*OFFICIAL* Benq PE7700 Thread - Page 3

I think the info that came from CES was that Toshiba's shipping date for the MT-700 was tentatively March.

There are plenty of folks out there who will spend more than $2000 on a projector. One of the dealers I work with sells Sanyo Z3, Panny AE700u, and the BenQ 8700+. (Also lower end models, which I won't get into now).

Over the last couple of months the dealer says they have been averaging a little over 100 units a month between the three models. They say their mix is about 80% Z3 and 700u combined, and 20% for 8700+.

A 720 res DLP like the 7700 should do extremely well, I imagine that some of that 80% would have been candidates for the 7700, based on its anticipated price.

With the exception of the Sony 51 (which is still an LCD projector with 720 res) there is a vaccuum in terms of popular HT projectors between the price points of the 720 res LCD projectors and the 720 res DLPs which sell for about twice the price. -a

Update on delivery - spoke with Benq sales management today. 2nd half of April is their best date right now - at least it won't be sooner, could be later.

Also I was told that there have been only 2 7700 prototypes in the US, they were brought in before CES and they do not perform as well as production units are expected to. (That makes sense if you consider that it will be about 4 months from the time the prototypes arrived here, until production units ship.)

Thanks for the info, Art. That explains why I was less than impressed with the 7700 at CES. Looking forward to checking out a production unit.

Does anyone have anything solid on the March release for the Toshiba MT700?

I've been told they will be shipping to dealers by mid-March.

Hey Mike.................

Don't hold your breath!!

Steve

Well, I'm new to this technology and have been very patient....so far. I finally have my little dream built except for the most important thing: The Projector. So, right after being shown a Yamaha LCD that a dealer tried to sell me for 5k, I was told by others to investigate DLP, so I did. When I heard about the Sharp XV-Z2000 coming out at the end of November with the HD2+, I was counseled to wait. So when in late December, the Sharp finally showed up, it was suggested that I wait until after the CES to see what everyone was saying. In late January, I was told it might be a good idea to wait until March when a Toshiba and BenQ unit would be out for less money and just as much punch as the Sharp. So now the BenQ is projected for late April and the Toshiba is no sure bet in early March.

So, I've decided to pull the trigger by mid March. If there is a Toshiba out there, I will decide between that and the Sharp. If Toshiba is dragging it's heels, then it's the Sharp. I gotta fish or cut bait sooner or later...LOL. Anyway, I am running out of breath.

Charlie I feel your pain.............

I was "researching" and reading from late summer '03 until I finally pulled the trigger in late April of '04.

I had decided on the BenQ 8710 at last year's CES... which was supposed to be out in February according to the folks at CES. However due to contractual limitations (I am told) the 8710 was never offered. Instead BenQ slipped the HD2+ chip in to the normal production line of the 8700's.. So after much traveling, comparing, and anguish I finally pulled the trigger! Is my purchase the "be all and end all?" Nope... it is like trying to buy the "best" computer... first you have to find the one that closely matches your needs and then jump in... there will always be something better and faster next week!

Steve

Thanks for the sympathy. One thing's for sure....I ain't rich....so no bleeding edge, Darkchip 3 for me. I'll be quite happy with an HD2+

Charlie - good luck

With BenQ building the engine for the Toshiba, I suspect that the two will hit the market within a couple of weeks of each other.

The bright spot may well be that both may well be reviewed in the next two weeks or so.

I have been led to believe that I will be able to get my hands on a 7700 in March, that is basically pre-production and virtually identical to the production units that they will be shipping, (as opposed to the very early version at CES.

If both ship in April, you may want to wait the extra few weeks. In this case, there doesn't seem to be any talk of anything else coming out soon that will challenge them in the $3K-$4K street price range.

Of course just to further confuse you, the BenQ 8700+ is now apparently selling at all time low prices - about $600 less than end of December web prices.

