Teremei

In your opinion, which Projector around $2000 is the best for home theater? This includes DVD viewing, HDTV, and video games? Must be atleast a 780p capable projector. That is all.

Slayer2005

In that price range it pretty much comes to these two units:

Panasonic AE900
Sanyo Z4

However, neither is 780p, because no such digital projector exists. They are both 720p units, but I definitely hesitate to call them the best of the digital projectors in the price range. They are the best of the $2,000 and under 720p units though.

InFocus has a 1024x576p DLP coming out that I believe will be better overall than both the AE900 or Z4, despite the lower resolution. Resolution is not the only thing that helps makes a great image, but since you're looking for 720p those are the two units to consider. I'd personally go with the AE900. Better colors out of the box and no screen door effect.

Teremei

thanks for your opinion. I'll check out both reviews. And you are correct it was my mistake. I mean 720p.

Teremei

It there a nation wide chain store that is well known for deming projectors? Sure Best Buy gave me a quick demo of their $3000 sharp projector in their main lighted store. But I'm talkin about a full dark room with demos of multiple projectors. I have a fry's electronics near me that has a dark room, but I'm not sure they demo them or not.

Is there a store that is well known for demoing projectors?

Sdallnct

No...

Sdallnct

While I have seen neither of these, I would agree these are two of the most popular and overall well reviewed sets around. I have started (just looking mind you) on what I might replace my X1 with. I only have a 1000 on the bulb and I'm trying to keep myself to the self imposed rule of no serious looking before I get to at least 2000 hours. However, I just love the HD signal I put thru my X1. And since the X1 is no where near HD, I can only imagine was a 720p PJ would look like. And in every search I do, every mention of this price range these two PJ's come up...

Teremei

What are the bulb lifes in a projector like the V4 and panny compared to a plasma or Lcos TV? Much much lower? And what is the replacement cost of such bulbs? This is a good question considering the projector would take over every day viewing.

Sdallnct

IMHO the bulb price is not a concern with PJ's in general. There are a lot of issues in deciding if a PJ is right for you, but bulbs is not one of them. The bulb in my X1 goes for about $300. How long will it last? Who knows, they keep changing the rating. First it was 2000, then 3000 and I think I read where they changed it to 4000.

Say 3500 hours at 5 hours per day every single day, gets you nearly 2 years.

Teremei

Yeah but my TV gets about 12 hours per day. So it is a concern, we have alot of people who watch news, or have the TV on all day.

What is the bulb life in Lcos does anyone know? Are they alot longer life than Projectors?

Slayer2005

Actually, it'd probably be best to leave it on more hours each time you turn it on. Too many lamp strikes (turning on and off a lot rather than leaving it on for long stretches) will be worse for it.

One guy on AVSForum left his on for 18 hours a day and got over 8,000 hours on his 4,000 hour lamp.

Have you considered using a small tv for some less serious viewing? Like news watching. No way I'd waste my bulb hours watching the news.

Slayer2005

When you get one it will blow you away.

For one, you're not only missing resolution with the X1. You're missing other just as important parts of image quality (contrast, black level, color saturation and color accuracy). So, when you upgrade you'll see multiple improvements. Heck, if you upgraded to one of today's good 480p (like the InFocus 4805) units you'd see multiple large improvemnts in all the categories I mentioned above. The X1 was my first projector and I loved it, but there is much better available at about the same 16:9 resolution, therefor there is MUCH MUCH better available with 720p units.

I had already upgraded my X1 to a CRT projector (which was a jaw dropping improvement in all of those areas I mentioned) before I got my 4805, so the 4805's improvements over the X1 weren't quite as jaw dropping as they would've been had I not gotten the CRT first, but they were still very big improvements though.

You have a lot to look forward to. Just hope the X1 lamp doesn't die early. As soon as I knew I wanted to upgrade it I only used it one more time to take screenshots.. I sold it for nearly as much as I paid for the much better InFocus 4805 unit too.

Josh Z

You're wasting your projector if you use it for that kind of watching. You should just buy an RPTV or plasma. A projector needs to be viewed in a darkened room with little or no ambient light. They do not make practical daily-use TV screens.

