Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Sanyo plv z2000 or Epson 1080ub?

As for return policy, I know that my buddy (after much condescension from me) bought a projector, a Sharp DLP. When the bulb went on that after ~250 hrs it took him 4 months with countless phone calls and emails, to get the situation rectified. They finally caved and offered him a single replacement bulb, for which he had to send in his projector to get installed (another 3 weeks).
I have had no problems (~3400 hrs) with my Epson.

From all I have seen. The epson's seem to be rock solid. I have not heard many people complain about anything going wrong with them. That might be the deciding factor. I will pay a little more if I know I am not going to have to worry about it. So far it seems the route to go. I have heard issues with the panny and definitely the sanyo, not just about the return policy. I think I am leaning toward the epson. It'll be a stretch for me, but I think it will be worth it in the long run I think.

I remember the thing that enraged me about Epson last year was when I was looking to buy a replacement bulb (still not req'd) and you couldn't buy them direct from Epson in Canada, only at dealer mark-up. Now, of course, Epson.ca does sell everything. I think they purposely waited for me to buy, just so they could have a laugh. Scumbags.

The Sanyo's are rock solid as well. Starting with the Z1, Z2, ......to the Z5, and now Z2000. I've owned my Z2 now for 5-6 years and it still has an outstanding 720p picture. When I'm in the market again, the Sanyo's will be top of my list.

If you go with the Epson 1080 UB Pro from AV Science (the AVS store) you can pay an extra $100 to have it quality controlled by one of their lead installers before they send them out.

He's recently been rejecting a pretty high percentage of them due to worse than acceptable convergence. To me, having this review and being guaranteed to get a top-notch unit is worth the extra $100.

For a total of $200, you get the review above as well as professional calibration. Also not bad considering you could never get a real pro to come into your home for this. (this may be overkill for some, but regardless what you think of the calibration, the first hundred bucks seems like a great investment).

Sirquack, how long is your throw with your z2 and what size screen do you use? Is your room light controlled and can you watch your projector with light in the room and not get any washout with your z2?

Part of calibration is calibrating it in your home environment, not sure how they can achieve this at the factory.

Agreed, that's why I said it might be overkill. Maybe wasted money would've been a better way to state it.

Well, I can't see my budget over 2800 for the projector, plus I agree that you have to calibrate for your own room.

Sirquack, I have discussed getting a projector here before and you have given me advice. I bet your wondering if I am EVER going to actually buy one. It was probably around 6 months ago about ready to get the z5, which I had in the cart and just didn't hit buy!! Must have taken forever that I sat there, but now I am ready. I had been wanting my projector to be a 1080p model and 1.3 compliant. NOW they are finally at this point and I can afford it. GLAD I waited. Now it is about getting the right one. Just afraid of a lemon and it not looking close to my picture I have already, but since I am now going to be keeping my coveted tv and puting the screen in front of it I don't have to worry about it that much. So now it will only be used for movies it should make it easier.