Hey guys,

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best 4:3 native projectors for DVD/Television playback?

I found one thread a while back mentioning Sharp. It just seems many of the 4:3 projectors these days seem to be geared towards the portable PC/presentation market. With this in mind, I was wondering if there are any out there that really stand out for home use?

Any help much appreciated!

http://www.projectorcentral.com/canon_realis_sx50.htm

One of the best in terms of resolution

Find a used NEC LT150, mine still puts out a great picture.. though it's not used anymore...

Nice to see someone say somthing nice about a Canon 4:3 native.

We bought a Canon lcd and so many dlp or death folk on multiple forums told us no,no,no bad idea and we wouldn't like it.

We loved it and while on paper it didn't have the contrast ratio of some other makes and types Canon builds in a powerful image processor and software and when in Cinema mode it suprised some of our friends (dlp fanatics) as being as good or even better than their single chip spinning color wheel gadgets.

Canon - good lens, good zoom, good image processing and good all around quality and though native 4:3 it adapts to throw a nice widescreen image.

Good thing about 4:3 is they can be had cheaper often than others.

Final agreement with previous poster - projector spec pages and throw calculator at projectorcentral.com are best anywhere as are the reviews plus there are no restrictions about what you can share whether you are talking about a site sponsor or not so as a member here I say check it out!
goodluck

Why would you want a 4:3 projector? You can still watch 4:3 content on a 16:9 projector. Don't you want to be able to view high quality sources in the best way possible (HDTV, widescreen DVDs, Blue Ray,...?) You'll have a lot more options if you consider 16:9 projectors.

Sharp XR10/20/30/40X models.

...Canon builds in a powerful image processor and software and when in Cinema mode it suprised some of our friends (dlp fanatics) as being as good or even better than their single chip spinning color wheel gadgets...
Final agreement with previous poster - projector spec pages and throw calculator at projectorcentral.com are best anywhere as are the reviews plus there are no restrictions about what you can share whether you are talking about a site sponsor or not so as a member here I say check it out!
goodluck

If a 4:3 LCD can surprise a supposed DLP fanantic...

I would have to guess these are primarily gamers using business machines like the Dell PJs in order to be surprised by a 4:3 LCD business PJ. Not a very valuable source of opinion. I would like to see some documetation on why they are called dlp fanatics, what PJ they own, and how they use it before I gave any credibility to their comments

Projector Central - a useful place for specs and throw calculations but take the reviews with a grain of salt. They are of course subjective and do not follow a prescribed review process complete with documentation of results and photos to demonstrate the found results.

If you want a good place to start for reviews, projectorreviews.com would be where I would recommend you start. Not only are the reviews consistent, documented, and professional, they are very often found to be very accurate by the owners and users of the same equipment. The reviewer is not also trying to make a sale.

My requirement for a 4:3 projector stems from the fact that the wall I'm projecting onto is effectively square shaped. Therefore, a 4:3 picture (eg TV sport) completely fills it up. When I view DVD's and 16:9 content, the picture on the horizontal is as large as it could be, just with the black bars top and bottom.

I'm guessing if I get a 16:9 projector, when I feed it a 4:3 picture, I'll be getting a smaller picture than using a native 4:3 projector Eg Already lost height on the vertical due to it being a 16:9 projector and a reduced horizontal length as will have black bars to the left and right of the 4:3 picture?

Your situation sounds like mine. Back in August, I posted a similar request on this forum. Here is a list of my requirements from that post:


Native 4:3 with 1024x768 resolution or better
Ability to project 16:9 format
At least 2000 lumens for acceptable use in moderate ambient light
DLP with 2000:1 contrast ratio or better
Component input (source will be 480p from my DVR or DVD)
Reliable support from manufacturer with 2 or 3yr warranty being ideal
Fairly low noise level
Cost not over 1K

In a matter of days, I had some great recommendations. Then I stumbled onto the Sharp XR-10 thread and some wonderful insight from bud16415. Based on the hundreds of posts, I purchased an XR-10X (later model with lamp issues fixed) and tried it out. I also found a great deal on the XR-30X and bought it for a side-by-side comparison. The XR-10X was great - but the XR-30 was even better. I paid less than $700 for it and bought a CC 4 year warranty that includes one bulb replacement for $125 more. I'm not sure what the current selling price is, but I would assume it is in the ballpark.

Our theater is 20 x 20 and the screen wall leaves only 110" in width (before trim) due to a door and my built-in equipment rack. I was intending to do a 100" 4x3 format screen using laminate, but when the drywall folks did their magic, I found they left the entire screen area with only one horizontal seam that consisted of two factory tapered edges. When they put on the final coat of mud, it was perfectly flat. I played with the projector some and had them leave a 115" diagonal area without texture. After painting the rest of the room a latte color, I am still just using primer on that area (and actually a slightly tan primer at that). We have been really enjoying the projector. Our image is constant width - about 94". Even without top and bottom masking, all formats look great. You lose height with 16:9 or scope formatted movies, but you never notice once the movie starts! Picture quality is awesome at our viewing distance of 15'. I already have the finish paint for the screen - a Valspar Signature latex in TV Winter Mist (RGB is 220, 220, 220) but have not yet applied it. I will post pictures when I get it painted and trimmed out in the DIY Screen section).

Some cautions: once you have your theater set up, you will find yourself spending a lot of time watching movies. In the past several months, we have been watching 4 - 6 movies per week. And when you go any place that sells TV's you find yourself asking how people can watch anything on a tiny 42" screen.

Feel free to PM me if you have additional questions about the Sharp XR-30X or my theater buildout.

Southsound
Glad to hear you are still enjoying your 30X.

There are certain people and room setups that IMO still do well with 4:3. The example above where a room is width restricted and there is a need for viewing some 4:3 material is one good one. I watch a lot of classic movies along with things like IMAX filmed in 4:3. , but one of my favorite uses for 4:3 is showing photos most digital cameras fit the image well into a 1024x768 field and when taking the picture turned 90 degrees its still a nice size picture when resized into 4:3.

Below is a screen shot showing how the 10X does with things like IMAX and old movies in B&W.

http://inlinethumb64.webshots.com/4735/2437973500068493142S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2437973500068493142gXcoFk)

http://inlinethumb62.webshots.com/1213/2023686520068493142S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2023686520068493142AFlhsv)

16:9 isn’t bad ether.

http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/20/2021147720068493142S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2021147720068493142OBVzGy)

And if you still watch SD.

http://inlinethumb37.webshots.com/868/2174742960068493142S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2174742960068493142xHgSYv)