Optoma HD8300 Projector Calibration and Settings

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Art Feierman

We calibrate every home theater that we review. This Optoma HD8300 is no exception. Mike got to calibrate it before I really started watching the HD8300.

Our calibrations, including this Optoma HD8300, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, tint (where applicable), etc. Only in very special circumstances will we calibrate the individual colors, in which case we discuss why.

Let's take a look at the numbers:

Optoma HD8300 Color Temperature

Color Temp over IRE Range, Best Mode (Pre calibration)
30 IRE	6680
50 IRE	6689
80 IRE	6959
100 IRE	7002

Before we provide our settings, lets see what we started out with: Pre calibration, these are the color temperatures over the grayscale range:

Not bad, overall a touch cool.

Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE
Cinema	843 @ 7002
Reference	860 @ 7020
Photo	833 @ 8108
Bright	826 @ 8508 (Using Native color temp increases lumens to 992)
User	753 @ 6960

According to Mike, the variation in brightness is tied to the different color temperature settings. In other words, changing the color temp of a mode, will cause the brightness to change to pretty much follow these numbers:

Effect of Color Temp Setting on Lumen Output, Bright mode
Native	992
D93	706
D83	774
D75 (default)	826
D65	850
D50	674

Optoma HD8300 Basic Settings

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In addition to calibrating Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.

Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):

Lamp Mode= Bright (unless noted otherwise) NOTE: The Image AI lamp mode is the same brightness as Bright lamp mode.
All other settings at default (untouched)