Lamp Fan Noise

[electricdick]

We purchased a Hitachi 60V500 almost two years ago and we are very pleased with the TV but there is one item that I over looked while testing PTV's, that is lamp fan noise.

I did most of my "testing" with PTV's sitting in the store, not in a viewing room so there was a tonne of ambient noise completely drowning out any noise produced by the PTV. Mine is audible when volume levels are low.

I scanned old threads and some product reviews but I could not find any mention of the topic.

I suggest when checking out projectors and PTV's this might be something to keep in mind. Especially if you get a loud one or I am thinking a projector placed close to your noggin.

D ick (Whaaaat! My name is censored!)

 

[BMXTRIX]

Richard - You hit on a good point that many poeple don't consider when evaluating projection systems, especially front projection.

When I got my Panasonic PT-L300U projector a couple years back the first thing I did was drag it into Myer-Emco in the DC area, hook it up to the same source that was feeding a $12,000 Runco and do an A-B comparison of the two.

Guys came in and commented a lot on image quality, but one of the things that struck me right away was that I couldn't hear the L300 at all. The Runco projector, with NO other audio in the room, completely drowned out the sound of the L300. Sales guys blew it off like it was no big deal, but a few guys actually put their ear closer and closer until they said they could hear the L300. About 5 inches from the projector, they could hear the unit over the roar that was the Runco.

That's noise that takes away from the film you are watching. A suspense filled silent moment with a 'WHHIIIIRRRRRRR' filling your ears loses a bit of the suspense for sure. You also can just pick up any big old speakers you want on sale at whitevan.com as you won't be able to even figure out what a noise floor is or what noise in the signal means.

Noise in the signal is status quo for some projectors and buyers need to be aware of this when purchasing.

The AE700 is noticably louder than my L300, but the image is also much brighter with better detail... I lived with the AE700 for a couple of weeks and didn't find it horribly loud, but definitely noticably louder.

 

[electricdick]

BMX, thanks for the acknowledgement.

One more item I have learned is those energy saving flourescant bulbs give off a noticeable hum. I spend a couple of hours each week multi-tasking. I will flip on the PTV (muted), turn on CD (all disk shuffle) and read (stiff, short whiskey in hand). With the reading lamp next to my head this too can scare the crap out of you thinking your system has picked up a 60 hz. hum.

BTW, I have experienced 60 hz. hum on a few occations so I couple everything I can via optical connections.

D ick

 

[electricdick]

Two more beefs.

I have to restate that I am pleased with the Hitachi's video performance and features but one more beef against the Hitachi is the "fit" from the screen to the stand should be better. They are not the exact same diamensions. The stand is about 3/8 inches narrower than the screen so I had to center the stand under the PTV.

I also noticed that most manufactures PTV stands are too low to store a receiver let alone the center channel speaker.

Neither of these are "show-stoppers" to my purchase but can be tricky to work around once the toys are out of the box.

My first posts and I got a bunch off my chest....thanks for listening.

D ick