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Newbie Projector Help!!

post #1 of 3
6/16/08 at 9:44am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys, I am new to the home theater scene and was wondering if you could help me out with some advice. I am in the market for a projector. Is there any projector's that you would recomend with a price limit of $1000? When looking at projectors, what should I be looking for in terms of screen resolution, inputs??? Sorry I honestly do not know that much about them so any info will defineately will be a huge help! Thanks!
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post #2 of 3
6/21/08 at 6:08pm

Re: Newbie Projector Help!!

I recommend the Mits. HC1500. Second choice would be the new Optoma HD65. You need to do some reading at Projectorcentral.com and Projectorreviews.com.
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post #3 of 3
6/22/08 at 4:40pm

Re: Newbie Projector Help!!

I just recently purchased an Optoma HD65 and the PQ is very nice.

This is a 720p native resolution DLP projector with a 4x speed color wheel. It includes all the latest "picture enhancement" circuitry: "BrilliantColor II", "Image AI", "TrueVid": You name it; it's got it!

DVD upscaling from 480p is *outstanding*. I use to own a Tosh HD-A1 and I didn't think anything could upscale better than that unit; but this projector does just about as good a job on its own. (Keep in mind that it must have a progressive scan source.)

480i upscaling from cable is "acceptable"; just don't expect miracles.

1080i downscaling from HD cable is "perfect". The picture has a real nice, clean, HD look to it. I'm waiting on a profile 2.0 Blu-ray deck at the moment (August?) so I can't tell you how it handles 1080p but I suspect that it'll look similar to -- if not better than -- 1080i HD cable.

Drawbacks:
* The projector has a limited zoom and there is no horizontal or vertical lens shift so ceiling mounting could be tricky. (There is "electronic" horizontal and vertical shift provided though. And it doesn't seem to distort the image.)
* While shadow delineation is more than adequate, the only way I could get the picture to "pop" like my old Infocus 4805 was to turn on "Image AI". This circuitry continually adjusts the contrast based on the amount of black in the picture. This gives you a great "3D" picture with lots of depth; but it also occasionally causes some "pumping" in the picture. I usually turn it off for HD sources (which don't seem to need it as much.)

Unique feature:
* The projector has a "SuperWide" mode which, in effect, changes its native aspect ratio from 1.78:1 to 2.0:1. This causes 1.85:1 movies to look "wider" (by slightly cropping the 1.85:1 image) and renders 2.35:1 transfers with very, very, small black bars. Also, placing "SuperWide" in "Auto" mode even zooms the 2.35:1 image up to 2.0:1. (This latter feature only seems to work with HDMI sources.) This provides a very inexpensive "constant height" system; assuming you can stand the slight cropping of 1.85:1 transfers and the slight zooming of 2.35:1 transfers. Of course, if you don't like the effect, you can simply turn it off!


BOTTOM LINE: The picture is extremely pleasing. It's a heck of a deal for the money!
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