which projector to buy?

[vinay]

Projector

The leader in projector tech is Mitsubishi by a very large margin. They have seriously good bang for the buck stuff.

They maybe the leaders, but it seems they are not much interested with the Indian home theatre market, as they hardly advertise, by the way do they have projectors designed for home theatres too, and have you experienced some of them, if yes, please tell me the comparisons with other brands, with the cost.

If you watch movies, than please do let us know, the one's you have liked on the thread "the movies i liked".

Vinay.

 

[Surrealistix]

True, Mitsubishi doesn't have much of a presence in India. But, they make very good HT projectors and at very reasonable price. I own the HC-3000 model and really like the PQ, but I have not really compared it to anything else.

 

[reignofchaos]

Re: Projector

They maybe the leaders, but it seems they are not much interested with the Indian home theatre market, as they hardly advertise, by the way do they have projectors designed for home theatres too, and have you experienced some of them, if yes, please tell me the comparisons with other brands, with the cost.

If you watch movies, than please do let us know, the one's you have liked on the thread "the movies i liked".

Vinay.

Well I had the chance to check out the HC1500 and HC3000 and both were very very good for the price. The HC1500 was under 800$ and 720p capable with 1600 lumens brightness and incredible sharpness. For movies, nothing really comes close in that price range. The HC3000 is a bit more and better.

Mitsubishi has a rich legacy of research in projectors. MERL (Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs) was headed by Ramesh Raskar and his group was the pioneer of most projection technologies in existence today. Had the pleasure of meeting him and seeing some of his demos at Siggraph. Incredible stuff without doubt.

 

[mridulgoel]

Re: Projector

Well I had the chance to check out the HC1500 and HC3000 and both were very very good for the price. The HC1500 was under 800$ and 720p capable with 1600 lumens brightness and incredible sharpness. For movies, nothing really comes close in that price range. The HC3000 is a bit more and better.

Mitsubishi has a rich legacy of research in projectors. MERL (Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs) was headed by Ramesh Raskar and his group was the pioneer of most projection technologies in existence today. Had the pleasure of meeting him and seeing some of his demos at Siggraph. Incredible stuff without doubt.

Buddy

Can you please confirm what will be the INR price for the same model, with all custom duties and taxes etc...
Anyways, what is the contrast ratio for the same...???

 

[reignofchaos]

I'm not exactly sure what the Indian pricing is as I never bothered asking. Anyway if someone is interested, they are seemingly distributed by Globus Infocom. I'm not entirely certain what the contrast ratio is. I think its around 2500:1 for the HC1500 and 3000:1 for the HC3000. Try googling.

 

[jerryns]

I bought Optoma HD-65 recently.. Fabulous one and great color ...
It has HDMI connection too...

 

[vinay]

HDMI Cable & Screen

I bought Optoma HD-65 recently.. Fabulous one and great color ...
It has HDMI connection too...

So which brand's hdmi cable are you using?

Vinay.

 

[Dushie]

Vinay , what price did u pay for your hitachi pj xt 300. is it with warranty and bill, when did you buy the same ?

As the the XT 300 has been discontinued abroad, no longer being manufactured,

i am planning to buy a projector and xt 300 came up in the list too...

pricing , performance and cost of replacement bulb will be a major factor for me,

other projectors i am considering are , panasonic ax 200, epson tw700.

i have to decide 1 amongst the 3,

currently epson and panasonic both are offering 2 years warranty on projector, 450 hours or 90 days on bulb, bulb life they claim will be around 3000 hours on normal mode viewing..

All inputs are welcome

 

[vinay]

Projector

Vinay , what price did u pay for your hitachi pj xt 300. is it with warranty and bill, when did you buy the same ?

As the the XT 300 has been discontinued abroad, no longer being manufactured,

i am planning to buy a projector and xt 300 came up in the list too...

pricing , performance and cost of replacement bulb will be a major factor for me,

other projectors i am considering are , panasonic ax 200, epson tw700.

i have to decide 1 amongst the 3,

currently epson and panasonic both are offering 2 years warranty on projector, 450 hours or 90 days on bulb, bulb life they claim will be around 3000 hours on normal mode viewing..

All inputs are welcome

Dushie,

I have hitachi pj 200, i had bought nearly 2 years ago, at that time it had costed me 1,30,000/-, now it is available at nearly half the price, it is with warranty and bill, i had bought it from the main guys, sight and sound, Delhi.

