HTF Contest: Win an Epson HC 8700 1080P projector courtesy of Epson and ProjectorPeople.com!  

I recently lost my grandfather on September 12th. He was 81 years old and was more like a father to me. While going through all of my digital video tapes I discovered that I had recorded about 35 minutes of his 80th birthday. A couple of days ago I imported it into my Mac and made a DVD. If I won this projector I'd invite all of my family over for Thanksgiving and we'd watch this video as a celebration of his life.

 

I used to live in Southern California.  Because of a bad accident in which during the operations, I passed away three times and was brought back three times,  My folks got rid of my California ap[artment, sold my car, took all my posessions and brought them back to my home town of Elmira, n. y. - all without my permission as I was in a coma at the time.

   Because of this I am very poor.  I was given a blu ray player for last Christmas but have nothing large to watch the picture on.   to get away from all of the snow here and the depressing situation, my dream is to watch the new blu ray of Sound of Music being released this week on blu for the first time, and to watch it on this projector.

If I won this projector, there's absolutely no way I can get SAF for a front projector in the living room; we've discussed this and FP just doesn't work in that room. To properly enjoy a full 1080p HD projector, I'd have to finish the basement and install a true home theater. I've had quotes on doing that and have talked with friends who have finished their basements: it would cost $30,000 - $60,000. And then I'd need a whole new suite of HT gear, so there's another $5,000. Oh, and furniture, another $5,000. And if I'm doing that, I might as well get that pool table and related accessories, for another $2,000. And then I'd have to buy the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-Ray, about $65, to watch with my friends for the inauguration. Which might be closer to Thanksgiving 2011.

 

Winning this $2,200 projector could set me back upwards of $72,065. And a year in installing it all.

 

It's probably better for my marriage and my bank account if Joe wins it.

I love watching the war movies and football. I'd love to watch them in HD big screen but cannot afford to buy one. If I win this projector, it will be my wish come true. I can project my favorite movies or FB games anywhere in my home.

 

Ever since I was a child, the idea of watching movies at home in a theater-like setting intrigued me. Through the years I've seen my home theater change from mono sound to stereo sound to 5.1 channel surround sound, from VHS to laserdisc to DVD to Blu-Ray, from 4x3 to 16x9, and from the 19" CRT I watched as a small child to the 32" Toshiba that served me well for 15 years to the 61" Samsung 1080p DLP I currently use. And I'm ready to take yet another step into making my home theater in my furnished basement more like an actual theater.

 

For years due to my traumatic childhood, my basement was the only refuge I had from the harsh realities of life. I was bullied so badly I had to be home schooled to get my high school diploma. The emotional scars made it hard for me to socialize, and impossible to find a job for fear of who I'd run into while working. After high school, it got worse. I turned away from the people who care about me—although somehow they stayed loyal to me—and everything I have tried to do to better myself has been half-hearted. Until now.

 

I looked inside to see what was troubling me, and I learned that I had to overcome it myself. And I have. I started running, and I have lost a tremendous amount of weight. It didn't make me happy in and of itself, but along the way I found out what it means to be truly happy.

 

After Thanksgiving dinner, if I or anyone in my family actually felt like getting up, we would find a movie to watch. It would have to be one that we all loved, and that's not easy to find. I am very particular about what I watch, and my family seldom wants to watch the same things as I.

 

Being from Detroit originally, Dad would probably want to watch the annual Lions/Bears game. Mom would want to watch what she usually watches: the endless marathons of endless variations of Law and Order or NCIS. My two younger sisters would want to watch something like Jersey Shore on MTV. I would have none of that for the inauguration of the new projector. It would have to be something special, something near and dear to all of us, even if we've already seen it before.

 

So why not a movie we all know and love that has just been released to Blu-Ray? Why not The Sound of Music? That movie was made for the finest possible presentation, and it has been beautifully restored for Blu-Ray. I would love nothing more than to watch this film, my other favorite films, and even my favorite TV shows, in the setting it deserves. And what better reward for finishing the marathon I'm running in on November 7? The presentation would have to be perfect. I have long had many ideas for my dream home theater, and this projector would be the first incentive to make them come true. It could be a way to do things together again as a family.

