Hey guys,

Haven't posted here a lot. I have had an Optoma HD70 for about 2 years now. I know the bulb is getting low on life as the picture is getting quite washed out and dim. I did really appreciate the projector while it was new, but have always planned on upgrading to a 1080p projector eventually.

I am considering the new BenQ W1000 but wanted to get some advice from people here. It is not always super dark when I watch the projector. When new the HD70 did an adequate job but I definitely would not want something that is less capable in this respect. Also, with the available space, the HD70 gets to the exact right size to fill my screen, so I wouldn't want anything that is not capable of throwing the same size/distance.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Looks like a new lamp is only $235, longer you wait to upgrade the more you get.. Sorry just a poor guy who is loving his Old 720P projector with a fresh lamp in it.
Good luck on your quest

Well, I would really like to move to something 1080p considering the size and proximity with which I sit. Also I would love to have something with a bit better contrast if possible. I do have a use for my HD70 if I can find a suitable replacement.

Just curious... how many hrs on your bulb?

Just under 800, but I do run it pretty bright. For example, originally I ran the cinema mode but I have since borrowed some custom settings from this site because the cinema setting was just too dim.

Optoma HD20 would be the obvious choice, but I would want more than a resolution upgrade if I were going to spend the money upgrading as you will not see the WOW! difference without a big contrast improvement. You would probably see a bigger improvement by upgrading to a Benq 8720 which is 720p but has a huge contrast improvement for $800 at the Benq store (this was a high end $5000 projector when it came out). I would probably wait until something with the contrast of the Epson 1080Ub drops to your price range which may not be for another year. At least wait until the end of next month when all the new projectors come out and prices on existing projectors drop. If you can wait until Christmas you will see great deals.

Well honestly, I haven't really set a price range. The W1000 just kind of caught my eye because it was new and cheap. Before that I had been looking at the Panasonic AE3000U but wasn't really sold on the LCD projectors. I live in Grand Forks North Dakota and we don't really have any shops or anything where you can check out projectors in action. Would the BenQ W6000 be a better idea considering what I am looking for? I do really want 1080p for computer use, as well as my Bluray player only allows 24p when in 1080p.

Didn't realize the W6000 wasn't even out yet when I wrote my last comment.