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I want to buy a projector for around $350, maybe up to around $500. It needs to have a short throw lens, and hopefully lens shiftable. Zoom would be nice too. I'm willing to skimp on image quality, but I don't want it to look like crap either. This is mainly for movies. Any suggestions?
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Jun 5, 2012 15:10
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Hopefully someone here can give me some advice. I've had a mitsubishi hc1600 for about 3 years now. About 5-6 months ago it started projecting in only black and white. I'm making the bold assumption that the color wheel is the culprit. I bought it brand new for $700. Everywhere I've contacted has wanted ~$150.00 just to take a look at it, and the cheapest replacement I can find on ebay is ~$160.00. Should I buy a new colorwheel and attempt to do the replacement myself?
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Jun 12, 2012 21:35
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Schweinhund posted:I want to buy a projector for around $350, maybe up to around $500. It needs to have a short throw lens, and hopefully lens shiftable. Zoom would be nice too. I'm willing to skimp on image quality, but I don't want it to look like crap either. This is mainly for movies. Any suggestions? You will not get zoom or lens shift for $350. You will not get much of anything for $350. You will maybe be able to get a pocket projector or a small business projector but nothing more. Projectors are expensive. Under My Voodoo posted:Hopefully someone here can give me some advice. I've had a mitsubishi hc1600 for about 3 years now. About 5-6 months ago it started projecting in only black and white. I'm making the bold assumption that the color wheel is the culprit. I bought it brand new for $700. Everywhere I've contacted has wanted ~$150.00 just to take a look at it, and the cheapest replacement I can find on ebay is ~$160.00. Should I buy a new colorwheel and attempt to do the replacement myself? Paying for a real repair is cheaper than paying for a replacement, but go for it if you feel up to it. I wouldn't, but I'm not you and I'm afraid I'd break something. Aeka 2.0 posted:So I've been lusting over projectors for years but I never got one because I keep wanting to do over the top expensive stuff, like 8-10 grand for one. I've decided I shouldn't do that, but I got spoiled with my SXRD Sony 60" with its 1.5MS pixel response time. Are there decently priced (under 3000) projectors that have this kind of response time, and 1080/24p playback? Low motion blur and fast response time means you want DLP. You might look at the Optoma HD33. Under $1500, 3D, 1080p/24. monkeybounce posted:I've got a real screen, so I'll be projecting onto that. Same advice goes double for you. 900 lumens in Cinema mode and it's under $1500.
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Jun 13, 2012 17:44
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King Hotpants posted:You will not get zoom or lens shift for $350. You will not get much of anything for $350. You will maybe be able to get a pocket projector or a small business projector but nothing more. Projectors are expensive. Yeah I see most of the $350 ones I was looking at are office type ones. Here's one that's listed at $440 though. Any glaring reason not to get this? The reviews look decent at least. Acer X1230PS DLP Schweinhund fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Jun 14, 2012 |
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Jun 13, 2012 18:17
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Schweinhund posted:Yeah I see most of the $350 ones I was looking at are office type ones. It has no digital inputs.
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Jun 14, 2012 21:52
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Schweinhund posted:Yeah I see most of the $350 ones I was looking at are office type ones. That's still a presentation projector, and also Juriko posted:It has no digital inputs. I mean, if you're not picky, yes it will put a movie on the wall for you. But "good" projectors for video start around $800 (this one is nice) and go up from there. Can you save up a little bit more? Because you'll end up with something worth having instead of something you might regret buying later.
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Jun 16, 2012 06:08
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If you're on a real limited budget and have seen what the lovely office projector can do its not the worst. I'm using an office projector I got for free in 2003 that does xga and has VGA/svid as its input. It works great for me. I play console stuff and watch Netflix on it. Does it compare to real projectors? No, but I can't budget one right now.
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Jun 16, 2012 16:48
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I wen from a crappy presentation projector to a hc1500 and thought it was awesome. Just replaced the hc1500 with an epson 3010e and I think the difference was just as amazing. Super bright, better picture.
