First time projector - Epson EMP-TW20 (1 Viewer)

[Zeel]

Hi there. This is my first time on the forums and also the first time I'm considering getting a front projection set. The one I'm looking at is as in the title, available here:

[Hmm, sorry I'm not allowed to post a URL yet. But if you go to amazon.co.uk and search for EMP-TW20 Dreamio it'll come up.]

Brief specs:
Up to 1200 lumens
16:9 ratio, 854x480 pixels
1000:1 contrast


It's £378, so that's around $700 US. It's definitely entry level, but I think it should be alright for me: I'll be about 10 ft from the image, and mostly viewing in dark or low light conditions, image size in the 60-80" range. I just have a few questions for the seasoned viewers if I could!

At 28 dB in the quieter mode, isn't that still fairly loud? The unit will unforunately be sitting a couple of feet from my ear, and I'd guess that's about the same as quite a loud home PC is when the fan is going full speed (e.g. during gaming).

I'm planning just to project onto a (plain white painted) wall, rather than using a screen. Would this be sufficient?

I'll mostly be watching regular TV and DVDs, nothing high definintion. So am I right in thinking something like this unit would do the job for me? Image won't be too pixelated or dim in the above conditions? I could go upmarket a couple of hundred pounds (so up to maybe $1200 or so), but the above model seems like quite good value, and I'd need to go up at least that much to get a great deal of improvement, at least going by the specs alone.

If there's anything else I should watch out for or consider do please let me know, and thanks again.

- Sami

 

[Jim Mcc]

That has a very low contrast ratio for starters, you can probably do better. What are your other choices in the same price range? Being in the USA, I have no idea what other projectors you have access to. Here in the USA, the best 480p projector is the Infocus IN72.

 

[Zeel]

Hi Jim,

Thanks very much for the reply.

I should think any of the projectors available in the US would be available here, so that's not too much of an issue I hope.

I checked out the Infocus IN72 you recommended - seems good. It trades off some brightness (900 ANSI lumens vs 1,200 ANSI lumens) for contrast (2,000:1 vs 1,000:1), and is otherwise broadly similar, at least looking at the specs - although it may be quieter too.

Is contrast for brightness a good trade off? I only ask since the cheapest I can find the Infocus IN72 for is £590, compared with the £378 for the Epson. So there's quite a bit of difference in price (about $400 US). But as I'll be watching in low to very low lighting I suppose contrast is what I should be aiming for.

 

[SherardP]

why spend the 700 bucks on an entry level pj, save up a little more coin and go for the Epson Home 1080, youre half way there, you can get into for around the 2k mark.