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I need help choosing my first projector
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etherz
Junior Member
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15. March 2004 @ 09:17 |
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I've been loking for a new err, tv for my room downstairs that currently has a tv, computer, couch in (not the living room) and this is where i will watch most of my films and watch tv. I wanted a BIG tv or a projector, i am quite a computer geek but have no experiance in projectors.
My budget is just under £1000
I have looked at:
TV
CRT-Probably to small, only up to 36"
LCD-Great bu too expensive
Plasma-Nice but fade and too expensive
Rear Projection-Sales person nearly got me, but no no no, 3 bulbs are too expensive to replace and they don't look too good
Projectors
Great idea but i don't know many people with one in their living room which they also use as a tv for four hours a day (is that a bad idea). I have seen the epson EMP-TW10 that does widescreen and the bulbs only cost £144 (Affordable)
My Requirements
Already have sound setup,
Already spotted screen
Use with freeview, vcr, dvd, and pc (not much so don't need good resolution for pc)
Cheap bulbs
Long lamp life
good recommendations
widescreen
as quiet or quieter that a ps2 console
Much help would be appreciated, this is only my first projector so it cannot be more than £1000.
If you don't think i should get a projector then please tell me any alternatives and don't flame me if i'm totally wrong
Thanks -={EtHErZ}=-
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AfterDawn Addict
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15. March 2004 @ 10:40 |
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I think a projector would be a good idea in your case. Since it is a first time purchase, you budget is a sensible one. I spent £1060 on an amazing Panasonic PT-AE500 that will do all you need it to do and gives amazing resolution and clarity/colour. It is also very quiet. However, you can get the Pansonic PT-AE300 which is a very good system also. I got my from a German retailer who delivers to the UK for £25 (cash ondelivery). Here is a link to one:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3083857683&category=19722
Also, it may be worth while to look at the Sony HS1, as a lot of people are very happy with it. Note that these projectors are SVGA projetors, whereas my Pansonic is a WXGA projector. It is my second projector and it is absolutely amazing. However i do recommend using a Progressive scanning DVD player (like MArantz DV4300) to enable the better picture quality.
To understand more about Progressive scan, visit this post:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/74567
Also, have a look at this post for more info:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/74117
Hope this helps,
Anymore questions, feel free to ask,
Chris
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etherz
Junior Member
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16. March 2004 @ 07:12 |
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thanks a lot!
i will look at these links and do some more research and tell you what i have chosen
-={EtHErZ}=-
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. March 2004 @ 11:05 |
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No problem, let us know what you narrow it down to and before you actually buy it and maybe we can give you more advice.
Thanks
Chris
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mike17032
Newbie
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17. March 2004 @ 03:27 |
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I also need help choosing my first projector. I am not sure what currency you guys are using, but I dont want to spend more than about $6-7000 US. This is just for the projector itself, I am willing to get a good screen later. And I already have a very good sound system ready to go (the TV is the last part).
It will be my primary TV. I play a lot of Video Games (Mostly Xbox, and most of those games are in 480p with some in 720p or 1080i). The TV I watch is from Direct TV (so it will also be high def with a new reciver).
Here is what I care about:
the picture MUST look good, having a clear picture is very important to me.
I need all 3 HDTV formats (480p, 720p, and 1080i) supported. All 3 must look good too because of the varying formats I play.
It has to do well in a room that has some light in it. I can keep the room dim but I want to be able to watch TV with some lights on and still see.
Before I started looking at projectors I had my eye on this TV from Sony:
http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&catoid=-8041&qp=0&oid=82156
Its a 70 inch LCD TV that goes for around $7000. Very clear and bright, one of the best looking TVs I have ever seen.
Can I get a projector in my price range that will do what this TV does? Do you guys think a Projector is right for me, or should I go with the giant TV?
It seems that if I go with a Projector that DLP is the way to go. The Optoma H76 seems to fall right in my price range, and I have heard some good things about it (both here and other places).
Thanks again for any responces.
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AfterDawn Addict
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17. March 2004 @ 06:42 |
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Hi, that is certainly a nice budget to have available and you will find something to suit your needs. First off, the Sony certainly is a big television, but i dont say anywhere anything about its contrast ratio, which will be very important. I personally, like the quality you can get with a projector over a fixed LCD/Plasma screen.
Lets look at your projector options:
1). You need a projector that projects XGA or better
2). You need a projector that outputs 1000+ Lumens or so to enable you to use it in birght room.
3). You need a projector with component connections for high quality images.
From this, i can recommend a few projectors. Firstly, lets look at the NEC WT600 at $6995.
