# help me choose a beamer



## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

Hey guys,

Were setting up a home theater upstairs.
The only thing I know nothing about is beamers.
I want to buy a new beamer So I really need advice.

We will be projecting on a white wall. We wont be using a projector screen. (because the low budget)

The room itself is not really bright nor dark, only a little bit of sunlight is coming through the window. We keep it as dark as possible.

We will use the beamer primarily for playing games on the ps3 but we will also play movies on it. 

The sitting range is between 1 and 4 meters away from the screen, this will variate from time to time. but I think the average will be 3 meters.

The wall we will be projecting on is about 2x2 meters
The max price we want to spend is $500 
The beamer needs to have a HDMI input
A minimum resolution of 1280x720 is a requirement
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Any recommendations? 
Any/all advise is very welcome,

Greetings


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Your going to be looking at a used 720p projector, you wont find any new in that price range. Do you have any good used equipment online forums in Holland like Craigslist?


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> Your going to be looking at a used 720p projector, you wont find any new in that price range. Do you have any good used equipment online forums in Holland like Craigslist?


thanks for your reply,

We do not have such a thing in holland as far as I know.

I found the "eMachines V700" on the internet which is a 720p beamer around that price. 
but is it a good one? do you know anything about eMachines projectors? 

sorry I'm totaly new to this


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

eMachine projectors are designed for multi media (computer) not movies and are not very bright if you have light coming in from outside its a poor choice.


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

what about this one?

http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=dJFFTrSVGYOr-QbS37mSBw&ved=0CH4Q8wIwAA


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2011)

Don't know what currency exchanges are like, but I think the cheapest home theater projector on the market is the Optima HD66 for $700. Watch some of the cheaper ones as they are probably VGA/XVGA and made more for PC hookup, not home theater.


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

Generic said:


> Don't know what currency exchanges are like, but I think the cheapest home theater projector on the market is the Optima HD66 for $700. Watch some of the cheaper ones as they are probably VGA/XVGA and made more for PC hookup, not home theater.


Okay thanks for your help, so these kind of cheap projectors are really no good for hooking up the ps3?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

no, not really good for anything. Generally the black levels are really bad on them and they dont have very good scailing of non PC resolutions like the PS3 or movies.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The Epson you linked to above would be an ok choice if you can get that in Holland?


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> The Epson you linked to above would be an ok choice if you can get that in Holland?


okay, I assume it should be possible to buy it somewhere (or at least a similar one)


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Stick to brand names like Epson, Panasonic, Sanyo, JVC and Sony and make sure it says Home theater projector not Multi Media and that it does 720p or 1080I at the minimum.


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> Stick to brand names like Epson, Panasonic, Sanyo, JVC and Sony and make sure it says Home theater projector not Multi Media.


Okay thanks for the tips!
we weren't planning on buying the eMachines anyway because the brand sounds cheap and is a sub-brand of acer. My experience with acer products is not so good haha

But we will search further for more and if we have finally made a decision I will post it here for a confirmation.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

An Optoma HD65 would be my choice and should be available in your price range..


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

the Optoma HD65 seems like a nice beamer indeed but it's not available in the Netherlands,
The epson also isn´t however there are very similar model´s which are.
While searching for similar epson one´s which are available in the Netherlands I also found This,

an Optoma HD600X for only €430 and the site (which is in dutch, my apologies) 
http://www.t-online-shop.nl/optoma-hd600x-1600ansi-35001-hdmi-1-3-home-cinema--10480/?ref=googlebase

says it is a home cinema projector, I also did a little research and I found a forum topic (here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1255192 ) 
that the optoma HD600X should be very similar to the optoma HD65

I also found this one "optoma ew531" which should also be similar to the optoma's listed above (HD65, HD600x)

And last but not least I found: 

Epson EH-TW450
Epson EB-W9
Epson eb-w9
benq mw512
BenQ W600

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So, Which one is going to be it?

Optoma HD600X - € 429
Optoma ew531 - € 478
Epson EH-TW450 - € 499
Epson EB-W9 - € 520
benq mw512 - € 488
BenQ W600 - €538

Greetings


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Can you get Sanyo in the Netherlands? Thay also make great projectors for home theater.


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> Can you get Sanyo in the Netherlands? Thay also make great projectors for home theater.


the only sanyo beamers I can get here in my budget are all 1024x768 or even lower and described as "perfect for school and business use" 

so I don't think that's going to be possible.

But in the list beamers I previously posted, which one('s) do you think would be the best?
because I'm almost sure that the one's in that list are all great home theater beamers but I'm not completely sure which one would be the best.

Do you know something about Optoma beamers?

Because I think the Optoma HD600X would be our best choice and certainly for that price it would be great (at least that's what I was thinking)

(this list)

Optoma HD600X - € 429
Optoma ew531 - € 478
Epson EH-TW450 - € 499
Epson EB-W9 - € 520
benq mw512 - € 488
BenQ W600 - €538


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

I would go for the Optoma HD 600X..The only difference between it and the HD 65 is that the 600X is black and the HD 65 is white!..Other than that, they are almost identical units..


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## Runsel (Aug 23, 2011)

I'm the friend of Easteregg thats gonna buy the beamer and now it's just the choise 
between the Optoma HD600x and the Optoma HD67.
Which should we choose?:huh:?

Optoma HD600x €405,-
Optoma HD67 €525,-


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

The Optoma HD67 is a 3D ready projector and therefore has a higher lumen output..The HD65 is only 2D..although there is now a firmware upgrade available to convert the HD65 to 3D..
If Easteregg is interested in going to 3D at some point, then I would get the HD67..


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## easteregg (Jan 1, 2011)

Prof. said:


> The Optoma HD67 is a 3D ready projector and therefore has a higher lumen output..The HD65 is only 2D..although there is now a firmware upgrade available to convert the HD65 to 3D..
> If Easteregg is interested in going to 3D at some point, then I would get the HD67..


Thanks, No we are not really interested in 3d because to go 3d we would also additional expensive equipment.

We decided to go with the HD600x, it should arive this week. 

Everyone, Thanks for your help!

We let you know as soon as it is arrived how it performs.


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