Budget: Preferably in the $2500 price range, but I will go up to $3000-$3200 if need be.

50% HD Movies, 50% Xbox 360


123” Stewart Grayhawk screen
Projector is ceiling mounted 18’ from the screen
The room is 100% light controlled “Fortress of ultimate darkness” motif
Flat black ceiling, flat black front wall, gray side/back walls, gray carpet


The current Epson HC720 puts out just sufficient image brightness in “Cinema Black 1” mode

I previously had a JVC DLA-11G which had a much more pleasing ‘film’ like quality than the Epson HC720. I definitely prefer the smoothness and lack of pixel structure of the LCOS vs current LCD.

I have the following projectors on my candidate list (in no particular order):

Epson 6100
Epson 6500UB
Panasonic PT-AE3000U
BenQ W20000
Sony VPL HW10

I am concerned whether the Sony VPL HW10 is capable of enough producing sufficient lumens for my 123” Grayhawk screen. Based on the review on ProjectorReviews.com it seems like it would, however the projector calculator on ProjectorCentral.com shows it being significantly lower in lumens than the other ones on my list.

Epson 6100 – I assume this would be a noticeable improvement over the current HC720 for no other reason than because the 720P pixel structure is pretty noticeable from my primary seating location (about 13’ from the screen).

Epson 6500UB – Would be a major improvement in black level and shadow detail.

Panasonic PT-AE3000U – Would be a major improvement in black level, shadow detail, and film like smoothness given the Panasonic pixel smoothing.

BenQ W20000 – The big wild card.

Sony VPL HW10 – I love the way the VPL-VW50/60 projectors look on smaller screens, but would it translate onto my 123” screen?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Here's a (very overexposed) photo of the screen/room:
http://www.onewolf.net/images/ht7.jpg

I think the ae3000u and the epson 6500UB are the big dogs right now for that price.

I think you should stay away from LCDs. There's no question that LCD, DLP, and LCOS projectors all have a different "look" to them. A new 1080p LCD will have far less pixel structure than a 720p one, but it will still look like an LCD. If you were not impressed by the HC720, I don't think you're going to like any of the current LCDs either. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with them, but again they will have a different look to them then both DLP and LCOS projectors.

A budget of $2500+ will buy you a lot of projector. In fact, take a look in the Over $3000forum for recommendations as well.

Jim

I was thinking about getting something to replace my Z5 for slightly less than your budget amount. After doing a lot of reading, I decided to wait until I could afford the RS10. It seems to be the ONLY projector everyone agrees on sub $5000 price range.

BenQ W5000. DLP with lens shift I believe.

I've researched lately for my leap to 1080p and my eye is on this one right now. I really don't care for the harsh, digital look of LCD, but I have very, very limited experience, so I could be totally off on how nice the newer LCD offerings are. But, I'm still going DLP my next round.

Budget: Preferably in the $2500 price range, but I will go up to $3000-$3200 if need be.

50% HD Movies, 50% Xbox 360


123” Stewart Grayhawk screen
Projector is ceiling mounted 18’ from the screen
The room is 100% light controlled “Fortress of ultimate darkness” motif
Flat black ceiling, flat black front wall, gray side/back walls, gray carpet


The current Epson HC720 puts out just sufficient image brightness in “Cinema Black 1” mode

I previously had a JVC DLA-11G which had a much more pleasing ‘film’ like quality than the Epson HC720. I definitely prefer the smoothness and lack of pixel structure of the LCOS vs current LCD.

I have the following projectors on my candidate list (in no particular order):

Epson 6100
Epson 6500UB
Panasonic PT-AE3000U
BenQ W20000
Sony VPL HW10

I am concerned whether the Sony VPL HW10 is capable of enough producing sufficient lumens for my 123” Grayhawk screen. Based on the review on ProjectorReviews.com it seems like it would, however the projector calculator on ProjectorCentral.com shows it being significantly lower in lumens than the other ones on my list.

Epson 6100 – I assume this would be a noticeable improvement over the current HC720 for no other reason than because the 720P pixel structure is pretty noticeable from my primary seating location (about 13’ from the screen).

Epson 6500UB – Would be a major improvement in black level and shadow detail.

Panasonic PT-AE3000U – Would be a major improvement in black level, shadow detail, and film like smoothness given the Panasonic pixel smoothing.

BenQ W20000 – The big wild card.

Sony VPL HW10 – I love the way the VPL-VW50/60 projectors look on smaller screens, but would it translate onto my 123” screen?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Here's a (very overexposed) photo of the screen/room:
http://www.onewolf.net/images/ht7.jpg

you should go for Infocus lp860...
good machine and in your range...
check it out....

LOL. The infocus LP860? Please, please tell me that was a joke and a half.

If pixel structure is a problem now and a concern going forward the Panny is a great choice. I have an AX100u and on 106 inch screen at 14 feet away no visible pixel structure.

AE3000 was impressive when I saw it at CES. I saw all kinds of theater rooms and most projectors had the expensive lens in front of their units to make the images wide.

The panny has it built in, called Lens Memory I think.
Of course the blacks and pixel smoothing were great.

The AE3000u is not doing anything special. It is just simply zooming the image so that the black bars are spilled over the screen. You loose a decent amount of resolution and brightness but it is still a nice feature. For true 2.35:1 image, you need to use an anamorphic lense. Cheap if you do it your self.

I have narrowed down my candidate list to these projectors:

JVC DLA-RS10
Sony VPL-HW10
BenQ W20000

I removed the Epson 6500UB because I'm afraid it will have the same 'LCD' computer display look issue that I have with my current Epson HC720. I removed the Panasonic PT-AE3000 because I don't think it has enough lumens in 'best' mode for my screen (123" grayhawk 0.8 gain). Based on research at projectorreviews.com the measured lumens in 'best' mode are as follows:

Epson 6500UB = 587
Panasonic PT-AE3000 = 407
Sony VPL-HW10 = 836
JVC DLA RS10 = 740
BenQ W20000 = 774

Because I really liked the image produced by my previous JVC DLA G11, I will probably bite the bullet and go for the JVC RS10 since there don't appear to be any 'cons' other than price. I just wish there were places I could go to see these projectors setup on nice big screens around here.

Thanks for all the information/opinions.

I have narrowed down my candidate list to these projectors:

JVC DLA-RS10
Sony VPL-HW10
BenQ W20000

I removed the Epson 6500UB because I'm afraid it will have the same 'LCD' computer display look issue that I have with my current Epson HC720.

yesterday I went to a local dealer to check out both the Epson 7500 and the JVC RS20. Unfortunately, they were only hooked up via component and SDDVD, but my immediate impression between the two is in agreement with your observation. The Epson looked more digital while the RS20 looked natural.