56 replies to this topic

[hirdylloydy]

simply electronics have it for $1969.00 seems to be best price

[JoeFourMan]

hirdylloydy, on Oct 18 2011, 10:06 AM, said:

simply electronics have it for $1969.00 seems to be best price

Hmm not sure they should be recommended mate...

http://m.hotukdeals....mforwarded=true

Anyone else seen any good deals on the HD33 from Australian sellers with real warrantees etc?

Kinda BS that Optoma have put a $2799 rrp on this unit in Aus meaning sellers mark it down to $2300 ish and claim you get a bargain....

Hopefully a single respectable Aus seller will buck the trend and sell this unit for sub $2k aud where it belongs.

[hirdylloydy]

JoeFourMan, on Oct 20 2011, 02:32 PM, said:

Hmm not sure they should be recommended mate...

http://m.hotukdeals....mforwarded=true

Anyone else seen any good deals on the HD33 from Australian sellers with real warrantees etc?

Kinda BS that Optoma have put a $2799 rrp on this unit in Aus meaning sellers mark it down to $2300 ish and claim you get a bargain....

Hopefully a single respectable Aus seller will buck the trend and sell this unit for sub $2k aud where it belongs.

ouch! not great reviews, although wasnt reccomending them, just saw they had the cheapest price

[JoeFourMan]

hirdylloydy, on Oct 20 2011, 02:09 PM, said:

ouch! not great reviews, although wasnt reccomending them, just saw they had the cheapest price

No probs thanks for having a look around anyhow

Well I've been doing some googling and this is what I have found so far, keep in mind these prices are listed on their websites not negotiated for...

Optoma Hd33 $Aus prices:
(as of 20/10/11)

RRP = $ 2799
Digitalcinema.com.au = $2490
LCD-projectors.com.au = $2388
Digitalcenter.com.au = $2139
Justprojectors.com.au = $2499
Avaustralia.com.au = $2382
Projectisle.com.au = $call
Ota.com.au = $ 2372
eBay.com.au = $2299

I'm pretty sure LCD-projectors which is an associate site of digitalcameras.com.au had a sale price last weekend of $1980 ish but have since gone back up. My personal opinion is that sub $2k is a much fairer price considering the US street price is $1499. If anyone finds an updated price, especially under $2k let me know please

Hope this helps someone else looking or trying to decide between this and Epsons offerings.

[hirdylloydy]

JoeFourMan, on Oct 20 2011, 09:40 PM, said:

No probs thanks for having a look around anyhow

Well I've been doing some googling and this is what I have found so far, keep in mind these prices are listed on their websites not negotiated for...

Optoma Hd33 $Aus prices:
(as of 20/10/11)

RRP = $ 2799
Digitalcinema.com.au = $2490
LCD-projectors.com.au = $2388
Digitalcenter.com.au = $2139
Justprojectors.com.au = $2499
Avaustralia.com.au = $2382
Projectisle.com.au = $call
Ota.com.au = $ 2372
eBay.com.au = $2299

I'm pretty sure LCD-projectors which is an associate site of digitalcameras.com.au had a sale price last weekend of $1980 ish but have since gone back up. My personal opinion is that sub $2k is a much fairer price considering the US street price is $1499. If anyone finds an updated price, especially under $2k let me know please

Hope this helps someone else looking or trying to decide between this and Epsons offerings.

wonder if any of these stores would price match with simply electronics, youd think they would

[JoeFourMan]

hirdylloydy, on Oct 21 2011, 08:53 AM, said:

wonder if any of these stores would price match with simply electronics, youd think they would

Yeah I was thinking the same thing but I did a bit of searching and it looks like Simplyelectronics is a company running out of Hong Kong which means grey import stick and no Aus warrantee. No chance of Aus resellers price matching them if that's true...

[oztheatre]

JoeFourMan, on Oct 20 2011, 08:40 PM, said:

No probs thanks for having a look around anyhow

Well I've been doing some googling and this is what I have found so far, keep in mind these prices are listed on their websites not negotiated for...

Optoma Hd33 $Aus prices:
(as of 20/10/11)

RRP = $ 2799
Digitalcinema.com.au = $2490
LCD-projectors.com.au = $2388
Digitalcenter.com.au = $2139
Justprojectors.com.au = $2499
Avaustralia.com.au = $2382
Projectisle.com.au = $call
Ota.com.au = $ 2372
eBay.com.au = $2299

I'm pretty sure LCD-projectors which is an associate site of digitalcameras.com.au had a sale price last weekend of $1980 ish but have since gone back up. My personal opinion is that sub $2k is a much fairer price considering the US street price is $1499. If anyone finds an updated price, especially under $2k let me know please

Hope this helps someone else looking or trying to decide between this and Epsons offerings.

