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homeless
Jan 2, 2005
not so much

King Hotpants posted:

You just spent $1500 on a projector and you're complaining about $150 for a ceiling mount. Suck it up and buy one that's worth a poo poo.

Fair enough. How about recommending one that is worth a poo poo for that particular projector? I wouldn't hesitate to drop $150 - my sanity is worth more. Most of the heavier praised models I looked at are twice that cost.

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RisqueBarber
Jul 10, 2005

King Hotpants posted:

No two projectors are the same. You need to get a calibration disc and do it yourself, because my numbers won't be correct on your projector.

For a better calibration (i.e. if you're a picky bitch like me) you can pick up a Spyder2 sensor and download HCFR and you can give yourself a really excellent calibration for $60. It helps if you have friends with projectors who will chip in and help you offset the cost, though I don't think spending $60 to calibrate your >$1000 projector is that insane.

My roommates are leaning towards a guy at circuit city coming in to calibrate for $150 (since hes a "professional"). Will he do a better job then me using the spyder sensor?

edit: we need a megathread.

WindMinstrel
Jan 20, 2005
I'm a minstrel. Blow me.

RisqueBarber posted:

My roommates are leaning towards a guy at circuit city coming in to calibrate for $150 (since hes a "professional"). Will he do a better job then me using the spyder sensor?

edit: we need a megathread.

http://consumerist.com/5007077/insiders-circuit-citys-in+home-tv-calibration-is-a-total-scam

So, no. Use your spyder.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

RisqueBarber posted:

My roommates are leaning towards a guy at circuit city coming in to calibrate for $150 (since hes a "professional"). Will he do a better job then me using the spyder sensor?

edit: we need a megathread.

I may do up a thread on video calibration, now that I think of it. There's no need for Joe Average to pay anything over $100 to get his TV looking great.

You can do a better job on your own than those clowns at Circuit City. They're not professionals, they are just retail monkeys like the rest of us are/have been in the past. They don't know poo poo. You probably know more just by doing your homework and posting on forums like this one.

With the vast, VAST majority of displays, you do not need any special "service menu" to get them to look great. All you need are a pair of eyes, a computer, some free software, and a sensor that sells for $60. With these tools, you can balance brightness, contrast, color temperature, and sharpness to the point where you will notice your TV or projector looking better.

In my opinion the most important adjustment you can make to a display is to balance color temperature. It's really hard to do this without a sensor, and the clowns at Circuit City don't use one. You can do it yourself fairly easily.

trex eaterofcadrs
Jun 17, 2005
My lack of understanding is only exceeded by my lack of concern.
I hope this is the right thread for this. Apologies if it's not.

I'm seeing really low bulb life in my projector (InFocus ScreenPlay 4805, an older unit; the bulb in it now died at 230hrs, not a typo). I had an earlier one die on me at 450ish hours. loving 90-day warranty my rear end. I don't think a single bulb has made it to 1500 hours in that thing.

If I were to get a higher class Mitsubishi like the HD4900, what can I expect to see for lamp life? I really, really don't want to buy a 2000 dollar projector and have to replace the a bulb before a thousand hours.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

TRex EaterofCars posted:

I hope this is the right thread for this. Apologies if it's not.

I'm seeing really low bulb life in my projector (InFocus ScreenPlay 4805, an older unit; the bulb in it now died at 230hrs, not a typo). I had an earlier one die on me at 450ish hours. loving 90-day warranty my rear end. I don't think a single bulb has made it to 1500 hours in that thing.

If I were to get a higher class Mitsubishi like the HD4900, what can I expect to see for lamp life? I really, really don't want to buy a 2000 dollar projector and have to replace the a bulb before a thousand hours.

It sounds like your 4805 has a problem. It's not all projectors. You would probably see better results even with a different 4805.

Scrapez
Feb 27, 2004

King Hotpants posted:

It sounds like your 4805 has a problem. It's not all projectors. You would probably see better results even with a different 4805.

I agree. I have an Infocus X1 (4800) which I believe uses the same bulb as the 4805 and at last check it had approx. 1500 hours on it and was still going strong.

One thing that can really reduce bulb life is if you don't clean the filter and it gets too hot. Not sure if that could be your problem.

trex eaterofcadrs
Jun 17, 2005
My lack of understanding is only exceeded by my lack of concern.

Scrapez posted:

I agree. I have an Infocus X1 (4800) which I believe uses the same bulb as the 4805 and at last check it had approx. 1500 hours on it and was still going strong.

