Student loan time :) need advice

[ady]

[FONT=Arial Black]Hi everyone, new to forums. Only been member for a few days but already learnt a lot. Ever since going round to my friends house and seeing his projector setup I been itching to get myself one.

After a long LAN session one day we decided to hook up his projector with the PC since I gave him tonnes of new stuff to watch. We were totally blown away, whether it was gaming on need for speed underground 2 or watching divx the picture quality was unreal. He told me that when he bought his Infocus X1 he paid around £1300 for it.

Being a student I don't have that sorta money to just spend on hifi gear. But after researching on the net about home cinema projectors I found that prices seemed to have dropped a lot.

After my Jan exams I am looking to get a projector for my bedroom, been scanning through the forums and looks like I can pick up a ok budget projector around £600.

Like some others on the forums I think my main choices for my setup are,

Infocus X2 - £600
Benq PB6100 - £550
Epson EMP-TW10H - £530

I remember that I could detect the so called rainbow effect when I was watching dvd round my friends. Not too the extreme where I got headaches but I did notice it every so often.

My main source for the projector is my PC, almost everything I watch is on the PC.

Here are my questions,

1. The Infocus X2, has it reduced the rainbow effect.
2. Which of the 3 projectors is best suited for PC

As for the screen I am going to be using a white/grey roller blind till I save up enough for the proper thing.

Thanks for the help, gr8 forums!!!

Ady[/FONT]

[dinoprada2003]

Hello,

Im having the same "dilema" myself as to buying a new PJ,from what iv'e been able to gather from the usefull advice of other forum members is the x2 is rubbish for home-cinema and is more suited to data use.Ive personally narowed it down to the Epson tw10h for the reasons below,

1.)Native 16:9 (good for dvd playback)
2.)Cheap at only £550
3.)cheap bulbs at only £140 a pop
4.)Hi-def ready although at only 852x480 res
5.)No rainbows
6.)Everyone who owns one seems to LOVE it,

The only thing im "waiting" for is someone to tell me what they think of it for dvd playback via pc...........

Hope this helps and look in the A/V forums reviews section for reviews of the Epson tw10h

[ady]

hihi dinoprada2003,

Yeah quite a dilema indeed, I know £550 isn't much compared to some peeps projectors but for me its 1/2 my next loan installment lol. I read good things about the Epson and like you seriously considering it.

Some people say the X2 is rubbish for HC well I guess I am not used to a good standard then, at my friends house I was amazed with his X1 which means that the Epson is even better.

Oh well I still got a good couple of weeks to think things over and do more research but once my exams are over me going projector shopping, if you get the Epson please tell me what you think of it.

[MikeRJ]

The X2 is not a native 16:9 projector, which reduces it's appeal for HC somewhat. The Epson is a great budget projector though.

[dinoprada2003]

Originally Posted by ady

hihi dinoprada2003,

Yeah quite a dilema indeed, I know £550 isn't much compared to some peeps projectors but for me its 1/2 my next loan installment lol. I read good things about the Epson and like you seriously considering it.

Some people say the X2 is rubbish for HC well I guess I am not used to a good standard then, at my friends house I was amazed with his X1 which means that the Epson is even better.

Oh well I still got a good couple of weeks to think things over and do more research but once my exams are over me going projector shopping, if you get the Epson please tell me what you think of it.

The x1 is a great projector it has won tons of awards and is great for HC the x2 is not! it's not even close, the x2 is not an upgrade of the x1 it is
a basic data projector full stop.You can still buy an x1 from the link below for quite a hefty amount £660 however the full RRP on this when new was *£1299* although just before they superceded it you could pick it up for around the £550-600 mark.

www.progressive-av.com

I decided against the x1 becasue of it being 4:3, over £100 more than the Epson and I see rainbows

There is a *cut* down version of this the x1a without the remote and onboard progressive scaler which is bad if you intend to hook up your dvd player to your PJ but not if you want to hook it up straight to your pc, this goes for about £500

Hope this helps

ok, you said that you would be hooking it up to your pc... im hoping you dont game in 800x600! the panels can stretch to 1024x768 but only by using compression, I am feeding my PB6200 1024x768 which is its native resolution. like you I'm a student and i dont have the money to spend on AV recievers, speakers DVD players so instead I use my PC. But out of your choices i would go for the epson.

[CAS FAN]

I've just got an Epson TW-10H and it's a superb for £550!

Great picture - sharp, good colours, decent blacks and the screen door effect isn't really noticeable (for me anyway) if you are sat around 3m or more from the screen.

Decent connectivity - VGA, Component (there's a RGB Scart to component adapter inclused as well), S-Video and composite as well I think (although I obviously never use this)

Good short throw - get a nice 6-7ft picture on min Zoom from around 2.75m with mine.

Virtually no noise on Theatre Black mode and only a small level of fan noise on other settings like dynamic and living room.

Small remote which will get lost if you don't keep it somewhere safe but it has all the functions you need on it.

All in all a great PJ for the price.

[thfccambs]

Theres a ae100 panasonic on dvd forums for £325,no hours on bulb at all.

[Paulomeandi]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

Theres a ae100 panasonic on dvd forums for £325,no hours on bulb at all.

Where? cant seem to find it!


Also would i be better buying a Sony VPL-CS5 Projector second hand plus new bulb or a Epson EMP-TW10H...

Use will be for xbox and linking to my pc for playing divx and dvds.

Thanks

[dinoprada2003]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

Theres a ae100 panasonic on dvd forums for £325,no hours on bulb at all.

There was a thread about buying a SH Panny AE100 vs' a new Tw10h needless to say the Epson came out on top Not least becasue of the 3 year onsite warranty, and the *cheap* bulbs, However £325 is a good price for a PAE100 so if your really strapped for cash save yourself a couple of hundred buy the panny and then upgrade in a year or so when funds/lower prices allow

[Paulomeandi]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

Theres a ae100 panasonic on dvd forums for £325,no hours on bulb at all.

Where??? I still cant find this!!!

[thfccambs]

Originally Posted by Paulomeandi

Where??? I still cant find this!!!

Well it was still there this afternoon.
www.thedvdforums.co.uk genral hardware i think.

[Paulomeandi]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

Well it was still there this afternoon.
www.thedvdforums.co.uk genral hardware i think.

I see different forum


Silly me...

[Prehjan]

i am using an X1a and i love it....but it has been modified a bit...

i m using three "Photography" filters/lenses...
One is the yellow filter , other is the k1 and the last is a 67mm hoya

I am also looking to get an anomphic lense...it supposelvly make the picture 33 times more resoultion adn color...cant wait....
by the way i am using a home made screen that is 7.5" diagonally...but the light situation is very controlable when i use this system...although it is quite nice under ambiant light....
just though someobne should say something regarding the x1 being a data projector...
i guess it depends on who uses/sets it up!!!! hehehe

thanks