Cheaper HD projectors??...

Cheapest would be Acer ph530. Next step up I would think would be the Mitsubishi HC1500.

for a screen size larger than 92" I would go with mits HC1500 or HD1000U. also check out open-box/refurb samsung H710AE on sale, they go for $800-$1000 and got VERY good PQ plus 550 lumens using best PQ settings.
theres also infocus 7210 which is a 720p DC3 DLP, very bright and sells for $999 in some places I've seen lately
the acer ph530 is nice (I own one) but.. it puts out only around 350lumens while using best PQ settings which will not be enough to proper illuminate a 100"+ screen w/o the screen having high gain.

where do you see 350 lumens for the Acer? It's rated at 1000 and 800 in eco mode.

p.s. projectors VERY rarely reach the advertised lumen rating, or even half of it when using their best PQ settings.

the acer can crank out 1000lumens, but only when you use high brightness picture settings which wash out and crush colors, turn blacks into light gray etc.

read the review in projectorreviews.com on the ph530, they measured the 350lumens from ph530 while using "cinema" PQ settings it

"Acer PH530 Projector Brightness
In best mode - Theater - out of the box, the PH530 put out a low to average 382 lumens. After grayscale adjustment, that dropped insignificantly to 375 lumens.

In low power (lamp in eco-mode), the Acer drops to 297 lumens.

In Bright mode, the Acer was basically right on its 1000 lumen claim, with a measurement of 997 lumens. In Video mode, it dropped to 808 lumens, and when grayscale balanced for best TV viewing, it was slightly lower at 782 lumens."

They only measured the 350 lumens or so in theater mode. Bright mode put out the regular 1K lumens as advertised. Since this pj will be 95% sports viewing I'll be leaving it on white and then dialing it back a little to fix the white crush.

if sports are your main concern then I guess the acer makes a better choice than most, among other factors due to cheap replacement lamp pricing which stands @ $200 a pop

thanks. sorry but I wasn't meaning to jump on you about the specs. The screen's only going to be about 85" 16:9 anyway so that will make up for some brightness too. it won't hold a candle to my hd1000u at the house but it's close enough for government work right?

I'm using a matte white 16:9 84" myself , in a dark room even in theater mode the 370 lumens are enough to illuminate the screen very nicely. ambient light isn't a big issue in higher brightness modes such as "sRGB" which I use for gaming. unless your government work room has sunlight leaking into it you'll manage.

Your options

http://thetechhunter.blogspot.com/20...rojectors.html