B-DAY coming PROJECTOR PLEASE :D

Associate
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Hi All

Its coming up to my birthday soon :D and i was thinking about getting a HD projector to go with my LE40R51B ( LCD for my PC TV watching) and then projector for DVD and gaming (360, Rev, PS3).

Now i don't no what is better LCD Projectors or DLP (looking on the ocUK site) so could you guys please help me choose a projector :)

my budget is between 800 and 1400 (but 1400 is pushing it) and the screen has to be included in the price.

main criteria:
HD ready Res 1024 768.
some nice good inputs like
DVI, D-SUB, COMPONENT, S-VIDEO all the usuals
and has to include the screen

don't no about size of the screen but i am obviously looking for something bigger then my 40" LCD

Thanks in advanced
XD-3
 
Soldato
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You want a 16:9 one, so 1280x720 for HD.

I'm a big fan of the Panasonic ones and you should be able to get a AE900 for about a grand I think. www.drhscreens.co.uk are pretty good quality and very good value, about £130 or a bit more. Leaving you a few quid for cabling.

Size of the screen depends on room size really and how far away you will sit and how far away the projector can be.
 
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Soldato
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Remember projectors are not like TVs, you can't just shove it in a room without planning certain things. Screen size is important dependant on room size, and projector location. Cabling is important because you will have to have the DVD, XBOX etc next to the projector, not nex to the screen. Most important is projector location. Are you going to table mount it, shelf mount it, or ceiling mount it? If you table mount it, make sure no other furniture is in the way. If you wall mount it, work out where on the wall, and where to get the shelf. Ceiling mounting is a good idea because it is more out of the way, but you have to watch out for where your lights are, and how much more cable you need to connect it. Ceiling mounts will also take some of your budget away.
I just bought an Optoma H72i, but haven't tried it properly yet because my room is being decorated first. It is probably out of your budget, but good luck anyway.

<-- Waits impatiently for wallpaper and carpet :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Soldato
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How often will you be using it? The Panasonic AE900 is very good at just over a grand for the unit (then add £100 for the ceiling mount, and £200 for the screen). The Sanyo Z4 however comes with a voucher for a free second bulb and is a similar price. As bulbs cost around £250 and only last around 2000hrs, its worthwhile considering.
 
Soldato
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Also note, you will probably need a long HDMI/DVI/VGA cable, which could easily rack up to over £100. Its also recommended that you get a cheap surge-protector, as it helps prevent the bulb from blowing.
 
Associate
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I've got a Sanyo Z3 and I couldn't ask for more from it, it's a great piece of kit. I'm not an home cinema enthusiast and I use my PJ mainly for gaming on the PC and 360 and some movies so I don't have a dedicated cinema room with blacked out walls and or an expensive screen, I use one of the Ikea Blackout blinds which is superb IMO for £20.

The difference between the Sanyo Z3 and Z4 and the Panny AE700 and 900 is negligible unless you're right into your home cinema gear and you want to spend as much time calibrating and messing about with it and nerding over it on the forums ( which is no bad thing really:) ) as you do actually watching movies and playing games.

If I was buying a PJ now I don't think i'd pay the extra cash for the latest models as there's not really any justification from a feature standpoint to part with the extra cash.
 
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dont let these guys put you off, its really not that expensive. I have just got a projector and it was cheap.

price breakdown of my kit:

hitachi cpx327w(1024x768) s/h with 2000 hours bulb life left. £350
2 long vga cables+connector(male to male) £25
matt white paint for the wall, £20

I play the dvd's on the computer, and have 5.1 sound from the computer as well. the projector is plug and play, so need for drivers, and you can swap between the tft and projector in the nvidia control panel without disabling sli.

money well spent, as the screen is hd ready and perfectly integrated into the media centre I have built.

PS, the screen is 5m x 4m!!!
 
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Jez said:
You do realise that 1024*768 is NOT anywhere even close to HD spec?

looking on the microsoft site the minimum requirements for 720p are:

Minimum Configuration
(to play 720p video)

Windows XP
Windows Media Player 9 Series
2.4 GHz processor or equivalent
384 MB of RAM
64 MB video card
1024 x 768 screen resolution
16-bit sound card
Speakers

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx#sysreq

is their wmv version of HD not actually HD? or do you mean that because it dosent have HDMI?
 
Soldato
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HEADRAT said:
720p is a resolution of 1280x720

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p

so a PJ resolution with a 1024*768 will not be able to show a video in "native" 720p, of course a image will be displayed but it will have to be "scaled" by the PJ with a loss in quality.

HEADRAT

The loss in quality will be so minimal that i doubt it would be even noticable. So regarding Jez's comment about 1024*768 not be anywhere close to HD, i'd say its pretty damn close. ;)
 

Jez

Jez

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Its no-where bloody near! Obviously you can scale it down, but a 1024*768 4:3 projector cannot show even the lowest of the HD spec's.

So no, Anders0n, that projector will not display a 720p image.
 
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