What Projector for £1000

[bananarob]

A friend is looking to make the move to projector for movies. He only has £1000 to spend. Im wondering what the recommendations would be for both LED and DLP. He is looking at spending £400 to upgrade his amp to allow Dolby True HD but has a reasonable Sony Blu-ray. Ideally we wants a projector that will connect to a trigger cable.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!

[Lord Flathead]

I would suggest saving for a while and going for a JVC HD350. They are a world apart from anything at that price point and deals can be had just outside that if you shop around. I've fitted quite a few now and have found nothing comes close to the performance. There are a couple of other contenders at your friends price point but personaly, I would save the extra and go for the JVC HD's.

[OldSkoolRS]

If you don't mind buying used, then the above suggestion of a HD350 might be closer to your budget limit than you realise. There was one sold on AVForums classifieds last week for £1,100 which has set a precedent. However, it requires an owner that it desparate enough to sell that cheaply. I'm going to keep mine as a spare when I eventually buy a used X7 (they've only just come out) as by then it'll be worth even less.

Projectors devalue faster than any new car I can think of.

EDIT: Just to add that you might be chosing between DLP, LCD and DILA/LCOS. There are a select few proper cinema projectors that use LEDs to light them, but they are about ten times the current budget you suggest. They also are only of marginal brightness, though at least they won't dim with used as a traditional 'UHP' lamp projector will.

Edited by OldSkoolRS on Tuesday 11th January 17:48

[Lord Flathead]

^^ I'm also waiting for the next ge LED projectors. They should last for ten years without re-lamping meaning only change when the technology is obsolete.

Exciting world of technology we live in

[Griff Boy]

Hi,

I bought a optoma hd200x late last year, and whilst it probably wouldn't compare with the big £4k plus machines, I find it excellent!

As I use it in a bespoke cinema room for occasional use it suits me fine!

I'd certainly reccomend it and it meets your budget too!

[OldSkoolRS]

Griff Boy said:

Hi,

I bought a optoma hd200x late last year, and whilst it probably wouldn't compare with the big £4k plus machines, I find it excellent!

As I use it in a bespoke cinema room for occasional use it suits me fine!

I'd certainly reccomend it and it meets your budget too!

The room itself is often overlooked by new projector owners...it can make more difference than the choice of projector itself regarding picture contrast. I setup somoe black cloth drapped around my screen and over the floor in front of the screen as it really helps fight off the reflections from the room which otherwise washout the image. I'd love a dedicated room myself, but the only possibility is my conservatory which isn't big enough, not soundproofed enough and it gets too cold in winter anyway even if I fitted wall to wall dark curtains. No point moving my gear in there and having to put up with a smaller screen, feeling cold and lower volume. One day I hope to be able to knock it down and rebuild something more suitable for the dark winter nights.

[bananarob]

Thanks for your help all, i had meant LCD rather than LED. I remember the JVC when shopping for myself and also considered the 550 and 750. I ended up going down the SIm2 route and have been very very happy!

Been researching the 350, Richer Sounds are selling this for £1800 at the moment which seems pretty superb for an RRP £3k projector! Also sending him down the Onkyo 608 route as his Yamaha cant cope with True HD.

Anyone seen a demo of an LED, be interested to know how they compare to a high end DLP or LCD other than just viewing life....

[Lord Flathead]

bananarob said:

Thanks for your help all, i had meant LCD rather than LED. I remember the JVC when shopping for myself and also considered the 550 and 750. I ended up going down the SIm2 route and have been very very happy!

Been researching the 350, Richer Sounds are selling this for £1800 at the moment which seems pretty superb for an RRP £3k projector! Also sending him down the Onkyo 608 route as his Yamaha cant cope with True HD.

Anyone seen a demo of an LED, be interested to know how they compare to a high end DLP or LCD other than just viewing life....

The tech has marched on since the Sim2, they were revolutionery and also the start of the demise of CRT projectors (I still have my Videkron Vision One). LED is still too far in it's infancy IMO. Back to the JVD HD's; The 500 and 750 have been replaced by the HD550 and HD950 respectively. The entry level 350 is still excellent value for money although it does have competition in this price range. Regardless of this, I would still go for a 350 at this price point because JVC are at least a generation ahead of the competition, again all IMO. Get the 350 from Julian Richer with his 5 year warranty. Let us know how you get on, if you need a guy to do the calibration I can put you onto James that does mine, and he can pretty much get it upto the 550 in terms of PQ he knows his stuff

[bananarob]

Thanks for the suggestion, but my friend lives north of Inverness so a long way to go....think i have convinced him on the 350 despite being double his budget!

As for the Sim2, I bought a HT380 about 12 months ago, cant believe tech has moved that far (excluding 3D and LED obviously). Either i couldnt be happier with it.

[OldSkoolRS]

Projectors are always moving forwards, but that doesn't mean your HT380 has suddenly become poor overnight. I found the same thing with my HD350 that is worth maybe 1/3 of what I paid for it two years ago. However it's calibrated and setup to squeeze the absolute best out of it and when I saw the latest X7 recently (uncalibrated and not very well setup) mine didn't seem lacking when I got home, so no need to panic yet.