One thing though, whichever you choose, they all promise to be excellent choices, and I suspect that once you bring one home, it will look fantastic, and you won't have the others to compare against, you will just love it.

We sometimes forget that it is the content we are after, and not the projector that brings it to us. No matter which you end up with - a DVD with merely good production qualities - on the best of competing projectors, won't look as great as the DVD with the very production qualities, on the least of the projectors. (And then there's native 720p DVD's in our future too!)

Within the group you are looking at, each will no doubt be superior at something - be it color accuracy, brightness, ability to resolve details in dark areas, etc. Real satisfication will come, once you install your choice, to enjoy it and not worry whether you chose the best, or whether next year's model will be better.

I went from the BenQ 8700 to the 8700+ last fall, and despite all the hype about the HD2+ over the HD2 in terms of contrast - there is very little difference, if someone snuck into my house and swapped out my + for the older model, I doubt I would ever notice it, and if I did, it would not be on a typical DVD let alone HDTV.

And whatever you choose next month, 3-4 years from now you'll be able to buy something for half the price that will be superior. The real question will be - will you even care. My guess is that with any of these, once you get settled in, you will be really satisfied, and will be able to move on to other things (like the perfect sound system).

Good luck and enjoy! -a

Have you heard anything you can share about the schedule for its big brother, the 8720?

Thanks,
Darin

Well, I will wait and see, but I still plan on pulling the mid March trigger, unless I can get a solid date for the Toshiba or BenQ. I don't think I can wait until the end of April though.

I have a friend with a three year old Dwin on a Draper 96" 4:3 screen and anybody that has seen it is blown away by it merely because they've never seen this type of set up outside of an actual theater. So, I have a really good feeling that whether I buy the 2k, the MT700, or the 7700, (short of defects, etc.) I will be very content. It is just a matter of "Do I want to wait to increase my list of choices (and savings)?"

A big thanks for the pep talks, encouragement, and advice.

LOL. Not a chance, Steve. I never bet on anything I'm told about release dates.

I've been told that the MT700s will be shipping on 3-11, so we'll find out soon enough how far that's off. It doesn't seem likely that it would be out before the 7700, but stranger things have happened.

Yes, I am looking forward to some "experienced" folks actually getting these in controlled enviornments where we can get some "real" data and comparisons... It is so hard to do realistic comparisons from a trade-show viewing.

I feel your pain also, A while back I was sold on the IF4805 then I heard about this PE7800 for about 600 bucks more and I said OH OH OH I want that one, then I was told to wait just as you were, I will probably still end up with the 7800 unless the 8700 comes down dramatically which I doubt, none the less I also am sittin here waiting with money that has already burned a hole in my pocket and has now set my leg of fire, I also plan to pull the trigger and order in the next 30 days, its been 3 years since I viewed my first FP and decided I had to have one, so whats another 30 days? 30 days of agonizing anticipation thats what it is....LOL

art - any luck getting a pre-production sample in hand for some evaluation? This pj is still number one on my interest list, and I can't wait to hear more about it...

It seems the Scandinavians are getting it first

Discussion on Swedish forum

Spec sheet

Note noise is 26/29 dB whereas MT700 is 29/31.

There is also more information at a Norwegian site

i wish they would release this dang thing, I was set on the 7800 but I think now I might as well wait and see what I can pick up a 7700 for.....

Inquiring minds what to know that the new low price of the AE700 will do the price of this unit and the Toshiba's. It can only effect downward pressure, wouldn't you think?

I certainly hope so, the Panny may even drop more once these are released thus driving them down a tad more, If I can pick a PE7700 up for 2600 or less I will without a doubt buy one

Bieng a person who has absolutely no patience for anything this is driving me nuts

The Toshiba TDPMT700 is arriving early next week according to the other thread.

Art - Are your sources still telling you mid-April for the Benq?