One thing that can really reduce bulb life is if you don't clean the filter and it gets too hot. Not sure if that could be your problem.

At 230 hours, though? The screens were really clean.

I've had this unit in for service before because the color wheel was grinding. I think this is going to be its last bulb. If it dies it dies. I'll get something better when it does. Thanks.

Scrapez
Feb 27, 2004

TRex EaterofCars posted:

At 230 hours, though? The screens were really clean.

I've had this unit in for service before because the color wheel was grinding. I think this is going to be its last bulb. If it dies it dies. I'll get something better when it does. Thanks.

Well only if you had an extremely dirty room and to be honest, the thermal protection would most likely shut it down before it burnt the bulb up. I had some drywall work done in my last house and the projector didn't get sealed up well enough and it went into shutdown (red flashing light) once the filter got caked with dust.

It sounds like you just got a complete lemon and that's unfortunate. My X1 was really a rock for the time that I used it.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

Scrapez posted:

Well only if you had an extremely dirty room and to be honest, the thermal protection would most likely shut it down before it burnt the bulb up. I had some drywall work done in my last house and the projector didn't get sealed up well enough and it went into shutdown (red flashing light) once the filter got caked with dust.

It sounds like you just got a complete lemon and that's unfortunate. My X1 was really a rock for the time that I used it.

I learned something interesting recently.

Old DLP projectors are actually better on lamp life than new ones, because most of the old ones have dust filters.

You know how new DLP projectors talk about having a "sealed light path"? Well, the only part that's actually sealed is the DLP chip. The lamp, color wheel, and lensing are exposed. When dust (which is mostly organic material) drifts in front of a lamp burning at 1000 degrees, it carbonizes instantly and some of that ends up stuck to the lamp. After a while, you end up with dim patches due to uneven heating which will bring lamp life down.

The moral of this little story is that you should make sure your projection room is as dust-free as possible.

Walter
Jul 3, 2003

We think they're great. In a grand, mystical, neopolitical sense, these guys have a real message in their music. They don't, however, have neat names like me and Bono.
Okay, so I've got a question for all you projector types.

You guys are all talking about the more recent projectors, resolutions, etc. But here's my conundrum.

My university periodically (like a lot of universities) runs surplus auctions and sales. Several times now, I've seen digital projectors come up on the block. These aren't the state of the art anymore, but they were pretty good a couple years ago - things like the Proxima UltraLight LS2, for example, going for around $100-150.

I know they're not most of you guys' first choice. The native resolution is 800x600, and if you're a video-phile, that's probably too small. But I've got a small apartment, I'm not a huge HD guy, and I just want a bigger screen to watch movies on, and the projector route seems better in some ways than a new TV (which I really don't have room for).

So, what I'm wondering is, would I be making a huge mistake to pick up one of these slightly older projectors (knowing the bulb life and all that) and use it? Am I going to end up with a useless piece of poo poo, because it just won't work sufficiently to give me a good picture?

Owsla
Aug 31, 2003

Where are my bitches?
I went to a fantasy football draft where the guy was shooting a spreadsheet off his laptop at about 70" or so (4:3 screen at 800x600) and it looked like a big regular TV image, nothing special but it looked fine.

For $150 I'd black my room out, shoot the image right on the wall (as long as it's light colored) and enjoy the giant image.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

Walter posted:

Okay, so I've got a question for all you projector types.

You guys are all talking about the more recent projectors, resolutions, etc. But here's my conundrum.

My university periodically (like a lot of universities) runs surplus auctions and sales. Several times now, I've seen digital projectors come up on the block. These aren't the state of the art anymore, but they were pretty good a couple years ago - things like the Proxima UltraLight LS2, for example, going for around $100-150.

I know they're not most of you guys' first choice. The native resolution is 800x600, and if you're a video-phile, that's probably too small. But I've got a small apartment, I'm not a huge HD guy, and I just want a bigger screen to watch movies on, and the projector route seems better in some ways than a new TV (which I really don't have room for).

So, what I'm wondering is, would I be making a huge mistake to pick up one of these slightly older projectors (knowing the bulb life and all that) and use it? Am I going to end up with a useless piece of poo poo, because it just won't work sufficiently to give me a good picture?

If you do go this route, see if you can pick up a couple of spare lamps, and NEVER EVER LOOK AT ANY MORE RECENT PROJECTORS.

