Projector advice - up to £1700

[baronm]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to purchase my first projector, and I'm after some advice. My conditions / usage is as follows:

- Will be projecting onto a 100" screen - likely to be a Beamax 10502 A Velvet Fixed Frame;

- Room is a living room with relatively light walls (cream sides and skin coloured ends), white ceiling, dark wood floor, large window at the opposite end of the room to the screen with curtains (black-out cloth lined), a 4 foot fish tank at the back side of the room in the corner (so some artificial light from that), and the back wall will be 5.2 metres from the screen;

- Projector will be wall mounted at the back centre of the room, so should only need a small amount of lens shift / keystone to get it just right (providing the projector supports zoom - see distance above)

- Will be used to replace a 50" Panasonic 1080p Plasma (i.e. used for everything 100% of the time);

- All devices will pass to the projector through a Sony AV Amp via HDMI;

- Not concerned about 3d in the slightest;

- Usage as follows:
50% to watch HD MKV files of TV episodes via XBMC Live on an Acer Revo
25% to watch Blu-Ray movies on a Sony BDP-350
15% to play XBox 360 games (FPS & driving games)
10% to play PS3 games (FPS & driving games)

Budget is up to £1700 max. Initial thoughts are to go for an Epson TW-3200 for ~£900, but if there will be a marked improvement with spending the extra (i.e. JVC HD350 for £1699) then I'm prepared to do so.

Thanks in advance,

Mark
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[kbfern]

I would agree with your 2 choices of TW3200/HD350 depending on what you wish to spend and add in an Optoma HD82 @ £1299 for median price between the two.

It would have to be wall mounted upside down though as it would need to be fairly high up depending on your screen height.

I must say your room is challenging for pretty much any projector due to the colour scheme, fish tank and windows.Also your use of the projector if it's for 100% of your video use and ditching the use of a tv does make me wonder if a larger tv would be a better option for you (65").