Looking for a good projector for a friend

[TIbor]

My buddy has a large living room and thinking about getting a projector. He is looking to spend max about 5 thou, probalby including screen. Can you recommend a projector and screen. The room gets a lot of outside light whcih I think will be a problem. Of course he can close the blinds. But is outside light a big problem?

Thanks

[rasavage4]

I can't vouch for it, but there is a projector at www.woot.com for today that is $699 plus $5 shipping. The site was recommended by Time magazine for getting closeout items and selling them for only one day.

[Cal Blacksmith]

Yes light can be a problem for PJs. We just bought a Hitachi PJ-TX100 LCD HD 16 x 9 and love it. See the following thread:

http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=66825&sessionID={9D549F01-9FB0-4538-9E4E-652BA95AEBBB}

You can get them new in the box for under $2000. The picture is bright enough that the wife and I can watch a movie with only medium weight drapes drawn. We will put in more light control later. The picture is sharp and it truly is like being in the movie theater (at night, daytime viewing for now is a little washed out until we install more light control, but it is entirely viewable). It has a quiet cooling fan, picture offsets so you can avoid keystoneing the image though it also has keystone adjustments. It has DVI, computer, component, S video and composite inputs.

It can project up to a 300" diag picture though as with any projector the larger you project the image, the darker it will be due to spreading out the light. If you double the size of the picture, you get 1/4 the light striking the screen, that is just the facts of life with projectors.

Ours is setup to show a 100" diag picture in widescreen format though you are not limited to that format.

We are using a PC as a video server and it works fantastic, something to think about. This is a shot of our screen size though we are currently projecting on a wall.

The picture fills up the space between the Forte floor standing speakers and goes from the top of the Heresy center to the ceiling. Note; you remove the painting to show movies.

And what everyone wanted to know, HOW BIG IS THE PICTURE???

WELL HERE IT IS!!

[Northshore]

After recently going thru the process of equipment selection for my home theater I am able to recommend a fine projector and screen. I went the LCD route and I have been very happy with the detail of the image. Here are the model numbers of the pieces that I purchased: Sony HDTV Projector VPLHS51, DaLite Screen 92" 16:9 HDTV. I would add that when I purchased six months ago the projector was $3500 and I just saw it for $2500 and the screen and frame was $1200. A final note, most projector/screen combos require low lighting in order to appreciate the fine detail and not give you the washed out screen.

[rplace]

I would take a long hard look at Carada screens. I was taking a "money is no issue" stance on the screen and still ended up with a Carada. They are inexpensive, but not cheap. Look fantastic and have great build quality.

Get samples from the various companies and try them with your projector first...IMO it is what you look at for every movie so it is just about the most important part of the video side.

[Cal Blacksmith]

Northshore, amazing isn't it on how fast the prices drop? My projector was introduced 1 year ago and has a MSRP of $3900 I saw it 2 months ago for sale at a local high end HT shop for $3000. I found mine on the AVS bb used 1 hour (the sellers needs changed so they had an extra one) with the factory waranty intact and a copy of the origonal sales recept included for $1250. The discounter prices range from $1599 to $1999.