DLP Projectors

[Brutus]

Does anybody use one or have any advice. I am thinking about one for the "Man Room".

[Black Terror]

Does anybody use one or have any advice. I am thinking about one for the "Man Room".What is your main use?
DVD's, HDTV, SDTV?
Proxima and Infocus have good units, I use Proxima 6870.
Lots of good projectors out there, decide what you want to use it for and then shop for price, specifications, brightness lumens, etc.

[Brutus]

What is your main use?
DVD's, HDTV, SDTV?
Proxima and Infocus have good units, I use Proxima 6870.
Lots of good projectors out there, decide what you want to use it for and then shop for price, specifications, brightness lumens, etc.

I want it for movies and TV. I also want it to be HDTV capable. I was looking at about 1500 Lumens and a contrast ratio of at least 2000:1. What I cant quite grasp yet is resolution. What do I need? It will not be hooked up to my computer, if that is a factor. I want a good unit but I also dont want to spend alot of $$$$. I have been lookind at BenQ's.

[Black Terror]

BenQ's are good, they manufacture a lot of Projectors for other companies. 1500 Lumens seems a little low. Look for resolution that will handle 1080P if you are going to be watching HDTV. Take a look at this web site: http://www.hometheaterspot.com/htsthreads/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0/C/16

[Badger]

Check out projectorpeople.com
View the tutorials.
I wound up getting a Sanyo LCD PLV-60HT three years ago.
Worth every dollar! :D

[pantheroc]

Go here for latest and greatest news and models:

Texas Instruments: http://www.dlp.com/

[Mike M]

I just finished doing a theater in my house and was at first going to get a projector but after careful investigating I went with a Sharp 65" DLP TV.
The reasons are. If you go with a projector your room has to be dark...I mean REAL DARK! Also if you are watching T.V. on your projector, your bulb will die out that much quicker...projectors are not really designed to watch daily T.V.
Also I looked at $1000.00 to $10,000.00 projectors and I really don't think they match the quality of a good DLP TV.
I have 2 rows of 3 theater seating (black leather-reclining-cup holders) and I have the back row up "4 inches higher. I have a real cart pop corn machine and a set of drive in movie speakers and lots of movie memorabilia. Every Sunday night is movie night with the family and we take turns picking movies.
My first pick was American Graffiti and my next pick is Hollywood Nights.
I also have a Sony Wega 55" DLP downstairs and the High Def Direct TV picture is SCAREY NICE!!!!!

Watch out with some of the lower cost projectors as they are marketed with “near HD” as opposed to H.D.

One more thing...the cost for my 65" was about $3000.00...to get any projector close to that quality you better be looking at 10k+!!!! Plus screen. (screens can easily cost another $700.00-$2000.00 and up).
I will post some pictures.
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/browseimages.php?c=3&userid=456

[twolow]

I did this project about 4 or 5 months ago. I have a pic I snapped of the screen but the TV wasn't on:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/DSC00475.jpg

I chose Dell (unlikely source) as my DLP projector. More info: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/proj_3400mp?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

It's small, quiet, and looks awsome. Friends all dig it and are suprised something so small produces such a wonderful picture at 103 inches.

I can snap some more pics of the unit, location, equipment closet, etc tomorrow if you want.

[twolow]

OK, I went ahead and snapped a few shots:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00542.jpg
103 inches of HD ESPN

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00545.jpg
Zoomed in to show great looking picture

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00543.jpg
I'm using a camcorder which doesn't take great looking still pics so the grain is in the cam, not the picture.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00546.jpg
Picture does degrade once the lights are turned on but no big deal for typical tv use...lights go out for my favorite shows or movies.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00548.jpg
Projector on shelve on back wall of living room

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00549.jpg
Night vision mode

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00550.jpg
Keystone correction makes the piture straight even though the projector is pointing downward

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00552.jpg
Have 4 of these in the corners and the center is on a shelf below the screen

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/twolow24/home%20theater/DSC00553.jpg
The equipment is in a hallway closet. Contains the HD Cable box/recorder, DVD player/Tivo, and Yamaha reciever.

All the wiring has yet to really be cleaned up...I am updating to some newer equipment little at a time so no use making it all prefect and clean yet.

I use a remote sensor repeater to operate the equipment from another room. This allowed me to free up the living room space with no need for any cabinet space. Other than the screen on the wall, speakers in the corners, and the projector up on the shelf there are no electronics in sight.

[Badger]

After careful research I found that bang for the buck the projector was the way to go for movie watching. A 106" screen with progressive scan DVD, 7.1 surround.
I found that watching widescreen movies on a small 65" 16:9 screen was...well a waste. You end up with black bars on the top and bottom and end up with a much smaller viewing area with 65" TVs.

Lets just say that I actually like watching movies at home more then going out now.

My viewing room is in my basement so light is not a factor.
A projector is not recommended for TV watching as the bulb only lasts 2500-4000 hours.
However I calculate that every (gasp) five years I'll need to get a new bulb.
106" for $3500
65" for $3000


I wonder how plasma TVs are going to handle over the long run.
BTW my projector is a WXGA.

[Brutus]

Lots of good info guys! Thanks alot and keep it comming.:)

[Logan]

I use a Dell 4100MP for my home theater, on a 106" screen... Has tons of all the right inputs, supports HDTV and anything else you can think up at great contrast and lumen counts.

The only complaint I have is it's a bit louder than it could be, but for the price, it couldn't be beat. I picked mine up off ebay brand new for $900.

[twolow]

I really want a motorized screen myself. I think thats gonna be my next home theater purchase.

The Dell 4100 is a sweet unit btw.

And as far as bulbs go, I use mine every night for around 3 hours maybe then weekends, etc and based on the internal 'life of the bulb' timer and forcasted rated life of bulb I'd say i'm gonna need another bulb in a year and a half to two years. The bulb for mine costs about $300 so no big deal.

The thing to remember about the bulbs though is a bulb will either go out within 50 hours or so or last the rated life of thousands of hours...thats why they give you a short warranty with them in case it fails out of the box. That is also why you don't want to buy a 'spare' bulb for the day the current one goes out as the spare will surely be out of warranty when you get around to using it and you may find you had a dud all along.

[Logan]

I went with a Da-Lite 106" permanent mount screen... Since it's a dedicated room, I figured I didn't ever need to take it down...

[twolow]

I went with a Da-Lite 106" permanent mount screen... Since it's a dedicated room, I figured I didn't ever need to take it down...

That the one that basically looks like a big white picture with a frame around it and everything?

[DeadVic]

you might check out HDTVoice.com as well. i found this site to be very helpful in my purchase decisions.

[Badger]

Da-Lite High Constrast grey screen 106" here. The grey makes up for the lower contrast ratio of the LCD.

[1stMerc]

Lots of good info guys! Thanks alot and keep it comming.:)

This site is educational.
Car info, network info, and now home theater. Talk about a diverse group.