Greetings,

I was up at BenQ yesterday (3/11) for a meeting so here's the latest word - but - experience says, seeing is believing, so when the first one hits a dealer's warehouse, they are available - until that day happens, I aways expect more delays.

First, they have received their review units from Taiwan. I am scheduled to receive one before the end of this coming week.

Next - BenQ also said that their first shipment will land before 3/31. Once they hit, though, as is typical for new products, there will be a slight delay, for quality control, possible packaging issues, etc. And anywhere from 2-5 days to get to dealers depending on where they are located. BenQ's are landing in California.

Bottom line, I was told their larger dealers should have units to sell by April 6-9. In other words, 4 weeks maybe a few days less. As I would expect to also be true for Toshiba, supplies will be limited for the first month or more.

As to the Toshiba arrival date, I didn't check the other thread yet, but again there could be a week - two between when they clear customs and the first dealers have them. If dealers were getting them next week, they'd already have landed in the US, and one dealer I talk to should have heard that.

Sounds like a horse race that Toshiba will win by a week or so

I'm excited. While my 8700+ is ceiling mounted I have my system set up so that I can position the 7700 on my coffee table directly below. I can switch back and forth between the two in seconds. I will review using DVD, a JVC D-VHS deck, and watching cable driven HDTV (Leno, Discovery HD, etc.)

BTW BenQ says the 7700 will outperform the 8700+ on both contrast and due to their Sense-Eye, which I still haven't investigated.

I promise to post back here as soon as I have received the 7700 and done my very first look (24 hours), and I will post a preminary review within days on my website.

Hang in there! -art

Art, the MT700s are here in the U.S. (not just review samples) and I'll have one on Monday. Maybe we could jump start that comparison a little.

Greetings KramerTC,

So far the only difference in price that I have seen is the new $200 rebate. I don't really think that it will affect 7700 and Toshiba pricing.

Rather Panny's rebate, may be more the other way around. When the 8700+ was commanding almost $2000 more than the 700u, it left a huge vaccuum price wise, with only the Sony HS51 (not my favorite thing) in the middle.

So it was a huge price difference. But even with the rebate, the spread between the Panny, and the BenQ 7700 will be more like $1200 or so.

And, while the Panny is a great machine for the $$$ it is definitely not a match for the 8700+ (or 8700). So if the 7700 as promised is even better, I think a lot of potential 700u buyers willl dig deep and instead score a 7700.

Which will raise other questions - ie. Do you get a Panny and a Stewart Greyhawk, for example, or a BenQ 7700 and a Dalite with one of their high contrast surfaces such as the Da-Mat. The Stewart is the slightly better screen, but a good $500 more. So that could cut the difference between these two potential projector/screen combinations, to maybe $600. (I suspect I'd opt for the better projector....

BTW, as a side note, for my own installation, I had about a 100 foot run from electronics to projector (two story ceiling... projector hangs down 6 feet...).

Ahh, my point. I wanted to run DVI as well as component despite the long run. I settled on the DVI extender system from Gefen. It uses two CAT5 runs (one for signal, one for power to the receiver by the projector.

It works great! No problems at all. The Gefen setup is $500, no more than the "premium" 20 meter DVI and HDMI cables out there.

Art.............

As you and Mike are both in San Clemente, it would certainly be nice if you guys could get the comparison going next week when he gets his MT-700 demo!!

If not Mike...... you are welcome to bring it up to Las Vegas and we can do the same type of comparison against my 8700+.

Any of you guys know if BenQ is making any plans for a new PJ based around the Matterhorn chip?

HiHoStevo,

Art owns a 8700+ so he'll be making direct comparisons to it.

There's nothing else in 576p scheduled for later this year.

Perhaps they will have something to show there, but BenQ asks dealers to forecast sales out to year end, and while 8720 and some not yet announced biz projectors are on the list, there is nothing to replace the 7800.

The next projector (after the 7700) will be the Darkchip3 based 8720, and I don't expect to see that until July.

-art