Just looking over all the info at projector central. Not sure what's going on but the RRP is higher than here in Australia. 2999 USD vs 2799 AUD, that doesn't seem right. The street price of $1499 could either be correct or they're listing grey market importers under the street pricing? I'm not too sure.

It would make more sense the RRP being $1999 in the US and $2799 here in Australia or even 2299 vs 2799.

Amber Technology are the distributor for Optoma projectors here in Australia. There is not as much markup as you think on projectors these days. The pricing on many models has been bastardised and margins are very very slim on most models. We don't get these machines for $700, they're rather pricey here in Australia as explained earlier on in this thread. Prices are getting better here though. Panasonic have the AE7000 for $3999 where the AE4000 started at $6499 when it first came out. We're seeing higher spec contrast ratios, added 3D capabilities, lens memory etc to name a few extras, yet the pricing is not going up when compared to last years models. That's competition I guess, it drives pricing, generally downwards which is good for consumers. As long as the AUD stays close to the USD, we should be ok at the current price points. They're also competing against flat panels which are becoming cheaper and cheaper.

[JoeFourMan]

oztheatre, on Oct 25 2011, 12:03 AM, said:

Just looking over all the info at projector central. Not sure what's going on but the RRP is higher than here in Australia. 2999 USD vs 2799 AUD, that doesn't seem right. The street price of $1499 could either be correct or they're listing grey market importers under the street pricing? I'm not too sure.

It would make more sense the RRP being $1999 in the US and $2799 here in Australia or even 2299 vs 2799.

Amber Technology are the distributor for Optoma projectors here in Australia. There is not as much markup as you think on projectors these days. The pricing on many models has been bastardised and margins are very very slim on most models. We don't get these machines for $700, they're rather pricey here in Australia as explained earlier on in this thread. Prices are getting better here though. Panasonic have the AE7000 for $3999 where the AE4000 started at $6499 when it first came out. We're seeing higher spec contrast ratios, added 3D capabilities, lens memory etc to name a few extras, yet the pricing is not going up when compared to last years models. That's competition I guess, it drives pricing, generally downwards which is good for consumers. As long as the AUD stays close to the USD, we should be ok at the current price points. They're also competing against flat panels which are becoming cheaper and cheaper.

Yeah I noticed that strange discrepancy between the 2 countries RRPs but it does indeed seem like US stores are selling their stock at $1499US. B&H Photo, Visual Apex, Projector Central, Amazon etc are all selling it at that price. Surely they can't all be selling grey stock?

So where does that unrealistic RRP come from? Marketing strategy? Typo? I don't know but I'm sure these US resellers are making a profit on each sale. You say that Australian Optoma resellers are barely making a profit on these units selling them at $2400 AUS ( which is currently equal to US$2505). I find this very hard to believe. If it is the case then Optoma must have Amber Tech over a barrel, or Amber would like the resellers to think so - I'm just speculating obviously. But one thing I can tell you without a doubt is that as an Australian consumer with access to information on global market prices it leaves me feeling frustrated and manipulated.

There's no argument from me that the price to feature ratio of projectors is the best it's ever been, but I say the prices in Australia are far from fair. I would MUCH rather support Australian business ( as I have OzTheatre before - great screen btw thx) but how much of a premium is too much?

Edited by JoeFourMan, 25 October 2011 - 01:23 AM.

[oztheatre]

JoeFourMan, on Oct 25 2011, 01:20 AM, said:

Yeah I noticed that strange discrepancy between the 2 countries RRPs but it does indeed seem like US stores are selling their stock at $1499US. B&H Photo, Visual Apex, Projector Central, Amazon etc are all selling it at that price. Surely they can't all be selling grey stock?

So where does that unrealistic RRP come from? Marketing strategy? Typo? I don't know but I'm sure these US resellers are making a profit on each sale. You say that Australian Optoma resellers are barely making a profit on these units selling them at $2400 AUS ( which is currently equal to US$2505). I find this very hard to believe. If it is the case then Optoma must have Amber Tech over a barrel, or Amber would like the resellers to think so - I'm just speculating obviously. But one thing I can tell you without a doubt is that as an Australian consumer with access to information on global market prices it leaves me feeling frustrated and manipulated.

