I wanted to start a thread on B&M places to see projectors in person. It is hard to find a B&M that has a projector room setup with low lighting to give you a chance to see the projector as you would have it in your house. So list in your area the places that have projectors setup for viewing with suitable lighting. I am in Riverside California 50 miles from Los Angeles.

I too have the same question. I live in NYC. Anyone know places to go and compare projectors?

Also, can anyone tell me places (online or not) that have a generous return policy with projectors (other than Amazon and Costco)? I mean, no restocking fee or special restrictions.

Also, I thought I read somewhere that a manufacturer would not honor the warranty because the projector was purchased at Amazon. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks!

Well at some the the larger Best buys they have a viewing rooms (In Louisiana). Since we tend to be last on the tech list figure you have more options in Cali.

If you find a best buy with a magnolia home theater it is in their planograms to have atleast 2 of these projecters set up in their studios to an HD feed where the room can be closed and made pitch black.

1. Optoma hd80
2. Optoma hd70 (some older ones)
2. Sony vpl vw40
3. Sony vpl aw15
4. Mitsubishi hc1500

my particular store has the vw40 and hd 80. Both connected to either directv and blu ray. It is planogram (blue prints for the store and what should be where)

It's tough because even if you find an B&M store with a projector on display, it's usually not a good representation of how one would look in your house. We have 2 Best Buys, a Circuit City and a Tweeter in the area with projectors on display, and they all look terrible. Tweeter's got a $10,000 Sony in a dedicated theater room, CC has my HD72, and BB is displaying a SHARP.

Between the combination of screen and lighting, they look washed out and blurry. If I hadn't seen my father's InFocus I would have never gone the projector route based on in store displays. I bought my HD72 and DaLite High Power sight unseen and the picture quality, color, and brightness are terrific. You're better off going by professional reviews and user impressions on AVS when making your choice. Good luck!

I completely agree, you need to stay away from the B & M representation of "projectors". When I lived in Colorado, there were three stores which had PJ setups (1 or more). None of them were correctly configured, and my basement setup looked WAY better than any of them once I'd spent some time making everything up to my standards! If I hadn't come across this site & the main review sites, I probably would not have bought, since I would have thought the B & M setups were as good as it could get (boy, is that wrong!!!)

I completely agree, you need to stay away from the B & M representation of "projectors"....)


I also agree. I have not seen one decent PJ demo room in the San Francisco Bay Area and I've been to several over the last few years in hope that I could find one. The best way to see a PJ is in someone's home. Period.

The best way to see a PJ is in someone's home. Period.

Yep.

I went to a Theater Xtreme ( http://www.theaterxtreme.com/contact.html ) in DE and they had a few rooms to show off their PJs. Most of them had the Epson PJs in 720p and 1080p. They had rooms w/different themes -- dedicated HT, bar/sports room, living room type setup etc. I'm not sure what one would call a "decent" or properly set up room, but these guys seemed to know what they were doing b/c they offer their vid & sound calibration svcs as well. You'd think they'd know how to set up their own showrooms. FWIW, I was impressed but I'm a PJ noob so not sure what an expert would think.

B&M - Brick and Mortar. Not Buns and Mammeries.

Magnolia in Emeryville has two rooms which can be made representative if you get yourself a salesman to adjust the lights and doors. The problem is that I know that there is zero chance that would ever buy a projector from a physical store. I have checked the prices and they are simply too high.

If I were shopping in a much higher product bracket and anticipated a professional installment it might be different, but for a self installed mainstream projector not buying online is just throwing money away.

That means that I'm stealing the time of the salesman and the facilities of the store when I get a demo. I'm not comfortable with conning the perfectly nice store personnel into believing I'm actually a prospective customer.

very ethical ... althought if you came into the store ... takes 10 seconds to close the doors and power on the pj ...

now if you interrupt someone doing a demo or hog a salesperson when they are all busy thats another thing.

just like this guy that kept coming in and finally bought a 65" panasonic ... then when we would not pricematch an online retailer (charged 300 shipping too), he returned it...

he still comes in to look at tvs and such ... we dont mind ... however if he wants some information and recommendations we just dont give it ...

prices arent horrible either ... h65 for 899 althought cheaper online ... how much cheaper is it really ??