You can be perfectly content with an older model provided you don't go out and look at newer ones.

Walter
Jul 3, 2003

We think they're great. In a grand, mystical, neopolitical sense, these guys have a real message in their music. They don't, however, have neat names like me and Bono.
Yeah, I figured that was probably the case.

Right now I've got a functional, but kind of POS ten-year-old TV and computer monitors, so really, almost anything would be better.

Thanks!

Not an Anthem
Apr 28, 2003

I'm a fucking pain machine and if you even touch my fucking car I WILL FUCKING DESTROY YOU.
Speaking of budget stuff I just PMed KHP about a projector recommendation but I might as well ask in general, I'm fine with POS projectors. What can I get that is BUDGET. I will be using regular DVD (not HD) and my computer for source. I probably don't even need HD support (please don't kill me AV arena).

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

Not an Anthem posted:

Speaking of budget stuff I just PMed KHP about a projector recommendation but I might as well ask in general, I'm fine with POS projectors. What can I get that is BUDGET. I will be using regular DVD (not HD) and my computer for source. I probably don't even need HD support (please don't kill me AV arena).

Optoma H31 or similar sounds good.

Zombie Dictator
Jan 14, 2005

by angerbotSD
I want to get a projector when I get a home and build a movie theater room. What seems to be the point of diminishing returns when it comes to projectors? I'm thinking in the ballpark of $2500. I don't mind paying a decent amount of money, but I don't want to go up $4000 more for something most people won't even notice.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

Zombie Dictator posted:

I want to get a projector when I get a home and build a movie theater room. What seems to be the point of diminishing returns when it comes to projectors? I'm thinking in the ballpark of $2500. I don't mind paying a decent amount of money, but I don't want to go up $4000 more for something most people won't even notice.

If you're planning for the future, why are you asking this now? It'll be completely wrong by September.

Pardot
Jul 25, 2001




What is the best screen I can get for around $100? I got one from amazon, we'll see how it works.

Pardot fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Jul 28, 2008

Malloci
Oct 9, 2006

by Ozma
I will start this off by stating that i know nothing about projectors.

With that out of the way I just came into possession of a Dell MP2300. I have little to no research on the model itself, but itseems to convert my mac when plugged in to what i assume i s probably 800x600.

Now I am projecting this onto my wall currently, which is not white, and is textured wallpaper, neither of which is a good combination I am quite aware of, but since I just got it I figured it will do for now, and thus far it has.

I have been watching TV shows on my mac mainly, but i have tried conecting my Dish network to it and it worked fine, except for the fact that I cannot get any sound which I assume is because the projector does not come with onboard speakers, or am i just an idiot?

My biggest complaint is that even at night time in a dark room, the picture quality is still really dark. What looks just fine playing on my laptop is shadowy when being projected on to my wall. I am asking if this is either A) my lack of screen and poor wall quality, or B) the projector and also bad wall quality.

If anyone might have any information on the projector itself, ways in which i can improve quality, or anything of the sort i would be very thankful.

-Wes

BAILOUT MCQUACK!
Nov 14, 2005

Marco! Yeaaah...
So I'm taking the advice of getting the HC1500, but I'm wondering if its advantageous to get it through ebay? I found this for under 750 since everywhere else I find it is around 1k. I was really looking for a projector for under 600 since thats all my budget will really allow but I'm willing to go that high since its getting so much love here. I'm rather new to the whole A/V home theater shebang.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

Cold Hearted Orb posted:

So I'm taking the advice of getting the HC1500, but I'm wondering if its advantageous to get it through ebay?

No. Bad.

If it ever breaks, Mitsubishi will tell you to go gently caress yourself if you don't get it from an authorized reseller. "Some shitbird on eBay" is not an authorized reseller.

if you're going to cheap out, just wait and save up for a while. You won't find it for significantly less than $1000.

Scrapez
Feb 27, 2004

Malloci posted:

My biggest complaint is that even at night time in a dark room, the picture quality is still really dark. What looks just fine playing on my laptop is shadowy when being projected on to my wall. I am asking if this is either A) my lack of screen and poor wall quality, or B) the projector and also bad wall quality.

Likely a bit of both. Even a white surface, as opposed to your current wallpaper, will brighten the image significantly. You could hang a white sheet to do some comparison testing.

It could also be that the projector bulb is wearing out. How many hours are on the bulb? Also, what is your throw distance currently? The longer your throw distance the dimmer the picture.