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Jun 17, 2012 20:59
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How do the Epson 3010 / Optoma HD33 fare for 3D games?
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Jun 18, 2012 05:14
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Pizer posted:How do the Epson 3010 / Optoma HD33 fare for 3D games? There is processing that happens in the projector that you can't turn off (ie no game or pass thru mode). From what I can tell its not really noticeable for playing local games or non-twitch games.
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Jun 18, 2012 14:07
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Pizer posted:How do the Epson 3010 / Optoma HD33 fare for 3D games? If you care enough to ask about this, don't get the Epson 3010. It has (comparatively) hideous input lag in the ~100ms range. Unfortunately I don't have numbers for the HD33 so I have no idea if that's any better.
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Jun 20, 2012 01:02
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King Hotpants posted:If you care enough to ask about this, don't get the Epson 3010. It has (comparatively) hideous input lag in the ~100ms range. Unfortunately I don't have numbers for the HD33 so I have no idea if that's any better. Yeah, I got my 3010 for free, otherwise I would have gone elsewhere. Playing Modern Warfare 3 online on it means I'll get killed a lot more often than if I was on a non-lagging screen.
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Jun 20, 2012 01:12
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I know it's a business projector, but I've never had any sort of projector before, and am on a college budget, but right now I have the offer to pick up one of these: http://www.projectorcentral.com/Mitsubishi-XD206U.htm for $100 with only 50 hours on the lamp. Should I go for it for some simple gaming and movie watching?
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Jun 25, 2012 01:48
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Aardvark Barber posted:I know it's a business projector, but I've never had any sort of projector before, and am on a college budget, but right now I have the offer to pick up one of these: It's a hundred bucks -- go for it. Is the seller someone you trust? I ask because, sometimes, disreputable sellers will reset the lamp counter before they sell the projector, so it shows as 50 hours as opposed to 750 hours or 1,250 hours or whatever. Lamps, as you will notice, are expensive.
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Jun 25, 2012 23:14
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The seller is a local craigslist seller. From a short email conversation with them, I believe they won a lot of them in a government auction of some sort?
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Jun 26, 2012 03:01
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King Hotpants posted:
Because I'm an rear end in a top hat, I made a purchase without telling the wife, after a huge argument I now have an HC9000D, blew way the gently caress past my budget. It really starts to show the limits of Blu-Ray on a 135" screen. But it is glorious, oh god is it nice. The biggest issue I am having is taming reflections in some way that is wife friendly. I'd paint the walls black, but that will NEVER happen as long as a female is in the house.
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Jul 4, 2012 16:40
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Have you seen my apex seals? I seem to have lost them.
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King Hotpants posted:
I have to say, going from an InFocus something or another from 2003 to the HD 33 is mind blowing. It's amazing how much you're willing to settle until you see what you're missing. 
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Jul 9, 2012 22:06
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Aeka 2.0 posted:Because I'm an rear end in a top hat, I made a purchase without telling the wife, after a huge argument I now have an HC9000D, blew way the gently caress past my budget. The obvious solution is to buy a sound system that backs this up and a new HTPC and a 20TB NAS and *poof* no more wife... Paint the walls black, etc etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rJeYZkjmAk Fatal fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Jul 10, 2012 |
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Jul 10, 2012 18:07
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I'm working on making drapes that bunch up near the screen when not in use. When I do use the screen they will drape across the walls. I need to find some cheap ceiling tracks. For now I have a very temporary setup of black sheets stapled to the walls (I'm re painting anyway), and everything is a god drat mess. You can see baby stuff and my HTPC. Lets just say I've been getting mean looks throughout the build and my only time to work on it is when my 6 month year old twins are asleep at night.  The screen covers a "home theater" alcove. I had to hang it on a 2x4 I nailed across the alcove. The screen is very lightweight and I can remove it by myself if I need to. The alcove is still visible on the bottom. The wood frame is going to be a giant speaker grill. I have some old giant monkey coffin DCM speakers that I refuse to let go of. I modified the crossover and put in a different mid range speaker to clean up dialogue. I even sealed the ported enclosure on them as I'm using a large sub instead. I run the center as a phantom. I really should get a proper setup. I do have rears, but they are cheap. Overall when watching something like JJ Trek bass is tight and crisp with loads of power to thump your chest. This of course is followed up with "turn it down," by the female unit. But over time the volume creeps back up. This pic makes it look small, but I assure you this thing is large. These are 9" ceilings too. I really wish I could have gotten a cinema scope screen, but my head exploded when I saw the prices for the lenses. I should have know better, I'm in photography. Aeka 2.0 fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jul 13, 2012 |
