[James Bond]

I am trying to buy a used digital pj for my pool. they want to use it for outdoor movie nights. The budget is around $1,500-2,000. since it will be outside at dusk, i imagine light output would be the primary concern. Noise does not matter. most of the people watching will be kids, so picture quality may not even be the most important thing. Ease of set-up and operation and brightness are the two main things. will probably feed it a dvd player or pc. no money for a scaler in the budget. Also, should i use a high gain screen to increase brightness? I know little about digital, i'm a crt man. What would you recommend and were to look for a used one? I thank you and the swim team thanks you.

 

[Ericbres]

Personally, I would take a look at the Sony CS5 ... new.

Should be able to stay in budget, 1800 lumens, beautiful color, easy to use, S-Video input for DVD and VGA for PC.

A real nice little machine. Might be worth looking into if you wanted to go new.

There is also a BenQ DS660 ... which I haven't personally seen but it does claim to be pretty darn bright.

 

[Kriilin]

For screen brightness, I'd go for a Da-Lite hi-power with whatever mechanical config suits budget/tastes. Lots of hi-power info in the "screens" forum.

 

[Jw_Wood]

Sounds like fun! As you know, bugs are are attracted to light, you may want to put some type of screen around the projector. Keep those little buggers out.

 

[mrtanner]

Consider angle of viewing before you select a screen. The higher-gain screens have a tendency to reduce usable angle viewing.

 

[James Bond]

what about the ae300? saw one for sale, looked good.

 

[Kriilin]

Quote:

Originally posted by mrtanner Consider angle of viewing before you select a screen. The higher-gain screens have a tendency to reduce usable angle viewing.

So true. In my original post, I forgot to mention that I assumed the pj was going to be set on a table, due to it's not a permanent install. As well, if people are sitting in a semi-circle, there will be some drop-off at the higher angles. Conversely, you can put the screen $$$$ into a higher lumen pj, and use a bedsheet!