[KO Abear]

I've got upgrade fever as we near football season and am looking to replace my venerable and much appreciated little Nec LT=150z. I recently bought a Da-lite hi power screen from Jason here on AVS and it accomplished part of what I was looking for...namely reducing the effect of ambient light in my theater. My pj is ceiling mounted but I stood on a chair and got a look at how good the screen can look when you are at eye level with the source...even with a dim little pj like the nec. So now I'm hooked and want to take full advantage of the hi-power by mounting a pj at screen height on my rear wall. I have several pj's in mind as a potential replacement but I would really like to keep my budget below 1500 bucks. In that price range there arent any pj's that have long enough throw distances for my set up. (back wall approx. 18 feet from screen) I was wondering if anyone makes a budget pj with an optional long throw lense or if there are maybe some generic after market lenses that can be had cheaply that can increase the throw distance without compromising pq very much. I"m not that picky about pq as my main concern is being able to watch football with my friends with some overhead track lights providing some indirect illumination. I have total light control in my room when I want it...I just want some options...any suggestions?


KO

 

[DMILANI]

AE700 has a very long throw lens.

 

[madpoet]

The Panny 100-500 series projectors all use the same long throw lens, and it can be found for around $250 or so. It will not fit the 700.

 

[KO Abear]

Yes the AE 700 would be a perfect candidate for my set-up, and I may still end up with it if the price drops into the $1500 range, but my preference is for dlp machines. I hope to demo an AE700 soon here in Baton Rouge so I can see how it stacks up to the nec it is replacing. I have total light control in my room and dark walls so I can reap the full benefit of a pj's contrast and black level when I desire it. The 3 main things I was hoping to improve on by upgrading are light output, scaling of standard def sources (when I am FORCED to watch them) and having a native 16:9 machine so I won't always have to be moving my masking when switching between 4:3 and 16:9 material. I have not yet seen a true 720p capable machine in action displaying HD but from all my reading on here and other forums it doesn't seem as if people are particularly wowed by the upgrade in resolution from 480p or in my case 576p. I wonder if anyone has made that switch recently and can relate how noticable the change was. As I said I'm fairly knowledgeable about pq issues but not particularly picky. My eyesight is not the sharpest in the world and I am mildly color blind so things like absolute color accuracy, SDE and ultimate resolution capability are not the concerns for me that they are for some. Who'd a thunk having poor eyesight would be a GOOD thing...lol. Lets me get off cheaper when it comes to spending money on pj's! That said on my 576p machine there is a noticeable difference when switching from DVD to HD programming, both in color saturation and resolution increase. If the difference in a 576p machine and a 720p, is as big a difference as going from DVD to HD on my machine I would definitely be tempted to spend a few extra hundred to obtain the increased resolution. Now if I could just find a pj with a dlp light engine, long throw lense,1500 lumens brightness and 720p resolution for less than $1500 I would be living LARGE!


KO

 

[suffolk112000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMILANI AE700 has a very long throw lens.

That is what I was thinking as well.


Craig

 

[REF]

I was in the same spot, looking for a long throw solution to upgrade an lt- 150 on a Hi-power.

Found the Sharpvision xv-z200u on closeout in your price range, at a local B&M.

18' throw at 92" wide, with lens shift, 4000 hr bulb, sealed optics.

Same rez as the lt-150, 16x9, brighter, much better contrast, shelf mounted behind a single row of seats.

I don't see the motion blurr that I had on the 150.

Works best with a DVD player, scaler, or HTPC that can do 576p on DVI.


Good Luck,

 

[noah katz]

Do a search for "wide angle" of this forum; there's a thread on using standard camera teleconverter (what you want) and wide angle converters.

 

[KO Abear]

Thanks for the info Noah...I'll do the search, thanks to you too Ref I've already started doing some looking at the Sharp unit since your post.