I need to replace my color wheel broken Optoma DV10 (16:9 native). I have a 92" 16:9 Greywolf II that came with it. I've been looking at getting a used H30, H31, Infocus x1/4800 or Infocus x2 or 4805.

Some of these are 4:3 native. If I get a 4:3 native will it work with my 16:9 screen? I use my projector mainly for widescreen content fed by a component connection from my computer, but occasionally I do use the xbox (original) and the 360, and some SD tv content. I really don't want inches of light bleed top and bottom on the screen if I can avoid it.

On ebay, you can get a refurb 720p Sharp Dt-400 clone with a 3 year warranty for $600 after 8% bing.com cash back. Just sign up for a bing.com cash back account, search for xbox on bing.com and click on the link forebay. All purchases will then give you 8% cash back. The 4805 is widescreen by the way.

A 4:3 native projector will work with a widescreen image on a 16:9 screen. Here is what you do. Use a widescreen DVD. The widescreen imaage will appear as widescreen with black bars on the top and bottom. Zoom in or move the projector closer until the widescreen image is the same width as the screen (you may need to move the screen up or down) and the black bars will be above and below the screen.

Also wait until mid september to buy as all the new projectors come out and prices will drop even more. There will also be great deals around black friday.

I wish I had the $ to do that, but I'm looking to stay under $300 if possible. I just want to replace what I have/had for the time-being till I can upgrade.

First of all you have a gray screen with a lot of prospective projectors that are not very bright. Your screen itself is also rather small.

There are two ways to accomodate a 4 by 3 image on a 16 by 9 screen. First you can expand the screen. Second you can project a smaller 4:3 image on the screen.

If you have a big enough screen the small 4:3 image will still be big enough. For example, on my 110" screen the image is eight feet wide and four and a half feet high. When I watch a 4:3 movie the outside one foot of screen on each side is dark. Therefore I have a six foot wide picture at 4:3 instead of an eight foot wide picture at 16:9. From where I sit, this is big enough, most of the time.

However my screen, a high gain retroflective screen, is a pull down. If want to watch a big 4:3 source like say "Gone With The Wind". I can just pull the screen down all the way.

Or you could just throw away your screen and paint your back wall white. With a projector with a tired bulb, a white wall will be better than a gray screen.