700-lumen Micro LED projector for $519 shipped

[killster1]

oh great.. i ordered it.. i guess i can return it if it is not as good as i like? never tried projector here but i already have blackout curtains on all my windows to keep the hot ass sun out. sigh.. now i guess ill order a screen or put it on the textured white wall behind my 39" lG computer monitor... SIGH! hehe


http://www.ebay.com/itm/119-Manual-...775?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461db45727

maybe this will be ok? 1.1 gain? i see 1 gain.. i dont know shit about projectors tho.. Or screens for them for that matter.

 

[Kaido]

Is that really ambilight though? Does it change with the video being played?

No, not specifically, unless you figure out a way to program it up - didn't realize Ambilight was a specific type of product, thanks for the heads-up! I should rephrase and say "LED backlighting". Most are just one-color, although there are ones with remotes for changing color. The one I have (I think I got it off eBay), has nice fading effects & color cycles. Looks good behind a screen mounted slightly off the wall or under the couch (made my couch look like Tron). Unfortunately my LED strip died in an unfortunate vacuum-related accident during under-furniture testing & I haven't bothered to replace it yet :biggrin:

 

[Kaido]

oh great.. i ordered it.. i guess i can return it if it is not as good as i like? never tried projector here but i already have blackout curtains on all my windows to keep the hot sun out. sigh.. now i guess ill order a screen or put it on the textured white wall behind my 39" lG computer monitor... SIGH! hehe


http://www.ebay.com/itm/119-Manual-...775?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461db45727

maybe this will be ok? 1.1 gain? i see 1 gain.. i dont know crap about projectors tho.. Or screens for them for that matter.

Congrats! How will you be running it off, off a computer?

If you have blackout curtains already, then you're all set. If you remember that a projector is simply a flashlight, that's the key - projectors can't shoot black, so the black on your screen is only going to be as dark as the room is. Even with high-lumen projectors, if you watch it during the day, the black scenes with be gray due to ambient light in the room.

If you have a white wall, I would suggest starting out with that before buying a screen for a couple reasons. First, white walls tend to look great with projectors. You do get some hotspotting, but unless you have a super-glossy finish, it's not such a big deal that you can't enjoy a movie on it. Second, you limit your screen size with a fixed screen. Since this projector has a fixed lens, the screen size is based on how far back the projector is from the wall. So I'd suggest just trying out the projector on the white wall to begin with. I have an electric screen right now and wish I had just used the wall (but I painted the basement walls a dark cinema red, so I'd have to re-paint that wall to test it). I can't say that a dedicated cloth screen is so much better than a bare wall that you should run out & buy one.

If you do decide to keep the wall screen, there are some simple screen mixes that you can get mixed up at Home Depot to paint the wall with (some light gray stuff usually) to improve the image, and you can also sand the texture down in the projection area. What some people do is build a simple frame & glue/screw it onto the wall, then paint within the enclosed area, so it looks like you have a fancy screen (with minimal work). You can either paint the frame a flat black, or wrap it in some light-absorbing velvet or something from a fabric store. I've even seen this done really nicely with stuff like 2x4's slapped with some black paint - makes a nice, solid frame (a thicker frame absorbs the excess light really well).

What some people do is put a screen in front of their television. During the daytime, they use the TV for watching shows. At night, then pull down the screen & get a jumbo-tron (just use a simple HDMI splitter or switch). That's a pretty cool way to do it!

 

[killster1]

Ya hdmi from computer. I guess the border of wood wrapped in felt sounds easy enough, 2x4 sounds aweful tho. Maybe some .5x1.5 with felt wrapped around and 8 small screws will be good enough frame. If i was close to microcenter i would have tried get the lg 60" plasma for 600 but looks like they out of stock 200 miles away and prob not fit in my car
Thnx for reply was about to buy a screen too

 

[Kaido]

Ya hdmi from computer. I guess the border of wood wrapped in felt sounds easy enough, 2x4 sounds aweful tho. Maybe some .5x1.5 with felt wrapped around and 8 small screws will be good enough frame. If i was close to microcenter i would have tried get the lg 60" plasma for 600 but looks like they out of stock 200 miles away and prob not fit in my car
Thnx for reply was about to buy a screen too

