I used to hang out here back when I was in to HTPC. Since I built a new house, I have yet to build a new home theater in it, so I kinda fell out of posting and reading here. The market on projectors has definately changed and I find myself lost in a sea of options and brands.


My church needs a projector for the youth hall and I am their go-to technology guy. The main feature I am looking for is "long lasting" if cared for correctly. Price has to be under $1000 for the unit itself. I also would like to get it from one of the stores here in town, BestBuy, Circuit City, etc.....

Bulb life would be another factor, but I am guessing they are all about the same now anyhow.

Thanks in advance for your replies & advice.

Might be good for us to know how it will be used in the youth hall - mostly songs and Powerpoints or movies? Is 4:3 aspect ration OK or do you want widescreen? Lighting conditions? How large of an image is desired? From what distance? Will it be ceiling mounted or on a cart / table?

There are a lot of good PJ's on the market now, but making a recommendation without knowing the above would not be doing you a service. Given the above information, you should be able to get some great suggestions.

BB has the Optoma EP1691 on sale right now and 10% - 12% coupons are floating around for this weekend.

Edit: For that matter, they have the HD65 for a great price too.

The EP1691 just gives you much greater lumens to handle a variety of setup issues.

1st of all, thank you for the replies.


One of my biggest pet peaves is when new people show up in a forum and ask questions that are available through the search function. That being said, I tried this and I am still lost in a sea of options.



Might be good for us to know how it will be used in the youth hall - mostly songs and Powerpoints or movies? Is 4:3 aspect ration OK or do you want widescreen? Lighting conditions? How large of an image is desired? From what distance? Will it be ceiling mounted or on a cart / table?

There are a lot of good PJ's on the market now, but making a recommendation without knowing the above would not be doing you a service. Given the above information, you should be able to get some great suggestions.


Good point, lemme see here:

It will be mostly used for movies.

I would prefer widescreen.

There are windows all over the youth hall that have no coverings but the area I plan to put the screen is at the end and the dimmest location.

There is a sound system already in place that I built for youth plays and such. It serves as a PA system, but I took special care and wired each speaker independently because I knew one day they might want to go the movie route. I would also like to locate the input devices next to my board in the sound closet which is right next to where we will put the screen. I say this because I will be running the input cables from this location to the projector so I don't want to get into signal degradation. I really doubt this will be an issue though as long as the projector doesn't have to be 50 or 60 feet away. I also do not plan to run HDMI cables. I'm guessing with a projector that composite or svideo will suffice eh?

I plan to have a shelf built into the ceiling at whatever distance is needed. It will hold the projector and an APC backup. The projector will need to be moved to the sanctuary maybe twice a year for showing slide shows from missionary trips.

Size of picture is of course as large as possible on our budget.

Bulb life is important to us as I guess it is to everybody.

One of the most important features I am looking for is reliability. I would even go so far as to put it more important than picture quality. I want it to last a long, long time with no trips to the shop.

I am also an ex-salesman and preach to everyone about the uselessness of extended warranties. In this one case, I may actually recommend one to the church.


Thank you so much for your replies. My life has gotten so busy lately and I barely have time to sit at the computer anymore. I just don't have the time for researching stuff. I trust you guys, you have never steered me wrong before. :)

My recommendation still stands from before however if you are going to mount a shelf up near the ceiling you will need to mount the EP1691 upside down underneath it because of the image offset.

This is a widescreen PJ with high lumens but good contrast ratio and under $1,000. You wanted to buy something from a local bigbox store and now you have missed your chance to save over the 4th of July.

If you spend a little more than $1K, you can get the Panasonic AX200u. It's an LCD PJ that has a lot of lumens. It will give you lens shift so you can put it on a shelf normally and still get your widescreen image where you want it.

If you want to consider a 4:3 format PJ instead of a 16:9 widscreen, have a look at the Sharp XR30X.


Lamp life is a subjective subject and depends on your usage and the environment it is used in as much as the quality of the the individual components in that lamp. You should be able to get about 2,000 hours from most PJs but you can't count on it. Some have gotten many more, some not so much.

My recommendation still stands from before however if you are going to mount a shelf up near the ceiling you will need to mount the EP1691 upside down underneath it because of the image offset.



The ceiling isn't very high, probably 8 feet. If I do have to mount it upside down, how hard will it be to move it to another room as the need arises?

Not hard, the mounts are made to detach the projector quickly and easily for maintenance.

The projector must be upside-down if it is mounted near the TOP of the screen. That's the way they are made.