[dUnKle]

Putting the AE100E back up again after 8 months has just made me realise what I am missing - if ( and thats a big IF ) I could get a £1000 what would be the best PJ currently available to upgrade to see ?

[DEANO-B]

The Sanyo Z3 is a real bargain a the mo at £850 with a 3 year warranty, and extra lamp. The Panny 700 has dropped to £950 and will fit onto a Panny 100 ceiling mount.

Just placed an order with www.nexnix.co.uk for a Sanyo PLV Z3 - with free lamp voucher, pixel check and delivery............ for £797.83 - woo-hoo!

[thekingbeyond]

Originally Posted by benjiP

Just placed an order with www.nexnix.co.uk for a Sanyo PLV Z3 - with free lamp voucher, pixel check and delivery............ for £797.83 - woo-hoo!

That is a bargain, had mine for about 3 weeks now, just got the voucher through today for the spare bulb

DuncanWardle get the z3 at this price with a £250 spare bulb its a great deal and will be a massive improvement over your ae100

[neil c]

The Z3 is an absolute bloody bargain at the moment. I paid £998 with only 1 bulb a couple of months ago.

[fallwood]

The best for a grand is the 700 but the best deal at the moment is the z3 , 700 comes out better in all reviews but that extra bulb and 3 year warranty make the z3 a firm choice at the moment.

[DEANO-B]

Thats an amazing deal on the Z3 . If your going with the Z3 buy a filter for it. Do a search on the forum for the best places to buy it from and the benefits you'll get.

[dUnKle]

Read reviews on Z3 and very nice indeed - will be connecting to HCPC if get one so the 720 res is bonus

[jriihi]

Expect Z3 is as good as panny 700 is real world. Look at some reviews cinema4home.de etc..

Check out my thread to see what this baby can do. Except for resolution, the 4805 cant be beat by the Z3 or AE700. If you need to sit too close or have short throwing distance then go with the Z3.
My 4805 and HTPC setup in action plus comparison screenshots...

Surely the Optoma Themescene H30A is the best projector for under a grand. I had been checking all projectors on the net and the H30A comes across as the best projector under a grand (£995) that money can buy. Surely it is better than the Z3.

[DEANO-B]

I found the H30a and Infocus 4805 to produce a very soft picture, RBE, and screendoor. They are also not hidef/16:9 and cost more than the Z3

Just recived my Z3 last Friday - £800 plus bulb voucher. It is outstanding value for money - could not be happier with it.

The lense shift function is also a great feature and gives great flexibility when deciding where to mount the PJ.

[dUnKle]

The Z3 still looking my best bet - espescially as going to be connecting via HCPC

mind - by time my other half lets me have the money it will be the Z6

Originally Posted by DEANO-B

I found the H30a and Infocus 4805 to produce a very soft picture, RBE, and screendoor. They are also not hidef/16:9 and cost more than the Z3

Soft picture? Obviously it wasnt setup correctly...have you seen my screenshots? It looks even sharper now at 854x480 than in the screenshots at 848x480 @ 72hz

[dUnKle]

Originally Posted by shaolin95

Soft picture? Obviously it wasnt setup correctly...have you seen my screenshots? It looks even sharper now at 854x480 than in the screenshots at 848x480 @ 72hz

I need to be able to get 720 res from my next PJ

Originally Posted by shaolin95

Soft picture? Obviously it wasnt setup correctly...have you seen my screenshots? It looks even sharper now at 854x480 than in the screenshots at 848x480 @ 72hz

My AE700 looked very weird the other night when I fired up Windows Media Center - very fuzzy and soft... then daylight dawned - MCE had set the resolution to 854x480. Ugh. Back to 1280x720 and it was like having cateracts removed.

[DEANO-B]

As monopole has stated 854x480 resolution looks really bad. Anyone with a hidef PJ would be able to notice in a second if their Windows desktop has changed (and burst out crying 'My PJs broke'). The best results you will acheive will always produce a soft picture in comparison to a hidef PJ (wheather its LCD or DLP) watching games/movies/PC/hidef TV shows simply because of the res. To make matters worse, if you run a PC DVD player with FFDshow running, with the fill factor being greater on a hidef PJ than a 4805 or a H30a, the ablity to use FFDshow as a scaler etc. will create a PQ of greater depth. Don't forget also that we play PAL DVDs which are 576 lines, and not the NTSC standard, so therefore you are trying to squeeze 576 lines onto a 480 display. This coupled with the fact experts recommend you slighty defocus 854x480 PJs to stop seeing so much screendoor makes the picture softer.

[dancingmatt]

If you're still trying to decide on a Z3 or similar, like an AE700 or TX100, then I say go for the Z3. I've spent about 4 months learning about projectors from scratch and waiting for the prices to fit my budget, and I've finally got mine - the Z3.

So far I've only used a PC with S-video - better than I expected - Gamecube by composite - ditto - and I'm pretty damn pleased with the PC via VGA. I just want to get a DVI-HDMI lead now so I can get the best connection to it.

It's exactly the size of pic I wanted (as big as my room allows), it's brighter during daylight than I expected, my room isn't as dark as I'd like it to be at night but the Z3 is great then, and it really is almost silent in it's low lamp mode - no really. It has 2 automatic modes to vary the lamp brightness with the picture, but in low lamp ("theatre black") you'll only hear it if you're watching silent movies! Oh, and it looks pretty gorgeous too (although I wish I'd got the silver one).

I'd say now it's available for ~£800 ( ) and comes with a free voucher for a replacement lamp, you're getting a complete bargain. I nearly bought it for £999 without the lamp but spent £890... you can't win them all...

