New 1080p projectors?

Mulvaney

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Hi all

******
TLDR:

Is it worth "upgrading" a 1080P projector to... another 1080P projector? Do they do them with HDR? Would it be cheaper than a 4K one, or have economies of scale actually made 1080P projectors more expensive?
******

I do go on a bit, sorry...

I've had a projector for many years - Infocus 7210 (2007) -> Optoma HD-33 (2011) -> Sanyo PLV-Z700 (2019).

My Optoma had a major shadow develop on it that wasn't repairable, so my friend gave me his Sanyo after he switched to a TV.

The Sanyo is flickering as we speak, probably needs a new lamp (I've replaced it once, I think he had a spare when he gave it to me).

I was wondering if I should pay the £180 or so for a new lamp or put it towards a new projector, but it looks like an "original-inside" lamp is £100 and a 3rd party one is £45, so I'll probably order one for now. I'm currently embroiled in a £150 (so far) repair for a dishwasher that I didn't realise was ten years old (time flies) and it wasn't that wonderful to begin with, so I'm in the mindset of replacing rather than throwing good money after bad, if it's the better option.

My eyesight is pretty bad, I have a high level of astigmatism; I'm running the magnifying glass app on my Windows PC at 150% to write this on my 100" projector screen, which I'm sat 3m away from, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't see any resolution improvement on a 4K projector. I did notice the difference between 720p and 1080P though - mostly on details like name badges and signs (on a 720P episode of Dexter), not so much in natural landscape scenes etc.

I also noticed the colours on my friend's HDR TV (not even OLED - I do love OLED!) while he was playing the super colourful Fall Guys game on his PS4 (or was it 5?!) but then I also noticed the huge increase in colour vibrancy I got from running the 40" (42"?) 1080p Sony TV I bought for my mum a decade ago, which she's given to me now she's gone 4K, next to my current projector. But I can't afford to lose even 25" by going from a 100" projector screen down to a 75" TV because clearly (judging by the zoom I use) even my 100" screen would only be readable without the magnifying glass at 150" - or perhaps if I sat 1.5m(?) from it!

Although I didn't really use the (Optoma) 3D glasses much, I'm a little sad that I paid £200 odd for three pairs and they've hardly been used. My current pj doesn't have 3D, so 3D might be nice, if it doesn't compromise other things. I've still got a bunch of 3D (1080P) blu-rays.

I'm considering getting an XBox Series X (Series S has a smaller drive and by the time you've paid for more storage you might as well have bought the more powerful console). I don't think my amp does HDR or HDMI2.1 though, so I doubt I'd even be running the lowly 1080P at 120hz (did the Optoma do that - I know it had to be capable of twice the framerate as it had full frame 3D?). I'm also going to look at game streaming on my PC, since I pretty much only play Halo anyway. I don't know if that would be a better experience than playing Halo Infinite in 1080P on my original XBox One, or if it's worth shelling out for an XBox Series X or S for 1080P. Maybe I'll get a 100" TV when they're the norm and under £1000 - if I'm still here by then!

The Sanyo seemed considerably more vibrant than the Optoma, I don't think that was just the Optoma being unwell...

I don't want to upgrade my Denon AVR-X6300H... ever, to be honest!

I couldn't spend more than £1500, I think the other two were £1250 / £1350 and seemed to be a good price point for me - I've been very happy with my purchases.
 
Last edited:
I've taken apart a HD33 to clean, the light path is very simple. If your Optoma has a straight shadow (probably) at the edge of the screen it could be a collapsed light tunnel, which are cheap and easy to replace (or repair) - it's just four mirrors glued together to form a rectangular tunnel and sometimes the glue fails. If it's more of a large non-uniform blob shape then it could be the resin lens that guides the light onto the dmd that's melted - these are also fairly cheap. Both of those parts are approx. $20 on ebay.com. If it's something in the barrel of the main lens that probably wouldn't be economic to repair. Just thought I'd mention this in case you still have it and ever wanted to revive it as a back-up.
 
