hd65 - how much space do I need

pwd

I'm thinking of gettting an optoma hd65
The room is only 8 foot wide where I want to put it.
According to the calulator on their site this would provide a decent sized image.
But on dixons site it says you need to have it 15 feet from the screen to provide best quality.
Does anyone use one of these in a smaller room?
Thanks

trabpc

I would trust the optoma Calculator, not Dixons!

pwd

optoma site says:

Projection Distance 1.2m – 12m

nodger

pwd wrote: »

I'm thinking of gettting an optoma hd65
The room is only 8 foot wide where I want to put it.
According to the calulator on their site this would provide a decent sized image.
But on dixons site it says you need to have it 15 feet from the screen to provide best quality.
Does anyone use one of these in a smaller room?
Thanks

From what I've read, the image gets quite large very quickly with the HD65... at 8 feet, you'll be looking at an image of around 69" diagonal. At 15 feet, you'd need a 129" screen/wall.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-HD65-projection-calculator-pro.htm

pwd

Thanks. I think I will get that. You can get them on komplett at a good enough price. (Slightly cheaper on dixons I think but they don't deliver here).
The only possible issue with them seems to be the possibility of seeing a rainbow effect, but most people seem to be able to ignore that after a while.

jmal

Good point but Rainbow effect is becoming less and less and issue with DLP HT projectors.

Anyone know what the wheel speed is for the HD65. If its 6x or greater you will probably never see the rainbow effect.

pwd

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=947156&page=2

think it's 4X speed, reading that.
There's a good few mentions of rainbows on the thread too, but consensus seems very positive nonetheless.

jmal

If its 4x then its probably down to the viewer. Some people are much more prone to the rainbow effect than others.

I've only ever knoticed it when watching a 'Black & White' scene in a movie (first scene in Casino Royale) and only for a split second, but a friend kept seeing it throughout the film. (He wear's glasses but not sure if this has anything to do with it). My PJ is a Optoma DV10 with 4x speed, seven-segment color wheel. Out of the 30 or so other people who have watched a movie it, none have ever seen the rainbow effect.

Advice would be to see a DLP pj in operation, If your prone to it you should know pritty quick.

kaisersose77

I got the hd65 off cvsmedia.co.uk , not as cheap as dixons but they do post to Ireland and are still a lot cheaper than rip off merchants komplett. I'm delighted with it tbh. Havent noticed any rainbow effect but I'm colour blind and I saw thread on avforums before where no colour blind person who posted on the thread had experienced the rainbow effect. So at least something good comes out of colour blindness!

It's a bargain i think and replacement bulbs are only around 100 sterling or so atm.

jmal

What did the hd65 cost from cvsmedia.co.uk including delivery charge?

nodger

jmal wrote: »

What did the hd65 cost from cvsmedia.co.uk including delivery charge?

I got it from CVS, too. I think it was £440 plus about £20 delivery, but I also got a screen, ceiling mount and a load of cables from them. It totalled around €900 or so.

I'd recommend CVS to anyone who's looking for a projector. Nik is a pleasure to deal with and I haven't seen any other online retailer whose prices come close.

Vic Vinegar

Out of interest, how long could you expect a lamp to last before it needs replacing?

Ghost Train

mountain lips wrote: »

Out of interest, how long could you expect a lamp to last before it needs replacing?

For the optoma hd65 it's estimated at 3000hr. Thats the estimated time for the lamp to become 50% as bright as it was when new.

i think i read before that the life of the lamp is estimated by two hours for every strike on the lamp, so 3000hrs would be 1500 times being turned on.

jmal

A projector's lamp has a stated lamp life, which in most cases is 2000 hr Std & 3000hrs Eco mode. Mitsubishi were one the first projectors manufactures to use a 4000/5000 hr lamp life, but usually this is a commerical requirement.

For home theatre this is not as much an issue as some PJ's lamps can last up to 5-10 years on a 2000hr lamp.

Over time a lamp loses its lumen brightness. The "2000hr" mark usually relates to the lamp brightness falling to 50% of its origional, but things like sudden loss of power or running temperatures outside the norm can greatly effect this percentage.

Different projectors handle this point of final lamp life differently. Some models will continue to run for up to and beyond 5000 hrs until the lamp actually breakes.

Other manufactures have it built into the PJ's programming that after a warning period the projector will grind to a hault and will not turn on until a new lamp has been installed.

I do not get too hung up on lamp life when dealing with Home Theatre PJ's as hometheatre projectors are not normally used for every day use like a plasma or lcd.

I have seen some commerical dual lamp PJ's running 24/7 which go through 4 pairs of lamps per year at a cost of €1200 per lamp change.:eek: