# Best CHEAP home theater projector?



## chmcke01 (Nov 26, 2013)

My wife has given me a limit of "about $500" for a projector. I think I can stretch that to $600 plus tax but not any further. What is the best overall projector in this range? 

Some more information is that the room will only be 12' by 15' or at the smallest 12' by 12' (depending on if construction costs are higher than anticipated) and I want the screen to be at least 120 inches. 

A friend of mine has a BenQ W710ST and it has a good picture and he loves it. I have played video games and watched movies on it and if it has the rainbow effect I have not seen it. The updated version of that is the W770ST and is only about $550 and I was planning on going with that unless someone can recommend a better projector within my budget. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!


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## natescriven (Jan 12, 2011)

Are you concerned about the quality of sound? I would avoid a square room if possible.


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## chmcke01 (Nov 26, 2013)

natescriven said:


> Are you concerned about the quality of sound? I would avoid a square room if possible.


Not too much, I am in no way an audiophile. I plan to use the projector exclusively for my PS3 and my computer which will be outputting audio to my several year old 5.1 Yamaha receiver. The speakers are just cheap Acoustic Audio speakers. My main concern is just being able to hear the voices and the background sound (currently I just have 3.1 setup and if I have the background sound to a good level I can barely hear people talking, but if I turn it up to where I can hear the voices fine and then there is a sudden explosion or something my eardrums nearly burst....not literally, but it is super loud, if anyone has any suggestions on that it would be great as well).

I intend to avoid a square room if I can, I am more concerned with being able to get my preferred picture size than sound. 

Also important that I forgot to mention the first time is maintenance costs. I would like one with decent lamp life and then I don't want replacing the lamp to be about as high as getting a new projector. Looks like the replacement lamp for the W770ST is about $150 which I think is very reasonable. Any more than $250 I think would probably be too high unless the lamp has a super long life. The projector will be in a room with only a single window at the back of the adjacent wall (so not opposite the screen) and it will be covered with a blackout curtain.


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## Dougme57 (Sep 4, 2013)

The BenQ looks to be a good choice. For what you want to do look at 720p projectors. I personally prefer DLP, but that is just that, a personal choice. Some other questions:

1 Will it be ceilng mounted or table?
2 will you count on it for sound or do you have computer speakers?
3 Will you be connecting by HDMI and do you need 2 ports?

I bought a 720p InFocus 5 years ago and have it ceiling mounted. I built a 100" screen and have HDMI and component cables running to it. We watch blu rays, hd tv, xbox and have a pc running to it through HMI. I am on my second bulb and would love a newer 1080p projector but this is pretty good and it is used every day.


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## chmcke01 (Nov 26, 2013)

Dougme57 said:


> The BenQ looks to be a good choice. For what you want to do look at 720p projectors. I personally prefer DLP, but that is just that, a personal choice. Some other questions:
> 
> 1 Will it be ceilng mounted or table?
> 2 will you count on it for sound or do you have computer speakers?
> ...


1. It will be ceiling mounted, I will have all the necessary cables run through the wall/ceiling during construction
2. I will not rely on built in sound, I plan to get audio straight from my computer and PS3 to my receiver using optical cables. 
3. I plan to use HDMI for both the PS3 and the computer, but if need be I could use VGA for the computer


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Regardless of your personal taste or lack of an audiophile ear you do not want a square room. Avoid it at all costs. 
Yup look for a used Panasonic AE2000 or even a Sanyo Z4 or Z5 not many "good" projectors out there for $550. You will be stuck with 720p if you go new.


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## chmcke01 (Nov 26, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> Regardless of your personal taste or lack of an audiophile ear you do not want a square room. Avoid it at all costs.
> Yup look for a used Panasonic AE2000 or even a Sanyo Z4 or Z5 not many "good" projectors out there for $550. You will be stuck with 720p if you go new.


Thanks for the advice, I have let our house designer know that if the budget will not allow for the proposed specs that I would still like to keep the same rectangular specs.

As far as the projector goes, I generally don't buy used...I have had some bad experiences with used in the past so I am fine with just 720p to get it in my price range.


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## Horrorfan33 (Jun 11, 2013)

I'm using an Epson 710HD right now and I'm pretty impressed with it!!...I'm throwing a 100" image onto a painted screen and it looks great, especially for the price!!..I got it on sale for $600...You might want to check it out, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the picture quality!!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Here is even a better deal on an Epson 725HD at Visual Apex for under $600
http://www.visualapex.com/Epson/Projector-Specifications.asp?For-The=Home-Cinema-725HD


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## DocFJ (Apr 17, 2013)

Try the Viewsonic PJD5533W ($435 at Amazon right now). You'll get native widescreen, and slightly better than 720p. Viewsonic has the best warranty out there for projectors, and it gets great reviews.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The viewsonic is not a home theater projector, it's a multimedia projector and as such will have to scale to play 720p. Not sure how good the scaling is but dlp projectors generally don't fair so well.


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## DocFJ (Apr 17, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> The viewsonic is not a home theater projector, it's a multimedia projector and as such will have to scale to play 720p. Not sure how good the scaling is but dlp projectors generally don't fair so well.


I totally agree that it is a multimedia/office projector. So are a lot of decent quality projectors in the $500 price range. The only major difference is that it is 16:10 aspect ratio (1280X800) instead of 16:9 (1280X720). All this means is that there will be small black bars at the top and bottom, but there isn't any loss of resolution. I am not sure 'real' home theater projectors exist below $1,000. Though I am sure we all have our own thoughts on what is needed to be considered a home theater projectoronder:


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Acer-H6510BD.htm but it may be over the price limit unless you find it on sale someplace


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## qx56 (Mar 6, 2012)

I have seen some great deals on the mitsubushi hc3800 and hc4000. great projectors. Everytime i watch a bluray on mine I am amazed at the performance for the price.


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