A little HELP on what projector I should be looking for.

Well, you need to provide more info than that if you want a good answer. Like what's your budget; how far back will you be sitting; what are the dimensions of your room; what are you projecting mostly (TV, movies, video games)? Right off the bat, with a huge screen like that you'd want something with high lumen output, like 1300+. You generally want a screen or at least a custom painted wall with black borders to get the best optimal image without reflections from the wall and ceiling, which can wash out your image.

A little need to know on DLP vs LCDs I've picked up recently in searching for my own setup:
LCDs: some of the newer 3D LCDs have longer than optimal lag times for gaming (Epson 3D projectors are one). Also, some LCDs' colors do not synch together perfectly as some of the multiple mirrors? being used to project the image do not line up correctly (some are prone to this while others are not).

DLPs: some suffer from the "rainbow effect" which is a result of a slow color wheel (4x speeds or slower mostly). It's essentially you seeing a singled out color as you dart your eyes across the screen. It can be distracting to some people, while others won't even notice. To completely avoid this you'd want something with a 5x speed or higher. Then again everyone's different so you'd want to find out if you're sensitive to this or not.

Do you want 3D? Do you game much? Do you watch lots of sports? Is there ambient light in your room?

I vote for the W6000 it is available at Amazon for $1360 right now and it is super bright, extra sharp, great for gaming and movies with that classic DLP pop to the picture. It can easily handle a 159" screen in a light controlled room.

For a screen go to www.thefinalclick.com

You can get a pulldown for about $550-$600 or electric for about $1k in a 159" Da-Lite Contour or Contour Electrol. No projector under 3k will give a better picture for what you plan on using it for. Plus DLP has a sealed light path no worries about dust blobs.

There's potential for rainbow effect on nearly every DLP - as to whether it might be visible to you is unknown. I believe the color wheel is a 6x speed wheel, so rainbows should be minimal.

I can't use a DLP, it gives me a headache because I'm sensitive to the rainbow effect. I have to use an LCD. You might want to consider that family or friends might have a problem with DLP before deciding.

I'll only ever buy Epson. First because they're LCD and secondly because of their fantastic warranty and service.

I had an 8100 and just last week bought the refurb 6500ub. What a fantastic picture! Best part is that an Epson refurb comes with the same 2 year warranty that a new Epson comes with. The 6500ub is more then worth the $949 price. Just think of the left over money in your budget that could go towards upgrading something else.

I have no idea how to do that. Plus my 8100 is boxed up for sale.

However, look at this thread and it will show you the difference between 3D and non-3D epson PJ.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1377652

This thread is why I didn't get my 3D PJ this time My boys would have not been happy with the lag. They said, who cares about 3D after hearing about the lag.

Epson 8350 is very low lag, but not the image quality of the 8700. I don't know about lag ont he 8700 - but these would be a good place to start looking.

The 8350 is NOT $1900. The 8700 is $1900, the 8350 is closer to $1000.

Would you want a fixed frame or a pull down screen? If you want a bright image, I think you should go for a Da Lite HP screen. If you have an all back or dark color theater, a neutral screen would also work great. I had both a high power screen and now a neutral screen. With my HP screen, I was able to watch my low lumen led projector with lights on. It gave out 350 lumens at max on my 120in screen but it was more like 850 lumens. I had to change it out for a neutral screen to give me the purest image for my JVC RS55

I just saw your room color. If you are not going to paint your room dark, I think you should go with a HP screen and and go big with a 135-140in

Best to worst what? Clarity, brightness, color reproduction, contrast, noise level, ease of setup? At the budget level, every projector will have weaknesses and strengths. The list would be different depending on what criteria is most important to you - it may be helpful to narrow your choices down to 2 or 3 at the most.

Hmm low lag, no rainbow, cheaper the better??

My Son asked for a Qumi and I was very, very skeptical about such a tiny projector until we saw it in operation in our Sons room.

Nice image for a low price.
Semiwhite walls with yellow/beige/brown colors.
Image projected on thick cotton screen(sweatpants material) for 1/1 gain looks very good.

