Projectors?

Quddy

Quddy

Quddy

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Joined
28 May 2004
Posts
255
Location
Japan
Hi,

I am thinking about buying a HD projector and am doing some research on them to see if it is suitable for my home. I know some you of you have one so I thought I would seek some of your general opinions on them. I intend to use it mainly for gaming (PC & Xbox360) and occasionally some DVDs.

Specifically,

1. Is the bulb life expectancy accurate? If it is then a 3000hr bulb would last me quite a few years.

2. Are bulbs usually covered under the warranty? If a bulb only lasts 500hrs instead of the quoted 3000hrs then would this be replaced for free?

3. Screens? I've done a bit of research (there doesn't seem to be that much information/reviews on the web about them). There seem to be different materials used depending on the audience and media to be displayed, and prices seem to vary quite a lot from £60 to over £300? What sort of screens should I be looking for and where? Can you get screens that don't have to be permanantly fixed to a wall/ceiling?

4. Viewing distances/Picture size: what's the minimum distance you need to sit from the screen compared to picture size? I have read that the latest projectors can display a picture only 1-2m away.

Projectors I have on my shortlist so far (budget around £1K):
- Epson EMP-TW600
- Panasonic PT-AE900

Any info on any of the above questions would be great, thanks.
 
1. Should do, for maximum life don't let it get too hot and don't power it up and down often - mine is never used for less than three hours at a time.

2. You'd have to check that with the manufacturer

3. Just look around on www.drhscreens.co.uk they have lots of options

4. See 2, different projectors different distances, I get a 60 inch image from 2m on my panny
 
Quddy said:
Hi,

I am thinking about buying a HD projector and am doing some research on them to see if it is suitable for my home. I know some you of you have one so I thought I would seek some of your general opinions on them. I intend to use it mainly for gaming (PC & Xbox360) and occasionally some DVDs.

Specifically,

1. Is the bulb life expectancy accurate? If it is then a 3000hr bulb would last me quite a few years.

Depends on a lot of factors; hot starts, number of starts, quality of bulb, luck and conditions of the room.

2. Are bulbs usually covered under the warranty? If a bulb only lasts 500hrs instead of the quoted 3000hrs then would this be replaced for free?

Usually they will warranty for a limited time and usage (around 500 hours and or a few weeks). (I got a replacement on a bulb that went at 600 hours)

3. Screens? I've done a bit of research (there doesn't seem to be that much information/reviews on the web about them). There seem to be different materials used depending on the audience and media to be displayed, and prices seem to vary quite a lot from £60 to over £300? What sort of screens should I be looking for and where? Can you get screens that don't have to be permanantly fixed to a wall/ceiling?

I'd go with something like a Beamax. Good quality and pretty nutral, unless you have adverse room conditions like bright light, then you may need a higher gain surface

4. Viewing distances/Picture size: what's the minimum distance you need to sit from the screen compared to picture size? I have read that the latest projectors can display a picture only 1-2m away.

Depends on the projector, most have a zoom as well as a focus, have a look at the manufacturer website or www.projectorcentral.com for throw calculators

Projectors I have on my shortlist so far (budget around £1K):
- Epson EMP-TW600
- Panasonic PT-AE900 <<<<<< Very pleased with my AE700

Any info on any of the above questions would be great, thanks.
Click to expand...

MB
 
Thanks very much for the input.

Are projectors easy to setup? I've read some reviews and most of them always seem to talk about a plethora of video settings, especially getting the colours right. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to advanced audio/video. Will one of the presets usually give a good enough picture? (at least until I get a bit more experienced)
 
Quddy said:
Thanks very much for the input.

Are projectors easy to setup? I've read some reviews and most of them always seem to talk about a plethora of video settings, especially getting the colours right. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to advanced audio/video. Will one of the presets usually give a good enough picture? (at least until I get a bit more experienced)
Click to expand...


Nearly all modern LCD monitor come with preprogrammed settings for colour, the Panasonics have about 5 and you can choose which you prefer, I use normal and when I ran an advanced set up DVD it was pretty much spot on.

As for physically setting them up its a doddle.

MB
 
Matblack said:
Nearly all modern LCD monitor come with preprogrammed settings for colour, the Panasonics have about 5 and you can choose which you prefer, I use normal and when I ran an advanced set up DVD it was pretty much spot on.

As for physically setting them up its a doddle.

MB
Click to expand...

theres also a lot of tweak guides on avforums, typically each projector will have its own tweak thread.

Setting up is really pretty easy, most have decent horizontal & vertical lens shift.. Just make sure you set it up level, not pointing up or down..
 
Thanks.

I leaning towards the PT-AE900 at the moment but am a bit confused by the different types of screens. Is there much difference between matt white, high power, gray screens etc...?

Also what aspect ratio should I go for? There seem to be choices of 1:1, 4:3, and 16:9. I would not like to spend more than £150 on the screen.
 
try & get a demo of the panny, z4 etc..

as for screen, depends on your room, do you have a lot of ambient light ?

I doubt you would need a screen with any gain though, projectors are rather bright nowadays..
 
I have a panasonic ae500 which i have on a shelf 2 m up about 13ft from the screen which gives me a picture on around 83 inches and it brill :D
to answer our questions
1: it depends on the bulb some people get more than 3000hrs some a bit less iam on 300hrs after about 2 years still loads of life left in the bulb
2: there only covered upto a certain no of hours per the first couple of months
3: i would suggest getting your projctor first set it up so its projecting onto a wall then measure how big the picture is. Then buy a screen 16:9 matt white in what ever size to fit the projected image note: if you change the distance from the projector to the screen the the image will also change size ;)
4: projector to screen 13feet. me to screen 10feet for an image 80inches across
this will change depending on the throw ratio of the projector the ae900 should be similar to mine ;)
hope this helps
 
Cheers everyone for your valuable input.

I've pretty much decided on the AE900, every review I have read seems to think it is great.

Still thinking about what screen to get, didn't realise there was so much choice and price bands! Decided against any high gain ones as I don't think it is required for this projector/room combination. Is it possible to get portable 16:9 screens that are not too expensive, i.e. < £200?
 
Quddy said:
Cheers everyone for your valuable input.

I've pretty much decided on the AE900, every review I have read seems to think it is great.

Still thinking about what screen to get, didn't realise there was so much choice and price bands! Decided against any high gain ones as I don't think it is required for this projector/room combination. Is it possible to get portable 16:9 screens that are not too expensive, i.e. < £200?
Click to expand...

You'd be much better with a roof mounted pull down than a portable, they are much more stable. Try Beamax's B grades section for some cracking deals, the case of mine had a dent in the back and I got a bargain price on it.

http://www.beamaxed.co.uk/demo.php?serie=demo

MB
 
One more question, what does "light waves in fabric" mean regarding the b-grade stuff?

Thinking about getting one of the 179x101 R-black screens for £95.
 
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