[eaglengraver]

My local warehouse retailer has these within 100 dollars of each other. Which one should I get? I am using it primarily for home theater but might occasionally use it at work for PowerPoint. Please help?

 

[jeffleonard]

Flip a coin?


Seriously, can't anyone reasearch anymore? These forums are chock-full of information. Read up and decide.


If you are incapable of doing that, hang on.


























It's heads. Get the Panasonic.

 

[Matt Tucker]

Go with the Panny. It has more light output for your presentations (though still low unless you are using a pretty dark room for those) and LCD tends to give you a stronger and sharper image for presentations. Plus, the resolution available on the Panny seems to be more in line with what most people are presenting PowerPoints and the like. (The Panny is 1280x768 native where as the 4805 is 800x600 native.)


However, if the majority of your viewing is home theater, it sort of comes down to a preference between DLP and LCD. Personally, I was surprised at how good of a picture the 4805 offers. They sort of dim the overall color to work well with the lower light output, the resolution and the contrast, but the picture was one of the more natural pictures I've seen on a front projo. Of course, there is a good, user-friendly menu you can enter to go in and tweak the picture and color yourself.


I don't think you would go wrong with either. But the Panny 500 (or the 700, if you want to consider it) has the resolution support for HD signals and works really well with DVD, gives you more light output for presentations and the sharpness you would look for. I'm a fan of DLP myself, but the 500 makes a good argument for LCD. And if you are looking to get it for close to the price of the 4805, it would be a worthwhile option to consider.

 

[BMAG]

Quote:

Originally posted by eaglengraver My local warehouse retailer has these within 100 dollars of each other. Which one should I get? I am using it primarily for home theater but might occasionally use it at work for PowerPoint. Please help?

Is your "local warehouse retailer" an authorized reseller for InFocus and/or Panasonic? If not, your new ~$1400 baby may not have warranty coverage.

 

[Matt Tucker]

And of course there is always that good point. Make sure they are authorized. And make sure you are dealing with new product or they clearly state what the usage was on any open-boxed item.

 

[eaglengraver]

Matt- Thanks for being helpful. I have researched both extensively on the forum but very few compare these two models head to head. I was just looking for members choice if they had to pick between these two. The model is at Costco so I am not concerned due to their lifetime return policy. I appreciate your time and your opinion on your choice given the two options.


Jeff- Thanks for being so sarcastic. Unlike most members on the forum, you took time out of your busy day to insult someone. Thanks! Maybe your momma never taught if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all. Here's a quarter- call someone who cares.

 

[jeffleonard]

I did come off rather poorly in that previous post, so please accept this apology.


But, I have noticed a much lower "signal to noise" ratio on AVS forums lately. Do you really need us to tell you what projector to get? You could probably read for hours about each of those projectors, and get lots of insight from owners of each respective unit.


But, I should have stated that point more eloquently in my initial post. Sorry about that.

 

[Gator123]

I will give another vote for the 500U. Although I just purchased one, I have not set it up yet so I can't give you my personal review. However, as you are aware there are tons of reviews out there, so I doubt I would add anything significant anyway. The reason I would recommend it over the 4805 is purely the LCD vs DLP technology. I had an X1 DLP projector for a very short time and while I did like the picture, the "rainbow effect" really bothered my wife and I, so we ended up returning it. If they have them both at Costco, I guess you could always buy both and return the one you don't like, or if you don't feel right about doing that, maybe just get the 4805 and see if you are susceptible to rainbows.


Finally, I was going to agree with you on your response to Jeff, as it really bugs me when people just respond "check the archives" when someone asks a pretty specific question, however, I see he has apologized, so I will just leave it alone. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[eaglengraver]

Apology accepted Jeff.


I know many members just ask without researching posts. I research almost too much and end up being confused in the end.


It's kind of like Kerry vs. Bush. Who are you voting for and why? This will help undecided or confused voters. I just wanted to know if you had only two choices, which one would you make and why?


Sorry for my response to you. I guess I wasn't too clear either.

 

[Mntneer]

The 4805 has a faster color wheel than the X1, so there's the chance that someone that was sensitive to the rainbow effect on an X1 won't be bothered by it on a 4805.

 

[DaGamePimp]

The above specs mentioned for both the 500 and the 4805 are wrong , the Panny is 1280x720 and the 4805 is 854x480 [ both 16:9 Native ] .


--- The only advantage the 500 has over the 4805 is resolution and this will not always account for an over-all superior image [ many other aspects should be considered besides resolution - at a given price point ] .


--- Now for a dual purpose PJ the 500 is the better choice [ on this I do agree ] as the 4805 is not something you would want to use for Presentations due to the 480p native resolution . However , consider that these are 16:9 native PJ's so neither one is really going to work well with Presentations [ that type of software is designed strictly for 4:3 use ... PowerPoint , etc. ] .



----------- Jason

 

[DeezMFNutz]

I recently decided to bite the bullet and see if a front projector will work in my loft. The local warehouse store has the 4805 and panny 500. Also remember the panny is 100 bucks more but it DOES NOT come with a screen, while the 4805 is bundled with a da-lite screen.


I was in the same dillema as you are. I decided to go for the panny as I intend to view a fair amount of HD content and will also hook-up my mac to the projector so the added resolution of the panny is critical. I will be using the projector in a moderatly light controlled room, however, it is not completely dark during the day we will see how it performs. Costco is NOT an authorized dealer but their return policy should cover the unit if it were to fail in the first year of use. Hopefully the unit will function well, the price certainly is right! Should have the unit in the next couple of days it is in transit!

 

[Matt Tucker]

DaGamePimp -


You are absolutely right. As I was reading back over the thread, I realized that I put in the wrong specs. The 4805 is a widescreen presentation, not a 4:3 ratio. And the Panny is a 1280x720 machine. I was on another thread going through all the 1280x768/1366x768 stuff. Guess I just got used to seeing and typing that. Wow, talk about your off day in typing.


And you make a good point about using a 4:3 projo more for presentations. But given the two choices, I'd go with the 500. Sounds like it will work best for eaglengraver's needs.