It has an output in Lumens of 1500ANSI which means it will be nice and bright even in a lit-up room. Its contrast ratio is an amazing 3000:1 meaning that the black levels will be perfect when under any viewing conditions. Its a DLP projection system with 6 segment colour wheel meaning no rainbow effects. Also it supports 1080interlace, 720progressive and 480p/i. It has DVI and Component as well as VGA connection. Note: it is a 4:3 native projector, so widescreen will have bars top and bottom.
http://www.projectorcentral.com/NEC-WT600.htm
Secondly, lets look at the Optoma H76 $5995, my personal favourite. Its another DLP projector with 1000ANSI lumens output and 2000:1 contrast ratio. It isnt as bright as the NEC, but does have a distinct advantage with its 7 segment colour wheel and Mustang HD2 DLP chip. Its also a WXGA resolution, native 16:9 projector, so 4:3 images will have black bars to the left and right. It supports more HDTV and has 1080i,720p,575i,576p,480i,480p as well as having Component Inputs and DVI inputs (VGA for PC).
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-H76.htm
Next we look at the Benq 8700 ($7995). It may be a bit over the budget, but its another great projector with a 7segment colour wheel with HD2 Mustang DLP chip in it. It has a good 1000 Lumens, and a good 2000:1 contrast ratio (anything over 1000:1 is pretty good). It supports 1080i, 720p, 480i, 480p and has component inputs as well as DVI and VGA. Its a WXGA resolution of 1280x720 Pixels so will suit 16:9 modes better than 4:3. There is a model called the 8710 which is the same price, but has 900 Lumens output and 2500:1 contrast ratio (i would choose this but i watch movies in a darkened room).
http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-PE8700.htm
Overall, i think for your needs, NEC WT600 is the better model. the reason i say this is the higher output of Lumens for the brightness and the higher contrast of 3000:1 (to combat the increase in lumens). The Optoma H76 would probably be my choice for its fantastic price and amazing specification, but if you use XBox and games a lot, the 16:9 format may not be the best and the 1000 Lumens may not be bright enough for you in a light room.
With the NEC, the brightness in daylight should be good because of the high contrast. I had a 1600 Lumen projecotr which was nice and bright in daylight, but with only 350:1 contrast, it was very poor depth and blacks. Now i have a 850 Lumen Projector (which i only use at about 600 Lumens) with a 1300:1 contrast and it is excellent, but only in darker rooms.
Hope this helps.
Chris
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AfterDawn Addict
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17. March 2004 @ 06:50 |
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mike17032
Newbie
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17. March 2004 @ 09:07 |
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Thanks for all the info!
And the Xbox does support 16:9 in all the games that are high def. I forgot to mention that I want a widescreen model (have to plan for the future).
Based off what you said, looks like I was on the right path with that H76. Unless there is an NEC similar to the NEC WT600 but with native 16:9 size?
I do like the brightness of the of the NEC, and the contrast. Do you think the H76 will be bright enough though? The room wont be really bright, just have a few lights on sometimes.
I guess my biggest question is can a projector be used as your primary TV? I half watch TV a lot (while I am on the computer gaming ect). I dont know why it wouldnt work (i know the bulbs need replaced but so do the ones in DLP and LCD TVs).
I dont have a number for the contrast ratio on that TV, but its better than any other LCD or DLP I have seen. Big reason I liked it. Very bright image too (almost to bright sometimes).
Great forum btw, and thanks for your help.
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birtytown
Junior Member
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17. March 2004 @ 11:11 |
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I have two projectors for sale . email me @
reefermik@hotmail.com for photos and info
buy payes p+p etc UK only ( my location - BRIRMINGHAM)
OPEN TO OFFERS OR CASH / SWOPS .
I KNOW
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. March 2004 @ 04:15 |
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Birtytown - its a US user
Mike:
The H76 is an ideal choice, in fact the much cheaper H56 is an amazing projector as well, i tried to get one from the US myself but the customs fees were too high. In terms of brightness, i think the H76 is fine in a room with a few lamps (maybe not the main light) on around the room. In fact, to set up a home cinema system correctly, a lot of people would recommend putting a light behind the screen to lessen eye strain (personally i prefer the dark room). It would probably be bright enough for your requirements, the contrast ration helps this. Obviously, the darker the room, the more the picture comes to life in terms of quality and contrast, but even my 600Lumens setting Panasonic will work ok with the lamp on in the room.
Also, for watching TV, it will only be good if you are using a HDTV signal for the image.
Hope this helps
Chris
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mike17032
Newbie
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18. March 2004 @ 09:22 |
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Great news, thanks. I know the normal DTV channels (non-high def) are not going to look great, but thats no different than on any big screen right?
The way a projector has to scale the resolution on 1080i pictures, is that the same way that a big screen TV would too? I am pretty sure the LCD TVs have a set number of pixes too (1386 x 788 x 3, on the XBR I was looking at), not that far off from what the projector has.
So far I like everything I hear about projectors, and thanks again for all your help.
