Projectors

[Uninformed]

Any of you all have HDTV projectors? Are you happy with it? My wife's exercise room TV broke so she has been using a little 8" portable. I could get her a 25" LCD TV that would fit the armoire for about $200. I have seen some refurbished multimedia projectors for around $500 that have good specs. It seems like the home theater projectors cost more for worse specs. Anyway, I thought it might be kind of fun to get a projector and on special occasions bring it out by the pool for an evening outdoor movie. I don't know a lot about them though, so I'd like to get opinions.

 

[NEWDOC2002]

projectorcentral.com

avsforum.com

 

[RayDog]

I have an older Epson 3 LCD projector I bought off Craigslist for $500 and I love it. It is 1024 x768 native, but handles multiple formats up to real 720P. I use a DVD burner with digital tuner for the input signal most of the time and route two VCRs (NTSC and multi-format), a multi-region DVD player, and a LD player through it. I also have a computer with a QAM compatible tuner card I use. Also HDDVD and BluRay all patched through a 5 to 1 HDMI switcher. I will add cable or something soon.

It has 4000 ANSI lumens, so it can handle a big room. I use a lower power setting to extend the bulb life. It has DVI, VGA, Component, Composite and S video inputs, but I usually only use the DVI or VGA. You could route sound through it, but I have a separate amplifier set up.

I have a 96 inch screen for normal use, but would like a 120 inch if I had room. I have a 20' x 10' sheet of muslin cloth I could use if I every wanted to project outdoors.

The only hangup is some older projectors are not HDCP compatible, one of the main reasons companies are dumping the older projectors. So, you may have to buy an HDCP stripper like HDFury. It has VGA output, which is the only reason I use VGA.

Also make sure the bulb works, and ask about the life. They may lie or just not know about it, but ask anyway.

I will upgrade to a 1080 compatible projector when the price comes down, but for now 720P is fine.

For under $1000 for everything above the components I already had, I thought it was a much better deal than an LCD or Plazma TV with 1/4 the area.

I will add that it is probably obvious that I am more of a movie buff than TV fan. For me the closer I can get to a big screen experience the better. And, the wow factor is off the charts when people see it the first time.