# Latest, greatest affordable projector?



## BMWR75 (Dec 19, 2008)

About 1.5 years ago I bought a Mits HD-1000U projector (720P) for less than $1000. I thought it was a great deal then and have been very pleased with it every since. 720P projectors were bargains because 1080i was the standard and 1080p projectors were just coming onto the scene at a price point bleeding-edgers were willing to pay.

Projector tech was changing fast at the time of my purchase and I've not stayed in touch with the latest developements. What's the latest deal on projectors that was near the one I got 1.5 years ago?

Regards, BmWr75


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

1080p projectors are still up there in price well above $1000 but the bigger improvement is light output and contrast ratios. They have improved that dramatically and even the 720p projectors of today will blow away what you have now.


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## BMWR75 (Dec 19, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> They have improved that dramatically and even the 720p projectors of today will blow away what you have now.


For example?? What 720p makes/models??


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Ok well, Here is your current projector. Its 1500 lumens with a contrast ratio of 2500:1
Here is the Panasonic PT AX200U. Its less expensive and is 2000 lumen at 6000:1 contrast ratio.
How large of a screen do you have?


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## BMWR75 (Dec 19, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> Ok How large of a screen do you have?


Tony, thanks for the links. I have a 102" Carada fixed screen in a 100% light controlled basement HT.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

That Panasonic for the price is hard to beat. With a 102" screen you would be hard pressed to see a difference between a 720p projector and a lower end 1080p projector.


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## BMWR75 (Dec 19, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> With a 102" screen you would be hard pressed to see a difference between a 720p projector and a lower end 1080p projector.


How large a screen would a person need to have to see the difference between 720p and 1080p?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Some say over 100" but others say 110" and it depends on alot of other things like screen design and the projector its self. I myself would love to upgrade my old Sanyo Z2 720p as its only 800 lumen but that would be a very tough sell to the wife. The good 1080p projectors are well out of my reach.


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## panther3769 (Feb 8, 2009)

I am dedicating my basement mostly to the HT (next to the bar, pool table..etc), so lighting wont be an issue, but I am not sure how big I really want the screen to be. What is a good size screen, if your 12-15ft away from it?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I personally would not go larger than 110", I sit 12' away (front row) and have a 96" and find that very nice and I dont find myself moving my head much to see the entire movie.


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## panther3769 (Feb 8, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> I personally would not go larger than 110", I sit 12' away (front row) and have a 96" and find that very nice and I dont find myself moving my head much to see the entire movie.


That is what I was looking for, how much head movement there was, once again tony you come through :hail:


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## staindrocks (Feb 1, 2009)

I just ordered a refurbished BenQ W5000 directly from BenQ(with the latest fw upgrade-v2.01) for $1387.00 shipped! And it's a pretty highly rated 1080 pj, for those who don't know. I'm not sure how you guys feel about refurbs, but this is the lowest price i've seen for a highly rated 1080p since they've been released. If you're interested, i talked to the woman at BenQ and she said they only had 10 units left, so you better hurry!


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## muzz (Nov 30, 2006)

staindrocks said:


> I just ordered a refurbished BenQ W5000 directly from BenQ(with the latest fw upgrade-v2.01) for $1387.00 shipped! And it's a pretty highly rated 1080 pj, for those who don't know. I'm not sure how you guys feel about refurbs, but this is the lowest price i've seen for a highly rated 1080p since they've been released. If you're interested, i talked to the woman at BenQ and she said they only had 10 units left, so you better hurry!


I came to this thread to tell folks that the W5000 was available again, and I see your post!!
I would definitely get this PJ if it had a shorter throw, as I only have 11' available, which will give me only 82".
Latest Firmware already installed as stated.

I REALLY wish this had a shorter throw lens :hissyfit::crying:


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## staindrocks (Feb 1, 2009)

Muzz, i just received mine today. Wow, the size of this thing! I never expected it to be so big. I can't wait to get this thing mounted, but i have to finish the HT room, first. I need to paint the walls/ceiling and then paint my BW screen. Then i still have to install the carpet and move the furniture in. It's going to kill me to have to wait!

Oh, for anyone interested in the Benq deal...they won't ship out until early March, just to let you know.


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## muzz (Nov 30, 2006)

Enjoy your new PJ.
I would at least plug it in and make sure there is nothing wrong with it though, so if there is an issue, it can be rectified while you are still working on the HT.

Congrats!!


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## staindrocks (Feb 1, 2009)

Thanks! I did hook it up and power it on, but i didn't connect any video source to it. Everything seems good, except it says it has 200 hrs on the bulb. I would've thought that they would've replaced it with a brand new bulb, since it was factory refurbished. What's the normal practice?


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## muzz (Nov 30, 2006)

I don't know, I think it's luck of the draw there, and you have the most I have heard of.

If it were me I would run it through a few tests with a DVD player/cable just to make sure there are no issues with the inputs, etc..

You may not be hooking this up for awhile, and it would be a real shame to find out that there is a problem AFTER you get all the work done, and are ready to use it....only to have to ship it back to them for repair.