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. March 2004 @ 10:07 |
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Yeah, the LCD televisions will have (should have) inbuilt scalers for various formats. The one inside the H76 is extremely good. Instead of me eplaining it poorly, here is a good lot of information on the H76 Projector:
http://www.coleprojectors.com/which_home_theater_H76.shtml
Also, note that there is a new mode, the H77 coming out in a while (probably end of year or later). In case you could be bothered waiting. Personally, new projector models come out all the time. I would just get the H76 and be happy with it. Then if you want to upgrade to a new one, you will know where to send your old one to ;-) *me* lol
Glad to help
Chris
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mike17032
Newbie
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18. March 2004 @ 11:31 |
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Any idea what the new features are on the H77?
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. March 2004 @ 13:41 |
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None whatsoever, Optoma havent released anything yet, bar that they are working on it. I dont forsee any massive changes, but who knows??
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etherz
Junior Member
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3. April 2004 @ 06:47 |
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Hi guys,
My search slowed down a bit for a few weekends but i am now close to finalising my projector.
I really like the Panasonic PT-AE projectors for many reasons such as Scart connection (good for freeview and stuff), winescreen and 5000 hr lamp life. I have even gone to see the PT-AE500E in action at the Panasionic Retail shop in Milton Keynes and was really impressed but they tried to charge me £1599 for it, no way!!!
I've been having a look for it on the internet and have found http://www.komplett.co.uk where i buy computer parts from stock it but, i have been told that they are not an authorised Panasonic UK dealer and therefore there products must be "Grey Imports", this is not a problem as the warranty is valid in any country and at the end of the day it is still a PT-AE500E so i don't have a problem with that.
There prices are very competetive:
PT-AE500E - £1,116.25
PT-AE300 - £775.50
Prices are inc. vat and delivery is an extra £5.
The PT-AE300 seems much better value at £340.75 cheaper but i am still in favour of the PT-AE500E.
Screen 1370mm x 1245mm - £111.63 inc. vat and delivery.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3089256552
Any thoughts please, i need your help.
-={EtHErZ}=-
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. April 2004 @ 07:24 |
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Quote:
products must be "Grey Imports"
They may not be grey imports. They can of course be products purchased in bulk from a Panny distributor who is authorised. Richersounds, the largest hifi retailer in the UK, was accused of being a Grey Import user, but turns out they got deals from companies who were Authorised.
In terms of your choices...
The screen you are looking at seems pretty decent. I looked at it myself not so long ago, but opted for a screen more like this one because of the gain of 1.1:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3088046225&category=22610
The projectors you are looking at are both great. The PTAE300 gets amazing reviews from its many owners that all say that the SDE is virtually invisible and that there is no vertical banding at all with it. The AE500 however, has the higher resolution, which you do notice when seeing them both together. It to has minimal Screen Door Effect, and although there are some users that experience vertical banding, you can do a flicker tweet in the service menu that will allow you to rid yourself of it (i personally never got any with mine)
The contrast ratio on the PTAE500 is fabulous with great black levels. It comes with 2 cinema mode settings for colour, but for me, and a few others, we found ours to have far to much green. A DVD calibration disc sorted that so now i have the perfect picture.
I highly recommend you getting a Panasonic PTAE500. I got my from here:
http://www.tsn-cd.de/
It only cost £1060 + £20 p&p whih you can choose to pay in cash when you receive it. They do speak English.
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. April 2004 @ 07:25 |
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etherz
Junior Member
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3. April 2004 @ 09:21 |
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Thanks i will talk it over with the rest of the family.
-={EtHErZ}=-
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. April 2004 @ 09:50 |
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No probs, im sure you will enjoy your purchase no matter which one you get.
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biebelop
Newbie
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21. May 2004 @ 03:28 |
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Hi all,
I also want to buy my first projector.
Looking at optoma I like the EP756.
However this does noet seem to be a home theater version like H56,... but has much better lumens (2000)
Can I watch movies and tv properly with the EP756?
Has anyone an idea and help me out:
http://www.optoma.co.uk/PDF/English-PDF/EP757/756-BackUK.pdf
Thanks,
Biebelop
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AfterDawn Addict
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21. May 2004 @ 05:27 |
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I spent a lot of research on those Optoma porjectors mentioned and read virtually every spec sheet and review on the internet.
What it boils down to is that the EP756/7 is not really a Home Cinema projector, its a business orientated presentation projector, hence the amount of lumens. Now, with increased Lumens, most people would assume this to be a good thing. In practice it is not.
With Home Cinema, detail and picture clarity are the most important things for us users. Now, the one good attribute, apart from the standard expected of XGA, is that it has a 2000:1 contrast ratio at Max. However, realistictly, this is more or less around 1000:1 when running the projector in normal use. With a high amount of Lumens, 2300, the effect is normally to drain the depth out of a picture. Details in shadows and other darkened areas tend to give the picture a flat appearance which isnt ideal for Home Cinema, but fine for presentations.