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Jul 13, 2012 03:05
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Aeka 2.0 posted:Because I'm an rear end in a top hat, I made a purchase without telling the wife, after a huge argument I now have an HC9000D, blew way the gently caress past my budget. If you had asked, I probably could have given you another option that cost less and didn't get you in poo poo with your wife, but ok! Enjoy the projector! monkeybounce posted:I have to say, going from an InFocus something or another from 2003 to the HD 33 is mind blowing. It's amazing how much you're willing to settle until you see what you're missing. I know, right? This is why I tell people to stop looking at projectors until they're ready to buy a new one, because most of the time this year's model will make whatever you own look like dogshit.
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Jul 17, 2012 00:42
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King Hotpants posted:I know, right? This is why I tell people to stop looking at projectors until they're ready to buy a new one, because most of the time this year's model will make whatever you own look like dogshit. Hmm, not really Ive seen epson 8350 vs epson 8100 (i own 8100, cousin owns the 8350), we cant tell a difference. If you get a great discount on an 8100 you arent going to wish you went with the 8350. Similarly im looking at JVC D-ILA projectors and the only big improvements over the past 2 years in the same price category have been projectors adding 3d and slight picture improvements. If you get a quasi-4K jvc its still going to look good.. if you pay the same price for a used jvc 4k as a new one then obviously its not a good deal, no ones going to look at their picture and pine for the latest and greatest however. Youre right though if you take into account that a lot of people ask a lot for old projectors, then whats worse is people actually spend that much on old projectors. People spending $800 on an epson 8100 bewilder me, it was going for $1000 new in its last months, and you are going to have to buy a new bulb anyways, so you could have just bought an epson 8350. coolskillrex remix fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Jul 17, 2012 |
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Jul 17, 2012 06:01
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coolskillrex remix posted:Hmm, not really Comparing this year's model to last year's model is going to be less dramatic than comparing this year's model to whatever you bought five years ago -- especially since the 8100 and 8350 are more or less the same projector. Most people replace their projectors after a couple of lamps burn out and/or the warranty runs out and something breaks, so you're looking at a lifespan between three years on the short end and ten years for the holdouts.
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Jul 17, 2012 19:25
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King Hotpants posted:Comparing this year's model to last year's model is going to be less dramatic than comparing this year's model to whatever you bought five years ago -- especially since the 8100 and 8350 are more or less the same projector. Most people replace their projectors after a couple of lamps burn out and/or the warranty runs out and something breaks, so you're looking at a lifespan between three years on the short end and ten years for the holdouts. And I was one of those holdouts. I had an Infocus IN32 "multimedia projector". 2000 max ANSI lumens XGA (1024 x 768) resolution 1000:1 contrast ratio Composite RCA, S-Video and VESA inputs Supports 16:9, 4:3 and 5:4 aspect ratios 16:9 at 1024/768 resolution was...interesting...to say the least. Upgrading to the HD33 was amazing. It just took me forever to upgrade because I couldn't figure out what I wanted. Every time I would look at a projector in a store, it would look different when I went back to it. Then the next one I looked at would look better than the first. It was just overwhelming. So I decided to stop trusting my eyes and start trusting someone who knows what he's doing. I finally had to upgrade because the Infocus started to freak out. Randomly, the image would start to "shutter" in and out. Kind of like looking through a camera lens as it's taking continuous shots. Any idea what's up with that? It has a newish lamp so I'd like to keep it around for various uses (mainly thinking something for when the nephews are over so they can watch SpongeBob in a different room), but I have no idea what would be causing the blinking or if it's even worth keeping. monkeybounce fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jul 17, 2012 |
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Jul 17, 2012 20:00
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monkeybounce posted:I finally had to upgrade because the Infocus started to freak out. Randomly, the image would start to "shutter" in and out. Kind of like looking through a camera lens as it's taking continuous shots. Any idea what's up with that? It has a newish lamp so I'd like to keep it around for various uses (mainly thinking something for when the nephews are over so they can watch SpongeBob in a different room), but I have no idea what would be causing the blinking or if it's even worth keeping. It sounds like something is falling out of sync. It could be the DLP chip itself or the color wheel. Either way it sounds expensive. There's no harm in keeping it around until it dies completely, but I definitely don't think it's worth fixing unless they offer to do it for free.
