Epson 8350 vs?

[bluman1981]

Originally Posted by Spurrier Sucks

Who uses their PJ to watch tv? Thinking of adding one next year and the 8350 seems like the way to go. I'm thinking 100" screen tops. I will use manual or possibly electric to cover my samsung plasma for now. Maybe a fixed screen to replace the sammy later. Thoughts?

I do it's the only way to go for a large screen IMHO. I have an Epson 5010 and just upgraded my screen to a SI Black Diamond fixed and it's like I have a 100" plasma now. It's amazing!! Blacks are kuro deep. Yes I said Kuro deep. I owned plasma's for years, had the Samsung 64D8000 which was last years model. I wanted bigger and $5000 for an 80" Sharp LED is not worth it. For $4600 I have a 100" plasma like screen for less money than the Sharp or Samsung 75" coming out this year. Do it. You'll be happy you did. You have a very nice setup currently. But your screen you have now is too small next to those 28's you need bigger.

[Spurrier Sucks]

Originally Posted by bluman1981

I do it's the only way to go for a large screen IMHO. I have an Epson 5010 and just upgraded my screen to a SI Black Diamond fixed and it's like I have a 100" plasma now. It's amazing!! Blacks are kuro deep. Yes I said Kuro deep. I owned plasma's for years, had the Samsung 64D8000 which was last years model. I wanted bigger and $5000 for an 80" Sharp LED is not worth it. For $4600 I have a 100" plasma like screen for less money than the Sharp or Samsung 75" coming out this year. Do it. You'll be happy you did. You have a very nice setup currently. But your screen you have now is too small next to those 28's you need bigger.

My concerns are it's not a light controlled room and is open to an eating area and kitchen. I can get blackout curtains for the window and french doors. What about bulb life? Is it a concern with using PJ as main viewing area? Or would the pull down screen over the samsung be a better fit for that room? Use the screen for blu's and sporting events and have the sammy for everyday tv use?

[bluman1981]

Originally Posted by Spurrier Sucks

My concerns are it's not a light controlled room and is open to an eating area and kitchen. I can get blackout curtains for the window and french doors. What about bulb life? Is it a concern with using PJ as main viewing area? Or would the pull down screen over the samsung be a better fit for that room? Use the screen for blu's and sporting events and have the sammy for everyday tv use?

I have a condo with a very open floor plan. I converted my living room into my theater room. I had windows, a door to my patio with a window and its open to my dining room and kitchen. I put blackout shades and drapes on my windows and patio door and all my lights are on dimmers. I have 100% light control now. I usually watch with the lights on in the kitchen or hallway. But now that I got the black diamond screen it obsorbs any ambient light so I can have more lighting on now if I want. If you have white walls or a color that's not dark, the Stewart Firehawk G3 or SI Black Diamond really give you the best picture. But if you paint your walls a darker color or it is already a darker color, you would probably be fine with a cheaper screen alternative like a Carada which is internet direct and in Alabama, or Elite Screens, something to that affect.

[MEB]

Fry's has the Epson 8350 on sale in today's ad for $988. I've been wanting a better projector for the Booth Bijou Garage Theater so I picked one up. Out of the box the projector had a strong greenish/blue tint. Clothing that should have been grey (sweatshirt, etc.) looked teal. I found some professional calibration settings on the web and plugged in those numbers. The difference was STUNNING. Grey sweatshirts are grey and the colors really POP. Excellent blacks and great contrast!

I'm shooting it on 120" 4:3 retractable screen. The screen has a stop point for a 16:9 size. I get 105" in 16:9 mode. But for 4:3 movies, I can put the projector in 4:3 mode and pull the screen down all the way. The Wizard of Oz never looked so good! Absolutely fantastic!

We've got a Booth Bijou movie night tomorrow night. Our guests are in for a treat!

Mark

[MEB]

Here are the calibration settings that I used for my 8350. I realize that there will be projector to projector variances but these settings (with one small change, noted below) worked MARVELOUSLY with my new 8350.

