Alrighty, gonna play catch up a little. Back in November I bought a TV from B&H Photo's used dept, a 75" Samsung. Unfortunately,
it was defective. They couldn't exchange it for the same model, so I had to accept a refund. By the time I got my refund for it, all the Christmas sales were over. So I decided I'd get a better value out of a projector. BEHOLD!
I settled on the BenQ HT4050. I wanted a projector that supports frame interpolation. What can I say? I really dig the soap opera effect, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. And the colors on this projector are absolutely beautiful.
I thought at first about getting an ultra short throw projector, but the only UST projector on the market with frame interpolation is an LG with 800 lumens. Given its weak output and having little confidence in LG's long-term dependability, I kept shopping. Trouble was that each projector I found with the features I wanted had a throw range that put its mounting point right in the middle of my ceiling fan blades. So I removed my 52" ceiling fan and
replaced it with a 30", gaining about an extra foot of space -- just enough for the BenQ.
The
pull chain charms were extra, and they are brilliant. This fan is tiny, but it stirs up a surprising amount of air. Despite Westinghouse's claims that the fan should only be used in a max 8' x 10' room, it easily cools my 11.5' x 20' room. On its highest setting the wind noise is louder than the motor, although I did add a snip or two of speaker gasket foam to dampen vibrations in a couple spots during installation. The projector fan is louder.
I built the screen DIY with some $30 remnant silver screen material from Carl's Place, ran a string of LED lights behind it, and it's close enough for government work.
This silver screen is 2.0 gain, which is great, but the silver screen will also be necessary for another purchase I made, a
3D Polarizer. This gadget is supposed to allow me to watch 3D using passive glasses. Unfortunately, the power adapter they shipped me is a European plug of some sort. Rather than waiting on a replacement to be shipped via steam boat, I've got a generic one ordered from Amazon (along with
this power tap). We'll see how it goes after that stuff arrives.
Oh, and I cut cable and bought a couple of Roku Premier units. When my cable bill went up to $200, I decided it was time. Still waiting for Sony to remove my email address from someone else's account so I can sign up for Playstation Vue.
Anyway, after all of the above, plus the cable management, the projector mount, and various other doodads, I still spent several hundred dollars less than I'd paid for the used defective Samsung TV.
