I hate being one of 'those guys' but I've got $2000 budget & need help with PJ/screen

[just-some-guy]

i can't count the times i wish i would have bought the better model. you'd think i'd learn.

 

[lsiberian]

The wife gave the OK for the 6500 but I'm still not sure it's what I want to do.

I know, to me, the biggest benefit would be the contrast ratio of 75k over 18k:1 on the 6500 vs. 6100. I'm wondering if the gray matte screen would help to give the blacks more depth. In that case, it's possible the 6100 would be acceptable.

Still don't know... I think I'm just having a hard time parting with that money right now, but believe it or not, my wife is the one pushing me to get it completed.

Contrast Ratio is king in a home theater setup. However those numbers are usually extreme exaggeration. Dynamic Iris's can cause more trouble than they are worth. Yet they are used to inflate contrast ratio.

Don't sacrifice contrast ratio though.

It's the one thing my PJ really lacks. And it's the one thing I wish it had more off.

For a screen Brilliant White is king IMO.

Get the 6500. It's a nice step up and very reliable.

There is a reason Epson is a rarer brand on ebay than the Panny's and Sanyo's

 

[ErinH]

After some serious thought, I'm again pushing this off. I want the 6500ub, but sweating which one to buy right now isn't how I want to make a purchase. So, I'm going to wait a bit longer until I have time to really do this right.

You may see me back in this thread in a couple months, lol.

Thanks for all the advice, guys.

 

[kev1702]

I would also recommend what most people feel.. it worth it to buy a good projector and wait until you can afford it. do the project right the first time and you will not have to ever go back and pay to fix it later. I would suggest getting the latest sony projector, they cost around $3-5k depending on where you buy it.. All the sony projectors I have used have been awesome!

Kevin

 

[jostenmeat]

For a screen Brilliant White is king IMO.

Get the 6500. It's a nice step up and very reliable.

Why is the BW king? Always choose the screen in context of the setup, ie viewing angles, ambient lighting, throw angle, size of screen, lumens of projector, what have you.

The Epson is known to be quite a bright projector, and so I would suspect that the 1.0 Carada could be the better fit. I don't think gain is needed with this PJ at 104", and might as well enjoy the better uniformity of a non-gain screen.

For Erin Hardison, you ought to read what BMX says regarding gray screens:

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=562816&postcount=7

 

[lsiberian]

I would also recommend what most people feel.. it worth it to buy a good projector and wait until you can afford it. do the project right the first time and you will not have to ever go back and pay to fix it later. I would suggest getting the latest sony projector, they cost around $3-5k depending on where you buy it.. All the sony projectors I have used have been awesome!

Kevin

I've never used a Sony projector. They seem to have a bad rap in the Projector community.

The company makes great TVs, but the Q&A in other areas seems to have suffered in recent years.

 

[bandphan]

I've never used a Sony projector. They seem to have a bad rap in the Projector community.

The company makes great TVs, but the Q&A in other areas seems to have suffered in recent years.

FWIW, Id more than likely take a sony FP, over their displays. They have released some pretty descent gear.(allbeit not cheap)

 

[jostenmeat]

FWIW, Id more than likely take a sony FP, over their displays. They have released some pretty descent gear.(allbeit not cheap)

Me too! No question. I did like the SXRD RPTVs for the money, at the time of their existence. But, those had some issues too. Of course, anyone I knew who had one, it worked perfectly. Every maker has a bad batch here and there. Panasonic, Epson, whoever.

Their PJs are very good. They aren't as popular now I think, only because some other manufacturers are setting a new bar for price/performance, like Epson and JVC.

I'll take a Sony PJ over a Sony TV any day of the week!

 

[strube]

I would also recommend what most people feel.. it worth it to buy a good projector and wait until you can afford it. do the project right the first time and you will not have to ever go back and pay to fix it later. I would suggest getting the latest sony projector, they cost around $3-5k depending on where you buy it.. All the sony projectors I have used have been awesome!

