My first PJ, should I try a cheaper one like UNIC UC40 or buy something up to 30k

[TCHeN]

Buy a 'native' 720P Egate Projector and put it next to a XGA resolution Epson/BenQ. Watch the picture quality, I will not have to write a single sentence.

And 3500 lumens on a Egate? If only....if only there was a way to check the claims on the spec sheet.
XGA native resolution projectors from reputed brands with R&D legacy will beat any Chinese El Cheapo brand. I urge everyone to see it for yourself, if you have the budget do not waste the money.

If you do not have the budget and still wish to venture into the PJ world then by all means go ahead, no harm in that. As long as you know what you will be getting for the price paid.

And have you seen the picture quality of XGIMI or JmGO? I would suggest you do because you need to change your opinion.

And both are available with warranty and service in India.

Coming to the Lumens I've specifically stated the only figure to go by is the ANSI Lumens.

PS: Branding everything Chinese as el cheapo is way beyond pass my friend. Don't be stuck in that rut.

 

[Naveenbnc]

Wow, so many experiences and many opinions. This forum is an awesome platform to learn.

When I taught of PJ, my maxim budget is around 80 to 100k. For that money I can get a very good PJ from us. But I can allot that budget next year not now.

Till then, I wanted to test the waters with any cheapo model, to get hands on experience.

But with an increment of every 10k, there are better and better models, and I'm getting tempted. So any way, this is going to be a hit and miss luck. So I taught, let's put a cap of 20k max. For now.

People who already climbed the ladder up won't like the budget models, but a beginner like me may like the experience. I'll get a good one in future for sure. But till then I'll enjoy this without too many expectations. This what I taught seniors.

 

[TCHeN]

When I taught of PJ, my maxim budget is around 80 to 100k.

For that money and getting from the US, you'll do very well.

Read Projectors, Projector Reviews, LCD Projectors, Home Theater DLP Projectors at ProjectorCentral.com for reviews and even breakdown by price.

Some of the real winners cost like Rs. 35,000 if getting on Amazon.com, but you'll need someone to carry them.

For 100K (and a little more) you'll even get the latest Optoma 4K PJ on Amazon.com, around $2000 now, but there might a discount or prices will come down by your purchase date of next year.

 

[Naveenbnc]

Thank you very much for the link TCHeN.. !!!!

 

[anubisX]

Do let us know about your experience and post some pics. I might even consider the model you bought for now. I think with a little bit of tweaking and room settings, things are going to pan out pretty well.

 

[Naveenbnc]

Sure... I'll do...

 

[NiteRider]

Hello All,

I want to buy my first projector. I can allot a budget upto 25-30K for now.

But since I am a beginner for PJ, should I try a cheaper one like UNIC UC40 or EGATE i9 or..... buy something in the range of 25-30k? Please suggest guys...

Will there be a good difference in PQ between a cheaper model under 5-6K and models under 25-30K? If the PQ difference is very minimal, I will buy a budget model now, and buy a premium model later on. Is this a good approach??

Room size: 11x14 and I will make it semi dark, dedicated to HT
Current setup: Yht 196 avr + Taga 5.0 tav 606se

Thanks for all the support ...

Instead of writing a very long reply here, I created a new thread to share my experience.

Have a look: http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...rience-projectors-vivibright-egate-epson.html

Hope it helps and do share your own experience with Egate

 

[shibashis]

And have you seen the picture quality of XGIMI or JmGO? I would suggest you do because you need to change your opinion.

And both are available with warranty and service in India.

Coming to the Lumens I've specifically stated the only figure to go by is the ANSI Lumens.

PS: Branding everything Chinese as el cheapo is way beyond pass my friend. Don't be stuck in that rut.

Read again what I had to write.
Chinese 'El cheapo' brands and products are exactly that: El Cheapo. Egate is one such knock-off and so are the multitude of similar products that you will find with same hardware and a different name. Discussion was regarding Egate and Unic, Play, Xelectron and such, XGimi did not come up.

Xgimi is quite good, in fact very good, I did consider it but XGimi does not come cheap either.

 

[elangoas]

Read again what I had to write.
Chinese 'El cheapo' brands and products are exactly that: El Cheapo. Egate is one such knock-off and so are the multitude of similar products that you will find with same hardware and a different name. Discussion was regarding Egate and Unic, Play, Xelectron and such, XGimi did not come up.

@shibashis, instead of addressing the products as "cheapo", address it to the limitation of the product, so that a novice user knows what it is..

