FULL HD 1080p projectors shootout!

vellorenavin

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a number of firangi sites doing this, though i dont see the reason why we should not, so here it goes, starting a new thread on this topic. I propose two names

1) panasonic pt ae 3000
2) sanyo PLV z 3000

both are LCD projectors and top of the line, i had a lot of difficulty deciding between the two and finally settled on sanyo , a) because it was cheaper by 40 k ( sanyo plv z 3000 = 1, 62,000 with tax panasonic ae3000 2,05,000 with tax) b) because sanyo had two years warranty a year more than the panasonic.

specs and performance wise, both are not so different at all....

here are a couple of links that i read through out of the thousand or so :) before making up my mind...

HCC Review - SANYO PLV-Z3000 Z700 Projectors vs. Panasonic AE 3000 U Price AUD

Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector Review

Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector - Competitors

Sanyo PLV-Z3000 Projector - Competitors

your thoughts on that?
Any other similary priced FUL HD heavyweights come to mind?
 
how much did the Sanyo set you back by?

a number of firangi sites doing this, though i dont see the reason why we should not, so here it goes, starting a new thread on this topic. I propose two names

1) panasonic pt ae 3000
2) sanyo PLV z 3000

both are LCD projectors and top of the line, i had a lot of difficulty deciding between the two and finally settled on sanyo , a) because it was cheaper by 40 k ( sanyo plv z 3000 = 1, 62,000 with tax panasonic ae3000 2,05,000 with tax) b) because sanyo had two years warranty a year more than the panasonic.

specs and performance wise, both are not so different at all....

here are a couple of links that i read through out of the thousand or so :) before making up my mind...

HCC Review - SANYO PLV-Z3000 Z700 Projectors vs. Panasonic AE 3000 U Price AUD

Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector Review

Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector - Competitors

Sanyo PLV-Z3000 Projector - Competitors

your thoughts on that?
Any other similary priced FUL HD heavyweights come to mind?
 
Hello,
its an interesting topic you have started and it too has endless possibilities. I guess when somebody is going for this kind of purchase the first parameter to be fixed is budget. From my experience I know that projector market in India doesn't have much liquidity specially in the home segment.As a natural consequence the bid ask spread is quite high. You must bergain ver very hard and I can tell you 25% to 30% price reduction isn't impossible.
Now coming to the products I have been using Sanyo plvZ5 for past one year and I am very satisfied with it. It does what it claims.Its very good value for money. It has one very good feature which is the automatic lens cover. Whenever the projector starts it opens up and closes when it is turned off. IMO it is very important in a country like india where there is too much dust.Another important thing is ability to save user calibration.z5 has three custom user image save options hence i guess ur model aslo has it. It is very important to have atleast three because setting will be different for HD sources and SD sources.
I can't comment on picture quality as compared to other projector since this is the only multimedia projector I have ever seen at work.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.
 
Yes interesting topic.

I have always wondered about this option as it can give you really big pictures. :cool:

I have no idea about it's pros & cons...bulb replacements, rooming lighting conditions etc. :confused: Maybe an expert can list these?

How about comparing it with a large screen LCD?:)
 
Yes interesting topic.

I have always wondered about this option as it can give you really big pictures. :cool:

I have no idea about it's pros & cons...bulb replacements, rooming lighting conditions etc. :confused: Maybe an expert can list these?

How about comparing it with a large screen LCD?:)

I will leave the other points but for PQ the TVs are better. I was in the market for one recently and planned on an Optoma HD75 or HD65, but after watching Blu-Ray movies on my brother's Pioneer Kuro FHD Plasma I dropped the idea. Now I'm thinking of a Full HD 50" LCD or Plasma instead especially an LCD since all things considered it will be the best for my PS3 gaming too.
 
I will leave the other points but for PQ the TVs are better. I was in the market for one recently and planned on an Optoma HD75 or HD65, but after watching Blu-Ray movies on my brother's Pioneer Kuro FHD Plasma I dropped the idea. Now I'm thinking of a Full HD 50" LCD or Plasma instead especially an LCD since all things considered it will be the best for my PS3 gaming too.

But these are not FHD. I have heard that high-end FHD projectors can really be excellent performers.
 
But these are not FHD. I have heard that high-end FHD projectors can really be excellent performers.

Those would be expensive. I've used projectors in the past, only issue is the maintenance and bulb changing. After a while the bulbs will not be available and you will have to buy a new projector itself. This is done in the name of upgrade like all h/w manufacturers and this must be considered if one is going for a projector. Also, not too good with fast moving images, sports, etc.

But maybe you are right about the high-end ones as I've not seen a very high-end one myself but quite sure it will be expensive.
 
