[ReneZam]

Anyone in the Austin area have a BenQ or some kind of DLP projector I can audition? Wife says my Sony CRT 1272q is to bulky for a permanent stay in living room theater so I was looking into something smaller that can be mounted or hidden easier than the CRT..Btw when is the next Austin meet?

[John Prator]

Rene,
Kind of shocked that no one has offered any help yet!?!? I do not have a DLP yet but I intend to buy the Benq 8710 in the next 3-6 weeks, if that is not too late for you I would be glad to let you check it out. Hope someone offers you an audition sooner.
John

[Hank Frankenberg]

I don't think anyone in our group has a BenQ. I believe Jeff and Chad have Panasonic - maybe they'll post.

[Jeff Meininger]

The Panny is LCD, not DLP.

[Hank Frankenberg]

I thought one of you guys had a DLP pj.

[Nils Luehrmann]

There are plenty of DLP owners here in Austin that occasionally check the Austin threads. I for one have one, but it is not the BenQ.

If you are considering the 8700, I'd suggest you hold off making a decision and take John up on his generous offer as the 8710 looks to be a significant improvement over the 8700 and for very little extra cost.

If you are really itching to see DLP projectors in action, there are several excellent screening rooms in Austin that carry just about every current HT oriented DLP projector model. These rooms are not anything like what you might find at Fry's or Best Buy.

Here are a few places in the Anderson Lane/Burnet Rd. area to consider followed by what DLP manufactures they have available for demo:

High Fidelity (Runco, Marantz, Sharp)
Dyer Electronics (Runco, ?)
A&B Electronics (Yamaha, Sharp)
Custom System Technologies (Runco, Seleco/Sim2)
Home Theater Store (Runco)
Austin Home Theater (May still be using an LCD in their screening room)

There are plenty more screening rooms all over town.

BTW: the Runco 710 (which is available for demo at almost all of the Runco dealers mentioned above) is a BenQ 8700 with some rather minor modifications and Runco's video processor - but at twice the cost of a 8700.

[Dave Elliott]

Nils,

When do you expect the 8710 to start shipping? I was under the impression it would not be until later in the Summer.

-Dave

[ReneZam]

I had given up on this thread some time back..today i dropped by and saw some replies.. my days off are Sunday-Monday John I would like to stop by one of these days and take a look also when is the next meet drop me a email at rene@corridor.net

[Frederick_Falk]

Rene,

We haven't planned a major meet for anytime soon as Colin Dunn (who usually organizies these things is way too busy right now, along with the rest of us) BUT if you will check out the Austin Movie Nights thread you will see a lot of mini-meets going on, including several friendly games of Poker (OOPs, used the "P" word). In fact Jonathan Atkins is hosting a movie night at his place this Friday (April 2nd) and will be hosting bi-weekly events for the next several coming weeks. He has a very large 7" tube CRT projecter that puts out an awesome picture. He also is co-owner of Mirus Audio and makes some very good speakers. His 5.1 audio setup is currently using a beautiful set of his own speakers and he will soon be adding a 7.1 setup (I know as I helped him run his speaker wires).

I personally have a 36" direct view TV and will be (hopefully) purchasing my own projector. I just finished installing a Boxlight MP-45t CRT projector at our church so I am unable to help you out on the DLP front.

If I were you, I would take Nils advice (he is never wrong in these matters - at least his advice to me has always been spot on for me) and wait until this new unit comes out. I do know that there are several members of our group that will be either purchasing their first projector or upgrading an existing projector. So there is a wealth of information that they will be able to provide from their own experiences. So be patient and join us for a movie night or two.

Hope to see you this Friday.

[Dave Elliott]

I hope to have a new Benq DLP soon. I'm waiting to hear about the 8700 Plus or 8710, whichever its called. Its supposed to come out very soon, so if it does and is priced similarly to the 8700 I'll order one right away.

I know Frederick is also looking forward to it as he has dibs on my NEC DLP, which for a few years old still shoots a darn nice picture

-Dave