It is amazingly hard to pick a 1080p projector right now! There are so many great deals.

Having said that, I'm so close to buying one of the following: Z2000, Mits HC5500, Epson Powerlite Home (non-UB), or BenQ W5000. They can all be had for $1800 - $2000 with various rebates.

The PJ will be used for sports (read daytime) and movies in a room that will have some ambient - but controllable - ambient light. They all have a specified 1200 lumens and 10000 - 15000 contrast ratio.

Can I really go wrong with any of them? Is one of them worth $200 more than any of the others? Any of them that I should avoid from a quality/reliability standpoint?

Hi Bugg77

If you don't have a totally light controlled room, then the contrast numbers from those projectors are meaningless. Even a few footcandels of light in a room will bring down the on/off CR of any projector to the 100 to 1 or less range.

If you're main objective is to have a watchable picture during the day, with some ambient light, then choosing a projector that can be bright for daytime viewing, and has a good colour balance for nighttime viewing is your best option IMHO.

If you are dealing with ambient light from the side, and you can mount your projector behind you at near eye level, then a retro-reflective screen like the dalite HiPower ot Optima Greywolf could help. If you ambient light is from behind, this won't work.

Jonathan

Hi Bugg77

If you don't have a totally light controlled room, then the contrast numbers from those projectors are meaningless. Even a few footcandels of light in a room will bring down the on/off CR of any projector to the 100 to 1 or less range.

If you're main objective is to have a watchable picture during the day, with some ambient light, then choosing a projector that can be bright for daytime viewing, and has a good colour balance for nighttime viewing is your best option IMHO.

If you are dealing with ambient light from the side, and you can mount your projector behind you at near eye level, then a retro-reflective screen like the dalite HiPower ot Optima Greywolf could help. If you ambient light is from behind, this won't work.

Jonathan

Thanks for the input Jonathan. The windows in this room are facing west so they get evening sun. I am thinking that some heavy/blackout curtains will look very nice in there so I'm less and less worried about the ambient light.

I'm really leaning towards the Sanyo Z2000 but the BenQ W5000 is a close second. I'm reluctant to go to a DLP projector because I remember seeing rainbows from DLP Rear-projection TVs. Is this the same phenomenon that occurs with DLP front projectors?