Sanyo PLC-SW15 (1 Viewer)

[Chris Mac]

I have always wanted a projector and now there there starting to come down in price my interests to purchase one has grown. I've seen the new Sanyo PLC-SW15 projector for $2150 dollars and that price seems very reasonable to me. The Big Question I have is how does the image quality from this or any of the sub $2500 projectors compare to my current set which is a Samsung Tantus 53" progressive scan TV. I'm very happy with the DVD Quality of this set and if the projecter quality is comparable I will buy one. I also plan on making my own screen and links to what material to use would be appreciated. I have access to a full machine shop so the Aluminum frame should be a piece of cake.
Thanks Chris
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[Huey]

I have LT150 (XGA DLP, 800:1 CR, 800 lumens, no zoom, $300 for 1000 hour bulb, 4:3 native panel with 16:9 squeeze capability) for $2200 brand spanking new. It's great with HTPC DVD and RCA DTC-100 HDTV and not bad with VHS and DSS via Svideo. It blows my 54" RPTV away with superior resolution, colors, smoothness (like movie theater films), and sharpness except at 100" wide (115" diagonal) on homemade white blackout-material screen. It has a possibility of rainbows (I don't suffer from this but you may) so you may want to see a DLP in action before buying (15-20% restocking fee with most dealers).
Your Sanyo model is good too with XGA LCD, 800 lumens. The only thing is lower contrast (as most LCD) of 400:1. It should be great with black masking to hide the gray letterbox bars as it boost the perceived contrast. It has zoom so installation is easier. It has better colors (LCD advantage). It may develop dead pixels (3 panels means triple the dead pixel risk) which may be annoying if it's smacked in the middle of your 16:9 image. It has a better doubler/scaler than my LT150 so Svideo sources should do fine (Infocus has the best processor of digital PJ). It should be HDTV compatible (720p, 1080i). Not sure about 480p compatibility (STB prog. DVD players via component) but HTPC should be great.
Last thing to consider is used CRT may give a better image (though dimmer, huge, heavy (>100#), suffers burn-ins, difficult to install/calibrate--relative to digital PJ) in a dark room and high power screen (to boost brightness) for about 2-3K. You'll need an external video processor (HTPC, Quadscan, etc.) as most older CRT model may not have it built-in (think of your computer CRT monitor except in RGB projection). They are cheaper to operate due to longer lasting tubes (10000 hour rating when new--$500 each for R, G, B to replace). Curt Palme is a Canadian dealer that specializes in used CRT (search for him in the CRT section of www.avsforum.com )
Whatever technology of FPTV you choose, you WILL be impressed due to the sheer size and quality of image compared to your 53" RPTV. Plus it does not take all the room of the RPTV and sure looks a lot cooler. Good luck.