HD Projectors.

tpunx99GSX · 07-19-2007

Hey guys,
Im looking into getting a projector for my living room for TV, Movies, Games, Porno, You know the usual.
Does anyone have any expirence with these? What should i look for? What would i look for to make it ok to see with lighted situations where outside light would come in? I have a large Living room with a huge wall where the projector will project. The reason i want a projector is because i would love to stare at a 103"+ screen especially in HD.
Anyone have a DLP one? Im thinking those are going to be better, but what do i look for in those because i think those are rated differently on the Lumins scale.
Also what about screens? I was either going to get a motorized screen that i would mount on the wall, or else i was going to look into paint, if they have special paint that i could just paint the screen on the wall.
Thanks for any help
Tom

2003eclipse · 07-19-2007

I'm not a fan of projectors and never will be unless its a movie theatre.

DSM_421 · 07-19-2007

You are gonna need to spend atleast 15 grand to get a good one. Plus you will need to get your wall professionally sanded and painted (whatever else they do also) so that it actually looks right displaying on your wall.

tpunx99GSX · 07-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSM_420

You are gonna need to spend atleast 15 grand to get a good one. Plus you will need to get your wall professionally sanded and painted (whatever else they do also) so that it actually looks right displaying on your wall.

$15,000 is highly unlikely. The best ones on the market are under $2000.00. And that is for the top of the line models. Im looking for the projector itself to be in the $500-$1000 range, which is very achievable, the screen is only around $200-300, and the speakers ill just get one of those home theater all in one systems for around $500.

Enes · 07-19-2007

i beleive thats 109" screen i can't remember.

I love the projector, its awesome due to the size and out of the way location.

Mounted it up on the ceiling, all the cables routed through the wall, and the screen mounted on the wall. It is preferable to get a screen if you are picky on the picture quality, but if you aren't go ahead and just sand the wall smooth and paint it with a eggshell paint, you could paint the whole wall or you could just paint a border. There is a specific paint color i can do some more research if you need, but projectorcentral.com is a great source.

Personaly what i have is a Panasonic PT-AX100U, total i spent on all the cabling, screen and projector shipped was right around $3400. I already have about 600 hours on the lamp, and don't regret it at all, i can make the room pitch black during the day if i need to but generaly i don't need to at all.

The picture taken was with all the lights lit up in the room and flash, yet you can still see picture a bit and thats in economy mode.

I actualy might be actually getting a 60" plasma for free from work, so i might be looking at geting rid of the projector.

-E

DSM_421 · 07-19-2007

Your kidding about the best ones on the market being 2000 dollars right?

My uncle just bought a $20,000 DLP project.

**JET** · 07-19-2007

You don't need anything too crazy, around a grand will get you a nice projector. Check out avsforums.com too, huge place with tons of info. The bulbs are the killer on a projector, usually $200-$300. They should be coming out wth LED ones soon and that will put an end to buying bulbs all the time!

Enes · 07-19-2007

Yeah, that is only setback to projectors, the bulbs, but after 2000 hours, my friends last bulb lasted about 5500 hours, they usually last about 2000 to 3000 hours, but some are just better made and get that fresh shot of gas in it and last a bit longer.

You can get a decent projector for around 2000, I'll probably sell my setup with cables and everything for around $2400, thats about 500 cheaper than brand new with only 455 hours on the lamp. HD projectors are very nice for blue ray movies!!! or hd rips pron is so compressed these days online that its not really worth it watching it on the big screen unless you get some high quality chit.

tpunx99GSX · 07-20-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSM_420

Your kidding about the best ones on the market being 2000 dollars right?

My uncle just bought a $20,000 DLP project.

Why would you spend that much? They have MULTIPLE DLP projectors for under $2k. Now if i said, "Hey guys, im starting a movie theater and am wondering what projector to buy?" yeah then i would understand a $20,000 projector, for home use... i dont watch TV that much.

2003eclipse · 07-20-2007

Why don't you just buy a decent plasma for 2500 give the projectors a few more years to develop into movie theatre quality at an afforable price

desolate · 07-23-2007

I've had experience with a few home projectors. If you want value and the bang for buck go with the HD70. It's a 720p DLP projector and very bright. Unless you want 1080p which right now the prices has just begun to fall down to 3k. Either way you can't go wrong with a projector because they are so fun and it's cool to watch stuff on a big ass screen.

Enes · 07-23-2007

Honestly i think projectors are as good as they are going to get with current technology...

I spent months researching and talking to different owners before i bought my projector.. http://www.projectorcentral.com/panasonic_ax100.htm
It got really good reviews pretty much from any company/reviewer... Best part about this projector it has the biggest list
of acceptable signals, it will be good for any current technology out on the market or in next 5 years.

The next step in projectors will be the LED projectors but that is at least a year or two away. You can have plenty of movie/pron nights on the current projectors before the new ones come out, at which time yours will still be great and bulbs will drop in price down drasticly so you might as well keep it for few more years until the LED ones drop down in price as well.

From reviews i read is that there is a chance for them to make a LED replacement for current bulbs as well at which point they will never need replacements pretty much, just buy the updated LED bulb and throw your old one away, at least thats what i heard from the Panasonic Rep who has already seen some tests with LED projectors.

-E