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HELP! Looking for a new Projector


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Im looking for a projector which will be used to watch Movies on. Will be mounted on the ceiling and needs to be preferably greater than 800x600 resolution.

 

Needs to also be under $800 . ANY suggestion would be Greatly appreciated. I dont know too much about Projectors and im sure you all at OCC know more than i do at least

 

thanks

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try and get a 720p (1280x720) widescreen aspect projector with >1000 lumens, then you don't necessarily need a dark room

 

I use an XGA (1024x576) projector that is 4:3 aspect, ceiling mounted (well, light trussing near the ceiling) and just project onto a slightly off-white wall for a 120" 16:9 movie size :)

 

you need to start thinking about distances:

 

projector to wall or screen

wall/screen to audience

projector height above screen centre

screen centre height above audience eye level

 

these will help determine the benefit/need for higher resolutions, and the amount of lumens, and the possibility of a projector screen (you can make one by making a stretched linen canvas frame, then using a blend of special paints)

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i use a 1024x768 one in widescreen mode. the quality is great, however it annoys me that i'm wasting a lot of resolution as 16:9 mode letterboxes the image. since you intend to watch movies on yours, go out of your way to get a widescreen one.

 

bulb life is also something worth considering. projector bulbs are very expensive to replace (replacing mine would cost me more than the projector did) so if you can get one that uses 3000 hour bulbs rather than the standard 2000 you'll be saving yourself quite a bit of money. an LED lit projector sure would be nice as they can last more than 10 times as long as ordinary bulbs, but you won't see one that suits your needs and/or budget for a long time.

 

overall the most important part for me is the resolution. you'll see much more of a difference with higher res than with better contrast ratio, brightness or DLP etc.

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The projector will be about 12 feet away from the viewing wall

The audience will be anywhere from 6-15 feet away from the viewing wall

Projector will be about 3 feet from screen centre.

Screen centre is about 1 foot above viewing eye level.

 

 

 

 

Tell me what you guys think of these:

 

ViewSonic

 

Mitsubishi

 

Epson

 

Sony

 

Do you think the LCD projectors are better than DLP and is it worth the price premium?

Edited by ShallowBay

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not widescreen, so you'll be getting more like 1024x576 if you use it in widescreen mode. quality will still be pretty good, and it's a great deal if you can live with the limited input options. VGA, s-vid and composite would not be enough for me.

 

good projector. can't find anything wrong with it.

 

seems to only have digital zoom, which gives you less flexibility in where you place your projector, and could make it difficult to maximise the screen size. where mine currently sits i can go from approx 100" to 110" with no loss of quality by adjusting the optical zoom. apart from that, it's a good projector with a nice resolution.

 

contrast ratio is simply too low for the price.

 

Do you think the LCD projectors are better than DLP and is it worth the price premium?

DLP projectors usually have a much better contrast ratio than LCD, so you can see the difference in the specs. there is also less empty space between the pixels with DLP which does improve the image quality, although the difference is fairly minor.

Edited by psycho_terror

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