Budget PJ - Tw10H/5120/TLP-ET1/NEC HT410/X1A - Clash of the PJs

[anibap]

Hi

I am new to this forum and as usual i am confused in buying a new Pj for me (Budget £550). I have good knowledge of LCD and DLP technology, their diffrences , advatages , disadvantages etc. So that part of the homework is done.

I have 3 projectors in my mind
1. Epson Emp TW10H
2. BenQ PE 5120
3. Nec HT410
4. Infocus x1A (Strange to see this one in the list?)
4. Toshiba TLP-ET1

I want very fair opinion from all owners of the above projectors. Not on all good things but also on certian things which can become an issue / regret / short of your expectation. Do the LCD models listed show much screendoor. Is the rainbow a real problem ?

Basically whihc is the best value for money (keeping mind the warranty clause as well)

As for X1a - I have seen in my pals home . he uses the Infocus Vesa to component cable to a Panny and the picture is really awesome but its native 4:3. So if anybody is using these drop in line on the X1a as well.

One more question: My laptop has a S-Video out. can i use it as a DVD player without any resolution problem? (I know that DVD res from laptop/pc is same as playing from a DVD player. Anybody tried it?)

Would really appreciate your views speacially from members who have spent a long time in this forum going through all posts and of course through a time ride of various projectors.

Anirban

[Lucas]

Hi,

I just bought an Epson TW10H. It was between this and the Benq 5120 in my case since they were in a similar price range in my country. The others you mentioned were more expensive so I did not consider them.

Between the Benq and the Epson I found the 5120's picture excellent for the money, especially for totally dark rooms where its better contrast and black level can be put onto the screen.

The big minus for me was rainbows. I could see them and I got a feeling that the slight headache and eye strain I developed after watching was not related to a long day in front of a screen at the office.

I was still thinking about it though until Epson dropped the price of the TW10H significantly over the last couple of week so I got the Epson.

I set it up along with a 2m wide screen over the weekend and I can say that I am pleased with the result and decision. If I wasn't seeing rainbow though I think that the 5120 would give a better picture for DVDs in the Dark.

The TW10H throws a very nice and balanced picture though. The screendoor is there but only if you sit too close. With some ambient light in the room, you can ramp up the picture brightness and contrast to still provide colour rich pictures for watching football or sports with friends etc.

In my case I sit at 3m back and I can barely make it out. Lean forward a couple of feet and its very evident. If only I could bring the wall down behind the sofa and move it back 3 feet or so .

Now on to your questions. You mentioned that you saw a 2x DLP, the X1a,
and you didnt mention if you saw rainbow or not. If not then you are lucky and you have more choices.

Don't use the Svideo output of your laptop. Use the VGA port instead. It will give a top quality signal to drive a projector. I drive my epson through the VGA port.

[Maff et1]

Happy ET-1 owner here, cheapest of them I think (about 380).

As Lucas says you'll be better off using the VGA output on the laptop rather than the s-video, especially if the laptop supports dual screen, set the vga to a widescreen res (e.g. 1280x720/768) and then let the PJ scale the image to fit.

Colours will be better and you'll get a progressive image (full picture being sent each frame) rather than interlaced (alternate lines sent each frame).

Screendoor on the ET-1 is supposed to be slightly worse than the Epson, but it doesn't bother me, from about 2m to a 5ft wide screen I only notice it on titles (white scrolling text on black) and clouds/mist.

Lucas - have you tried softening the focus slightly, if you make the pixels blur out over the lines it can improve the image (does on mine anyway).

[donkeymagic]

BenQ PE5120 owner here.

Cant comment on anyother PJ but the 5120 was the right choice for my budget needs (£460). The only small niggle I have with it is the limited zoom. Bear this in mind if PJ placement is an issue.

[anibap]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the responses. I am sure some more will come from other owners.

For DLPs, i did saw some on subtitles but never very annoying. But one thing i noticed whihc Lucas has pointed. With DLPs i get a slight headache or a strain. Did some searches on net and found that DLPs do cause starin and headache for a certain pop percentage.

Lucas,

Are you happy with the black level of TW10H? Do you enjoy seeing dark movies?

There is an interesting find. An insider information. The BENQ 5120 is a test model for BENQ for the home cinema market and its design has certain flaws including Lens barrel (dust blobs) , connection ports (specially the S-Video), Fan problem on changing brightness etc. The price of 5120 when launched was only £50 less than that of Infocus 4805 but the 5120 was severely criticized by dedicated reviewers. BenQ opted to cut down the price to 40% to grab the market and at the same time concentrate on the next budget home cinema model (with all fixes from 5120).

Apparently out of 10 5120 users 7 of them had problems in one or more form of the mentioned ones.

Toshiba ELP-T1 has got lamp issues and less contrast. Lamp is not reliable but image wise lot of satisfied owners(for a small image upto 80inch in a dark room)

Epson TW10H appears to have SDE and long term color degradation issue but the warranty and lapmp cost is a bargain. Most of the users area happy as it offers a very decent bright image. If anybody can point to some negates.

Do TW10H owners see the vertical banding in Progressive input as well?

What about the NEC model. This one has got good review but the contrast ratio is just 1200:1 (unlikely of a DLP). But if you see the design NEC does not say that it can project more than 200inch. The NEc model offers all cables( yes its true - S Video, Componet,composite,VGA ) And on Ebuyer it is only £429 with free shipping. Waranty is R and R.

Any NEC 410 users ??

Ciao

[Lucas]

For most movies the black level and contrast are adequate.
Course am happy! SDE is not a problem if you either limit your screen size or sit 2x screen width back. I currently sit at 1.7x back.

From 2x distance the picture looks awesome. I set the PC to 1280x720 and played some hidef wmv clips and they looked amazing.

After calibrating my PC display settings using the AT9600XT catalyst control centre I got a slightly better picture.

I also believe the Epson has very good grey scale capabilities.