X1 or new Optoma (1 Viewer)

[Mike MMMM]

I have read loads of reviews and posts on this forum about the X1 and I think we all love it.
In the UK the price has dropped so much now that I can buy an X1 for less that £800.
I have had a demo of the 4800 which is just about the same thing and I think it is great value for the money but my local HiFi dealer has recommended that I wait for another few weeks because of a new Optima, I have searched the internet but I cant find out what he is talking about, does anyone here have an idea?
Could this be to do with the new DLP chip, are there a load of new, much better and cheaper projectors about to be launched? Which chip does the X1 use anyway?

 

[Mathew Shelby]

Faroudja

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

The X1 uses this chip:



It's the 0.55SVGA DDR from TI:

TI's DMD chips

Your dealer is probably talking about the Optoma H30, which seems like the only new one to compete, price wise, with the X1:



Optoma H30 Projector

The specs are very similar to the X1, and even use the same chip. It even uses the same 180w P-VIP bulb, so color temp performance should be very similar. It uses a pixelworks chip for deinterlacing and scaling though, which is inferior to the Faroudja solution. I have no idea what they mean by:

Unique widescreen aspect ratio

It's also rated at a dimmer 800 ANSI lumens, compared with the 1100 of the X1. However, both of those numbers are probably way WAY off from real life.

There's no info on the colorwheel speed, so that could be an important difference (if it is one). The X1 has a 2x colorwheel.

 

[Mike MMMM]

Thanks Gabriel_Lam,
I found worldwideweb. optoma.co.jp/english_p.html (because I am new I can't post URLs yet.
It shows that this projector has a Four-speed, six-segment color wheel, I guess that means no more rainbows but the bad bits seem to be brightness and lamp life, only 2000/3000 hours.
Price may be about the same as well so I am not sure what to do now, the H30 does seem very good

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

Ah, a 4 speed will definitely help.

 

[DavidLM]

If you are not sensitive to rainbows go with the X1. Otherwise the 4x color wheel on the other one will lessen rainbows a bit.