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advice on choosing a projector


glennbarn

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I'm looking at buying a projector mainly for watching DVDs. What factors should I be looking at ? The room for this application is a bit too bright during day time, will a 2000 ANSI lumens projector be able to make a big difference. Or is it more the contrast ratio ?

I'm very keen on this NEC's LT220. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks !

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Have you been to the AVS forum? I personally have the InFocus Screenplay 110. However, it only has a 1000 lums. However InFocus does have a new projector The Screenplay 7200. My neighbor who works at InFocus says it's incredible and blows away the 110. 10.gif

I personally don't know how the 7200 looks as I wont let him show it to me. I will just get this burning desire to upgrade my 110. It will eat away and eat away at me for ever until I did upgrade.7.gif

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Glenn-

The Brighness is what will affect the visibility of the image in a room. Contrast Ratio quantifies the ratio of the brightest and darkest image that the projector can display. You would like a projector that has both high lumens (brightness) and high contrast ratio, however these two properties are coupled and the brighter you go, the worse the contrast ratio is. The specs that most companies sorta fib their specs. What they do is measure the brightness and contrast ratio seperately. So, what does this mean to HT use??? Most projectors have a "Home theater" setting which will decrease the brightness to maximize contrast ratio, it can decrease the brightness by around 1/3. It really depends on your definition of "too bright" to say what will lumen value will work.

The second critical part to a projector system is a screen. For a bright room, you need to get a screen that limits the light that comes from off angle (ie, not from the projector). Stewart http://www.stewartfilm.com/ make some very nice screens for this type of application.

Finally, a good source of projector information can be found at Projector Central http://www.projectorcentral.com/

I think it might be benificial to go for some WAF factor and hang a few drapes to help light control the room a bit so you don't have to spend nearly the $$$ for a fancy screen and a high power projector.

-Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

glennbarn,

I have installed a few of the LT220's that your looking at and they look quite good in medium ambient light situations. We used Vutec "bright white" screens as a match. Please be aware that for critical viewing (lets sit down and watch a movie tonight) it might not be your best bet, we use them for casual viewing (game rooms etc.). The "halo" effect is quite noticeable on the 220. The LT 240 would be a much better match for critical viewing.

As posted above contrast ratio is also key. Presentation projectors often falsely spec the lumens #'s

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