I believe this 300 model is widely being sold at this point of time by sight of sound, about being discontinued, it is quite a news for me.

At the time, i had bought pj 200, it was the fastest moving in the price range of 1,50,000/-, i find it quite good in all respects, but than sure there must be better one's too, as for everything, there will be something better.

Epson, is among the leaders in budget projectors, especially for home theatre purposes. I have used my projector quite extensively, the bulb and over all the projector is doing too good.

So which screen are you considering, and what will be the length of the room?

Vinay.

 

[Dushie]

Hi Vinay
Thanks for your inputs, well i was trying to find out the prices here in bangalore,both panasoinc ax200 and epson tw700 are around 90K + taxes, hitachi may be slightly cheaper,

as tx 300 is similar to tx 200 , cost wise Hitachi may end up cheaper than the other 2,by some 10k or so,

my projector will be placed 18 feet from the screen, so any projector with 1.5 throw ratio and above would suit the purpose, advantage here is for epson that has a birghter lamp than hitachi,

i am planning to put a 12 feet wide screen, for my room, viewing distance from the screen will be around 18 to 20 feet, length is 25 feet, it will be in my bedroom

i will be going for a manual roll, Matt finish 1.3 gain screen, da lite is expensive their was another brand i heard about, thinking about the same.


needed one more input from your end, few of my friends advised to keep the dvd player and amp and other set up at the rear end of the room or on one side of the wall at the end, which will be closer to the PJ and run cables from there, as they said hdmi cable is expensive, its better to run longer speaker cables rather than running 7 meters hdmi cable, as hdmi will cost more, and putting the amp and player at the rear for a 7.1 setup, i will need to run long cables only for the front and centre speakers, what do you feel regarding the same ?

 

[vinay]

Placement Of AV Receiver & DVD Player.

Dushie,

Pleease check the prices with various dealers for all items, in some cases i have seen price difference running into several thousand bucks for the same make and model.

Vinay.

 

[vinay]

Hi Vinay
Thanks for your inputs, well i was trying to find out the prices here in bangalore,both panasoinc ax200 and epson tw700 are around 90K + taxes, hitachi may be slightly cheaper,

as tx 300 is similar to tx 200 , cost wise Hitachi may end up cheaper than the other 2,by some 10k or so,

my projector will be placed 18 feet from the screen, so any projector with 1.5 throw ratio and above would suit the purpose, advantage here is for epson that has a birghter lamp than hitachi,

i am planning to put a 12 feet wide screen, for my room, viewing distance from the screen will be around 18 to 20 feet, length is 25 feet, it will be in my bedroom

i will be going for a manual roll, Matt finish 1.3 gain screen, da lite is expensive their was another brand i heard about, thinking about the same.


needed one more input from your end, few of my friends advised to keep the dvd player and amp and other set up at the rear end of the room or on one side of the wall at the end, which will be closer to the PJ and run cables from there, as they said hdmi cable is expensive, its better to run longer speaker cables rather than running 7 meters hdmi cable, as hdmi will cost more, and putting the amp and player at the rear for a 7.1 setup, i will need to run long cables only for the front and centre speakers, what do you feel regarding the same ?

Dushie,

I agree hitachi could be cheaper.

Please tell me the screen size in inches.

The viewing distance is reasonable, please check with sight and sound, Delhi, they are the main guys for this dalite screen, while sound of music in Delhi also deals in this screen. It seems in Hyderabad, a reputed company does a lot of business in screens and then there are one or two in Mumbai too, one of them is for sure not good.

I believe that the DVD player, av receiver, should be near the screen, as centre and front speakers are parked in this area, the more far we park the DVD player and av receiver, there will be loss of signal, etc.

Indeed hdmi cable is expensive, it costed me around 18,000/- bucks, as I had taken around 18 feet of it, I had this and other cables concealed from false ceiling, wall paneling.

I think for your size of room 5.1 is more than enough, 7.1 could be for whose room is around 20% more bigger than your room size.

