HD70 Projector Calibration
Calibration - Getting Those Black Levels Right!
Optoma's entry level high definition DLP projector was able to be calibrated to very acceptable levels. Initial Cinema mode settings were acceptable, but as you'll see they are far from perfect and we were much more pleased with the after-calibration settings.
Initial "real world" contrast was measured at 538:1 and final post-calibration contrast was 282:1. We measured over 60cd/m2 at the screen at 100 IRE - and that was in Cinema mode!
We again utilized datacolor's ColorFacts Professional 6.0 software to calibrate and measure the grayscale response of the HD70. The results proved the old adage that "all's well that ends well". The HD70 can peform - as you'll be able to see below.
|
Before Calibration |
After Calibration |
![]() |
![]() |
|
In Cinema mode this is pretty much what the stock HD70 will deliver. Color temp has the appearance of being a bit warm and we see a 20-25% overaccentuation of red and blue. |
After calibration, which was pretty smooth and painless, we get a much better grayscale tracking result with red, green and blue lining up nicely from 50-100 IRE. Further calibration and use of the Service menu would potentially allow for an even closer calibration, but we were pleased with the results. |
|
|
|
|
On first blush, the luminance histogram doesn't look too shabby but you can see that it's not entirely smooth and black is somewhat crushed up to 15 IRE. |
Wow, this histogram is nearly picture-perfect with clean blacks down to 7.5 IRE. Smooth as a baby's bottom舰 |
|
|
|
|
Color temperature was about 7300 (set to '0') with settings of 8650 (1) and 10,800 (2) possible through the use of the Color Temp control. |
When we were done, color temperature measured almost ruler flat at 6500K from 50-100IRE (and only slightly deviating from that below 50 IRE) |
While the initial picture looked fine, the final calibrated image was outstanding. This projector does a nice job of allowing user control of the important functions, though we'd prefer more precise control over color temperature (0, 1, and 2 are hardly a reference or standards-friendly scale).
Video and/or Audio Measurements
Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test
Results
Perfect Score is 130
Optoma HD70 Benchmark Score:
50
(While excelling in detail and a decent deinterlacer,
the Optoma is a bit
"slow on the uptake"
so be sure to match it with good progressive scan
source components)
|
Test |
M
ax |
480i |
Pass/Fail |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Color Bar |
10 |
10 |
Pass |
|
Jaggies #1 |
5 |
3 |
Pass |
|
Jaggies #2 |
5 |
3 |
Pass |
|
Flag |
10 |
3 |
Pass |
|
Detail |
10 |
10 |
Pass |
|
Noise |
10 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Motion adaptive Noise Reduction |
10 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Film Detail |
10 |
3* |
Pass |
|
Cadence 2:2 Video |
5 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Cadence 2:2:2:4 DV Cam |
5 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Cadence 2:3:3:2 DV Cam |
5 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Cadence 3:2:3:2:2 Vari-speed |
5 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Cadence 5:5 Animation |
5 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Cadence 6:4 Animation |
5 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Cadence 8:7 animation |
5 |
0 |
Fail |
|
Cadence 3:2 24fps film |
5 |
3* |
Pass |
|
Scrolling Horizontal |
10 |
5 |
Pass |
|
Scrolling Rolling |
10 |
10 |
Pass |
|
Total Points |
130 |
50 |
|
* While the HD70 locked on to 2-3 pulldown sequences like the Film detail test, its initial cadence detection was very slow, followed by the processor apparently "learning" the edit and navigating future edits quickly and accurately.
Comments on HQV Testing
HQV scoring was average and you'll want to pair this projector with good source components like a decent Media Center PC or a higher scoring DVD player. The HD70 didn't do too hot on the AVIA Pro Moving Zone Plate tests, failing all of them (except 2-3 horizontal) and demonstrating that holding a finely detailed pattern while in motion is not something the video processing on the HD70 excels at. Feed the unit a clean progressive signal, say from a Denon DVD-3930CI, and it's smooth sailing.
Great review!
I tryed using Avia for calibration, but i did not like the results. can you publish the calibration numbers for the optoma d70 that the datacolor showed? Thank you!
phidelt
Great review, what led me here was a problem with my HD70 that I think may be easily corrected. I have 25FT runs of both SCART/Component and straight component cables - each of which I have hooked up to my 5-7 year old Sony DVD player (dont have model # handy). My issue is that during indiscriminate times or scenes, the HD70 will "drop" the image completely with its blue splash screen, 2-5 seconds later, the image comes back. I have tried it with a SCART/Component cable as well as the straight component port and the same thing happens, even at the exact same moment in the scene on the DVD. I ran DVD over SVIDEO and no signal problems at all. My HDMI source (cable TV) has never dropped either.
Is this a cable problem? A signal degradation problem? a projector problem? If I had a spare DVD player that was easily removeable, my plan was to move it closer to the projector and test a different DVD player with a shorter cable, but I haven't been able to do that yet. It seems to happen with action scenes/sequences, and less on dramatic slightly moving images.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I have the same problem it drops in and out. I have the Sony DVD S5550D and the HD70. It works fine on S-Video. My cable run is aprox 33 feet. The image on component when present looks great. Is this a cable problem or HD70 not being able to hold on to the sync or maybe just the DVD player.
Cheers