 

Additionally, I am teaching myself photography so that I can make a living doing it; wouldn't a projector be a great way to show clients my portfolio!

Consider me entered then! If I happen to win, I'll figure something out.

 

And if I actually did win...This Thanksgiving my wife and I are going to Lake Placid for the weekend. So I'd take my laptop and this projector, and we'd watch one of our many unwatched DVDs in the hotel room. On a very large image projected onto an empty wall! Or maybe the Hotel staff could find me an empty room and a Blu-Ray player and host an impromptu movie night there
 

Sound of music on Bluray

For a Thanksgiving home movie event, my first choice would be "Pieces of April." Unfortunately, that isn't available on Blu-ray yet. Does an upconverting Blu-ray player count?

 

I think Thanksgiving would be a good time for a "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific" epic marathon. Both mini series serve the dual purpose of reminding us of the sacrifices that many have made in the name of freedom and secondly, they are technically well made films ideally suited to be seen on the "big screen" treatment.

 

-Keith

My mother abhors the television and considers my dads 34" LCD to be too big.  I would love to get this projector just for the torment of him watching NASCAR on the entire living room wall.  Seriously, it would be amazing, and him so happy.

I'm living in hotels.  Day to day in different ones as I find the best rate.

Even when 'home' I find no comfort, my bed is crated up.

My theater is fully disassembled.

My DVDs and BluRays are in storage.

My house is about 2 days away from going on the market.

My 720p projector and greywolf screen are on craigslist, with the idea that I'd get a small flat panel to keep me company as I ride this out.

 

In short, my life is in shambles and my home theater as it once was envisioned is no more.

 

What would a new projector mean to me?  Hope.  Incentive.  A new start to be planted in a strange land.

 

Edited to add:  What would the first thing we'd play on it be?  No doubt it would have to be my family's favorite film of all time, and the perfect metaphor for my situation:  It's a mad mad mad mad world!

 

Edited again to add:  Wow I guess I was a bit over dramatic there guys, sorry to be such a downer!  I'm doing ok and sorry if it seems like I was going for the sympathy vote, wasn't my intention.

 

I accepted a job move as part of the local base closing, essentially doing the same thing for a different company, 100 miles south of where I 'live'.

 

I had to essentially show up here in MD not knowing anything about where I might wanna buy a new place, figure that out, find a place to stay night to night in the meantime, and hustle my ass back to jersey each weekend to pack my house up and get it on the market.  Once it's sold I'll be able to buy something down here.  To do so tho I've had to give up living in the town I wanted to spend my life in, and disrupt my family big time in doing so.

 

The problem is there's been no place for me to stay so far.  The apartment prices are all jacked up because of the BRAC they know people are desperate to stay close to the base.  The places further from the base aren't much better.  I've tried doing Craigslist room shares but all the ones I've visited have been creepy, dirty, too far away, too expensive or otherwise wouldnt be right for me.  I keep looking but nothing has worked out yet.  Meanwhile I keep paying my mortgage just to run back to NJ to finalize boxing, cleaning and eventually I hope, selling...  And staying in hotels at ridiculous $ per night during the week until I can find something more stable.

 

It's been a devil's bargain.  I get to keep working and am glad to have a good job, but doing so has meant throwing so much of my life away.  Had to give up my teaching job, which just makes me sad.  I'm persevering tho!  I've had a bit of a nasty cold in the meantime and am scheduled for an MRI on my (I hope still dormant) tumor, so lots of stresses on me besides the job stuff.

 

This too shall pass tho, and I've got a lot of support from family and friends, plus a good job to actually show up to.  There's a lot of folks out there doing a lot worse than me!

Edited by Sam Posten - 11/2/10 at 7:58am

After a great family Thanksgiving dinner, there is nothing I think would suit the occasion better than 20th Century Fox's new restoration on Blu-ray of The Sound of Music! From early reports, including a glowing review from Robert Harris, Fox has outdone themselves and finally released the ultimate transfer of this movie from Todd-AO source material.

