Thinking about switching projectors to a higher CR setup as the HT we'll be putting in our Mexico house has full light control, plus the screen will be slightly smaller than what we have now and seating will be closer.

I have a dust corrected SX50 with about 800 hours on the first lamp, plus a new spare lamp, plus a Moome HDMI stripper. The projector has all the original accessories including the carrying case.

Thinking about getting a Pearl for now. Don't want to spend the $5K for the RS1 with so many new technologies coming down the pike. Seems the Pearl is the closest older projector to the RS1.

Also, what screen seems to work best with the Pearl, around 100" diagonal. Seating is only 10' back, single row of 4.

Opinions?

Thanks.

Well, nextag lists the new ones at about $3000.

The buy-it-nows on ebay are all up around the original MSRP.

The only completed auction that I can see on ebay, for one that said it was new, ended up at $1500.

Bulbs are about $400 (and last 1400 hours?), so half of that is gone.

HDMI is a big plus.

It would be a really nice projector for another room.

Does it do stretch for 16:9 and/or 2.35 sources?

Best Regards,
Doug

Doug,

I have the same exact setup as Dan. (Hi Dan! :) )

The best thing to do is send the SX-50 a 1080p/60 signal. It will use the entire 1400x1050 panel which can be squeezed with a lens to 16:9.

This works great!

You can also let the Canon scale to 16:9 as well which it does a very fine job with. It's not a great deinterlacer, but for scaling its not bad at all.

I'm hoping Canon will show a 16:9 or at least 16:10 SX-?? at Infocomm this month. I have no info however.

The SX-50 with stripper is pretty optimal for living room or some lights on viewing. (like sports parties, video games, etc..)

Ken

Nope, it doesn't do stretch. Bulbs run at low (as this one has been always) last much longer plus I have a new spare. HDMI would have to be "stripped" using the Moomi device which I would also include.

Whaddaya think about the Pearl idea?

Nope, it doesn't do stretch. Bulbs run at low (as this one has been always) last much longer plus I have a new spare. HDMI would have to be "stripped" using the Moomi device which I would also include.

Whaddaya think about the Pearl idea?

Great on the bulb and the Moomi... I bought a DVI amp from DC, planning to get an SX50, but never actually bought the PJ. :) I have a panamorph lens that takes 4:3 all the way to 2.35, and have never used that, either. :) (well maybe for one or two movies while messing around with my HTPC, but it never got set up in the theater.)

I *really* liked my pearl on an HP in my bat cave theater on a 96 inch wide screen. It is a very nice projector. I just don't see how anyone could be that unhappy with that combo. That said, I remember the brightness you crave, and I am not sure if you would be. :) They say the RS-1 is brighter. My Pearl was plenty bright for me on an eight foot wide high power. Of course the bulb was new.

I sold the Pearl and am still waiting for a JVC from the prebuy. (hoping for better black and simultaneous Cr in my bat cave, and maybe some brightness for a wider 2.35 screen than I currently have.)

I have regretted selling it over the months. Additionally, the decision grew less and less popular with my gf, as the months went on.

If I do not get one this month, I think I will go with another pearl.

Getting a good Pearl with no misconvergence or shading can be an issue. I saw one at a high end shop in San Antonio that was a full pixel off everywhere, as far as I could tell. I would not have wanted that one. It had a baseball game on it, and all of the text was fringed with color in every direction, as well as any line on the screen. Yuck. Mine had some misconvergence.

There is a used pearl in the want ads right now that shows doesn't show any MC from the screenshots The little one pixel dots on the end of the lines in the menu look perfectly white with no flaring on the background. Personally, I would give the first 200 hours to someone else, if it meant I was guaranteed no (or very minimal) MC.

If you are not yet ready to hang the projector in your new house, and you are still happy with the SX50, why not just hang out for a while and see what comes up (or in the case of prices, down)?

In the meantime, a Pearl with an HP screen would not be a bad plan at all. If something comes up to beat that, it would really be something. If you are ready to buy, I think that to dislike the Pearl, it would really have to grate on one of your pet peeves. It does too much so well.

Are you thinking of going CIH? The Pearl's motorized zoom, offset and focus could be really nice for that, either with a lens or "poor man's method".

