Digital projector questions......(for TV/DVD)

[iamme]

Is the technology good enough to use one as a TV/DVD player? Is the picture quality as good as a high end TV?

How far back does it have to be from the wall?

What are key specs to look for?

Prices?

 

[silent tone]

First, visit the avs forum.

Second, they can be comparable to rear projection big screens. Their bulb life is a factor if you want to use it for daily tv viewing though.

 

[Amused]

They're fine for both, so long as you can get your room nearly pitch black.

How far back depends on how big you want the image to be. For 100" plus screen, I'd say about 15 feet... but I'm just guessing from memory here.

Projectors are best in basement home theater setups. They're not so good in the living/familyroom for everyday viewing if your SO likes to have a nice, sunny house.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Amused
They're fine for both, so long as you can get your room nearly pitch black.

How far back depends on how big you want the image to be. For 100" plus screen, I'd say about 15 feet... but I'm just guessing from memory here.

Projectors are best in basement home theater setups. They're not so good in the living/familyroom for everyday viewing if your SO likes to have a nice, sunny house.

He pretty much nailed it.

My roommate works at a university, he frequently brings a projector home on weekends (makes great movie watching).

Only problem is we have to wait until it's dark outside because we can't get our living room dark enough otherwise.

Also, don't forget bulb costs.

Viper GTS

 

[Parrotheader]

Thought I'd dig this back up as I may have lucked(?) into an older projector we have here at the office. It's an old Runco Cinema Pro 750 that's been mothballed to one of the spare offices and they now need somebody to "store" it "indefinitely" at home since that office will soon be occupied. Since I work near the IT guys and I'm the only one from that group who has a basement with exposed beams on the ceiling (making for easier installation) they're seriously thinking about letting me "store" it. I never got to see it in action although it was supposedly great in its day, but obviously rather outdated now (doesn't even have S-video inputs.) I couldn't find much info on it online.

Would this thing be worth a flip for casually watching sports and maybe the occasional movie? I'd be putting it in a currently unfinished room in my basement where we keep all our exercise equipment. We also have a computer, an old 19" TV and my old ProLogic receiver down there which I use for entertainment during workouts. I'm assuming the picture quality will be moderate at best, but if it was a nice enough unit I wouldn't mind putting a spare couch down there for watching it occasionally. Should I even bother with this or just let somebody else have it?

 

[amnesiac]

Just keep in mind that bulb life in projectors is measured in the hundreds of hours (200-500 max) and bulbs can be very, very expensive.

 

[Parrotheader]

Yowza. You weren't kidding. Those bulbs ain't cheap. :Q I'm going to see if they have a spare bulb first. Knowing my luck, I'd spend all that time installing it and then have the bulb blow 2 minutes after I settle in to watch it.

 

[N8Magic]

If you do not have HDTV or a progressive scan DVD player, you may want to consider investing in a line doubler to improve picture quality. (especially with cable)

 

[Murphyrulez]

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0
Just keep in mind that bulb life in projectors is measured in the hundreds of hours (200-500 max) and bulbs can be very, very expensive.

Errrrr... I would edit this post, false information is not nice to spread.

I have a projector and it is one of the worst for bulb life, and it is rated at 1000 hours. I however run it to 1500 hours before I change the bulb. And that is one of the worst. Most new projectors have bulbs that last 2000-4000 hours.

My 1000 hour bulb costs $270. So it should cost .27 cents an hour to run. I run it to 1500 hours with no ill effects, except a slightly dimmer picture, which gives me a cost of around 18 cents an hour...