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I ended up just upgrading projectors, and used the advice of this thread (and King Hotpants). Originally I wanted to go 1080p and just get it over with, and was worried that a 720p projector wouldn't be much of an upgrade (I currently have a Benq PB6100). This thread convinced me that it would, and I now have a HC1500 on the way. Also helping was amazon dropping their price by $40 or so on it, the HC1500 is now $799. The 1080p projector even at 1400 was a bit steep. I figured I'll enjoy this one now, and in 2-3 years I'll think about upgrading. Thanks everyone.
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Mar 16, 2008 04:24
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Goddammit. I just dropped the same amount (800$) on a Benq W500. I think the Mitsubishi would have been a far better deal but at least the Benq is LCD vs DLP.
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Mar 18, 2008 01:21
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sigma 6 posted:Goddammit. I just dropped the same amount (800$) on a Benq W500. I think the Mitsubishi would have been a far better deal but at least the Benq is LCD vs DLP. I don't see how it being LCD is a reason to be happy? I mean yeah, there's some lens shift, but if I recall the W500 doesn't have a particularly good shift or zoom range.
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Mar 18, 2008 04:40
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King Hotpants posted:I don't see how it being LCD is a reason to be happy? I mean yeah, there's some lens shift, but if I recall the W500 doesn't have a particularly good shift or zoom range. Way to make him completely regret his purchase  Everything I've heard so far says DLP > LCD, but it seems that LCD is a necessary evil for higher resolutions.
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Mar 18, 2008 06:12
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MrEnigma posted:Way to make him completely regret his purchase There's nothing wrong with LCD, nor is DLP inherently "better". Here's a quick rundown. Please keep in mind that this stuff is not ALWAYS true, just generally: LCD Advantages -good lens shift/zoom range -excellent on/off contrast (auto-iris) -good color -inexpensive -quiet -very little image noise Disadvantages -ANSI contrast inferior to DLP -MAY BE softer than DLP DLP Advantages -great ANSI contrast -very sharp image Disadvantages -more image noise than LCD -some people see rainbows, though this can almost be written off at this point -louder than LCD -worse on/off contrast than LCD -typically 1.2:1 zoom range, little/no lens shift With LCD you get a quieter, cheaper projector that looks very good and is easy to install. With DLP you get an arguably "better" looking projector, but mounting it is a bitch. There's more, and I'm obviously not including everything, but that's just an outline. I listed more advantages under LCD because I tend to see more LCD projectors these days; DLP 1080p is more or less limited to the Optoma HD80, the BenQ W5000/W20000, and some InFocus machines that I don't like very much. That said, when DLP 1080p projectors get it right, they get it VERY right. The HD80 is still one of my favorites - it is aging very gracefully.
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Mar 18, 2008 19:14
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Hrm. I had heard this before buying my projector: LCDs are far superior. DLP has a "rainbow" effect around text. DLP does not work well at higher resolutions. DLP has mirrors with motors which means more moving parts to wear out. LCDs are more expensive. Now I am hearing these things: LCDs are cheaper. LCDs don't last as long and are likely to die quicker. LCDs suffer from dead pixels. LCDs have the "screen door effect". All in all I am happy with my Benq W500 but I wish I had done more research. The Mitsubishi really sounds like the better deal but I was deadset on getting LCD over DLP and now I am not so sure why. A lot of it was because my friend who had the same projector model raved about it and I didn't have much to compare it to. Because I live in such a small apt. the "screen door effect" is starting to get to me because it is hard to get very far from the wall projected on. This site does a pretty good job of breaking it down: http://www.projectorpoint.co.uk/ProjectorLCDvsDLP.htm EDIT: Because I can't afford a large (110 inches diagonal) projector screen, I want to paint my wall. Can anyone tell me what kind of paint I should use for a makeshift screen? sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Mar 18, 2008 |
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Mar 18, 2008 21:21
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sigma 6 posted:EDIT: This thread at AVS gives you more information than you'd ever want on a DIY painted screen: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=929997 I used a painted screen with my Infocus X1 for awhile and it did the job fairly well. I just used straight Behr SilverScreen paint rolled on. There are a lot of different mixtures that people have perfected with Behr Ultra Pure White as a base and you can read about all of them on AVS. The biggest key to a painted screen is prepping the area well so that it is nice and smooth and being very patient and careful when painting the screen so you get it painted perfectly evenly. Even the slightest smudge or run will show up extremely well when you turn your projector on. Having said that, your best bet may be to build a blackout cloth (BOC) screen. You can get BOC in 54" wide rolls for like $5 a yard at your local fabric store. You build a frame out of 1x3's and stretch the BOC and staple it to the frame. I'm currently running a BOC screen with my HC1500 and it looks very nice. It can also be painted if you decide you want to. From my experience, I found that building the frame and stretching the BOC screen was much easier and less tedious than rolling on a painted screen. There are other options too, such as, hardboard which can be found at Home Depot, etc, etc.
