Best Projector for under £600?

Messiah Khan

Established Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Messages
66
Reaction score
3
Points
51
Age
41
Although the cheaper the better. Is the HD65 a good option? The PJ will be about 11' from the screen, with me sitting 1' infront of and under the PJ. As im renting the flat, I can't ceiling mount anything so im considering a portable screen, and to place the projector on shelving to get it as heigh as possible. Im hoping to achieve a ~198cm x 118cm screen size. Is this possible or reasonable? Any other options worth considering?
 
The planar PD7010 is very good an exeptional buy at £499 and is quieter than the HD65,the Infocus X9 would be another candidate at the same price.

I would say any of the 3 mentioned pj's would be classed as the best under £500 pj's you can get, just depends on what you prefer.
 
If you are going to stick the PJ on a shelf, remember you will have to turn it upside down to project slightly downwards. So it either has to be stable and fully vented if you turn it upside down, or you can mount it upside down under the shelf.

I just stick my PJ on a small table and project from there - about 2-3 feet off the floor and the image projects at about 4-5 feet high on the wall from about 11 feet.

The HD65 is very popular, but check out the HD700 as well as it a bit cheaper, and Play were doing it with a free 84 inch screen IRRC. The PLanar 7010 is also very popular and there are good deals out there.

They are both DLP, so make sure you don't suffer from rainbows as they can be quite unpleasant.

You will have to be relatively accurate with placement too as I don't think these PJs have a great deal of flexibilty in terms of placement, in comparison to LCD PJs in the same class.

If you need a bit more flexibilty and want LCD - have a look at the SANYO PLV-Z5 and perhaps a second hand Panasonic PT-AX100 (possibly AX200) which are all very popular and there is plenty of info in the various threads on here.

Also Projector Point are one of many sites that include screen size calculators, and its worth downloading a few manuals for PJs you are interested in to check the screen size and offset of the images - most PJs don't fire an image straight, they are angled upwards slightly and you need to take this into account when placing them - obvioulsy this is reveresed if ceiling/shelf mounted and upside down!

Have fun looking!
 
If you are going to stick the PJ on a shelf, remember you will have to turn it upside down to project slightly downwards. So it either has to be stable and fully vented if you turn it upside down, or you can mount it upside down under the shelf.

A lot of PJ's have feet at the back which can be raised up to make it project downwards. If it needs more height, then something can be put under the feet to lower the image more. It doesn't need to be upside down on a shelf.
 
A lot of PJ's have feet at the back which can be raised up to make it project downwards. If it needs more height, then something can be put under the feet to lower the image more. It doesn't need to be upside down on a shelf.

Then once you have tilted your PJ you now need to use keystone to compensate. Never a good idea as this involves a lot of video manipulation that should not be necessary.

Rule 1. Get a projector that naturally fits you room, zoom offset etc.

Unless it is LCD and then you have gone over to the gray side.:rotfl:
 
A lot of PJ's have feet at the back which can be raised up to make it project downwards. If it needs more height, then something can be put under the feet to lower the image more. It doesn't need to be upside down on a shelf.


As said I guess it depends on the keystone and the offset as to whether that would work - I was tempted to use mine upside down as it was vented on the sides and completely flat, but then I realised I would not be able to reach the buttons!!! :rotfl:

I'm a simply man and sticking it on a table and tilting it slightly upwards was enough 'technical' adjustment for me!:D


Mind you the manual suggests that the PJ should not be tilted by more than 15 degrees - which is not much to be honest and may not compensate for the offset if set high and tilting down - then again they give no reason for not tillting more than 15 degrees.....and I'm rambling.....:D
 
Something I think you should also consider is the cost of replacement bulbs. For some PJs these can cost not too much more than £100 but for others, they can be ridiculously high.

People seem to like this Planar PD7010 but replacement bulbs are around £350!!
Most PJ's only have a very limited bulb warranty, so should the bulb go, you'll have a cool bill of £350 if you want to continue using this PJ!

If you're on a tight budget, then I think this is an important factor.

Also, as others have mentioned, consider how you will set the PJ up in your room. Cheap DLPs have very limited zoom (refer to screen size calculators as mentioned above) and also no lens shift.

Finally I would also try to take into account the resale value of the PJ. Again, an important factor will be the cost of the bulbs. I think PJ are notorious for losing value (because the technology evolves quite rapidly) but people on a budget should consider this.

In terms of which PJ to choose, the 'safe' option would be the Z5 since it's very good and is LCD so no rainbow effect. The HD65 is cheaper but you will see the rainbow effect which depending on how you perceive it, will be either no worse than LCD screen door effect, or bad enough to give you headaches.

Get a demo if possible!
 
My experience the x9 gives a better picture than the z5, better blacks, richer colour bulbs £100, 6 month bulb warranty, 2 years warranty on unit. If you have the right size room the x9 is a no brainer.
 
My experience the x9 gives a better picture than the z5, better blacks, richer colour bulbs £100, 6 month bulb warranty, 2 years warranty on unit. If you have the right size room the x9 is a no brainer.

Ok this is very un-tech talk but will the X9 adjust up and down a little bit if i was to ceiling mount? The projector would be dead centre so wouldn't need the left and right shift.

Secondly, i get very confused with all these projection calculators. Could you advise what size i would be able to project from 3 metres back? Sorry if this is really simple but i have tried to look.

If all is ok, i may pull the trigger on one of these x9's as it seems to come highly recommended.
 
Infocus X9 claims a lens throw ratio of 1.55 - 1.77
So from 300cm distance image width will be 300cm divided by 1.55 = 193.5cm, to 300cm divided by 1.77 = 169.5cm depending on the lens setting you use. Not this is image width not diagonal
 
Infocus X9 claims a lens throw ratio of 1.55 - 1.77
So from 300cm distance image width will be 300cm divided by 1.55 = 193.5cm, to 300cm divided by 1.77 = 169.5cm depending on the lens setting you use. Not this is image width not diagonal

Thanks Dovercat :thumbsup:
Thinking of getting a 174x97 screen with viewable area of 170x 95
I think that this will be do-able:)
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys. Im starting to lean towards the X9 now. Im ruling the Planar PD7010 out due to the bulb cost. Im also going to have some demos before comitting, but what are the main differences between LCD and DLP projectors?
 
Thanks guys. Im starting to lean towards the X9 now. Im ruling the Planar PD7010 out due to the bulb cost. Im also going to have some demos before comitting, but what are the main differences between LCD and DLP projectors?

Im about to pull the trigger on the X9 as well:thumbsup:
 
I watched the standard def dvd of teeth on x9 last night took some photos, not reference material i know but will post them on x9 thread later, could not fault picture at all though.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom