Ok...so I finally got my girlfriends permission to purchase a projector for the living room. The projector will be used exclusively for watching DVDīs (no TV watching or game playing). I only have a very limited budget to use on this (around 2500 $USD, which here in Iceland just about covers a projector that costs 1500 $USD in the USA), and after careful deliberation, I find myself left with two choices.

1) Sony VPL-HS2

or

2) Sony VPL-CS5.

They HS2 has a lower lumens count (1000) versus the CS5 (1800), but the HS2 is decidedly more quiet from what I can gather. It is also a dedicated home theater projector, while the CS5 seems to have been designed initially for presentations and such. Iīve seen it in action though, and it looks fine to my untrained eye. The guy at the store swears that it is better than the HS2, but I have no way of verifying that. So, can you guys help me decide which one to get, or possibly suggest some other better projector in the 1500-2000 $USD price range?

Neither are that great, to be honest. How much is the $2298 Sony VPL-HS10 over there?

In the 1500-2000 range, the Dell 3200MP is a lot better, especially with much higher contrast, much better fill ratio and higher resolution, though it is louder. It is a single DMD projector though.

The Infocus X1 is not a bad choice for home theater at $900 or so. It has a good video chip (faroudja DCDi equipped), and excellent contrast.

The HS-10 costs nearly 4000 $ over here. Thatīs way more than I can afford right now. Iīll check out these other ones you suggested. Thanks.

I suggest you post your question in the "Digital Projectors Under $5000" board at AVS Forum. There are a lot more people there who will be able to give you knowledgable advice in this particular area.

how about the panasonic L300U? if you will only be using it for dvds you won't really need the extra resolution of the hs-10 anyway.

Hey, GotApex, where can I get the HS10 for that price? I haven't found it for less than $2800.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/the-moni...et/999610.html

What do you think of the HS10? I thought it looked fairly decent when I saw it this weekend at the Home Entertainment Expo. Although the SXRD was really nice!

It's nice, especially for the price. It's not the best in terms of contrast, but the resolution is very good, the screendoor is not too bad (thanks to the resolution), and it's priced well. There's no rainbows to worry about, and its size and weight makes it easy to mount.

Thanks for the info!

I did notice the dark areas lacked detail. But the picture looked damn good for regular component 480(p?) input of a DVD. Even using its internal scaler.

They said it got about 2000 hours on the bulb and replacement cost was $200. Not bad.

In addition, the screendoor effect can be virtually eliminated by a touch of defocus. The HS10's focus controls make it very easy to do the fine adjustments needed without losing a lot of detail. The HS10 also handles HD broadcast material better than the Panasonic L300U.