 

A little history: I am 48 years old. When I was 5 my parents took me to see the movie in Virginia, Minnesota, a small town north of Duluth where I grew up. I sat there in a trance. Everything about the movie seemed like a dream. Being Jewish, my parents were concerned about my being 5 and took me out at the end of the wedding scene to avoid the Nazis. Every year after that until its run on ABC TV on February 29,1976 at 6pm central (yes I remember everything about this movie), the theater would show the movie one weekend every year after that. We always had a scratchy 35mm print but it never mattered, I went every night for the 3 nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). As a kid from 5 on, I went through roughly 25 copies of the RCA soundtrack album. Then, when Magnetic Video released the very first VHS version , I was in a state of bliss. I delivered papers, went around town and worked any job I could find until I could afford the first General Electric VHS machine, which at the time was almost $1000.00 (the old heavy top loaders). It took me an entire summer and fall to save that money working 3-4 jobs a day, to buy a machine for this one movie. I was probably the first person in town with a VCR. When I bought it, I was in true bliss and played it many times over.

 

After that, I purchased every new version, there were 4 different releases on VHS (even if it was the same transfer I would buy it for the new cover art). Then came laserdisc and when the movie came out, I was able to watch the movie in stereo sound for the first time at home. Bliss again!  Then came the widescreen laserdiscd (the print looked all red but it was great to see the entire image) and then finally the box set, and finally after that the Dolby AC-3 laserdisc. From there, I spent 9 months excited for the Five Star Collection DVD, which turned out to be full of edge enhancement. Then the 40th anniversary edition, better but it never looked or sounded right.

 

When I was 19 I moved from my small town of Eveleth in northern Minnesota to Minneapolis for college. I got an apartment and met a great woman upstairs and we became good friends. She kept telling me of her ex brother-in-law that was a projectionist since the 1950's and became the head projectionist at Mall of America theaters, and I Just had to meet him (because of my home theater set up in my apartment). He came over and was unaware of laserdisc. His name was John Novak. He was very much into sound and film, so his job was the love of his life, and his favorite 2 movies were Ben Hur and The Sound of Music. The first disc I played for him was The Sound of Music. I had the very first Dolby Surround home theater processor and he was stunned they even made one for the home. I will never forget his face when his jaw dropped watching the pan and scan stereo laserdisc. This was the start of a friendship that only happens to some people once in their lifetime. Every time after that a new version was released, we would always go to the store, pick it up and then go to his house to watch it. We both always commented that it never seemed right, the sound should have always been better considering Fox's sound department and the picture being Todd-AO should have been so much better. He always told me stories of the special advance test screening of The Sound of Music he projected at the Mann theater in Minneapolis for one night (They had one night test screenings in Minneapolis and Tulsa before the premiere). For 29 years, he and I were best of friends and this year we were very excited for the new Blu-ray coming out because of the early talk that Fox was going all-out on this transfer. Sadly, on March 15 of this year, he had cardiac arrest in the parking lot of the emergency room in Minneapolis, he never made it inside. So this release is such an exciting experience for me and yet alot of sorrow comes with it.  I have seen the film 281 times and scanned songs probably thousands of times, especially that opening scene.

 

In 1988, I tested positive for HIV from a blood transfusion after a car accident.. I have gone through 22 years of worry and so many different issues. But since then, whenever I feel down or times seem hard, I can always pop in my latest version of The Sound of Music and it never fails to bring me out of my sadness and makes me feel full of hope with it's wonderful score, including such songs as I have Confidence and Climb Every Mountain, which always give me hope for a cure to this terrible disease and it never fails to lift my spirits. With the beautiful cinematography, what better movie to watch on an Epson 8700 projector after a wonderful family Thanksgiving dinner.

 

I have had an Epson 1080 (the original, not UB) since 2006 which I purchased by saving from my disability checks for 2 years. 2 months ago, out of warranty, the machine stopped working, and after sending it to Epson, told me it would cost over $1000 to fix. It is too much for me. So I have been using my old 35" tube set in the meantime. I have an "Elite" brand 150" screen and a 7.1 channel surround system. So what a great Thanksgiving gift it would be to have the 8700, a projector which I have been looking at on the internet so many times, which I hear is such an improvement, to view this new wonderful transfer of my favorite movie that has so many memories on Blu-ray on my big screen!!! I would be in pure bliss! And I would be watching with my family but also for my former friend John, who I know would be up there watching with me, and giving thanks for my life and being healthy for now.

