? on front projectors $1k-$2k (1 Viewer)

[RickLe]

Looking to get a front projector. Since I'm a big Ebayer I checked some pricing there. It seems I can get a new Infocus LP130(I think that's the model #) for under $2k. My question is this? I've read alot about the X1, being used for home theater, there's alot of other models that have HD XGA and don't seem to have a home theater designation. Should one be concerned about that or will all projectors with 1-2k lumens and a good resolution work great with home theater?

 

[Neil Joseph]

Apart from resolution, the other factors that determine if a projector is good fro home theatre is the contrast ratio and the inputs that it has. The problem is that the publisshed specs are often overblown (absolute best under certain circumstances). I have seen projectors with lower contrast ratios blow away other projectors with so-called higher contrast ratios. Many times a certain projector will look better out of the box and require less tweaking while there are other projectors that may have better looking specs but require a lot of tweaking/calibration to bring them anywhere close to proper settings and this can greatly reduce the brightness spec of the projector for instance.

The panasonic L300U seems to be one of the best and most popular digital projectors around that pricerange and I would choose it over the LP130 for its widescreen panels and clean HD scaling.