[pakeen]

Home Cinema Potential "Newbie" Seeks Guidance

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Being a "newbie" I don't know where to start-(obviously,I hear you cry!).
BUT- I seriously intent to create a "dedicated" Home Cinema room.
My present thoughts are:-
(1) An Infocus 4805 or a Panasonic PT AE-700 Projector.
(2)A DVD "surround sound" kit.
(3) A Sky Digi-box (2 tuner),
(4) "Pull Down" Screen.

Apart from that,ignoring quality for the moment, is there anything else I would need?(apart from the usual heap of cables!)

Any comments on any of the above items would,of course, be appreciated,but is that all that I basically need?

I just want a "big telly" to watch Test Matches via Sky plus DVDs

Sorry to intrude but,as I'm sure you all appreciate,we all have to start somewhere!

Thanks for any help or guidance you can give. PAK

(If I'm in the wrong place, could someone please point me in the right direction).

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[Bristol Pete]

Hi mate,

Welcome to the forums. Can only comment on the two projectors you have listed.

Firstly, there are many happy owners of both machines you mention here who may be better placed to advise you on what you require. However, here is some basic advice.

The 4805 is a DLP machine. DLP machines offer a lovely, smooth film like image. However, some users are suspect to something called the rainbow anomaly, which can cause irritation when watching a movie. Best described as a brief flash of colour, your eyes may or may not be drawn to it. Only extensive demo can establish if you are prone to the ‘rainbow effect’. Otherwise, the 4805 is a great budget DLP machine with smooth colours, loads of options and a great price.

The 700 is different technology. It has LCD panels and as such is not prone to the rainbow effect. However, LCD can also throw up the odd anomaly such as vertical banding, colour uniformity issues etc. Having owned a few LCD machines, they too offer great film like images and I do prefer LCD for playing video games. Again, a demo is necessary. Look out for dead pixels from new. As for ‘VB’, it is a strange entity and I reckon it can even depend on your home power supply, as it seems very subjective. The 700 is a great machine with a superb picture and a great throw ration on the lens, for easy set up in any room.

Once you have established the quirks of each format sorted and got them out of the way, prepare to be blown away. Nothing can rival a decent projector at home.

As for screens, try

www.intoav.com

www.beamax.com

www.avsales.co.uk


Hope this helps,

Pete.

[nigelbb]

The Panasonic is HDTV ready unlike the Infocus. In your case I think it would be a mistake to buy an non-HD projector as the first UK service will be Sky & especially sports. There is no HDTV ready DLP projector in the Panasonic price range.

[PJTX100]

For a budget starting at 600ish and rising to 1.1Kish look at...

Benq 5120 (DLP)
Epson TW10H (LCD)
Tosh MT200 (DLP)
Infocus 4805 (DLP)
Optoma H30A (DLP)
Hitachi TX100 (LCD)
Sanyo Z3 (LCD)
Panasonic AE700 (LCD)

There are others!

Pete's advice about the difference between LCD/DLP is well founded, you are unlikely to suffer rainbows but a demo is wise. At this price range the picture quality is much of a muchness DLPvsLCD, you'll be delighted with any of them I'm sure. Check out warranty length, if all else is equal it could be a deciding factor.

For the DVD player/system you ideally want to be able to feed component into the PJ. You may need some sort of switching to allow two SCARTS to be fed out into 1 component connection to the PJ.

...PJ

[pakeen]

Originally Posted by nigelbb

The Panasonic is HDTV ready unlike the Infocus. In your case I think it would be a mistake to buy an non-HD projector as the first UK service will be Sky & especially sports. There is no HDTV ready DLP projector in the Panasonic price range.

Sorry but what's HDTV-I said I was a Newbie-perhaps that's an overstatement of my competence!!
PAK

[pakeen]

Thanks for all the info-keep it coming if you will. It looks as if I'm having to go on a steep learning curve so,if I don't thank as often as I should it'll be because I'm trying to get to grips with & hunting around. By the way,(PJ), budget is c£1200/1300 total.
Thanks again. PAK

[Kopite4Ever]

HDTV stands for High definition tv. its basically the best thing to happen to tv since colour was introduced..ask some round here they are old enough to know basically the resolution of HDTV is in different flavours but its vastly superior to the likes of DVD. with this added resolution you get out of this world PQ! 2 main one's are 720p & 1080i with 1080p hot on the cards but only native displays of this are very exspensive. the panny is native 720p HD but can take 1080i. the DLP im not that familiar with but isnt HD native from what ive seen. i think it will accept HD signals but will scale down to its own res. now there are both pro's and con's of each. scaling down HD will defeat the purpose and not show its true colours, but upscaling DVD to HD native can go wrong and not look that good. i upscale with my PC and its amazing the quality you can get. with sky introducing a HD service in 2006 maybe the panny is the way to go. if you have a budget of 1200 look our for the sanyo plv-z3 and Hitachi Pj-TX100. again all projectors good and the sanyo has the smalled added value with the dust removal system. cant really think of what to put basically main thing is to try get a demo of each projector and make up your mind from there

[pakeen]

I'm learning-gradually!
Anyone know where demos either around P'boro or Andover (Hants) may available?

[Bristol Pete]

www.nexnix.co.uk

are based in Horsham. About 1 hour from you I would think.....

Pete.

[pakeen]

Does anyone have any views comparing these two?
"Home Cinema",in aFeb 2005 review,rank them equally,in 3rd place,behind the Panny PT-AE700 & the Sanyo PLV-Z3,even tho' they give an "Overall" of 4 for theMT & 4 1/2 for the 4805,(the same as the Pan & San!) I am disregarding the Pan & San for now in view of Pete's comment re.HDTV above. However,in view of the MT being a bit less than 4805, I thought it wise to tap your fund of experience (yet) again.
What do you think? PAK

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by pakeen

Does anyone have any views comparing these two?
"Home Cinema",in aFeb 2005 review,rank them equally,in 3rd place,behind the Panny PT-AE700 & the Sanyo PLV-Z3,even tho' they give an "Overall" of 4 for theMT & 4 1/2 for the 4805,(the same as the Pan & San!) I am disregarding the Pan & San for now in view of Pete's comment re.HDTV above. However,in view of the MT being a bit less than 4805, I thought it wise to tap your fund of experience (yet) again.
What do you think? PAK

MT200 is cheaper but still very capable by the looks of it, I remember some good comments on this forum a while back. If you are considering the 4805 you should consider the Optoma H30a which is a newer machine and hence could possibly have an edge over the 4805.

Don't see any comments above, esp Pete's, which should make you disregard the Pan or San. As you say yourself that HC review rated the 700 above the 4805. Recent TV shootout rated the TX100 preferable to the 4805. I'm only trying to point out here that you don't need HDTV to reap the benefits of a WXGA machine. DVD on a WXGA display is stunning, and it isn't downscaled.

To be honest if you are going to plump for a WVGA machine perhaps save yourself some more money and have a look at the Benq 5120...PJ

[pakeen]

PJ Thanks for the info-I meant "Nigel's" comment re. being HDTV ready for Sky next year _ Ithink I'll go and lie down in a dark room with a bag of frozen peas on my head!!! I think I may be getting too old for this lark-perhaps the Light Programme would be more suitable-bring back the Superhet,Isay!!! PAK