The Worst Home Theater?
 

First time post here! My wife and I have decided to purchase a new/newer projector ever since our beloved Novabeam went to crt heaven. While searching this forum for projector advice I stumbled on the thread "Worst Home Theater." My wife told me I had to tell you about ours: Picture a 1985 (I think) Novabeam 1A
coupled to an RCA Selectavision. Then picture about 1100 Selectavision discs straining the shelves! These antiques came into our life 3 years ago thanks to a local yardsale. Since then we have acquired many a laserdisc and dvd...but nothing has brought us more laughs and enjoyment that lugging the 200 pound Novabeam and its absurd curved screen out to the backyard, tapping a keg on a warm New England night, having our friends put out blankets and chairs, then slipping a 10 pound selectavision disc into the whirring machine. There really is something magical about a needle tracking a vinyl copy of "It Happened One Night" and seeing the peculiar results on the big (curved) screen. Anyway, our budget for a new projector is in the $3000 range. DLP seems to be the way to go...and the projectors are supposed to last longer. Any thoughts...

Ahh...good ole' CED. I thought I was the only one who had one of those things.

If you want a new one...$75 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1377967577

Or a used one with 30 discs for $20 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1378268919

Sheesh for $20 I may pick it up for old times sake.

That backyard gig sounds like it was fun...where in NE are you?

Welcome!

I was going to sell my Selectavision player, but figured the shipping would be outrageous (due to the fact it weighs about 1 metric ton) so in the 'ol closet went, gathering dust with the rest of the hardware from days gone by.

For the money, DLP seems to get a lot of hype, but if you want quality go for CRTs. A good front projection set will set you back more, but the bugs still aren't worked out of the DLP devices yet, and the blacks aren't black enough. But, it all depends on your desire for quality, and what exactly is 'good enough'.

Of course, YMMV.

Re: The Worst Home Theater?
 

The Sharp PG-M20X would probably fit your needs nicely. I recommend going to the "Digital Projectors Under $5K" forum at AVSForum.com because they tend to have a lot more technically-oriented projector discussion than you'll find here. There are currently many threads about the M20X running.

Here is a recent (8/27/02) Sharp MX-20 review:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/sharp_m20x.htm

Re: The Worst Home Theater?
 

I worked for McDonald Sales in N.O. in 1983. The owner, David Oreck (Oreck Vacuums) was married to the daughter of the C.E.O. of RCA at the time. I remember when these things first hit the market and we shipped a Sh-t load of selectavision disks every day to retailers within a three state area. Unfortunately I bought into the concept and purchased several hundred of the disks myself. I sold the player which I received as a perk and all the disks to my neighbor about ten years ago for around $100.00.

I've got the largest CED disc collection on my block, around 1100! I've got a 1982 stereo player hooked up to my current-model TV and sound system!