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Jul 17, 2012 22:25
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King Hotpants posted:If you had asked, I probably could have given you another option that cost less and didn't get you in poo poo with your wife, but ok! Enjoy the projector! It wasn't the price, it was the part where I turned the living room into a man cave.
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Jul 18, 2012 04:01
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Well in that case, carry on!
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Jul 18, 2012 17:39
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Hey guys, so I got an older projector for free today (Mitsubish XD490U) and was wondering how you setup your audio? I was going to run just a PS3 and HTPC and figured a head unit with a length of optical to a sound bar would be my best bet. Any suggestions otherwise?
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Jul 27, 2012 02:37
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I've got a dedicated home theater in the basement and am replacing my venerable Panasonic PT-AE100U before college football starts. It has served me well for many years and am going to save it for outdoor movie duty now that my boy is getting older. I have a soft spot for that thing in all of its 848x484 glory... I'm projecting onto a 10 foot wide 16x9 screen (138" diagonal) from 15.5' away via ceiling mount. Source material is 75% Dish Network Hopper at 1080i and 25% HTPC at 1080p. I'm not worried about games or game systems because video games are for children. Right now I'm leaning towards the Optoma HD20 refurb at around $650 shipping. I'd like to stay under $1000 as I've got kids, wife, mortgage, etc and can't be spending a mint on this (and need money left over for booze during the games). I haven't been following the projector market that closely, so is there a better solution in the price range? Projector Central says the optimum mounting spot is 16.4' away for the screen I have and I know the Optoma has a small zoom area. Any red flags with my mounting spot?
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Jul 30, 2012 21:07
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HD20 is fine, and back off my vidyagames or I'll stop being an advice-bot. 
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Jul 30, 2012 22:44
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King Hotpants posted:HD20 is fine, and back off my vidyagames or I'll stop being an advice-bot. Any thoughts on the GT720? I'm looking for a potentially cheap 3D (computer) gaming screen and I see them pop up on ebay/Amazon refurbed all the time for a pretty affordable price.
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Jul 30, 2012 23:32
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Fatal posted:Any thoughts on the GT720? I'm looking for a potentially cheap 3D (computer) gaming screen and I see them pop up on ebay/Amazon refurbed all the time for a pretty affordable price. Solid little projector as long as you don't need native 1080p. It's rare for Optoma to put out anything that's total crap, especially if it's designed for games, video, or theater. They're not a giant brand like Panasonic or Epson, but they make good stuff.
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Jul 31, 2012 00:45
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I'm thinking about getting a projector rather than a TV. I would want to play the occasional xbox on it but mostly it would be for watching content playing from my HTPC. The room it would be projecting in isn't exactly dark during the day. It has a lot of windows with slatted blinds only, no curtains. I like the idea of a projector because it would mean I could keep the 'tv' hidden away when not in use and allow me to keep a lot more floor space open in the living area rather than trying to cram in an entertainment center. I think it's about 8 feet from the projection receiving wall to the point where I would mount the projector. Can someone give me some suggestions? Would I better off with a new flat screen tv? What kind of costs for upkeep am I looking at?