Edited by RobertSiegel - 11/19/10 at 10:08pm

Home theater is really, ultimately about sharing.  Gathering people together to enjoy an experience that bonds and reminds us all of our commonality is really the essence of film.  Many years ago, Louis B. Mayer said that film was the one thing he could sell and still own.  Although true from a business sense, we all own the art of film.  Whether a trip over the rainbow to Oz, or across time and oceans to Casablanca, or discovering the meaning of rosebud from Citizen Kane, we all are transported and transfixed while watching a story unfold on a movie screen.  We bond, we revel, and we bask in the rich experience that is shared during the viewing.

 

For me, my home theater is a place where people gather to rediscover the art of film in a comfortable environment.  There they can see recent films or classics.  They can learn, and they can enjoy.  A meal may be shared, and then a film can be shown.  Youngsters can enjoy their favorite Disney film on a big screen for the first time.  And senior citizens like my own parents can watch Gone With the Wind, remembering when they first saw it, and enjoying being with others who may be watching for the first time.  That these experiences take place in my home allow that room and that home to become a safe, warm, and special place.  New memories are fashioned, and home becomes the gathering place for the family once again.

 

This Thanksgiving my parents, brother, sister, their spouses and my nieces and nephews will gather at my home.  We will eat dinner on my grandmother's china, laugh, reminisce, and probably watch some football.  But that evening, a holiday classic will be watched.  Perhaps White Christmas, or It's A Wonderful Life, or maybe Miracle on 34th Street.  While we eat our pumpkin pie, we'll bond closer, allowing the film to work it's magic.  As people long ago gathered around a piano and sang, or a book was read aloud, we will allow our tradition- the film maker's dream- to work it's spell and weave us each one closer together.

I'd break in that puppy with the extraordinarily rare bootleg video of me proposing to my wife in the 20th Century Fox executive screening room while the rest of the Home Theater Forum cheered me on!

 

Sure, it looks like crap, but maybe I can get Lowry to futz with it first. . .

I would pull out Gremlins and get the whole family to watch, because of the finite amount of time we have to watch Christmas movies. Yes, I do consider Gremlins to be a Christmas movie.

Having been born and raised on an unnamed mining planetoid within the Oort Cloud, I could not think of anything more homey than watching the new BR of Alien after Thanksgiving dinner.  I have owned every form and version of the film, mostly because it feels like a home movie to me!  Just imagine what it's like to sit back with an overstuffed tummy and then watch the dinner scene.  

We can sit back to review our vacations, my daughters' birthdays and all times our "big family" have chance to get together.

Even good or bad memories they all need to be remembered.

 

Hope every one have a happy and lovely Thanks Giving Day

 

Hito

This new video viewing device would become the centerpiece of our holiday gathering; playing home movies as we chow down.

 

 

Watch out grandma!  Don't get cranberries on the screen! 

 

Grandma has to sit very close so she can see but more than once she'll try to pass a big bowl of tators or Aunt Susan's Mystery Lumpy Green Paste to our younger selves on the TV screen. 

 

Oh grandma! 

 

 

 

Hopefully the sound will have ample amplification since our beloved Uncle Bill will be attending.  Uncle Bill "goes to 11" and can talk over most sound equipment in order to explain how much better and less expensive his equipment is.  Yes, even if you won the thing free HIS was a way better value. 

 

No Uncle Bill, I don't think Redray players are available yet so you CAN'T actually have one. 

 

 

 

And then there's Maude!  Yes, Aunt Maude.  She's shorter than the TV version, dresses similar! and rides around in her motorized cart with the extra loud reverse beeper.  beep!  beep! beep! bumpitybump!!!  Ouch my foot! 

 

That's okay Aunt Maude, you just backed into the dessert table.  I think the raisin fish cakes you brought will still be edible after a go with the dustbuster.  Just don't back into the new TV!

 

 

 

Aunt Carolyn's latest beau will be here.  He knows jokes that pre-date Bob Hope. 

 

Thanks Aunt Carolyn for bringing another "Center Square"!   

