Projectors again!

[nath]

Right - I'm going to get one.
I am I am I am.

It's either going to be an Infocus IN76 or an Optoma HD-72i. Both HD Native (720p), both roughly 1400 quid. Both look pretty damn decent. The question is, does anyone know any good reliable review sites for these sort of things. Found a few but not anything I'd really trust.

I'm hoping to pop to a Sevenoaks tomorrow and get a demo of both (I know they've got the HD-72i but not sure about the Infocus. Also, anyone have any knowledge of screens? I'll need something about 9ft diagonal, manual pull down. I know that the material can affect the colour fidelity, but I can't find any good info about this.

Any help appreciated!

 

[Clown]

AV forums are usually handy for this kind of thing. So many members, someone is bound to be talking about what you want over there.

 

[nath]

Nice one - some really handy stuff there. Plus I found a message there from about a week ago that said Sevenoaks in Swiss Cottage (my local) has both projectors available to demo.

Wee!

 

[old.user4556]

I have an HD-72i.

It is fucking sex-wee, accept nothing else, absolutely perfect - it's awesome with HD content.

I'll chat to you on MSN about further details, or stick questions in here.

 

[Clown]

You're gay for Optoma though
/me rubs his H30

P.S. Big G is very helpful and help me with my shit, thats why he's on my buddy list all this time so I could jump on him when he got online

 

[nath]

Just looking at all this stuff has already made me do several sex-wees. I've not yet even seen any of them in action. I've found some cracking good deals online - I'll feel a right arsehole when I demo it at sevenoaks and fuckoff and get it cheaper elsewhere.

Anyhoo - found some awesome deals on the HD72i - 1395 for the projector, a 92" manual screen, plus a free lamp and a ceiling mount (that would go on ebay I spect). Not found anything quite as decent as that for the IN76, but I've found it for 1274 and a nice 92" optoma graywolf II screen for 155.

So far this is from Projectors.co.uk and discounttv.co.uk. If there are any other good sites you guys know of that'd be most appreciated

 

[Doomy]

This is a great place.

 

[Clown]

Get this
http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/projector/products/ae1000/index.html

 

[nath]

Egads :\

Right, I went to do the demo, brought along my tosh 520 and for some reason it decided it wasn't going to work with component. We tried several things, but it looks like that part of it is knackered. So now it looks like I need a new dvd player too :\

I checked out both the HD72i and the IN76 and it has to be said, the infocus did win out just a bit. So I think I'll be buying one of those here:

http://www.projectors.co.uk/pp/Home Cinema Projectors/INFOCUS IN76.html

and an Optoma GreyWolf II 106" screen here:

http://www.cvsmedia.co.uk/shop/prod...=3265&osCsid=9a4437d73b9dfec893e309a21870452c

All I need is a new dvd player. I'm chucking around the idea of whether I should go for a decent ish Pioneer 696 for 115 (which supports HDMI and does upscaling to hidef even though I expect there's not much difference) or go all out and get something speshul like a Pioneer 989 or a Marantz 7600. Both of which are around the 600 squid mark. I'm just wondering if I'll notice the 500 quids worth of difference between the players :\

Ngh, help :\

 

[old.user4556]

Upscaling is a gimmick imo. I have an upscaler, really isn't that noticeable or anything special.

You're best to demo a DVD player alongside the projector, try a whole array of material from "dark", projector stressing stuff (Matrix, blade runner, LotR:TTT) material, to normal, to artificial Pixar stuff.

As for the Marantz or Pioneer, afaik - they're effectively the same player (being owned by the same people) underneath? Don't quote me on that, but get over to AVforums (http://www.avforums.com) and ask there because that's been discussed before. I bought a Sony NS92V (for about £200 at the time) on the advice from someone on the forum that owns a whole array of players and said that the Sony was easily as good as one of his £600 Pioneers.

I've been very happy with it, the picture is awesome.

 

[nath]

I was at Sevenoaks for about 2 and a half hours today - I'd feel shitty about going back there and testing more stuff without buying anything. Especially as I'm going to get all the other stuff (projector and screen) elsewhere.

