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Help- H31 or Z2???

376 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Chris Gerhard, Dec 22, 2005

kennyman

Discussion Starter · Dec 20, 2005

I'm on a budget and was wondering which projector I should go with. I should start off by saying I'm from Canada and we do have a more limited number of dealers here. Infact most places only keep a badly setup projector in stock to entice you into a lousy non hd plasma set or at least they seem to do their best to try and sell you one. Anyway around here I can get the H31 or Z2 for approx. the same price (okay, the Sanyo is about $100 more). I know they're completely different. One is LCD, the other DLP, one is 480p, the other 720p, one is old, one is new etc., etc. But here is the the question, which one would you spend your hard earned dollars on??? My rec room is approx. 12'x18' and I'm going to try to control the lighting as much as possible. Most viewing will be done at night anyway. Movies and hockey games (insert canadian joke of your choice here LOL) will be the main viewing events. Also, one more question if you don't mind. What's a good budget DVD player. I was thinking of the Panasonic DVD S77 with the upsampling and the Faroudja deinterlacing? OK????? Any others?Thanks guys.

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William_Wilson

· #2 · Dec 21, 2005

There's no way that any one but you can ultimately answer this question. I was in the same position last year and I had pretty much decided on a Panasonic AE700 until I went to a screen shootout and saw an Optoma H30 and the Panny side-by-side. The vibrant colours of the H30 overcame any problems that I had with the lower resolution. I bought an H31 days later because I fell in love with the rich, saturated picture and lack of vertical banding. I can see the rainbows occasionally (the rest of my family can't), but its a tradeoff I'm prepared to make.

Whereabouts in Canada are you from? I have an Optoma H31 projecting onto a 110" Goo Systems screen that I'd be happy to let you drool over if you'd like - as long as you can get to Vancouver to do it...

Oh, and don't discount mail order. There are several good places in Canada that you can deal with if you are concerned with customs hassles.

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inukshuk

· #3 · Dec 22, 2005

i bought an optoma h31 in a bundle including screen and couldn't recommend it more highly

do your research and compare z2 to h31 posts and reviews, very few will recommend the z2 over the h31 unless maybe you aren't watching many dvd's and watch a lot of hi-def tv or something

i will be returning my h31 only because i am highly sensitive to the rainbow effect and since it's a dlp this is always a risk

as far as black levels, contrast, color and noise levels etc, it's a terrific pj and i highly recommend it

for the price of the panny (less actually) you can get an oppo (with faroudja) which is the dvd player most people are talking about.........there is a good canadian retailer

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kennyman

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 22, 2005

Thanks for the replies guys. Thanks for the offer to come and see your H31 William, but I'm in Southern Ontario (about an hour from Toronto) and that might be a bit of a drive LOL. The offer was greatly appreciated though. I'm thinking about the Goo as well by the way and I guess your endorsement makes it even more likely I will go that route. Inukshuk, thanks as well. I'll check out that Oppo. I will be watching sports as well as movies and hi-def seems to be coming quickly, that's why I was looking at the Z2 as well. Just exploring my options. If anyone else wants to chime in here I'd love some more oppinions or new suggestions. Thanks again.

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Chris Gerhard

· #5 · Dec 22, 2005

I would never be happy with a non-HD projector for HDTV. A few seem to find it acceptable but I can confidently say they are in a very small minority. The Z2 is better for HDTV, period. Other factors such as bulb life, percentage of HDTV viewed and customer service are all considerations as well. I wanted something for HDTV and bought the very similar Panasonic PT-L500U and still I am very happy with it. I would be really unhappy with less than 720p resolution from now on.

Chris

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