recommends?

looking into the dell's....but not sure how good they are for home theatre apps.

they are dirt cheap though....

 

for home theater I would go with at least a 720p projector. Mitsubishi HD1000U DLP, under $1000. There's a couple 720p DLPs under a grand. Good price to performance ratio. 1080p projectors are still pretty expensive.. 1024x768 projectors can be had for cheap, but are not HD capable, so IMO, a waste for the future. I laugh at anything lower than that. You can upscale and filter DVDs to to look much better at higher res than they will on an XGA or lower projector.

I have a 720p LCD projector and I like it a lot.. DVDs look ok (some look better than others.. but blowing up background detail in such a low res to 90" is going to look crappy regardless), but 720p video from my PC looks amazing. I also play PC games on it so the higher res comes in handy (who wants to game in 800x600?).. GTR2 @ 90" + logitech G25 = awesome


make sure you budget for a screen as well.. you don't need to go crazy, but I would add at least an additional $1-200 for something that will be respectable.

 

thanks vtec.

not planning on doing anything bigger than 10 feet.

what do you know about the sanyo PLV-Z5?

or the panny PT-AX100?

they seem to be the top 720p sellers....

 

I don't know anything about them specifically.. the biggest differences between the more expensive units in the $1500-2000 range will be contrast. These units with 6000-10000:1 contrast use an iris to implement dynamic contrast, where as the lower priced DLP and LCD units do not. Basically, the projector will limit the amount of projected light so dark scenes are darker, then up it to full blast for the brightest scenes. This makes blacks blacker since there is less light, and brights brighter since there is more light.. so this increases the ratio of max dark to max bright, but the number itself is a little misleading. These projectors will NOT be able to display 10000:1 contrast at any one single point.. only over time since the backlight needs to be modulated to produce the different extremes.

 

thanks.

noticed your mitsu got good reviews too...congrats.

 

my dad has a projector that's getting old, and on the other end he has a standard drop down screen (i think 110 inches diagonally). the picture has been getting worse and worse lately, we've already gone through one or two bulbs (@ ~200 a piece i think). it will soon be time to upgrade the projector, but is the screen a major issue when upgrading? is there even a variety aside from sizes?

 

^ not that i've read.

basically, a screen is a screen....there are colour, quality and design differences obviously.

i'm leaning towards a powered elite screen....100"-120" will be plenty for me.

they go for about 300-400 bucks.

 

anyone else with opinions?

 

May know more from experience after this weekend. My dad ordered a Sony 1080P projector this week and I'm helping to install it this weekend. He already has the 92 inch screen installed.

 

A screen is not just a screen. Quality screens will certainly give you a better picture and reflect light correctly to give a better representation of the actual color. some screens offer higher gains to help with ambient light viewing. some screens offer better viewing angles. some screens are acoustically transparent so speakers can be placed behind them. I have seen enough screen material comparisons to last a lifetime, and every material produces a slightly different looking image. With that said, you should be very happy with a standard white, inexpensive screen.. $200 from monoprice or da-lite.

Also, I don't own that mitsu projector.. I've just heard good things about it, especially for the price.