Kevin

FWIW, I have experience with quite a few of the budget range of projectors, three of them being Sonys, and I would never, ever buy a Sony again. It is not that they do not project a quality image, but that their warranties and support are lame, and their feature set is totally worthless compared to any other brands.

My worst problem with Sony (granted part of it was a problem with the dealer) was that we paid high dollar for an SXRD projector that nowhere said (in the box, the manual, reviews - nowhere!) that it had absolutely no negative vertical lens shift, and no keystone correction. The dealer knew our setup was a rear shelf one - we could not do a ceiling mount for structural reasons and still sold it to us. Then when we set it up we couldn't use it because of our shelf location. We tried to take it back and the dealer, after much fighting, they finally gave us over $3k in store credit which we have yet to use because they have gotten rid of all of their decent brands and only carry Sony for AV gear and we are set with our speakers already (they do sell Paradigm, but they hike up the MSRPs and "mark-down" to actual MSRP so that they can make uninformed people feel like they are getting a deal).

My current Sony PJ is fine most of the time, but sometimes I want to change the aspect ratio on some DVDs because they weren't properly encoded to begin with so the image is distorted, and the Sony won't let me do it unless I completely shut off upscaling. Every other projector has let me change AR if necessary, as they should.

Everyone has a right to like what they like though! Sorry about the rant.

 

[lsiberian]

FWIW, I have experience with quite a few of the budget range of projectors, three of them being Sonys, and I would never, ever buy a Sony again. It is not that they do not project a quality image, but that their warranties and support are lame, and their feature set is totally worthless compared to any other brands.

My worst problem with Sony (granted part of it was a problem with the dealer) was that we paid high dollar for an SXRD projector that nowhere said (in the box, the manual, reviews - nowhere!) that it had absolutely no negative vertical lens shift, and no keystone correction. The dealer knew our setup was a rear shelf one - we could not do a ceiling mount for structural reasons and still sold it to us. Then when we set it up we couldn't use it because of our shelf location. We tried to take it back and the dealer, after much fighting, they finally gave us over $3k in store credit which we have yet to use because they have gotten rid of all of their decent brands and only carry Sony for AV gear and we are set with our speakers already (they do sell Paradigm, but they hike up the MSRPs and "mark-down" to actual MSRP so that they can make uninformed people feel like they are getting a deal).

My current Sony PJ is fine most of the time, but sometimes I want to change the aspect ratio on some DVDs because they weren't properly encoded to begin with so the image is distorted, and the Sony won't let me do it unless I completely shut off upscaling. Every other projector has let me change AR if necessary, as they should.

Everyone has a right to like what they like though! Sorry about the rant.

That sucks man. I'm guessing this was before you knew about projector central. That place makes life much easier in the PJ market.

 

[strube]

That sucks man. I'm guessing this was before you knew about projector central. That place makes life much easier in the PJ market.

Actually projector central helped me out on the very first projector I worked with, the Sharp DT-200. Unfortunately, it didn't really help me out on the Sony VPL-VW60 lens shift thing because it does have vertical lens shift, which projector central correctly stated, but it did not state that it only had positive vertical lens shift, and no negative. If I were to improve one thing about PC it would be to list the extent of the lens shift, something like +/- 60% or just +37% etc. It also says it has vertical keystone, but it doesn't have hardly any (I think it was something like 7 degrees), and it would help if they listed the extent of that capability too.

 

[lsiberian]

Actually projector central helped me out on the very first projector I worked with, the Sharp DT-200. Unfortunately, it didn't really help me out on the Sony VPL-VW60 lens shift thing because it does have vertical lens shift, which projector central correctly stated, but it did not state that it only had positive vertical lens shift, and no negative. If I were to improve one thing about PC it would be to list the extent of the lens shift, something like +/- 60% or just +37% etc. It also says it has vertical keystone, but it doesn't have hardly any (I think it was something like 7 degrees), and it would help if they listed the extent of that capability too.

That's crazy man. I can hardly believe a pj has that bad of shifting.

Thanks for the heads up on the lack of range mentioned.