Vinay

 

[Dushie]

Hi Vinay

Just saw and advertisement today in hi-fi mag from sound and vision for hitachi Pjtx100, how is this projector, any idea, as its just costing 50k, it has a dvi input, so i can use a hdmi to dvi converter and connect a hdmi cable to this one,how is the picture quality of this model ,

any feedbacks or suggestion on this model, i will be projecting on a 12 feet screen, projector will be places around 18ft from the screen, planning to put a 1.5 or +2 gain screen

Hitachi people are confusing regarding the brightness and contrast for this model, even though the bulb that comes in the pj xt 100 or 300 is the same.

as for now i can go for this model and later on when full hd models are cheaper can upgrade to that after an year or two.

all suggestions are welcome

 

[vinay]

Hi Vinay

Just saw and advertisement today in hi-fi mag from sound and vision for hitachi Pjtx100, how is this projector, any idea, as its just costing 50k, it has a dvi input, so i can use a hdmi to dvi converter and connect a hdmi cable to this one,how is the picture quality of this model ,

any feedbacks or suggestion on this model, i will be projecting on a 12 feet screen, projector will be places around 18ft from the screen, planning to put a 1.5 or +2 gain screen

Hitachi people are confusing regarding the brightness and contrast for this model, even though the bulb that comes in the pj xt 100 or 300 is the same.

as for now i can go for this model and later on when full hd models are cheaper can upgrade to that after an year or two.

all suggestions are welcome

Dushie,

I am having pj200 of Hitachi, which i bought around 2 years ago, so it shall mean that pj100 is a much older model, i suggest go with their latest model pj300, though it is costlier. If budget is a real issue, then you can consider this pj100, but the fear of spares has to be sorted out, if the need arises later, this may not be a problem, i can check this for you, once you develop a very serious interest.

Can you please tell me the screen size in inches, the length, breadth, and height, the projector distance from screen is fine, you may have a slight problem, tell me the screen size in inches, then i will try to tell you if there is a problem or no.

It is not a good idea, about upgrading the projector in 2 years time, the projector can run to it's best for at least 5 years, so it is better to have a clear vision, as the resale value is as good as nothing.

I am using this Hitachi projector and i am happy with it, maybe there are other members who can suggest a projector which can compete with quality and price of Hitachi.

Please let me know if you want to know something more.

Vinay.

 

[Dushie]

Hi Vinay
Thanks for your inputs, in terms of screen size.
as per projector central size -
height will be around 81 inches
diagonal around 165 inches
length 144 inches.

That is the screen size recommended by them.. for hitachi pjtx 100 the projector central shows.

breadth i have enough space to put the screen. i plan to make a pelmet like we have for curtains and put the screen inside that, to pull it down when i need to use otherwise it will be hidden inside.

For a height of 81 inches, diagonal screen 165 inches and length 144 inches.
i need to put the PJ Tx 100 at 19 feet from the screen, with 1.30x zoom, the screen i would need to use is +2 gain, then only it shows recommended image brightness for low ambient light, if i reduce the screen gain to 1.5 or 1.3 it says recommended higher brightness, reduce screen size or increase screen gain .

Vinay please guide regarding screen selection and costing also.
I am interested in a manual roll down screen with auto stop, Matt finish, not interested in glass bead as they start falling off, cause i will be using the screen only on weekends.

Please recommend a screen also for the same. i want to put a wide screen 1:78:1

Also as u suggest i will upgrade the projector once the bulb is nearing end life.

if i get the pj tx 100, then i can do my complete setup with cabling and screen for under 1 lakh, which will be great ...

as of now full hd projectors are very expensive and beyond my budget

 

[vinay]

Projector - Screen

Dushie,

To have a screen diagonal of 165 inches, it will be a too big screen, how can it fit in your room size, and let's say even if it fits, your viewing distance is quite small, it is not going to be good for your eyes and neck, and by the time the movie is over you will feel stressed.

The pelmet factor is fine, my screen automatically goes into the false ceiling once the projector is switched off.

I do not have the knowledge on image brightness, ambient light, etc, but I can connect you to the right person in Delhi, who can give you the perfect answers to your queries.

I believe there are cheaper screens available in Hyderabad, the basic size of screens will cost not more then 12,000/- bucks,and then I know of 2 members who have made the screen themselves, they just bought the screen fabric, shall I tell you the member's names? I have also heard that glass bead screens have some problems.

The 2 screens which I am using are very expensive, one of them is for around 65,000/- fabric based 4 x 3 , and the other screen is for 1,45,000/-, 16 x 9, fibre based.

I think it is not a good idea to forget the projector one the bulb life is over keeping in mind that just change the bulb and the projector will last for many more times to come.

