Discussion
Chaps
I'm looking to try a home theatre setup in a room which is about 4mx4m. I know to a certain extent you get what you pay for but we are on a limited budget (ie wife thinks its a waste of money).
My question is whether an older HD projector is going to give a good quality experience vs lashing out for the latest 4k experience?
Case in point, I can purchase a used full HD optoma projector with minimal usage for £2-300. I know it won't be as good as a new model costing several thousand, but is it like hi-fi gear (law of diminishing returns)?
Some views needed pls.
I'm looking to try a home theatre setup in a room which is about 4mx4m. I know to a certain extent you get what you pay for but we are on a limited budget (ie wife thinks its a waste of money).
My question is whether an older HD projector is going to give a good quality experience vs lashing out for the latest 4k experience?
Case in point, I can purchase a used full HD optoma projector with minimal usage for £2-300. I know it won't be as good as a new model costing several thousand, but is it like hi-fi gear (law of diminishing returns)?
Some views needed pls.
I bought my projector off avforums for £200. The picture is perfect and impresses anyone who’s seen it in action.
Room conditions are more important than the actual projector in most cases.
ETA, the above screen is approx 3.5 metres wide, 2.5 metres high, on a painted wall with no fancy screens or anything.
Room conditions are more important than the actual projector in most cases.
ETA, the above screen is approx 3.5 metres wide, 2.5 metres high, on a painted wall with no fancy screens or anything.
Edited by R8Steve on Wednesday 2nd May 12:30
Cactussed said:
That's my thoughts so glad to hear they echo others' experiences.
I'm thinking something like a BenQ W1300 and a basic motorised screen about 2.8m wide?
I've got the amp and speakers already...
Depending what the room layout is like and what the current wall covering is I’d not even bother with a screen if you can paint it white. I used a reflective matte dulux white and it’s barely noticeable in the difference from a screen.I'm thinking something like a BenQ W1300 and a basic motorised screen about 2.8m wide?
I've got the amp and speakers already...
The wall
The image
ETA, the image above is actually on a plastered wall before paint, just to give you an idea how good they are.
Edited by R8Steve on Wednesday 2nd May 14:16
That's the thing with second hand A/V hardware. I mean, there is no doubt that technologies move on and that old kit wears out but (for instance) my old Yamaha, goodness I remember sitting down in Peter Tyson's demo room and them trying to convince me to move up to a projector.
We're talking over ten years ago now but it absolutely blew my mind.
And that power to astonish doesn't disappear. Any projector that is capable of HD and was top end kit is still going to be impressive.
We're talking over ten years ago now but it absolutely blew my mind.
And that power to astonish doesn't disappear. Any projector that is capable of HD and was top end kit is still going to be impressive.
I have an old Optima HD70 I use for our outdoor garden cinema during the summer. Image quality is really impressive on a 120" screen once it gets dark about 8:30 - 9pm. Properly setup in a darkened room it would make a great 1st projector (opposed to sitting on the patio table propped up with bits of plastic). Its got low hours and I paid under £100.
I bought a mint Optoma HD20 from Cash Converters for £120. It's been projecting away for months on a 100 inch screen, I have zero complaints and it should have a couple of thousand hours left on the bulb.
It was bought to replace a Mitsubishi HC4000 that had fried itself. I don't think I'm going to bother with 4K for a long time to come and this Optoma may last several more years. I doubt I'll need anything else until it's a goner.
My budget for one now would basically be unlimited. I don't really see how it can improved on. It would need a new room.
It was bought to replace a Mitsubishi HC4000 that had fried itself. I don't think I'm going to bother with 4K for a long time to come and this Optoma may last several more years. I doubt I'll need anything else until it's a goner.
My budget for one now would basically be unlimited. I don't really see how it can improved on. It would need a new room.
megaphone said:
Only issue with SH projectors is the lamp hours, a new lamp can cost as much as the PJ. If you're buying SH ask about lamp hours.
It's rather like printers, you have to research the consumables as much as the machine itself. Some lamps can cost more than the machine, others are peanuts and you can take a risk with third party junk. My Mitsubishi's original lamp blew on me within 100 hours of the projected limit. It was like a shotgun going off. I replaced that with an OEM bulb in third party housing. That was doing OK until some circuitry blew.
Cactussed said:
My question is whether an older HD projector is going to give a good quality experience vs lashing out for the latest 4k experience?