 

 

 

Of course, Cousin "Buddah" will be arriving late as usual in his Geo Metro that somehow still runs.  After the meal he'll fall asleep all over the giant sectional sofa with the pets everybody brought lying around him.  We have video of that and I hope those scenes come up after it happens for real so I can film that happening while it's happening on the screen from last year. 

 

Smile Buddah! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Edited by Radioman970 - 11/3/10 at 9:32am

I would put on the bonus materials from The Fountain with all that paint being dropped into water making awesome visuals. 

Boy, a lot of people are worse off than me.  I am a senior citizen, retired military, who just loves high tech equipment, but cannot afford them, so I just have to listen to the stories my co-workers tell about their stuff.  If I won this item, it would make me and my family very happy.  What a way to watch thanksgiving football. 

The earliest memory I can recall is being thrown out of a Datsun Cherry Hatchback in the backroads of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I was four years old at the time. I was nursed back to health by Cole, a kindly blacksmith who specialized in fashioning custom-made broaches for men. He taught me the ways of the hammer, as well as the importance of integrity.

 

When I was seven, a fitting for a Harpy-styled broach made for Warlocks motorcycle gang member Robert “Mudman” Simon went horribly wrong, and resulted in the latter suffering from a deadly puncture to the heart. Cole sent me to the nearest payphone to notify authorities of the incident, but upon my return, I witnessed my would-be father get brutally skinned alive and eventually murdered by Robert’s vengeful Warlock brothers. The only way for me to avoid death myself was to promise the gang that I would tell the police that Cole had died of natural causes.

 

The authorities placed me with a couple who ran a tattoo parlor in Long Branch, New Jersey. Life was good, but not great. My skills as a blacksmith translated surprisingly well to the exquisite art of tattooing. Despite fitting into my new family’s trade, I spent much of my formative years contemplating revenge for my earlier adopted father. I considered joining The Breed, a rival gang of the Warlocks. Using a pair of Juttes I acquired at a flea market, every day after school I would hone my combat skills until I knew for sure they would let me in. I changed my mind when damage to our place of business by vandals caused my step-parents Alex and Roy to fall behind on their protection payments, and eventually they were found chained to an abandoned basement wall 6 weeks after they went missing. Their ankles were nowhere to be found.  The Breed would claim credit for the incident.

 

Completely alone and disillusioned, I had lost all sense of purpose in my life. One night, while I was wandering around the campus of Bergen Community College, I met a 38-year-old woman named Shauna I had done some tattoo work on earlier. On her back I had put a dragon circling around a yin-yang symbol, with two flaming ankhs on either side. And on her left shoulder I wrote the Chinese words for “renewal.” It was some of my best work, and she knew it. I told Shauna about some of what I had been through, and she persuaded me to join her Buddhist coven. I have a few personal issues with the idea of possibly reincarnating into an Eskimo, and I don’t really feel that Buddhism holds a monopoly on the idea of forgiveness and finding one’s true path, but when life throws you something good as rarely as it does me, you gotta take what you can get.

 

After some soul searching I took the plunge, so to speak, and journeyed to China, the Middle Kingdom, where I found a job teaching English at “Shenzhen No. 1 Experimental Middle School” in Guangdong province. I have since been semi-adopted by a family living in the Hua Qiang Bei electronics district. The 4’x9’ kitchen/dining room/bathroom serves as my bedroom, while Ayi, Laoshu, and Jack sleep in the main room. By day they run a corner store in the crowded district selling luxury speaker systems. Nights are usually spent eating grilled sweet potatoes and eggplant, and watching TV through a secondhand 15-inch CRT computer monitor hooked up to the cable box. The eggplant is among the best I’ve had, anywhere.

 

They are wonderful people, and even though we occasionally have a few rough patches (but what family doesn’t?), it’s all about forgive and forget with them. They take all of their hardships with stride and a smile, and my time spent with them has slowly but steadily restored my faith in others, and in myself. If there was ever a real complaint I heard from them, it would be that the customers at their store tend to get distracted and leave in the middle of the audio demos.

