Question:
Just toying with the idea.
I don't want to get a large TV as I may be going to Australia in the next year or so, but a projector could travel with me.....
I don't want to get state of the art as that can wait until I get separates etc.
Currently have:
Pioneer DV-454 (in case you hadn't guessed) :)
Videologic Digitheatre DTS
21" Toshiba TV
The TV is just too small - in fact currently its being repaired so we're having to use a 15 year old 14" Sony :shocker: :(
I'm still buying/collecting DVDs and wanted to know how much it would cost to get an introductory projector and if I'd need anything else to use with my current setup.
Thanks
8-]
I recently upgraded from a panasonic PATE100 and it was fantastic, so good infact im wondering if ive wasted my money upgrading. for a budget model it has fantastic picture and for me it was very reliable. i think its discontinued now but two models are going to be replacing it. but you can pick them up for around £700, i sold mine for £800 but it had a recent neew bulb. on top of the price of the projector you will need a screen and for a good picture your looking at the best part of a grand, but a painted wall will work but not as well.
If i were you id go for a 32" w/s and a good set of speakers with a nice amp to go with it, for the same price you can get good stuff and then get it shipped when you move to oz.
Thanks for the info m8.
When you say the best part of a grand is that for the projector and the screen or just the screen? :eek:
Are bulbs the only real consumable with projectors?
If so roughly how long do they last?
Would I need anything in order to watch TV with a projector? I mean I assume that you attach the projector directly to the DVD player and that works fine, but how would you watch TV on the projector? Is there some sort of tuner required?
Sorry about the 101 questions :) :o
To watch TV you would need one of those tuner box things (i dunno what they are) you need to watch TV on a plasma, thats not my thing as i never had one. the projector is like a plasma as it needs a source and is only a display.
The projector ( second hand ) should cost around £700 and the screen around £1000 although you can buy cheap ones for £500 the quality is ****.
Bulbs cost around £300 and loast about 2000 hours wich is plenty and i only replace mine as it was smashed when i got burgled.
A new projector starts at around the £1500 mark plus a spare bulb £300 so when yours pops you dont have to go without and around £1000 for a good quality screen.
I updraged to a £5000 sanyo from the panny and it wasnt really worth downgrading my car for as the quality improvement isnt worth the extra cash, so we might be selling it for a plasma. it is wicked for dvd's and playing xbox and stuff but its probably too big a picture for TV mine was over 80" wide but i think they can show a good picture up to around 100".
Oh and the PATE100 was made for widescreen and for use in the home a lot of projectors are 4:3 and for corperate use. as for connectors it was fairly basic, but nowadays there's an adapter for everything.
Thanks a lot for the info/advice m8.
:shocker: :shocker: at the cost of screens! I had no idea.
Why do they cost so much? I mean isn't it just a piece of white cloth?
I could imagine spending about £700 for the projector, but the screen sounds too expensive!
Like i said mate you could paint a wall as many people do, but its worth paying for a good screen. im off to watch band of brothers in a bit on mine!
I may be wrong but i did notice a huge difference when i bought a decent screen.
Originally posted by wonderpants
Like i said mate you could paint a wall as many people do, but its worth paying for a good screen. im off to watch band of brothers in a bit on mine!
I may be wrong but i did notice a huge difference when i bought a decent screen.
I understand that there was a big difference when you got the good screen but I assume that the difference between 21" TV and a projection onto a wall is a bigger improvement than between a projection onto a wall and a projection onto a good screen?
You don't need to spend that much on a screen! I bought a 80x45 (92" diagonal) for £175 2nd hand. Have a look at www.direkt2u.co.uk for Da-Lite screens. These are manual pull down and very easy to put up. You certainly don't need to spend £1,000 on an electric screen when starting out!
There are several good new projectors waiting in the wings, both Sony and Panasonic have new models meant for home cinema arriving soon. Best bet is to have a look on www.avforums.com - You might be able to pick up a decent 2nd hand projector and screen there. There's also several professional installers that frequent the board who could help you out.
One last thing, several people have reported that the Panasonic AE100 really needs progressive input to get the best out of it. That either means a home cinema PC or a progressive output DVD player.
Thanks Nigel
I'll look at the avforums site.
:thumbs:
Anyone else with any thoughts/advice please feel free to post.....
I'm using a PTAE100 myself, very happy with it, my "screen" is a piece of white hardboard, painted mid-grey and screwed to the wall, cost about a tenner and works fine for me! Might not be as good as a proper screen but certainly good enough for the moment!