There's no argument from me that the price to feature ratio of projectors is the best it's ever been, but I say the prices in Australia are far from fair. I would MUCH rather support Australian business ( as I have OzTheatre before - great screen btw thx) but how much of a premium is too much?

I'm not sure but I think the RRP is a typo and should be 1999 USD. But keep in mind the USA have much better buying power, they have 15 times the population and with that comes sharper pricing. So whilst it seems we're getting the rough end of the stick, it's really not that bad.

[kopthat]

oztheatre, on Oct 25 2011, 09:18 AM, said:

I'm not sure but I think the RRP is a typo and should be 1999 USD. But keep in mind the USA have much better buying power, they have 15 times the population and with that comes sharper pricing. So whilst it seems we're getting the rough end of the stick, it's really not that bad.

I wouldn't mind getting your opinion on this one, if you get your hands on one.

It seems like it would be a good all round performer, and a nice upgrade
from my Mitsubushi HC-1100

[blybo]

JoeFourMan, on Oct 25 2011, 02:20 AM, said:

Yeah I noticed that strange discrepancy between the 2 countries RRPs but it does indeed seem like US stores are selling their stock at $1499US. B&H Photo, Visual Apex, Projector Central, Amazon etc are all selling it at that price. Surely they can't all be selling grey stock?

So where does that unrealistic RRP come from? Marketing strategy? Typo? I don't know but I'm sure these US resellers are making a profit on each sale. You say that Australian Optoma resellers are barely making a profit on these units selling them at $2400 AUS ( which is currently equal to US$2505). I find this very hard to believe. If it is the case then Optoma must have Amber Tech over a barrel, or Amber would like the resellers to think so - I'm just speculating obviously. But one thing I can tell you without a doubt is that as an Australian consumer with access to information on global market prices it leaves me feeling frustrated and manipulated.

There's no argument from me that the price to feature ratio of projectors is the best it's ever been, but I say the prices in Australia are far from fair. I would MUCH rather support Australian business ( as I have OzTheatre before - great screen btw thx) but how much of a premium is too much?

People bleat on all the time about how local RRP is a rip off across all industries. I'm in the wholesale and retail arms of footwear and the biggest problem is usually when importing into Oz you are creating an extra link in the supply chain, and most importantly the wholesalers here work on larger margins based on smaller turnover and the fact that every retail store gets credit... and are usually terrible at paying bills on time. This is something that has been around for ages in Oz and is the major reason things are more expensive here, in my industry at least...

[oztheatre]

kopthat, on Oct 25 2011, 12:19 PM, said:

I wouldn't mind getting your opinion on this one, if you get your hands on one.

It seems like it would be a good all round performer, and a nice upgrade
from my Mitsubushi HC-1100

Do want 3D or a better 2D version of the HC1100?

[kopthat]

I really want both, but the 3D viewing would only be for about 5% of the viewing time
and the jump from 720p to 1080p should be the most noticable.

I have one of your 90" standard 16:9 screens and want to go up to about 120" what benefits
are there in having the evolution 3D over the standard type fabric that I have ?

It's in a dedicated room with no windows or ambient light issues

Edited by kopthat, 25 October 2011 - 03:10 PM.

[oztheatre]

kopthat, on Oct 25 2011, 03:09 PM, said:

I really want both, but the 3D viewing would only be for about 5% of the viewing time
and the jump from 720p to 1080p should be the most noticable.

I have one of your 90" standard 16:9 screens and want to go up to about 120" what benefits
are there in having the evolution 3D over the standard type fabric that I have ?

It's in a dedicated room with no windows or ambient light issues

I'd probably wait a little for the new models to arrive. The panasonic AE7000 seems bang for buck with rrp of 3999.
The new epsons might be good too. They all seem to be reviewing quite well with only a few hitches here and there. The jump from 720 to 1080 will be very noticeable! You should also notice better contrast and colour. That would be the aurora screen you have. The Evo3D is a higher gain - 1.1 vs 1.26,  it's smoother, thicker.

