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Good projector for under $1500 (1 Viewer)

andy_brehm

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I am looking for some advise on what a good projector for under $1500 would be. I am looking at the Hitachi CP-X275W Projector but was wondering what you guys thought. are there any other good options out there. I am looking for something that has quite a few inputs, (Playstation, DVD, Cable, Satellite) and is 4:3 aspect ratio. I think I would prefer DLP, but it seems there are more LCD out there in this price range. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Andy
 

ChadLB

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If I may ask why do you want a 4:3 native...

Panny 200
Infocus X1
Sanyo Z1 to name a few...
 

andy_brehm

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i was thinking about a widescreen set cause i already have a 61" 4:3 panny HD ready RPTV but the i think the majority of the material that i would be watching would be in 4:3 not 16:9. i also just realized that even if you get a widescreen tv not all widescreen movies will fit perfectly in the tv. i read a article on projectorcentral.com from a guy trying to answer the screen size question and he said how he preferred a 4:3 set then just blow the picture up real big in widescreen mode when your ready to watch a movie. should i reconsider?

thanks!

andy

btw: what would be some good choices for the widescreen set?
 

ChadLB

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Andy,
The panny 200, Sanyo Z1 are both 16:9 native but they do have a 4:3 mode on them.
The X1 is a 4:3 native projector that is very popular and is a great projector. I demoed it for 10 days. For the price I don't think it can be beat.
 

andy_brehm

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what is the panasonic 200? i tried finding something on it and came up with nothing. also, i have seen quite a few projectors that are 4:3 native but have a 16:9 mode, what exactly is that. i know you said the panny and sanyo are 16:9 native and have a 4:3 mode which i assume is the same concept, how does it work?

thanks, youve been a great help so far.

andy
 

ChadLB

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The panny 200 can be found here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=272880&is=REG

The X1 is 4:3 native which will fill a full 4:3 screen. It has a 16:9 mode but you will have extra gray/black bars top and bottom.
The other ones are opposite. 16:9 full mode and in 4:3 mode will have bars left and right of picture.
I think for what you want to use it for the X1 might be your best bet or the Panny 200...as both have longer bulb life.
 

andy_brehm

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apparently i am new to the inputs on projectors... i have been looking at the X1 and it dosent look like you can hook cable tv or component inputs into it. basically my 3 main inputs would be coax cable tv, standard rca jacks for a playstation and component inputs for my progressive scan dvd player. is the X1 incapable of receiving these signals? it looks like the panny will take all but the coax.

also, since the option is there id like to project on a huge screen probably larger than 100" diagonal. will the picture from the X1 or the panny look any good this blown up?

thanks
 

ChadLB

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What do you have for a dvd player......basically with the X1 you can buy component to s-video adapter, or component to vesa adapter(used for PS dvd players). For cable just run a rca cable from your VCR into the composite on the X1. There are switches out there ...that would be a possibility.
The larger you go the more flaws there are.....i wouldn't go bigger than 106" diagonal...also depends on how far away you are sitting.
 

andy_brehm

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i have a jvc progressive scan dvd player. it has a s video out but i would like to stick with component since it gives a better picture.
 

Ron-P

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he preferred a 4:3 set then just blow the picture up real big in widescreen mode when your ready to watch a movie. should i reconsider?
This, you should never do. Blowing up or zooming in on a widescreen picture to avoid black bars will result in a significant loss in picture quality and you cut off the sides of your movie.

Sure, on a 16:9 PJ you'll get small black bars on films that have a 2.35:1 AR, on films that are 1.85:1 you won't have any and on 4:3 material you'll have bars on the sides.
With a 4:3 PJ you'll have large black bars on 2.35:1, small bars on 1.85:1 and no bars with 4:3 material.

I've got the Panny PT-L200u and love it. It's a great PJ for $1,000, it's native 16:9 and has component inputs as well as S-video, composite and 15-pin VGA. It is also very quite. I ran it against the X1 and both were nearly identical in PQ.

The 200u is getting hard to find because it is being discontinued.


Peace Out~:D
 

andy_brehm

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actually, i re-read the article and i might have misquoted him. he says that he has a 8 foot screen in a 4:3 AR. when he watches widescreen material he has a masking system that covers the black bars so it looks like he has a 16:9 screen which is still 8 feet. so i guess he dosent blow the image up at all rather just covers part of the screen not to see the black bars.

i like the idea of a 16:9 screen, but the majority of the material i vew is 4:3, and you can watch 16:9 material on a 4:3 screen without it getting distorted unlike the opposite way around. "almost" the best of both worlds i guess. im still debating which to go, but im still leaning towards 4:3

all opinions and advice are welcomed!

thanks

andy
 

Larry Hoffman

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The Panasonic L300U is available from TigerDirect.com for $1500.00. I haven't checked any other sites for pricing but you may want to consider it.

Larry.
 

andy_brehm

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i have noticed that projectors are listed under their native resolution, so in the case of the X1 800x600. but then it has a maximum resolution of 1024x768. what are the disadvantages of displaying it a 1024x768? i am assuming that if there werent any this would just be the listed resolution....why are there two settings?

thanks
 

mark alan

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Projectors always scale the picture either up or down in order to project at the native resolution. Some projectors do a better job than others at the scaling.

the maximum resolution is simply the highest bandwith signal the projector can accept, prior to scaling down.
 

andy_brehm

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this could be a dumb question but what exactly qualifies as a digital input. i was looking over the X1 again and it says that it accepts varoious HD formats (1080i,720p) but dosent accept digital inputs. what are they refering to here. is it something that i will regret not getting later?

thanks
 

andy_brehm

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for those of you who have an X1, how big could i realistically go without picture quality degrading horribly. id like to be in the 90-100" range, is that feasible?

thanks
 

ChadLB

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Yes andy that is. When I demoed it I had a 106" diag screen and sat 14-15 ft back. Personally I don't think you would want to go bigger than that. The best thing to do is say you buy the projector...don't buy/build a screen until your sure what size you enjoy. The bigger you go the more flaws there can be...but maybe that won't bother you.
 

Matthew Will

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Perhaps you should look into picking up a Dell 3200 mp. I bought mine several months ago and I am pleased. It has DVI interface as well so when you want to spurge on the newest technology in DVD players you're ready to accept it. I never used it for cable television but it works great with PS2. I got mine for about 1400-1500 on ebay too. Matt
 

Philip Hamm

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Interesting. I'm just beginning my projector quest and this is the area that I'll be in.

The key factor that I am going to be interested in is how does the projector display a letterbox 4:3 image. I have a LOT of LaserDisc movies which I'm not rebuying on DVD, and I'd like them to look as good as possible.

I'm planning on a 100" screen in a very dark room.

Would a native 4x3 projector be my best bet?
 

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