Malloci
Oct 9, 2006

by Ozma
The bulb itself should be relatively okay since it wasnt used as an everday or hourly if ever projector, but when i go into menu i can never find where to look for it to tell me my bulbs life. I do imagine its a bit of both as you are correct, and now that you mention it Throw Distance..It was never something i thought of when setting it up, but honestly its not that far to begin with but might be near its max. ill look into it.

Khatib
Nov 12, 2007
I love it when the thread I'm looking for is actually on the first page... can't wait til search gets up and running again.


Anyways... I am moving into a new apartment on Saturday and it's actually got a decent sized living room... like 15x19. I was thinking about getting like a 46" LCD TV. Then projectors managed to pop into my head. Then I found and read this entire thread, and now I'm completely unsure of what to do. I didn't think lighting would be as much of an issue as it sounds like it is.

This thing is going to be a main TV. HD cable, SD cable, DVDs, console gaming, a PC hookup from time to time. The apartment is on the 3rd floor of the building, and there will be a patio door off one end of the living room the TV is in. I have no qualms about covering it up with some heavy rear end blackout cloth to shut the sunlight out, but as the main TV, it's probably going to see a lot of hours put on it between 5pm and sundown, and weekend afternoons, and while someone not watching the TV is say, right around the corner cooking dinner in the kitchen with that light bouncing around the walls to invade the living room.

Is there really no good way to use a projector as a main TV in a semi open, fairly standard 2-3 bedroom apartment layout? I mean, I'm kind of a nerd, so I hate the sun and all when I'm trying to relax indoors at least, so I personally have no problems blacking everything the gently caress out, but I do have a roommate and I will have other random roommates down the road who might not be into the pitch black thing as much as I am... just wondering if I'm better off spending a few hundred bucks more and going with the 46-50 inch TV, or if you guys with more experience with these things think they'll work in a non-blacked out situation well at all. I'm thinkin Benq W500 or the HC1500 btw. Is there a specific type of screen to use that helps with watching a projector in higher light conditions?

The biggest bonus with the projector is I could pick up a 360 and a lower end surround sound and be in the same spot financially as if I went with the TV alone.

Scrapez
Feb 27, 2004

Khatib posted:

Projectors + light

Others can probably speak to this as well but in my experience with a projector as bright as the HC1500, the only big problems are light sources shining directly onto the screen. For instance, if you had a window or door directly behind the projector it would be a problem.

I can tell you that with the HC1500 you do not need to have it close to pitch dark. I don't have any windows in my theater room but I do have a fluorescent light that is between the projector and the screen. I can have this light on and still see the picture pretty well. Don't get me wrong, it isn't as good as like an LCD but it is more than watchable.

If you had blinds on the windows I think you would be fine to block direct sunlight coming in. How many windows are there in this place?

Edit: As for your screen material question, I'm using blackout cloth stretched over a 1x4 frame I made. Cost me about $100 and it looks pretty good at 136".

Khatib
Nov 12, 2007
What about something like the W500 that's only 1100 Lumens? Cheaper bulbs and especially the easier to achieve mounting angles would be really nice for me. Not sure I want to go putting ceiling mounts up in an apartment building I'm going to be out of in probably a year, two tops.

Would it be effective to just put a shelf across the back wall of the room ten inches or whatever down from the ceiling and put the projector on that? For some reason finding two studs for a cheap shelf seems a lot simpler than buying a ceiling mount and looking for a joist. Or would it be too much of a bitch to adjust angles then to make it hit the screen square?

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

Khatib posted:

What about something like the W500 that's only 1100 Lumens? Cheaper bulbs and especially the easier to achieve mounting angles would be really nice for me. Not sure I want to go putting ceiling mounts up in an apartment building I'm going to be out of in probably a year, two tops.

Would it be effective to just put a shelf across the back wall of the room ten inches or whatever down from the ceiling and put the projector on that? For some reason finding two studs for a cheap shelf seems a lot simpler than buying a ceiling mount and looking for a joist. Or would it be too much of a bitch to adjust angles then to make it hit the screen square?

The W500 is rear end compared to the HC1500.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Mitsubishi HC1500 is the gold standard of projectors under $1000, period.

There are ambient light rejecting screens, but they cost more than the HC1500 does.

