need a projector for watching movies.

manu george

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I am looking for a projector under 30k.I planned to buy 32 inch led for movie watching.but many of my friends are advising me to buy a projector.My only need is watching movies.

I have very little knowledge regarding projector.please give your valuable advises.
my room size is 20''/11'.

thanks everybody in advance.
 
Manu,

I think you should go at least for a 720P projector as anything lower then this could be a compromise effecting the end result.

With getting the projector alone is not enough, there will be additional cost in terms of screen, mounting, Hdmi cable of 15 feet and so on, these items in basic quality itself will cost you nothing less then 10,000/-/15,000/-, unless you use a lot of short cuts in terms of DIY and so on.

It would be ideally better to go for a led TV as per your original idea to project the video content as your budget is not right for a projector at this point of time.

V.
 
With due respect to Vinay's suggestion, I will like to put forward my view too. IMO, the purpose can be fulfilled in a more cost effective way. Currently your budget is 30K..right. If you can increase it a bit, you can get a decent LED projector for watching movies like acer k130/330 or Benq GP2 which I am using too. You can read the review here: http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...34326-complete-review-my-benq-joybee-gp2.html

How do you plan to play the movies? Most likely from your computer/ laptop. Do you have a fair enough sound system...because all the thrill of big screen will be completely out of sync if sound does not matches the screen 'dimensions'. If you have a decent sound system then it will not be too much spending I guess. But you will need at least a 4X6 screen which will cost you at least 1500 bucks. Most of the LED pjs are short throws, at least mine is so I am not able to do a permanent fit as it just needs no more than 6 feet to project a 90 inch screen. So, when I watch movies, I just place the pj on the floor, keep the laptop in proximity and attach it with the VGA port through the cable supplied with the PJ itself. My audio system is connected to the laptop through the 3.5mm jack. The only 2 drawbacks of this set up are:

1. No permanent kind of set up...But I really dont bother as I dont have the luxury of a separate HT room. My living rooms is my makeshift HT room!

2. Wires may look little huddled but again its only for the time when its playing. I have taken care of this issue to quite an extent by running them under the carpet.

Hope that helps,
Saket
 
Since your budget is below 30K then go for any projector with a resolution of 1024 X 768 minimum, there are many office projectors from benq/ acer / asus which does fairly well with movies.
Go for DLP projectors.....HD projectors are better but you have to invest more..if your projector has no HDMI then make or buy a cable with Y Pb Pr to D-Sub connection to connect your proj. with a bluray player....
 
Since your budget is below 30K then go for any projector with a resolution of 1024 X 768 minimum, there are many office projectors from benq/ acer / asus which does fairly well with movies.
Go for DLP projectors.....HD projectors are better but you have to invest more..if your projector has no HDMI then make or buy a cable with Y Pb Pr to D-Sub connection to connect your proj. with a bluray player....
Office projectors? They are not suitable for home cinema. Office/boardroom projectors are meant to display slide-ware and stuff. In a powerpoint presentation, strong contrast is already built in - white background and dark text, occasional graphics again with contrasting colours, etc. The whole content is sharp and crisp. The projector itself is high lumen meant for projecting in an environment/room that has quite a lot of ambient light. If you use such a projector for cinema, the picture will be washed out.

Cinema is all about low contrast, high blacks, smooth/soft pictures, moving frames, etc. You need a home cinema oriented projector for such a purpose.

To the OP, I advise that you save a little more and buy a proper home cinema oriented projector. HD is not strictly required - 720p will do. If you have to wait to save to increase your budget, do so. Don't waste 30K on something that is a compromise. As Vinay stated, you will also need to spend on cables (around 2.5K) and screen (around 5K for a manual pull-down). And please note that a projector cannot be a replacement for a TV - it never will. It is just not convenient enough - imagine that you need to catch the latest news or some quick view for 15 minutes and go off? You can't go with all the hassles of darkening the room, pulling down the screen, switch on the projector, etc.
 
