Used High-Res LCD or new Low-Res DLP?

[Lurker-ZA]

I have a choice between a good condition used Panasonic AE500U with a new lamp, and a new Benq 5120 DLP. As for price, the 2 are pretty similar, the Benq being slightly cheaper. My question is, which would be the better value?

I have read reviews on both units, and both have good and bad aspects. The Panny does have a higher resolution than the Benq, and I suspect this might impact on the picture quality/sharpness, especially since I plan on running the projector through my MCE 2005 box (DVI or component). The Panasonic SHOULD have an edge on the Benq as far as HD material is concerned. Has anybody out there had any experiences with these 2 units that they might share with me?

[fallwood]

A friend of mine just got a 5120 and all I can say is it was absolutely awfull, visible pixel structure is terrible and pc desktop looked like a mushy mess, having owned a panny 500 (now on a 700) I can say without doubt that the panny absolutely leaves the 5120 for dead. Me and another mate went round to see it on friday and we both left stating we would rather have an ae100 than the 5120. High def looked terrible and dvd didnt look very good, the lack of resolution was the main problem and you could see the pixel structure quite clearly. If I had a choice of no projector or a 5120 then I would have to go with no projector, just awfull.

[gingerone]

How much are you looking to spend as Z3's are going for a steal at the moment.

[DEANO-B]

I went with 'Fallwood' to see the 5120. We spent a couple of hours messing with settings and viewing DVDs, and I have to say it was bloody terrible. I honestly would stick to watching a 28" TV than watching a substandard picture. 'Fallwood' had a Panny 500 before his 700 and the only reason I didn't buy one was the black levels were not that good. There were other smaller issues as well but the blacks were the main problem. The picture quality though is fantastic on the 500 and I cannot stress enough that it is in a totally different league to the 5120.

[Lurker-ZA]

Comes as a surprise to me..other reviews seem to be quite favourable towards the 5120? How was your friend's 5120 connected with,composite? That might explain the bad picture quality! My concern with the Panny is that it has about 1400 hours on it, so it's been used quite a bit. It only has a 6 month warranty,as opposed to the Benq's 3 year warranty.

Be that as it may, I don't want to spend 500-600 pounds on a crappy projector....Anyone care to comment further?

P.S Fallwood, how would you rate your Panny 700 against the 500?

[fallwood]

He had it connected via hdmi to a pc so the source was as good as your gonna get. It wasn't just the quality of the image but also that you could see the pixel structure (like screen door on a low res lcd) really badly , got rid of it a bit by de-focusing slightly but then that made the image very soft and lost most of the detail, it looks almost like one of those big screens you see at concerts where you can see each individual pixel that makes up the image. The main reason I upgraded to a 700 was because of the lens shift, my pj is ceiling mounted and i had to use keystone to get the image right (its not good to use keystone correction, it distorts the image), added bonuses were slightly higher lumins and better blacks, although the blacks are better on the 700 and contrast is improved theres not a huge difference between it and the 500, if the 700 didn't have lens shift I would still be with the 500 as its a very very good machine. I would stay well clear of the 5120 as I think its total crap.