Optoma HD3000

[Fudoh]

The power button is wiggling a bit, that's normal.

If you have a multimeter you should check that fuse along with the outputs from the PSU board. The processor is likely running just on 12V line, maybe 5V and 12V, so it wouldn't be too hard to replace the PSU board completely with an external power supply.

[Thamiel]

Ok! $250 repair bill later and the Optoma is home and working...sort of.

From what I understand I have gotten one of the units locked to 720P which is rather irritating. Hopefully I can just update it, anyone tried one of those USB to RS232 cables?

Bigger issue is I can't get a picture my SNES at all. Running my SNES into a Vigatec FX2 and then into the VGA IN on the Optoma. The Optoma recognizes the signal as "Analog RGB 640x480 60hz" however there's no image on the screen. Completely stumped...

EDIT: Seems to be only my PAL SNES it hates (even with 60hz mod), which I guess because it's expecting exactly 60hz via the VGA IN. PS2 and NTSC SNES work fine, though only testing with SVideo at this point. Waiting for a Female SCART to BNC adapter. Still want to get this thing outputting at 1080p though, 720p is messing up the scanlines from the SLG 3000.

EDIT2: And now the scanlines seem fine but this has happened and my menu has changed colour for some reason...there's also a screen full of static before the Optoma initializes as well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/ ... a4ba33.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/ ... 3bbfdb.jpg

EDIT3: Solved one issue, If the colours go weird as in the photos I posted just pull out and plug back in the HDMI lead while the unit is running. Obviously a shitty fix to an irritating problem, who wants to be fiddling around their entertainment unit every time this happens? Which is actually quite regular. I'm hoping this is a firmware issue that be solved by somehow updating this thing. Mine is running quite an old firmware, C03.

[Fudoh]

Ok! $250 repair bill later and the Optoma is home and working...sort of.

geezz, you're crazy. A complete 1080p unit just went for mere 80 EUR here on eBay.

From what I understand I have gotten one of the units locked to 720P which is rather irritating. Hopefully I can just update it, anyone tried one of those USB to RS232 cables?

won't work. Don't try it. Find a PC with a native RS232 port.

pull out and plug back in the HDMI lead while the unit is running.

not a good idea as this may fry the HDMI receiver ICs.

[Thamiel]

Ok! $250 repair bill later and the Optoma is home and working...sort of.

geezz, you're crazy. A complete 1080p unit just went for mere 80 EUR here on eBay.

From what I understand I have gotten one of the units locked to 720P which is rather irritating. Hopefully I can just update it, anyone tried one of those USB to RS232 cables?

won't work. Don't try it. Find a PC with a native RS232 port.

pull out and plug back in the HDMI lead while the unit is running.

not a good idea as this may fry the HDMI receiver ICs.

Not a lot of choice when you live down here, not many people are willing to ship!

Guess i'll hunt around for an old PC or something, man all this fucking around for original hardwares sake...I can see why people just end up building an emulation PC and being done with it.

This should be an easy way to update it yeah? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PCI-E-PCI-Ex ... _50wt_1139

EDIT: I also have an old PC sitting here with a 9 pin serial port labelled "COMA", same thing as RS232?

[BuckoA51]

From what I understand I have gotten one of the units locked to 720P which is rather irritating. Hopefully I can just update it, anyone tried one of those USB to RS232 cables?

won't work. Don't try it. Find a PC with a native RS232 port.

That's odd, I've used those for everything from data dumps and debugging from old fruit (slot) machines to serial networks between PC and Amigas and never had any issues with them working and being recognised as anything but a standard COM port. I don't see why they wouldn't work in this instance but my Optoma was pre-flashed to the latest firmware so can't say for sure.

[Fudoh]

I also have an old PC sitting here with a 9 pin serial port labelled "COMA", same thing as RS232?

yes, it is.

Same problem as with the DVDOs: while Lumagen's processor work with next to every USB/RS232 converter out there, DVDOs are extremely picky and only work with a single chipset. Maybe Optoma will work with certain adapters, but people tried and the FW update didn't run through successfully.

[BuckoA51]

Bizarre, RS232 is a really simple protocol. Maybe the FW update software uses some custom crazy stuff? Then again if that were the case you'd expect it to fail on later versions of Windows too, regardless of the serial port used.

[Thamiel]

I'll try and get the old beast up and running, will report back. Hope it solves the colour inverting issue as when this thing is actually working it's fantastic.

[Fudoh]

btw: quite the impudence on Optoma's side to take the unit in for repair, charge this kind of money and then not even bother with unlocking/updating the processor.