Another option I've seen done is using some crown molding type of trim. They sell molding design for flat surfaces like walls, like the trim bar they put above wainscoting. Home Depot has cheap plastic ones that look great & can be painted & are super cheap for a long length. If you check out the spray paints, you can get stuff like hammered bronze in a can, so you can make a really nifty-looking frame, then slap some gray paint on the inside & voila, gorgeous wall screen. To visualize, this is kind of what a 2x4 painted frame would look like:

http://img.wonderhowto.com/img/21/3...creen-home-for-less-than-fifty-bucks.w654.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n299/nickmoswen/8Sweet.jpg

http://carltonbale.com/wp-content/uploads/wall_screen.JPG

Or with some inexpensive plastic molding:

http://i.imgur.com/uPZ9ZLm.jpg

Nice writeup here:

http://carltonbale.com/a-home-theater-projector-screen-for-any-budget/

You can get a little fancier & do a couple different colors, and even wrap screen fabric around it like a canvas:

http://www.dhresource.com/albu_218002684_00-1.0x0/100-16-9-fixed-frame-projector-screen-hd.jpg

Or paint a large board like Gatorboard & then do a basic frame, so it gives you an off-the-wall surface:

http://images.projectorpeople.com/screens/siperformance.jpg

Making it stand off the wall & giving it a thinner frame can look cool too:

http://www.electronichouse.com/images/uploads/article_large/zero_edge_white_room.jpg

It all depends on how much effort you want to put into it. Easiest way to get a nice-looking one would be to get some cheap plastic molding from Home Depot, paint it either a fancy bronze or a flat black, saw off the corners at a 45-degree angle, get some PowerGrab glue from Loctite & glue it on the wall (or nail/screw it, if you don't mind patching holes in the molding), then paint the inside with a basic gray or silver paint. Behr has some off-the-shelf paint that would look nice:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Pre...erior-Exterior-Paint-Sample-770E-2U/202182565

Zillions of options, all depends on the final look you want, what your budget is, and how much effort you want to put into it.

 

[Kaido]

now i guess ill order a screen or put it on the textured white wall behind my 39" lG computer monitore

Actually ran across a Youtube ad showing an idea similar to yours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=trueview-instream&v=LDUufXA_a4w

I do recommend a manual pull-down screen over an electric screen. I bought an electric screen before I knew about DIY screen paints; I thought it would be cool to have it drop down from the ceiling. It is, but it's really slow & we just leave it down all the time anyway. In a situation where you would have a television in place already, it's so much faster to just yank down a manual screen & be done when you want to use the projector, like they show in that video.

Elite Screens on Amazon is probably one of the best bang-for-your buck screen manufacturers out there. I think I have either the 100" or 120" black-frame one & it works great:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_el...ns&node=172282

Monoprice has one options:

http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=108&cp_id=10829

I've seen HT Depot recommended on AVS Forum as well:

http://www.htdepot.com/Search-Focupix-Projector-Screen-By-Format-s/1.htm

 

[killster1]

sigh you just told me to use the wall now there is billion links of diff pull down screens etc haha.. arrrghhh.. i dont know what to do i guess ill just use wall or a pull down 70$ 100" on ebay.. i was thinking id ilke to make it 120" tho think i saw a review that said they did it 120" but not sure how far away it will have to be for this size.. when it gets here ill decide all that i guess.. ordered nice center channel infinity pc351 or something for 185
Now need screen and receiver.. to decide on have few diff speakers for the side channels.. all the receivers i look at have bunch bad reviews so hard for me to decide on things.. 200-300 be nice

 

[Awesomedude99]

I own one and bought it when it was at $580. i also posted a thread about it here a few weeks ago! Copyright Dude lol
BTW it's a great projector. however the 700 lumens model was as low as $504 few days ago and it went right back up to $519 again

 

[killster1]

Ok it arrived, hooked it up, and umm.. SUCKS.. feel like im on drugs i see REd Green Blue streaks when blink or look away and back at it.. is there something wrong with teh projector or is that how its suppose to be.. still image looks great.. cartoon looked fine.. but movie and tv show so far did that and its annoying to me.. ;'( looks like 60" plasma will be choice if cant figure this out.

