# Is Dell OK for projectors??



## elton (Jan 19, 2008)

Hey guys,

My wife and I want to move the Wii downstairs to the basement. I'm not looking for 1080p/i or even 720p/i, since the Wii with compononet is only good for 420p.
I have an opportunity to pick up a Dell 5100MP for $380 clams. The bulb has 183 hours logged on it ( this is the 2nd bulb, first one had 2100 hrs, so total time on projector is 2283 hrs... Comes from my brothers company, they actually log time on the projectors so bulb life is accurate) They are getting rid of 6 projectors, so I'm first in line for one, the others are already spoken for, so I may have gotten lucky).
My main concern is that from what I understand, this is a top end BUSINESS PRESENTATION type of projector. I'm just wondering if that impacts things like color and picture quality. I don't know diddly about projectors, so any advice is appreciated. If it's considered an Okay projector, does anyone know if it could later be used with a PS3 for Blu-ray.

Thanks.

Elton:mooooh:


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## thxgoon (Feb 23, 2007)

Is it DLP? Do you know the model number?

Often business projectors are design to be used in a bright room for presentations. They are usually very bright and have poor black levels. If you are only using it for the Wii this might be preferable. $380 doesn't sound too bad...


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## Blaser (Aug 28, 2006)

If it is an LCD business projector, I am strongly against (even for free).


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## TRiSS (Aug 29, 2008)

> to pick up a Dell 5100MP for $380 clams





http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&redirect=1&s=dhs&sku=221-9684 said:


> Dell 5100MP Projector
> Starting Price $2,499
> 
> Ultimate Performance and Versatility
> ...


So it's a DLP projector.... These types of projectors are usually geared toward putting out as much light as possible, to be used in non-darkened meeting rooms etc. The Dell projectors we have at work are in general pretty decent in regards to build quality, menu options etc., so it'll probably not fall apart in the near future, and you'll probably be able to tweak the settings :bigsmile:. Most of these are not ideal for critical movie-type viewing, but given enough tweaking etc I think a somewhat decent picture can be obtained, especially if there's not going to be looked at ultra-critically, like when playing wii-games... For that price, personally I would give it a shot....


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## Blaser (Aug 28, 2006)

Definitely, I now agree with you! A careful selection of a grey screen may balance black level and brightness...


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## thxgoon (Feb 23, 2007)

Good catch TRiSS, I missed the model in my first post.

As Blaser says, with the right screen you may be able to get some great results. With 3,000 lumens and only 2500:1 contrast you would probably want one of the darkest screens. I say go for it. For that price you can't go wrong and if you decide to you can put the money saved into a screen. We have lots of experts at DIY screens here


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## elton (Jan 19, 2008)

Okay,

Thanks guys, I 'll give it a go then. I saw a DIY paintable screen system thru Vistek camera stores here in Ottawa.

It's called "Goo systems", and it seems to be fairly well respected for what I've been able to find out about it. I'll go with the grey screen and hopefully with a black background all around the border, it will give decent results. I have a very, VERY, smooooth wall to paint it on, so hopefully I'll get no distortion on it. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for the replys.

Elton


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## thxgoon (Feb 23, 2007)

Goo screens do seem to be respected. Before you pull the trigger on it though you may want to read through our DIY Screen section of this forum. Particularly Black Widow.


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## elton (Jan 19, 2008)

Hmm, Black widow might be the way to go, definitely cheaper than the 300 plus for all of the goo product.


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## Toolatecrew (Jul 10, 2008)

I played around with my sharp work projector for a couple of weeks at home while I waited for my Epson HT projector. 

Make sure you use all the adjustments to best effect. For work I always just turned the proj on plugged it to the source and said lets go. But for home use you can often change everything from color temp to greyscale. A proper calibration (not PRO claibration just with a disk or something) would mage a huge difference.

With such a bright projector you should be able to run it in economy mode save the bulb and noise too. 

Should be fine for Wi but althoughit will work with PS3 you won't get nearly the full benifit from Blu Ray.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The problem with office or so called PC projectors is that the native resolution of them is designed for PC use not home video. This means that all video inputs will need to be scaled to fit and this always causes degradation in picture quality.


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