Look what AVS made me do!

So in an effort to make this topic sound less like a gloat fest and more like a thank you to AVS I want to say that I started my projector journey around 14 months ago and am so glad that I've moved on from thinking flat panels had an obvious advantage in picture quality over projectors.. It has been quite a great ride and one that I'm sure will continue in the following years.... as long as my bank account lets me. AVS has really shown me the light and I'm very grateful for the many helpful threads and posters here.

I'm just curious to see if anyone else on here is as crazy as me as far as purchases go? I have gone through a total of 15 projectors in as little as 14 months. The unfortunate thing about anything visual is that you need to actually see it to really get an understanding of what the product is all about. I have to say that projectors are one of the hardest consumer product to track down to actually audition. That is the main reasoning of why I've gone through so many. I figured the best and easiest way to get access to all these fine projectors was to buy them and then, subsequently, sell them if I didn't like them or had seen better.

Here's what I've gone through; in chronilogical order:


Panasonic PT-AE900U <> 720p 3LCD
Sanyo PLV-1080HD <> 1080p 3LCD
Epson Home Cinema 6500UB <> 1080p 3 LCD
JVC DLA RS10 <> 1080p LCOS
JVC DLA-RS20 <>1080p LCOS
Planar PD8150 <> 1080p .95" DC3 DLP
Sim2 Domino D80 <> 1080p .95" DC3 DLP
Optoma HD20 <> 1080p DC2 .65" DLP
Epson 8100 <> 1080p 3LCD
Mitsubishi HC7800D <> 1080p .65" DC3 3D DLP
InFocus IN82 <> 1080p .95" DC3 DLP
InFocus IN83 <> 1080p .95" DC4 DLP
JVC DLA-X3 <> 1080p 3D LCOS
BenQ W5000 <> 1080p .95" DC2 DLP
Marantz VP-11S1 <> 1080p .95" DC3 DLP
NuVision ProVu P2 (tweaked Vivitek H9080FD) <> 1080p .95" DC4 LED DLP
Marantz VP-15S1 <> 1080p .95" DC3 DLP (Basically a much brighter version of the VP-11S1)
Vivitek H5085 (Sent as a loaner while the NuVision was being worked on under warranty) <> 1080p .65" DC3 DLP
Samsung SP-A900B <> 1080p .95" DC4 DLP


Each new purchase was to either upgrade or because I could get a good deal and see it for myself. Everything after the Planar has been been for the latter reason. I have yet to see a better well balanced projector that does everything just about perfectly. I just received the Marantz this evening. It is far dimmer than any other projector I've previously owned. I just purchased a Da-Lite Model B High Contrast High Power 2.4 gain screen for it so I can get the most use from it.

I guess I'm pretty anxious to try new things out and unfortunatley this has fueled my madness.

Here's a quick shot of what I currently have. The BenQ I just sold and need to ship out tomorrow.



Edited by Seegs108 - 4/1/13 at 9:19pm

I haven't taken any measurements yet, but it seems like that's the case. My current screen claims to be 1.0 gain but I have my suspicions that it's not. Probably more like .8 gain. I should have the high power screen sometime next week. I opted for Da-Lite's new high contrast grey to help a little bit with perceived contrast. I'm not too sure what the grey will do to colors though. I'm sure I can calibrate it out. I'll have to take out my trusty X-Rite Eye-One Display LT to do some measurements and calibration.

Out of the group the Planar is my favorite. The InFocus IN83 is a fantastic projector as well. It does have a weird issue though. Just like the IN82, the IN83 has what seems to be a scaling issue. It affects the sharpness of the image a tad. Optically it has a great lens but because of what I can only described as what looks like scaling, even though it says it's receiving a 1080p source, it makes horizontal and vertical lines look very odd during movement, especially pans. Lowering the sharpness level seems to help but I don't want to set it too low. I do like the X3 because of the naturalness the LCOS panels give the image. Motion is its only real fault. One that I hope JVC fixes like Sony did a couple years ago. I'm hoping the Marantz lives up to the hype. I should be able to report once I get the high power screen.

We'll see once I get the screen. On/off contrast will be better on the Planar. I could tell that much by playing around with it last night. Optically it should be noticeably sharper. I'm a sharpness freak so that should be quite pleasing.

