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Topic: Looking for Home Theater Projector Suggestions
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Matt McBride
Film Handler
Posts: 62
From: Starkville, MS USA
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted April 06, 2013 07:07 PM
It will all come down to how much money you want to spend. Like Christian said you'll want to make sure that it has at least 1080p resolution, though I want to add it may help to get ones that can run 1080p at 24fps. They are usually marked as 1080p/24fps. The reason being, it adds a little edge to making the DVD or blu-ray you are watching see slightly more film like. Also there is a whole debate on LCD vs. DLP. Personally I would go with a DLP as you won't have to worry about aging on the crystals like LCDs, however LCDs are getting better with how to control the aging element. DLPs are known for giving richer blacks and lighter whites, that LCDs in general can't reproduce as well. However they are getting better in that technology but you may have to shell a little more out for a higher end projector.
The $200-300 dollar range will be a tight budget, and I am not even sure if you can buy a projector with 1080p that is worth while. I would try to shop for a used one. You can find them at projectorcentral.com. They are dedicated to digital projectors and reviews, mostly for home, but they talk about some large venues. I don't think they discuss DCI compliant projectors other than they exist.
There are a variety of brands to select from. I personally have owned Optomas and Panasonics, in fact my current one is Panasonic PT-AE4000, which I bought brand new 3 yrs ago for 2K, now since it's not even in production as they are on the 8000 model, you can probably get mine around your price range. One little feature that may be nice to have, one that's actually in my model, is called lens memory. You can save your lens zoom positions, so you can mimick the constant height for scope formats. Ideally a scalar with lens changes is ideal but that's a different story.
Other than Optoma and Panasonic there are other good brands out there such as runco and christie. I would browse through projector central. They have a nice tutorial about home theater projectors if you have never bought one, plus they have section to buy used projectors. Good luck and let us know what you decide on. BTW this excellent step towards being able to show movies of various formats, not just film, on the bigger screen. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Scott Mallory
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 146
From: Montreal, QC
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted May 07, 2013 12:09 AM
Hi Everyone,
So I think I’m closer to getting my digital projector. Here’s what I want and have to work with: a basement theater, 8ft tall screen, Bose speaker with a quarter inch jack, distance of 10-15ft to the screen, AV cart to put the projector and hopefully 3D bluray/DVD player on. Here are my possibilities: a refurbished Optoma HD20 or BenQ W710ST Short Throw DPL. The Optoma has the native resolution of 1920x1080 but no quarter inch sound out for my Bose speaker. Also it got a lot of great reviews but also complaints of lines, flickering and possible bad boards that can only be serviced in Singapore. The BenQ gets great ratings and has a quarter inch sound out, but has a lower 720 resolution and there are a couple of reviews saying the single/internal 10watt speaker isn’t very loud. I’m not sure, but I imagine that I can run a player into the projector and then run sound out from the projector to my Bose speaker?! Also it’s a short throw, so can I put it behind everyone on my AV cart or do I need to have the mess of a set up low and in front of everyone? I don’t have the option of mounting it from my ceiling. Both are just under $600 and I think I’m leaning towards the BenQ. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Scott
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