 

[Kaido]

sigh you just told me to use the wall now there is billion links of diff pull down screens etc haha.. arrrghhh.. i dont know what to do i guess ill just use wall or a pull down 70$ 100" on ebay.. i was thinking id ilke to make it 120" tho think i saw a review that said they did it 120" but not sure how far away it will have to be for this size.. when it gets here ill decide all that i guess.. ordered nice center channel infinity pc351 or something for 185
Now need screen and receiver.. to decide on have few diff speakers for the side channels.. all the receivers i look at have bunch bad reviews so hard for me to decide on things.. 200-300 be nice

Give it a shot on a bare wall before you decide on anything. A lot of people are happy without a screen. I like having a screen because it looks cool on the wall, but it's not really a necessity.

 

[Kaido]

I own one and bought it when it was at $580. i also posted a thread about it here a few weeks ago! Copyright Dude lol
BTW it's a great projector. however the 700 lumens model was as low as $504 few days ago and it went right back up to $519 again

Different day, different deal

I did a side-by-side comparison with my 500-lumen model, same TI DLP chip. The 700-lumen is definitely better, it adds just the right amount of brightness to make it the perfect little projector imo.

 

[Kaido]

Ok it arrived, hooked it up, and umm.. SUCKS.. feel like im on drugs i see REd Green Blue streaks when blink or look away and back at it.. is there something wrong with teh projector or is that how its suppose to be.. still image looks great.. cartoon looked fine.. but movie and tv show so far did that and its annoying to me.. ;'( looks like 60" plasma will be choice if cant figure this out.

It sounds like you're suffering from the Rainbow Effect, a known problem with DLP displays. A few questions:

1. What is your source? (player?)
2. How do you have it connected? (HDMI?)
3. What kind of content are you watching? (Netflix streaming, ripped movies, etc.)

I had bad rainbows on one or two of my early bulb-based projectors, but I haven't seen them on my LED projectors. Maybe I've just gotten used to them, I dunno (but they never really bothered me in the first place). Some people are more sensitive than others to the effect; it sounds like you're getting a pretty bad reaction. If it really bothers you, you may want to consider returning the projector & getting an LCD or something without a color wheel in it. I've never heard of any complaints of rainbows on LED DLP projectors due to the LED light source & faster color wheel, but I guess there's a first time for everything! A bit more reading here:

http://www.projector-guide.com/rainbow-effect.html

http://www.projector-guide.com/projector-guide/dlp-vs-lcd.html

The bottom line is that if it bothers you, it bothers you. You can try sticking it out & seeing if you get used to it (I saw a lot of rainbows on my very first XGA Optoma projector back in the day, but it didn't give me a headache or anything & I got used to tuning the effect out), or you can return it & just get a TV set. Still, I've never heard of anyone reacting to an LED DLP - do you suffer from motion sickness, migraines, or epilepsy at all? I'd assume you've got pretty sensitive eyes if you're having enough of a reaction to feel like you're on drugs.

http://www.ausmedia.com.au/DLP_Sensitive.htm

If you want to stick with a projector, it might be worth looking into an LCD projector model instead. A quick Amazon search brought up a nice Epson model:

http://www.amazon.com/Epson-EX7220-W...dp/B00E87E1OM/

 

[killster1]

I think i get seasick sometimes when on a boat, but never migraines or epilepsy.. (good one ya maybe its because im retarded that i see them! HAAA) when playing games on xbox360 they are not visible.. it was bluray rip movie 2gb 720p file. and 1gb 720p tv show rip.. i dont really understand how the movies show it but cartoons dont and xbox360 game doesnt..

checking out other reviews.. someone said this for one..

""Quote from MrAlterno View Post :
As far as I remember color wheel of W1070 is faster than this one. If you are seeing rainbows in business projectors then go with W1070.
From everything I've read, the W1070 is really proned to rainbows too, is that true?

Seems like if you're sensitive to rainbows, there's no such thing as a DLP projector under 1500 that'll cure that.

I never knew I was until I bought an Optoma GT750 a couple years ago. First dark scene that had bullet tracer fire whizzing across it, all I saw where rainbow bullets for 5 minutes."""

