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Eug Wanker · 09:54 PM

...in about 3 years or so.

We just got a Sony VPL-PX40 front LCD projector at work. (I was given a pretty good budget to set up a projection system for our conference room, and I made use of every last dime of that budget.

)

Even though it's not DLP, I'm impressed. This is a 3500 lumen (ie. VERY bright) 3-chip LCD projector. With the room light dimmed it's quite nice, showing the details of the movie Hero pretty well from the VGA output of my TiBook. Even S-video is OK. (It has DVI too, but the unit is on the ceiling so I can't test out that input.) This has definitely piqued my interest in front projectors.

I'm now thinking that when I move out of my townhouse into a detached home in say 3-4 years, I could get a home theatre oriented widescreen 3-chip DLP projector (not 1-chip, which suffers from the rainbow effect and lower brightness), along with one of Sony's new screens that absorb ambient light, that drops down from the ceiling. This way I could have a living room with no TV at all at some times, and a 60" screen at other times of the day, with reasonable contrast even with some ambient light in the room.

Right now the prices way too high, with good quality 3-chip front projectors in the US$20000-30000 range.

However, if they get down to the $10000 range street in a few years, that's a viable consideration. By that time HD-DVD/Blu Ray should be established too. Ahhh... Everything is falling into place.

BTW, there is still that Apple projector rumour, for Apple Expo. I don't happen to believe it, but it's interesting nonetheless.

sworthy · Aug 22, 2004, 09:49 PM

I love how we geeks think about technology...

I was just thinking the other day about the powermac I'll get in 2007

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Aug 22, 2004, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
...in about 3 years or so.

Along with your G6 laptop.

Don't think to hard about it yet, in 3 years there could be something better.

I didn't even learn about DLP's until 3 months ago. A year ago I was convinced my next TV would be a OLED display but those seem like they might not live up to expectations.

Eug Wanker · Aug 22, 2004, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
Along with your G6 laptop.

Don't think to hard about it yet, in 3 years there could be something better.

I didn't even learn about DLP's until 3 months ago. A year ago I was convinced my next TV would be a OLED display but those seem like they might not live up to expectations.

Well, I suspect in 3 years the 1080p 3-chip projectors will be coming to (uber high end) consumer price ranges. The ones I was talking about at $20000 now and which may drop to more tolerable levels by then are 720p, which I think I'd be happy with, as long as the scalers are excellent.

Anyways, I've been thinking about a front projector setup every since I left school many, many years ago. However, I've never had a real reason to, since I've never owned a detached home. In 3 years there is a strong chance I will be buying such a home, and one of the criteria when I look for one will be the feasibility of putting in an 80-100" projection setup.

ie. I'm dead serious.

Oh and in 3 years I'll have a G5 laptop. ...Or maybe a dual core G4?

I'll get the G6 in 2008.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Aug 22, 2004, 11:41 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Well, I suspect in 3 years the 1080p 3-chip projectors will be coming to (uber high end) consumer price ranges.

You can buy a 1080p DLP rear projector at 61" by December, under $10,000 also.

Eug Wanker · Aug 23, 2004, 12:07 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
You can buy a 1080p DLP rear projector at 61" by December, under $10,000 also.

1-chip, and I'm not really as interested in a rear projector, but it's something I'll look at when the time comes.

MaxPower2k3 · Aug 23, 2004, 12:14 AM

The color wheels on single-chip DLPs are getting better, and obviously there's the advantage of them being much cheaper. LCoS displays are also a new technology that may prove to be a better choice for high-end displays. The first consumer 1080p rear-projector used a LCoS chip. It was a Toshiba, around 50", which if i remember correctly cost about $9000. I don't think it sold very well.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Aug 23, 2004, 12:26 AM

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
The first consumer 1080p rear-projector used a LCoS chip. It was a Toshiba, around 50", which if i remember correctly cost about $9000. I don't think it sold very well.

Lots of people are reporting that LCoS sets have 10-12 stuck pixels after only one year.

kikkoman · Aug 23, 2004, 09:34 PM

Hey why wait? If you were impressed with an LCD presentation projector you'll wet your pants seeing a good single chip DLP projector. My first projector was an LCD because I was afraid of the rainbows but the contrast ratio of LCD projectors are seriously lacking. I took the plunge an bought a BenQ 8700+ DLP projector. The rainbows are really not a big deal. The image is fantastic.

Eug Wanker · Aug 23, 2004, 11:56 PM

Originally posted by kikkoman:
Hey why wait? If you were impressed with an LCD presentation projector you'll wet your pants seeing a good single chip DLP projector. My first projector was an LCD because I was afraid of the rainbows but the contrast ratio of LCD projectors are seriously lacking. I took the plunge an bought a BenQ 8700+ DLP projector. The rainbows are really not a big deal. The image is fantastic.

Well, I'd consider it but two things:

1) The BenQ is less bright than I would prefer. With a standard screen it seems the lights really have to be very dimmed. The Sony screen might change things though. What do you think? The 2500+ lumen projectors seem more usable when there's ambient light currently.

2) My place is too small right now anyway. I wouldn't get one until I move into a large house with a dedicated home theatre room. (My 34" widescreen direct view CRT will suffice for now, since my living room area is so small.)

kikkoman · Aug 24, 2004, 12:30 AM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Well, I'd consider it but two things:

1) The BenQ is less bright than I would prefer. With a standard screen it seems the lights really have to be very dimmed. The Sony screen might change things though. What do you think? The 2500+ lumen projectors seem more usable when there's ambient light currently.

2) My place is too small right now anyway. I wouldn't get one until I move into a large house with a dedicated home theatre room. (My 34" widescreen direct view CRT will suffice for now, since my living room area is so small.)

