Projector and screen advice

[vxsmithers]

I'm finally finishing the study /cinema/ room and need a projector and screen.

Budget is fairly tight, so needs to be sub £1K for both. Distance from the screen to projector is about 3.5 metres, and I need a pull down / electric roll down screen around 96 inches. I have speakers/source/amp already.

I was looking at the Epson 5350 which got good reviews and has been around a while - is there a replacement coming, or another alternative I should be looking at? I can wait if there are shiny new things on the horizon

I have no idea about screens except that anything pull down will be a compromise, but that's what it needs to be

Any advice/ real world experience gratefully received

[AllHailToTheAle]

Considering a similar project and the Epson would be my first choice at the moment.

Probably a good time to buy a budget projector as in a few years time I'm sure we'll see much cheaper 4k / HDR projectors and maybe LED / Laser light sources for them. At the moment anything 4k is well outside of your budget.

[B17NNS]

2017 winner.

https://www.whathifi.com/epson/eh-tw5350/review

[vxsmithers]

Thanks guys. Confirms my opinion on the projector.

Any advice on a decent pull down screen? Or are they all much of a muchness at a couple hundred quid price point?

[davek_964]

vxsmithers said:

Thanks guys. Confirms my opinion on the projector.

Any advice on a decent pull down screen? Or are they all much of a muchness at a couple hundred quid price point?

I have a cheap electric screen, and it isn't bad. Only really wished I'd paid more when viewing scenes that were quite light colours - then you could see the texture of the screen. But mostly it worked pretty well.

It's actually redundant now since I sold my projector last week but is too small for you (72" diagonal viewing area).

[JohnStitch]

When I bought my screen I was intending to go electric, but as I only had a couple of hundred quid for it I decided to go with a better quality pull-down screen than a lesser quality electric one for the same price. Got it through RicherSounds, think it was called Sapphire or something (106"). Coupled with a Benq W1400 projector, came in at just under £1k, plus they threw in an extra pair of 3D glasses for free.

[Klippie]

I basically have the same set-up as your looking at.

My budget screen of choice is a pull down Draper Luma 96", this is my second Draper screen after having a 72" for many years with no issues what so ever.

Also can I suggest checking out a BenQ W3000 projector, I recently bought one having looked at a few LCD's and even the much praised but to my eyes quite disappointing Sony VLP-45ES. The image sharpness and colour that the BenQ puts out is simply superb and at £1200 from Richer-sounds its great value.

[justin220]

Klippie said:

I basically have the same set-up as your looking at.

My budget screen of choice is a pull down Draper Luma 96", this is my second Draper screen after having a 72" for many years with no issues what so ever.

Also can I suggest checking out a BenQ W3000 projector, I recently bought one having looked at a few LCD's and even the much praised but to my eyes quite disappointing Sony VLP-45ES. The image sharpness and colour that the BenQ puts out is simply superb and at £1200 from Richer-sounds its great value.

Agreed on BenQ. I spent ages reading reviews between the Epson and BenQ, and genuinely couldn't decide.

Phoned Richer Sounds to order whatever they recommended as I was going round in circles. They said BenQ hands down (w2000). I've not watched the Epson but really chuffed with the BenQ

[Original Poster]

A couple of weeks ago I picked up the new BenQ W1050 and a 96" Sapphire screen, extremely happy with both!