[CZ Eddie]

From what I can tell, the resolution of the Sanyo Z1 is higher than that of the Sony HS3, Epson Home 10, etc. And the prices are all similar ($1200-$1400).


So who's got the best $1200-$1300 (street price) 16:9 projector right now? For HDTV and DVD viewing.


I have the X1 right now, but want a 16:9 PJ for the 95" 16:9 screen I'm building. Ambient light will be mostly controlled.


And no, I don't want to swing the extra $100 or $200 for a $1500 PJ. Or wait for the new InFocus. But thanks.

 

[cburbs]

I have the Z1 and I love it. No complaints here. HDTV looks great on it as well as DVD's.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Quote:

Originally posted by cburbs I have the Z1 and I love it. No complaints here. HDTV looks great on it as well as DVD's.

I have my X1 and love it. But thats not where I'm going with this thread.


I realize there isn't alot of data on the newer cheapy 16:9 PJ's, but hey.. I'm about to spend more than $xxxx and anything someone has to say about that, I'd be willing to listen.


I'm definately leaning towards the Z1 though.

 

[zeroendless]

Panny L500U is coming out in mid Feb, that would drop some value on the L300U. If you aren't care about len shift, go for L300U gives you better PQ plus non-HDCP DVI.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Quote:

Originally posted by zeroendless Panny L500U is coming out in mid Feb, that would drop some value on the L300U. If you aren't care about len shift, go for L300U gives you better PQ plus non-HDCP DVI.

DVI is nice, but not necessary for my application. Lens shift is also unimportant. As is throw distance. Do you think the L500U would drop the L300U price by $200-$300?


I guess all I'm interested in is pq quality, and at least one VGA and one component set of hookups. I am a little turned off by the Z1 lamp problems though. Hmm.


Thanks.

 

[vidsmart]

I have the epson home 10; you're right there has not been much info out there but recently two stellar reviews, Projector Central and Home Cinema Choice (I believe a UK site) were done on the Home 10. And a pj sales site compared it to the z1 and gave a slight nod to the home 10's picture.


I could give you my own perspective but you have to "take it for what it's worth", as I am a newbie, haven't seen that many other pjs and can't articulate in the kind of tech talk that perhaps some on this forum are used to. I can only tell you that in my view the picture quality is amazing for dvd's' and that's using s-video, as my component inputs are taken up by my hdtv stb. Makes me wonder how much better would the pq be using progressive scan input from my dvd.


In addition to pq, the home 10 is virtually inaudible, performs well even in ambient light, and it's replacement lamp is

 

[zeroendless]

Quote:

Do you think the L500U would drop the L300U price by $200-$300?

I'm not a dealer and frankly i don't have the answer but i 'believe' YES, at least close to your budget. Talk to Visual Apex, they are good folk with best price in the business.


I would get the 300 instead, Panny's smooth screen is the boom and best feature you could have for budget LCD. It would help to eliminate SDE compare to Z1.


I just read What HI-FI? review yesterday and they like 300 better than "Z2" out the box on plain DVD pleasure. Actually they pretty hard on the Z2 and used word "dull" on PQ and only look good on paper to describe Z2............ the verdict was 3/5 for z2 and 4/5 for 300.


Oh, Z2 onwer don't jump on me, send your hate mail to bloody What HI-FI?

 

[cpc]

I guess the Epson Home10 is similar to the AE100/200?

 

[CZ Eddie]

Quote:

Originally posted by zeroendless I just read What HI-FI? review yesterday

Zero, did you read that online? I just went to www.whathifi.com but couldn't find anything there. I guess it's a paper print only review.


The Home 10 sounds interesting, but the fact that it has lower resolution and is $150 more than the Z1 doesn't make me that interested. I'd have to "assume" that the Z1 would provide a better HD picture. Hmm.


Is this going to be similar to the Dell 2200MP being reviewed and found to be an "incredible budget PJ", but when stacked up against the X1 is was only "on par" and not exactly better in any way?

