Need some quick help making a decision. HD70 versus the Sharp XV-Z17000 or the Optoma HD33

The z17000 is head and shoulders better I believe, the gripe about those is the bulbs. I remember people griping when they came out, like 500 bones.

Fire em both up and compare, probably black levels the biggest difference.

For the same price I would choose the 17k all day, it would be a steal. Bulbs aren't cheap though, and those bby service plans send out non oem bulbs, I would return that and buy my own oem bulb. But that prolly isn't cheap.

I'd keep the sharp and order another oem bulb.


Service plans are generally a ripoff and the replacement bulbs are junk. I used to work there. 90% of the products never need anything and bestbuy gets pure profit. Not to mention if it did break, it would take 6 weeks to get a junk out from geeks quad city.

That said, if you return it and it does break, don't hold me responsible. It does happen occasionally.

I've been looking around for my first projector and the HD33 is on my short list (along with the BenQ W1070), however, I also saw that my local BB has a Sharp XV-Z17000 open box at a very good price - especially when you consider that it cost about 3K originally. I'm guessing that by now you've had a chance to demo both projectors and I would really like to hear your opinion of how the two projectors compare to each other, for both 2D and 3D picture quality. Thanks

Why would you ever ask? XV-Z17000 > HD33 in every possible way.

To be considered from the perspective of bulbs you should pick the XV-Z17000

I have seen both in different environments and calibrated an HD33 but IMHO the Sharp throws the superior image (minus the added lumen's of the HD33 for 3D).

Jason

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the XV-Z17000; BB had it listed as an open box/store demo but we looked at it and it was clear that it had never been taken out of the box. I walked out the door with it for under a grand so I'm pretty happy about that. Now I just need to find some additional 3d glasses to go with it...

I'm debating whether or not the black tie protection is worth it or not. It costs about $200 for 4 years which includes one lamp replacement, but I have to question if I would just be better off using that money for glasses since I'm going to want 4 more pairs.

Cheers!

Hey, Slothy! Can't wait to hear your impressions! When will you be able to set it up and running?

The house we are moving into has a dedicated home theater where I'll be installing it. We close on the new house in two weeks and we'll be pretty busy packing and what not, however, I can't imagine that I'll be able to wait that long to bust it out and play around with it

I'll start out projecting the image on white drywall until I can get a real screen

Great ) Can you post on image sharpness and contrast using both irises (one iris closed (high contrast mode), another set to auto (dynamic mode))?

It's been 2 months since I hooked up the XV-Z17000 and so far I couldn't be happier with this projector for the price I paid.

I'm no expert but I really like what I've seen so far. The picture is sharp and the colors are pretty true to life. I didn't care for the auto-iris at all - it seemed odd when it would suddenly change and dramatically affect the picture - so I turned it off. I turned down the brightness pretty low to get the blacks looking right for 2D movies from my PS3, but I'm very happy with the result. I've been literally using it every night for movies as well as video games now and then. The only thing that I feel it didn't handle well was GT5 in 3D; it just felt a little choppy for lack of a better word. I didn't have any problems with any games in 2D, though.

I was worried about finding additional 3D glasses until I discovered that the Sharp AN3DG30 work really nice, in fact, I prefer them to the pair that came with the projector.

Aside from its somewhat limited placement options, the only thing I could criticize is the amount of heat this thing puts off; after a few hours of movie watching, the room starts to get pretty warm from the heat coming out of it. I've been considering installing a whisper-quiet ceiling exhaust system that could be tied into the return... or I may just buy a fan

I often second-guess purchases I make, but, for what I paid, I would buy this projector again in a heartbeat.

awesome followup report! Thanks Slothy