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Home Theater Projector

No suggestions, but one piece of advice:

Unless you're going to buy a CRT-based projector (advice about this at the bottom), you're first thing to look at should be native resolution. What you plan on doing with it should play a huge part in what native resolution you want and by extensions which projector you buy.

If you're big into HDTV, got the digital cable box and whatnot, and you watch 720p content a lot, find a projector with a native resolution of 1280x720. To be honest, I'm not sure if there are projectors with a resolution that high, look for native widescreen projectors and go from there.

If you just watch regular, non-widescreen TV and DVDs or if you want to play console games and have them look decent, you want a 640x480 projector, or some factor of it like 1280x960.

Just remember, if you're going to be using a HTPC as well, don't let that lull you into buying whatever projector you find first - you can tailor the output of the HTPC to fit whatever native resolution your projector supports. You can't do that with digital cable boxes or game consoles.

CRT-based projectors are a special beast. They don't have a native resolution, or have an infinite range of them depending on how you look at it. At any rate, they look awesome at any resolution just like CRT-based monitors. But, because of how they operate, they are severly prone to burn-in. In this day and age, I can't recommend a CRT-based projector unless you're always going to be showing something like DVD content, without ever stopping on menus or anything like that. Even live TV would have operator logos (NBC, ABC, TNT, etc.) that would burn into the tubes quickly.
 
Ive got a PLV-Z2 and its really nice. Like, I dont even go to the theater any more. I spent a lot of time combing through AVSforum to reach that conclusion as i was looking for more of a budget projector for movies. In your case, you might want to take a serious look at the PLV-Z4.
 
^ heh...it's crazy in there. Also, just FYI if you're new to AVS: folks there generally OVERSTATE things in terms of "what you need". In other words, they'll say the AE900U looks "pretty decent" but for just $1k more you can get xxxxxx that's really better.

Sure, that's factual. But truth be told, you'd be blown away by the AE900U. I had a BenQ PB6100 until recently that won't even display HDTV natively but it still blew people away when they saw movies and Xbox on it. AVS has tons of great info, but don't fall for the "you won't be satisfied with [xxxx model]" trap
 
I manage a custom home theater shop. I've been doing this for nearly 15 years. I play with this stuff all day long.

If your budget is around $2500 there are a number of decent LCD projectors out there that are native 1280x720. Previous posters have mentioned a few good ones.

I would suggest, however, stepping up just a little bit. I unboxed and displayed the new Yamaha DPX-830SL this past weekend. It retails for $3999 and it is, by far, the best projector under $5000 I have ever seen. I did a side by side demo with the Sharp XVZ-2000 ($3499) and it blew it away. The guys at my other store did a side by side with the Epson Cinema 800 (a very good LCD projector - $3999) and couldn't believe the difference.

There is absolutely no comparison with any of the many projectors I've played with in the $2500 range.

Link to DPX-830SL

Just my $.02
 
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