 

[newsguy]

Hey, I recently purchased my Z1 after being in the same shoes (although projector central hadn't reviewed the Home 10 yet). The only place that had compared the two was alliant solutions. I spoke to them and asked what they thought since they had seen both in action. Their conclusion was that the Home 10 gave nicer warmth to the color, but the Z1 had a sharper image. Also, the Home 10 has a shorter throw than the Z1, which I liked, but I preferred the lens shift. I don't think the Home 10 is the better choice as far as quality, considering it costs more than the Z1 and has lower resolution, but the 3000 hour lamp life and very inexpensive bulb on the Epson is pretty awesome.

 

[zeroendless]

Eddie,

I read that on print. I don't believe they went through in depth review (tool calibration etc) but surface shoot out. Anyway, you don't normally see magazine campaigns the potential client with harsh words. This is the first review i read that rated Z2 as mediocre.


I done zero research or any interested in Dell 2200 nor X1. No comments

 

[Furious]

The Home 10 is a decent unit, but not a huge step above the AE100/AE200. The colours calibrate very well and have natural appearance without as much of the green push/red push that I've seen on other LCDs. Contrast is quite good for the low end of the pay scale, but has a ways to go as scope movies will quickly remind you of that. Biggest problem I had was the ergomics of the focus ring which is a bit loose and did not provide consistent corner to corner sharpness. Theater black mode is the only useful mode as the others distort color balance. Whisper quiet...no light spill out of the front OR back. The sample I had didn't display any vertical banding and the pixel noise was lower than the Panasonic and Sony's I've had. Screen door is minimized, with the thickness of the individual lines of the pixel grid looking less thick than that of an AE100. The Sony HS3 is a pile of junk (built like a 20 dollar toy, tiny throw distance, poor inputs, etc), so scratch that off the list. If picture quality is the only concern, stepping up to an AE300 might prove a bit more satisfying, but the Home 10 isn't a bad starter unit.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Furious, do you have any experience with the Z1?


Thanks for the response.

 

[datobin1]

Furious,


Just wondering how much experience you have with the Sony VPL-HS3?


I tried the Epson S1 (not near as good as the Home 10 for HT) and the Infocus X1 before I bought my VPL-HS3. I have found that the HS3 has the brightness of the S1 with contrast close to the X1. Giving it the best picture of the three.

I also think the build quality of the HS3 to be the best of the three, felling much more solid. Also the HS3's remote is far better and is back-light.

I've never seen the Home 10 or Z1 so I can't compare to them but feel the HS3 is worth a look.

 

[Alan Wong]

I looked at the Home 10 and liked the low price of the replacement lamp and short throw but ended up with a SE 2HD (Z1 clone) because it was priced better and I felt I'd get better support.


I wonder how many of us will actually replace bulbs on these low end pjs? The lens shift is useless for my coffee table mounted setup. I thought it'd be a big benefit but when the top of the lens shift in the vertical direction puts the bottom of the picture level with the pj, I still have to tilt up and keystone.


Totally happy with my purchase and can't believe I got the 1HD for a lower price than I could find for the Z1. Isn't a better pixel warranty supposed to cost a premium? I'll take it but just think this is strange.

 

[mphinne2]

I'm hoping Projector Central will do a comparison between the home 10 and some of the other projectors, including the z1 and the panny 300. Based on the reviews I've seen the epson is considered on par with those 2 projectors, with better service available from epson and much lower bulb costs.

 

[Shift]

Quote:

Originally posted by CZ Eddie I am a little turned off by the Z1 lamp problems though.

Lamp problems? Shoot mine is at 1200 hrs and runs excellent. I heard that they can run over 3K hours.

 

[shatten22]

There was a thread that was just up that discussed a bunch of problems with the Z1 itself and customer support of it. Turns out that the dust problem is still a big deal with the units and in this particular case, customer service refused to fix the unit for free because they told the guy that he should have been cleaning the unit regularly.


I'll wait until some more reviews come out, but the Epson Home 10 looks really promising and Epson's customer service has always been fantastic (when I've had to use it, which is rare).


The Z1 is off of my list for now.


-g

 

[Saxon Violins]

Don't overreact to some disgruntled Z1 users.

Many of us here have enjoyed our Z1 (mine's a 1HD clone) for some time now, (6 months for me) with NO PROBLEMS...


Even the person you mentioned above ended up happy...

 

[chadm]

I've got a Z1 and love it.