Epson 8350 Calibration Settings

Natural
Brightness -11
Contrast 8
Color Saturation 0
Tint -2
Sharpness Advanced (All 4 Settings) 0
Abs. Color Temp. 6500K
Skin Tone 0

Advanced...

Gamma Custom 0 -6 -7 -8 -7 -7 -7 -8 5

RGB
Offset R 6
Offset G 0
Offset B 23
Gain R -2
Gain G 0
Gain B -25

RGBCMY
R 0 -13 -7
G -37 -49 48
B -7 10 -6
C 0 -41 31
M -16 -9 -16
Y -3 -9 8

Power Consumption ECO
Auto Iris Normal

Signal [Advanced]
Noise Reduction Off
EPSON Super White Off
Overscan Off
HDMI Video Range Expanded

After I put in those settings, I ran the Disney WOW disc on it. Brightness, Color and Tint were perfect. On the Contrast calibration test, I was able to see a couple of stars that should have been hidden. I upped the Epson's Contrast setting from 8 to 10 and that fixed it.

That is the ONLY change I had to make to these settings. The difference in image quality (over factory defaults) is night and day!!

Mark

[ozzsoad]

Once I get my 8350 in a few months I will be putting in those settings right away. Can't wait.

[Stridulent]

I've had my 8350 for almost a month now and I love it. I'm also going to give those settings a try when I get home.

[Goldensuitcase]

Originally Posted by MEB

Fry's has the Epson 8350 on sale in today's ad for $988. I've been wanting a better projector for the Booth Bijou Garage Theater so I picked one up. Out of the box the projector had a strong greenish/blue tint. Clothing that should have been grey (sweatshirt, etc.) looked teal. I found some professional calibration settings on the web and plugged in those numbers. The difference was STUNNING. Grey sweatshirts are grey and the colors really POP. Excellent blacks and great contrast!

I'm shooting it on 120" 4:3 retractable screen. The screen has a stop point for a 16:9 size. I get 105" in 16:9 mode. But for 4:3 movies, I can put the projector in 4:3 mode and pull the screen down all the way. The Wizard of Oz never looked so good! Absolutely fantastic!

We've got a Booth Bijou movie night tomorrow night. Our guests are in for a treat!

Mark

Thank you for the updates and calibration levels. In your opinion, after viewing it with your adjusted settings, how are the black levels and would you think it would be worth it to fork over $1,000 more for the Epson 8700 or is this really pretty damn close to it in quality? I know the black levels are supposed to be better with the 8700, but not sure if it's that much better. Thanks.

[MEB]

Originally Posted by Goldensuitcase

Thank you for the updates and calibration levels. In your opinion, after viewing it with your adjusted settings, how are the black levels and would you think it would be worth it to fork over $1,000 more for the Epson 8700 or is this really pretty damn close to it in quality? I know the black levels are supposed to be better with the 8700, but not sure if it's that much better. Thanks.

I've never viewed the image from an Epson 8700 so I can't compare (and anything but a side by side comparison in identical lighting conditions would be pointless anyway). As for the 8350, to me, blacks look black. Keep in mind that I'm using it in dark room (the Booth Bijou Garage Theater).


I should also mention that I returned my first 8350 to exchange for a different unit. The first one had three issues: 1) Blue tint along left edge of the screen, 2) Red convergence was off vertically by one pixel width, 3) The lower left corner of the image curved upwards a bit (not a lot, but noticeable to my eye). The second unit is about as close to perfect as can be expected. No weird tint along any edges and the convergence is spot-on perfect. There's still a slight upward curve in the lower left corner but it's about a tenth of what the first unit was. The average person probably wouldn't even notice it.

FWIW, the settings I posted above worked (almost) perfectly with the second 8350 too. But I still needed to up the Contrast from 8 to 10.

Mark

[Stridulent]

I plugged in those settings as listed above. It did make my overall picture darker, but blacks are blacker and colors seem a little more vibrant. Brightness has always been a funny thing for me to gauge.

