Which one PLV-30, MT1, U3-880 and LP340

The LP340 is ok price......but for some reason I have an idea it doesnt have anamorphic mode, which must be wrong.....apparently it has bad light leakage too??

Check out the reviews on the plus piano, this also sounds promising if u can wait, albeit still with no prog scan....

Adam
 
If you can get to Glasgow, Robert Whyte & Stereo Stereo are approx 2 miles apart. I demo'ed the MT1 at Robert Whyte and the PLV-30 at Stereo Stereo. From that I would go for the PLV-30.....But I want to see the Sony first !!!
 
I've spoken to a couple of dealers who gave the following rundown. One offered an alternative.

Shop1
U3-880
PLV-30
LP340
MT1

Shop 2
NEC VT440 (too much for me anyway)
U3-880
PLV-30
MT1

The general trend emerging here is that the U3-880 is considered the better projector of my selection. One shop did mention that you are paying for the size of the U3, however, they had it priced considerably higher than £1645.
 
Sorry that my earlier post re PLV30 price is probably sidetracking this thread a bit, however ... I have looked at the options of buying over the Internet but I am worried that I could get clobbered with VAT and import duty when I bring it into Belgium. Also, if I buy it unseen and there is a dead pixel problem, I will probably end up paying more in shipping it backwards or forwards.

So, I would still appreciate an indication of the UK street price (incl. VAT) for the PLV 30.

Steve
 
Chris Frost Suggested it retails at about £2800, since owl deal with sanyo, I guess he would know! But he also said that they are far cheaper in reality.....as we are all witness to with the aforementioned prices.

Adam
 
I've posted a couple of reviews of both the Sanyo Plv30 and the Tosh Mt1, try a search etc.
But to recap:-
The Tosh has fantastic/viberant colours.
Looks stunning when used with a HTPC.
Fairly quite fan.
Is now very cheap.
I loved it! except for some slight vertical "streaking/banding" on light/smooth scenes.(Much reduced with the HTPC)
The Sanyo has slightly better contrast(blacks).
I did'nt notice any streaking/banding etc.
The fan is slightly louder than the Tosh.
The picture is slightly "punchier", but the colours cannot touch the Toshes.
Both projectors sell for less than two grand which is rear projection money. But both are far better for giving that real "Cinema" feel.
I hav'nt seen the other projectors, but as for DLP i see the rainbow straight away so that would'nt be a option for me.
Do what ever you have to do to see your chosen projectors before buying. Because even though they may be "Budget" ones, two grand is still a lot a money to be spent on something your not totally happy with.
Paul :)
 
I was wrong about the U3 fan noise its rated at 42db which is slightly higher than the PLV-30s 39db.

Anyone seen the MT3 yet?
 
That's a huge increase in noise. I guess I'll have to box the thing into some kind of soundproofed enclosure to cut the noise out.
 
Hi Simon

Anyone seen the MT3 yet?

I am reciving mine next week, I have not had any demos, basically going on the reviews in Mags and here on the Forum.

I have paid £2000 + £30 carriage with a stipulation if there are any bad pixels I can refuse.

I'll post the results when I recieve the unit,I have a Sharp XV350H at the moment and had a Sony VPL-CS2 so I will give a comparison against these two.

Garry
 
Chris, you are quite correct about the decibel levels. I had a word with the sound dept at work. 1 decibel represents the smallest sound increase that the human ear can detect. A 3 decibel increase produced aperceived doubling of the noise level.

All in all that makes the Plus damn loud. Has anyone tried making a hushbox for a simialrly signed projector? Most of the ones on avsforum seem to be for big CRT units.

Digiman, looking forward to hearing your views on the MT3.
 
Simon,
It is possible to make a hush box for a single lens projector but you need to think hard about how to handle the heat.

The reason small LCD/DLP projectors are noisy is that the lamps need lots of fresh air to cool them. This hot exhaust air also carries the fan noise into your listening room.

Any effective hush box design will need to seal the projector from the viewing room and also vent away the hot air and provide a fresh air feed in. This is going to involve some building work and cost.

It may be simpler (and cheaper in the long run) to spend a little extra on a projector with a quiet fan.

Regards
 
Yes, it makes a good case for getting the MT3, at 32db it wouldn't really need a hushbox. That said it'll cost nearly £400 more than the Plus, more than enough to make a nice hushbox. I'll see if I can think of a viable way of constructing one for this Plus.
 
The noise rating of some of these projectors worry me a little, I've made a lot of effort to get my HTPC down to around the 20db level. I think that a hushbox of sorts will be a must for me. Whisper quiet is often used to discribe projectors but do you really want something whispering on your ear through out a movie ?


Jeff
 
Simon,
Spending the extra £400 on the Toshiba MT3 doesn't just buy you a quieter fan, does it. There are also other benefits too - the zoom lens for example.


Jeff
"Whisper quiet is often used to discribe projectors but do you really want something whispering on your ear through out a movie?"

That depends on what it is saying! ;)

Regards
 
Just another thing to mention. Chris pointed out that venting cool air to the projector if in a hush box is important and it is VERY important.

Most of these devices are designed as portable presentation projectors. They have the ability to be ceiling mounted but I believe most are never used in this fashion. Now, hot air rises......when the thing is on a table the heat inside the projector rises to the top pf the case, away from the circuit boards. When it's inverted exactly theh opposite occurs. I'm not sure how much a difference in temperature this would make but it may be significant.

On the Oil platform we did they originally tried to use their own InFocus projector I think, or some such unit. After 30 minutes of being upside down on a ceiling playing DVD's it switched off. It never switched off when table mounted.

So, if you're hush boxing it don't just vent the hot air away try and find a method to draw cool air through too.

Gordon
 

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