Best Regards,
Doug

Hi Dan. I just received a new price sheet from Canon and the SX-50 is no longer on it. I assume that means it is discontinued. Last month Canon dropped the price of the SX-60 to $3999 - the last listed price of the SX-50.

I still like the Canon SX-50/60. I replaced my DLP Mitsu with a Panasonic AX100u which has flaws but does have more lumens and CR in 16:9 mode than any of the Canon LCOS projectors except the 3500 lumen SX-6. It also out lumens all of the current HT 1080p projectors. There are rumors that Panasonic has a 2000 lumen 1080p due out shortly - by Cedia? - since they now have a huge $1000 rebate on their current 1000 lumen 1080p projector. (About six months back after I saw that Canon had shown no signs of life with 1080p I had a chat with a high ranking official at Panasonic and begged him for a 2K lumen, high CR 1080p unit. Maybe I got the message across?). I still have not heard a word on any 16:9 from Canon even though I had a chat with their higher ups about how they have dropped the ball on LCOS projector development. They still had no clues as to whether Canon 16:9 LCOS is coming or even in the works. I still cannot believe they have not done a thing there since they have rather good HiDef camcorders and they seem to be expanding more into that area every day. Why don't they come out with a 16:9 projector to match up with these is just beyond me.

I'd hang on to your SX-50 till Cedia at least or you could get a Panasonic AX100u for $2000 or less and file for the $400 rebate. Panasonic has a scheme that reduces LCD screen door to near that of the Canon LCOS units but the build quality isn't quite what you have in a Canon which is commercial grade.

I had to change my SX-60's bulb after about a year of fairly heavy use. I do not know the hours of use since its counter got stuck due to what I believe is a bug in the firmware. Their is a fix but I have not sent it in for an update.

I still watch a lot of 4:3 programming and do not like to use the 16:9 Panasonic on it since the letterbox gives a rather small picture and I hate do to that strecthing or zoom bit. So even if Canon, Panasonic or someone comes out with 1080p units with 2000 or so lumens I don't think I will be tossing out my Canon unit any time soon. I have HDMI 4x2 and component 4x2 - input x output - switches so I can use either projector without having to mess with cables, etc. One is ceiling mounted a bit further back than the other and a bit below in such a way as to not interfere optically with the other too. It will be quite a while before 4x3 goes away if ever. Don't be in a rush to dump your versatile Canon unit.

Icon Master

Has anybody else had a severe brightness drop off on their SX 50? Mine looked fantastic for the first 100-150 hours then suddenly the brightness dropped off dramatically. So much so that I've put my old first generation JVC DiLA back in it's place, and that projector has over 800 hours on it's Xenon bulb, yet it looks brighter.

Has anybody else had a severe brightness drop off on their SX 50? Mine looked fantastic for the first 100-150 hours then suddenly the brightness dropped off dramatically. So much so that I've put my old first generation JVC DiLA back in it's place, and that projector has over 800 hours on it's Xenon bulb, yet it looks brighter.

There are several threads about sudden brightness drop in bulbs.

I have only glanced at them, but they mention a bubbling of the bulb in a certain area. You might search for these threads and see the pics, and then look at your bulb.

Best Regards,
Doug

No sudden brightness drop with my SX50 after 250 odd hours, but the brightness has gradually declined maybe 20-30% from new. Still acceptable.

I'm waiting on a high contrast, high lumens 1080 projector before swapping my SX50 - it seems strange to me that 720p projectors in general are brighter than this 1080 generation, yet a 1080 projector will cope with a bigger screen if it only had more lumens. I'm hoping there will be lumens / CR breakthrough at a reasonable price point at CEDIA.

Regards,
Dean

Well thanks to everyone for their input and interesting discussion. I sold my SX50 in a day on the AVS marketplace, and bought an RS1 from Jason. In my new setup, I won't need the big lumens but I will need the placement flexibility that the RS1 offers. We'll be watching our regular TV on a big LCD. Our Mexico theater setup will be exclusively used for movies and HD.

I just got to the point where I wanted more contrast. That's what happens when you watch a bunch of scifi and dark movies like Lord of the Rings. The SX50 is one helluva projector though, it was steady as a rock the entire time I owned it and Canon did a great and fast job on the dust fix. I'm with Icon on the disappointment that Canon didn't follow through better on what was a great start.

I still have a very nice 4:3 Stewart Firehawk to sell if anyone is interested. Very hard to ship, though.

Dan