BenQ is actually pretty good for home theater. They're not just business. They have a whole theater line that's pretty good. For long bulb life, make sure you projector has tons of breathing room. Fancy enclosures that aren't open enough will reduce the life of your bulbs.

As for the screen, having a decently painted white wall is better than a 100 ebay screen. I did an install on a mid range projector in about your price range once. I talked the couple into getting a nice stewart screen that lowered from the ceiling. The screen was actually silver instead of white and was suppose to be really nice. It was about $3k just for the screen and the projector didn't even cost $1800. Anyhow, they had light grey walls and when we put the screen up, you couldn't tell a difference between the screen and the wall.

Of course, this doens't mean that the screen was useless. It's just the projector wasn't high grade enough to display a picture that could take advantage of such a screen. The picture was still nice though. They mainly wanted it to show off and watch football games. So, if I were in your shoes, I would take whatever screen money you had budgeted and stick that into the projector. Unless of course you really need a screen b/c you don't have an open wall or something.

BTW, as a designer tip, if you're projecting onto a wall that is not white or painted deep colors, make a frame on the wall that would outline your picture. Paint the frame black and the wall inside it white. Looks really nice once you get the projector up and running.

 

ONe other suggestion then, I thought I saw at HD once, that they have screen paint? It's supposed to be better than regular paint and offers up a better viewing area.

Screen Goo

 

After some more research I've found the InFocus 4805 and Sp5000. The 4805 can be had for under $1k and is a DLP projector. The SP5000 is an LCD projector and can be had for about the same price.

LCD vs DLP - Other than the differences in resolution, are there any other advantageous reasons as to why I should get the SP5000 over the 4805?

Infocus also offers the SP5700 which falls under my price range as well. Worth the premium?

 

You want best picture quality & bulb life? Get a CRT projector.

The tubes last for 10000+ hours and the picture quality will blow you away. The higher end ones will do 1080p easy.

The only down side is you will have to be a weightlifter/Electronics engineer to install and configure it. You will also have to be prepared to fiddle with he picture every couple or months.

I run mine like a normal TV (Almost 100 hours per month) and I can't stand looking at a low to mid range digital.

 

CRT's are nice, but waaay out of my price range.

I went to a local hifi shop and checked out a few projectors and I must say that while the picture produced is great, it was not as good as the hitachi plasma in the next room.

I think we're going to put the 50" DLP in the basement, move the plasma from the bedroom to the living room and purchase a smaller LCD (30") for the bedroom.

With the money saved, I think I'll invest in my favorite room, the garage. Tile or urethane the floor, rework the ducting for heat, and put up some cabinets.

 

Good Idea!

 

mmmm

now you are talking! heated garage and that floor will be nice.

something like this?

 

My god, thats a beautiful garage! Yeah, I'd like to do something like that, but probably not as grand (at least not yet). I have a 1.5 car garage, so it may look a bit crowded with all that stuff in it.

 

I have the Infocus 5000 and have been pleasantly surprised. I'm not a big home theater guy, but I use this projector at my restaurant for sports and customers have been impressed. Maybe it's the fact that I have a 1000sq ft room so I made the screen 200", but HD is beautiful using my cable box. I got the projector at cotsco back in July for about 1k which came with a 120" screen. The 4805 at that time was 900 with an 80" screen. Haven't been back to cotsco since then, so I don't know if they still do the screen deal.