Video Projectors for Home Theater?

J

jeeves

Joined
Jan 11, 2000
Messages
18
Hi all,

I've been gathering components for a small home theater, and now I'm up to the video display decision! I visited a local stereo store, and they had a video projector on display, and it was AWESOME! I'm considering keeping my old TV in place for regular TV watching and buying a projector for DVDs and perhaps the occasional video game.

Anyone have one of these? I'd love to hear what you think. The main thing I'm worried about is the price of replacing the bulbs...I figure I'm paying more than I would for a really nice large TV -- I don't want to spend an additional $300-500 every few years to replace the bulb.

Thanks in advance!
-Raj
 
I'm a manufacturer's rep in the home theater business, although I don't sell projectors, all of my dealers do. If you want a big picture, there is ongoing maintainance one way or the other. The price of a replacement bulb for a DLP projector is an absolute bargain compared to the cost of maintainance for a CRT based set.

Other factors should be considered like can you completely control the ambient light in the room? If not, than a front projector becomes pretty unwatchable. Even the high brightness models wash out pretty badly with a bit of extra light in the room. Also, you want to steer clear of the $2000.00 to $4000.00 data projectors. They're good for presentations but suck for movies.
There is also the screen to consider. Throwing a picture on a wall seems like a cool idea, but walls really don't present a decent picture. You really need proper screen material as it's specially treated to give the proper color balance and contrast ratios.

If you still want to go forward, Sharp is a safe bet although the consensus seems to be that both Seleco and Dwin offer superior products at similar pricing.

If you have no life and this place doesn't take up enough of your time, try this place: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ . You can learn all you ever wanted and then some about theater at the avsforums.

Good luck,

jmx
 
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