Projectors...Why so Expensive?

[cyclones]

We have two 35mm slide projectors at home and they cost about £50....$75 over ten years ago.
So what is there in these newfangled projectors that takes us into the thousands of Pounds or Dollars range?
You need a lens ok, you need a bulb ok, you need apower supply ok. Some sort of gizmo to link to the PC ok.
Anyone out there had a look inside these Projector boxes? How is the price justified?:disgust:

 

[RobsTV]

I know what you mean.
I have been looking at getting a used Sanyo 3000 lumens projector.
The thing retails for $16,000 new. Replacement lamps are around $350.
Used on e8ay, going for around $3000 to $5000.
Hoping to get one for much less than that.

My friend has one of these that he bought for his bar.
14ft wide screen looks incredible.
So we took it outside (at night with parking lot lights) to see how well it would project.
Placed about 50ft to 75ft away from side wall of 3 story building, it looked like we were at a drive-in.
Perfect picture at about 36ft high and 45ft wide.

I myself use a $100 TView Gold scan convertor, and it works o.k. for 1024x768+ gaming on a 53" TV.
But text will never be good unless you go for one of the high end projectors.
Sure the above $16,000 unit is overkill, but to me $3000 might as well be $16,000. Never happen.

 

[LethalWolfe]

I'm assuming yer talking about video projectors? 35mm slide projector are easy to make because you, basically, shine ligth thru a film which, by its nature, very hi res (unless you shot like 800 speed or something). Long story short video was not meant to be projected. It's been kinda forced into that role if you will. In my experience, the bane of video projectors is getting correct contrast. The "lower end" projectors seem to always be dark, even if you have the brightness cranked up.


Lethal

 

[cyclones]

You are really blowing my mind ! $16000 dollars for a projector ?
We are all in the wrong game I'am thinking.
Living in a very small fishing village in Cornwall UK, our nurses would like that sort of money......
every year !!!!

 

[RobsTV]

How about $35,999 for a compact projector?
Sanyo PLC-UF10
A replacement bulb is $600 for this puppy.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

How long do bulbs normally last?

 

[RobsTV]

These bulbs for $600 have a 90 day warranty.
Have seem some rated as little as 150 hours, while others at 500 hours.
But, I think what happens is they lose there brightness over time.
So while after 150 or 500 hours they may not be as good, they still may function at reduced output for 1000's of hours of use.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

damn, that's not so good considering I use my p00ter about 14 hours a day.

 

[cyclones]

It's sounding to me that I need to be very rich to play with one of these projectors. LOL
I still havent heard what the "inards" consist of to get up to these outrageous prices.
$16000.......$35,999.... dollars......how much do you pay Chevvy ?:Q

 

[43st]

I work with these things all day...

Basically there are two types of projectors... LCD and DLP. The LCD is like you laptop but it's a much smaller/precise manufacturing process. LCD still need to be hand polished.

DLP is an array of tiny mirrors. Each mirror is equal to one pixel, VERY tiny.

These items are still growing in there technolgy so they aren't being mass produced to the point of lower prices.

Also you need to look at the circuits involved internally. No home user would need an RGBHV input but in the A/V business we need them. Having RGBHV on a product easily adds $2000 to the price. You multiply this by all the other "features" and it adds up.

The new projectors now plug into a LAN and can receive/send data to any place on the LAN.

For the home user don't expect lower prices until the technolgy has settled down a bit. A cheap way of manufacturing LCD screens has yet to hit the manufacturing process. check out eetimes if you want to follow the industry.

 

[cyclones]

Thanks for the link. I have passed it on to a pal with a degree in electronics.
He can explain it to me at the weekend.....I hope!
So the "gubbins inside " is a bit rare it seems and you could buy a farm in Bongoland
for about the same price.