Edit: maybe I was a little harsh. The W500 isn't rear end, and it has great video processing for standard definition material, but there's a reason why the HC1500 is still in our lab - whenever a new 720p in that price range comes out, the HC1500 is what we judge it against.

King Hotpants fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Aug 22, 2008

Satchmo
Nov 3, 2005
!?
What is the consensus on CRT projectors? My university regularly sells these off for around 200 bucks, "SONY VPH129 2Q HIGH END SUPER GRAPHICS PROJECTOR".

Twiin
Nov 11, 2003

King of Suck!
Any suggestions for a cheap projector to be used for background videos in a nightclub where no one is likely to actually sit down and watch it? Video quality is not that relevant, as long as it looks better than the 25 year old RGB projector we're using now. Reliability is much more important.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.

Twiin posted:

Any suggestions for a cheap projector to be used for background videos in a nightclub where no one is likely to actually sit down and watch it? Video quality is not that relevant, as long as it looks better than the 25 year old RGB projector we're using now. Reliability is much more important.

Reliability in an atmosphere like that is going to cost you. Best example is the Panasonic PT-FW100U, which is built for bars and restaurants and other places where smoke might be present.

Twiin
Nov 11, 2003

King of Suck!

King Hotpants posted:

Reliability in an atmosphere like that is going to cost you. Best example is the Panasonic PT-FW100U, which is built for bars and restaurants and other places where smoke might be present.

It's a non-smoking club, which is good -- that's way out of my price range, though. I'd be lucky if I could get them to spend $1k, let alone $4k.

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.
Okay, so how bright is this place?

Twiin
Nov 11, 2003

King of Suck!

King Hotpants posted:

Okay, so how bright is this place?

Not very. It's pretty dank:



You can see the existing horrible projector a little more than half-way to the right in the background, behind the pillar. (The actual projector is that massive brown thing attached to the ceiling on the right of the pillar.)

King Hotpants
Apr 11, 2005

Clint.
Fucking.
Eastwood.
So you can't go over $1000 and it's being used for video?

HC1500. :)

idiotface
Jul 24, 2003

Is this thing any good for the price? Toshiba TDP-S35U

trex eaterofcadrs
Jun 17, 2005
My lack of understanding is only exceeded by my lack of concern.
So I've got discounts via work on projectors and the HC1600 is cheaper than the HC1500 even though it appears identical except for lamp output. Also, according to the ERP system, the HC1500 is being discontinued.

Is there any reason to go with the HC1500 over the HC1600 that would explain why the price is higher?

Scrapez
Feb 27, 2004

TRex EaterofCars posted:

So I've got discounts via work on projectors and the HC1600 is cheaper than the HC1500 even though it appears identical except for lamp output. Also, according to the ERP system, the HC1500 is being discontinued.

Is there any reason to go with the HC1500 over the HC1600 that would explain why the price is higher?

I believe the HC1600 has a 5 segment color wheel instead of the 7 segment color wheel that the HC1500 has. Other than that, I'm not sure of the differences. I do know that the HC1500 is preferred.

trex eaterofcadrs
Jun 17, 2005
My lack of understanding is only exceeded by my lack of concern.

Scrapez posted:

I believe the HC1600 has a 5 segment color wheel instead of the 7 segment color wheel that the HC1500 has. Other than that, I'm not sure of the differences. I do know that the HC1500 is preferred.

On avsforum people were saying it actually did have 7 segment and the docs were wrong. Of course, this is the internet... What I don't get is that the HC1500 is being discontinued, but what replaces it?

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Scrapez
Feb 27, 2004

Projector People posted:

Mitsubishi HC1600 versus HC1500

How does the HC1600 stack up against its predecessor, the HC1500? If the specs are to be believed, the two are identical, save that the HC1600 is slightly brighter. They use the same case, the same lamp, the same lens, the same zoom, the same warranty, and they have the same price. However, the specs don't tell the whole story.

Color wheels. The big difference between these two projectors is in the color wheels. The HC1500 has a 4x speed, 7-segment color wheel (RGBRGBW). The fast refresh rate significantly reduces the odds a user will see rainbow artifacts while providing well-saturated, accurate color. The HC1600, on the other hand, has a 2x speed 5-segment color wheel (RGBWY). The advantage is that there is a noticeable increase in lumen output. However, color accuracy is compromised a bit and, if you are among those who can see rainbow artifacts, you will see them much more readily on the HC1600 than the HC1500.

I would be weary of rainbows on the HC1600 with the 2x color wheel.

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