projector question (1 Viewer)

[BobJojo]

I am interested in getting a dlp projector and read a recent favorable review in HDTV about the Sharp XV-Z1200. My concern is that I note it has an ANSI of only 900 lumens and since I have some ambient light in that room (at least during the day) I am conerned the picture may be washed out -- especially when projecting the picture up to 100 inches or so. My question is two fold. Why don't they make these dlp projectors for home theater use with ANSI of 3000 like our Sharp XG C55x at work which is used for conferences and secondly, is there a light meter I can buy with which I can quantify my ambient light pollution to thus give me an idea if an ANSI of 900 would be adequate?

 

[Brian Gi]

A 3000 ANSI lumen projector would burn your retina's at night!

 

[Brad E]

When you have a high ANSI of 3000, the contrast is usually very low. These do not make good HT projectors.
It's a trade off, can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Leo Kerr]

Or, another way to put it is, if you've got 3k lumens of brightness and decent contrast, then you're dumping $20,000+ into the projector.

The recently discontinued Christie Roadie X-5 or S-6 are/were wonderful projectors.

As for a good meter, that's typically an expensive ($500-$1000) proposition for something that you really don't need. There seems, to me, to be an issue of not just how much light polllution, but what kind of pollution. Some things are worse than others, and sometimes, even if the light isn't falling on the screen, it'll really bother you.

On another take, in my home, I've an (now) old PT-LC75u. It's estimated to be about 700ANSI in the low-brightness mode (or is that 700 non-ANSI? I can't recall.) Anyway, it works best with no ambient light, of course. But it's acceptable with some.

How you define 'acceptable' will depend largely upon your own sense of what is good.

Sorry, but the short of this long ramble is, sometime, there just aren't any easy answers.

Leo Kerr

 

[Thomas Willard]

If you have a room with some ambient light then a high lumen output projector with a low contrast ratio (400:1) would work, just as it does in a lighted conference room. However, once the ambient light goes away the low contrast level will make viewing unacceptable regardless of the lumen output. For low light situations you need a projector with a contast ratio of at least 800:1.

 

[BobJojo]

Thanks for the replies. Too bad stores don't let have loaners for serious potential buyers so we can see what the untis look like in our actual home conditions. When you are considering outlaying a few thousand to several thousand dollars for a good unit, you would like to be sure it will perform as hoped for. In addition, while I seen many stores in my area selling 55 inch dlp and lcd televisions, there don't seem to be many options locally for buying a projector unit. (Probably different if I lived in a bigger city.) Off the internet yes, but then I imagine it would be more difficult to return if it didn't appear adequate.

 

[Neil Joseph]

How much can you get the Sharp 12K for? Since this unit came out, I know there have been a dew DLP's that have similar specs for cheaper MSRP's.

 

[BobJojo]

I havent yet researched prices on the unit as I am still at the unsure point if it will work in my room's envrionment