Got it from Ivojo who have had loads of excellent reports on here, and their service has been friendly and helpful. There was a bit of a delay in getting it because I bought it on 6 month interest free and it took a week for the paperwork to get sorted out through the post, but that wasn't Ivojo's fault. In fact Ken Davies arranged an extra quick delivery for me, to make up for the delay with their finance company mucking about. I know some other retailers that I considered charge for pixelchecking, Ivojo don't.

So basically the Z3 is a fantastic projector, once you've got it take a look at the long thread from Rone with some settings to try and it gets even better. It's got brilliant picture quality as it stands and can be made even better. If you don't like tweaking then you'll be happy when you turn it on, and if you prefer fiddling to watching then it's a dream. And save yourself concern with who to buy from - use Ivojo and you're laughing.

Happy bunny
DM

[mabell]

Get a Z3, I ordered mine today after months of research. As this will be my first pj, my thinking is that most models will probably blow me away for around the £1000 mark anyway, I didnt want any issues with rainbows so decided on LCD.

The spec to price ratio simply cannot be beaten in the Z3 at the moment. The fact is its the best priced best supported projector on these forums IMHO, a winning combination.

I am 100% confident I have made the right decision.

[dUnKle]

Originally Posted by dancingmatt

If you're still trying to decide on a Z3 or similar, like an AE700 or TX100, then I say go for the Z3. I've spent about 4 months learning about projectors from scratch and waiting for the prices to fit my budget, and I've finally got mine - the Z3.

So far I've only used a PC with S-video - better than I expected - Gamecube by composite - ditto - and I'm pretty damn pleased with the PC via VGA. I just want to get a DVI-HDMI lead now so I can get the best connection to it.

It's exactly the size of pic I wanted (as big as my room allows), it's brighter during daylight than I expected, my room isn't as dark as I'd like it to be at night but the Z3 is great then, and it really is almost silent in it's low lamp mode - no really. It has 2 automatic modes to vary the lamp brightness with the picture, but in low lamp ("theatre black") you'll only hear it if you're watching silent movies! Oh, and it looks pretty gorgeous too (although I wish I'd got the silver one).

I'd say now it's available for ~£800 ( ) and comes with a free voucher for a replacement lamp, you're getting a complete bargain. I nearly bought it for £999 without the lamp but spent £890... you can't win them all...

Got it from Ivojo who have had loads of excellent reports on here, and their service has been friendly and helpful. There was a bit of a delay in getting it because I bought it on 6 month interest free and it took a week for the paperwork to get sorted out through the post, but that wasn't Ivojo's fault. In fact Ken Davies arranged an extra quick delivery for me, to make up for the delay with their finance company mucking about. I know some other retailers that I considered charge for pixelchecking, Ivojo don't.

So basically the Z3 is a fantastic projector, once you've got it take a look at the long thread from Rone with some settings to try and it gets even better. It's got brilliant picture quality as it stands and can be made even better. If you don't like tweaking then you'll be happy when you turn it on, and if you prefer fiddling to watching then it's a dream. And save yourself concern with who to buy from - use Ivojo and you're laughing.

Happy bunny
DM

many many hints sent to other half now - maybe my ae100 needs to have an "accident"

[neil c]

Originally Posted by DuncanWardle

many many hints sent to other half now - maybe my ae100 needs to have an "accident"

Ceiling mount it with string

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by shaolin95

Check out my thread to see what this baby can do. Except for resolution, the 4805 cant be beat by the Z3 or AE700. If you need to sit too close or have short throwing distance then go with the Z3.
My 4805 and HTPC setup in action plus comparison screenshots...

Great Pics.

The Z3 is very similar to the PJTX100. The PJTX100 was preferred to the 4805 in a side-by-side comparison test, broadcast on TV.

The 4805, H30A etc are great, but so are the Z3 / AE700 / TX100 - and it isn't just down to the resolution...PJ

[rooo]

Where are people getting the Panny 700 for £950? Best I have seen is £999

[DEANO-B]

http://www.krishav.co.uk/store/index.asp £970

[eatstatic]

Originally Posted by benjiP

Just placed an order with www.nexnix.co.uk for a Sanyo PLV Z3 - with free lamp voucher, pixel check and delivery............ for £797.83 - woo-hoo!

So that was the price quoted including the stuck pixel check + inclusive of delivery?

eatstatic

That's it - arrived yesterday - though they forgot to put the free lamp voucher in. THey're posting one out to me now...

Will be setting it up tonight, but all in order otherwise so far.

[dapex]

What do people think to the light levels of the Z3, its the lowest light of the 3 main contenders and its 2/3rd of the light output of the TX100.

Does this mean that with the Z3 the curtains have to be shut more often???


Cheers

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by dapex

What do people think to the light levels of the Z3, its the lowest light of the 3 main contenders and its 1/3rd of the light output of the TX100.
Cheers

It's actually rated as 2/3rds of the TX I believe.

I don't think it would make much difference, I probably only use 40% of the brightness of the TX, OK I'd perhaps need to use 60% of the Z3 but that wouldn't be an issue in dark conditions. Only if you planned to use it in relatively light conditions would it be a factor, in which case you'd probably need to go with something 2000+ lumens anyway..PJ

[rooo]

After months of deliberations and saving, I've eventually gone for the Panny 700. I very nearly went for the Sanyo Z3, which I still regard as a better deal at the moment, but it has quite a short throw lens on it and was not suitable for my lounge, so the Panny it was. Should get it next week, so I can't wait!!