Sdallnct

Well I think we would have to define "daily-use". Since adding an HD receiver we do use our PJ "daily". I love watching CSI, Vegas, NCIS, Letterman, The Oscars, Superbowl, etc, etc, on it. We do have it on nightly and it is awesome. Since going with the HD receiver we have drastically increased the hours put on the PJ. And it is well worth it. It is like watching these shows for the first time, it is truly amazing. And with more and more HD content coming on line, I think this will only increase.

And for the record you do not want to watch a PJ (or any other display I know of) in total darkness. Too much strain on your eye's and in the case of my PJ, you lose depth. I have a strand of rope lights under my riser and a stand above a build in bookcase. I have both on dimmers and about 50% is just right. There is enough light to easly walk around, see where the remote it, get a drink whatever. You want light you can control, but not total darkness.

But the OP mentioned 12 hours a day?? WOW?? No I really don't see the point of watching ESPN for the 10th time that day on a 100" screen. Or Soaps (maybe if they are in HD but don't know). But this is just my experience on my PJ. My PJ does not do particularly well with SD my Dishnetwork SD. So for the most part it is DVDp or HD or nothing. Some PJ's evidently do a better job with SD, you would want to buy accordingly.

Now if you are avid DVD watchers, where you like to sit and watch all three LOR's in a row, then I think a PJ would be fine. You are leaving it on more, you are seeing the benefit of the PJ, you just want to budget and save your loose change for a bulb every now and again. I built my theater room to use and easy clean up. Now (especially with the HD receiver) when we have dinner at 6:00pm or so, we often eat in the media room and watch whatever is on. Then when the kids go do their homework, I watch CSI, Vegas, whatever. And when I go do something else unless I'm 100% sure I'm done for the night, I leave it on, coming back for the news and Leno or Letterman.

Sdallnct

Yea, I know. And what is hard is after the Superbowl party where we had about seven or eight people over and everyone was amazed, my wife mentioned how impressed she was with how well the media room turned out and "any time" I wanted to upgrade, it was fine by her! So trust me, it is hard to hold back...and to be honest, I thought about picking up a 4805 on one of those smoking deals as a "stop gap" till I did "true" HD...but didn't know if the difference was worth it.

Spiky

I'm going to guess that your PJ is too bright if you get strain. I used to say this about ambient light, too, when I just had tube TVs. But once I got a PJ and dialed it in well, my headaches and strain went away. It is not as bright, but it shouldn't be. Details are still there in both bright and dark scenes. The ambient lights do help your eyes/brain adjust to a bright screen, but if the lumens are correct, you can be in total darkness. I can't believe that watching a 2 hour movie used to give me a headache some days, now I can sit there for an entire day (not that I do that often) watching tennis (which is typically much brighter than a movie) with no problem whatsoever. Allows me to turn the audio up a couple db, too.

And I'm sure that this will not apply for some. Just like certain artifacts bother some people more than others. But for most people it should be true.

ShagMan

Another vote for "you should be in total darkness". I pretty much have to do this on my LCD projector, so that I can reduce the bulb to it's lowest setting AND close down my iris a bit. The low bulb settings means the fan is on it's quietest setting, and the iris closed down a bit to get the contrast up. I never have any strain problems, except for the fact that I'm looking at a 120" diagonal about 12 feet away... there are a couple of movies that make my eyes hurt, like the first ten minutes of Irreversible... just due to the vertigo you get from your FOV being filled with motion.

Slayer2005

I prefer total darkness myself, at least for my CRT projector anyway since it has such a huge black level advantage over digitals. For the CRT I'd like to have dark walls as well if I could. I'm a contrast/black level nut though.

I don't mind occassionally using my 4805 and silver torus for some non serious ambient light viewing (say while eating or conversing with friends/family) since it's great in ambient light with the 4805, but for serious viewing I want the best picture quality I can get out of my display (especially with the CRT) and I want to be sucked into what I'm watching. The best way to do that is in total darkness (other than the picture on the screen).

