Well my recommendation will be to go for a 720p projector as even for DVD material it looks good, you can use a upscaling dvd player and enjoy the picture,
720p is usuall called HD Ready and not full HD, so by the time HD reaches average household you will be getting Ultra HD projectors.( Ultra HD uses 7,680 x 4,320 pixels)
Yes, i will be going for a HD65 in January as it is within my budget and is an excellent PJ.
X9 does not have many calibration options and is more brighter, HD 65 produces a much better overall picture and has lot of calibration options.
X9 is more costly than Hd 65 as of today. Hd 65 is very well calibrated out of the box and that is one of the plus point of this machine.
Well i don't know who are these people who are saying X9 is better and if they own one or not. I am a member of other forums and have read posts and discussions on the same, x9 is a new model its cost in US is 1090$.
I have done an extensive research on multiple Pj's which were -
1. Panasonic Ax200u
2. Hitachi Pj TX 300
3. Epson TW700
4. Optoma Hd 65
Out of the above, if going for a Lcd projector i will recommend Tw700, it was costing around 90K + taxes when i inquired and was the best . As it was way over my budget i didn't go for the same.
Hitachi PJ TX300 is a good model, but a old one, reason not to go for the same was again high cost of 90k + taxes also Hitachi is no longer producing this projector most of the dealers don't have stock for the same,
Panasonic Ax200u was a excellent machine, but due to the bulb flickering and other issues i dropped the idea to go for the same.
Optoma HD 65 is a DLP machine, and it will not get dust blobs like lcd projector's, if u go for a lcd projector you will need to clean it from time to time once it gets dusty as dust blobs will appear on the screen, u will not face this issue with DLP machines. If you do not have any issues with rainbow effect which some people have and you can bear little noise of the dlp machine, then you can go for a dlp projector.
lamp warranty vaires with each manufacturer starting from 90 days to 1 year, out of which panasonic was lowest and optoma was highest.
Replacement bulb will cost anywhere between 18 to 25k.
Epson and Optoma both are providing 2 year warranty as of now. mostly the problem comes with the bulb and not the circuitry.
I found Optoma, Epson & Hitachi all 3 to be of good quality and workmanship with very few issues, Panasonic ax200 did have the bulb issues which made me rate it the lowest.
All the views expressed above are my personal findings & research .There are other users in this forum that love their Ax200 and are happy with them i wish them the best.
The prices mentioned are all indicative and were the ones i got couple of months back.
Please go through the below review it will help you understand from where i am coming from it is just one of the links i had gone through during my research
Optoma HD65 Home Theater Projector Review - Overview, Specs