Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Home Theater Question

Okay, I have decided on m60, QS8, VP150, and 350 running off a RX-V2500. Now a question if anyone can help... I am looking for a projector anyone have suggestions? I am looking in the 2000 - 3000 dollar range. I am sorry if this isn't a direct speaker question, I got a lot of useful info off projectorcentral and wanted to hear some of your opinions. Most people that post here give great advice and recommendations.

I am looking at buying everything at the end of April beginning of May.

Sounds like a great setup you've chosen. You won't be disappointed. As far as projectors go, you'll have to give us some input on what you'll be using it for....ie....mostly DVD, HD, TV, PC, etc. This will affect the resolution choice and the aspect ratio. I'm using an Infocus X1 that suits my needs very nicely, even with HD material. However, with your budget, there are some nicer projectors out there with better brightness, contrast, and resolution. You said that you've checked out ProjectorCentral, so I'm going to assume that you've seen their recommended list and all the associated reviews linked within. That site was very helpful to me when I made my decision. In addition to that, I also spent a ton of time over at the AVS Projector Forum. There is more information there than you could ever want. If it's not there, you can just ask and get a rapid response.

Good luck. Sounds like you have the makings for a kick a$$ home theater.

Here are the typical list of questions:
What type of room environment will you be using? (Dark, moderate light, no light control, etc)
What format do you want for the screen (16:9, 3:4, etc)?
What size screen do you want, or think that you want?
What are the dimensions for the room?
How far back will people be sitting from the screen?
How do you plan to mount the projector (Ceiling, table-top, shelf on back wall)?

I am sure that there are others, but these should cover most of the basics. I am looking in the less than $2500 range, and for that price there doesn't seem to be much advantage with a $2500 projector over some of the $2000 projectors (Sanyo Z3 or Panisonic 700) so keep that in mind. Your price range of $2000 - $3000 does not mean that a $3000 projector will outperform a $2000 projector depending on thecriteria that you need. Some cost more because of more features, but if you will never use those features, why pay for them if the image quality is the same. Anyother example is buying a very bright projector to be used in a room with 100% controlled lighting. While it offers flexability, if you are never going to have much room light on, you may not get much value out of the price paid for it.

Let us know.

Nick has summed it up very well....You need to decide if you want DLP or LCD technology. If you want a projector that is capable of 720 or above HD material, the LCD route will be more affordable. To get a 720 DLP projector will be much more costly. Also, I recommend you try to demo some different units before you buy. Many people suffer from "the rainbow" affect when using DLP projectors. Basically this will look like a fluttering of colors during certain scenes. If you suffer from this, you will not enjoy your projector, or if a spouse, child, or friends suffer, they won't like it....

I love my Sanyo Z2, and am looking at the Z3 like Nick possibly.

A good starting point

To be fair to DLPs, the color wheel speeds have increased considerably, which has reduced the significance of the rainbow effect. Even still, it is worth attempting to demo a DLP unit prior to purchase....if you go that route. I have an X1, which has a 1X color wheel and the rainbows don't bother me. I sometimes see them depending on the source material, but it's not a regular occurance and it isn't really a big deal to me. Given a 3X or 4X color wheel, I doubt there would even be an issue.

totally agree turbodog1, and I should have mentioned that, however, I do have a friend that suffers from rainbows terribly. He started with the X1, and has moved up to 3x and 4x systems, but still sees the rainbows. Demoing if possible, is a good idea. Heck, even though all projectors have SDE, which is a myth that it is only an LCD problem, for many of todays LCD projectors, that is not an issue anymore, as resolution as increased. SDE is not an issue on my Z2, unless I get a few feet away...

Too bad your buddy has such problems w/ rainbows. When I first got mine, I saw them a lot more....to the point that I considered upgrading. However, over time, I began to notice them much less. Thank God.

Good point on the SDE. When I picked up my PJ, LCDs were supposed to suffer heavily from it, while DLPs were supposed to be much less prone to them. Even my X1 has it to some degree, if I get close enough.

Truthfully, I think that the two technologies have begun to converge in terms of picture quality, etc. I suspect that soon enough the DLP versus LCD arguments will begin to be a thing of the past.

Well, I don't know about front projection, but I find you can get deeper blacks with DLP than LCD. That may be changing, too, though...?

That's a good question. That was part of my reason for going DLP. I haven't been closely watching the new PJ reviews and/or discussions, but I think that I've seen some talk that the LCDs have begun to bridge this gap.....not sure.

