bought it.

Thanks for the link .
Had to send the projector to service. They confirmed the 3000 hours warranty on lamp. Really pleased with Epson so far.

[Ricky27]

Hi,
Has anyone succesfully mounted a TW3200 on a Vogel EPW 6565 wall mount?
Lovely looking mount but been told the Epson is too big.

[Scatterlogical]

Hi, I have a severe lamp flickering issue with my tw3200. From reading this thread it seems to be a fairly common issue. I have had my projector for over 2 years now, and gone through 3 replacement lamps (each one has lasted 3800+ hours, I just use the PJ a lot).
As long as I can recall there's been intermittent problems with flickering, but it used to eventually go away. Now it is so severe and constant I almost feel like it's going to make me epileptic.

I really am at the end of my tether with this, and although I do fear it's out of warranty, I feel I should be getting more for the $2000 that I paid for it. I would have gotten it serviced sooner, but since I use it as my main computer display, I haven't been keen on the downtime to send it away.

Has anyone dealt with Epson in Australia regarding this issue? How did you approach it and what was the resolution? It seems others have had Epson techs come out to service their PJ - is that even possible in Oz? It would be much preferred than sending it away.

[kbfern]

With the amount of hours you use a pj you really should consider the new Viewsonic Pro 9000 it is the first of what will be the new laser/led hybrid lit home cinema projectors with a life of 20k hours retail is around £1500.

ViewSonic Pro9000 review - Projector - Trusted Reviews

[Ricky27]

Does the 3200 project upwards when using no shift when upright? I.e is the bottom of the light beam horizontal?

[Guap]

Sorry if it's been asked before, but will the 3200 be compatible with an anamorphic lens?

Thanks

[mcspongy]

Originally Posted by Ricky27

Does the 3200 project upwards when using no shift when upright? I.e is the bottom of the light beam horizontal?

There is equal shift up and down, so effectively yes.

Edit - you could adjust feet / your mount to ensure.

[yoyokitten]

Hello, I haven't been able to get my Epson TW3200 to display an image. For months it has been getting worse. I used to be able to turn it on and maybe have to turn everything on-and-off again, but now nothing! The fan comes on every time and I just put in a new bulb - but the display will not come on anymore, help!

[The Fatty]

What its the LED doing on the top of the PJ? can you see any light in the lens (ie. has the bulb sparked up)?

[smashmouse]

Hi

I'm looking to buy my first projector. I basically want 1080p but not bothered about 3D. And within the £1k mark.

Having read various reviews and getting up to speed with projector terms, I think the Epson TW3200 could be the one for me. It seems to have good reviews and the 3 year lamp replacement gives me a warm feeling for first projector ownership experience. Price seems good at around £800. However, the projector has been around for a while and although the reviews are good, is that based on the time of the review. e.g. would something newer be even better? e.g. what hi-fi seems to have rated the Benq W1200 for the price point I'm looking at.

[mc5]

Just replaced my hd65 for one of these. I cant believe how big it it is. It has a nice clean detailed picture, and colours are pretty much spot on. A little disappointed with the blacks, not much better than the hd65 & seem to have a purplish tinge to them is they're anyway to get rid of this. Running in cinema mode.

[mcspongy]

Originally Posted by mc5

Just replaced my hd65 for one of these. I cant believe how big it it is. It has a nice clean detailed picture, and colours are pretty much spot on. A little disappointed with the blacks, not much better than the hd65 & seem to have a purplish tinge to them is they're anyway to get rid of this. Running in cinema mode.

I recall reading a review saying the black levels were a slight improvement over the previous model (TW3500?) but there was the purple tinge, so think that's normal. Good base settings can be found on Jmog's FAQ for the 3200.

[The Fatty]

Originally Posted by mc5

Just replaced my hd65 for one of these. I cant believe how big it it is. It has a nice clean detailed picture, and colours are pretty much spot on. A little disappointed with the blacks, not much better than the hd65 & seem to have a purplish tinge to them is they're anyway to get rid of this. Running in cinema mode.

Originally Posted by mcspongy

I recall reading a review saying the black levels were a slight improvement over the previous model (TW3500?) but there was the purple tinge, so think that's normal. Good base settings can be found on Jmog's FAQ for the 3200.

My 3200 doesn't have any purple tinge. in fact, I would say its more of a green based black. You can adjust it by the R/G/B gain controls in the advanced image menu. If your not happy with it, get it swapped out within the first 30 days so you get a new PJ else they will send you a refurbished unit.

the red corners that can sometimes be seen appear to come on in the first 200 hours but then get less obvious after about 600 hours. I think this must be the polarizers setting in.

[TobiasDK]

How does this projector compare to the newer TW-5910 if we are talking 2D only? I know TW-3200 got lens shift, but I don't need that in my current setup, so that shoudn't be a factor

So would it be worth it to spend the extra bit of money for a 5910 over a 3200 for the improved 2D picture quality (disregard 3D completely)?

[kultus]

Hi mates, Im new here as I decided to buy my6 very first new projector.I will take Epson 3200 as its still the best choice for price upto 1000$. Also want to thank you all for great screens of TW3200 performance. I never had TV or projector. My current config is: notebook Asus G74sx with nvidia GTX560 and 2.1 audio system (subwoofer + 2 channels) connected to notebook with 3,5mm jack. My quite noobish question as Im not experienced in this at all: When I connect TW3200 to my notebook throught HDMI then the audio will still play throught the 2.1 audio system connected to notebook? THX for advance.