I don't have any eye strain problems though.

Slayer2005

Oh, it's worth it if you can't upgrade to an HD pj anytime soon. It's WAY brighter than the X1 (so it's a lot better with any lights in the room). It has more than double the calibrated contrast ratio of the X1 and very noticeably darker blacks. The colors are much richer and more accurate. When I was watching my Futurama DVDs along time ago on my X1 I could never get the colors just right. One character or character's hair was always off. It's like I had to sacrifice one color for another. Dark scenes look a lot better on the 4805.

For the price of the upgrade it's definitely worth it. One of the newer XGA DLPs like the XR-10 would be worth the upgrade as well (especially for HD watching).

Josh Z

Whatever works for you is what works for you, and I would certainly never tell you how to use your own equipment. That said, ambient light can and will wash out the projected image and is best avoided. As far as eye strain, if that were really such an issue then movie theaters would have to leave their lights on as well. When you do front projection, there's going to be a certain amount of light spill filling your room anyway, especially if you have reflective white walls. That should be more than enough to counter eye strain problems, though many people go to the trouble of painting their walls dark colors to reduce the light spill to its minimum.

Psych1

I'll be a bit contrary here, althought I do agree with about 1/2, maybe more, of whats been said, mainly, "Whatever works for you works for you." Also, it's the on-off that kills the PJ bulbs.

But, I'd tell anyone who is currently happy with their X1 to wait. I think the better PJs that really make a difference, like CRT, are either too expensive right now and/or too much trouble. Good, and cheap, and better, ones are coming. And, the X1 is a classic that will go down in tech history.

Also, I agree that if you want to "lose" yourself, and I often do, dark is better. But, in order to maintain a life with others, some ambient light is required. It's a trade-off in contrast but worth it in terms of relationships, or, parenting.

And I agree that if you actually need 24 hr.news that a small TV is a better option but I really don't agree that anyone, other than a day-trader, really needs that. My advice, now that I'm preaching, is to quit smoking and quit TV. Both are very bad for you.

awmurray

You can try Tweeter (www.tweeter.com and click on store locator). I think some of those have rooms setup with projectors.

Here are some that may be near you:
CHICAGO
Tweeter
2828 North Clark St.
Chicago , IL 60657
Phone: 773-525-7005 Get Map Get Directions

CHICAGO - MICHIGAN AVE.
Tweeter
900 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago , IL 60611
Phone: 312-664-3100 Get Map Get Directions

abintra

http://www.magnoliaht.com/stores/default.asp

Best Buy Magnolia stores likely have the 4805 setup to demo also (probably using a $4000 screen though).

onabudget

The Magnolia's here in CA have always had the 5700 and 7205 on display.

I've only seen 4805 demos in small independent shops

Teremei

Ok I get it, if I want to set up a projector I should make sure anybod who want's some regular 'ol TV viewing, to do it in the downstairs TV.

Now, I don't have total darkness in the room planned for the projector. But even in daylight with the thick window curtains closed, it is very dim. I'm still considering it. I just need to find the right reciever that will beable to accept an HDMI signal and component to beable to hook the Sattelite/video game system/DVD player all to the projector at the same time.

If I want a projector that will beable to take full advantage of HDTV sports (which I THINK is in 720p. Is there anything cheaper than the panny and sanyo mentioned above? Or is that pretty much my lowest end option?

Thanks!

broadwayblue

You don't really need absolute darkness to enjoy the picture. as long as you have general light control and the room is mostly dim you will get good results. the most important part is to make sure as little light as possible is shining directly on the screen, as that will kill the picture most easily. but if you have a lamp on in the back of the room or in the next room you will probably be ok. i have last year's panny AE700 and have put about 1200 hours on it over the past 12 months. i think it looks great even with some light on in the room. basically you can adjust the light until you feel most comfortable with the tradeoff between best picture quality and viewing comfort. you won't be disappointed. i for one will never go without front projection again if i can help it. HD sports, movies, and gaming on my xbox 360 are awesome at 112"!!!