[Thamiel]

btw: quite the impudence on Optoma's side to take the unit in for repair, charge this kind of money and then not even bother with unlocking/updating the processor.

Didn't get it repaired through Optoma, a local electronics repair guy sorted it for me. Optoma Australia like to pretend the HD3000 dosn't exist.

[Dushy Squirt]

I was lucky enough to bag one of these off eBay last week. I paid £200 delivered so not a bad price.

Unit was delivered yesterday and I must say it is 100% MINTY MINT. You would think it was NOS.

There is a seller on eBay offering the "projector bundled" version brand new and boxed that has had a firmware update applied to unlock it to output 1080p.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Optoma-HD3000 ... 33828b3e20

Once the firmware update has been applied to these "projector bundled" versions are they identical in functionality to the standalone Optoma HD3000 that was not sold as part of a bundle with a projector? For example, do they use an identical circuit board and chips etc such as the Gennum chip for processing and also have identical connectivity and layout etc? Some of the units seems to have a Themescene logo on the top panel whereas others have an Optoma logo on the top panel, is this one of the ways that the "projector bundled" versions are distinguished from the standalone versions sold without a projector?

I am looking to source an Optoma HD3000 for shipping to the UK and can get the firmware updated version from the eBay seller for just over £200 delivered including shipping and taxes etc. Its very tempting to get a brand new one for £200 and wondered if anyone on the forum had purchased of this eBay seller as they seem to have been selling these for quite some time?

My main use will be to upscale 575i and 575p signals from a satellite set top box to a Panasonic plasma TV. If anyone has any experience using an Optoma HD3000 for a similar purpose I would be grateful for some feedback as to what level of improvement was achieved. I am currently using a DVDO Edge and whilst it is OK I wondered if the Optoma HD would yield better upscaling for my use compared to the DVDO Edge?

Any advice or feedback most appreciated.


Thx
Dushy

[fagin]

As far as I'm aware the units are the same apart from the firmware. If you look back in this thread I'm sure someone did the same as you.

[Fudoh]

yes, absolutely identical once updated.

Edge vs. HD3000: the Edge has better deinterlacing options for critical material, while the HD3000 has much smoother scaling.

[Dushy Squirt]

fagin, Fudoh,

Thank you for your replies.

I have another question if you could please pass on a bit of your knowledge of the Optoma HD3000?

It is reported that the Optoma HD3000 has no audio functionality. Does this mean that the HDMI input/HDMI output does not carry audio in which case it is absolutely 100% audio free?

Or, does this refer to the fact that there are no separate audio inputs/outputs but the HDMI input/output still carries audio.


Thx
Dushy

[Fudoh]

Or, does this refer to the fact that there are no separate audio inputs/outputs but the HDMI input/output still carries audio.

not sure, the hdmi inputs certainly forward audio and so does the unprocessed HDMI output, I don't know about the processed hdmi output though. There's a certain way to connect the HD3000 to an AV receiver (it's looped in between the HDMI ports)....

[fagin]

I'd have to pull mine out to confirm your question, which is currently in storage, but as Fudoh states it has loop thru capability for working with an AV receiver.

In all honesty, I'd stick with your DVDO EDGE and save your cash.

[Fudoh]

for exclusive DVB-C/S use, I agree.

[SGGG2]

Gradius V forced into 480p looks unbelievable (with The XRGB-3's B0 mode) It actually looks BAD through the Optoma.

I recently put my AV set up back together and tried my 'broken' Xbox for hell of it, I was never able to test it with the Optoma due to a disk tray error -- well, it's now working and 480p component scaled is absolutely gorgeous! Hands down the best scaling I've ever seen.

I also tried Gradius V again and it looked great! I must have booted into 'fake' 480p with GSM. IIRC, sometimes it works, but mostly it doesn't.

[cerestan]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I'm having a bit of a nightmare with an Optoma HD3000 I just bought on ebay.

I'm struggling to get any picture apart from 1080p out of it. It seems to be sending a signal for other resolutions but the tv doesn't see it.

I've plugged it into another scaler, a Dvdo VP50 Pro and it can't get a picture either but sometimes a garbled signal.

I've also tried it on my XCapture-1 which could also only read the 1080p signal, but wouldn't display a picture. The worst part is the XCapture-1 now won't show any picture on hdmi at all from any source, though pass-through still works.

I'd be grateful of any advice on this, is there anything I can try to get the Optoma working or does it sound borked to you? I'm at work at the mo, I think the firmware version was CO5 and I'm not sure I can update it but will give it a go if it's worth a shot.

Many thanks in advance.

[Fudoh]

Not that it's any help, but why do you need any other resolutions beside 1080p ?

