I've been trying to find this out for a pretty long time...

In such a big city, with so many stores, I would imagine at least a few of them have projectors on, for people to take a look at.

But, at the same time....since there are so many stores...it's almost impossible to go around checking each one of them to find out if any of them do this.

So...I'm asking you guys. Have any of you happened to run into any places in (or very close to) New York?

Thanks a lot.

The Sony Style store on Madison Ave. had a demo of the Qualia projector...but this was a while ago and I'm not sure if they still do. You should check out the home entertainment show at the Hyatt in NYC this May. There should be a lot of good models on display there.

The question is where are they - not in just NYC but anywhere in the USA?

In-person vendors, including the major chains throughout the USA, as a general rule have avoided even offering (let alone displaying) new generation HD front projectors - as they simply present too much competion to their existing lines of plasmas, LCDs, and other types of TV. Why confuse Buyer X who is about to buy a plasma with a front projector that costs 1/2 as much producing twice the picture size?

The BEST BUY in our locale in the northeat USA just rippped out the token obsure model ceiling mount model they had up for a year - and the Tweeter across the street did the same thing - after the year before building a special room to house it. The Circuit City nearby keeps running a incredibly terrible low grade DVD on the single projector they have operationg - with quality so bad - anyone seeing it would never buy a projector

Now and then an in-person retailer here and there they might have a single overpriced token HD projector - usually something not too popular - but even that is rare

More common is a couple of business class DLP's in a glass case somewhere

.. and almost never never the top selling (under 3000 dollars) high performance/ low cost projectors like the Pan 700/900 and more recent models or the Sanyo Z4's and upwards

Evan Powell has discussed this lack of demos problem at projectorcentral. com in detail and attributes it to the very high overhead expense cost to the vendor of demonstrating such projectors - however it seems to run much deeper than that

Keep in mind that these projectors generally weigh less than 10 lbs - making them near perfect for internet vendor shipment

Most buyers buy sight unseen in the under-3000 dollar category from reputable vendors as cited on the AVS forum, and few (I believe) are disappointed - it's just a matter of whether one prefers LCD or DLP

The Sony Style store on Madison Ave. had a demo of the Qualia projector...but this was a while ago and I'm not sure if they still do. You should check out the home entertainment show at the Hyatt in NYC this May. There should be a lot of good models on display there.


Thanks. I'm definitely gonna check out Sony Style. Apparently, Samsung has something called the "Samsung Experience", with all kinds of things on display also....maybe they'd have something to show me what I should be expecting.

The Home Theater Show thing is a really good idea too....unfortunately, there's no way I'm gonna wait until Mid-May.

I'm pretty sure that B&H Photo has a couple of projectors set up.

Moe

I'm pretty sure that B&H Photo has a couple of projectors set up.

Moe

Hmm. I've actually been there a couple of times, and didn't notice anything like that....But that was before I was really paying attention to projectors, though (and it's always been kinda hectic everytime I've been there.) I'll definitely check them out again. Thanks.

Thanks. I'm definitely gonna check out Sony Style. Apparently, Samsung has something called the "Samsung Experience", with all kinds of things on display also....maybe they'd have something to show me what I should be expecting.

The Home Theater Show thing is a really good idea too....unfortunately, there's no way I'm gonna wait until Mid-May.

No problem. You could also check out the Harvey Electronics store in mid town...but they are a joke. When I was researching projectors 2 years ago I went in there to see what they had. The salesman asked me what I was looking for. I told him I was looking for an affordably priced model. He suggested the Sharp 10000 or 12000 or something that I knew was at least a 10k projector. I said I thought that was a 10k projector and I had mentioned I was looking for an affordable model. He said, oh, in that case I would recommend the little brother of whichever this one was...the 8000 or 10000. He said they were being cleared out and he could probably let it go for around 8k. I laughed at him and thanked him for his time. I bought my panny AE700 for $1700 a week later.

Oh yeah, he also suggested a $5000 screen to go with it. :)

Lots of projectors at B&H. After you enter the store, make a right and head straight back for the wall...

Lots of projectors at B&H. After you enter the store, make a right and head straight back for the wall...

Yup....Thanks a lot, guys. :)

They only had one projector actually on when I stopped by this afternoon, but they had about 10 or fifteen of them set up....looked like you could just ask any of the dozens of guys who work there to let you see any of the other projectors if you wanted to.

I was in a rush, so I didn't bother asking about any of the other projectors. The one they had on was a Sanyo model (Sanyo PLC-XU73), priced around 750 bucks. I'm planning on buying the Mitsubishi HD1000....and the Sanyo one I saw today impressed me a lot .. Because I've been reading this site for a couple of months now, I was pretty certain that the HD1000 is better than the Sanyo they had on display.

So, I just watched the little demo stuff they had on for a while, wrote down the model number of the projector I was watching, and came home and checked it out. After looking at the specs, it seems like the Sanyo is a pretty decent deal, I guess....but, now I'm 100% positive that I'll be completely satisfied with the HD1000. Especially considering it was the middle of a sunny (but cold) day in NY, and they've got the projectors set up somewhat near some windows. The fact that (what I consider to be) an inferior projector to the one I plan on buying impressed me so much with the amount of ambient lighting it was contending with really reassures me that the HD1000 will have no problems at all pleasing me while I watch TV or play some games without having to sit in complete darkness (the only other projector I've ever really experienced couldn't handle any ambient light at all....so I was afraid of that)

Again...thanks a lot. Hopefully, somewhere down the line some other people will use the search function here, and come up with this thread for ideas. If you're living in NY, and you think you might want to buy a projector, but you've never really seen one in action....definitely head over to B&H.

No problem. You could also check out the Harvey Electronics store in mid town...but they are a joke. When I was researching projectors 2 years ago I went in there to see what they had. The salesman asked me what I was looking for. I told him I was looking for an affordably priced model. He suggested the Sharp 10000 or 12000 or something that I knew was at least a 10k projector. I said I thought that was a 10k projector and I had mentioned I was looking for an affordable model. He said, oh, in that case I would recommend the little brother of whichever this one was...the 8000 or 10000. He said they were being cleared out and he could probably let it go for around 8k. I laughed at him and thanked him for his time. I bought my panny AE700 for $1700 a week later.

Oh yeah, he also suggested a $5000 screen to go with it. :)

The 5000 dollar screen and the high priced projector. That is too funny but so typical and strangely enough that situation was where they actually HAD projectors up and running - still comparatively rare throughout the USA and it's consistent with high bucks projectos and screens always being pushed in Home Theater and Sound and Vision and other publications - who have to keep advertisers happy

It is true vendors have legitimate problems demonstrating front projectors, with projectors as most already know, unlike TV's, just cannot (or should not) be run all day - too much heat and too much bulb wear. Also turning them on and off constantly would be bad. Third, salesman demo time would kick up overhead (Evan Powell's theory - on the Projector Central site, he believes such overhead makes stores avoid them)

Consider that the Pan 700/900 class of projectors became the first breakthrough high peformance/ low cost (commercial theater equivalent in practical terms) front projector in history - outsellilng every other projector on a worldwide basis over a 2 yr period staring in yr 2004 - and yet almost no vendors ever had one to demonstrate to buyers, forcing buyers nearly always buy them sight unseen

In fact I've never seen or heard of a single reference to any in-person retail store actually selling and demonstrating Pan 700/900 class projectors in the United States. I believe Australia did have some vendors running demos and maybe elsewhere - but overall it was very very rare