The other thing to note is that the Optoma EP757 is a 4:3 aspect ratio projector. This means that in effect you will get a lot less than the XGA resolution when viewing a 16:9 movie on a screen, due to a lot of the pixels being wasted to display black bars top and bottom.
With this in mind, if you can afford the H56, it is so much better for Home Cinema than the EP757. It also has a faster spinning 6 segment colour wheel, virtually eliminating all rainbow artifects that can sometimes cause eye strain with DLP projectors. It has a native 16:9 setting on it to allow it to porject the image without wasting pixels and it has 2000:1 contrast ratio with 1000 Lumens, much better for home cinema.
To give you an idea of my set-up, i have an 850 Lumens projector, though i have it set to output only around 600 Lumens (that figure realistictly is more like 450 Lumens) with a 1300:1 contrast ratio (Realisticly around 900:1) and a native WXGA projection 16:9 system LCD projector. In a darkened room, the quality, clarity and colours are amazing. The low Lumens doesnt drain the picture like a high Lumen output would give you. In fact, i have a friend who projects around the equivalent of 450 Lumens with a 9000:1 contrast ratio, max at 15000:1 on his CRT system. Now that gives details lol and you can get one for a good price, but very bulky, not digital, and you would need to invest in a good scaler/de-interlacer etc...
If you are interested in the Optoma, this guy usually has the best price on them:
H56:
http://www.coleprojectors.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_31&products_id=35
Hope this helps,
Chris
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biebelop
Newbie
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22. May 2004 @ 07:49 |
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Hi Oriphus,
Thanks a lot for the info. It really helped.
I was always wondering what the difference was between home cinema or business. At several specs the business seemed better and cheaper. I also thought a high lumens was required. I will check the european price on the H56.
Thanks again.
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AfterDawn Addict
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22. May 2004 @ 09:20 |
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A high amount of lumens is only required for a very bright room or for presentations. For home cinema, a lower amount, somewhere in the region of 600-900 is about perfect in a dark room with a good contrast projector.
One of the reasons the business projector tend to be cheaper than the home cinema projector, in DLP anyway, is that it usually doesnt use as fast a colour wheel or one with as many segments. Some of them even use DLP chips with a 10 degree turning angle, as opposed to the 12 degrees ones on the DDR chips.
Im glad you found the information useful. If you can get in within the next two days, there seems to be a great deal on ebay at the minute on that projector. Normally, we are talking over £2000 for it in the UK, but here it is used for only 175 hours (if that is correct) for a lot less:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22610&item=5700473516&rd=1
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aeternum
Newbie
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29. June 2004 @ 01:10 |
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Hi, I'm a new member to this forum, and also very new to this field of projectors & media. I am also looking for my first projector. I've read some links on this forum and some other websites, and I think the LCD projectors are a good choice. Oriphus recommended the Panasonic PT-AE500 and a few others. My budget for a projector is $1,000-$2000. But the more I read about these projectors, I am even more confused, with the widescreens, the ratios, etc. So I guess the best way to ask about what projector is right for me is, what I am going to use it for.
1. Watching video clips and movies, and especially want to link it to my computer so that it is possible to view programs on it. Also I heard someone say something about a specific dvd for a specific projector. I have a dvd drive on my computer, and though if it was possible to use just the dvd on my computer, rather than buying a new dvd player.
2. Secondly, I have come across this item:
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/tventertainment/tvvideoprocessors/vb50hrtv/
And I was thinking of somehow using the projector to also watch tv, as well as play gaming consoles (such as Playstation 2) through this device by Viewsonic. Or maybe it's possible to do all this without using it. I have no idea. =( I read a link about Xbox supporting some screen ratio of 16:3 or something, and I'm absolutely confused. I know that lumens are important, and I would want one that I can see with the lights on. I also know that the lightbulb(?) or something rather is important too, for how long the projector can run until it needs to be given a new bulb or something. I have no idea on that too. Sigh.
3. I also thought if it was possible to use my computer monitor at the same time, using the projector. I've seen some computer connected to the projector, and the computer had used the projector as a second monitor. I don't know whether that is better, or if the projector replicating what I see on the monitor is better. Again, I know the people in this forum know so much more..
I looked at Dell's 3300MP, found here:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=3300CC3&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=5188&page=external
I have no idea of other projectors. I would appreciate it if someone would help me with picking one.
Sorry, if this is a long link. I want to ask one more question. I know that for DVDs, sound is just as important (if not more) than the picture. I thought maybe if it was possible to get a 5.1 surround sound system connected to the computer, so that I could play music through the computer, as well as watch dvd with the system. I've seen the Klipsch PC speakers, and the Logitech z-680. Other than that, I don't know much about the receivers, and such. Maybe this should be posted on the other forum. But just in case anyone could help, thanks.
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