I have been watching movies via projector, earlier I used watch via TV, there is no comparison between the two, I am using a 82 inches screen of dalite. My other screen is 72 inches. The movie watching via projector is ultimate for me.

About the bulb replacement, I think there is no problem, unless the projector model is old by more than 6/8 years, if after 5 years or so, one can buy a spare bulb and keep it, just in case the bulb is no more available, and importantly if one watches movies on regular basis, then as it is after 5 years or so, one would have to buy a new projector, as how much of it has been used aggressively. I am using the projector very regularly for more then 2 years, there is so far no maintenance issue.

As far as room lights go, one can always manage a dark room, but my other screen dnp of Denmark, works well even with in-direct lights on, thought he screen is very expensive.

Vinay.
 
I second Vinay's comments. I watched Casino Royale Blu Ray on a Pioneer Kuro 60" Full HD plasma. picture was stunning and colors were excellent, BUT it never gave me a feeling of total involvement into the movie.

things were totally different when I watched a 20 min clip from Transformers on a 140" screen + Christie's DLP projector, woww...that was what I always wanted...it gave me a feeling of a movie theater. but I must admit the christie projector was 3 times the cost of the pioneer kuro plasma, so its not a fair comparison.

my point is, at a particular price point flat screen TVs currently offer value for money with their good PQ compared to a projector. but not considering cost, no plasmas or LCDs can give the completely immersing experience a front projector can give, IMO
 
Let me reinforce what Vinay and Vishanv just said.
I have a 46inch full HD TV in the bedroom, and a dedicated HT room which still has an older (not HD) projector. The TV surely has a better and brighter picture, but you just cannot compare it with the experience that a projector provides. The involvement is many times higher when we sit in the HT room. You are drawn into the story, you feel for the characters on the screen. For instance, the kids never get scared with the stuff on the TV no matter what we watch, but on a big projector screen even a sudden turn of a steering can jolt you from your seat. So if you have a room and money to spare, go for it!

I have been using this projector for 4+ years with no issues with the bulb or dust etc. I just make sure I give it the cooling time it needs before switching off the power. You surely need a UPS with the projector.

For my next upgrade, I have been considering the two very same projectors that Navin has listed. So this confirms that my shortlist is not bad!
Navin, could you actually get a demo of the Panasonic projector? According to the reviews, it should have a better hold over the motion and panning camera scenes. Did you notice any visible difference in the picture?

Thanks,
Sharad
 
I have a 8x6 ft grandview screen, 720p projector connected to dvdp via hdmi - and no 40-50" TV can come close to the experience of a projector. Turning lights off creates a magical impact. I rent DVDs from seventymm so lots of movies to see, at reasonable cost and at decent quality. I even like Tata sky much more on my pj than TV - it is much much clear than on any HDTVs I have seen.

When I decided about PJ, I settled for 720p due to a simple reason - non-availability/very high pricing/ no renting of true 1080 content. I think it will be another couple of years before we get HD transmission in India, and reasonable cost blue rays. I will move to 1080p the day seventymm starts renting out blu rays.

If you can get it from the US it might turn out way cheaper. My projector just costed about 58k INR. Setup of a manual screen with 30ft good quality hdmi cable costed about 16k. This was in Oct las year. It has gone cheaper since then I guess. Since I am currently in a rented acco, it didn't make sense to invest a lot in setups.

regards
 
guys guys, frenzy of activity in this thread , im happy i started it late yesterday night.... ok .... i have demoed both of them in 100'' diagonal screen combinations, though both the screens were not comparable....panasonic was demoed with a gray screen and sanyo with a white screen with unity gain. gray screen they say slighty improves the black levels... ill try and answer a few queries here :)

1) "I have no idea about it's pros & cons...bulb replacements, rooming lighting conditions etc. Maybe an expert can list these? "reju
im no expert but ill try. previousy projectors used to burn out bulbs like matchsticks..and a replacement roughly cost 60 to 70 % of the original projector cost. not anymore, sanyo plv series for instance is said to last seven years or more with normal usage <forums>. and a repacement costs 25 % of projector cost.

