I'm brand new to projectors and looking at getting either the BenqW100 or Infocus IN72 which both have good reviews on this forum.

My Sky+ is playing up (last nights England game can't have looked that bad to everyone, surely?) so I am looking at saving myself £40 a month and getting a Humax9200 or Topfield5800 PVR. The Topfield will be better because it has component output.

The question I have is what kind of image quality can I expect compared to Sky SD. (I can still use the Sky box for free to air channels). Also are these projectors practical for everyday use? How much do the bulbs cost to replace?

Any help to a novice would be much appreciated.

[Andy98765]

Freeview is as good as SKY SD, bulbs cost s fortune and I really do not believe that projectors because of the bulbs area practical everyday solution. That is why most people have a LCD/Plasma for that use and keep the projector for the main events, movies, sports etc.

[sbowler]

I have used an old pioneer freeview box for over two years now on my panasonic 700. Its connected via RGB Scart and its a fabulous picture. You shouldnt go far wrong with the setup your considering. As to everyday use, well mine is on just under 500 hrs use. Mine is a dedicated room and mainly used for DVD viewing. You will certainly have to dim the room considerably to get the best results. And with the longer daylight now in the evenings this may also be a consideration. It depends on the orientation of the windows in the room. Are they south facing ect.?

[nwgarratt]

Both those PJ's are excellent for TV. They are bright enough to allow some more light in the room but dark is better. I have seen both PJ's using S Video and was very happy with the quality. The quality does depend on the channel watched and make sure the cable is good quality as well.

I would only use it night time use though and restrict it to a few hours max. At 3 hours every night you would go through around 1000 hours in a year. The W100 has 3000 and more hours on the lamp life. If you are not prepared to spend around £200 every 2-3 years for a new lamp. I would get a LCD TV for most of the viewing and leave the PJ for films/sports/favourite series on the freeview.

The Toppy has component on the scart so you would need a scart to component cable and should be better than S Video. The W100 has two component inputs which has been very useful for me (connected a DVD player and a X Box at the same time).

Even though the W100 is better, I have setup my old Panasonic AE100 on S Video from my PVR. It doesn't get used now except for TV and if I want something displayed from my PC. It still has a theoretical 3000 hours on the lamp

I might need a re-think, I can't believe the price of the replacement bulbs (half the cost of the PJ!). I am going to live in oz in just over a years time so I don't want to fork out for a plasma or LCD which will then be going out of date and losing value in storage. At least with a PJ they are so small and light I could take it with me or have it shipped relatively cheaply.

Then again I'm not going to oz to watch the Tv if you know what I mean!