What front projection should I buy? (1 Viewer)

[Ted Pugh]

I am building a dedicated home theater in a new home I am building. I am interested in a few front projection tv's. I have been looking at the Runco 500 I believe which retails for $4999.00, the Sony VPL 12HT, the Sony HS 12 as well as the Epson 100. Which unit does everyone feel works the best? Thanks for the help.


Ted

 

[Paul_Scott]

Ted,
not familiar with any of those.
are they all LCDs?
i'm more of a DLP fan myself, to me the LCDs i've seen just look 'digital' w/ their screendoors.
unless you have issues with DLPs, i would also put NEC LT240, and the HT1000 on your list.
the 240 retails around $2500 and the HT1000 is around the same price as the Runco (but i would expect the NEC to be a better all around value machine).
if you can wait a year or two-
there are very strong rumours that Sony is developing something that will really shake things up @ around$8K.

 

[Chris Moe]

Have you considered a used CRT projector? In your price range you could afford an amazing projector that would arguably blow any digital unit out of the water.

 

[John Welch]

If you are interested in the Epson, I would look at the Yamaha LPX-500 which is a clone of the TW 100, which has a nicer case with less light leakage and a re-designed menu system. WideScreen Review looked at this unit in issue 70 and has nothing but good to say.
WSR review . If you don't mind purchasing directly from Japan you can buy this projector for less than $3500, shipped right to your door. I think this will be my next FP, replacing an AE100.

 

[Neil Joseph]

If I had to pick from those, I like the Sony 12HT above the HS10 but the price difference is quite a bit. The 12HT features MLA (micro lens array) which has less screendoor and better fill ratio. You may want to expand your list to include some other popular models around here, like the Infocus X1, Sanyo Z1, and Panasonic L300U as well.

 

[Dave Corbitt]

I purchased a Yamaha PLX-500 a few weeks ago and am very pleased with the performance. Colorimetry is excellent (I measured it with a PM-5639 to see what the CIE coordinates are for RGB and to cal the gray scale tracking and color temperature). CIE coordiantes for RGB are equal to or better than SMPTE-C and ATSC. Excellent performer. Black levels are not quite as dark as a CRT projector but still satisfying. Faroudja DCDi processing does a very good job on upcoverting from 480 DVD playbacks to the native 720 x 1280 format of the projector and removing 3:2 pulldown interlace artifacts on film originated material. A real good projector for under $4,300 if you shop around. Has DVI, S-Vid, Composite (NTSC, PAL, and SECAM), VGA, and Y, Pr, Pb inputs. Easy to select various zoom and aspect settings. Very easy to calibrate with RGB black level, Gamma, and highlight adjustments. I've never seen RGB gamma before on a display device so this makes it particularly easy to get good tracking across the entire scale from black to white.

Dave