front projector recomendations under 4000? (1 Viewer)

[jack w]

i am building a dedicated ht in the basement (light not an issue), 18x11.
I would like to spend around 3-4 grand on a projector and screen ,but i would like to see the picture before purchase.
I live on long island in ny....any recomendations?

 

[Scott Dautel]

Panny L500 LCD (street price: ~$2K) ... arriving at dealers Jan-Feb.
Beyond that ... I would have to say that the next notable increase in quality would be an HD2 DLP projector. The InFocus ScreenPlay 7200 comes to mind. but this category of FPJs will street for ~$5K & that is out of your price range.

Frankly, I'm not sure it's worth a 250% premium over the highly anticapated and reviewed Panasonic L500

Scott

 

[Matthew Todd]

Since ambient light is not an issue, have you considered a used CRT?

At this price range I would consider the NEC XG series, a Sony G70, Marquee 8500 and other 8" EM focus projectors.

It's getting very hard to find a dealer where you can see a CRT in action, but it's quite likely that there is someone in the area who has one and would be willing to let you see it.

If this interests you, you might also want to check out the AVS forum CRT area. Either here or there, you should be able to find someone nearby willing to give a demo.

Matt

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Definitely look into CRT at this price range if you have total light-control.

I'd only add the barco 808 to the list of potential contenders. Any good 8in EM unit would be killer. You could get a mint unit, and still have $$ left over to put together, or buy an HTPC to drive it. The only thing that would touch it would be the newest DLPs that cost 10k+, and even then there are significant trade-offs. If you have a dedicated room, and are marginally technically competent, IMO this is the only way to go.