I am using a good ht package.denon avr 1612,sonodyne bookshelf center surrounds and subwoofer.I am experiencing more than enough in sound department.
but my monitor is 22inch benq led.
My avr is connected with my pc via hdmi.
My only need is watching movies.
I am using a samsung tv to watch news and other tv programs.
 
you can buy acer 130,acer 330...
but they are much less powerd than bulb ones

imho get epson 550 at 49k.....very very vfm and just launched recent model..720p..
pj cannot be upgraded...so go once..go big
yes consider 4.5k at least for a 30 ft long hdmi cable...bandridge etc
money can be saved by using short mormal 100 Rs hdmi cable...by placing avr in not at ideal place...use your ideas..

or you can go diy way..if very very very confident..mind it..they have their own limitations...like any diy
but it will be around 25k to 35k...mind that..not very cheap..

a sample image of my diy pj
82926765.jpg



i highly support your friend who told a pj rather than a tv for only moveui purpose...

never ever buy the egate ones...also not the cheap screens form e bay..they are for presentation..not for HT..i got one..very shiney surface..direct light reflective
 
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There are LED projectors, but stick with DLP. They might claim high lumens, but those can't do more than 80~90" diagonal. It also helps to keep screen size small because these pico projectors use small, 0.45" DLP chip. Moreover, the pixels they have are diamond shape instead of rectangular ones like in regular projector. These LED projectors also have a very small lens, made of plastic and bit softer to cut corners due to budget. All these factor result in bit softer image. If you keep the image size small, these are not so noticeable.

If you are able to increase your budget little more, then see if you can import BenQ 1070. It's more money, but the jump in picture quality is huge due to 1080p, brighter image. Remember how loud audio system is perceived as higher quality? Same thing happens when you see brighter, punchy colors and picture that pops out. Overall better quality.

If I were you, I would wait and same some more money rather than limiting my budget and settling for something that I don't like. But that's just me. :)
 
pl refer to http://www.deltapage.com/list/projectors.pdf, you will have many options in ur budget.
stick to wxga versions and jump into the world of big screen magic, u have nice HT and what ur missing is only big screen, I bet you will be out of world with any basic DLP WXGA model, even on LED too.
Myself using ACER K130 currently available @31.5k all inclusive, and never felt like upgrading to full HD higher lumens etc etc.
Don't loose your heart, 30 K is handsome amount for the purpose.
 
pl refer to
stick to wxga versions and jump into the world of big screen magic, u have nice HT and what ur missing is only big screen, I bet you will be out of world with any basic DLP WXGA model, even on LED too.
Myself using ACER K130 currently available @31.5k all inclusive, and never felt like upgrading to full HD higher lumens etc etc.
Don't loose your heart, 30 K is handsome amount for the purpose.

These lines perfectly sum up what I wanted to say.

& as Dipomat & few other PJ experts on the forum would remember, I was also confused before getting an LED based PJ, but once I started using it, it was more than what I expected. I never feel like it's compromising on lumens or quality.
 
pl refer to http://www.deltapage.com/list/projectors.pdf, you will have many options in ur budget.
stick to wxga versions and jump into the world of big screen magic, u have nice HT and what ur missing is only big screen, I bet you will be out of world with any basic DLP WXGA model, even on LED too.
Myself using ACER K130 currently available @31.5k all inclusive, and never felt like upgrading to full HD higher lumens etc etc.
Don't loose your heart, 30 K is handsome amount for the purpose.

Is Acer K130 good for movie from Blu Ray as well ?
 
whether ACER K130 is good for bluray or not, depends on what do you expect from such tiny machine with WXGA native.
But still anything @ 720P or higher is lovely to watch, I recently had 1080P file of Life of Pi thrown to 120 inch screen from this unit, believe me it was crystal clear with very accurate skin tone etc.
I don't disagree with the fact that a dedicated full hd projector will do full justice to your bluray as compared to Acer K 130, but at a price which many like me cannot afford to spend.
 
Now I am confused.I am increasing my budget to 35 to 40k.
I postponed my purchase to july or august for getting a proper light to my brain in the projector segment.
 
good for u, spend sometime on spec sheet and try to figure out what you get against the price, then decide...
 
epson 550....no one can beat it at that price point...49k...3000 lum...3d....720p...
from 8 ft distance...720p or 1080p does not matter..matters from 5 feet..yes...but who will watch a 90 inch scren from 5 feet....it will result sea sickness....

but its 3 lcd.....not dlp...i am not aware of dlps at that price point...you must review dlps as well at that price point..........
 
Now I am confused.I am increasing my budget to 35 to 40k.
I postponed my purchase to july or august for getting a proper light to my brain in the projector segment.