We started with a 70'' image then said looks good! lets try larger and a 90" image looked good so guess what?? um hmmm larger!! lol so we went to a 130" image and it feels like being at the movie theater.

Lights are directional leds so that we can navigate the room without placeing lights on the screen.

I want a Qumi for myself but I have to order it in Feb. and then another 400 mile round trip to pick it up.

Sometimes the simple solution that fits a budget is best??

I agree with Bassage. There's a lot that goes into deciding which projector is right. One big question is how many hours do you think the projector will be used?

There's several complaints about Epson bulbs having short hours before blowing. I question those claims. I believe that it's operator error on most of them. I subscribe to the 2 hour rule. It's that the PJ won't be turned on unless it's going to be on for at least 2 hours and it can't be turned back on for at least 2 hours after shutdown. This means that we leave the PJ on (with screen blanked) if it's going to be used by someone within the next hour or so. Using this method we put 2500-3000 hours on the PJ per year. I've had 1 bulb go out and it was on a PJ that was being replaced that day.

Why do I say all this? Because I don't trust any projector to last without having other problems over that many hours. For me Epson's warranty is the deciding factor. 2 years no questions asked overnight replacement. With the amount of hours we use the projector I've used this warranty. I buy a new (or refurb) Epson every 2 years and sell my old one for what ever I can get for it. BTW, each replacement comes with a new bulb in it

Your room is almost exactly like mine. Take a look at my HT thread to see how I set it up. I started with a 720p which look very good. Then I went to the 8100 and that was a noticeable set up. Last week I went with the refurb 6500ub (only $949 at VA) and it looks fantastic!!!! All are Epson models. My boys have been gaming on all of them with no problems at all.

Whatever PJ you get you'll have to do some painting. The white ceiling and light walls will reflect the light coming off of the screen back onto the screen turning them into an ambient light source. Trust me, when I fixed that problem it made a big difference in the PQ.

There's no such thing as a light controlled room if it has a white ceiling and light colored walls.

You asked, so here's my advice. Take your time, make it about the "fun of the hunt"
and don't make a hasty decision. You already know you've got a better than
average room and good light control...which makes things alot easier than it is
for the average bear. Find sources and look at as many PJs as you can. You
may find you love DLP's over LCDs....or not! Once you pick, get the best
and highest quality screen you can that will complement the qualities and
faults of the PJ you select. Read reviews, Call MANY of the big PJ sales
companies and run the same questions by as many of the knowledgeable
salesmen as you can.....take notes. Have fun with the hunt and more
fun with the results. Good luck. ....Jon

In a light controlled room you don't need to worry too much about lumens. The contrast number will make the biggest difference in PQ up to about 75k. After that the increase in contrast isn't as large as the numbers would indicate. Another words, the difference between 36k and 75k contrast is much larger then the difference between 75k and 200k.


It will be more especially if you use the 2 hour rule, which you should seriously consider doing. Plus once you use it, you'll want to use it more I haven't used my theater that much in the last 6 months (rest of the family has) but after getting the 6500ub I've been in there watching a bunch of movies. The 75k contrast looks that good. I now have to rewatch my movies


I've been able to find something wrong with each projector, eventually. Sometimes I don't bother to call about it until my bulb has a bunch of hours on it. My 8100 (bought new) had a slight red tint in 2 corners on very dark scenes. It really wasn't that noticeable unless you looked for it. I decided to wait to call it in until I had a lot of hours on it. At about 3300 hours I called it in and they sent me a replacement. Funny thing is that later that same day the bulb went out.

Now this may sound like Epson is junk but that's not the case. No projector is perfect. I am extremely happy with my Epsons but I will use their warranty. The problems have been nitpicking mostly. This also means that I'd never even consider buying from another manufacturer. I buy from Epson every 2 years. I'd say that they still make money on my business and my praise of them.


The more surfaces that reflect light the more impact that it will have on your PQ. My door was painted a light flat gray and I found that I had to repaint it a darker gray. The door is near the screen.

