$3K +/- $1K For Projector & Screen Combo, Recomendations?

[Bing Fung]

Hey Folks, I have a friend in the city that is looking to build a HT. He wants to spend about $3K cdn on a Projector and screen combo. He told me he could spend a bit more if it was necessary, however did want to stay close to the $3K.

What would you guys recommend?

I'm not sure how open he is to mail order, however I'm sure I could talk him into it if the deal and right reasoning was there (pricing, availability...etc) He has always joked that he is very suggestive when ever it comes to me :lol:

Shane, I know you have suggested some models aready, feel free to re-post them again with you input.

Thanks :T

[Andrew Pratt]

What's his intended purpose? I.e. movies, games, TV or a combo of all three. Also where will it be installed and what sort of light control does he have....and I assume those are Cdn dollars?

[Shane Martin]

For $3k including a screen he could go with a few options:

720P LCD
1. Sanyo Z3 LCD 720P.
2. Panasonic AE700

720P DLP: Might have to float the budget up a bit(not by much) but it's worth it.
1. BenQ PE7700 - This is currently the hot projector for the money. Dead quiet too.
2. Toshiba MT700 - Tossup between the PE7700.

The only difference between the 2 is their deinterlacer/scalers.

If he wants to step down he could consider:
Infocus 4805 480P DLP
Optoma H31 480P DLP

Both of these are around $1k w/o the screen.

I really really really really really really want a PE7700. HD2+ DLP 6 segment wheel for $3k. I personally prefer the black levels of the DLP vs LCD which is the deciding factor. On the HD2+ FPTV's I haven't seen any rainbows yet. Oddly on the RPTV versions I see them

The PE7700 from BenQ is my recommendation.

[Nick M]

Thats pretty much my budget. I'll be able to help you out on this one next week. I'm going with a Sanyo PLV-Z3 and more likely than not a Criterion Screen from Carada. The Z3 and a 72" Criterion (with gain of 1.0) goes for about $2300. Then you need long enough cable(s) to reach the PJ from your source plus a mount (I'm going to fab one myself). This comes out to roughly US$2500 or about $3000 CDN.

The popular "budget" 16x9 720p units are...

LCD
Sanyo PLV-Z3 US$1725
Panasonic PT-AE700U US$1850
Sony VPL-HS51 US$2500

DLP
Ben-Q PE7700 US$2500
Toshiba MT700 US$2700

[Bing Fung]

Thanks guys :T I'll look at those models you recommended.

Andrew, it is for a dedicated theater room that will bbee in the basement. It's main use will be for DVD movie, however he does want to display PC on it as well so a 1280x720 PJ is the minimum resolution I recommended to him.

[Andrew Pratt]

That's a lot of resolution to ask for Bing

[Bing Fung]

And its Canadian dollars too

[ekkoville]

Has anyone seen the Sony HS51? One review said it rivaled the Yamaha LPX-510 and was an overall better value. I have seen the Yammie, and it was beeeeaautiful but out of the $3000 budget though.

[George Bellefontaine]

Erik, I demoed the Panny 700, the Sony HS51 and the Yamaha LPX510 and ended up with the Yamaha even though it was more expensive. To my eyes anyway, it offered the best overall picture, even though the Sony beat it hands down in the contrast department. But I saw weird things in the Sony picture and it just turned me off.

[Shane Martin]

I've seen the HS51. It was good but not great. I much preferred the Sharp which is currently $4k MSRP. Since then the HD2+ DLP's have came down. Some are starting out at $3,200 MSRP such as the Benq PE7700 or the Toshiba.

[Burke Strickland]

While it’s good to get the opinions of fellow enthusiasts who have taken the time to shop around, without knowing more about how the projectors were set up, under what conditions the comparisons were made, and the image preferences of the person making the comments, it is hard to know whether the conclusions reached about the Sony HS-51 have relevance to one’s own purchase decision.

Of course "beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and we each have the right to evaluate and choose what is "right" for us. But I have to wonder why so many folks here find the Sony HS51 to be an underachiever when the professional reviewers have been almost unanimous in singing their praises for it. I can't believe the reviewers are all being bought off, and having heard negative comments from one of them about Sony as a company, I can't help but believe his high rating of the HS51 was because he really felt the unit was as remarkable as he said.

When I read that people have compared various models, the first thing I wonder is "was each projector properly set up and adjusted" recognizing that every projector requires a different set of adjustments and finding the “correct” ones for a particular model may not be obvious right out of the box.

Then I also wonder "was the same program material used under the same operating conditions in the same environment" including light control, distractions, etcetera. If so, then we also have to ask what the particular viewer's preferences are (brightness versus rich saturated colors, sharpness versus smoothness, detail vs pixel visibility, etcetera) and how each unit stacks up against those preferences. If not, (especially if the comparison was not "side by side"), then the comparison is probably less instructive for the rest of us

One of my local friends happens to be one of the professional reviewers I referred to earlier, and he tells of going into stores with demo display projectors that are wayyy out of adjustment, which would skew anyone's evaluation of it. Also we have seen off-kilter adjustments a number of times at our local meets that made potentially "great" projectors only look "good" -- or worse. And I have to wonder when I read that a projector exhibited “weird” things in the image, what those things were and what attempts were made to adjust the settings to ameliorate them.

What the less-than-flattering comments do tell us is that the Sony HS51 shouldn’t be the only model we consider in its price range, and that more expensive units might perform better. But with so many factors to weigh, it is still seems like a good idea to take a look for ourselves and make a decision based on our own priorities.

Burke

[dookie]

the hs51 is severely light-limited. if you've got dark floor/ceiling/walls and good ambient light control the picture is beautiful...if not, buy something else.

the mt700 is merely a rebadged pe7700...slightly less expensive with a year shorter warranty. there is no difference in the deinterlacers (beyond name...benq is trying to create a name of their own (senseye?), but it's still a faroudja chip).

$0.02,

dookie

[JetFlyGuy]

I picked up a Sharp XVZ-2000 and Stewart Filmscreen Greyhaek screen and the total was just south of 5K. I think the projector can be had online at a price that may put this combo into your price range.

[George Bellefontaine]

I believe Burke may have been referring to my post. Though he makes some good points, I can say this in my case that I used my own discs for demoing and in all cases the demos were in showrooms with absolute light control and the dealers were ISF trained for installations. The Sony is a great projector. No soubt about it. But from what I saw, (the weird things, were artifacts ) it tells me the HS51 had a less effective internal scaler than the Yamaha. The Sony dealer also admitted that the Sony dynamic iris made it tough going in getting a good greyscale and a true D65 color temp. But I certainly would not suggest the Sony is a bad PJ. Hell, if I could afford a third PJ, I'd add the HS51 in the blink of an eye.

[ekkoville]

These weird things that are potentially there with the Sony, does it make sense to use an iScan scaler. I read a review that suggested that is a MUST with the Sony, but how about other PJ's. Is the wide variety of resolution outputs of the iScan a must have item, or is the cost addition not worth it?

[George Bellefontaine]

Actually, Erik, the Sony dealer tried to interest me in an outboard deinterlacer and scaler. I'm sure it would make quite a difference in the artifacts I saw, but I really wasn't intrerested in another piece of equipment in my rack and the added cost would have put it much higher than what I paid for the Yamaha.

With the internal deinterlacer and scaler on my projectors ( both use Faroudja deinterlacers) I saw no need to add an outboard.