7-10K to spend on a 'film festival' projector...

Stack 2 JVC's? Should be enough light for 2D and if you wanted to do 3D you could kit a filter kit but you wouldn't be able to light up that size screen with 3D filters.

Some questions...Is this for an indoor or outdoor setup? Will the location be totally light controlled? How many people will be viewing, and will they be mostly centered, or out wide?

How often are you using it as well I suppose... I ask because if say 1x a year, you might be better off renting one each time. You could likely get more projector for your money, and each year as new stuff comes out, get better and better... Just a thought...

Buy it? why not rent it..that makes more sense

What I said.

Why have you ruled out a single-chip DLP? RBE is not as much of an issue as it was in the past. You could get brightness with contrast and decent color in the price range you are contemplating (Runco, SIM2, DPI). Alternatively, depending on how far back your first row is, you could get a used 720p 3-chip projector with 10bit processing that would light up that size screen.

Contrast is key. Without it, even a bright picture will look washed out and details will be obscured. You don't need 7000 lumen unless you're lighting up a super jumbo screen in a stadium or something. If the projector is intended for cinema (i.e. watching movies), contrast and color are as important as (if not more important than) brightness. When you start talking about interchangeable lenses, however, the challenge becomes greater. You might need to increase the budget or decrease your want list.

Not likely going to happen. The only projectors with interchangeable lenses in that price range are business units (like what you found at PP). Plus, each lens is going to cost you to buy... 2500:1 contrast is poor, especially for a film festival. Plus it is a 16:10 unit, not a 16:9 which is WAY more common for movie watching...

You would be better buying an HT unit with a zoom lens that has a long range...

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/393476.html

Over you budget, but maybe worth a look?

or this in your budget http://www.fullcompass.com/product/365367.html

There is discussion here about RED LASER projector at $10K. Not yet available, some conjecture maybe within a few months.

Projector will be rented out to different venues: this rules out stacking pj's.

KBman - You mentioned PPeople had Sony with 2500:1 contrast ratio.

Allow me to discuss a bit about contrast ratio of projectors in actual use. Home theater users strongly prefer excellent contrast ratio as JVC products have become famous for.

Unlike home theater, public theaters generally have insurance coverage, and insurance folks want lights along the floor and along steps. They don't want to deal with audience injuries. These safety lights constitute ambient light that to some extent destroys constrast ratio.

Some measurements in commercial theaters indicated 1000:1 as the limit of contrast ratio capability. These studies were performed 15 years ago and may be outdated. Assuming theater condition have not improved all that much, a projector with 2500:1 contrast ratio is worth a try.

Before trying a projector, find a theater and reserve time schedule to try the projector in actual working conditions. Floor and step lights on. Exit indicator lights on. How does the picture look with ambient lights? Looks pretty good? Not as good as your RS20?

For the audience, the primary thing is the story. After the story, the major value is brightness. Locked into the story and totally distracted by it, they might not notice the color seems not quite accurate and the contrast ratio sucks. Good luck!

So you're saying projected images have that low of a contrast ratio... That seems off to me and my eyes even from 15 years ago...

theres a guy on the forum, Space2001, he has two of the sony projectors at work and has set them up for dual passive 3D. Try talking to him some, he could at least give you an idea of how good the contrast is in real life.

If possible, avoid 5-segment color wheels that have a clear segment for added brightness. Six segment (red, green, blue, red, green, blue) will be more likely to give accurate color. Add some dynamic black, and you're off to the races. A 280 to 300 watt lamp should give you adequate brightness.

Understand that is likely not really 8000 lumens. A lot of projectors out there are grossly exaggerated... It will be plenty bright, but for the size you are thinking I doubt "too" bright.

That's the second generation Delta single DLP/Dual lamp exchangable colourwheel unit? The first generation got a single positive review in the 20K+ section, as sharp, bright and even reasonable/good colours using the 'presentation colour wheel', instead of the darker video wheel. The first generation started at an MSRP of $20/21K plus a $2K MSRP lens. Ended up for around 12K US close out. Sanyo is being folded in the Panasonic line-up, so that might why you see good deals like these. Unit is also available as Eiki, or Christie, and perhaps a few other brands, first generation went on to be sold by Vivitek.

@jason, come-on the 4K Barco DLPs are only 2200:1 the bright 2k DLPs peak at 2500-2600:1. Wolfgang has not once complained at the contrast ratio, the brightness of his high-contrast Home Theater 4K Sony is something he can't stop complaining about, as it is lacking. An HT projector for rental and staging applications, better not be 'dry hire' then...