Brunt Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 For those with projectors or with extensive viewing experience, I am wondering what models you have and have experience with for the sake of comparison. Why do you love it? What was better? What did you upgrade from? Anything relating to projectors, good or bad. I'm looking for any and all info. I know this is mainly an audio forum, but there are a bunch of fantastic theater setups here so I wanted to hear about your opinions, preferences, etc.. I'm thinking about taking the plunge once my Sylvania dies and I figured this would be a good place to gather some info along with projectorreviews.com and avsforum. The only experience I have is viewing an Epson 8500UB and another friend's Epson EX70...both LCD projectors so I have no experience with DLP's or any other tech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Every projector I have seen at audio/visual stores has not been very good. The projectors I have seen at commercial entities which cost 30 grand are also not very good. I have not seen digital projectors at movie theaters. Just my opinion. Not very good means not enough brightness, low contrast, lots of fuzzy stuff. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tragusa3 Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I would do my research for projectors over at avsforum I've bought four different projectors over the years, and each time used that forum to narrow my choices. If you go into the projector section, you'll see that at any given time there are usually 2-3 projector threads that are getting 90% of the traffic. There's your top performers. From there it comes down to personal taste. I'm currently using a Panasonic AE4000 and there's not much more I could ask out of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechnut Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Do you use a projector for movies and TV for broadcast watching? My thought is to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted August 6, 2011 Moderators Share Posted August 6, 2011 I chose the Panasonic AE3000u because I needed it to do be able to quickly change between 2.35:1 and 16:9 material. I didn't want to have to get up and manually zoom and focus each time the source changed. The panny does an awesome job with that. Very clear projector, vivid colors, as long as you have a light controlled room. If you have a lot of ambient light, I would look for a different model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Do you use a projector for movies and TV for broadcast watching? My thought is to do that.I use the Epson 8350, and it is a very versatile pj. It is bright, quiet, and can be placed almost anywhere. It also has as good/better pic than my 1080p LCD. I mainly watch movies as my room is a dedicated HT, but i also watch tv with great results. Fwiw, my pj has very few bells and whistles. Great pic for it's price, can be used in multiple positions and bright rooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy81 Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I am still using the Sharp Z12000 I have had for years and still love it. However, I have been looking at the Panasonic AE4000 in order to get the higher native resolution vs. the Sharp. The Pannasonic is a great buy for the money even at MSRP. If brightness is an issue for you, look into a screen with a high gain characteristic. I use a Dalite Hi Power and even with the limited capability of the Z12000 I can have moderate lighting in the room and see the screen just fine. Great for football games when folks are coming and going during the telecast. In a dark room, I plenty of brightness, contrast etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechnut Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Do you use a projector for movies and TV for broadcast watching? My thought is to do that.I use the Epson 8350, and it is a very versatile pj. It is bright, quiet, and can be placed almost anywhere. It also has as good/better pic than my 1080p LCD. I mainly watch movies as my room is a dedicated HT, but i also watch tv with great results. Fwiw, my pj has very few bells and whistles. Great pic for it's price, can be used in multiple positions and bright rooms. I figured tv watching would put a lot more hours on the bulb life, so that might be why you'd watch broadcast TV on a TV. To conserve bulb life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brunt Posted August 6, 2011 Author Share Posted August 6, 2011 Every projector I have seen at audio/visual stores has not been very good. The projectors I have seen at commercial entities which cost 30 grand are also not very good. I have not seen digital projectors at movie theaters. Just my opinion. Not very good means not enough brightness, low contrast, lots of fuzzy stuff. JJK Well, the 2 I've seen have been in light controlled rooms...as mine will be once I upgrade. I will say this, the immersion level goes through the roof. Once I saw one in home I instantly knew what I was missing. I will continue doing research on Avs but I was interested what you Klipschters were using in your setups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJCarney Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I game, tv, and watch movies on my 8500ub. Love it all. My plasma is cleaner sure but it's 50 inches not 100. I am going to get a screen soon and am hoping for some improvement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokarz Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 you can't go wrong with either a Panny or Epson for the money. and no matter what pj you end up getting, you're going to need to do some tweakings to get the best pictures out of them. sure they look great out of the box, but you'll be surprise at the improvements after some minor tweaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted August 6, 2011 Moderators Share Posted August 6, 2011 I am extremely pleased with the PQ of my Panny projector. Below are a few unaltered screenshots (other than cropping and resizing of the first image) that was taken from my room with lights totally off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbajner Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Have Epson 8350 My first fp and I am impressed with the pj Also liked the price too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy81 Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Forgot to mention. Panasonic is about to release their new 1080p 3D projetor, the AE7000....save your pennies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Forgot to mention. Panasonic is about to release their new 1080p 3D projetor, the AE7000....save your pennies. A little off topic, but the "industry" is VERY close to the mass-release of glasses free 3D TV. I would expect reasonably affordable versions to be available by 2013 from the major manufacturers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brunt Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 Forgot to mention. Panasonic is about to release their new 1080p 3D projetor, the AE7000....save your pennies. A little off topic, but the "industry" is VERY close to the mass-release of glasses free 3D TV. I would expect reasonably affordable versions to be available by 2013 from the major manufacturers. I hope not...lol...I was really hoping 3D doesn't catch on. I don't care for what it adds (at least the movies I've seen) and I don't like the idea of replacing BluRay's, etc.. Not to mention, can we please get better cable? We're getting 3D, but every other network uses substandard compression techniques and cable companies intentionally limit bandwith so they can add more customers. I get why, but I hate when new tech is jammed down our throat before existing tech is perfected or even usable in some cases. ESPN NFL football looks incredible, while the NBA on TNT looks like scat! Hell, they STILL haven't moved on screen graphics like scores and such over to the far, proper corner of the 16:9 format. 3D sort of reminds me of the direction Netflix is going...casting aside disc distribution in favor of streaming only. Well, the only problem with that is everyone with a surround sound setup and nice display is going to get screwed out of the resolution and audio quality they paid for the capability to enjoy. IMO Netflix should always have the BluRay disc/mail option for people with nice home theaters. Sorry for the rant, but this 3D push has really caught me off guard and struck me as bizarre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJCarney Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 I agree with Brunt and went on a similar rant in the Netflix thread about the streaming content being sub par. I don't like 3D in it's current form. I can't believe it even sells. Fix the "HD" on cable and make bring the audio quality up and then comcast might get me to rent some on demand content. Same with Netflix streaming. Until those issues are solved then I'm a BD only guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Fixing the HD on cable would mean no recoding to get smaller bandwidth. Why would they screw themselves with less channel capacity. They are trying to figure out how to recode better to get more channels, less quality. You have to go OTA (wireless) to get the best quality. The cable companies montra is "how do we make more money?. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJCarney Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Fixing the HD on cable would mean no recoding to get smaller bandwidth. Why would they screw themselves with less channel capacity. They are trying to figure out how to recode better to get more channels, less quality. You have to go OTA (wireless) to get the best quality. The cable companies montra is "how do we make more money?. JJK I see your point. I really do. But the cable companies will eventually need to go 1080 and improve sound quality or they will lose all their business to dish. The only reason I'm with comcast right now is high Internet speed. If another company could provide equal speed Internet I would switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 My 8350 simply outperforms my old Sony 55 inch tv in every way.Everyone that has viewed it said no more tv's for them except maybe the bedroom.The amount you want to spend determines the ultimate quality, Panasonic etc...very nice,The Epson though is rated top notch in it's class, and for bang for the buck it's hard to beat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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