# Viewsonic Pro8200 or Epson 8350 Owners?



## memarcus (Jan 28, 2010)

I'm trying to advise a friend on PJ's and am more knowledgeable of the audio side. He has narrowed the two PJ's down that fit his budget. He has a fairly large room with some light control but will have ambient light. He's not a videophile but is looking for the best he can get within means. Will likely use a paint on DIY screen. The room is approx. 25x25 in a basement. Seating distance is about 10-11 ft or so.

Questions are as follows:

Is the contrast difference between the two as big a deal as it appears (50K vs. 5K)?

would a dark screen be required for acceptable blacks with the Viewsonic?

Any owners out there with comments? Anyone able to post screen pics (would be awesome of you)?

Would also be interested to know the lamp output in eco modes for each if anyone has that information so we can use the available calculators.

also is there a far better choice for the money? seems the 8350 runs about $1200 and the Viewsonic about $800.

Both of these are pretty similar projectors but given the price difference, I'm not sure whther the iris would be worth it on the epson. "Looks" like a big difference but is it noticeable in a pretty basic setup? Seems like on the flat screens I can't tell a difference side by side once the contrast gets to a certain level, say 40-50K, but I've never seen a 4K display. Also it's prolly not the same on on a TV versus PJ screen.

Thanks.


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## jasoraso (Jan 31, 2012)

memarcus said:


> I'm trying to advise a friend on PJ's and am more knowledgeable of the audio side. He has narrowed the two PJ's down that fit his budget. He has a fairly large room with some light control but will have ambient light. He's not a videophile but is looking for the best he can get within means. Will likely use a paint on DIY screen. The room is approx. 25x25 in a basement. Seating distance is about 10-11 ft or so.
> 
> Questions are as follows:
> 
> Is the contrast difference between the two as big a deal as it appears (50K vs. 5K)?


I don't think the difference between contrast numbers is that big of a deal because you are comparing a DLP (Viewsonic) with an LCD (Epson). If you look at many DLP projectors, you will see that the ranges of contrast is vastly different compared to LCD contrast ranges. 



memarcus;495341would a dark screen be required for acceptable blacks with the Viewsonic?[/QUOTE said:


> If you are viewing with any ambient light, I believe a "gray screen" will be necessary with either projector
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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