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Mar 18, 2008 22:01
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I built a 96" screen out of Designer White laminate, there is a huge thread on AVSforums about it. Looks VERY good, compared to BOC or paint, and costed total of about 100$. You will probably have to special order the laminate through Home Depot or Lowe's. It is very durable, you can clean it, move it, etc with no worries. I'll try to get some pics of my setup up soon. Bought another house recently, so the theater room isn't done quite yet.
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Mar 22, 2008 18:07
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Quick question. My new house doesn't really have room for my old setup, so I'm looking at maybe getting a projector. I have a nice plasma in the living room, but it's a pain in the rear end to do any gaming or serious movie watching on it (busy house). The new room I'm going to be using as a den is roughly 9'x12'. What's the best projector for a ~9' throw? Looking at a few calculators it seems like you can get roughly ~65-70" of screen space out of it at that short of a distance. Is there any projector on the market that can do better without being crazy expensive or really sacrificing image quality? 720p is fine, and I'd prefer something that didn't put out a ton of heat. I'm leaning more toward an LCD because I game a lot, so any kind of text distortion or rainbowing would drive me crazy. My budget is roughly $800-1200. I know it sounds crazy to complain about "only" 65" of screen space, but for all the effort and bulb replacement (had a projector ~5-6 years ago as my main tv), I'm starting to wonder about just getting a cheap lcd or plasma.
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Mar 23, 2008 04:16
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Got a question, I have a 4 year old HP mp3135 DLP projector. It's 1800 ANSI Lumens with a Contrast Ratio of 2000:1. I haven't bothered to measure anything but my throw distance is probably a little too long and my screen is probably a little too large because the picture is somewhat dim. It's watchable and playable, but it's no movie theatre. I'm out of the loop here, but how much better of a projector can I get for $1,000-$1,500? The HC1500 being talked about in this thread has pretty much the same specs. Also apparently pushing the 16:9 mode cuts off a bunch of pixels and stretches the image over what is left, is this correct? 3363 fucked around with this message at 14:17 on Mar 30, 2008 |
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Mar 30, 2008 13:50
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3363 posted:Got a question, I have a 4 year old HP mp3135 DLP projector. It's 1800 ANSI Lumens with a Contrast Ratio of 2000:1. I haven't bothered to measure anything but my throw distance is probably a little too long and my screen is probably a little too large because the picture is somewhat dim. It's watchable and playable, but it's no movie theatre. I'm out of the loop here, but how much better of a projector can I get for $1,000-$1,500? The HC1500 being talked about in this thread has pretty much the same specs. What is your throw distance? I've got my HC1500 at just under 19' and the picture is very bright. I can run it on low lamp mode and it still looks very good.
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Mar 30, 2008 19:37
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Scrapez posted:What is your throw distance? I've got my HC1500 at just under 19' and the picture is very bright. I can run it on low lamp mode and it still looks very good. I think I'm about 16' away, but that's sort of a guess, might be between 15-20. The screen is about 90 inches diagonal, I thought it was bigger but I geuss not. I played with some contrast/brightness guides and got the levels about right, there's nothing wrong with the image really but it just isn't anywhere close to having blindingly bright highlights like a TV would. I guess I should take a look at these at a store to get a feel for what is right, because according to my specs I should be all set for home theater. I got the screen used and it's freaking huge but maybe I should have gone for something smaller and brighter. 3363 fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Mar 31, 2008 |
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Mar 31, 2008 02:14
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I have a HC1500 running just under 17' throw (from lens to projector), it's insanely bright for me...granted during the day it still isnt' good to look as good but it's definitely usable. At my throw distance it's just over 100" diagonal, Scrapez must have a huge screen. I'm also just using a cheap +1 dalite screen, but it's possible it could make all the difference (it's white not gray).
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Mar 31, 2008 02:20
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MrEnigma posted:I have a HC1500 running just under 17' throw (from lens to projector), it's insanely bright for me...granted during the day it still isnt' good to look as good but it's definitely usable. Yeah my screen is currently 130". It's too big for the room as my seating is only 12 feet away. I need to switch out my lighting to be able to move my projector closer and ceiling mount it. I plan on going to 110" which I think will be perfect size for the room. I guess I should add that my setup is in the basement in a room with no windows so I have complete light control so that helps with brightness. I'm projecting onto a blackout cloth screen. I believe blackout cloth has around a 1.0 gain.