[MEB]

Originally Posted by Stridulent

I plugged in those settings as listed above. It did make my overall picture darker, but blacks are blacker and colors seem a little more vibrant. Brightness has always been a funny thing for me to gauge.

I verified the brightness and contrast settings (as well as color and tint) using Disney's WOW Blu-ray. I've owned several calibration discs over the years and the WOW disc is simply the best. It completely eliminates the guesswork on getting proper brightness and contrast settings.

My overall picture got slightly darker too. But I believe much of that was because these settings are designed to be used in low lamp mode (ECO mode).

The best thing about the above settings is the color correction. From the factory, both of my 8350s had an extremely strong green/blue cast across the entire image. It was VERY easy for me to notice and it was quite annoying. If anyone wants to test this for themselves (using the factory default 8350 settings), just download the trailer for the movie 'Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close'. At the 29 second mark in the trailer Thomas Horn (Oskar Schell) is shown sitting in a park with a map in his hands and he has on a grey sweatshirt. With the factory default 8350 settings his sweatshirt is a hideous shade of green/blue/grey. It looks absolutely wrong. (When I play the trailer on my colorimeter-calibrated computer display, the sweatshirt is grey.)

Droid6's settings above completely solved the green/blue tint problem and Thomas Horn's sweatshirt is grey, as it should be!

Mark

[jburns1977]

Hello, i am new to the whole Projector thing and i am looking to Purchase the the Epson 8350 when i move into my house next month. Does anyone have any suggestions for the screen size? Amazon has the Elite screens at a decent price and i was thinking of going with the 100 inch screen. Is that too small? The wall could hold bigger (120 in) but is there a certain size that works better with this projector?

[ozzsoad]

I'm also moving into a new house within the next few months, and I've never owned a projector. I've been settled on getting the Epson 8350 after moving in for a while now. I'd also like to know if 120" will give me a bright enough image.

It'd be going in a room with almost zero light control, but I figured it'd be used at night until I can get the materials to control the light. Without light being an issue, is 120" going to give me a bright enough image, or should I go with, say, 106"?

Or should I go with the 3010? The placement may be an issue considering it has no lense shift and my ceiling will be too high. I would like a 3D projector, just wasn't sure this one would work for me. I'd also like to play games on it, that'll pose a probelm with the supposed lag issues on the 3010. If the 3010 will give me a significantly better image at 120" I may consider it.

I need a suggestion. That's where you well informed people come in. I'm also limited to what I can purchase at Best Buy(36 month financing ), which is why I picked these two.

[Stridulent]

Originally Posted by ozzsoad

I'm also moving into a new house within the next few months, and I've never owned a projector. I've been settled on getting the Epson 8350 after moving in for a while now. I'd also like to know if 120" will give me a bright enough image.

It'd be going in a room with almost zero light control, but I figured it'd be used at night until I can get the materials to control the light. Without light being an issue, is 120" going to give me a bright enough image, or should I go with, say, 106"?

Or should I go with the 3010? The placement may be an issue considering it has no lense shift and my ceiling will be too high. I would like a 3D projector, just wasn't sure this one would work for me. I'd also like to play games on it, that'll pose a probelm with the supposed lag issues on the 3010. If the 3010 will give me a significantly better image at 120" I may consider it.

I need a suggestion. That's where you well informed people come in. I'm also limited to what I can purchase at Best Buy(36 month financing ), which is why I picked these two.

Sorry for this late response, but to answer both of your questions: I feel like the 8350 is a great projector for the price, especially if you don't care about 3D. the lense shift is a great thing to have for placement; just keep in mind that this projector is huge.

In terms of screen, I use a home-built 117" diagonal cinemascope (2.35:1) and the brightness is great, but I have 100% light control. I haven't tinkered with how bright the brightness will go as my room is usually pitch black, but I do know that I would need to crank the brightness up if I ever had the lights on in there while watching a movie.