Also, I want to order it all tonight

 

[nath]

:d

Projector: Infocus IN76 - £1298.38
Screen: GreyWolf II 106" - £171.85
DVD Player: Sony DVPNS76H - £86.62
Cables
QED Qunex 10m HDMI
10m SVid
5m DVI-DVI
- £220.38

Total £1797.23

Jessica Alba in 720p 106" screen bikininess - oh man, totally priceless.

 

[old.user4556]

Good job, money well spent .

Was watching the ryder cup today on mine with my mates, fuck TVs that's all i'm saying .

 

[cHodAX]

Bought a 50inch HD RPTV a couple of months back and totally hooked now, probably going to go projector and screen some time next year. Playing Xbox 360 on a 50inch screen rocks but the thought of having a 100inch+ screen is giving me a hardon.

Anyway, good luck with your new gear, make sure you post a little review and try grab a few pictures if you can. That is gonna be one pimp system.

 

[nath]

I really hope the DVD player doesn't let it down, but be sure that I'll be upping lots of pictures when it's all sorted

 

[Clown]

Someone said the Panasonic would should be around £2000, and it will throw out a 100" image from 5ft away
1920x1080 POWER!

 

[nath]

Bastard bastard bastards!

The site says "In stock - yes!" and they call me today "soz m8 2-3 weeks EHEHHEHEHE :\"

Everywhere else says about the same, sevenoaks says "about one week" which I expect means about 2-3. Nghhh

 

[FireWire]

How noisy is the infocus? I've been looking at getting one for a while but if i did it would sit about 3ft above my head...

 

[old.user4556]

The offset of the projector probably wouldn't allow you to have it that close, not 100% on the infocus but the Optoma either needs to be mounted on a low table, or mounted on a high ceiling.

 

[nath]

When I had it demoed, the projector was aiming right at the middle of the screen and looked fine...

Anyway, the projector will be about 3ft above my head - I'll let you know how it sounds when I get it all set up. It arrives tomorrow

 

[old.user4556]

Soz, my bad, I thought they were all the same with the offset.

 

[nath]

Well they are, but you just aim it up/down and use keystone correction I think.

As I understand it's not ideal in that it loses a bit of quality (possibly) but nothing that I was aware of in the demo. I'll report back when it's all set up tomorrow hopefully. EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee so excited!

 

[old.user4556]

Ahhh I see, but keystone is the spawn of the devil and you do get a loss of image quality. You may not see it immediately, but if you view a screen with text or where you require attention to detail on a more uniform pattern you will notice lines of blurred and lines of sharpness.

I really notice keystoning and when you pay £1500 for an HD picture the last thing you want to do is take away from the quality, it's best to get it mounted in such a fashion where no keystone is required.

That said, if you're not fussed then no biggy.

 

[nath]

I'm going to try and mount it without the need for any adjustment but that may well not be possible. I'll let you know later tonight, I'm fitting it now DDDD

 

[FireWire]

If the projector is mounted high and the screen is hanging from ceiling brackets, surely there's little or no need for keystoning? Its no different to a lower screen (tv height) and a projector on a coffee table? I may well be talking out of my arse but thats how i picture (no pun intended) it?

Whats the noise like nath? They say its the say volume is as loud as a whisper, but thats a sweeping statement :/

 

[nath]

Tbh it just sounds like a PC. When the 5.1 is on it has NO chance of interfering at all. Plus, the thing about the keystone is that the projector shoots upwards, so it needs to be below or above the screen it's projecting on to depending on whether it's up or down.

 

[WPKenny]

Pics of it in action?

 

[Clown]

No! I'm already tempted to buy a new projector. Last time pictures were posted I bought a bloody projector and screen

 

[old.user4556]

I'll get some hi def ones up, not tonight though, i'll get 'em up tomorrow prolly.

 

[nath]

Currently uploading a little quicktime movie I took with my digicam of Hi Def Jessica Alba Bikiniage. Hopefully there's room on my webspace :\

Edit: http://www.nathan.frank.dsl.pipex.com/screen.mov