Deep Singh

Which one do you have and are you happy with it?

Screen shots welcomed

billythekid

I have a BenQ one. Its a proper home cinema one, so does 16:9 and has various inputs etc.

Anyway, its great. Best 500 quid I have spent. I get about 100 ish inch picture corner to corner. There are some much better ones on the market now as mine must be getting on for 2 years old.

I use mine for DVDs and also have my Xbox360 hooked up.

al4x1

can you screen it off the wall? if so so imperfections in the wall have any impact. I've been toying with the idea but the plaster was put up in the 1600's so isn't exactly flat

The Zohan

Speaking with some experience yes you can project onto a wall, whiter the better, imperfections will show if large

Ben-Q stuff is real good quality, saw a lot of it in Dubai.

If buying the more lumens the better, check the lens is correct to ensure you will get a decent size picture.

Projectors need nearly zero daylight/extreaneous light to look good.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I have a top end sony one It was about £5k when I 1st got it but they are cheaper now, quality is excellent and its much more descret than you think as I have mine ceiling mounted. I have had mine 7 years now and I still prefer it to any plasma as even the 60" plasma's are small compared to mine. The tv in the bottom corner is a 32" LCD. As you can see its mainly used for my xbox 360 If your after a particular type of screen shot I have no problem taking a picture. Also as you can see thru the window this was playing in daylight, its only the screen covering the window that has the room dark so you can see they don't need total darkness

Daryl

I have an 8 year old NEC HT1000, but it still produces a great picture. The main question is how big is your budget? For less than £1000 I would recommend the LCD Panasonic AX200 (HD Ready). If you want full HD, try the Panasonic AE2000 or new AE3000, Sony HW10 and the Mitsubishi HC6500.

If the rainbows generated by DLP don't bother you (can cause headaches and sore eyes), try some of those (Infocus, Optoma etc), but if your whole family are likely to be watching it, I would avoid them to be honest (my NEC is DLP and, although I don't notice the rainbows, I do get sore eyes after watching for a couple of hours).

Whatever you decide on, you will be amazed by the picture quality; it's hard to go back to normal tv after watching the cinematic picture they are capable of producing.

Deep Singh

steve there is a big white scooby driving through your window! Nice pic

Daryl, very nice set up, can't believe that pic is from an 8 year old pj.

I'd like to spend about £2k inc leccy screen. The panny 2000 can be had for about £1600 as the 3000 is out this month. Problem is I've read about some reliability problems with them.

The IN80 has had rave reviews and can be had with good 7ft leccy screen for £1550. Excellent reliability and 3 year doorstep warranty. Problem is I have no idea if I ( or wife/kids) suffer from the rainbow problem and I've heard the fan is loud/

Can't seem to find many places close by that hold a number of different pjs in my price range to demo

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

The fan is really quiet on my projector so I don't even know its there, personally I wouldn't bother with an electric screen. I had one in my last house and I didn't like the idea of the wiring so I went with a Da-lite pull down. I would not go too over the top with the price of the projector as they will fall in price similar to the plasma screens so it may be cheaper and easier to just keep upgrading

Daryl

I use mine in eco mode and it's still going strong after 8 years - I do only use it once or twice a week though...

Deep Singh

Infocus give a one year warranty on their bulbs

Sonic'

Ive had a Sharp XV1-E for many years, then the bulb fnally went, and I got an Infocus one (cant remember the model now, it was a freebie from work, and came with a flight case and spare bulb)

I also have a BenQ (again cant remember the model number, but again came with a brand new bulb and does HD too, came out of a pub and cost nothing )

Also have 7 foot motorised screen (again came out of a pub )

sti-04!!

Theres no credit crunch in your house Deep

ScoobyJawa

I have an Optoma HD800x full 1080p projector and its 950 from dabs inc a 105" screen. Its fooking awesome!

ScoTTyB

Optoma Hd800x: £895
Dixons - Low Priced Electricals Enter "SAVE25" To Get £25 Off. Limited Time Only. Be Quick!

billythekid

I project mine onto a wall (new house) and its fine. However, I have been told by friends that a screen will make the picture even better. I cant be bothered installing one as I think we will move in a couple of years and I would like to to be a nice flush fit. So for now the wall is fine.

A good screen will be expensive. As expensive as a cheap projector...

Also, budget your mounts, cables etc. I must have spent a good 200 quid on cables (long run) and also mounted it using a proper bracket on the ceiling.

As said above the darker you can get the room the better.

The photo above of Gandolf (sic?) is taken using a long exposure hence the room looks light but its just the light from the PJ thats lighting the room. The smallest amount of light that comes in under blinds and such like can really make the image go milky. At this time of year its not a problem, but in the summer it is. We got some blackouts.

Noise, well depends. DLP is a bit worse but its not the end of the world. On quiet scenes it is audible, the fan and the DLP wheel but I dont mind it too much, kind of blank it out after a while.

My bulb has over 1000 hours on it, I run it on a mix of cinema mode and eco. They are cheap enough on e-bay now so I am not bothered really, but if you have the money to spend on a projector set up a couple of ton on a bulb is no problem really. Keep the PJ as cool as you can and it should last at least a couple of thousand hours.

The only last thing I would mention is heat. Make sure there is lots of ventilation for the PJ (see bulb life above) and also in the room. A long film, say 3 hours, can generate a lot of heat. Our cinema room is fairly small, it has a 3 seat sofa in it and a media station and thats about it. The heat can build up. The xbox will be running, the surround system will be running, and then the PJ. All the warm air builds up and it can get quite stuffy. We try and keep the door open, but it can let some light in, so its swings and roundabouts!

Other than that, get yourself a small fridge, lots of beer and your xbox/PS warmed up!!