2) ambient lighting is another debatable aspect, with advocates for lcd /plasma tvs saying tvs berform best in bright ambient light. theres something in a projector spec called ANSI LUMENS ... sanyo plv z 3000 is 1200 ANSI LUMENS and panasonic pt ae 3000 rated at 1600 ANSI LUMENS. in laymans terms, it basically tells you how brightly the projector will project images. the more the lumens, the better the picture in ambient light . good ambient light viewing is necessary for tv projection, so if u dont have a telly and plan to project tata sky via ur projector go for good ansi lumens....but here again there is a catch, similar to how avr manufactures overstate the power, projector manufacturers overstate the ansi lumens...for example panasonic and sanyo (the models in question) have the same wattage bulbs, so where did the extra ansi lumens in the panny come from. ?? there are many viewing modes in a projector, and in normal viewing modes, u wont need more than 600 ansi lumens. a projector that runs at high ansi lumen setting in most modes is overflexing its muscle and burns out bulbs earlier. Is this why sanyo has a warranty of 3 yrs (outside india) for both proj and bub ( 2 yrs in india) whie the panny has just one yr?>

3)the notion that a projector will not support gaming is passe' . previousy in old projectors they used to have what is called a "judder" between fast scenes...not anymore....not at all in these new ful hd monsters.

4) i got the sanyo pv z 3000 for a price of 1,62, 000 (tax inclusive) from vision next, tnagar chennai. pm me for more details.

5)i could find no difference between the panny and the sanyo, sold out on the sanyo because as i said it was 40 k cheaper and also probaby because i demoed the panny at a fellow doctors house and he had an enormous positive owner bias towards the panny....it kind of irked me :p:p:yahoo:

6) you have to bargain like a dog at a streetvendors shop to get best bargains.... sanyo was quoted at 1,98,000 for me initially

critiques as always welcome :rolleyes:
 
anm,
scrimped a lot in the past 8 months to make this possibe. Have been living off 1/6th of my salary with the rest safely going into my "home theatre fund" ;) another reason why i bargained like a tenacious street dog for months on the end to get such prices :p It also helps that im still single (soon to give in to plurality). People go a lot of distance to woo their sweethearts dont they:clapping:
 
Naveen,
if we correlate budget with age/ marital status and of course whether salaried individual - you are rarest of rare on this forum I guess. :clapping:
You have onkyo 876. What speakers have you closed on?

regards
 
anm, demoed quite a lot of speakers, shortisted two a)monitor audio silver rs series b) kef iq series. wholeheartedly disiked the klipsch reference line (my personal opinion). finally couldnt make up my mind between MA or kef. the deal clinched it...got a better price for the kef.. so finaly the set up is gonna be kef iq 90 floorstanders, iq8ds dipole surrounds, iq ine centres, two iq1 back surround bookshelves and the sub im going for polkaudio tsi series 500 w bass reflex sub , just because i found the kef psw 2500 250 w downfiring sub to be a little too puny for the setup...seemed ike an "under" kill
 
Not sure if i am late in the party, but i have an epson 1080p projector (TW2000 which is the european version of the epson home cinema). I paid a bomb for that in the UK (3000gbp -late 2008) and for the few hours i have seen it , it is a wonderful product.
Now, i am sure a newer epson model would be in the offing. I strongly suggest that you include epson projectors in your shortlist for 'viditions" (wanted to sound like audition for videos)

price ofcourse is significant, but if you have upto 200k inr to spare (go full HD), you must look at the following feature list during your evaluation stage:

1. Placement flexibility (zoom and lens shift).
2. service support and lamp costs
3. uniformity of picture
4. convergence (in case of lcd projectors, the RGB rays should eventually merge and give you one single dot rather than three partly overlapping dots. Presently, a half pixel mis-convergence should be acceptable )
5. projector noise
6. user calibration control.
7. average normal lux output of the lamp () for eg, panny is a light cannon whereas i wouldnt rate sanyo as much)

my two cents.
Please do remember that once you are addicted to a projector, nothing else even seems second best. You just cant live without your 100" picture :)
 
well there is a question that pops to my mind ...how bright should you expect a HOME theatre full HD projector to be.....? Is brightness an important spec or is it an over hyped one? after all , most rooms that are designed to accomodate a full HD projector will have reasonable sheltering from too much ambient light, and as i previously repped, in most modes the projector wont need more than 600 - 700 ANSI lumens? am i right or am i wrong?
 
It is important to note that there is a half life for a projector lamp and the brightness slowly degrades over time and over different picture modes (sports is usually bright and movie mode is usually duller to get to the 6200kelvin mark)
most of the projectors have two lamp modes - one where the lamp runs in extra bright mode and the other where the lamp operates at around 75% of its peak output.
when the lamp operates at its peak, it is going to get more hot and thereby the cooling fan should work harder which only means more noise. Any fan noise over 32db should be unacceptable.
It is very important that the 75% bright mode should be good enough for most rooms. this shows in big screens 92 inch and bigger where there would be a substantial dip in brightness at the edges as compared to the center of the screen. what we want is uniform brightness across the board.
most of the rooms might not be bat caves (no ambient light) and hence your projector needs to fight extra hard to ensure that images do not look pale.
given all this, i would suggest that the average projector lums should not be less than 500.
 
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