new to the world of projectors, altho i have spent some time researching them lately, here and at different forums, and was hoping someone might be able to point me in the direction of a workhorse projector, a brad or unit known to hold up under fairly heavy use, perhaps 5-6 hours a day, 5 days a week. it seems that a lot of the projectors i've researched are owned by folks who have complained that they have run into problems when it comes to heavy use, or even not so heavy use, say about 4 hours a day, 3 times a week. i'm not looking for a reference projector, it will be used in a commercial environment, but i would like it to be 1080p capable and accept hdmi. $1,500-$2,000 is about as high as i would like to go, but if there is such an animal for less i'd certainly be interested as well. any help would be very much appreciated.
Workhorse Projector
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I watch my trusty w1070 all the time, many hours a day, no worries at all. It's cheap too. My replacement bulb after 2 years and 5000 hours cost me 80 bucks. I built a hushbox out of an old HTPC case and stuck the projector in there to quiet it down, works pretty well but it's not complete yet. It's nice having a 138 inch TV for under 800 dollars. Pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself. Text is razor sharp from my HTPC, movies are stunning, 3d is awesome, gaming is low lag. When I play Mario Kart with my friends in split screen 4 player, each player's corner image is larger than most TVs. That's pretty darn good.
I wouldn't spend more than this until 4k consumer models come out, personally. But then it becomes a question of price, black levels, refresh rate, input lag, HDR, rec 2020 or dci-p3 color space support. Most of those things will add to the cost. I think this weekend there's a big projector conference so that might shake things up, though it's probably for ultra-high end gear. What matters most is whether 4k TI DMD chips will come out to enable the successor to the w1070 but in 4k. If / when that happens, you can be sure that this puppy is going straight on craigslist.
I wouldn't spend more than this until 4k consumer models come out, personally. But then it becomes a question of price, black levels, refresh rate, input lag, HDR, rec 2020 or dci-p3 color space support. Most of those things will add to the cost. I think this weekend there's a big projector conference so that might shake things up, though it's probably for ultra-high end gear. What matters most is whether 4k TI DMD chips will come out to enable the successor to the w1070 but in 4k. If / when that happens, you can be sure that this puppy is going straight on craigslist.
hey, thanks for the great reply! i had never heard of benq (which is what turned up when i googled your "w1070" which i assume is a benq?). tons of great owner reviews at amazon and other sites, and at a price i like very much! what do you think about the benq mh630? i like the 3000 lumens vs the 2000 of the w1070 given there will be times i'd like to run it when the room is not completely dark, when the room actually has a fair amount of light, not bright light, but some light...
As long as lights are only over the seating area and not near the screen, the W1070 will be bright enough. I use mine for TV watching 8 hours a day and keep lights on over my chair unless I am watching a movie with lots of dark scenes. I have put over 1000 hours on my W1070 in 6 months.
The SH940 is a "conference room" projector which means its extra brightness is only available when watching content that has lots of whites -- Powerpoint, Excel, Documents, etc. -- and its contrast ratio is nowhere near as good so things like video or photography can look washed out. For TV and movies it is not actually as bright as the W1070. The HC1200, on the other hand, is brighter than the W1070 for both business presentation and TV and movies though not quite as bright as the SH940 for business presentations. It is about $950 and the lamps are about 50% more expensive because they are higher wattage.
It kind of comes down to what most of your watching will be.
aeneas01 said:
I think that recommendation is a tad out of place in this case.
great replies guys, very much appreciated.... love everything i'm reading about the benq projectors, in fact, as it turns out, a short throw projector looks like it would best meet my needs, so i guess i'm looking at the ht1085st or the wt108st.... i'm a bit curious tho, why are short throws considerably more expensive than non short throws? also, while pricing out projectors i came across lots of replacement lamps and bulbs for various projectors, with the lamps coming in at a much higher price vs the bulbs. so when it is time to eventually replace the benq bulb, will i be replacing the lamp or the bulb or both (i assume the bulb comes with the lamp)? or is a "lamp" the same thing as a bulb? one last thing; i noticed folks referring to the projector's "glass" in several of the projector threads, what exactly is this? thanks again!
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Projectors have a removable Lamp housing and this is the most expensive and common part replaced. For a lot less money you can replace the bulb within the housing your self. Some projector housing do deteriorate with heat and age but in general they should last longer than a Bulb. I don't know about the glass your referring to maybe some housings do have some glass components. Unless your referring to Lens and the cheaper projectors use plastic for much of the optics. On the other note I have used all my many projectors averaging 3000 hrs a year and never had any issues, I believe its a myth that projectors can't be used as TVs. The old RPTV's were just a projector built into a cabinet.
The short throw projectors are more expensive because the lens is a bit more expensive to make, and because there is less demand for them the per-unit cost is more to defray tooling and development.
A short-throw projector requires a much more precise alignment of projector and screen to get good focus all across the screen and a W1070 does. You can understand that small misalignments have big effects because the light is leaving the lens at such a wide angle. Generally, a retractable screen and/or temporary placement of the projector makes a short throw frustrating to use.
thanks for all of the great, helpful replies guys! i decided to go with a w1070, so many positive reviews made it too tough to ignore, and the price point was great as well! looking at the positioning table in the manual and using the calculator at projector central, it looks like i can get the screen size i want (120) at the distance i want (10') by setting the lens to maximum zoom. i might even be able to wiggle a 10' 8' distance which would allow for a 130" screen @ max zoom. so a couple of questions: are there any disadvantages of setting the projector to maximum zoom? does it tax the projector more than at other zoom levels? from what i've read a shorter throw provides greater light to the screen which helps in ambient light. also, at what distance does an object in front of the lens get picked up by the projector, at what distance does it interfere with image? for example if i installed the projector on a small platform for a ceiling mount instead of hanging the projector from a mounting bracket, would the platform block some of the image/light if it protruded beyond the lens? or assuming there is a tall palm to the right, within the field of the screen size, but about 1 foot or less from the lens, would the light pick it up? i guess what i'm trying to determine is the geometry of the light, from lens to screen.
another quick question... i've read that positioning a projector at an angle to the screen creates a trapezoid image that requires a keystone adjustment, and that such an adjustment compromises image quality. however i recently watched a w1070 demo on youtube that ran through the many features the w1070 offers, and when the keystone feature was demonstrated using a severely distorted (horizontal trapezoid) playback of ironman through the projector, the results looked impressive as heck, the corrected image looked fantastic. of course how much can you really tell from a youtube vid? so my question is, what do w1070 owners think of the keystone capabilities of the unit?
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