To make a long story short, I ended up with two projectors off ebay.

One is an epson home 20 (480p)

the other is an acer PH530 (720p)

You would assume that I would automatically go with the Acer as it is 720p.

I tested both. The acer does have a better picture as far as clarity, but a little weak in the color department. Blacks are about the same on both (surprised me, but this 720p does have a white segment in the color wheel)

I do notice the screen door effect more on the epson, but it really doesn't seem to bother much at all. Don't even notice once the movie starts.

The epson is rated at 1100 lumen and the acer is 1000, but the epson is definitely brighter and much much better with ambient light. I can watch a movie 2 lights on behind me.

I will be using it mostly for DVD and Divx movies and gaming on the Wii.

the throw distance on the epson is better for me. I can place it on the coffee table, while I would have to ceiling mount the acer as it is an odd position roomwise (I live in an apartment and don't want the landlord to freak out with something attacted to the ceiling.)

Would it be a bad move to keep the lower resolution epson over the Acer? I have also had alot of epson products and have nothing but praise for them.. I have heard alot of horror stories about the Acer reliability. Seems a little cheaply made too.

I know I would be better off with a 900 720p from a decent brand than the acer, but I can't spend that much on this as I am adding speakers, furniture and everything else as well. I am going to sell the one I don't want back on ebay. Lamps seem to cost about the same for both. I plan on getting a 1080p in about 3-4 years when the prices drop to within my budget and there is more HD content available.

I would definitely go with the Acer. But it seems to your eyes you like the epson and that is what is most important.

The epson is only 480p the acer is 720p a true high def projector,I used to own the epson powerlite 10 and after 200 hours the bulb started going dim and the colors were washed out , now my acer has over 200 hours and it is just as bright as the day I purchased it and I never had any problems with it.

I think I'm going to be contrary on this one.

If you like the pic the Home20 throws, and SDE doesn't bother you, I'd say stick with the Epson. I've helped a few friends and neighbours setup theatres with them and everyone is still very happy. In this 1080p age, the common wisdom is not to even consider a 480p projector, however, if it satisfies you I'd say go with it.

I have both a Mits HD1000 and Epson 400. My findings are the same as yours. In high brightness mode, the Epson has much more saturated colours.

If you want to reduce SDE, try an inexpensive Optoma Greywolf screen. Since you're coffee table mounting it will almost double your brightness and help mask SDE.

Jonathan

Hello everyone,
i'm new on this forum, but i was reader for a long time...
this is funny thread, because this is similar to my what-to-buy problem in a reversed way.

i have an epson home 10 at home, over 2000 hours, still going well, but i got the upgrade bug, and looking at the acer now.(cheap, 720p, short throw for a dlp)

Lou, if you could remember how loud yr epson was, how would compare the noise level to the acer? (both in eco mode).

Also about the black levels, i was thinking that the acer going to have a superior black being a dlp, but maybe it is not that much better? Isn't there some tweak to reduce the effect of the white segment?

the epson have a "cinema filter" which seems to be an ND filter... for me, the black levels are not so good on mine, i know it is the older model, but i don't think there would be very big differences between the home10 and 20.

In the end I decided to go with the Acer.. I really feel bad tossing the Epson on ebay. I will say this - the acer puts out alot of heat and is a pain to position. I rethinking the idea of ceiling mounting. Perhaps inverted off a platform on a stand that I can attached to the back of an end table/media center


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Surpisingly in side by side comparison, the acer was much much brighter

acer pwnz

I have well over 2000 hours on my Epson Home 20 and it has been nothing but outstanding. Ceiling mounted and shooting onto an 80 inch screen, use it for almost all TV viewing and DVD stuff.

Oddly enough, DirectTV HD looks amazing even though its not "true" HD. Anyhow, hope your Acer is reliable for you. Enjoy!

Windrider