Help With Projector

[ctown30]

Hello everyone, I have been looking at projectors for awhile and have come between two: Mitsubishi HC3000u and a Viewsonic PJD5351. I am on a budget of about $450 and I can get both of these for under that. The Mitsubishi is a home theater projector while the Viewsonic is a business projector. I was just wandering if a business projector would be good enough to watch movies and game on? It has good specs: 2500 Lumens, 2400:1 contrast, and XGA. I just dont know if it will work because of things like its color wheel and speed. Will it produce a rainbow effect or is there some other reason not to use a business projector for home theater?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Without a doubt, if you can get a Mitsubishi HC3000u, new in the box, for under $450, jump all over it. Street prices I'm seeing are close to $1400. If it's used, then you have to start worrying about what kind of condition is it in and how much lamp life is left. Just because the rated lamp life states 2000 hours, doesn't necessarily mean it will last that long. The last thing you want to happen is to drop $450 on the projector; only to have to spend another $250 on a replacement lamp.

This review of the Viewsonic PJD5351 shows it to be just ok as a cinema projector, but I'll let you read it for yourself and decide.

-Wolf sends

 

[ctown30]

Well, the HC3000u is goin to be used while the PJD5351 is goin to be new. The reason I am even worrying about getting the PJD5351 is because it has a short throw lens in it and I only have 8'-9' of throw distance. This allows me to get about a 120" screen with the ViewSonic and with the Mitsubishi I only get about 70". But I can get the HC3000u for $375 so it is cheaper than the Viewsonic however. So any more help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Wolfshadw]

The HC3000u for $375 would have me REAL worried. Again, this is a near $1400 projector, brand new. I'd definitely want to see it in action before making the purchase.

However, if it's in good condition and there's still plenty of lamp life left, I'd still go with it. Yes, a 120" screen is really awesome (I know), but the simple fact is, the larger the screen, the higher resolution you want. Since both of these projectors have the same resolution, the 70" display is going to look better than the 120" display. Especially since you have to sit a lot closer to the screen than I do.

For reference, I have the BenQ MP610 projector. My screen diagonal is 142" @ 16x9 (though viewing 2.35:1 aspect ratio movies gives me a diagonal down to about 115"). My resolution is set to 1280x768. Since I'm sitting roughly 18' away, the image looks fairly nice and I don't notice the "screen door" effect except on static light images/text. Sitting 8' away from my screen, I can definitely notice it and that would seriously detract from the enjoyment of a larger screen.

Screen Door effect sample

The image above is an extreme example of the "screen door" effect, but it does illustrate what you could be looking at with such a large screen, lower resolution, and close viewing distance.

Again, the bigger screen is nice, if you can get a higher resolution, but with your (and my) budget, that's just not going to happen. Go with the smaller screen (after you've seen it in action).

-Wolf sends