home cinema projector recommendations

urbansurgeon

has anyone gone this route for home cinema? we used one in our remote christmas bolthole and decided to investigate

first port of call is obviously to quiz the combined wisd…knowle…people here at fazyluckers

any recommendations / advice?

urb.xx

The F Word

i have a few, if you are talking about for work, like powerpoint presentations and the like, go cheap
if you want fo house to watch movies~spend more~for better quality image

buying new bulbs is the suck

not really sure what you want recommended though, kind of like buying a camera
just check the specs, and compare the prices-you can't go wrong, i would not buy used though
(just because you don't know the life of the bulb)

flak

Got a Western Digital TV box - hook it up to a TV, then plug in an external drive. It plays just about anything.

Still a few bugs, yes - it won't play movies with DTS, for example - but otherwise works wonderfully.

Projectors sound expensive, particularly the bulbs. I'm still interested to see how quality stands up vs. an LCD screen, though.

urbansurgeon

yep projector for tv/movies at home

i can read specs of course, but always value your opinions vis. how far up the spec tree its worth going

im not looking for anything mega amazing because i dont have the dough for it.

comparing projection vs lcd the projection wins in comparisons ive made so far simply i guess as the definition stays teh same and from then on the magnification is optical rather than digital basically

Biff

Most of the businesses I've worked at have done away with the projector system, citing bulb replacement costs. In many cases, it's cheaper to buy a 50" plasma television and use a DVI input than deal with the hassles of a projector and the resulting maintenance.

Bulbs generally cost 50-80% of the cost of a new projector unit.

That said, a projector is more flexible screen-size wise and hides poor resolution or encoding better than say a LCD display does because of lower contrast between colors. Consider also it's not just the projector that's limiting quality, it's also the material's source.

nicko

Boz?

sinar

Went to friends place and watched a movie on a projector( a Sony VPL something) that filled the wall about 6 by 10 feet I was amazed and said I want one of these! Then he said it was about £2000.00. He works in AV so I'll settle on a Sony Bravia later in the month. After reading about the bulbs price here, I think I'll pass on the digital projector idea. But it was f*cking amazing. What blew me away was that you could view it from sharp angles and the quality was still there.

zippie

Depends on the size of room you have and money. You can't just buy the screen and projector, you have to buy the audio system to go with it. I would expect all that to cost £5,000 for just an average system... double it for something high spec and decent...

franco

Actually, I'm pretty picky when it comes to projections because I work in moving image. I have a home theatre set-up when the projector isn't in professional use. I can't recall what the make is now so would have to have a look when I'm back at the studio but it wasn't expensive, the colour is surprisingly accurate (though this will go as the bulb is used - remember it's not just the bulb replacement that costs a mint, but the picture degrades as the bulb is used, so it only looks as it should for part of the bulbs working life) and the picture is crisp.

I have it projected onto a (roughly) 10 foot wide white wall - I haven't bothered to paint it with proper projection-friendly paint, just the standard white the apartment came with. And I use a decent set of computer speakers with my laptop as the player. So the only additional cost was the projector - which cost around £300-£400.

It IS great, but I will be pissed when the bulb degrades to a point where the image is washed out. It's not a practical, cost-effective home entertainment system that's for sure. Movie night is fun though!

chris

i've used one for a short period. it was great. then i had to give the projector back (before the bulb went ).

my boss has one at home, and uses it solely for watching films. i reckon that by the time the bulb goes (watching a movie or two a week), then you may as well buy a new projector as the prices would have dropped and quality would have increased by then.

chris

get a motorised screen for extra little ‘plume of feathers’

chris

get a motorised screen for that extra little ‘plume of feathers’

squapple

sinar said...Went to friends place and watched a movie on a projector( a Sony VPL something) that filled the wall about 6 by 10 feet I was amazed and said I want one of these! Then he said it was about £2000.00. He works in AV so I'll settle on a Sony Bravia later in the month. After reading about the bulbs price here, I think I'll pass on the digital projector idea. But it was f*cking amazing. What blew me away was that you could view it from sharp angles and the quality was still there.

Ive had Bravia's for the past 3 years and I can highly recommend them. I'm gonna buy a new, bigger one in a couple of months

urbansurgeon

chris said...get a motorised screen for that extra little ‘plume of feathers’

???

chris

panache.

Biff

Alternatively, glitter and a hot glue gun for the screen bezel or projector is probably cheaper than a motorized transformeresque living room.

flak

Or, you could do it yourself.

chris

crikey. i wonder how loud you have to have your surround system running to drown out the fan noise from that?