digital projectors

[Milan]

Hi everyone thinking of buying a digital projector for the home anyone of the experts out there know anything about them ie. which is best value for money etc. thanks in advance

[Tim M]

I would love to get one but the cost is preventing me; not just the cost of the projector but the replacement bulbs which seem to be about £300 each!

I've seen these £220 ones on ebay which are purly for video (no VGA input). Don't know how bright or clear they are but might be a good "budget" solution.

[Bern Hanreck]

speak to Mervyn ( if he's still there ) at

http://www.projectors.co.uk/

very helpful & knowledgable

[Jimbo]

My webdesign company has just bought a Benq projector.

As Tim says the bulbs are hideously expensive - so one of our deciding factors was bulb life. Also check resolution, brightness, and the size of the projector.

Ours was about £700 from www.ebuyer.co.uk, and it all seems to work nicely, and it's small and sexy to boot. It has inputs for just about everything under the sun, and is fast enough to handle video too.

[codprawn]

I have to be honest - are these REALLY a step forward???

I know a few people with them - mate of mine demonstrated his - had to unroll the screen because the wall was dirty - then had to close the curtains - image was ok ish - kept going out of focus as the heat levels changed - he said he wished it had autofocus.

I then thought - hang on - my £120 35mm projector gives better results than this and it DOES have autofocus!!!

Basically all that was missing was the clack of the slide mechanism - is that REALLY progress????

[DJL]

I personally don't think projectors really cut it for television use - which is what I assume you would be using it for. The main disadvantage being that unless the room is really dark you don’t get proper blacks and thus poor contrast.

I've assisted in the purchase of about 100 projectors over the last few years for several colleges. After trialling many makes/models, I don’t think even the newest all singing all dancing projectors produce a particularly good picture under normal conditions. Then after you factor in the price of bulbs I think they become very unattractive.

If you want a big TV I’d go for plasma.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by DJL

I personally don't think projectors really cut it for television use - which is what I assume you would be using it for. The main disadvantage being that unless the room is really dark you don’t get proper blacks and thus poor contrast.

I've assisted in the purchase of about 100 projectors over the last few years for several colleges. After trialling many makes/models, I don’t think even the newest all singing all dancing projectors produce a particularly good picture under normal conditions. Then after you factor in the price of bulbs I think they become very unattractive.

If you want a big TV I’d go for plasma.

I wouldn't go for Plasma - they are on their way out already!!!

I would wait for the new carbon nanotube screens or SED tvs which will be out as early as next year!!!

Basically they work in a similar way to the conventional TV but instead of having just 3 electron guns they have a cabon nanotube gun for every pixel - basically you get CRT performance from a thin screen!!!

Toshiba have a 50" due out soon!!!

And I remember when I first joined Ribnet some posters mocking me for saying Plasmas would be short lived!!!

[Alan]

Originally Posted by codprawn

And I remember when I first joined Ribnet some posters mocking me for saying Plasmas would be short lived!!!

Be fair, many people mock you for many more things than that!

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Alan

Be fair, many people mock you for many more things than that!

And are just as misguided.......


Wouldn't be including yourself in that by any chance???

[Alan]

Originally Posted by codprawn

And are just as misguided.......


Wouldn't be including yourself in that by any chance???

If you are saying (and one can never be sure with the word of Cod) that anyone who mocks, disagree's or generally wonders just how you can talk with utter authority on such a wide range of subjects, is misguided, then yes I am afraid I am misguided.

But anyway since you are such an expert on TV's can you give me the word of Cod on this. I wanna buy a big screen TV (42"+) but dont want to spend huge dosh because technology is driving prices down. I've looked at low end plasma, LCD projection and DLP and am coming to the conclusion that the best option is actually a CRT projection TV for around C$1200 (GBP 600) cos its a reasonable picture and in 3-5 yrs time the super duper technologies will be much cheaper.

Talk to me oh fishy one.