I sure understand your budget problem, so go ahead with the pj tx 100, unless some members can suggest a better projector to pj in comparison to it's quality and price. I hope some other members also throw light on this issue, who knows they could suggest a better way out.

I can help you with a good price on pj 100, let me know when you are sure you want to buy it, you are based in which city?

At this point that just reminds me that Epson was out with some offer in the recent months, they were offering a screen, projector, basic speakers, all this for under 60,000/-, did you check on this offer?

Please let me know if you want to know something more.

Vinay

 

[Dushie]

Re: Projector - Screen

Hi Vinay

i am putting a 144 inches wide screen , 165 inches dialgonal, viewing distance of the screen would be over 21 feet. most of the viewing distance calculators and sites recommend that viewing distance should be more than 1.5 times the screen width. which in my case is 12x1.5 = 18 feet.

I feel around 21 feet should be good enough, What do you say ?

unfortunately i dont have the skills or the time to make the screen myself, so planning to put a dalite or any other screen, it will cost around 20k + . will go for +2 gain screen as that suits my purpose.

i will audition the pj tx 100 as it suits by budget and will use an hdmi to dvi convertor to display the signals which will be upscaled by my hdmi dvd player.

I also have to paint the roof and the walls of the room where i am putting up the screen, any suggestions, what colour should i use for the walls and roof,

 

[vinay]

Re: Projector - Screen - Wall colours

Hi Vinay

i am putting a 144 inches wide screen , 165 inches dialgonal, viewing distance of the screen would be over 21 feet. most of the viewing distance calculators and sites recommend that viewing distance should be more than 1.5 times the screen width. which in my case is 12x1.5 = 18 feet.

I feel around 21 feet should be good enough, What do you say ?

unfortunately i dont have the skills or the time to make the screen myself, so planning to put a dalite or any other screen, it will cost around 20k + . will go for +2 gain screen as that suits my purpose.

i will audition the pj tx 100 as it suits by budget and will use an hdmi to dvi convertor to display the signals which will be upscaled by my hdmi dvd player.

I also have to paint the roof and the walls of the room where i am putting up the screen, any suggestions, what colour should i use for the walls and roof,

Dushie,

I can assure you that the screen size of 144 inches wide is very big for your room size, the viewing distance should be around 30/35 feet to view the screen size of 144 inches, while your viewing distance is around 21 feet, this is a huge gap.

For your room size, the screen should not be wide by more then 72/80 inches, the calculation which you are saying i do not understand that, please take a opinion on this from some reliable source.

If you are planning to buy a dalite screen i can give you a source, you can get a good price from them, once you have this price, you can compare it with others.

The colours which you will choose for the roof and walls, it should not be bright, how about going for wall paper. Please consider blue colour as most of the theatres fabric walls are of blue colour.

My mini theatre walls are of fabric. I had bought several colours of fabric, each colour fabric was 4 feet wide, and the length was around 8 feet, i used to put these fabrics on the wall and observe for a few days, and then out of that finally i choose the red fabric for my theatre. At one point i had approved some brown type fabric, i bought for the full room, and then after putting it i realized i have not liked it, so that full money in-directly went down the hill.

Vinay.

 

[Dushie]

Hi Vinay

Projection Calculator - Throw Distance and Screen Size

please check out the above link - many people have recommended this site to find out the screen size, projector distance and other stuff, it is highly recommended specially for the projector one plans to buy.

after putting the following settings -
Zoom 1.37x
Screen gain +2
Throw distance 18 feet
height 81''
Diagonal 165''
length 144''

in recommended seating on top it recommends if the throw distance is 18 feet, then between 17 to 26 feet one can sit from the screen.

my room size is 25 x 19

max in my room i can go up to 22 feet of viewing distance from the screen, which as per the site is good enough, i will surely consult and get more details on the same..

do check the site and let me know your feedback

 

[smedhavi]

Dushie,

Keep in mind that there is one more parameter while deciding on the viewing distance, and that is the resolution.
Viewing distance goes down as the resolution goes up. In other words, for the same viewing distance, you can go in for a bigger screen size if the resolution is higher.

Ever noticed how we can comfortably use a high resolution computer monitor from about 1 feet away, while it would give give you a headache trying the same thing with a standard definition TV.
This is a key factor while buying projectors.

Look at the following tools for more details:
http://www.carltonbale.com/ht/calculator/theater_calculator_v3.7.xls
Viewing Distance Chart

Thanks,
Sharad