[jamo]

Can someone give me some objective facts on a comparison between these two projectors? Obviously, I know about the price difference but I also wonder about "getting what you paid for". What features make the Seleco almost 4 times the cost considering they both use the same chip?


I'm not religous about either one but am looking for the best possible picture and the Seleco is in my range. Plan is for a 123" 16:9 Grayhawk.


PS: I am sensitive to the rainbow effect and can see it on the HT200. Picture was still amazing though!


Thanks in advance

 

[Jonmx]

For that big of a screen, I would go with a brighter projector, the Sanyo XP21N. The only advantage the Seleco has is screen door effect, but the Sanyo won't have any rainbow effect. Sanyo's colors will rival any projector and it has the best contrast of any LCD. The big advantage of the Sanyo is the high brightness, 2000+ lumens. The Sanyo runs $5,500 US currently.


Can't tell you about the NEC till I get one. If you haven't done so vistit www.projectorcentral.com, the best site for projector information. The only bad thing about projectorcentral, they have a bias against projectors commonly sold through HT shops like Runcos and Selecos. Of course with the high price of Runcos and Selecos, much of that bias is justified.

 

[Billy]

Jamo,


They don't use the same DLP chips. The NEC LT150 uses a 1024*768 chip, while the 200DM uses an 848*480 chip.


The Selco has a 6-segment color wheel while the NEC has a 3-segment (actually 4 but you can turn off the white segment for better PQ).


From a spec standpoint, there are other differences too. For example, the 200DM has a motorized zoom while the LT150 has no zoom at all.


This is just based on looking at:
http://www.sim2.it/usa/news_stand.phtml


I have the NEC LT150 and like it a lot but haven't seen the 200DM.

 

[KeithR]

I am in the same boat as you. Thinking of just keeping the 200DM as it is what I wanted in teh first place. Rainbow is just as evitdent on the LT150 as the HT200 in my experience. However, you can order an LT150, try it out for 30 days and be sure?

 

[jamo]

I should have mentioned that I have already studied the specs for both machines. My question was more around the differences in image reproduction considering the cost difference.


Brightness is not a huge issue as my room is totally light controlled.


As for screen door effect, this is a key issue for me in regards to image quality.


Thanks for the input.

 

[hjackson]

KeithR, are you mixing up the 200 with the 200DM? I assume you know they are not the same projector.

Jammo, the advantage of the 200DM is no rainbow effect (6 segment color wheel) and 16:9 aspect ratio in native DVD resolution (no scaling errors). This may be worth the extra $ over the LT150 to some. The main disadvantage of the 200DM is lower resolution (picture structure not as smooth with WIIDDE screens, ie. 110 inches). I truly doubt the picture difference between the Seleco 200 (3 segment color wheel, 4:3 aspect ratio & non-native DVD resolution) and the higher resolution LT150 is worth the extra $.

If you can sit back greater than 2 screen widths (ie. 270 inches back from a 123 inch wide screen), the Sanyo 21N's screen door effect should be minimal to zero. This would make it an ideal projector for your situation and probably worth the extra $ over the LT150. For a 16:9 screen, don't forget the ISCOII lens if you pick a 4:3 panel projector. Oh yeah, it appears the LT150 doesn't look good with a greyhawk. I think you'll be looking at the Sanyo 60 (16:9 LCD) or just wait for the new Sharp DLP to descend from heaven in a couple of months.


hjackson

 

[foldedpath]

This will probably get lost in all the posts about the hot LT150 deal from Dell… but here goes anyway. I haven't seen an LT150 in person, so take this with a grain of salt. I did just take delivery on a Seleco HT200DM (purchased from the good folks at AVSCIENCE).


I'm still putting my HT room together, my GrayHawk screen hasn't arrived yet, and I've only been able to see it on a white painted wall with a too-short viewing distance. However... based on what I've seen so far, I am absolutely floored by the image quality. Blacks are a deep black, there is LOTS to see in the shadows, and reds are true red. It's a gorgeous, silky-smooth image.


The HT200DM has a special "native" 848 x 480 chip mode, so the projector can take a 480p signal from a progressive DVD player with minimal scaling artifacts. The better your DVD player, the better this projector will look. It looks stunning right out of the box when hooked up to my Panasonic RP91. No fancy outboard hardware (like Panamorph lenses or scalers) is needed. It’s reasonably quiet. It has high contrast optics, and it’s sealed against dust intrusion. Good optics are expensive, and it’s one of the places where cheap projectors cut corners. The company has an attentive and friendly customer support presence here in the U.S., which is more than you can say for most Japanese companies.


Is it worth the cost difference over the LT150? I dunno, that depends on your budget and what type of source material you want to watch. It was worth it to me, since I mainly wanted a projector that did a terrific job with DVD movies. Everything else I watch is secondary to that goal. The only projectors I saw in person that showed a better picture than what I’m seeing on the wall right now, were big hulking $20,000+ CRT projectors.


Here are some possible drawbacks to the HT200DM:


With the relatively low pixel count, it’s not going to do as well on HDTV as some higher-res projectors. That doesn’t bother me too much. This is a tricky time to be buying HDTV hardware, with the current controversies over Firewire inputs and 5C copyright protection (see the threads in the HDTV Hardware forum for more info). Right now, I'm glad I bought "only" a DVD-optimized projector! This may be one of the few projectors you can buy right now, and feel completely comfortable about your decision. If I had bought a higher-res projector, I'd be obsessing over the lack of Firewire inputs.


The focal length is a bit long. If you have a small room, you may have trouble getting a big enough screen. They designed this for people who didn’t want a projector hanging over their heads.


With the 6-element color wheel and the redesigned red filter, it’s not the brightest projector out there. I can’t make a good judgment on this with my test setup because the room is small, but it sure seems bright enough to me. I’m planning on using it in a bedroom with complete light control and a 72†wide (16:9) GrayHawk screen. But it might not be bright enough for a 123" screen. Maybe some other HT200DM owners here with larger screens can comment on this.



[This message has been edited by foldedpath (edited 07-24-2001).]