I'm looking for a pj to do a CIH setup, so I need to move over to the grey side. Living in Iceland, there are hardly any pj's on display anywhere so I need to count on reviews for most parts. I have seen that the Panasonic PT-AE2000U gets great reviews, but so did sanyo's Z5 and I've been playing with it for a week now (borrowed from a friend) and compared to my barco cine 8, well it sucks, I can hardly endure 1 tv episode, let alone a good movie. The only digital that I've liked so far is the rs2, Which I saw at cedia,(where I should have looked at the cheaper stuff too) and I will buy it if nothing else qualifies but would gladly save a few grand if something else looks just as good.
So do you have any recommendations?

I know you guys must be thinking, why doesn't this moron post in some other forum, but when it comes to PQ, crt-ers are the folk I trust.

The Z5 is overrated. Lots of the 720p DLPs are way better....like the Sharp DT-500. People mostly get units like the Z5 for the lens shift, but I personally would use keystone with DLP before getting a Z5. The native contrast on the Z5 is quite low and the ANSI on DLP is much better.

The Optoma HD80 is a great low priced 1080p unit, but the price increase for 1080p is ridiculous. I'd get the Sharp Z12000 MKII, the Marantz VP4001, Sharp Z3000 or the Sharp DT-500 (this can be had for under a grand now and has an iris). The VP4001 and Z3000 are basically Sharp DT-500s with an extra iris (which not everyone uses).

What all digitals have you seen and were the calibrated?

as to the Z5, it was just an example of how reviews cant be blindly trusted, it was never an option. I will get a 1080p PJ. what i've seen is: JVC rs1,rs2, sony vw60, and Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080. from that group the rs2 stood out and I liked the epson least. In retrospect, I should have checked out all the <5000$ pj's at cedia, but at the time I wasn't looking for a new pj and kept getting sucked into all the "wayovermybudget" demos. It was after those demos that I knew that I "needed" CIH. :)

Buy another barco and two edge blenging C260 cards from TV0ne and do CIH that way!

then the grey side will have alittle longer to wait for you.

Athanasios

Buy another barco and two edge blenging C260 cards from TV0ne and do CIH that way!

then the grey side will have alittle longer to wait for you.

Athanasios

sure, if the second barco comes with a pro installer at no extra cost :D

By now too much of my time goes into running my company, for me to spend the few hours a day I have left tweeking and messing with my setup. I was up to it in 2003 when the digitals were just a joke.

Anyway, the gray side will at least wait for a few months since I dont intend to tear my room apart in the wintertime, since it is the time that I watch most tv. Now the sun comes up at 10 am and sets around 4:30 pm, desember 21-22 there is hardly a sunrise here. Summertimer on the otherhand is bright around the clock...

I just want to finish making decisions before christmas so that when I'm finally ready start, the process will be quickly over.

Nothing better than planning ahead! good luck with your decision. and look over at the screen war thread i think someone (overclocker)posted a screen shot of a panny there. It looked good to me.

Athanasios