Well, Black levels have been addressed with the Sony HS51. It sports a 6000:1 contrast ratio, and looks amazing. If you can even moderately control the lighting in your viewing area, I can't recommend this projector enough. Incredible resolution, no SDE from viewing area... just a great, sharp vivid picture with no vertical banding. I got mine online for less than 2800 bucks.

Good luck.

Generally DLP has had a better overall contrast, however, LCD is getting better and better. My z2 is rated at 1300:1, and I think the Z3 that just came out is 2000:1 Painting the back walls black or using a black fabric will increase the perceived blacks very well. I am even going to paint my side walls and ceiling black about 5' out from the screen.....

I bought an Infocus 4805 a couple months back after doing quite a bit of talking around....I think I made a good choice.....best bang for the buck.....haven't seen any rainbows and have seen an awsome picture plus I got a free 76" pulldown screen and 30 ft of s-video cable. Now I'm sure there are better projectors out there but what I got for around 1200 bucks?.....I ain't complain'in I'm totally happy.....of course ask me in a year or so.....as I am sure we will see better and cheaper projectors.

i have a benq 6200, and i am very happy with it. i think i paid 1300$.. use it for DVD'S and for digital cable, no HD service yet, dont really feel it is worth the extra money per month for the service, and the extra money i would have to spend for a component switch.. even with digital cable the picture is quite good.. and dvd's the picture is theater quality.. and this is just a 1300$ projector.. one thing to keep in mind, is get a decent screen, i have a dalite 1.5 grain screen.. so in the 2-3000 you might want to have that include projector + screen? unless you already have that figured out.


good luck

when i was thinking about fp i looked at the infocus 4805 it was nice but they replaced that with the 5000 which is supposed to be really nice. i have read that it does not have any rainbow effect. its about $2000 leaving you money for a decent screen. i have never seen either of these in person but have read good things.

Dakkon - I must disagree with you on the HD issue. Even with my X1, HD looks MUCH better than the digital cable. Given the added resolution of the 6200, you will get an even better picture than I'm getting. So, do yourself a favor and take the HD plunge. You'll be amazed. An 80" 1080i HD image is just a thing of beauty.

Sorry, here is my room layout and what I want to do with it.

I am wanting a screen size of 100 in. I will be using the projector as my primary viewing. So 70% tv (hd/standard) 10% movies and 20% xbox. My room is light controlled but at times will want to open the curtains. I don't care if the picture would suffer in quality if the lights were on just as long as it is viewable. I will be sitting about 14 feet from the screen. I have been looking at the Mitsu. 450u and the Panny 700. I don't have any dealers in phoenix that have those projectors setup. I know the Mitsu is 4:3 native and the Panny 16:9. I don't mind going with a 4:3 I would just get a bigger screen to still have a 100 in screen in 16:9. I like the Mitsu it has good contrast, high lumin, 3000 + hrs for bulb, waranity on the bulb is 1 year and 3 year on the projector. It doesn't have a filter to clean either. My only problem with it is when it is doing 16:9 the resolution is 1280 * 576. That and I haven't seen it.

Thanks for all your help so far.

Humble opinion: Go w/ the XGA Mitsu (or the BenQ 6200 if you want to same some dough). If you're going to be doing a lot of standard TV watching and you go WXGA, you're going to lose all that resolution on the sides. I am in the camp that does not want to lose any resolution on the sides of my screen. I like it as wide as my screen and as tall as the source dictates.

FYI...not trying to start a 4:3/16:9 war. Aspect ratio is a personal choice based upon your viewing tendencies. Each configuration has it's pros and cons. In my case, I have dead white space above and below my widescreen formatted material. Those with 16:9 screens do not. But, that's something that I can rectify with proper masking. On the other hand, I get a much larger picture w/ 4:3 material. It really comes down to your personal preference.

Agreed with TurboDog on the HD issue (says the guy who took over 6 months to get HD cable after buying his home theater)

TurboDog what kind of loss in picture quality will I have going to a lower resolution on the Mitsu? Do you own the BenQ?

I'm w/ Turbodog and foghorn. HD is incredible. I have HD on my EDTV plasma and it's stunning.

If you are in decent antenna area, you can get OTA HD for possibly less than $100, if you shop right. That would be for an external antenna and OTA tuner from ebay.

Magre - I would not worry about the resolution. I am using an 800X600 X1 PJ and the HD still looks absolutely stunning on an 80"X60" screen. Given the XGA res on the Mits (or 6200), I'm quite sure that the picture will be even better. Yes, true HD res would be nice, but it's not really a necessity to get an amazing picture. I've seen some true HD res widescreen RPTVs that don't look as good to me as my PJ running HD. Have no fear.

