Projector novice seeks help

mrmcdean · Feb 1, 2005

A friend of mine has a Sony VPL HS1 projector that I borrow from time to time for film & games evenings, problem is I now feel like im inviting him round just so I can us his PJ so im looking to buy a new PJ myself in the near future. (his bulb is also going so its getting pretty hard to see anything !!! - Ive managed to find him one for £200 from Amazon of all places but they have non in stock, anyone know of similar prices elsewhere ? average seems to be about £250 inc VAT)

Anyway, my budget is pretty limited so was looking at the Epson TW10 for about £575 and have seen the Panasonic AE 200 for just over £600. My room is about 12' x 12' and id be sitting about 3m from the screen / wall.

What do you think ? which one is the best ? I know I should see both of them in action but I dont know where to go locally to get a demo and to be honest as price is important I'll probably get one from the web so dont really like wasting the shops time

One last and important question, my mates Sony is about 2 years old, we just project onto a cream wall, is this a MUCH better machine than my two candidates ? would I feel let down having used a machine that cost twice as much (albeit 2 years ago) or would the images from the Epson and the Panasonic be similar ??

Many thanks for your help.

leapfrog · Feb 1, 2005

I bought an Epson TW10h from Ebuyer.co.uk for £560, just before Christmas.

I can't comment on the Panasonic or how the Epson compares to the Sony, but I have been extremely impressed with the quality of such a cheap projector.

I watch it at about 3 meters on about a 85-90 inch picture projected on my magnolia wall, good, sharp picture, pretty much no screen door at that distance, colours are good, the black could be blacker, but are still much better than I expected and more than acceptable.

A friend of mine came around the other day to watch a movie and commented how much better the picture is than his friends old Sony (neither of us know which model, but he guesses it's about 2-3 years old).

My brother has just bought one and I have made it my mission to convince everyone I know to buy one by the year 2096.

The only negative thing is I end up watching movies till about 3am every morning after spending ages trying to decide which movie to watch (it's a totally new experience watching most films on such a big screen, so I am trying to revisit all the old classics), my poor rear projection TV hardly gets used any more.

Hope this helps.

KraGorn · Feb 1, 2005

There's no doubt IMHO the Epson is a much better buy than the AE200, which was a great little machine in its' day but that day passed the year before last when the AE300 came out.

I've never seen an HS1 but given its' spec and age I'd be surprised if it's much better (if at all) than the Epson .. LCD projector technology has advanced a long way in 3+ years.