I've just launched 2 new Evo materials fyi - Evo Ultra4K and Evo Grey4K. Evo Ultra4K is a refined version of Evo3D, it's even smoother again, same gain, slightly thinner at 300 microns vs 380-400, it's the best one I've designed to date. The other important factor in a screen is how black the border is. The fidelio makes the Aurora frame look grey. It's good to soak up the overscan, which is a rather soft edge so having the blackest black helps create a neat edge to your image. Besides this you wont want a gap between the image and the frame anyway (this isnt dick smith or clive peeters!) so some of the edge will be pushed onto the velvet. I still can't find anything as black as fidelio. I even got some of Goth velvets from showtex which are said to the blackest, they dont even come close to fidelio velvet, so fidelio is still king. I'd go as far as saying there is absolutely nothing in the textile world as black and I'd give anyone $1000 cash if they could source and supply anything blacker. I'm getting some fidelio dyed in Europe with a company who claim to have the blackest dye but when they got the fidelio they were unsure if they could best it.

[gllp]

kopthat, on Oct 25 2011, 03:09 PM, said:

I really want both, but the 3D viewing would only be for about 5% of the viewing time
and the jump from 720p to 1080p should be the most noticable.

I have one of your 90" standard 16:9 screens and want to go up to about 120" what benefits
are there in having the evolution 3D over the standard type fabric that I have ?

It's in a dedicated room with no windows or ambient light issues

I upgraded from the hc1100 to the hc3800(1080p dlp) about 18 months ago and it was a big improvement.  I suspect the optoma 33 is on a par with the Mits 3800 for 2D picture quality or close enough, it doesn't have as much zoom though, the optoma is 1.2x the same as the hc1100 and the Mits 3800 is 1.5x, which for me is a must.

[kopthat]

Has anyone seen one of these in the flesh yet ?

[JoeFourMan]

kopthat, on Nov 10 2011, 02:19 PM, said:

Has anyone seen one of these in the flesh yet ?

I've ordered mine. Ended up going local as the warranty is much better than the US (3 yrs compared to 1). Got a reasonably competitive price with 2 x zd201 DLP glasses. Just decided that it was too much hassle in the end importing, and the warranty was a deciding factor. Should arrive mid next week, happy to give impressions once I've played with it. I basically bought it unsighted based on various user/professional reviews and of course ensuring it'll fit my room needs/dimensions.

Can't friggn wait!

[kopthat]

JoeFourMan, on Nov 10 2011, 02:45 PM, said:

I've ordered mine. Ended up going local as the warranty is much better than the US (3 yrs compared to 1). Got a reasonably competitive price with 2 x zd201 DLP glasses. Just decided that it was too much hassle in the end importing, and the warranty was a deciding factor. Should arrive mid next week, happy to give impressions once I've played with it. I basically bought it unsighted based on various user/professional reviews and of course ensuring it'll fit my room needs/dimensions.

Can't friggn wait!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it when you get it set up.
The 3 years local warranty is a great selling feature, after 3 years a lot of this sort of tech is ready to be upgraded.

This is not a bad package for $2,990
http://www.digitalci...d33-package.htm

I am up looking at upgrading in about 2 weeks.

[kopthat]

Another question on 3D.

I have a Yamaha RX-V663 amp which I assume won't pass through the 3D signal,
so what are my options ?

I seem to recall there is a Panasonic 3D player that has dual HDMI, so could I send one of those directly to the projector
and the other to the AV for the audio signal ?

Would a HDMI splitter work ?

I have a Samsung 3D player connected to a 3D tv but that only has a single HDMI out

[monkeychow]

Love to hear if anyone has any experience on this projector.

I had a panasonic PTAE2000 that's kicked the bucket....trying to decide if I can afford to get the PTAE7000 in the group buy....but this looks tempting with the lower price.

I'm not familiar with DLP technology really though, or indeed any of the optoma projectors...so  can anyone tell me what they think the quality would be like compared to older LCD 1080 things like the ae2000? Any pros/cons I should know about?

Thanks for any help guys

[kopthat]

There have been some good reviews from people that have one on the AVS Forum
http://www.avsforum....d.php?t=1354360

One thing you should be aware of is the Rainbow Effect which about 5% of the population are sensitive to:
http://www.projector...inbowEffect.php

There is also another 5% that can see dead people...

You should see a DLP projector in the flesh to see if you are effected or not

Edited by kopthat, 14 November 2011 - 04:12 PM.

[oztheatre]

kopthat, on Nov 14 2011, 02:24 PM, said:

There is also another 5% that can see dead people...

haha rainbows or dead people.. hmmm decisions  

[MarkTecher]

kopthat, on Nov 14 2011, 02:24 PM, said:

There have been some good reviews from people that have one on the AVS Forum

One thing you should be aware of is the Rainbow Effect which about 5% of the population are sensitive to:
http://www.projector...inbowEffect.php

There is also another 5% that can see dead people...