 

If they had this Epson 8700UB projector, I believe its fantastic and appealing movie-displaying ability would make a great companion piece to their shop’s audio demonstrations for customers. And at night we could take it home and watch the latest Donny Yuen movie, or watch television with Super-Resolution on for some premium-quality sharpness. Jack is looking forward to the upcoming Great Migrations blu-ray, and personally I would love to show him the elegant splendor of those beautiful migrating birds in a gorgeous 1080p resolution with spectacular 200,000:1 dynamic contrast.

 

They don’t know about the holiday of Thanksgiving here, but I think this projector would be a wonderful way for me to show them.  If all the past events in my life were to serve the singular purpose of giving these wonderful people, who never asked for anything from me, such a wonderful gift, then it would have all been worth it.

 

Thank you, and compliments of the season to you all.

Over the years, when times have been tough. I have often found myself coping by going to the movies... Wether it was emotional, financial, or just plain loneliness; it has alway helped me to forget about my current situation and even inspire me at times to be stronger than I thought I could be.

About 3 yrs ago, I met someone out of the blue. It was a time in my life that I felt empty and lost about where I had been, and where I was going. It was life changing for both of us...and I must say...the best thing that's ever happened to me. However, it is a little complicated...
We live about 75 miles apart. Furthermore, he is a divorced father of 2. And he lives in a very small town where folks aren't very open minded about 2 guys falling in love and becoming a family...and because of that, we stay at home a lot.
We really enjoy our time together and try to make the best of it. Because of us traveling back and forth so much, and these tough economic times; We have very little disposable income.
We love playing video games, watching movies, and letting the kids have their friends over for movie night. It's something we can do that brings us together and costs very little.
My dream would be to make a entertainment room for us that we could really enjoy. One that may allow us a little time to forget the challenges we face and give the kids something to say "wow" about.

So to answer the question. We would play some games, then sit back and watch Avatar on the big screen.
Edited by Tjack02 - 11/16/10 at 10:07am

I caught the front projection bug a few years back when I walked into a High End HT shop while visiting a friend in Atlanta. Within days I bought an old CRT projector, then an XVGA 1024x768 DLP. I have a BluRay player but still can't project FULL 1080p. I've wanted a 1080p projector since the first time I saw one and the Epson is at the top of my list.

 

I live in a military town and we usually have a few guys over for Thanksgiving Day.

 

1. I think I would start off with the Cheers Thanksgiving episode. This is not yet available on BluRay but the food fight is classic.

2. Then some BluRay Eye Candy, Avatar is the current top choice for picture and sound. I can't imagine how good this would look on this projector.

3. Following the movie it's time for some HD Football (Life sized players just can't be beat).

4. After the games we usually watch a war movie (Did I mention most of the guys are in the Army?). Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down are favorites.

5. Finally we conclude with something a little lighter to move us into the Christmas holiday season, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. What better way to check out all those PJ lumans than with the Griswold Christmas lights.

This Projector would move my modest Home theater to a whole new level.  

The Family would gather together and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" a Thanksgiving holiday tradition. I guess my hard luck story is that I have been unemployed for over a year now so I have no way to get a FP other than to win one, thanks for the opportunity!

We seem to always watch the Patriot--Mel Gibson, on Thanks giving evening, it has become a tradition for us, and to watch in HD on a big projector screen would be great.

Not really interested in watching the Dallas Cowboys play a terrible game of football, and Detroit don't do it for me either... fingers crossed, waiting, waiting, waiting,...

 

 

If I had an Epson HC 8700 1080P project, the inaugural viewing would include some games of "Pain" on the PS3 followed by some Scott Pilgrim vs The World. I can't think of anything finer.

I would watch the Macy's day parade.  I would love to see all the giant balloons on my wall.  It would be real cool to see a giant blue smurf on my den wall.  Every year my wife says that we should go to the parade, but its always too cold.  Its so much easier to watch at home with a blanket on and my fireplace going strong.  Plus I can open the bottle of brandy that I got for my 50th birthday.  This should put me in the right spirits so that I can stuff my face with all the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, string bean casserole, .....

The first thing I'd watch on this baby would be the new Scott Pilgrim Blu-Ray - best movie of the year (so far).

After that I'd watch the greatest movie of all time - Flash Gordon (1980).

 

Then I'd kick on some football to watch whilst eating my pie.

 

After that, porn.