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Mar 31, 2008 16:04
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Scrapez posted:I plan on going to 110" which I think will be perfect size for the room. Well 110" at 12 feet is a 36 degree viewing angle which is the THX standard, so I'd say you're right.
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Apr 1, 2008 01:13
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Scrapez posted:
Can you tell me more about blackout cloth? Will it work as curtains? I always thought you wanted the wall/screen you project on to be as white/silver/gray as possible. Scrapez: Can we see a photo of your setup? It seems to me it would be easier to paint the wall I am projecting on but if the BOC gives better results I am willing to give it a shot. I live in a TINY TINY studio apt. If I post some pictures, can you guys help me make the best use out of what little space I have? I already have the projector ceiling mounted but I have huge "picture windows" which take up the most of the largest wall. This means a lot of light coming through the blinds during the day. VVVVV HAHHAHA! Now it makes a lot more sense. Definitely not appropriate as giant curtains then. VVVVV sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Apr 1, 2008 |
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Apr 1, 2008 02:01
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sigma 6 posted:Can you tell me more about blackout cloth? Will it work as curtains? I always thought you wanted the wall/screen you project on to be as white/silver/gray as possible. Blackout cloth is white or light grey.
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Apr 1, 2008 02:22
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sigma 6 posted:VVVVV HAHHAHA! Now it makes a lot more sense. Definitely not appropriate as giant curtains then. VVVVV Oh but it is actually. it is used as backing to "blackout light" with another material sewn on the front or just hung in front of it as the curtains. I was going to wait and take pics of my entire setup when it is completed but here are a couple of the screen. Please ignore the mess that is my setup at the moment.  Here is the blank screen.  Here is a screen capture. Keep in mind that my projector has not been calibrated and I took this while resting the camera on my bar so it's not the greatest. I don't know if these help you but it really does look very good. If you want to make a 110" or smaller screen, blackout cloth is available in 54" wide sections sold by the yard. I think it's like 6 bucks a yard. Combine that with staple gun, staples, 1x3's and you could make a screen for under 50 bucks. Also, if the BOC is too white and washing out your blacks, it can be painted. Hope this helps.
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Apr 1, 2008 04:56
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Looks like a pretty nice setup! My screen size is about 110 diagonal but unfortunately the wall it is on has several obstructions. A light switch, a fire alarm, and a mounted sattelite speakers. Not sure how I can cover all of that with a BOC, especially in such a small apt. I will take pics soon.
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Apr 2, 2008 19:40
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drat you guys. drat you all to hell. I just posted in the HDTV thread about getting a new TV to replace the one that just died, and then I see this thread. So I'm just in the idea phase now, but I'm thinking the HC1500 with this screen. How would this do in a room that couldn't be blacked out in the afternoon/summer evening? We can make it fairly dark, like too dark to read, but not pitch black. The flip side is I work graves, so most of the time I watch movies on my days off at 3am and it is pitch black, but the wife likes to watch TV when she gets home in the evening. Also I plan on buying a blu-ray player in October when PFD's come out. This isn't 1080, but all the 1080 projectors are way out of my budget. Should I not bother with 720 and just wait? Right now I'll just be using my 360 for a dvd player and we'll probably switch to HD DirectTV, since the dish is already installed for it. I guess I'd hook the 360 up via component and HD DTV via HDMI, then buy a HDMI switching receiver in Oct with the blu-ray and new speakers. Thoughts?
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Apr 11, 2008 14:48
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"Too dark to read" sounds fine to me. The HC1500 is bright enough that it can handle a fair amount of ambient light, but it's still not recommended. Your situation sounds fine, though. What you REALLY want to avoid is lights on inside the room, or any direct light hitting the screen. That's when things go to hell.
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Apr 11, 2008 15:46
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King Hotpants posted:"Too dark to read" sounds fine to me. Agreed. Also, that screen you reference has a gain of 1.8 which is quite bright so it should help too. How many windows are in the room and how large are they?
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Apr 11, 2008 15:56
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Scrapez posted:Agreed. Also, that screen you reference has a gain of 1.8 which is quite bright so it should help too. How many windows are in the room and how large are they? Lots of windows and they're big, but we have some pretty heavy curtains on them, since I get a little  about people looking into our house. I'm going to run this by the wife with the option of blackout curtains, as we already have them in our bedroom.E: on a related note, is there any issue with using standard radio shack rca couplers to connect my 360 component out to a 15ft component cable from monoprice? I can't seem to find any that have female on one end.
