My father has suggested us getting a HD projector for his birthday or christmas which would replace a 32" crt, now if i can get my sister to chip in i'm going to try and get one as it will also be used by my whole family as our main TV. Now i don't really know much about projectors or what to look out for and was hoping to get advice from anyone here with a projector. Cheers
before we get into the details, why have you chosen a projector? Do you have the proper room and lighting facilities/setup to get the best results? e.g you ll be forced to have a "dark-room" of sorts every time you want to watch a movie or a TV-show - and while that's ok for feature movies it isn't the best option for casual TV watching.
Yeah, I totally agree with BC. Frankly a projector is a superb 'additional' piece of kit for watching films or playing games, but not for day to day TV viewing. The outlay is quite expensive, the room you have it set up in generally needs to be pitch-black to get best from it. That said, you could be lucky and have a basement ripe for cinema conversion!
If you want a great picture, get a big plasma TV like 52" or more. But a projector is, just like the others said, something for movie buffs who want their own home cinema, nothing for everyday TV.
The reason for chosing a projector is mainly for watching movies and eventually gaming when we get a 360 or ps3. The one thing we do have a lot of is DVD movies and we want to start making use of our multi-changer which has not been used properly since we moved. The living room were it will be going isn't 100% perfect but generally it doesn't have a lot of light coming in making it generally dull and once the curtains are shut you get a fairly dark room which would suit a projector in my opinion although i wouldn't exactly trust myself that much. I know it might not be the best idea to go for a projector and right now its just something i'm looking into .
also keep in mind that you ll need a good amount of money for changing the ever failing bulb - those things die pretty quickly compared to other display types and they don't come cheap!
My friend has a Sony - great bit of kit. One piece of advice - DON'T SKIMP ON PRICE!!! He has the model up from the one that Richer Sounds are/were selling off cheap (something like an A15 of the top of my head). DON'T get the one they're selling off! It is bad in anything but total darkness. My friend's is OK in lighter conditions, but still best in darkness. He paid about £900 for the projector and about £200 for a screen. The screen is black, incidentally. He got it in a local store a good year ago, so I'm sure you could shop around for a bargain. If you're going for a projector, don't forget there are parts that have to be changed every so often such as bulbs and filters - I think the filters are every few months.
Just to chip in what others have already said - don't underestimate how dark you'll want the room to be. I wouldn't use a projector for day-to-day TV, to be honest. It's just not suitable.
Cheers for the advice so far, i guess right now i'll be doing some research on them in order to decide what i should be looking for. retro: i'll be sure to miss the richer sounds one as that was the first place i was going to look at.
There are projectors that act OK under daylight (or nearer daylight) but you really need to be spending over £1000 on your setup for that. Considering that and the cost of consumables, I think the large plasma suggestion might well be best. As for projectors: click
My big warning is that seroiusly, make sure you're ready for the price of bulbs if you are going to be using this thing a lot. What is it usually (I know it varies, and I know I haven't looked for awhile), about $150 for a bulb rated to last about 1000 hours? That said, I use a CRT projector for my TV, Movies and Games and I can never go back. How can I ever go back from a four foot tall screen? I can't. Never. I think the great hope for projectors is better LED based projection. Rarely would need to replace...AND super cheap cost. If they were bright enough at the moment, I'd be saving my money right now.
Richer Sounds, by definition has a limited stock of higher end products now. A few years back it was always my first port of call, but slowly but surely they started to lose manufacturers because independent retailers and high-end stockists were fed-up being constantly undercut. The manufacturers slowly pulled away from offering RS the products. Although, they still do some amazing bargains as they have huge buying power. On more specialist equipment, hunt like mad. Try Richer Sounds, but be prepared to do a lot of leg work and hoofing around. As for expensive screens. If it is a fixture in your living room and you are not going to hide it away, then you could always opt for an MDF board coated in special high reflection paint. A good screen is essential, an MDF board is the cheap route and although it does the job its' a stop gap! What you want is a motorized drop down screen up on the ceiling so that when you want to use the projector, down it drops. Ones that you have to take down, fold away or roll up are a pain in the backside and prone to getting folds, tears, marks on them that you'll see when watching a film. A ceiling or wall mounted projector, with hidden cables is also a good idea so you don't accidentally jump up during a Hearts V Hibs match and knock it off the ironing board, accidentally damaging the lens and killing the bulb! (Yep, it happened to a mate of mine during the World Cup actually lol) By the time you have bought all the kit you could have nipped down to Tescos, Comet, Currys Digital or hunted online for a whopping great LCD or Plasma and hung it on the wall and be using it every day. Projectors are an expensive, luxury and having owned one I know how good they are, but also how irritating it is to been forking out yet another £300.00 for a bulb or darkening the room in the middle of the day to watch an hour long film or whatever. Not to put you off, but given the choice I would only have one if somehow I managed to obtain it cheaply and know where to get very cheap bulbs! I also second the comment that going for a lower spec unit to save a few ££ is pointless.
Not shopped in richer sounds in years and they don't seem to have as much as they used to. Not your not putting me off but it can be a lot of hassle and cost to change bulbs so maybe i should have a look at some LCD/Plasma's as a backup.
I checked Richer Sounds - they don't have that Sony now on their site, anyway. The two new Sony models look good, I would ask on avforums, though. Richer still have some projectors, they may be OK, I don't know. Really, you're better off on a dedicated forum as there will be people who can give opinions on a vast range of products. Incidentally, Richer say they're not really a projector store so don't carry many. Oh, and their site says it might be goodbye to the deals soon due to the weak Pound! $150 for a lamp? You're joking! There might be a few that are that cheap, but here they're usually £150-250. There are even some that sell for thousands!
Buy or use the TV for regular TV watching. A lot of wear comes from turning the projector on and off too, so keep that in mind. I have a Mitsubishi HD1000u, it is a great projector for the price (around 800$), 720p native. Ive had it for over 2 years, and it is just as good as it was at 100 hours. Its currently on around 1900. I use it for games and movies, and occasional TV, so it lasts a ton longer then if I used it for everything. Its rated for 3000 hours on the bulb, so I figure Ill get another year out of it or so. 3 full years is damn nice! Has an okay picture even with some light, in the dark it is beautiful, even with no actual screen.