The UNIC is no more than 50 - 60 lumens of brightness.. But you can still get a respectable 60 ~ 80 inch screen for 5K, in a completely dark room with bare walls..

The Egate P513/P531 is no more than 200 lumens of brightness..I have been using it for more than 10 months time..It replaced a TV..It by no means is bad..It is very similar to Excelvan CL720..I am able to use it for 96 inch screen in my room..

The Egate K9 (1280 x 800), though a rebranded chinese, is a very good product, which uses DLP- RGB LED (OSRAM Lighting) juz like the mainstream brands, but limited to 400 lumens...

It is for this very reason of branding as "cheapo", not many users come forward to experience it..

 

[TCHeN]

Read again what I had to write.
Chinese 'El cheapo' brands and products are exactly that: El Cheapo. Egate is one such knock-off and so are the multitude of similar products that you will find with same hardware and a different name. Discussion was regarding Egate and Unic, Play, Xelectron and such, XGimi did not come up.

Xgimi is quite good, in fact very good, I did consider it but XGimi does not come cheap either.

I give up dude. No use arguing.

PS: If you want to continue degrading and insulting others as el cheapo, then also be ready to receive in kind.

 

[shibashis]

I give up dude. No use arguing.

PS: If you want to continue degrading and insulting others as el cheapo, then also be ready to receive in kind.

FYI I am not a 'dude'. :lol:
I hope you will go back and see my first post on this thread. There never was any name-calling, nor was that the intention.
I am entitled to my opinion and the point I was trying to make was that going in stages and upgrading after a while is a wastage of money. Again Chinese products like Egate, Unic are ok to start with as I explicitly point out in my first post and by all means go ahead with one. I also pointed out if you have the budget you should go with established players with hugely better quality output, that is just a fact.

You point out Xgimi and Jmgo, nice, I even mentioned they are nice products but are they cheap? Are they in the budget of 15-20K that is being talked of here? The budget models are (once again) good to get an understanding of a projector but nothing better than that. From my own experience the intent was to save OP some money especially since he has the budget to go higher.

Do not get me wrong, I am not in name-calling business, everyone is entitled to their opinions and that is the forum is for.

 

[Naveenbnc]

Hello All... i just connected the egate P513 and the first impression that it is worth every penny. :clapping: Since it less than 20k, and i started it withought high expectations, im right now thrilled with the big screen experience. At least for the next few weeks I may be impressed just because of the big screen experience, without worrying about its limitations in PQ. Over the period of time I may look for an upgrade, but right now Im enjoying.

Till now I havent tried any finetuning options except rotating zoom lense a bit, and adjusting keystone correction. I could achieve a 5 feet wide image on the wall. It is too early to make judgement on the product, but first impression is that it is just awesome under the budget of 20k !!!! It can keep many users happy for months together, unless they are too keen in observing PQ. In a budget of 20k ... its worth every penny. If you start without high expectations, and without comparing to premium pj, and "if you are on budget", this will not disappoint under 20k

Il post more details and photos soon... :licklips:

 

[Naveenbnc]

I suppose you have more access to BR Rips like most of us in the forum..As far as audio is concerned, you just need to bitstream to AVR..Either a laptop with HDMI/PC with Graphics card should do..

For video processing, you can rely on AVR internal processing (if it has one) (or) in the form of dedicated graphics card..



This was real quick.. Good luck.. :thumbsup: Share your experience..



Until then play videos thru PJ USB port..

Hello Elangoas,

Right now this is exactly a big drawback in my setup. Lack of BRRips. Im not sure where to get them. I will explore. May be I should buy original br discs and rip.

I followed the bit stream thread and did all the changes in my laptop. Finally i could not achieve bitstream. My avr still shows pcm as a input signal. But surprisingly, there is a huge improvement in my audio quality. hyeah:

And... yes... i took a quick decision following MaSh route ...directly plunging into the water to test. Im happy now :licklips:

 

[elangoas]

I could achieve a 5 feet wide image on the wall.

I thought your room was bigger.. Is 5 feet the maximum wall area that you can project the image on?..

Il post more details and photos soon... :licklips:

Sure.. Also show position of the PJ, w.r.t room length..

Hello Elangoas,

Right now this is exactly a big drawback in my setup. Lack of BRRips. Im not sure where to get them. I will explore.

:sad:

May be I should buy original br discs and rip.

