Suggestions please

[panrix2003]

Hi there,

Nice forum - seems really friendly in here

I'm from the UK and no stranger to importing electronics so I'm looking to get an FP the cheapest way possible which is from EBAY. I've been looking at several different projectors and the ones that stand out are the following:

1. Infocus 4805
2. Panasonic AE500
3. Sanyo PLV-Z2
4. Optoma 739

Any thoughts as to which one to go for? I will be using the projector in a light controlled environment mainly for movies with a bit of XBox/PC stuff thrown in for good measure. The room is approx 17 ft x 7.5 ft.

Already bought the amp - SONY STRDB795 and getting the SAVS300H 7.1 speakers next week

Thanks in advance, Mark

[JonMarsh]

Each has their fans and adherents - particularly the 4805 and the PLV-Z2.

They have somewhat different pluses and minus, as you go from DLP to LCD technology. It's hard to make a recommendation without knowing what your visual sensibilities and priorities are- the 4805 is lower resolution, 16X9 format, but has good contrast ratio- things to watch out for include "rainbows" and low light level temporal dithering in fast moving scens- do these artifacts bother you, or do you hardly notice them? The Optoma might be a good choice if you prefer 4:3 format; it's true XGA resolution (1024X768), and will have pretty nice performance with good scaling at 1024X576 widescreen- probably a factor for you in Europe.

The Z2 and AE500 are higher resolution than the DLPs you've mentioned, but LCD's tend not to have quite as good a contrast ratio, and some have issues with vertical banding or fixed pattern noise. The Panny uses 10 bit image processing, which means it should be less susceptible to posterization.

Really, there's no substute for you seeing them yourself.

BTW, for $1600 I bought a used NEC 9PG+ CRT projector, with under 700 hours... no contrast problems, no rainbows, no dithering, etc. But it's a littel big compared with a digital, and a little more work to setup....

~Jon

[panrix2003]

Jon,

Thanks for the reply - just got back from working away and no chance to access the forum

The problem I have is there are no local dealers to demo any of these units This means either a long journey to have a looksee or just buying in the vain attempt to get the perfect proj first time round - a scary prospect I'm sure you'll agree.

Mark

[Brandon B]

But it's a littel big compared with a digital

That's like saying you're a little more knowledgable than me about audio equipment.

BB

[JonMarsh]

Jon,

Thanks for the reply - just got back from working away and no chance to access the forum

The problem I have is there are no local dealers to demo any of these units This means either a long journey to have a looksee or just buying in the vain attempt to get the perfect proj first time round - a scary prospect I'm sure you'll agree.

Mark

The thing is, NO projector is perfect- and in the class of units you're looking it, in the long term it comes down to which shortcoming bother you the least. Hence, the long discussions about rainbows and motion dithering for DLP, and contrast ratio, vertical banding, and screen door effect for LCD.

Every effort is being made to minimize these affects by the manufacturers, but since in many cases they don't actually build the light engine used, sometimes there's only a limited amount they can do.

And sometimes improvement in one area comes at a price in another- example, there's a new Mitsubishi projector I've heard about which uses different color wheel rates and gets the motion artifacts greatly reduced, but with it's slower color wheel speed, it's more susceptible to rainbows on some program material.

As much trouble as a trip a ways away to a dealer would be, compare that to the potential for buyers remorse....

Now, as I mentioned, all of these projectors have their adherents and fans, so in some sense, you can't go totally wrong.

One last point, reliability, I read about more issues like panel burn and the like with LCD's; (hey, I"ve owned them myself, so don't think I'm dumping on LCD per se), so aside from the usual things with lamp life, and sometimes color wheel discoloring from heat, I'm inclined to say DLP may be a little more robust, if there's no other clear chossing factor. A properly tuned DLP tends to look quite good on static material; it's just fast motion and especially fast motion in low light levels that can be a little problematic.

Then too, how long do you expect to keep this unit? If not that long, then perhaps I"m being overly critical or fussy. If it's just a stop gap for a few years until you get something you've had time to research, then it's a lot less of an issue.

Which ever way you go, good luck with your hunt and purchase.

~Jon

[JonMarsh]

That's like saying you're a little more knowledgable than me about audio equipment.

BB

OK, ok! So I'm just a wee tye under-exaggerating or something....

My PG is relatively petite as CRT's go- can pick it up by myself...

And I got really lucky last week, and scored a full brand new set of NEC OEM CRT's from Doug Baisey for one G note- they're on there way now, though I won't need them for quite a while (less than a hundred hours on this beast). Not many of those in circulation these days. With any care, that's a 10K hour extension to the lifetime of my unit... which means I've got about 19,000 hours to go.... by then they should be able to get digital's "right".


(actually, I am sort of lusting after one digital, that new Canon SX50 SXGA+ LCOS- I'd love to have it for our new group presentation projector, but don't know if I can swing my boss that direction.)

~Jon

[panrix2003]

Jon,

I see this proj being a 1-2 year in use item then replaced with whatever is about at not too silly money. That being the case, I think I'll be getting myself a Z2 in the next few days

Thanks again for your help and advice, it is much appreciated.

Mark