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Apr 11, 2008 16:05
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McCheese posted:E: on a related note, is there any issue with using standard radio shack rca couplers to connect my 360 component out to a 15ft component cable from monoprice? I can't seem to find any that have female on one end. Nope.
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Apr 11, 2008 17:27
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Question for King Hotpants or other expert: Looking for a projector to suit a set of art installations. We don't have all the throw dimensions and specific screen sizes in hand yet but we do have the following parameters: around 1200 - 2000 ANSI. Flexible as our ambient light is minimal and controlled. throw of 5 - 10 meters (20ish feet). screen size between 1500 and 5000mm (5 to 16 feet). 1080p res. Native 16:9 essential for lesser resolutions. Flexible but prefer higher price around $5000 AUD ($4700 USD). keystoning, likely to be in some awkward settings. important HDMI or component inputs I've found a few options but nothings yet ticking all the boxes. Any suggestions? EDIT: Shortened the throw as this was killing me and forcing to fixed lenses I'm told. Lowered the ANSI range as I'm told the image should be clear under dim lighting conditions. clusterfuck fucked around with this message at 08:32 on Apr 24, 2008 |
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Apr 24, 2008 06:23
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clusterfuck posted:Question for King Hotpants or other expert: How minimal is minimal ambient light? Enough light to read a book? Enough light to find your way around? This will determine how many lumens you actually need. Is that screen size a diagonal, or a width? If you're set on 1080p, it sounds like you need something with a good zoom and good lens shift. I'll be honest; you're asking for a lot. You could get the other specs easily going with one of the big 3000lum Sanyo 768p projectors, but that's way outside your budget last time I bothered to look. What kind of content is this? Photography, video? This kind of info will make it easier to recommend something.
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Apr 24, 2008 18:21
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I'm getting a projector in August and the HC1500 is right in my price range. I don't want to derail but does anyone have a recommendation for speakers? I'm on a budget of $500 dollars and I'm definitely looking for the surround sound experience.
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Apr 24, 2008 18:54
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RisqueBarber posted:I'm getting a projector in August and the HC1500 is right in my price range. I don't want to derail but does anyone have a recommendation for speakers? I'm on a budget of $500 dollars and I'm definitely looking for the surround sound experience. We have audio threads for this.
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Apr 24, 2008 20:23
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Yeah I know I was just thinking that maybe people with projectors could tell me their setup and what they used, but I'll take it to another thread.
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Apr 24, 2008 22:02
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Is there anyone that has the Dell 2400MP DLP Projector and can tell me how they like it? I have a chance to get a good deal off it from the coupons thread. It's a cnet editors choice with an 8.1 but the users gave it a 5.4. RisqueBarber fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Apr 27, 2008 |
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Apr 27, 2008 06:36
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RisqueBarber posted:Is there anyone that has the Dell 2400MP DLP Projector and can tell me how they like it? I have a chance to get a good deal off it from the coupons thread. It's a business projector. If you're going to use it for home theater, don't bother. It'd make a nice computer monitor though.
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Apr 27, 2008 20:26
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I have this projector: http://www.projectorcentral.com/HP-mp3135.htm 1024x768 at 1800 Lumens, is there any sense in me upgrading to that Mitsubishi HC1500? I'm mainly interested in doing it because of HDMI/HDCP and real HD, but disregarding that, would there even be a significant improvement in quality? I'd get slightly less brightness with a higher resolution, but is that it? I don't care about presentations or live visuals anymore, I just want to use it for games, but the digital keystoning and low resolution is killing me, too drat blurry. Also, any idea what I can sell it at? I mean it's a pretty awesome portable, if I could sell it for $1,250-ish then I'd get a Mitsubishi HC4900 instead which definitely would be worth it. Photos for anyone interested, I'm throwing in an extra brand new lamp and an HDMI adapter that doesn't do poo poo with HDCP. The noise is my camera at a stupid ISO setting.     
3363 fucked around with this message at 05:53 on May 22, 2008 |
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May 22, 2008 05:49
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3363 posted:I have this projector: There is no way in hell you'd be able to sell that for $1250. Comparable brand new projectors are selling for under $1000. It was a pretty awesome portable when it was released four years ago, but not so much anymore. You would see a huge improvement from using the HC1500. There is no comparing a purpose-built video projector with a business machine.
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May 22, 2008 16:10
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King Hotpants posted:There is no way in hell you'd be able to sell that for $1250. Comparable brand new projectors are selling for under $1000. It was a pretty awesome portable when it was released four years ago, but not so much anymore. Thanks a lot for all the info, I was just aiming for the higher end of related eBay prices because of the extra lamp. I'll go for above $500 then. Now I just have to get a ceiling mount so I can stop dicking around with keystoning.