Enjoy


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## panther3769 (Feb 8, 2009)

I would think if the unit is refurb, then they would go through the entire unit and replace the bulb. That is my issue w/refurb. They fix the problem at the time, but dont fix something that is wearing out and will be a problem later, I know this is not the case in all refurb, but that is a chance you take :thud:


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## thewire (Jun 28, 2007)

I bought a used adapter and they sent me gold instead of silver, a subwoofer did not match the others so I got my next free, an open box transcoder and they sent me a brand new one because they could not find the open box one, my center channel was the price of one of my mains, my open box surrounds are still working, all my used amps work alright and so does the used pre/pro. Please let my refurb projector work or have them send me a more expensive model or new one. raying:


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

muzz - I jumped on the w5000 deal as well. That was a great price for a 1080p pj. It ships in about a week. :T


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## thewire (Jun 28, 2007)

If anyone is curious which DarkChip is inside, when I called the tech they said it was DarkChip2.


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## Jeff Aguilar (Apr 11, 2006)

200 hours is not that much time on the bulb. If the bulb was new, you would burn through that much time pretty quickly. I would have been more concerned if it was much longer. What is the life of your bulb? Is it around the 2000 mark?

I also ended up purchasing my pj before my room was done. It motivated me to get the project completed so I could use it!


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## muzz (Nov 30, 2006)

mechman said:


> muzz - I jumped on the w5000 deal as well. That was a great price for a 1080p pj. It ships in about a week. :T



Let me know what ya think mech, it sure looks like a great deal.
It won't work here, or else I probably would have gotten one........I'm looking at the Pioneer FPJ1, because right now they can be had for <3k brand new due to clearing out stock.....I REALLY don't want to spend 3K though, even if it is a JVC RS2 clone(>5K STILL- PIO sells them for 8K).

I'm actually looking used right now, as I don't want to spend >2K

Home theater is pathetic.........:hissyfit:


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Should be on my doorstep this Thursday. I'm planning on moving the Mitsu to the garage for HTS work. :yes:


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## paints (Feb 3, 2008)

My primary viewing chairs are 15 ft back from 110" screen. There is a couch where the 1st person sitting would be 8 ft away from the screen and they have never complained about pixels or uncomfortable viewing.

My projector is the Panny AX200U and it gets two thumbs up from me. I went with the Panny and the Black Widow screen because I like a bit of light in the room so I'm not tripping over my friends while watching sports. Watching movies is a whole other beast. With all the dark scenes. It's always best not to have any lights on.

Good luck on picking a projector.


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## gobrigavitch (Feb 25, 2009)

paints said:


> My primary viewing chairs are 15 ft back from 110" screen. There is a couch where the 1st person sitting would be 8 ft away from the screen and they have never complained about pixels or uncomfortable viewing.
> 
> My projector is the Panny AX200U and it gets two thumbs up from me. I went with the Panny and the Black Widow screen because I like a bit of light in the room so I'm not tripping over my friends while watching sports. Watching movies is a whole other beast. With all the dark scenes. It's always best not to have any lights on.
> 
> Good luck on picking a projector.


You can sit closer to a Panny then a typical PJ because of the smooth screen technology. You can still get pixelization in the image, but you won't see the screen door.

For 720p you should look at sitting in the 1.5-2.0x screen width and for 1080p you can sit closer then that. However you can still see some benefit to 1080p from as far back as 2x the screen width. There is a very good spread sheet put out by Carlton Bale that really helps clarify some of these questions. Google Carlton Bale and Projector and it should come up.

http://www.carltonbale.com/home-theater/home-theater-calculator/


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

muzz said:


> Let me know what ya think mech, it sure looks like a great deal.
> It won't work here, or else I probably would have gotten one........I'm looking at the Pioneer FPJ1, because right now they can be had for <3k brand new due to clearing out stock.....I REALLY don't want to spend 3K though, even if it is a JVC RS2 clone(>5K STILL- PIO sells them for 8K).
> 
> I'm actually looking used right now, as I don't want to spend >2K
> ...


It rocks! Bulb had one hour on it and the image quality compared to my Mitsubishi HC3000U seemed like night and day. When I get some time, I plan on doing a full calibration and writing up a review on it. 

$1400 was a lot less than the $2K+ I paid for the mitsu. Jump on it if you can!!


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## muzz (Nov 30, 2006)

mechman said:


> It rocks! Bulb had one hour on it and the image quality compared to my Mitsubishi HC3000U seemed like night and day. When I get some time, I plan on doing a full calibration and writing up a review on it.
> 
> $1400 was a lot less than the $2K+ I paid for the mitsu. Jump on it if you can!!


Like I said above, it will not work here because of the zoom......:hissyfit:

If it stays trouble free, it will be a steal at that price, and I wish it worked for me....

Have fun with it bud. :T


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## Candoo (Mar 19, 2009)

I love my Optoma HD65 it's a great 720p projector. i sitll need to work out some keystoning and get a screen up.. I love the fact that a HT is a never ending project it's certainly a project I've loved doing.

with my vision i can not tell the difference between 720p and 1080p i will say that this projector is bright and the images are crisp.

thank you for reading my post


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## paints (Feb 3, 2008)

Hi there Candoo!

What type of screen are you thinking about going with? Also...keystone issues? How is your Optoma mounted?

And yes! Home theater seems to be never ending. Although I'm close to finishing Chapter 1 for a completed entry level system.


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