Well here goes my first post on AVS. I know I will probably open up a can of worms by asking this question. I am a newbie to CRTs and after 2 years of DLP I want to buy my first CRT. I have been looking at and reading up on CRT projectors for the last couple of months and to stay within my budget constrants I am narrowed my choices down to either a Sony G70 or and EH 8500(nonLC). I would like some advice/opinions on which projector to buy. My HY room is 13 x 21 with 10'ceilings. My screen size is 103W and 58H or 118" diagonally and my room is 100% light controlled. I would appreciate your opinions on which projector to buy.
Thanks in advance

Any differences in benefits and drawbacks between the 2 choices balance each other... but if the seller, price, tube condition were all the same, I'd personally choose the G70.

But the Marquee is easier to find parts, tubes, and mods for. So it's a good 2nd choice, too.

Both will do great with 1080i and 720p. Make sure you get a DVI/HDMI input card from HDFury or moome.

Your screen size might be a little larger than recommended, but if that's the size that you used with a worn DLP, then the light level should be comparable.

G70.

Thank you for your response. It looks as though, with all things being equal, that it would be a toss up between the two.

I looked at you HT construction and that will be a great help to me in
completeing my room.

Thank you:)

Please let me clarify my question with a little more information.

I have located a excellent condition Sony G70 with tubes rating a 9.5 each and a black body. Also, a EH 8500 with a black body in great condition and with HD144 lenses and tubes with a rating of 7.5 to 8. Now, the EH 8500 is about $500 less than the Sony G70. With these circumstances, can you give me some opinions on which one to buy.

Thanks

It's not a toss up, the G70 is better.

It's Liquid Coupled and has colour filtered C-elements.

If you modded the Marquee to LC, and added filtered C-elements, then it would be an even contest.

But the Marquee would be easier to fix.

G70

I had a color filtered (colored glycol) Marquee 8000 before I bought my G70 and even with burn on the tubes the G70 throws a better picture (to my eye)

LC makes a big difference IMO

G70
I had a color filtered (colored glycol) Marquee 8000 before I bought my G70 and even with burn on the tubes the G70 throws a better picture (to my eye)

LC makes a big difference IMO M8000/G70 is not a fair comparison. They quit making the 8000 in 1995 and it's closer to a low hour 1272Q than to the 8500.

The G70 definitely throws a nice picture (sharper tubes and LC optics), but it's also noisier than a Marquee. I was surprised that it really wasn't much quieter than the XG I already had.

I replaced my 8500 with a G70. After living with the G70 for a while, I'm going back to the 8500. Why?

* I A-B'd the two projectors side-by-side (actually floor and ceiling :)) with a G70-owning friend. Both of us agreed there was no significant difference in the picture quality. We checked the shadow detail (Moria scene and Balrog scene from LOTR:FOTR, and Wormtongue coat from LOTR:TTT) and, while the G70 was slightly better, you'd never have noticed it if you didn't see them side-by-side. (I fully admit the G70 setup was not a pro job, but neither was the 8500. It's possible I could have gotten a sharper pic with a better setup, but I did a pretty thorough magnetic setup on the G70 before we did the comparison. The G70 might have looked better if I'd been able to use an HD source.)

* The G70 drives me f-in' CRAZY. I *despise* the control software and the memory model. It never seems to wake up in the memory I want, and it takes roughly **25 button pushes** on the remote to change to a different memory. Ye gods. By contrast the 8500 is not as fancy, but it is very simple and functional.

* The G70 has some nice mechanical design. You can get into the innards in 2 minutes with nothing more than a dime. The airflow design is simple and straightforward, though the fans are very loud. The Scheimpflug &etc is all well-thought-out.

* The G70 looks much sleeker -- the 8500 looks like a tank -- but the G70 is much noisier.

* The 8500 has fewer reliability issues and is easier to repair.

* The 8500 has some required maintenance items, like the P14 LVPS fix and the anamorphic squeeze. Both are pretty simple.

One ESSENTIAL upgrade for the 8500, IMHO, is color-filtered lenses. Without HD-145's the 8500's colors seemed flat and dead to me. With the HD-145's, it throws a beautiful pic. So budget $400-500 for lenses and adapters.

The 8500 can be improved by the many maintenance upgrades posted on the forums, if you're handy with a soldering iron. There is also the possibility of MP mods if they're available and you have plenty of $$ to spare. But even in its unmodified form, I think the 8500 is nearly as good PQ-wise as the G70.

Many people love their G70's and say they look better than 8500's. I think they're close enough that it's a personal-preference choice.

M8000/G70 is not a fair comparison. They quit making the 8000 in 1995 and it's closer to a low hour 1272Q than to the 8500.

I'll agree that it wasn't really a fair comparison, however in my defense I was only comparing the color quality and contrast (halo's) of the two machines. These factors shouldn't be changed when going from an 8000 to a 8500 as they both use the same tubes and lenses.

Btw. My 8000 was a 1995 model and had a few modifications so it may have been closer to an 8500 than most 8000's. Lets split the difference and call it an 8250 :D

That's interesting Gary...you didn't notice the extra clarity of the LC optics?

Going from an Xtra to an XG LC was like having cataracts removed.

Honestly, no. And my G70-owning buddy, who was certainly not biased toward the 8500, didn't notice a big difference either. I got the G70 expecting a significant step up in image quality, and I didn't see it.

I had done a full setup -- cleaning all optics, good-but-not-perfect mechanical setup on the floor, top-to-bottom magnetic setup, optical focus & scheimpflug. The scheimpflug in particular wasn't perfect, and I'm sure a pro could have done better on the rest of the setup, but I had it set up well enough to do a fair comparison. It was better than the 8500, but so marginally so that it wasn't worth worrying about.

Gary's experience is contrary to what I (and many of us) would expect. But it's always good to hear about first hand experience when comparing two projectors. Thanks for sharing this Gary.

I think in the end when comparing two projectors that are in the same class it will come down to personal preference. Gary mentioned that he hates the control software, and that's really important. Personally, I love the interface on the Sony G70/G90, and I hate the E-home interface. Perhaps not coincidentally, when I did my own G70 vs 8500 comparison the G70 won hands down. But like I said, a lot of it comes down to personal preference. And without the opportunity to get your hands on both you won't really know which one you will prefer.

Bottom line: they're both great machines.

-Mark

g70

Another vote for the G70 Best PJ in it's class IMO

G70 - particularly if the tubes are as much better as you say. Color filtering is massively important, far more than outright resolution as far as I'm concerned. Better tubes and color filters over not as good tubes and no filters is a no brainer for me.

Also, ... damn, those marquees are ugly! :p

From his PM to me I believe hes already bought the G70.

Thanks to everybody who responded to my question. I ended up buying a Sony 70.

While I certainly think Gary very much knows what he's doing, his preference for the 8500 over the G70 is a very rare exception, and should be taken as such.

gapac,

Congrats on the G70! Regardless of everyone's opinion on which one is better, you made the right choice based on tube condition alone.

Congrats on the G70! Regardless of everyone's opinion on which one is better, you made the right choice based on tube condition alone. yeah what is the tube condition, perspiring minds want to know. Lets see some pics :)

Do yourself a HUGE favor and have Terry Ferentinos (Chuchuf) set the G70 up for you. IMO Terry is the leading setup tech for Sony machines. He is board level qualified and understands the limitations of the electronics. This is VERY important for a quality setup and trouble free running.