Paint the whole room and you'll be VERY pleased. All flat paint but note that also means that the walls will mark easily. All black screen wall and ceiling. Black usually takes 2 coats to look good. Other walls can be another color but it's best that they be a relatively dark color. I chose different shades of gray. Wife thought she'd hate it but when I showed her pictures of a theater done like that she liked it. When I got done with ours she loved it.

Unbelievable....several lawl... epson claimed this also(stop mounting them on shelf cuting off air supply-LOL http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...e&entry_id=354 ) ,then Admitted problems and had to start giving away bulbs.These fourms are full of posts of epsons problems, crap qc.

Funny how I've had 3 Epson projectors all with plenty of airflow and using the 2 hour rule with not 1 problem concerning the bulbs. Anyone that expects 4000 hours is kidding themselves. If I get anything over 2500 that's great! That's $.10 an hour for the bulb.

What Epson lacks in QC they more then make up for in customer service. No one comes close to their CS except for Apple.

Does anyone think if snoopyman considers spending less on the projector itself and allocate more for the audio + screen and other necessities or just pocket it, it'd be a good idea as well?

Since you've got a dark room, yes, brightness of the projector shouldn't be your biggest or a factor to really worry about. The W6000 is a really great bargain at the moment, mainly because it is a mid-end projector that should be in the 2k-3k range, but is currently being sold for 1.3k, mainly due to the fact that recently BenQ launched (or will soon launch) it's successor: W7000. The W7000 is quite similar, but includes 3D, has a lower MSRP price point, and has supposedly 6x color wheel + better picture quality, and lower lumens. The W6000 would let you throw a large image for the one you need.

However, do you think slightly cheaper projectors such as Mits. HC4000 or BenQ W1200 could be candidates as well? You could save much more cash and perhaps get a slightly less bright image and save bulb hours that way too. Both the W1200 and HC4000 are quite similar in image quality and overall performance. The main difference is that the W1200 will run brighter than the Mitsu and therefore maybe something that you'd want for your setup. Both have up to 1.5x zoom, and frame interpolation settings. The great thing about these 2 is that they have 4x color wheel speed which would be faster than the W6000.

Pardon me but:
Last I checked you need a color wheel for a rainbow effect??

The Qumi has a Light Emitting Diode or LED light source with NO color wheel.

http://hometheater.about.com/od/vide...r-Review_2.htm

. The 300 lumen output produces a bright enough image provided your room is completely (or near completely) dark and you stay within a maximum 60-70 inch screen size.

4. No rainbow effect. Due to the LED light source, the color wheel assembly that is normally found in DLP projectors is not employed on the Qumi, which is great for those viewers that shy away from DLP projectors due to rainbow effect susceptibility.

5. Fast cool down and shut-off time. The start-up time is about 20 seconds and there is no real cool down time. When you turn off the Qumi, it is off. This makes it very convenient for quick repacking when on the road.

If someone has the budget for $3000 for a projector, no way should they consider a Qumi or any of the cheap LED projectors. If he did, he would be extremely disappointed. For the OP the lumens are way too low, the focus will be a problem, and the sharpest will be too distracting on a screen size bigger than 80in. Plus, they are not home theater projectors anyways

What's the 2 hour rule?

Thanks,
Mark M.

Don't turn on the projector unless you're going to use it for at least 2 hours and then don't turn it back on for at least 2 hours after it was shut off.

In my house someone is home all day so the way it works out is that once the projector is turned on it stays on until it's shut off that evening. If it's not going to be used for a little while then we just blank the screen. The projector rarely gets more than 1 on off cycle per day.

I like butlerana's advise. And I'll add that there are tons of used PJs out there that started out upwards of the bucks you're wanting to spend but are now on someones "I want a new toy" list. You could look into it. Also, as you continue your research, consider DLP, LCD, DILA, and as someone mentioned before, whether LED is somethng you'd be interested in. I'm reading lot's of good stuff about it these days. You probably can't do all of this w/o some help so don't forget to consult with your dealer or trusted friend..