What is the best $1,000 front projector ?

[Doggiedog]

I just project against my wall. There are some bumps and unevenness in the paint but I don't really mind.

Everyone that has seen the picture for the first time has been blown away by the PJ. In the dark, the picture looks like a gigantic plasma display.

Check AVS Forum for everything you want to know about screens.

I might do it eventually when I have some time but I probably would need to get a power paint sprayer.

 

[Doggiedog]

Here's that ecost deal again.

 

[jammur21]

I've been using mine against a wall for almost a year now. If you sit back far enough, you can't see the little bumps in the wall. Also with the X1 (2x color wheel) I can only see rainbows if I make myself.

 

[95SS]

Originally posted by: Rallispec

Originally posted by: 95SS
The X1 and the SP4805 have the Faroudja deinterlacer, which at the price was unheard of. The X1a and the X2 don't have it. It makes a noticable difference watching movies. The X series PJ's have a 2X color wheel, while the SP4805 has a 4X color wheel. Faster color wheel = less rainbows, for those who are prone to see them.

hmm... that 4805 is looking pretty good. I seriously might have to go buy one now.

You won't regret it. If you want some pics of it in action, let me know.

 

[BentValve]

Hey guys ...where is a good place to buy the 4805? I heard Costco had them for $999 at one point but I called my local Costco and they are $1199.


If I could find one for $1100 or so delivered id probably go for it.

 

[tfinch2]

If you get the 4805 from costco it comes with an InFocus 84" pull-down screen.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: glen
Do I need to buy a screen or can I project onto a white wall?

I have an Optoma EzPro745 and I use a white wall, works great!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
I just project against my wall. There are some bumps and unevenness in the paint but I don't really mind.

Everyone that has seen the picture for the first time has been blown away by the PJ. In the dark, the picture looks like a gigantic plasma display.

Check AVS Forum for everything you want to know about screens.

I might do it eventually when I have some time but I probably would need to get a power paint sprayer.

Yeah there are a couple good DIY screen mixes you can get from Home Depot. Two of the most popular are Mississippi Mud and Silver Screen from AVS Forum. I have some Silver Screen but my practice screens got accidentally scrapped and my widescreen is WAY too small. Oh well, luckily I got a gallon can 😀

 

[amdskip]

Do you need to have the room fairly dark to say watch tv on one?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Do you need to have the room fairly dark to say watch tv on one?

I have the 4805 and I have cardboard in the windows to keep light down.

The darker the room is, the better any projector is going to look. If you can get a totally light controlled room that would be best. It doesn't have to be pitch black by any means, but if you have a lot of windows in a room, you're going to have to wait until the sun is almost down to get a good picture.

 

[mrrman]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Do you need to have the room fairly dark to say watch tv on one?

Nope...I have the 4805 and can watch/play anything on it with just the blinds closed a bit. Placement in the room is the key...mine is by a large picture window,

 

[amdskip]

Awesome, the room has no windows in it. I think I'm going to start budgeting for the 4805. I'll need some sort of receiver and speakers too right?

 

[jammur21]

It will need a cable box tuner of some sort - Cable TV tuner, DirecTV box, VCR tuner to change TV channels.

It will need a receiver for sound

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Awesome, the room has no windows in it. I think I'm going to start budgeting for the 4805. I'll need some sort of receiver and speakers too right?

In my opinion if you're going to have a huge screen, you'd better have some big sound to go with it.

Are you planning on hooking this up to a computer, or is this going to be strictly HT equipment?

If you're hooking up with a computer, you wont necessarily need a receiver as you could just hook up your videocard to it and let your computer speakers handle the sound.

If you're going to hook up multiple things to it, you're going to want a receiver and speakers.

The first thing you should do it pick out a budget and try to stick with it. If you go to someplace like AVSforum without a firm budget in mind you're going to be in trouble 😉.

Do you know how much you want to spend on your sound system?

For around $500, an onkyo HTIB like this one would be a good option.

For a little more, fluance could be a good option. I have these and some fluance SV-6s for a 7.1 system. Pair the 5.0 set with a $200-ish receiver (refurbised onkyo or denon for example) and this sub and you could have a pretty solid system for about $700 when you add cables and everything.

If you're looking for something nicer, SVS and HSU make really nice subwoofers.

A great receiver for $400 is the Pioneer 1014. Amazingly powerful, built in equilizer with auto-setup to get the most out of your system, and the same internals of the pioneer elite 52.

For nicer speakers, Paradigm, Axiom, Ascend, Onix, Swan.... the list goes on and on. If you thought picking out a videocard was rough now, you just wait until you see how many great options there are for speakers... and it's not like you can just benchmark them and see which one gets more FPS in HL2.