How far have we gone from Davis DL 450 - Is it right time upgrade ?

I have been using my Davis DL 450 for the last 3 years or so and I have about 1980 hours on it´s first bulb.

So far my projector has worked almoust flawlessly but now I´m itching to replace it with a newer unit BUT only if I can seen a really BIG improvement over my Davis in picture quality in a BIG screen - mine is about 270 cm x 203 cm white matte.

B.t.w. I watch mainly PAL DVD´s from my DVD-player - could, however, to upgrage it to a HTPC or a HVI-DVD-player if that is necessary.

I´m willing to spend about 5.000 - 6.000 euros ( about the same in USD) for the new unit. I Finland it would mean f.ex. either HT1000 or H76.

Would I get the really BIG improvement I´m looking for in this pricecathegory or should I stick with my Davis for another year or so.

[calscot]

I think you may have had a projector much longer than most, so not many people will have seen the pj you have. The best thing to do is use your own eyes.

I'm pretty new to it but have learned a lot and it looks like technology has moved on a long way even just in the last year.

You'll now get much higher resolution, contrast ratio, brightness and colour saturation.

It depends whether you see rainbows from DLP with a 6x colour wheel.

The best DLP for your money seems to be the Optima H76 which has 1280x720 pixels and a contrast ratio of over 2000:1.

The best LCD seems to be the Epson TW100 which has 1366x768 pixels and 800:1 contast ratio and no rainbows. I think it also has a Faroudja deinterlacer.

Check out the sticky pj faq at the top of the thread list for more info and links and be sure to check out the reviews on projector central.

The hardest thing will be to get a demo. Nexnix are considered the best place to buy (I used them and recommend them too) but to get a demo you need to take a day off work and travel to Sussex. It could be worth it though.

Cheers,
Cal.

[Gary Lightfoot]

I had a Davis DLS8 with HTPC - you'll notice a huge difference in picture quality from what you're used to now, and it's your cheapest option. However, you may have to change the bulb soon, so that will double the cost of a basic htpc (around £250, and around £300+ for the lamp).

I sold my DLS8 and bought an NEC HT1000 - it's another big step up from the Davis and has all the procesing you need built in, so greatly reduces the need for htpc, though I'm using my HT1000 with htpc via DVI and PowerDVD XP which is by far the best picture I've had.

You could try a basic htpc with Radeon card (dvi out) and 5.1 sound card (Soundblaster 4.1 or 5.1), then when your lamp goes, you have the option of a new lamp, or new pj - the HT1000 is at least ten times the price of the lamp, but the extra resolution means you get perfect pixel mapping for PAL.

I'm using mine with a 16:9 screen and it has the facilities to fit a 4:3 image within it if you wish, in much the same ways a widescreen tv will.

HTH

Gary.