Yes.. but that will be expensive here, say if you would have 50 - 75 dics..

I followed the bit stream thread and did all the changes in my laptop. Finally i could not achieve bitstream. My avr still shows pcm as a input signal. But surprisingly, there is a huge improvement in my audio quality. hyeah:

Saw you thread.. But Mash was suggesting some solution..So looks like your laptop HDMI out, is capable of only 2 channel out?..

And... yes... i took a quick decision following MaSh route ...directly plunging into the water to test. Im happy now :licklips:

I too saw Mash thread on UNIC46 and then i bought UNIC 46, then wanted to try it with Egate P531..

 

[Naveenbnc]

Day time shots in movies are surely very good for the pj and its price range. These below pictures are with default settings. They are pretty good. Night time shots in blue shade on the actors faces are not sharp. That too...i just checked only one movie from amazon prime.

Blue generally blue color has more scattering character. Thats why the sky is blue. I have to tweek some settings.
And these pics are taken with my redmi note3. It doesnt have a great cam

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Naveenbnc]

My wall is 10 feet wide... but unfortunately, I installed 2 feet wide diy copboard at the right corner a few weeks back, to keep laptop bags. At that time i didnt have a slightest clue that i may buy a pj. So effectively I have 8 feet wide wall.

Basically the usable room size excluding the full wall cupboards on the rear wall is 10 x 12 feet.

I will try options like aspect ratio, zoom..etc etc.. and post the room layout, with dimensions, and some more pics soon.

The above pics are when the PJ is placed at 9feet away from front wall, and 3.4 feet high from the floor. With this position, i got an image 5.5 feet wide on the wall. I still have to explore how to make it bigger.

But I felt that if the sitting position is 9 feet away from the screen, and if the image is around 8 to 10 feet wide, we may have to move our head left and right to see the movie scenes... (im just guessing)

 

[drkrack]

Day time shots in movies are surely very good for the pj and its price range. These below pictures are with default settings. They are pretty good. Night time shots in blue shade on the actors faces are not sharp. That too...i just checked only one movie from amazon prime.

Blue generally blue color has more scattering character. Thats why the sky is blue. I have to tweek some settings.
And these pics are taken with my redmi note3. It doesnt have a great cam

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

These are Good images for a Streamed Content, And low budget PJ. Though I feel the color accuracy can be improved. Just check your own or family member pictures and try to match the skin color or items in your home etc to the actual one ( Remember the Camera should be of good quality or a DSLR as well). Ideally the other settings should be changed with a blu-ray disc video instead of a download content.

Happy viewing, enjoy and keep the thread updated.
[emoji106][emoji106]

 

[Naveenbnc]

Hi drkrack, actual pj performance is slightly better than the images i posted here. But again, i didn't tweek any settings. I hope it can be improved further. Since im a beginner for pj, im quite happy for now. hyeah:

And yes... il try to check with blueray disc aswell... thank you...

 

[elangoas]

i didn't tweek any settings. I hope it can be improved further.

Check this post on the other thread for settings.. that FM had tried some settings.. See if that works for you..

http://www.hifivision.com/home-theatre-projectors-screens/66848-budget-setup-27k-inr-pj-egate-p531-1280x800.html#post736191

And yes... il try to check with blueray disc aswell... thank you...

You can check with BR Rips too (higher file size)..

 

[NiteRider]

The above pics are when the PJ is placed at 9feet away from front wall, and 3.4 feet high from the floor. With this position, i got an image 5.5 feet wide on the wall. I still have to explore how to make it bigger.

But I felt that if the sitting position is 9 feet away from the screen, and if the image is around 8 to 10 feet wide, we may have to move our head left and right to see the movie scenes... (im just guessing)

Most people like the ratio of viewing distance to screen-width to be between 1.25 to 1.50. I love the ratio of exactly 1.35x. That is, if I am sitting 120 inches / 10 feet away from the screen, then I want the width to be around 120/1.35 = 89 inches / 7' 5". It is different for every person.

This projector has a throw ratio of 1.55 which means you should get the width of 69 inches from 9 feet / 108 inches. So for me, I would need my seating to be at 69/1.35 = 51 inches / 4' 3" to get an immersive experience. Try standing at that distance from your wall-screen and see how 1.35x feels to you and also notice if you have to rotate your head too much.

Also, can you measure and let me know exactly how many inches higher up the projector needs to be kept from the bottom of the projected screen? I forgot to measure that when I had a unit.