Quality of the room (i.e. prevention of light bleed) will be more significant than HD vs 4K. It also depends how many 4K sources you have, and sometimes what is called 4K is only 4K by resolution not by quality (e.g. mid/low-bandwidth streams). I went for the best HD quality I could get rather than chase 4K when I don't actually have any 4K material.Cactussed said:
Case in point, I can purchase a used full HD optoma projector with minimal usage for £2-300. I know it won't be as good as a new model costing several thousand, but is it like hi-fi gear (law of diminishing returns)?
Some views needed pls.
It is very much a case of diminishing returns, but there absolutely is a significant difference between a £300 projector onto painted walls vs a £5000 projector onto an optimised screen. But obviously it's not 20 times better which is the factor in price.Some views needed pls.
Go for the cheap projector and get into the game. It's such a low entry point you've almost got nothing to lose. But be warned, you'll like the experience so much you might soon be looking at upgrading speakers, amp, room correction, projectors, screen...!
Cactussed said:
Yeah, I know the lamps aren't cheap. Is it just a bulb or bulb with lens as well?
Bulb in a housing. The lens is part of the projector. Considering the temps you really wouldn't want to get your greasy fingers on the bulb itself. The third party housings are usually pretty rubbish and barely fit. You can recycle the original housing but it's fiddly. Don’t kid yourself that a cheap projector will come anywhere near the quality of a top spec TV. Sure the picture will be much larger and look good, but it won’t be mind blowing.
I have a Sony 40ES projector that was £1700 a couple of years ago, but the LG OLED B6 blows it away in terms of PQ. I can see it when they’re both on side by side.
I have a Sony 40ES projector that was £1700 a couple of years ago, but the LG OLED B6 blows it away in terms of PQ. I can see it when they’re both on side by side.
We have an Optoma HD600X which is only 720p. I bought it brand new in 2013.
We watch it more or less every night and I've only just had to change the bulb (70 - 80 quid I think). The picture quality at 100 inch is very pleasing, although admittedly, I haven't had much experience of 1080p or 4K projectors. Personally, when my 720p projector pops I'll probably just buy a 1080p Optoma of some description and be mildly wowed by the increased resolution.
Go and buy a 2-300 quid HD projector, have a play with it, and don't worry too much about the fact that it isn't the best projector money can buy. My projector was about 400 quid and I've had an enormous amount of pleasure out of it over the last 5 years. Had I spent 2 grand on a projector I would probably have had a similar amount of pleasure, but would have spent a lot more time fretting every time the fan changed pitch
Another thing to note is 3D films. I know that 3D films haven't really taken off, but 3D films on a big screen are a lot more impressive than a "small" 3D TV screen. We watch quite a few films in 3D.
We watch it more or less every night and I've only just had to change the bulb (70 - 80 quid I think). The picture quality at 100 inch is very pleasing, although admittedly, I haven't had much experience of 1080p or 4K projectors. Personally, when my 720p projector pops I'll probably just buy a 1080p Optoma of some description and be mildly wowed by the increased resolution.
Go and buy a 2-300 quid HD projector, have a play with it, and don't worry too much about the fact that it isn't the best projector money can buy. My projector was about 400 quid and I've had an enormous amount of pleasure out of it over the last 5 years. Had I spent 2 grand on a projector I would probably have had a similar amount of pleasure, but would have spent a lot more time fretting every time the fan changed pitch
Another thing to note is 3D films. I know that 3D films haven't really taken off, but 3D films on a big screen are a lot more impressive than a "small" 3D TV screen. We watch quite a few films in 3D.
Edited by RTB on Friday 4th May 13:59
We still have an InFocus in76, lovely piece of kit. Bought about 10 years ago or so. Over 2000 hours on it, and a spare lamp just in case, all on a 90” screen, keep the area light free, and is great to watch. As our screen comes down over a window, you couldn’t easily put a TV there, but I don’t know I would even if I could.
Native 4K projectors are very expensive at the moment. If you see one below £3k that is advertised as being 4K then it will be using a pixel-shifting technology to 'fake' the full resolution.
I'm not saying that they aren't any good, but I'm not sure they are worth several times the cost of s 1080p model.
I'm sticking with my Benq 1080p one for now. If and when real 4K projectors hit the £2k mark, I might look at upgrading.
I'm not saying that they aren't any good, but I'm not sure they are worth several times the cost of s 1080p model.
I'm sticking with my Benq 1080p one for now. If and when real 4K projectors hit the £2k mark, I might look at upgrading.
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