[andypearce]

I'm new to projectors as I've always gone down the TV route but I've been given permission by her indoors to use our playroom as a gaming / home cinema room. I'll continue to use my HD 42" panny plasma for watching Sky HD in the living room so the set up is mainly for playing XBOX 360, watching HD DVD's through the 360 and DVDs (through a component enabled DVD player.)

The room is approx 7 metres by 2 metres and the projector could be placed almost 7 metres from the screen. I'd probably be placing the screen infront of a set of patio doors but these do have a good set of curtains in them which do a very good job of blocking out the light.

I already have an HC receiver and speakers so all I need is the projector and screen (pref motorised.) I like the look of the Epson EMP-TW1000 LCD Projector which will give me 1080p but I'm open to other suggestions. I don't know if the 7m throw makes any difference to my choice and I'm also totally clueless about the type and size of screen I'd need. I'd prefer to be able to keep a little ambient light (uplighters) when I'm watching films etc.

My budget is between £2,200 - £3,000..

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[gazbarber]

Have you considered a 720p projector, they are pretty dam good for the money and the extra performance that 1080p gives for most people is not worth the money, unless you sit very close to the screen.

Consider the ax100 from panasonic if you need any real degree of ambient light, most other projector in high contrast mode (generally the best performance/picture but not exactly bright) will become pretty flat. I know not of any 1080p projectors in your price range that will give you a decent image in an ambient light environment.

If your willing to not have ambient light and this is what pretty much everyone with a projector does, then your options become a lot more open.


The technologies in general.
Generally (and personally) the quality of technologies goes LCD -> DLP -> DILA(JVC mainly) and CRT is in there at the end too but is generally far to big and cumbersome for most people.

DLP has the 'rainbow effect' which can make a litttle rainbow like pattern over the image (not a very good description), but this doesn't really happen anymore with modern implementations (they use faster i.e. 5x colour wheels), but some people seem to be effected by it and even reporting haveing head aches, with about 30 people who seen my old x1 with a 2 speed colour wheel never saw them or if they did it was obly once or twice and no more.
DLP usually has inferior placement options, it generally has to be head on with the screen (but this is fine if you can ceiling mount), moderatly priced LCD's (£600+) have lens shift, so you can place a projector in the corner of the room on a shelf and still get a perfect image, which is pretty cool.
On the other hand DLP generaly gives a more 'real' image/colours than a LCD which some consider 'cartoonish' but this is more subtle than some people claim, just the like th rainbow for DLP.

DLP also has much better real contrast, where individual pixels can be either dark/near black or light, where as LCD cannot do this and fakes it with a and dynamic iris which checks the entire scene to determine what the lowest black can be and the highest light. For example a flashlight down a tunnel on an LCD will lose detail compared to the DLP as the scene will be predominantly light, shadow detail cannot be shown as the iris is in 'high brightness mode' so deatil in the tunnel walls will be missing. So in general if the scene is light then you losse detail in the dark , if its dark you loose vibrancy in the image. Again some people are not bothered by this and are happy with the image. the dynamic iris can also be turned off and set to a specific position and then calibrated to an image that is most pleasing, but it will be a contrast compromise compared to a decent DLP.

DILA is an entirely different technology with the highest native (non trickery with iris or bulb brighness minipulation) excpt CRT but its very expensive at the mo (being the best brings a premium) and its not very bright so the image will be spoiled by ambient light, even a few dimmed spot lights would be enough to so i massive difference, this is true for most home cinema projectors with the exception of a few very bright ones (light cannons).

For actual 1080p projector in your price range there as well as epson is the mitsubish 1080p (HC5000) and panasonic AE1000, both of these are LCD and all arround about the same performance. There is also a optima H80 which is a and the first 'afforable' 1080p DLP all are arround 2-3k. The JVC DILA is more expensive and there are are sony models too, the lower end one is about in your price range, but these may be due for a refresh soon as apparently the low end model is 'discountinued' .

Just remember unless your gonna be very close to the screen there are other factors that dictate a projectors picture quality other than resolution, including the optics (this affects throw as well), brightness, quality of scaling and video processing, the implementation of the base technology itself and don't forget noise (but with using a xbox 360 its probably not a deal breaker) and placement options , also the price of bulbs for these high end models if your gonna be using them for a few hours every day.

On the screen front look at the screen forum, a electric screen is really anything from £300+ if you want a named brand.

You need to decide what you want and then do some research into those models that provide that, if there is more than one and check projector central/the manufactures website for the throw/zoom ranges.

[andypearce]

Thanks for the advice.

Do you really think I will se very little difference between 720p and 1080p? I usually try to upgrade to the bext quality I can afford to future proof my purchase as much as possible but I have to admit I haven't seen 1080 and 720p side by side....

[gazbarber]

Its something you'll want to see for yourself to be confident you make the right decision, Although pretty much all 1080p projectors out now are considered fantastic they are a lot more expensive than many equaily fantastic 720p one.

[Mad Monk]

Originally Posted by andypearce

Thanks for the advice.

Do you really think I will se very little difference between 720p and 1080p? I usually try to upgrade to the bext quality I can afford to future proof my purchase as much as possible but I have to admit I haven't seen 1080 and 720p side by side....

IMO there is very little difference between the better 720p projectors and the newer 1080p PJs aside from more pixels on the screen which my eyes couldn't resolve. I have seen both but not side by side. I researched this a fair bit a few months back and it came down to either more pixels on the screen or better black levels and better contrast. I decided on a 720p projector.

Hope this helped