I just side stepped (and up a few years) from a s/h panasonic PT-AT5000e to a s/h sony vpl-hw40es. Very happy not a huge jump but enough that I forgot the taxman took all my savings & stopped me buying a Sony vpl-vw 290es

The sony machines are lovely for just hd & you can get a second hand one on here for a decent price. That or a decent JVC DLA hd model but in my experience JVC owners don’t let them go cheap despite their age
 
Hi all

******
TLDR:

Is it worth "upgrading" a 1080P projector to... another 1080P projector? Do they do them with HDR? Would it be cheaper than a 4K one, or have economies of scale actually made 1080P projectors more expensive?
******

I do go on a bit, sorry...

I've had a projector for many years - Infocus 7210 (2007) -> Optoma HD-33 (2011) -> Sanyo PLV-Z700 (2019).

My Optoma had a major shadow develop on it that wasn't repairable, so my friend gave me his Sanyo after he switched to a TV.

The Sanyo is flickering as we speak, probably needs a new lamp (I've replaced it once, I think he had a spare when he gave it to me).

I was wondering if I should pay the £180 or so for a new lamp or put it towards a new projector, but it looks like an "original-inside" lamp is £100 and a 3rd party one is £45, so I'll probably order one for now. I'm currently embroiled in a £150 (so far) repair for a dishwasher that I didn't realise was ten years old (time flies) and it wasn't that wonderful to begin with, so I'm in the mindset of replacing rather than throwing good money after bad, if it's the better option.

My eyesight is pretty bad, I have a high level of astigmatism; I'm running the magnifying glass app on my Windows PC at 150% to write this on my 100" projector screen, which I'm sat 3m away from, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't see any resolution improvement on a 4K projector. I did notice the difference between 720p and 1080P though - mostly on details like name badges and signs (on a 720P episode of Dexter), not so much in natural landscape scenes etc.

I also noticed the colours on my friend's HDR TV (not even OLED - I do love OLED!) while he was playing the super colourful Fall Guys game on his PS4 (or was it 5?!) but then I also noticed the huge increase in colour vibrancy I got from running the 40" (42"?) 1080p Sony TV I bought for my mum a decade ago, which she's given to me now she's gone 4K, next to my current projector. But I can't afford to lose even 25" by going from a 100" projector screen down to a 75" TV because clearly (judging by the zoom I use) even my 100" screen would only be readable without the magnifying glass at 150" - or perhaps if I sat 1.5m(?) from it!

Although I didn't really use the (Optoma) 3D glasses much, I'm a little sad that I paid £200 odd for three pairs and they've hardly been used. My current pj doesn't have 3D, so 3D might be nice, if it doesn't compromise other things. I've still got a bunch of 3D (1080P) blu-rays.

I'm considering getting an XBox Series X (Series S has a smaller drive and by the time you've paid for more storage you might as well have bought the more powerful console). I don't think my amp does HDR or HDMI2.1 though, so I doubt I'd even be running the lowly 1080P at 120hz (did the Optoma do that - I know it had to be capable of twice the framerate as it had full frame 3D?). I'm also going to look at game streaming on my PC, since I pretty much only play Halo anyway. I don't know if that would be a better experience than playing Halo Infinite in 1080P on my original XBox One, or if it's worth shelling out for an XBox Series X or S for 1080P. Maybe I'll get a 100" TV when they're the norm and under £1000 - if I'm still here by then!

The Sanyo seemed considerably more vibrant than the Optoma, I don't think that was just the Optoma being unwell...

I don't want to upgrade my Denon AVR-X6300H... ever, to be honest!

I couldn't spend more than £1500, I think the other two were £1250 / £1350 and seemed to be a good price point for me - I've been very happy with my purchases.


Your requirements and preferences have Epson 9300/9400 written all over it.
 

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