You should see a DLP projector in the flesh to see if you are effected or not

I think RBE is something one gets used to.  When I first got my W5000, I saw RBE virtually every time I blinked.  After some time, I found my having to look for it.  When I upgraded to the W6000, again I was troubled with RBE.  I have less than 200 hours on the clock and not seeing it anymore.

[JoeFourMan]

JoeFourMan, on Nov 10 2011, 02:45 PM, said:

I've ordered mine. Ended up going local as the warranty is much better than the US (3 yrs compared to 1). Got a reasonably competitive price with 2 x zd201 DLP glasses. Just decided that it was too much hassle in the end importing, and the warranty was a deciding factor. Should arrive mid next week, happy to give impressions once I've played with it. I basically bought it unsighted based on various user/professional reviews and of course ensuring it'll fit my room needs/dimensions.

Can't friggn wait!

Well I'm all setup now and all I can say is that this unit has surpassed my expectations. After some initial handshake issues between the HD33 and my PS3, I replaced my 10m HDMI cable for a thicker, 1.4 rated one and everything went smoothly. Here are my impressions after 40hrs viewing:

- Bright, clean & colorful image. Projecting approx 100"inch from 3.5m back and the screen is vivid like a LED TV. Handles some ambient light in the room very well, alot better than my Benq w1000 did.
- Handles Side by side, top/bottom and framepacked 3D signals up to 1080p/24 for full rez, or 1080p/60 for half SBS. The 3d picture is extrodinary. Bright and sharp. In the setup of my PS3 I told it I had a 40inch screen and the resulting depth in the image is immersive without being hard on the eyes. Using zd201 Optoma DLP link glasses there is no noticeable color shift, ghosting or crosstalk in the image that I have seen so far. Glasses are simple to use and take & retain sync so long as you are looking at the screen.
- In 3D I have tried Uncharted 3, GT5, MotorStorm Rift 3D, SBS mkv bluray rips, full 1080p 3D bluray(incredible picture quality), 3D MPO photos from my Fuji W3 camera using PS3 Play Memories app(amazing detail), Fuji W3 720p FP video burnt to bluray, Youtube 3D, Stereoscopic player(PC). Obviously there are varying degress of quality within the image due to resolution compression etc but in each case the 3d has been artifact free and immersive.
- PURE motion is the built in frame interpolation and it works in 2d and 3d. For 3D sources running at 24p the judder on panning shots can be quite hard on the eyes but the frame interpolation is SOO good. I've read alot of peoples opinions on CFI technologies and seen it in action on some TV's but let me tel you this PURE motion technology is a godsend for 3d, even on high(which is probably a little too smooth for most) there is NO artifacting just butter smooth imagery. To be honest without this feature 1080p/24 3D would have been frustrating to watch for lomng periods. For reference my HD 33 came with firmware C03.

I guess I should do negatives to be fair ....
- Initial setup not handshaking with PS3 was annoying but to be fair that was my cable. The projector can take up to 5-8 secs to rehandshake when changing resolutions.
- No blank screen option. A nice feature of the old Benq w1000 was the ability to effectively put the screen to black, useful when leaving the room for 10mins or so but don't want to power off the projector.
- Fan gets significantly louder in 3d modes
- Too bright? Nah, definately not for 3D but maybe a touch bright for 2D for my room setup. Will be interesting to see how the bulb settles after 100+ hours
- Backlit remote is too bright, lol, blinds me in the dark

In summary, totally wrapped to have such amazing tech in my apartment. Great 2d/3d combo. DLP link works very well especially now Optoma are using red flash over white flash (I specifically choose this over their newer RF technology). Gaming is incredible on PS3 even if the system is showing its age a little, can't wait to get my PC 3d ready. 2d is a significant upgrade over my Benq w1000 (which I'm selling btw if anyone is interested, approx $800 with 1250hrs )

Any questions feel free to ask

[kopthat]

Thanks for the review Joe it echoes what has been said on the AVS forums with this unit being a great performer in both 2D and 3D
and it handles 3D very well with no noticeable crosstalk.

What price did you pay with the 2 glasses ?

I think this a better performer in 3D compared to the equivalent Epson,
and I don't think my budget will stretch as far as the Panasonic ae7000

I will probably need to run an additional 10m HDMI cable as well so the digital cinema deal my not be a bad option,
even though the screen fabric won't be up to the standard of Evo3D, and wanted to go from a 90" to a 110" screen
in the near future anyway.

Edited by kopthat, 22 November 2011 - 12:50 PM.