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May 22, 2008 16:57
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King Hotpants posted:How minimal is minimal ambient light? Enough light to read a book? Enough light to find your way around? This will determine how many lumens you actually need. Sorry for the late reply, the budget and requirements have been shifting around so I didn't want to annoy with changing information. Also most of our works have projectors loaned from elsewehere so we're looking at 5 more to finish. The content is DVD video. Now we know this the projector res is not as crucial, but native 16:9 is. The lighting is controlled to be need a flashlight dark in some spaces to barely enough to find a way around. Never enough to read a book. We're using a large industrial docklands set of buildings, some of which will have blacked out windows which will inevitably spill some dim light and some spaces are perfectly black and controllable. The screen sizes are all 16:9 and averaging between 2.5m and 4m width. The throw distances are generally 5m - 7m. As the show will run for 3 months and the projectors will run for 12 hour days we're looking at DLP not LCD as that apparently can handle long playing sessions better than LCD. We've got recommendations from a projector retailer with a big range of brands and they've suggested the Optoma HD71 as most suitable for us at $2500AUD, with the Optoma HD803 at $5000AUD as a better res and DLP chip option. One piece has call for a Panasonic PTAE2000E at $6500AUD due to it's 1:1 big picture / short throw lens. But we doubt we can afford this and are looking at the HD71's to fit out the remaining pieces. I've read here the HD71 is pretty noisy, but some quick comparisons at projectorcentral.com suggest it's not that bad at 29dB. What do you reckon?
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May 23, 2008 03:12
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clusterfuck posted:The content is DVD video. Now we know this the projector res is not as crucial, but native 16:9 is. Well, it sounds like you're on the right track. If you're in a large room, the HD71's noise issues shouldn't be a big problem unless you're putting the projector IN the audience. If the room is really that dark, the Mitsubishi HC1500 might also work, and it should be a good bit cheaper than the HD71. However, the HC1500 is best suited for those 2.5m wide screens you mentioned, as 4m wide is pushing it a bit. Why the AE2000? Why not the AX200? It's 720p and brighter (and a good bit cheaper, as well). It sounds like you're on the right track, honestly. Although the Australian prices do make my head hurt a bit.
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May 23, 2008 19:12
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I just got a Mitsubishi HC1500 from amazon and when I power it up it just makes a bunch of mechanical noises and goes back to standby mode. No image is displayed. The manual essentially says "if you don't get an image and the power is green and the status if blinking red, try again" Well, I tried again and nothing is being displayed. Any other things I should try or should I just box it up and return it? I'm thinking the lamp it came with is busted. edit: I really can't believe the manual says "Press the POWER button several times." as a solution passionate dongs fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Jun 23, 2008 |
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Jun 23, 2008 21:47
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Anyone have a recommendation for a decent ceiling mount? Affordable would be great too.I used the monoprice mount for awhile with my HC900. I upgraded to the HC4900 which is much bulkier and pretty much a pain in the rear end in terms of mounting. Every 2 weeks or so I have to make adjustments. I really don't understand why these things cost so much. Actually thinking of designing my own.
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Jun 24, 2008 05:01
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I just got the HC1500 and I was wondering what the best way to calibrate it is?
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Jun 24, 2008 05:04
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passionate dongs posted:I just got a Mitsubishi HC1500 from amazon and when I power it up it just makes a bunch of mechanical noises and goes back to standby mode. No image is displayed. The manual essentially says "if you don't get an image and the power is green and the status if blinking red, try again" I think you already know the answer to your question. homeless posted:Anyone have a recommendation for a decent ceiling mount? Affordable would be great too.I used the monoprice mount for awhile with my HC900. I upgraded to the HC4900 which is much bulkier and pretty much a pain in the rear end in terms of mounting. Every 2 weeks or so I have to make adjustments. You just spent $1500 on a projector and you're complaining about $150 for a ceiling mount. Suck it up and buy one that's worth a poo poo. RisqueBarber posted:I just got the HC1500 and I was wondering what the best way to calibrate it is? No two projectors are the same. You need to get a calibration disc and do it yourself, because my numbers won't be correct on your projector. For a better calibration (i.e. if you're a picky bitch like me) you can pick up a Spyder2 sensor and download HCFR and you can give yourself a really excellent calibration for $60. It helps if you have friends with projectors who will chip in and help you offset the cost, though I don't think spending $60 to calibrate your >$1000 projector is that insane.
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Jun 24, 2008 21:48
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