Looking for a Projector for my room. Help!

[ValiantVenality]

Alright. Here's my story now. I have a Samsung HDTV right now. Not sure how many inches it is, but I got it about a year or two ago. Now I've been looking into some projectors. But I have no idea which one to choose! I see so many of them that are extremely expensive. I saw one on cnet for 10,000! That's right FOUR 0's. So could any of you guys help me on getting a pretty nice one, that wont absolutely demolish my bank account. Thanks!


VV

[ghosstt]

I've got an Optoma MovieTime DV11 DLP. It's actually really good for what it's used for. (It's meant to be real user friendly and stuff, with built in DVD player, etc.) It's only around $800, and while it doesn't have HDMI, it does have DVI & component (Through a DVI adapter) For the price, I'd say it's really worth it. (Up to a 300inch image, while still being clear)

What you really want to look for is the contrast ratio, and the lumes (lumnes?) rating. You're also gonna want to look into a nice screen to, as to give the best quality.

[Triton]

Barco reality 909/Cine 9 is the best projector money can buy. but its probably overkill for your situation! just get a decent cheap LCD or DLP projector

[bicostp]

Why do you want a projector on top of having a huge HDTV?

We have had several projectors over the years, mostly because my dad's work throws them away for stupid reasons. "Lost the remote", "won't turn on" (due to plugging it into a switched outlet), "It's broken" (it can only handle 800x600 but they're trying to give it 1280x1024)... We still have an old Sony that's the size of a suitcase and can only handle VGA! Naturally, they're all 4:3 projectors designed to display PowerPoint presentations at board meetings, but they work well.

I forget what exact model it is, but we have a nice DLP one from InFocus. They make good projectors. It's plenty bright (especially on an old slide projector screen), and can take up to 1024x768. Of course it has VGA input, but it also does composite and s-video. It's a few years old, so they should have new HD ones. A lot of 'corporate' projectors have a shorter throw distance (how far away the projector has to be form the screen or wall), so they're better for smaller rooms.

If you can, get a real projector screen with glass beads (or some projector screen paint and a flat piece of laminated MDF) to go with the projector. (Even a $15 slide projector screen from Goodwill will work.) You'll get a brighter picture with better colors than if you just point it at a wall.

[marshallh]

Get on ebay and look for used projectors. About 4 years ago I bought a nice 1024x768 3-LCD 1500lumen projector for $200. I used it for 4 years, don't know how much mileage was on the bulb but it burned out recently. All in all it was a hell of a deal for $200, and once the bulb burns out, sell the projector for $25 and get another $200 projector.

That is the cheapest, best way to do it. You're more than welcome to spend $1000 on a projector and then $400 on a new bulb. Or you can do what I did above.

[bicostp]

Actually, you could probably MacGyver up a new bulb using a shop light or one of those ultra-bright Sylvania car headlight bulbs.

[marshallh]

I've been down that road, research a lot and tried many different things. The brightest thing I found was a 350W e11-base halogen bulb.

The result was a projector with about 1/3 the original light output and reddish color temperature.

Many people just don't get how blasted BRIGHT the HID projector bulbs are in modern projectors. That's the reason they're so expensive. That, and they're made in small quantities with no standardization.

[madc0w]

Why do you want a projector on top of having a huge HDTV?

We have had several projectors over the years, mostly because my dad's work throws them away for stupid reasons. "Lost the remote", "won't turn on" (due to plugging it into a switched outlet), "It's broken" (it can only handle 800x600 but they're trying to give it 1280x1024)... We still have an old Sony that's the size of a suitcase and can only handle VGA! Naturally, they're all 4:3 projectors designed to display PowerPoint presentations at board meetings, but they work well.

Haha I just got a projector from a dumpster outside my school last week, works perfectly. The stupidity these people have. Also got a perfectly working monitor that had a broken VGA cable, so the display was tinted blue :/ switched out the cables, works like a charm, is being put on our DJ booth.