Projector virgin seeking information

[Raine Man]

Hi all. I'm looking to buy a projector for movies/gaming in my loft room. The wall I want to project on to isn't massive, probably wouldn't be much bigger than a 40" TV. I've looked online at projectors and the price range is massive, some are £40 and some £400+. I don't want to spend silly amounts but am suspicious of a projector that seems so cheap, can anybody recommend me a middle of the road model?

[benz0]

I've bought three projectors in recent years, two from optoma and one from benq. They're all dlp and not hugely expensive.

Happy with all of them so just have a lool for a 1080p offering from either would be my advice.

Then decide if you want long or short throw. (short throw =huge picture frol very close up, but sometimes no zoom meaning you have to physically move it to sadjust picture size)

Long throw = this is more Standard

[dave_s13]

I thought the whole point of projection was to get a huge image . if your wall will only fit a 40" image on to it then just buy a TV.

Have I missed something?

[ReaderScars]

PicoPro looks very interesting although I haven't seen it first hand and I've never owned a projector.

[varsas]

I bought an Epson EB04 recently. It's a pretty good projector, with a nice bright image and good colour. It's no good for films or (probably) games though as it's too dim in darker areas. Not sure why, it just didn't work.

the Epson 5210 is supposed to be good. I really miss my Epson EHTW 6100, I'll be getting another PJ in a couple of years. I woud rather watch films on my (now £830) PJ at 85inch than my LG 55EF950V OLED.

The next issue of Home Cinema Choice has a roundup of cheaper projectors, might be worth a look.

[kingston12]

As mentioned above, for a 40" image I'd probably be looking at a TV rather than a projector.

If you need a projector for space/install reasons, I'd suggest going with one at the higher end of the range you have found. £400 is more the entry price for home cinema projectors rather than the top end, and will definitely get you a decent image.

I have been very happy with my BenQ W1070 which I bought last year for about that price. The fan noise is a little loud, but apart from that it is unbelievable value for money. Optoma do models in a similar price range, but you tend to step up a bit more to get to the entry level of Sony/Panasonic/Epson etc.

[vrod]

varsas said:

I bought an Epson EB04 recently. It's a pretty good projector, with a nice bright image and good colour. It's no good for films or (probably) games though as it's too dim in darker areas. Not sure why, it just didn't work.

the Epson 5210 is supposed to be good. I really miss my Epson EHTW 6100, I'll be getting another PJ in a couple of years. I woud rather watch films on my (now £830) PJ at 85inch than my LG 55EF950V OLED.

The next issue of Home Cinema Choice has a roundup of cheaper projectors, might be worth a look.

I have just bought an Epson EHTW 6100 and I have also been been really pleased with it. Bought it as it was one of the only ones I found with a very wide zoom range allowing me to have a 100" screen at 5 meters away, as its a long narrow cinema room and wanted the projector on the ceiling behind the seating.

It has plenty of brightness, the 1080p resolution is great on HD and bluray but normal resolution TV is a little grainy, it has a really good 3D function. It is really quiet in normal mode but the fan initially speeds up in 3D mode which makes quite a lot more noise.

The BENQ 1070 projector had good reviews but didn't have the zoom range for my room.

[varsas]

vrod said:

varsas said:

I bought an Epson EB04 recently. It's a pretty good projector, with a nice bright image and good colour. It's no good for films or (probably) games though as it's too dim in darker areas. Not sure why, it just didn't work.

the Epson 5210 is supposed to be good. I really miss my Epson EHTW 6100, I'll be getting another PJ in a couple of years. I woud rather watch films on my (now £830) PJ at 85inch than my LG 55EF950V OLED.

The next issue of Home Cinema Choice has a roundup of cheaper projectors, might be worth a look.

I have just bought an Epson EHTW 6100 and I have also been been really pleased with it. Bought it as it was one of the only ones I found with a very wide zoom range allowing me to have a 100" screen at 5 meters away, as its a long narrow cinema room and wanted the projector on the ceiling behind the seating.

It has plenty of brightness, the 1080p resolution is great on HD and bluray but normal resolution TV is a little grainy, it has a really good 3D function. It is really quiet in normal mode but the fan initially speeds up in 3D mode which makes quite a lot more noise.

The BENQ 1070 projector had good reviews but didn't have the zoom range for my room.

Glad you are enjoying it! The detail it shows up from BluRay's makes me really question the need for 4k, I had a 46 inch TV at the time and there was so much more visible on the PJ. I can't help thinking that most people aren't seeing everything you can have from 1080p, so 4k is even more wasted.

As I expect you know putting the PJ in 3D mode will force it into 'normal' instead of Eco mode which makes the fan go louder. You can use normal mode for 2D too, but I found it dazzalingly bright on my screen.

I really only watched BluRay's on mine but did watch a few DVDs. Fury and Frozen looked OK but most others I tried looked a bit poor, it's just the PJ showing you all the flaws present in the source.

There are some recommended settings here:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/epson-eh-tw6100-r...

I found them helpful, I found the default settings had the colour way too high. Probably depends on your screen/room though.

[kingston12]

vrod said:

The BENQ 1070 projector had good reviews but didn't have the zoom range for my room.

This is also a key consideration for the OP. The Benq W1070 was actually the only one that had the right zoom range for me. I wanted a 92" screen from a relatively short range. Most projectors only produced a smaller size than this and moving to the real short throw models like the W1080 produced a minimum image that was far too big.

Definitely check the throw calculator before buying unless you have got flexibility on mounting options and screen size.

[vrod]

varsas said:

Glad you are enjoying it! The detail it shows up from BluRay's makes me really question the need for 4k, I had a 46 inch TV at the time and there was so much more visible on the PJ. I can't help thinking that most people aren't seeing everything you can have from 1080p, so 4k is even more wasted.

As I expect you know putting the PJ in 3D mode will force it into 'normal' instead of Eco mode which makes the fan go louder. You can use normal mode for 2D too, but I found it dazzalingly bright on my screen.

I really only watched BluRay's on mine but did watch a few DVDs. Fury and Frozen looked OK but most others I tried looked a bit poor, it's just the PJ showing you all the flaws present in the source.

There are some recommended settings here:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/epson-eh-tw6100-r...

I found them helpful, I found the default settings had the colour way too high. Probably depends on your screen/room though.

Great info varas, many thanks. I did read the avforums and a few other reviews before buying and many did cover how the settings can make quite a difference.

Mine is in a designated cinema room so I did set eco mode to keep the noise down and it was just too bright.

I use mine with a Panasonic HD tuner/BluRay recorder which is great for recording HD TV and playing DVD/BR's but the projector shows such accurate resolution you do end up you noticing the lower quality of older and low quality films. So as per your comment, with 1080p showing any flaw in the quality its recorded or transmitted in I'm glad I didn't spend a fortune on 4K until the rest of the technology catches up.

[vrod]

kingston12 said:

This is also a key consideration for the OP. The Benq W1070 was actually the only one that had the right zoom range for me. I wanted a 92" screen from a relatively short range. Most projectors only produced a smaller size than this and moving to the real short throw models like the W1080 produced a minimum image that was far too big.

Definitely check the throw calculator before buying unless you have got flexibility on mounting options and screen size.

Agree 100%, its an easy oversight, I hadn't really considered it until I realised a projector I was thinking of buying would end up in a position I didn't want it.