23 Aug 2004 | Michael Yacavone said...

Not sure if this will help trim your choices. Research from September 2003. I was looking for something I could use for business presentations but also hook up to a DVD player at home, so that put some demands on the spec that wouldn't exist for straight biz use.

The following is a personal note I wrote to a friend summarizing my thinking. Lots of links. Brief version: Check out the InFocus X2, but wait for the upcoming review to check for color wheel rotation speed if you're sensitive to temporal phenomena.

- - - - -

Best online resource I found was Projector Central:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/

They have a number of informative articles, as well as the usual product pages, user comments, dealer ads, etc. One interesting article compared LCD and DLP technology:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/lcd_dlp.htm

The scary thing in that article is that DLP creates colors by using a spinning color wheel with RGB filters(!). The cheaper projectors, i.e. $1K - $2K, use a simple 2x rotation speed and many people can see a rainbow artifact. I know I would be sensitive to this because I notice all sorts of temporal artifacts in sound and vision. It pretty much puts me out of the low-end DLP market until the $1K projectors go to 4x rotation speed.

The projector to watch is the InFocus X1:

http://www.infocus.com/products/productview.asp?site_lang=1&site_region= 1&prod=x1&c=4

This is a $1K DLP projector that's been on the market since Nov 2002. If they do a product update it will probably account for all my reservations and be the one to get at that price point. Right now, it's a 2x rotation color wheel and it's not for me.

Update August 2004: There was a new X2 projector released April 2004:

http://www.infocus.com/products/productview.asp?prod=x2&site_region=1&c=4&site_lang=1

As of August 23, 2004 ProjectorCentral doesn't know what the color wheel segments or rotation speed are:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/InFocus-X2.htm

This might be updated soon, based on a note about an upcoming review:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/projector_news081904.htm

Another interesting article talked about the different picture aspect ratios:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/formats.htm

I had assumed that I would want a HDTV ratio, i.e. 16:9 (normal TV is 4:3). It turns out that DVD isn't quite 16:9, for instance, and there are numerous other subtle issues. The bottom line is that a 4:3 setup might be better if you get a big enough screen to make the 16:9 formats still fit well.

Speaking of screens, I originally thought I'd just get a Da-Lite Insta-Theater:

http://www.da-lite.com/products/product.php?cID=19&pID=92

It sits on the floor and rolls out and up. When closed you wouldn't notice it in the living room (in our case, with the speakers, wires, etc back there). Well, ok, it's still $600, but you've got to have something. But that screen is not fully tensioned, so there would be ripples in the image. Stepping up to a tensioned screen means hanging it on the wall and probably having it motorized. Something like a Tensioned Contour Electrol:

http://www.da-lite.com/Home-theater/products/view_product.php?product_id =29

They don't even price this on the website, so it's probably more than I want to spend.

But then, even if you have the screen _system_ chosen, the screen fabric is totally non-trivial. If you have an LCD projector, the color and black density is not so good, so you want a grey screen (not white) to darken the blacks. If you have a DLP projector you can get white, but if your lumins are low then you want a screen with luminous gain (i.e. 1.1). If you're totally picky, you want masks on your screen system that are extremely black and cover the parts of the screen not in use to frame the image in perfect darkness. I didn't even investigate this because it seemed like I was headed for a $10K setup to watch a couple of movies a month....

I had thought I could get a projector for around $1,500 and maybe $500 for the screen and have a "good enough" system - I was willing to compromise to that level. But between the color rainbows and the image ripples, it looks like that's totally unrealistic. The highly- recommended-projector article seems to say I'm in for at least $2K-$3K for the projector (NEC LT240K) and maybe a grand for the screen:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/recommended-home-theater-projectors.htm

But when I look at the LT240K I think, well, the Optoma H56 is _much_ better rated, but that's a frickin' $4,500 projector! Completely ridiculous for my use.

I should borrow an LCD projector and a cheap screen and test it with some DVDs. It may be that for the amount of use it will see we just need a basic system that won't even be reviewed by most outlets.

23 Aug 2004 | Darrel said...

I suggest a second hand film strip projector. Or, Target has these projectable View Finders. Cool little things. Plus, it forces you to keep your presentation to only 8 slides or so. ;o)

23 Aug 2004 | Darrel said...

Also, like printers and ink cartridges, it's more important to check the price of replacement bulbs than the up-front price of the projector.

24 Aug 2004 | Victor said...

I have a bit of a rambling post from my recent research:
http://noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/index.php?p=1400

Take away: the BenQ 6100 rocks.

24 Aug 2004 | Fred Blasdel said...

Definetly buy something from Infocus.

Their X1 is the best at only $1K if you don't need something portable or with all sorts of ridiculous features.
They also have a full line of projectors of various features and portabilites, including one that is full featured, $2K, 2.1 lbs., and 4" x 10' x 2".

25 Aug 2004 | Mark Wyner said...

Plus America (right here in my town of Portland) specializes in light-weight, portable, and quality projectors. I discovered them when they were looking for a Website redesign, and in turn found a great provider of projectors.

Check them out on the web:
http://www.buyplusdirect.com/site/

Good luck.

26 Aug 2004 | Gerrit said...

I'd like to emphasise what Darrel said: Don't underestimate the cost of those bulbs. They cost 200-600 a piece! That's half the cost of the projeector if you buy a cheap one. And you *will* need to buy replacement bulbs rather sooner than later if you actually dare to use the projector regularly.

Also, I personally *hate* projectors that are too loud. Their fans can make quite a noise, which is distracting when doing presentations. So you'd better test the device rather than buying online.