1) You will find most projectors designed specifically for hometheater are usually < 1000 lumens. I can watch with a little ambient light in the evening but daytime viewing is not possible. I am using a grey screen which helps a bit with ambient light. You could go with a smaller screen to maximize brightness.

2) Most hometheater projectors have short throw lenses. My BenQ 8700+ will throw a 100 inch diagonal image in as little as 10 feet. It's ceiling mounted and screen is wall mounted. It takes zero floor space.

Eug Wanker · Aug 24, 2004, 09:59 AM

Originally posted by kikkoman:
1) You will find most projectors designed specifically for hometheater are usually < 1000 lumens. I can watch with a little ambient light in the evening but daytime viewing is not possible. I am using a grey screen which helps a bit with ambient light. You could go with a smaller screen to maximize brightness.

2) Most hometheater projectors have short throw lenses. My BenQ 8700+ will throw a 100 inch diagonal image in as little as 10 feet. It's ceiling mounted and screen is wall mounted. It takes zero floor space.

Well, the projector I tried out was 3500 lumens, and it can do about a 80" in about 10 feet I think. It definitely is usable in significant ambient light. However, it makes some noise. I guess a 3500 lumen lamp gets very hot very quickly.

How much noise does your BenQ make?

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Aug 24, 2004, 10:14 AM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Well, the projector I tried out was 3500 lumens, and it can do about a 80" in about 10 feet I think. It definitely is usable in significant ambient light. However, it makes some noise. I guess a 3500 lumen lamp gets very hot very quickly.

How much noise does your BenQ make?

They all seem to be rather loud and if you are sitting right under them you will find quite scenes in movies rather annoying.

Eug Wanker · Aug 24, 2004, 10:51 AM

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
They all seem to be rather loud and if you are sitting right under them you will find quite scenes in movies rather annoying.

Yeah, but he was talking about a 1000 lumen projector. The one I tried was 3500 lumens.

That said, I also have a 1000ish lumen portable business projector at work, and that one is almost as loud as the 3500 lumen one. Hmmm...

unkle_brains · 11:22 AM

I demoed a Sony HS20 LCD (28 dB) projector at an AV store. It was mounted overhead and was pretty much inaudible. There seems to be a lot of advances in price/performance in mid and low price ranges in hometheater projectors. I doubt your going to see a 3 chip DLP < $10K in three years.

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Aug 24, 2004, 11:11 AM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Yeah, but he was talking about a 1000 lumen projector. The one I tried was 3500 lumens.

That said, I also have a 1000ish lumen portable business projector at work, and that one is almost as loud as the 3500 lumen one. Hmmm...

Really, if you want one of these things you need to put it in the back of the room at least 10 feet away from you, you will still hear it then but not as bad. In other words you need lots of space for a projector.

Personally, I don't want a dedicated Home Theatre room, I just want a TV that I can watch the simpsons and a DVD on and not have to commit to sitting still in a dark room for 2 hours. I like being able to do other things on the side from the comfort of my couch.

wdlove · Aug 24, 2004, 11:19 AM

It just seems that this technology is out of the price range for the average person.

kikkoman · Aug 24, 2004, 11:21 AM

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
Really, if you want one of these things you need to put it in the back of the room at least 10 feet away from you, you will still hear it then but not as bad. In other words you need lots of space for a projector.

Personally, I don't want a dedicated Home Theatre room, I just want a TV that I can watch the simpsons and a DVD on and not have to commit to sitting still in a dark room for 2 hours. I like being able to do other things on the side from the comfort of my couch.

A lot of progress have ben made in the area of fan noise. Many of the newer LCD projectors are virtually silent. I agree that projectors are not practical to use as everyday TV. The replacment lamps cost too much and on average last 2000-3000 hours.

Eug Wanker · Aug 24, 2004, 04:43 PM

Originally posted by kikkoman:
A lot of progress have ben made in the area of fan noise. Many of the newer LCD projectors are virtually silent. I agree that projectors are not practical to use as everyday TV. The replacment lamps cost too much and on average last 2000-3000 hours.

How much noise does yours make?

kikkoman · Aug 24, 2004, 08:34 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
How much noise does yours make?

The projector is mounted just above the seating area. I can hear the fan during quiet scenes but I don't find it distracting because my attention is focused on the movie. I believe the BenQ fan noise is 29 dB.

MaxPower2k3 · Aug 24, 2004, 10:35 PM

As long as you're going all-out, you could build a "projection booth" (which could just be a box around the projector) that separates it from the rest of the room. Or set aside a portion of the room behind the theater room for the projector and media rack, and put a window in the wall near the ceiling for the projector.

Eug Wanker · Aug 24, 2004, 10:42 PM

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
As long as you're going all-out, you could build a "projection booth" (which could just be a box around the projector) that separates it from the rest of the room. Or set aside a portion of the room behind the theater room for the projector and media rack, and put a window in the wall near the ceiling for the projector.

Yeah, I thought of that, and in fact I used to buy that mag Audio Video Interiors for "inspiration".

However, it really depends on how big the room is going to be, and how much it's going to cost to renovate. $15000 for a home theatre setup is already a huge chunk of coin, and $30000 is a completely different level.

Anyways, I'm thinking it will be 2006 at the earliest before I move, and I'll probably be broke after the move until maybe a year later. So, home theatre in 2007...

malson · Aug 24, 2004, 11:48 PM

My wife and I are currently house hunting. One of the minor considerations I'm looking for is a space for a dedicated home theatre. I'm certainly not going to pass on a great house just because it doesn't have a big bonus room or an unfinished basement.

Home theatre is a pretty fun hobby. It can be expensive especially if you focus on highend gear and room treatments. The best place I've found for theatre buffs is over at the AVS forums. Good luck!