The HD3000's output is always HDCP encrypted*, even for analogue sources. Are you using the HD3000's internal switch (by using the loop cable on the back) ? Make sure to use the right output. For testing purposes I would always remove the loop cable and use the main input (instead of the switch).

(*that's why it won't work on your XCAP)

[cerestan]

I would probably only use 1080p, but I wanted to make sure it was fully working.

I didn't realise it would always use HDCP, I haven't used that loop back cable yet, but will give it a try when I'm back home. I've got a hdmi splitter that strips the HDCP somewhere, I'll have to dig that out and give it a go.

Cheers Fudoh, I'll report back when I've done more testing.

[cerestan]

I've played around with this some more and this is what I've found.

The only resolution output from the HD3000 that my TV and Dvdo can pick up is 1080p, the others are either not sending or garbled. I tried a factory reset on it and it came back no signal so I guess it defaults to one of the non-working resolutions.

You were right about the HDCP Fudoh, it was blocking the XCapture, but even with it stripped out the XCapture won't capture it. However if I strip it out and run the signal through from HD3000 -> Dvdo -> XCapture it does work. It does limit the output to 60fps though, this may or may not be an issue just I noticed the HD3000 seemed to scale the s-video signal better at 48fps.

I'm wondering if the firmware is possibly corrupt, as I noticed one of the resolution choices is selectable but blank.

Is it worth attempting a firmware update, I've got a couple of usb to serial devices but they're old and I need to see if Windows will still recognise them, plus I'll need to source the firmware/software.

[Fudoh]

I'm surprised that you're getting anything with a 1080p48 output. That's rare timing from times before 1080p24 was introduced and I hardly any displays or projectors these day can handle this. The only difference is that the cadence from NTSC movie material is a better match for 48Hz (60Hz input -> 3:2 IVTC -> 24p -> 2:2 pulldown -> 48Hz), but the rest of the processing should be the same.

I'm wondering if the firmware is possibly corrupt, as I noticed one of the resolution choices is selectable but blank.

the whole menu is a buggy mess, so don't worry about that.

Is it worth attempting a firmware update

sure, why not. You have to use the internal RS232 port though. The external one won't work for firmware updates. Just lift the cover and you'll see the other port.

plus I'll need to source the firmware/software.

that's the only one I got one hand (C05 as well): http://pms.hazard-city.de/HD3000.rar

[cerestan]

Many thanks for that.

Before I have a go I'm going to contact the seller and explain the situation in case he'd rather I just return it and not mess with it.

[noonan2678]

In the event that you return it, I have one up for sale. I purchased it new and used it only a couple of times. It works perfectly and I had tested it on a couple of LCD/LED sets, one was a Sony HX series.
I ended up using a Crystalio instead, so don't need the Optoma. It was great for what you're using it with. It's complete and mint in box.

Let me know...

[cerestan]

I did chat with Fudoh off-thread about this, and after using it a little more I've decided to return it as it seems like one problem after another with this particular unit.

Thanks for the offer noonan2678, although living in the UK (sorry got my location in profile now) it's probably not financially worthwhile shipping it over here? I don't know what they sell for over there, I paid £100 for this dodgy one (not knowing it was dodgy obviously )

[Zellix]

Hi, lurker here looking for a bit of advice.

I recently picked up a HD3000, firmware C04 locked @ 1080p.
I have a plasma TV, a Dell U2414H and a 1080p projector. So all displays are native 1080p and accept 50/60hz over hdmi.

What happens is when you first turn the unit on I select the resolution using the up arrow and everything works nice and well whichever display it is plugged into.

The problem is if I change my input using the OSD on the dell monitor and then change back to the hd3000 input later no picture is displayed. I can't get a picture even if I cycle using the up arrow; I have to either power cycle the unit or replug the hdmi cable. I send my sources to the projector using a hdcp pass through splitter and this has the same problem as the dell monitor. I plugged the scaler directly to the dell monitor and the plasma for testing but the plasma works absolutely fine; I can play a game, change the input to watch TV, then change it back and carry on.

Any advice would be appreciated

Edit: Took a few days for me to realise it was a handshake problem; fixed by connecting it to another device between the monitor and the VP.

[SGGG2]

Has anyone gotten VGA from a PS2 (via an Extron interface) working? I haven't had any luck.

[FinalBaton]

Has anyone gotten VGA from a PS2 (via an Extron interface) working? I haven't had any luck.

you mean 480p RGsB? Yes I got it working.
But my monitor accepts SoG, so I'm not sure I actually used the Extron's abillity in that regard

[SGGG2]

I meant into the Optoma, of course!