Home Cinema Projectors

[Andy Moore]

Anyone up to speed on these gizmos?

[codprawn]

Bulbs bulbs Bulbs!!!

I haven't played around with them for a while now but the cost of a new lamp is terrifying. Also they need a nice dark room and a screen - about the same as a slide projector in fact and just as much hassle.

I remember a demo of one showing digi photos etc and I thought to myself - where's the progress???

[Andy Moore]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Bulbs bulbs Bulbs!!!

I haven't played around with them for a while now but the cost of a new lamp is terrifying. Also they need a nice dark room and a screen - about the same as a slide projector in fact and just as much hassle.

I remember a demo of one showing digi photos etc and I thought to myself - where's the progress???

I want one to stick in our garage to watch movies. A secondhand one off eBay would be okay. I just don't know what sort of £££s we are talking about.

[Biggles]

As Codders says the bulbs cost a fortune.

I inadvertantly found some on a search and they were £700 for a JVC one. Although doing a quick Google I see the average price is about £300.

[Andy Moore]

Originally Posted by Biggles

As Codders says the bulbs cost a fortune.

I inadvertantly found some on a search and they were £700 for a JVC one. Although doing a quick Google I see the average price is about £300.

It sounds like they might be more hassle than they are worth........

[Matt]

Last time I looked into it there were some projectors coming onto the market with 50 quid bulbs which seemed to have an adequate spec for home cinema.

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by Andy Moore

It sounds like they might be more hassle than they are worth........

Andy,

I suppose if you can afford a boat then a projector should just be pocket money.

[Rich L]

Every Christmas I bring the projector we use for powerpoint presentations home from work. Plug in the £15 DVD player, and the stereo, project it on the living room wall and presto, home Cinema. Works a treat - and is a real treat -much better than going to the Cinema. Last year watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy on it - whew, this year just watched the whole 'Heroes' series through. Wine, nachos, ahhh it's the only reason I stay with the company!

[Rogue Wave]

Originally Posted by Andy Moore

It sounds like they might be more hassle than they are worth........

Don't think so! I think they are OK. Sanyo projectors are very good and anything over 1500 ansi lumens will work in daylight. Bulbs can be dear but they don't go very often

Just had a look on ebay the hom cinema units are remarkable cheap

[Tony]

I have seen a Toshiba projector for £399 and that comes with a screen.
On the other hand you can now get an LG 1080p 60inch plasma for £1790.
The plasma is stunning!

[Dirk Diggler]

Originally Posted by Andy Moore

Anyone up to speed on these gizmos?

Yeh, Jonni Fuller is the man for info on em.

[chris123]

Originally Posted by Andy Moore

I want one to stick in our garage to watch movies. A secondhand one off eBay would be okay. I just don't know what sort of £££s we are talking about.

If you want the whole cinema experience, rather than just a big telly (which it sounds like you do), I'd say go for it. Sure, they work best in a dark room, but if you are watching a film what does that matter? I use an 8 foot wide (110" diagonal) screen and coupled with a surround sound system it is fantastic (IMO).

Sure, the bulbs are expensive (and this could be a problem if you buy second hand), but my projector is well over 5 years old and still on its first bulb.

I haven't looked at the market recently (I'll probably upgrade to a new projector when the bulb in the current one eventually expires) so this might be out of date, but here goes:

Traditionally CRT projectors were the best, but expensive and requiring professional setup. LCDs are / were cheaper, but don't give the best image quality (they suffer from something called the 'chicken wire' effect). DLP falls somewhere between the two.

As a rough guide,

More pixels = better
3 panels = better
Native 16:9 panels = better

For standard definition at least, driving the projector from a pc will give better picture quality than anything but a top spec DVD player .

Personally I wouldn't buy a projector without road testing it first. The main variables are brightness, contrast (how close to true black can it achieve, image quality (chicken wire effect, etc), and NOISE - some projectors (particularly older 'office' projectors) have very noisy fans. There are lots of home cinema review sites on the web which can help - try:

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/

http://www.avforums.com/

http://www.avsforum.com/

However, like with ribs it all comes down to personal preference - take along a film that you know well, with lots of fast action sequences, bright colours, dark scenes

Cheers

Chris

[codprawn]

I know what you mean about the LCD projectors - a mate had one and the result was quite strange - like 3 seperate streams of light that wouldn't even light up dust in the air. The thing kept losing focus all the time as well - seems there was no autofocus on a £1,000 projector - my old slide projector had it..............

I am seeing our web designer next week and he has set up quite a nice home cinema - I will ask him what his setup is - he's always been into this sort of thing.

[chris123]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I know what you mean about the LCD projectors - a mate had one and the result was quite strange - like 3 seperate streams of light that wouldn't even light up dust in the air. The thing kept losing focus all the time as well - seems there was no autofocus on a £1,000 projector - my old slide projector had it.

Well it shouldn't be that bad - sounds like a faulty projector. The chicken wire effect is just the pattern you get in the image caused by the borders between individual pixels - I would imagine it is much less of a problem with a modern projector. Similarly the focus - mine doesn't have autofocus, but it is rock solid and never needs adjusting.

Cheers

Chris

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by codprawn

... seems there was no autofocus on a £1,000 projector - my old slide projector had it..............

That's because it doesn't need it. An auto focus slide projector also has to be manually focussed for screen distance. A slide projector then uses auto-focus to cope with slide mounts of different thickness and possibly different materials fitted into a loose slot and also cope with an image on a medium which expands considerably with a rise in temperature.

As usual Codders, without Google you only have half a brain.

In my case, what I would agree with is a poor ability to display fixed images as in a presentation. However, like you Codders, I have a pal whos job entails presentation and his LCD projector was designed for that purpose and it is good for that but it is poor at showing moving images, as in a film, so I guess there are different design considerations for the two types of display.

You need to learn to forget the equipment and get on with enjoying the film.

[codprawn]

Why do you respond to every comment I make with an attack??? If I can remain civil so can you..........

I am well aware that autofocus on a slide projector was to allow for the slides "popping" with temp rise.

Obviously in a LCD projector heat also comes into play and some sort of autofocus is needed to keep things sharp - several projectors i have seen didn't have this feature and needed refocussing from time to time.

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Why do you respond to every comment I make with an attack??? If I can remain civil so can you..........

Yeh, I apologise for that but you talk so much shit it frustrates me.

...- several projectors i have seen didn't have this feature and needed refocussing from time to time.

Whilst I could envisage a situation where really poor design made this necessary, I simply don't believe you. As Chris123 said, my experience is that focus is rock steady.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Yeh, I apologise for that but you talk so much shit it frustrates me.

Whilst I could envisage a situation where really poor design made this necessary, I simply don't believe you. As Chris123 said, my experience is that focus is rock steady.

See you are doing it yet again - you don't have the Norovirus do you???

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by codprawn

See you are doing it yet again -..

Yes, I know. It was deliberate.

[Matt]

JW, would you mind terrible adjusting your sig line to be "Grumpy Old Man". Thanks.