Image concerns

[Blktre]

Hi, Ive got some problems and plan on calling Epson in the morning.
I temporarily set up my Epson 8100 to test my HDMI cables i bought from Monoprice which are the 25ft High Speed Cat 2 CL2 22AWG in wall cables. I wanted to test my cables before pulling them. Anyways on to my problems...

Using my Samsung 1080p Upconvert DVD player in SD, at the very bottom i get a line that stretches the entire horizontal length. This line seems like changes color with whatever scene im watching. It obviously shows some other parts of the movie/images. The line is less than 1/4" and drives me crazy. It does this using both cables i have in both HDMI ports.

Also, watching HDTV thru my Motorola HDDVR i get a green line running vertically on the right side of the screen. Its at least 1/4" if not wider and runs the entire vertical side of the image. It does this on 4:3 and 16:9 broadcasts.....

I dont think this is caused from the cables, or could it be? Seems more like something wrong with the panels to me. This is a 3LCD PJ...any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

[tonyvdb]

With some projectors you may have to adjust the overscan as projectors usually come set up with maximum image and on alot of broadcast material this line can be the network signal that normally would not be seen. 1/4" does seem a bit excessive but thats my guess. The LCD panels being out of alignment would not cause this.
Have you tried a different HDMI cable.

[Blktre]

Nice Tony.....

The overscan worked. It was set to off. I guess i didnt understand what the definition of overscan was. I set it to auto and it fixed the problem using HDTV. The green line is gone. I now need to check using a DVD. I will report back.

Fwiw, i have two of the same HDMI cables.

Thanks again Tony, I owe ya!

[Blktre]

Ok. The one SD DVD i checked was a full screen movie. This DVD had the wired line at the bottom that ran horizontally. I put in a wide screen DVD and the problem was gone. So im wondering if the full screen DVD's will always cause this line at the bottom. My guess is yes. But i will keep playing. Thanks again.

Overscan fixed my full screen DVD's. Thanks for helping a newb. This is my first PJ. I'm shooting it on a piece of sheet rock for now....I need a screen!!

[tonyvdb]

Some DVD players dont do a good job of fitting the image of the video properly on the screen I have an older LG upconverting player and it has the image shifted slightly to the right and on my TV upstairs I dont see this but on the projector in our theater room it was very noticeable.

[jzb7]

Blktre,

How well does your 8100 do with standard DVD and with upconverting standard DVDs? I don't have HDTV yet, but plan to in the future. I have just regular Dish network and was curious of how good of a picture you get with it also? Any help from you or others that have the Epson 8100 would help. I have read where the 8500 has a good picture with non HDTV, but hate to spend that much on a projector. ........Thanks!!!

[Blktre]

jzb7 wrote:

Blktre,

How well does your 8100 do with standard DVD and with upconverting standard DVDs? I don't have HDTV yet, but plan to in the future. I have just regular Dish network and was curious of how good of a picture you get with it also? Any help from you or others that have the Epson 8100 would help. I have read where the 8500 has a good picture with non HDTV, but hate to spend that much on a projector. ........Thanks!!!

jzb7,
Ive had a little time to play. I have around 19hrs on my bulb. I'm shooting it onto a stock piece of 4x8 sheet rock. This is a very temporary solution until my screen arrives. So I haven't Calibrated because of the screen issue. But I'm impressed so far with the settings right out of the box. The image pretty much fills the entire space. Throw distance of 13"4'. Ive viewed it with ambient light during the day watching HDTV and SD DVD's. The color setting was set to Living Room. The brightness was real good and decent color saturation considering the ambient light. One of the reasons I purchased the 8100 was because of the lumen output and it doesn't fail in this dept.

Ive also watch HDTV and SD DVD's at night with ambient light very controlled. Color setting to Theater Black 1. Very impressive. One of the set backs of PJ's at this price point is deep blacks. This is my first PJ and I can say I'm extremely satisfied with the black levels. Color saturation, skin tones, etc right out of the box is very, very good. The 8100 up converts nicely. Way better than my Samsung 1080p Up convert DVD Player. So I leave the Sammy outputting native and let the 8100 do the Up converting. You will be happy with the SD DVD playback. Best Ive personally seen.

As far as HDTV goes, I have cable. And as you know not all HD channels actually broadcast in full 1080p. But, channels like Discovery HD, ESPN HD looks super impressive. Other HD channels broadcasting in 720 also look great, but not as good as the channels that broadcast in 1080. But im being picky. I also checked out some Digital Channels. Of course you get the 4:3 letterbox, but have the opportunity to change aspect ratios on those channels. You cannot change aspect with HD channels. The picture still looked good (acceptable) but of course nothing like HD or SD DVD. I should have a BD player for Christmas and things will be super impressive then.

I chose a 106" High Contrast Grey surface with a gain of .8 from Draper. I'm also in the running for the Elite Electric Screen and hope to get that (everyone does and good luck to those). But if I don't win it, then my Birthday in Jan. hoping to get some cash to go towards the Draper.

So imo, if the 8500 doesn't budge off its price point, the 8100 is your next best choice and to tell you the truth, it offers a of alot for the money. Remember, the 8100 replaced last years 6100 which was around $2400.00 I do believe. Anything else, just holler.....

Cheers,
Andy

[jzb7]

Hi Andy! Thanks very much for the info. I hope that you get your new screen soon. I hope that you and your family have a very merry Christmas!!!!!