newbie projector questions (1 Viewer)

[pete shay]

I'm researching projectors in anticipation of a home theater this Christmas. I watch < 20hrs per week (TV and DVD combined), and will occasionally play video games. The room is quite dark, and can be made pitch-black quite easily. Estimated distance from projector to screen (actually, the wall first) will be ~14'. A budget will be created once my technical specs are satisfied.

My questions are varied. First, is a projector a bad idea for playing video games on? I'd love to play 2600 Pitfall on a 100" display. And it would be so much easier to use one display for movies, TV, and video games.

Second, is the projector's native display ratio a big deal? I've heard wonderful things about the NEC HT1000, but its native display is listed as 4:3. Does this mean it doesn't do widescreen as well as other projectors with a 16:9 native display ratio? Most of my DVD collection consists of widescreen movies, so I'd like to get a projector that can display them optimally.

And third, what is the rainbow effect? And what kind of projectors is it most prevalent on? I've heard that some folks can see it and others can't. I'd like to avoid it if possible.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

thanks...

pete

 

[Dave Milne]

Pete,
I think a lot of front projector users do PC gaming on their systems. With a projector capable of adequate resolution, I'm sure it's nirvana for gamers. I have a CRT PJ setup, but I've never tried gaming. There is some concern over CRT image burn from the static parts of the game screen. With today's games though, that's probably not a huge problem --practically everything is moving all the time!

I'm not an expert on your second question, but I believe you are correct that native 4x3 machines lose resolution for widescreen images.

The rainbow effect is the splash of color that you see when you blink and move your head while watching movies on DLP PJs. It results from the way DLP machines sequentially paint red, green, and blue screens to form a full-color image. The newer machines with high-speed color wheels are less objectionable. Of course, the three-chip DLP machines don't have this problem but they're big bucks (>$60K). LCD machines don't have the rainbow problem, but have other issues such as the screen door effect and poor black levels. CRT projectors have none of these problems, but are bulkier and require a fair amount of expertise to install and set up.

By the way, 14' is quite a long throw distance for a CRT. You might be OK with a digital projector, though.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

The HT1000 is natively 1024x768. DVD's are natively 720x480. You should have absolutely no problem displaying DVD's in full resolution, however, there will be a bit of light overspray.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Second, is the projector's native display ratio a big deal? I've heard wonderful things about the NEC HT1000, but its native display is listed as 4:3. Does this mean it doesn't do widescreen as well as other projectors with a 16:9 native display ratio? Most of my DVD collection consists of widescreen movies, so I'd like to get a projector that can display them optimally.

If you were to compare an XGA projector @ 1024x768 and a WXGA projector @ 1366x768 and watch Toy Story on both of them then projector A's resolution would be 1024x576 compared with projector B's resolution of 1366x768. If most of your DVD viewing is widescreen, then by all means, I would select a 16x9 projector and 16x9 screen as well. As well, if you are going to make this investment, then plan ahead for HDTV and HD-DVD down the road as well with a 16x9 setup.

As mentioned, crt projectors can be susceptible to burn in from static images which may be found in some games. LCD and DLP do not suffer from this particular phenomenon.

Give this a read... Front Projection - How do I select one for my needs? as it may answer some more of your questions that may come up.

 

[pete shay]

Thanks to all for the info. I never thought TV buying would be so involved. But it looks to be a good year for new projectors, so this should keep me busy for awhile.