;( really wish it didnt do this so nice to have huge 100" screen on the wall.

 

[Kaido]

I think i get seasick sometimes when on a boat, but never migraines or epilepsy.. (good one ya maybe its because im retarded that i see them! HAAA) when playing games on xbox360 they are not visible.. it was bluray rip movie 2gb 720p file. and 1gb 720p tv show rip.. i dont really understand how the movies show it but cartoons dont and xbox360 game doesnt..

checking out other reviews.. someone said this for one..

""Quote from MrAlterno View Post :
As far as I remember color wheel of W1070 is faster than this one. If you are seeing rainbows in business projectors then go with W1070.
From everything I've read, the W1070 is really proned to rainbows too, is that true?

Seems like if you're sensitive to rainbows, there's no such thing as a DLP projector under 1500 that'll cure that.

I never knew I was until I bought an Optoma GT750 a couple years ago. First dark scene that had bullet tracer fire whizzing across it, all I saw where rainbow bullets for 5 minutes."""

;( really wish it didnt do this so nice to have huge 100" screen on the wall.

Under $15,000, not $1500 (unfortunately)

http://www.projectorcentral.com/banding_rainbows.htm?page=DLP-Rainbows

If you're prone to rainbows, a faster color wheel and LED bulb helps, but it sounds like you are VERY sensitive, so I would recommend completely staying away if you are unable to get used to it. If you're really set on a projector, you might want to consider an LCD model - it's a little bit more, but it gives you essentially the same picture without the rainbow effect (no DLP inside).

I've done a shootout with an LCD-based Panasonic AE7000U and they looked exactly the same in the dark at 100" or less, so these days you're not really losing anything by going LCD. I've also tested mine against an Epson 5030UB LCD projector with great results. The Panny & Epson are in the $2-$3k range, so that's pretty impressive for a sub-$600 LED projector! The big thing you get with the heavier-duty models (aside from native 1080p & FullHD 3D) is a larger picture with full brightness (the new 8000U can do a 300" 2D picture or a 200" 3D picture with high lumens).

So outside of the rainbows, how do you like it? There are lots of options available if you want to stick with the big screen of a projector; Epson has this fairly equivalent LCD (non-DLP) projector for $599: ($80 more, but no rainbows!)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E87E1OM

 

[killster1]

besides the rainbows its awesome and playing games seems fine! watching cartoon fine.. looks amazing clear, big, etc. will do lil more testing before return it (just hope can return it..) 599 is still within budget will get that one next i suppose if u are sure no rainbows ;P

My girl saw them too, wasnt just me but i pointed it out first, she said it was driving her little weird too. but we are really alike on some things (go figure )

 

[Kaido]

besides the rainbows its awesome and playing games seems fine! watching cartoon fine.. looks amazing clear, big, etc. will do lil more testing before return it (just hope can return it..) 599 is still within budget will get that one next i suppose if u are sure no rainbows ;P

My girl saw them too, wasnt just me but i pointed it out first, she said it was driving her little weird too. but we are really alike on some things (go figure )

Do your research before pulling the trigger on anything - the one I linked was just one that popped up in an Amazon search (with good reviews). From what I've read, only DLP sets suffer from the Rainbow Effect. But LCD's aren't without issues, either - such as the Screen Door Effect (SDE), although I don't think this has been much of an issue on the projector releases for the last few years. I've only seen higher-end LCD's ($2,000+), like with Panasonic's Smooth Screen technology, which helps mitigate the effect.

Anyway, do a lot of research before pulling a trigger on anything else. I don't know if a $599 LCD projector is equivalent to a $519 LED projector. I know that my LED projector held up pretty well against the more expensive LCD projectors, so there's that. I guess, see what the return policy is & make your decision from there - read up on AVS Forum, google for some reviews, check out the quality on Youtube, etc. The Epson EX7220 I linked to early has a 4.5-star average review out of nearly 80 reviews, which bodes pretty well.

 

[Kaido]

For size reference, this is the ML750 on top of an Intel NUC: (well, Gigabyte BRIX)

http://i.imgur.com/Qh3aXNy.jpg