HD on my Sanyo PLVz2 looks jaw dropping, it has native resolution of 720P...grins grins

Oldskool,

What do you mean when you say you've got HD on your EDTV?

How does your TV pick up the signal? Does it down convert it to 480p? And is it just the fact that the HD broadcast reception is sparkly clean compared to some crappy analogue standard broadcasts that makes it look so much better?

I guess that HD looks like DVD on your tv, huh?

Sorry for the lot of questions. Just curious.

Yes, I mean true HDTV is downconverted to 480p on my plasma. So technically, I'm not true HD because I'm not carry the full pixel count nor can I display 720p or 1080i.

I use my HD Tivo via DVI to provide the HDTV source to my plasma. I watch D* HD shows and OTA shows. Both are stunning. Some shows like Lost, 24, House, Enterprise, Carnivale, HDNet sports, etc are better than others. Not all HD broadcasts are created equally. Some CSI shows, for example, seem employ filters that drive me CRAZY. CSI seems blue, CSI NY seems greenish, etc. But shows like Lost and Desparate Housewives (wow they look even better in HD) do a better job of keeping pictures true to form. Heck, w/ Axioms, haven't we all gained an appreciation for an "uncolored" source?

Even though it's downconverted, there is a VERY noticeable difference between a very good DVD and an HD broadcast. Short of doing an ISF calibration, I've done my Avia and "steaming rat" (see avs forums) to tune each plasma input to the best possible result. Huge differences from the default.

the big problem whit DLP ,is the noise, to much noisy, if you want something silencer you have to go whit LCD. for me my z2 is perfect, and if you put the econe mode , you can hear a butterfly

I just got the Panasonic PT-AE700U for $2100 (delivered to the door). I can not get cable, so I have Dish with their HD package, which is about 7 channels, some of which are not HD quite abit of the time. FYI: just because you get local channels on your satellite does not mean if the local channel is broadcasting HD you will get HD on the assigned satellite local channels. You will only get HD from the HD package channels (even the installers did not know this fact). BTW, I have the Dish 811 HD receiver, which will process off-air HD signals. I live about 60 miles northwest of Chicago. I had a Winegard HD-8200 antenna (with rotor) installed the day before the Uberbowl. The off-air HD signal from FOX/WFLD of the Uberbowl was absolutely fanatastic. The screen I have is a 92" gray, lower end Draper screen and the image was/is quite amazing. Another FYI: I have decided to go with a Da-Lite HCCV 106" screen, within the next week (at $679 still much, much less than Stewart). I do not see any need to spend more on a home theatre projector than the cost of the AE700 and a decent screen. Now there is one HUGE catch to this...you better make sure that you can control the lighting. The darker the room, the better the image. I do not have to sit in total darkness, but still, the darker, the better.

I started out a year ago thinking I was going to spend $4000ish on a 42" plasma or LCD screen. And now ending up with what I have after a lot of surfing and getting lucky due to LCD projector tech advances in the past year, I'm not sure I could be any more satisfied than I am.

The money I kept in my pocket certainly helped me be able to aquire a complete 5.1 audio system to complete the home theatre experience.

Hope some of this helps.

Best regards to all.

Tom

The obligatory list:

M60s
VP150
QS8s
Denon 3805
Denon 5900
and at the end of the month...EP500!
(and soon after, I'm moving the 8's to the sides and getting M22's for the rear...as long as I don't run out of beer, I don't think I will ever leave that room)

the big problem whit DLP ,is the noise, to much noisy, if you want something silencer you have to go whit LCD.

What noise is that? Are you saying the mirrors make an audible noise (since both DLP and LCD projectors have fans)? I have to say I have never percieved such a difference with either... considering I have both!

ok noisy , went i buy my z2 the audio center have in model a, IN FOCUS 4801, version of the x1 but whit another ship inside. when they start the pj it was like a vacumm cleaner, good please stop it !!!!!!!. maybe other models did not .this is a post of my experiment.

Yes, some models are louder than others, but I'm not sure I'd attribute that to DLP versus LCD. I would think that has more to do with the cooling system and the enclosure.

Now, to the original poster, if money is a concern and you want to focus your funds on the actual PJ, keep in mind that you can easily construct your own screen. There is a separate forum over at the AVS forums that deals with this. It is simply a matter of building a sturdy frame and then stretching a specific type of fabric over it, much like black-out cloth used in drapes. Just something to think about along w/ the ton of stuff we've hit u with so far. I couldn't see spending upwards of $500 to $1K on a screen. In the end, my screen cost me maybe $100 and it looks fantastic.