Looking for a sub $1000 front projector for new apartment (1 Viewer)

[nick718]

Hi Folks,
I'm new here and somewhat new to what's good in projectors. I am looking to find a nice projector for my living room to be used as the primary TV/Video player in my apartment. I've been looking around a lot, but was hoping some experts could make a suggestion. Here are my requirements/wants:

- $1000 or less
- vertical lens shift (horizontal would be nice too)
- Will perform well with some ambient light (room has windows, but will have thick curtains).
- HD capable, 720p preferable, HDMI connector.

If anyone can throw out some suggestions, that would be awesome. I was looking at the Mitsubishi HD1000 but the only deal killer is no lens shift.

Thanks everyone!
Nick

 

[Jim Mcc]

I have the HD1000 and I love it. Why do you need lens shift? Low ceiling or shelf mount? How do you plan to mount it?

 

[nick718]

I plan to put in a shelf on the wall, pretty much at any level needed and it can be centered easily. But everything I've read says you'd want to mount the HD1000 on the ceiling.

Is there a utility online that I can pump in my room dimensions and projector info to get some info about placement?

Thanks a bunch

 

[Walter Kittel]

Nick, Projector Central has a throw distance calculator page attached to the reviews of (most / all? ) projectors they have featured on their site. Look for the little blue square next to the Throw Dist specification.

Example

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Mitsubishi-HD1000U.htm

With a link to:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Mits...ulator-pro.htm

- Walter.

 

[Jim Mcc]

As long as the shelf is high enough, you can mount the HD1000 upside down, to the bottom of shelf. The shelf would be acting as the "ceiling". How high is your ceiling?

 

[nick718]

Well if I'm going to the extra effort of putting in a shelf, I'd rather be able to just place the projector on it, rather than spend even more money on a ceiling mount to mount it under the shelf.

Here are the dimensions of the room if that helps:
The hight of the room is 106"
The distance from the back wall to the screen wall is 166"
And the width of the wall where the screen would be mounted is 124"

Thanks for the great feedback everyone,
Nick

 

[nick718]

So I haven't been able to figure much out based on that throw distance calculator.

The room I have to work with seems to be large enough to do anything, but I'd rather do as few physical alterations to the room as possible. Installing a shelf would be easier than doing a ceiling mount, so is there a way to just place the projector upside down on the shelf and achieve the same result?

Can someone explain the actual issue to me a bit more, I'm still kind of unclear on why this particular projector presents such a large issue.

Thanks again,
Nick

 

[Jim Mcc]

In my scenario you would not need a ceiling mount. You would run the projector's mounting bolts thru the shelf from topside, and into the holes in projector under the shelf. Very quick and easy to do. And you will love the HD1000. It's recently been replaced by the HC1500, but you can probably still find the HD1000. But if you want an LCD with lens shift, you don't have many options under $1000. The only one I know of is the new Benq W500.

 

[frogpond]

For LCD, lens shift and under 1k try the Sanyo Z4. If you get it from B&H it will be 999 but comes with mount and pull down screen.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Projector.html

An excellent pj for the price and the lens shift means you can mount this puppy anywhere. Ours is mounted aprox 17' from the screen and we have had no problems.

 

[nick718]

What about the Epson Cinema 400? It's down around $1000, and it got really good reviews from projectorreviews.com.

Anyone own this PJ and have some comments?
Thanks

 

[Jim Mcc]

Nick, what large issue are you talking about? Are you referring to the HD1000? Placing any projector upside down on a shelf is not recommended for ventilation reasons. There's a long thread at Avsforum.com on the Epson 400 you can read.