How good are Projectors?

[WarDemon666]

I was thinking of buying one for watching movies, and wasnt planning on getting a screen, just planning on painting the wall completly white/light grey. Good idea, or not? I dont wanna spend more then about 1500$.

What should i be looking for? whats better a contrast ratio of 300:1 (blacker blacks and whiter whites) or 1200:1 ?


Is it worth it? my dad wanted to get a 60" plasma, but i say for the extra money just get a projector, he just wants a big screen. Hows the quality on one of these things? ecost.com seems to have some pretty good deals.

Can anyone give me some links on a good projector for the 1500$ range? (or higher if i wont get nothing good for $1500)


Thanks a lot!
Carl

 

[arod]

Depends on you definition of "good"... I have an AE100 which is now 2 yrs old and I consider it decent but piss poor compared to what else is out there.

Your best option is to go to a local HomeTheater Store and demo projectors up to about 3k, and find one you like and get that one online pjs normally run about 40% off online vs what kind of pricing you would see in a HomeTheater Store (IE retail price).

 

[WarDemon666]

When I say good I mean, pretty decent, colors are nice, brightness is good, and the image is smooth.

Anything that would be decent for a sound system of about 3000$

 

[Apex]

Projectors are great if you have good ambient light control. That's very important though.

You can start with a painted wall, but you may want to eventually move to something else. You can make a cheap DIY screen for under $100 though. Might be worth your while.

At $1700-1800, there's the Sanyo PLV-Z2 and Panasonic PT-AE500u. Both great projectors. 1280x720 native resolution, 1300:1 contrast (very good number for LCD projectors), 800-850 lumens, digital input with copy protection (also becoming more and more important).

Those are the cheapest 720p native 16:9 projectors available.

DLP's are also a good choice, but you'll want to look at them first to see if you're affected by the rainbow effect. Most people are not.

 

[Excelsior]

AVS Forum.

Excellent resource.

 

[waggy]

ohh i been thinking of getting one myself.

Just need to figure out if we would like it over a widescreen HD Tv. We watch more movies then TV.

I started thinking of it from Apex's setup. a 100 inch screen would be great.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: waggy
ohh i been thinking of getting one myself.

Just need to figure out if we would like it over a widescreen HD Tv. We watch more movies then TV.

I started thinking of it from Apex's setup. a 100 inch screen would be great.

Don't aim for 100". It all too quickly starts looking small.

What's your viewing distance?

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

 

[MysticLlama]

We got a Sharp Notevision at the office about a year ago.

It's been great, other than it being in for repair because someone took it on a trip and dropped it :S

We paid around $2500 for it, and it's a 2000 lumen DLP. (can't remember the contrast ratio)

It works fairly well even with all the lights on, looks great when they are dimmed.

You definately would want to buy a screen though, they are cheap. Our 84x84 screen was only $150 or so if I remember right. There are a bunch at CDW you can do price comparisons on. It's definately an improvement worth at least double that if you were to just buy a more expensive projector instead.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: waggy
ohh i been thinking of getting one myself.

Just need to figure out if we would like it over a widescreen HD Tv. We watch more movies then TV.

I started thinking of it from Apex's setup. a 100 inch screen would be great.

Don't aim for 100". It all too quickly starts looking small.

What's your viewing distance?

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

heh 100 inch seems huge compared to my little 25" TV now.

Not sure on the veiwing distance. we need to find a new house first or build. we have'nt decided on what we are going to do yet.

 

[huey1124]

i bought Canon LV-7215 a couple of months ago, and i couldn't be happier. resolution is XGA native, and here's the spec i found online:

2500 ANSI lumens
LCD: 0.8" TFT Active Matrix type, 3 panels
Resolution: Native XGA resolution 1024 x 768
Horizontal Resolution: 800 TV lines (S-Video)
Pixels: 2,359,296 (1024 x 768 x 3 panels)
Projection lens: 1.6x ultra-wide optical zoom lens
F1.7 ~ 2.5 lens with F20.0~32.0mm with manual zoom and focus
Contrast: 350:1
Projection image size: 40" - 300" (diagonal)
Projection distance: 3.3 feet - 25.3 feet
Digital Keystone Correction
Color system: NTSC, PAL, SECAM, NTSC 4.43, PAL-M and PAL-N
High Definition TV Signal: Compatibility 480i, 480p, 575i, 575p, 720p, 1035i, 1080i
Progressive scan circuitry

it comes with DVI input, and i bought a new Dell with Radeon 9800pro hooked up to it. DirecTV, DVD player, and XBOX (with the HD adapter) look great, when i hooked them up through the component input. i don't have time to go into all the details, but all in all, i'm happy with my purchase. i paid around $2700.

 

[Apex]

When you're looking for a projector. Pay attention to contrast more than lumens. It's a much MUCH more important spec for video use (as opposed to office use). High brightness gives you a little bit of resistance towards ambient light, and a bit more "punchy picture", both of which can be had with a higher gain screen (or paint). Better contrast gives you more shadow detail (most movies tend to be dark) and a lower black level.

My last projector was a Proxima DP8000HB, which had 3300 ANSI lumens, and 800:1 contrast. Used it with a small 80" screen too, so it was super bright. Not worth the tradeoff.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
AVS Forum.

Excellent resource.

So true, and here's another.

 

[WarDemon666]

Originally posted by: Apex
Projectors are great if you have good ambient light control. That's very important though.

You can start with a painted wall, but you may want to eventually move to something else. You can make a cheap DIY screen for under $100 though. Might be worth your while.

At $1700-1800, there's the Sanyo PLV-Z2 and Panasonic PT-AE500u. Both great projectors. 1280x720 native resolution, 1300:1 contrast (very good number for LCD projectors), 800-850 lumens, digital input with copy protection (also becoming more and more important).

Those are the cheapest 720p native 16:9 projectors available.

DLP's are also a good choice, but you'll want to look at them first to see if you're affected by the rainbow effect. Most people are not.

Any links on where I could find these?

Thanks.

 

[Apex]

Check froogle.

You should definitely take the time to go into local AV stores and at least compare a DLP projector with an LCD projector though. It'll be worth it before you buy.