Sanyo PLV-Z1...still any good?

If it is in good shape and your friend only wants to spend $250 then it is a great projector. If your friend has no problem spending between $8-900 then he can get a much better new projector. It handles HD much better than it should given that it has to compress the signal by 50% to fit the native resolution of the projector.

The issue is the bulb. If the bulb has low hours its a decent deal. Otherwise he may end up paying $350 for a new bulb in a few months. The z1 can do HD at half of 1080i. meaning that if you feed it 1080i both the horizontal reslution and and the verticle resoution are halved to 960x540. Make sure to use a grey screen as this projector has poor black levels.

It's not real great on SD TV programs...okay for SD dvds, but pretty washed out black levels. If I were going to spend $250, I'd maybe look for a used Infocus Screenplay 4805 on fleabay. I've had both, and the 4805 is a much better pj in my opinion than the Z1. On the positive side, the Z1 does a pretty nice job with HD (especially football), offers lens shift for easy placement, and since it's an LCD, it doesn't have rainbows. But picture-wise, it doesn't compare to the Infocus SP4805--which I think you find used ones going for $200 to$300.

I've had a Z1 for 4 years. It too was my first projector and worked out perfectly for my needs. As stated above there definitely are better units out there but if it has low hours on the bulb for $250 I'm sure your friend would be quite satisfied. I just picked up a new Z4 (should be here tomorrow) to replace it but I had a great experience with my Z1. If you calibrate it correctly you can get a decent picture out of it.