Please help me decide on a projector (1 Viewer)

[T0mmy]

Ok, so I don't have enough money to finish my home theter, or so I thought. I checked out a site that has the after thanksgiving deals on it and there's several sub 500 dollar projectors for sale on friday. I've got a choice of the following:

Toshiba TDP-S26U (as far as I can tell it's the same as the s25u, probably just renamed for that store)

Infocus X1a

Optoma EP716

The ony one I know anything about is the X1a, so that's at the top of my list right now. I haven't heard anyhting good about Toshiba projectors and they seem to have crappy bulbs, so that's probably out. I know nothing about the EP716 and can't really find much for info. There is a 4th projector for sale and it's one I would have instantly chose, but it's at Staples which isn't in my area. They're selling the Infocus SP4805 for cheap(it's refurbished, but still an awersome deal). I'm hoping that it will be available online and then I'll just get it online, but I doubt it will be. So sonce I can't get that, please help me decide between those 3. I can't even find out how fast the color wheel is or how many sections it has on any of these projectors. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Brian Osborne]

check out the Equipment for sale/trade area.
This might interest you. Other stuff out there too...
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...highlight=iowa
I saw this one while I was shopping around - looks like its still available.
You might be able to stumble on someone that is upgrading and selling cheap.

 

[Citizen87645]

The X1a is designed for business use and does not have the Faroudja chip that the X1 and 4805 have. For all things projectors, go to projectorcentral.com for info. Go for the 4805 if you can.

 

[T0mmy]

I know I'd rather get the 4805, but since that store has zero locations in my state, it's not much of an option unless, by miracle, it's available online. So, with that being said, if you had to choose between the X1a and the EP716, which would it be, and why? Thanks in advance folks.

 

[Citizen87645]

The X1a has more information available and most of it is positive. And I probably have to retract my statement about it being designed for business use (which the X2 and X3 are). Looks like it simply is an X1 without the Faroudja. I'd probably go with the X1a based on the amount of available information and the reputation and popularity of the X1, though much of that was due to it having the Faroudja chip. If everything else is the same with the X1a then just make sure you connect a quality progressive scan player to it and you should be quite happy. EDIT: Unless you are one of the people who can see DLP rainbows and find it distracting.

 

[T0mmy]

Yeah, I'm still a bit torn between the two. It will mostly be used for just dvd playback, but I will try to watch some sports and vide games on it.