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Aug 3, 2012 08:30
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There's a separate category of projectors called Home Entertainment which are built for the kind of room you're talking about. They're brighter and lower in contrast than home theater projectors and typically cheaper as well. Epson makes quite a few of them (the newest is the Home Cinema 710 HD, nevermind the name) and BenQ also recently released a nice one called the EP5920. The Epson is WXGA; the BenQ is 1080p, but the Epson is brighter. There's also the Panasonic AR100, which kicks all kinds of rear end. Costs a little more though. As to your other question, I'm a little biased towards projectors but I think they're used for two different things. Buy a projector if you want a projector. Buy a TV if you want a TV. You'll get a bigger picture with a projector but you do occasionally have to replace lamps and air filters.
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Aug 3, 2012 18:39
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Any thoughts about the RED projectors that are supposed to be coming out this year? $10K is alot but for 4K and laser it doesn't seem so crazy especially when you compare it to any of the competitors.
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Aug 5, 2012 03:59
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Fatal posted:Any thoughts about the RED projectors that are supposed to be coming out this year? $10K is alot but for 4K and laser it doesn't seem so crazy especially when you compare it to any of the competitors. For that much projector, $10K isn't even that much -- especially if the laser puts out any significant amount of light. Sony's 4K models can easily cost $25,000, and JVC is even worse (don't get me started on their not-really 4K machines, because that's bullshit). Both of those use conventional lamps. I haven't seen the specs on the home machine yet, but the pro machine wouldn't be much good for a home user. It's built for tasks that your average cinema guy will never ever do. In short, forgive me if I'm skeptical until it actually comes out.
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Aug 5, 2012 08:05
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King Hotpants posted:...until it actually comes out. This seems to be the issue, almost a year in the making.
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Aug 6, 2012 17:04
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King Hotpants posted:There's a separate category of projectors called Home Entertainment which are built for the kind of room you're talking about. They're brighter and lower in contrast than home theater projectors and typically cheaper as well. The AR100 looks like it would be pretty ideal for what I want. Can someone comment on typical life cycle of the lamp? If the 3000/hr life of the lamp in economy mode is accurate I would think I can do about 4 hours a day for 2 years. Does that sound right?
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Aug 6, 2012 19:59
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Does anyone have any experience or opinions on 300-500 lumen LED projectors?
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Aug 12, 2012 15:47
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I'm planning on getting a projector soon for my new apartment, but as I never had one before I wanted to get some additional opinions. Typical uses would be watching tv shows, films, and occasional pc games. 3d would be nice but I wouldn't pay more just to get it. First, in terms of possible arrangements, I see two possibilities:  The setup on the left would throw a much larger picture, of course, but it seems that in terms of field of view it wouldn't be any better actually. Currently, the furniture is arranged more like on the right side and that's what I like more. One downside might be if they won't allow me to drill into the ceiling for the mount, sticking some kind of a shelf there would be a bit awkward. There are heavy outside blinds but no curtains, so it never gets very bright but it's not pitch black either. I suppose I could get some curtains if it proves to be too much light. Given all that, I'm considering these projectors: code:I'd like to spend as little as possible, but could stretch it to the upper end of these if the benefits are real and significant. Am I correct to assume that contrast ratings are as much bullshit as they are for regular displays? Because in that case HD23 is probably by far the best combination of various parameters and price out of these seven.
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Aug 12, 2012 17:29
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mobby_6kl posted:I'd like to spend as little as possible, but could stretch it to the upper end of these if the benefits are real and significant. Am I correct to assume that contrast ratings are as much bullshit as they are for regular displays? Because in that case HD23 is probably by far the best combination of various parameters and price out of these seven. Skip the Epson TW5900; while I'm not up on Epson's European model numbers that looks an awfully lot like the 3010, which is just kind of okay. If you decide you do want 3D, the best choice there is the Optoma HD33. I believe the TW3200 is the 8350 here, which is a loving fantastic projector that also doesn't cost very much. If I were you, that's what I'd go with.
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Aug 12, 2012 18:59
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