Projector help needed (1 Viewer)

[carlton h]

I am replacing my Sharp XV-H37VUA projector after 5 years, and I need some advice on what to buy because every new projector I've seen looks awesome. I've read the threads here for the last month. It has helped my search, but I still have questions. My theater is a dedicated basement room with no windows. The room is 14'x 28' with an 8' ceiling, and I am currently using a 16:9 Da-Lite screen that measures just under 120" on the diagonal. The furniture is situated so that we usually watch 10'- 15' from the screen. The theater is used mostly for watching sports DVDs,and some TV, and the plan is to add HDTV with a bigger DirecTV dish and an antenna. I am willing to spend up to $12k, but I would like to spend less. Also, I would prefer to deal with someone locally here in Atlanta.
The Sharp 9000 is widely available now for $7k, and I am leaning that way. I want to stay away from CRT's because I don't want to have to get it alligned once or twice a year. The LCD's in my range look great, but I don't really need the extra brightness, and the ones I have seen do not have the same depth of color or contrast as the Sharp. The $12k Seleco DLP HD-1 and the Marantz projectors I saw were only a little better than the Sharp and, to me, not worth the extra money. The Runco CL 700 with the controller was incredible, though, and I could not easily distinguish it from the $26k Runco. It was noticeably brighter and clearer than the Sharp with the same or better colors. With the controller, the Runco is $12k.
Should I wait for the HD-2 projectors? Are they that much better? Are they more like $15k? What about buying the Sharp with the Runco controller ($10k total), or should I just get the Runco package? Is there another projector I should consider? Help, please.

 

[Neil Joseph]

The CL-700 is a nice projector. Make sure you do a good demo before buying it as a few have mentioned headaches with some DLP's. Does anyone know if this projector does 1080i?

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

The CL-700 can accept a 1080i input, but, of course, cannot fully resolve it. You may want to consider waiting for some of the HD2's since they're so close. The Infocus LS7200 will be one of the front runners.

I think there may be some better scalers out there than the Runco, such as the Key Digital HD Leeza, the CS-2, the aSimilator, etc.

 

[Paul_Scott]

NEC has a new pj out (1000) that retails around $5000.
in the words of Alan Gouger over at AVSforum, "its a killer".
the also have a new pj, LT 240, that retails around $3000, which is also supposed to be very good.

based on my experience with the LT150, the last superior budget pj, either of these new ones will give you a tremendous bang for your buck value.
the Runcos i've seen almost remind me more of a Bose lifestyle system.
that may sound harsh, but having seen their $17000 package, i think you can easily get just as much, if not better, for far, far less.
look into presentation pjs.
they have most of the quality, without the HT enthusiast mark-up.

btw, one reason i would highly recommmend NEC is their excellant 3 year warranty. they've had great feedback as far as customer service goes.

 

[carlton h]

Thanks for your responses. The NEC is clearly a unit I need to check out, and the HD-2 units are so close, I at least need to see the Infocus LS7200. I'll be interested to read the reviews of these units as they are posted here. This market is moving so fast, I am going to wait another month or two and see how it shakes out.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

Another important consideration is what you plan on viewing. A WVGA (852x480) or XGA (1024x768) projector is enough to fully resolve DVD, but you need a WXGA (1280x720 or 1366x768) to fully resolve 720p HDTV. The higher the resolution, the less screendoor there will tend to be as well, regardless of source material.

 

[Neil Joseph]

... and this is one of the reasons I always tend to recommend WXGA projectors for budgets of $3000 and over (new). Good point.

 

[Doug_B]

You may want to mention what kind of Da-Lite screen you have. It may or may not be a good match for some of the projectors mentioned, factoring size into the equation as well. Do you always watch with no ambient light?

Doug

 

[carlton h]

I will want WXGA because HDTV is one of the main reasons I am upgrading. As far as ambient light is concerned, we watch movies, usally DVD but some satellite, with the lights out. For sports and TV, I like to have a little bit of light which is really a problem with my current Sharp - I think its only rated at 500 lumens. It helps that there are 8 can lights in the ceiling that I can control in pairs so that there is no light in the front 8 ft of the theater, soft light in the middle, and brighter light at the rear by the door. My Da-Lite screen is a "Da-Snap" screen with no further description or model number. It's probably 4 years old. The external frame dimensions are 108" X 61" and the frame edges themselves are 2" square. It's bright and white and seems designed to maximize brightness. I recognize a screen change may be advisable, and I would go a little smaller if necessary to get the best picture quality.

 

[Neil Joseph]

If you decided to go with the cheaper (but equally good PQ) projector, then you could channel some of that $12K towards a Stewart Firehawk screen! Just a thought.