PE300/500 or cheap DLP ?

[TheBoyGUK]

Ok - just moved, have a dedicated room and after a 5 year wait I can now build a cinema room.

House was more expensive thatn I thought, so budget of 20k is now 3k for now ! I'll use the old kit I have, but need to buy a projector.

So, whats best ? A new Panny PE300/500 or an Ex Demo Sim HT200 for the same price. Anyway seen a DLP comparison ?

Eager to buy !

Cheers

G.

[Dimmy]

ThemeScene's H56 was a stunner when I 'tested' it two weeks back, and you can pick it up at around £2200 new.

Also consider Sanyo's PLV-Z2, a forum favourite it seems...

[Anim]

How much of that 3K is for the projector?

As you possibly need to take

Drop down Screen, Ceiling Mouting (if doing it), Cables, Audio System, Amp or HCPC

....into account

Anim

[TheBoyGUK]

3k would be for everything for the projector. I have all the old AV kit, amp, speakers, cabling etc.

3k should be for the PJ and a Prog Scan compliant player (my trusty Pioneer 717 is no good !)

For a screen, I would either IceStorm it or put some Vinyl on the wall - fixed. Dedicated room, no need for movable screen. Whatever ever is best value.

The PJ must have a 16:9 lens, not a 4:3 that has a 4:3 mode - I want to maximise the widescreen picture, not the 4:3.

G.

[TheBoyGUK]

Possibles are PAE500, HS20, or a cheapy DLP ?

Sigh - the million dollar question !

G.

[Dimmy]

Originally posted by TheBoyGUK
The PJ must have a 16:9 lens, not a 4:3 that has a 4:3 mode - I want to maximise the widescreen picture, not the 4:3.

It's this kind of narrow minded thinking that instigates me to believe you haven't actually SEEN a descent 4:3 projector, if a projector at all.

Try viewing one before you make such harsh judgements. You don't 'lose' anything in the picture with a 4:3 native aspect ratio. Try getting a Demo at a local dealer - sevenoaks are very good for projector demonstrations.

[Anim]

I think Dimmy got out the wrong side of the bed this morning

anyway...

The AE500 is still very new and you may have to wait a month or so before it becomes more available in the UK.

I would probably take the plunge and get the 12HT from play.com as that offer seems very good.

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=m...G&title=138668

But then the Z2, HS20 are both good models from reading these forums.

You can also nip over to www.projectorcentral.com and read their top 20 projectors to give you some idea of what the pro's think.

You need to look at the Lens throw of each projector in relation to your room size too.

Anim

[theritz]

Dimmy - take it easy !! I wouldn't call the guy's opinion "harsh".... this is known for being a friendly place.....

You don't 'lose' anything in the picture with a 4:3 native aspect ratio.

This is simply incorrect - showing a 16x9 image through a 4:3 native projector loses you resolution - when you're showing a movie in 2.35:1 format you lose even more resolution...... losing reolution isn't everything, but it is a component which makes up the package................. in DLP it's less of an issue, as DLP has a higher "fill factor" than LCD, but with an LCD projector it certainly would be a deal-killer for me.......

Sean G.

[TheBoyGUK]

Hmmm. A place of stress methinks.

I have no desire to watch in any great depth any 4:3 material. It's a maths thing - a 4:3 lens requires a 4:3 screen to fill - and when you watch a 1.85 or 2.35:1 picture you get a much smaller widescreenpicture - exactly the same when you watch a widescreen picture on a 4:3 TV.

I want to maximise the widescreen (1.85:1) picture hence my requirement for a 16:9 lens - not a 4:3 with a 16:9 option - which is a resolution thing, which Im not bothered about.

As for the Sony's LCD units, I'm seeing on these forums that the HS20 and 12HT are much the same unit (apart from DVI - useful for the Sky+ hack maybe).

Would anyone say the picture quality (not res) is better on these models than an AE300 (or theoretically an AE500).

I want the PJ high out of the way, so the thinking goes a Panny AExxx would be mounted upside down to have the screen low down.

Cheers all

G.

[LV426]

The PQ of the Sony VW12 is probably still just about at the top of the LCD tree. The onboard scaler/deinterlacer is, I gather, nearly as good in performance as some of the more esoteric standalone jobs.

As for the alternative of a 'cheap' DLP - one word comes to mind.....rainbows. You can only tell if these will affect you by spending some time in the company of such a projector - you can't find this out by asking others.

At best you will wonder what the fuss is about.

At worst, after a few minutes serious watching, you'll need to leave the room to avoid nausea. Honestly.

More probably, you will, after, say 30 minutes or so, begin to feel some sort of eye strain or headache or similar.

Oh - and I agree 100% that you should go for a native 16x9 device.

[uczmeg]

My opinion is go DLP if you can afford it and don't suffer rainbows.

The LCD projectors mentioned here are all fine, but in my opinion pail in comparison to DLP.

The ThemeScene H56 whilst having lower res than the LCDs mentioned is a great piece of kit and is very close in quality to the NEC HT1000 a very well regarded (and more expensive) DLP.

Watching a movie on these 2 is very film like, watching a movie on the AE300/Z2 (and I assume AE500 as it is comapared to the Z2) is nice but lacks the smoothness and black levels and ultimately that cinematic feel. I have owned a better LCD projector than these and really see the difference.

Yes both of the DLP projectors mentioned are native 4:3, however I use my HT1000 exclusively with a 16:9 screen and you are not compromising screen size at all. I have a beautiful 8ft widescreen image. Yes there is less resolution, but I really cannot tell.

Cheers
Marc

[uczmeg]

If it must be 16:9 have a look at the Infocus 5700. As this is a widescreen panel (although just the same res as using the H56 and HT1000 in this mode) and has had good reviews, although some find it a bit too bright.

All these mentioned should be fairly good in the way of rainbows as they don't have the slower colour wheels of the cheaper models. No one has seen rainbows on my PJ yet, your mileage may vary and you really should view a DLP PJ before buying one.

Cheers
Marc

[Anim]

uczmeg,

Slightly off topic here but do you know the ratio of people who see rainbows?

1 in 100? is it rare?

Because going to view a model only confirms it for yourself and thesedays not many people watch the big screen on their own.

Just wondering myself as when having a room full of friends watching a dvd I wouldn't want half of them to start puking

Anim

[uczmeg]

Anim,

I have wondered the same! I remember reading somewhere that it is actually quite low, but can't remember where I read it!

Obviously in a place like this you are going to hear more from the people who do suffer than the people who don't. There are many threads on the AVS forums about happy owners of DLP PJs. The HT1000 thread, for example, is about 30 pages long!

I was concerned as you were about others watching my PJ, then realised that a majority of the time it is just me and the wife so why should I compromise for the odd friend? (And after owning LCD I now see what the compromise was!)

So far about a dozen people have seen my PJ and none have had a problem.

As far as I can tell, in general people who do see rainbows find them annoying rather than sickening. I think the people who actually feel ill is a very small number.

If you are worried about friends your best bet is to buy the best DLP you can, don't go for something like the X1 as it has a slow colour wheel and will maximise people's chances of seeing rainbows.

Cheers
Marc

[Dimmy]

Sheesh - it was late and the old woman was nagging in my ear .

My apologies 'g', my post was rather harsh...

Lets feel the love in the room people