Lol Manu! I can seriously identify with your position as I was in the same boat a few months ago. Stop getting confused! First things first...so do you want an LED based projector or a normal bulb projector? An LED projector uses LEDs to project images where as bulb pjs use expensive bulbs.

LED- Pros

1. Ownership cost can be literally none except the electricity the pj consumes as LED light source have long lives...at least 20,000 hours which ideally means more than the useful life of the PJ itself.

2. The LED PJs are light, small enough & lesser fragile compared to bulb pjs.
3. Electricity consumption is lower.
4. No cool down period required and can be turned off instantaneously.

LED-Cons

1. The major drawback is that they are low on lumen output. Most LED PJs sold today are in the range of 200-500 lumens compared to 2000-3000 lumens of Bulb pjs. (however, please note that a 2000 lumen image does not mean that its 10 times brighter than a 200 lumen image)
2. Cannot be used in lighted environment or daytime without blinds.
3. Availability: Not too many options available (that's a boon, as you won't get confused further!)

Bulb PJs Pros

1. High lumen output means bright image. Mostly when coupled with good contrast ratio, these can provide great image quality, esp. high end pjs. I took a demo of Viewsonic Pro 8200 and man, I was literally blown away. I was quoted 82K for that which was way above my budget. Plus, I always wanted to go the LED way but that's another matter.
2. A lot of options available.

Bulb PJ cons:

1. Bulb life is limited. Also, they can go off, break etc. anytime before their rated lifetime (typically 3000-5000 hours) if manhandled or sufficient cooling time is not given after every viewing session before moving/ storing (provided its not fixed permanently). And bulbs are pretty expensive. They can cost you more than half the price of your PJ.

2. They operate at high temperature & can get very hot. So, a proper ventilated space with cool ambience temperature is preferred.

3. Cannot be turned off instaneously, which means you need an UPS.

4. Also, availability of lamps of older PJs may be a subject of doubt. So, if the particular model lamp that your PJ uses is no more in production then its bye-bye for the PJ itself.


Right now, these come to my mind. But my suggestion is to go & see for yourself. Visit a shop retailing these & have a demo. This will clear all your doubts. Don't over/ under rate any of the PJ i.e.. LED or bulb based only on these points. There can be factors which you are comfortable/ unwilling to compromise with. Eg. if bulb life is not a matter of concern for you, then its that only. If you plan to use the PJ at night only or you have good blackout window blinds to control ambience light, then LEDs make perfect sense. Decide according to your need. As you have increased your budget to 40K, you have many options under both the category.

If you want more on this, we will be glad to help.

Regards,
Saket
 
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thank you very much all members and special thanks to Saket.
I think led projector is suitable for me.
I think a 300 lumens of led is almost nearly bright as bulb pj having 2000 lumens.
 
thank you very much all members and special thanks to Saket.
I think led projector is suitable for me.
I think a 300 lumens of led is almost nearly bright as bulb pj having 2000 lumens.

No it's not... Not even close... I have a 1600 lumen projector & I have demoed a 500 lumen led projector... The diff is night & day(almost literally :p)... A bright image is a major plus point in favor of bulb projectors... Presently led projectors can't match the brightness or the contrast a bulb projector is able to pump out... You are choosing to buy an LED projector coz there are many avilable in ur budget & u like many others are scared of "bulb costs"...Btw everyone keeps suggesting that a bulb projectors would probably require multiple bulb changes... A simple calculation would show that even if u watched 1 movie a day everyday without fail then u would still use up like 900-1000 hours of bulb life every year... Now considering the bulbs nowadays last anywhere from 4-5k hours that's a viewing time of atleast 4 years without a bulb change... This is considering that u would be having the free time to watch 1200 odd movies in 4 years... If u plan to do that I would suggest u learn atleast 3-4 foreign languages so that u can spread out ur choice a bit :p ... But in all seriousness I realize that there are some pretty good led projectors in ur budget but remember that u are compromising on PQ & LED does have its drawbacks like Saket mentioned... Somebody posted the delta page PDF of projector prices which has quite a few 720p bulb & LED projectors below 40k... Also u would need a projector screen... If u are going in for a LED projector look at about 90-100 inch diagonal pull down screen or a laminate DIY screen like Santy built...
 
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