Hi all,

My wife and I took a look today at "other options" for our home theater. Having dedicated a room solely to the hobby we toyed with the idea of getting a projector. Neither of us knew anything about it, and just figure'd we would go demo one.

The only one we could see was the Cineza on a 106 steward screen. I realized this projector only did 720p. We shopped around a bit more and saw the vw50 that did 1080p. We both liked the idea of the sxrd technology and no color wheel, less moving parts etc and hopefully no breaking.

We had a few questions hopefully we can get them answered before we make our purchase.

1. Do these projectors have a CATV or OTA tuner built in, if not would we need to get a comcast DTV tuner box?

2. What's the cost of replacement bulbs on these rigs, we were told around 500.00 or so?

3. Burn in, we were told there is no burn in on these types of units?

4. Out of the two, and we found the vw50 to be close price wise to the cineza, would be the better pic or if neither which one should we also consider.

Thanks for your time.

if you found them at a close price to one another, you were either seeing an amazing deal on the vw50 or a horrible price on the hs51 :P

Hi all,

My wife and I took a look today at "other options" for our home theater. Having dedicated a room solely to the hobby we toyed with the idea of getting a projector. Neither of us knew anything about it, and just figure'd we would go demo one.

The only one we could see was the Cineza on a 106 steward screen. I realized this projector only did 720p. We shopped around a bit more and saw the vw50 that did 1080p. We both liked the idea of the sxrd technology and no color wheel, less moving parts etc and hopefully no breaking.

We had a few questions hopefully we can get them answered before we make our purchase.

1. Do these projectors have a CATV or OTA tuner built in, if not would we need to get a comcast DTV tuner box?


No. Yes, for TV. Your DVD, HD-DVD, or Blu-Ray player will hook up w/o any trouble.


2. What's the cost of replacement bulbs on these rigs, we were told around 500.00 or so?


That is the retail price. They can be found for less. Figuring about $400 per bulb for just about any projector is a good guideline.


3. Burn in, we were told there is no burn in on these types of units?


That is correct.


4. Out of the two, and we found the vw50 to be close price wise to the cineza, would be the better pic or if neither which one should we also consider.

Thanks for your time.

They're either charging way too much for the Cineza or they have a great deal on the VW50. Do a search online to get an idea of what the prices should be or private message me and I can point you in the right direction. Keep in mind that a retail shop like that can't compete on just price against online retailers.

There is no contest between the 2 as far as picture quality. The VW50 will blow the Cineza away. Once you see the difference in price between them the decision probably won't be so easy.

-- jaydillyo

I wasn't sure if prices could be displayed on here so I omitted them. The cineza was around 1k less than the vw50. They did not have a vw50 to show us. Magnolia had one but of course they wouldn't shut the door, and turn the lights off so it looked like utter sh.t. I found the vw50 for around the 3k mark.

Since we're new to this everyone I talked with said that stewart screens are the absolute best, the 106" screen was going to run us around 2k. Is this a good screen, I saw so many variables when it came to screens I almost wanted to cry, lol. I know im gettin off the original topic on the screen.

Is the vw50 a decent projector for the money or are their other brands I should consider?

Im getting psyched to start this project!

Since we're new to this everyone I talked with said that stewart screens are the absolute best, the 106" screen was going to run us around 2k. Is this a good screen, I saw so many variables when it came to screens I almost wanted to cry, lol. I know im gettin off the original topic on the screen.

Is the vw50 a decent projector for the money or are their other brands I should consider?

Im getting psyched to start this project!

Carada Briliant White or a Da-Lite High Power. Either of these two screens will cost you considerbly less than a Stewart, and either are highly recommended.
Personally, I think the Stewart screen they use to demo the VW50 in the Magnolia sections of Best Buy are a poor match with the pj. Screens are a whole nother ballgame though, and you need to assess your room and choose the screen based on the limitations there. If you have a very bright room, with poor light control, they may have recommended you use a Stewart Firehawk which would be big bucks (if they didn't ask you about the conditions of your room and just recommended the Stewart, then I 'd say it was more because the mark-up is better for them). I'm not that up on screens- I been using a $40 DIY job myself for 6 years now and have no desire to go for a 'real' screen anytime soon.

The VW50 is a great PJ, and an amazing bargain considering the state of things just a year or two ago. It's not perfect, but no pj is. For around $3K it's an insane value. Like Jaydillyo says, it will blow away the Cineza. Absolutely no contest if properly set up.
There are 1080 LCD pjs around the same cost now (the VW50 is LCoS), and DLPs for slightly more. My preference would be for DLP or LCoS.
If I were you, I would check out the reviews at projectorreviews.com and UltimateAV.com . Those should give you a good rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of the VW50

The HS51a should be about $1200. The VW50 should be about $3000-$3500.

Personally I would get a Sharp Home Cinea 1080 pr a Panasonic ae1000 over the vw50.

There is a great 1080p projector comparison over at www.projectoreviews.com.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/Best1080pProjectors042007/index.php

An HS51a is a very nice projector for about $1200, but I wouldnt pay more than that. Sony also has it's replacement out now.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/sony/AW15/index.php