I bought a darblet too. I tweaked some settings on the marantz this evening to try and get it a little brighter until the high power screen arrives. WOW! It puts out beautiful images. It looks to be just a tad behind the Planar in on/off contrast numbers with the iris clamped all the way down. The only downside I've noticed so far is that I have to force 24p output. I guess it's not set up in the EDID on this projector. It does 24p perfectly fine I just need to yell at it to make it work haha.

That's quite the list. I haven't owned a Sony and it's something I really want to try out. My local dealer has a VW95 set up and I got to see one in person for a few minutes. The room wasn't fully light controlled so I couldn't get a real gauge of how it looked. They did have Runco Q750i set up in their theater demo room that looked stunning though! The dealer told me he was getting rid of it so he could put a new model in the room. He asked if I wanted to know the ex-demo price and I told him I didn't want to know because I might be tempted. I'm guessing it was probably still 7 or 8k. Waaay out of my price league at the moment.

Psssh that's no excuse!

I don't get it.

I need some context hahaha

I got the High Contrast High Power (2.4 gain) Da-Lite screen today. What a crazy difference this screen makes with the Marantz VP-11S1. In low lamp mode with the iris clamped down the image is more than bright enough! Compared to my old screen, this screen is virtually invisible. All you see is the image being projected. The Da-Lite has this silky "sheen" to it that looks fantastic. I was expecting it to be GREY. When I first took it out of the box and saw the material I thought I had the wrong screen sent to me but it did in fact have a very slight grey color to it. I'm actually happier this way. I get black levels that are a bit darker and whites that seem tremendously brighter. I couldn't ask for more in terms of PQ. This combo is killer.

The only issue I'm going to have when using this screen is the rearraignment of both my speakers and my projector. I went from acoustically transparent material and seeing how this material is retro-reflective I need to shelf mount the projector. I purchased this awesome center channel mount and this awesome wall mountable shelf to help. The left and right speakers will have to be placed on the ends of the screen which is okay as I have black out cloth on the wall behind the screen so they won't be too visible. I think the black glass on both will complement the black finish on the projector and on my JTR Triple 8.

Center Speaker mount:
http://www.standsandmounts.com/lovanmillenniumadjustablecenterchannelspeakerstandclearblackorfrostedglassml2cb-1887-1.aspx

Shelf:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882798181&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA
Edited by Seegs108 - 11/1/12 at 5:33pm

This is hard to answer. They are both very similar machines in terms of PQ.

Highlights of the Planar:

*Dynamic Iris digs a tad deeper in terms of contrast, though I think blacks look better on the Marantz, its odd. They look "smoother" and more natural even though they are a tad lighter. It's hard to describe. It could be something with the lens. I heard Marantz uses some uber cool lens coatings on their optics. They are both still some of the best blacks DLP offers.
*Comes factory D65 calibrated (not an issue for some)
*Better placement flexibility (2 lens options, vertical AND horizontal lens shift)
*It's brighter
*Better control of Gamma settings

Advantages of the Marantz:

*Top notch lens, though the Planar's isn't a slouch but this is noticeably sharper from corner to corner.
*AWESOME remote, virtually anything in the menu is accessible by a single button on the remote (and yes its back lit like the Planar's)
*Less RBE (I'm not that sensitive but the Marantz has a 7 segment, 6x speed wheel versus the 6x6 of the Planar) I also think the brightness helps here as the Marantz isn't as bright. Neither should be a problem for 95% of people but it's worth noting when comparing both of these machines to those who are sensitive
*The lens focus ring seems tighter as well, I feel like I can get the focus that much more perfect on the Marantz

Similarities:
They use the same DLP DMD (.95" DC3)
They both use top notch Gennum video processors ( I think Gennum was bought out)
Both are built like a tank with top notch everything from the inside out.
As far as the picture goes they both have a more "calm" look to them which really gives it a film like image while remaining tack sharp.

Yeah, those are the places to look. You could also keep an eye on Amazon's marketplace. As far as a good price goes, I got the Marantz on ebay for $1450 plus shipping and the Planar on AVS for $1500 shipped. Try and get one around that price point. I think anything over $2000 is asking too much. You'll need to be patient to get good prices. I think most of the owners are holding on to these units until 4K really kicks in.

Ebay makes things pretty easy for you. There's an option to set alerts when new listings come up. You could set an alert to tell you when new listings for "Marantz VP" or "Planar PD" pop up. That's what I've been doing and have been pretty lucky. They'll send a message right to my phone via their ebay app and also send an email when something new comes along.
Edited by Seegs108 - 11/1/12 at 8:24pm