Audio Video Revolution Forum - View Single Post

TheListeningRoom · 05-28-2008

As a dealer of both LCD and DLP projectors, both offer excellent performance options and the pricing is now very competitive between technologies. While in the past I was personally very sensitive to the "rainbow effect", this hasn't been an issue for me with current generation DLP units, but I do encourage you to watch the unit before you buy - sensitivity to this issue varies widelly from person to person.

I would strongly advise against spending more than $2500 on a projector. I say this because over the last five years, we've seen such significant improvements in projector quality and technology that the best-reviewed models that sold for $7500 one year are typically inferior to the new models at half that price the following year.

At about $2500 street price you can get an exceptional 1080p HD model from a variety of manufacturers. And if in 3 years you want to upgrade, you can spend another $2500 and I'm confident it will be vastly superior to anything you can get for less than $10K today.

One key feature to keep in mind about projectors is ease of placement. Zoom range, throw ratio, lens shift ability, etc. can make a huge difference in how easy it is to fit a projector in your specific space, so do remember to take this into consideration when evaluating models.

For screens, I don't have personal experience with the Goo screens, but I do really like the price/performance ratio of the DA-LITE and Draper screens. I find some of the cheaper brands to offer inferior quality, and the more expensive brands to not offer sufficient value for the price.

I would also advise ensuring you have enough money in your budget for quality audio gear. Sometimes people have a tendency to spend most of their money on video, and leave the audio part as an afterthought. But when you're replicating the movie theater experience at home, audio plays a huge part in conveying the emotional impact of movies. Balance your budget across both audio and video and you'll end up with a far more enjoyable system in the end.

05-28-2008	#12
TheListeningRoom New Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 1	Re: LCD VsDLP projectors As a dealer of both LCD and DLP projectors, both offer excellent performance options and the pricing is now very competitive between technologies. While in the past I was personally very sensitive to the "rainbow effect", this hasn't been an issue for me with current generation DLP units, but I do encourage you to watch the unit before you buy - sensitivity to this issue varies widelly from person to person. I would strongly advise against spending more than $2500 on a projector. I say this because over the last five years, we've seen such significant improvements in projector quality and technology that the best-reviewed models that sold for $7500 one year are typically inferior to the new models at half that price the following year. At about $2500 street price you can get an exceptional 1080p HD model from a variety of manufacturers. And if in 3 years you want to upgrade, you can spend another $2500 and I'm confident it will be vastly superior to anything you can get for less than $10K today. One key feature to keep in mind about projectors is ease of placement. Zoom range, throw ratio, lens shift ability, etc. can make a huge difference in how easy it is to fit a projector in your specific space, so do remember to take this into consideration when evaluating models. For screens, I don't have personal experience with the Goo screens, but I do really like the price/performance ratio of the DA-LITE and Draper screens. I find some of the cheaper brands to offer inferior quality, and the more expensive brands to not offer sufficient value for the price. I would also advise ensuring you have enough money in your budget for quality audio gear. Sometimes people have a tendency to spend most of their money on video, and leave the audio part as an afterthought. But when you're replicating the movie theater experience at home, audio plays a huge part in conveying the emotional impact of movies. Balance your budget across both audio and video and you'll end up with a far more enjoyable system in the end.