For TV I just use the signal from my Sky via Tivo, you could in theory use a VCR to get a TV signal as well, but you wouldn't be able to watch one channel and record another!
Thanks Neil
So if I get a cheap VCR I can use that to watch TV via the projector? I could use an aerial splitter and record with our current VCR.
I use a PTAE100 onto a white wall in my front room. Picture is great even through s video and i cant waut to get one of those new Philips 963sa with component and pal progressive scan.
I paid £1400 for mine the first day it came out and have never had any trouble with it. I use mine for TV now too and have sold my 32 inch tv. Bulbs last 5000 hours on economy mode which is not that different from the maximum bulb light mode.
Best thing i ever bought, and it also maks your surround sound feel more surroundish as the picture is larger, heres a pic of my screen on but it was bright due to the flash on my digital camera.
http://www.instant-ringtones.co.uk/cinema.jpg
You can get a perfectly good manual pull down screen for £250. I think mine was around £230. Probably not as good as a £1000 one obviously but for the PTAE100 a grand on a screen would be overkill IMHO.
You could always use Sky for watching tv through the PJ.
I also have the ptae100 and watch everything through it. I use my tosh 510 player conected viacomponent to get progressive scan for r1 also connect my video which is a cheap lg svhs nicam video recorder via svideo so i can watch tv through th pj. It works very well, you could also just connect your current video to it by using a scart to composite cable picture wont be that great but will be watchable.
Check my sig for some pictures
Thanks for the info guys. Nice pics chas :)
I've noticed that many people mount the projector on the ceiling. I assume that they work equally well (but are just more in the way) if they are perched on something in the room?
So - basically I could get a pretty good introductory projector and screen for about £1000. Sounds pretty reasonable.
Do the screens have to be mounted as well, or can they just be brought into the room and put up when necessary. Just that I'm currently in rented accomodation so we can't really drill into the walls etc.
Where has everyone got these cheap screens from? i feel ive been ripped off!!
8-] i think i still have the brochure and promo material for the PTAE100 if i can find it ill post it off to you mate.
Originally posted by wonderpants
Where has everyone got these cheap screens from? i feel ive been ripped off!!
8-] i think i still have the brochure and promo material for the PTAE100 if i can find it ill post it off to you mate.
Nigel posted this link for screens: www.direkt2u.co.uk
If you do find the brochure/promo material it would be useful to me - so please email me if they turn up. :thumbs:
When I was originally looking at projectors, my local hi-fi shop tried to sell me a £1,000 screen too.
I've got my screen mounted on wall brackets as it need to be a few inches away from the wall since it covers a window. Haven't got pictures yet....
It can be mounted on small metal loops or via the inverted keyhole shaped holes i.e. it fits over wall mounted screws and drops down a few mm's to lock in place. So you could store the screen out of site and only set it up when needed.... all you'd have is a couple of screws on the wall. Some people have used large sheets of MDF (heavy) and painted it with Dulux Icestorm... might be a cheaper option for you and it doesn't require fixing.
My ceiling is only 8 feet high so I don't need too much of a drop since the projector is also ceiling mounted, try Unicol.co.uk for mounts.
i have mine on a shelf at back of room next to my AV unit.
Thanks for the info - you guys are great.
When I eventually get the projector (may well be a few months from now) I will probably do what Brad did and pop it on a shelf.
The MDF plan sounds like an interesting solution - I suppose it is only £30 or so.... so might be worth a try.
My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
I'm planning to use white blackout material for my screen, or some painted MDF.
How come you ordered from Japan?
Originally posted by AndySymbian
My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
I'm planning to use white blackout material for my screen, or some painted MDF.
how much did it cost in total to get the 963sa please:)
Hi Brad
£343 all in from Soundform.nl - see my postings over at:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51713&perpage=15&pagenumber=9
Lovely bit of kit running my new PT-300 at 625P :)
Nice!
How come you ordered from Japan?
Much, much cheaper. I got the AE-300 for the price of the AE-100 over here. Took 4 days to arrive!
I imported my new PAL progressive DVD too :)
Hi Brad
£343 all in from Soundform.nl - see my postings over at:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51713&perpage=15&pagenumber=9
Lovely bit of kit running my new PT-300 at 625P :)
Nice!
Originally posted by AndySymbian
How come you ordered from Japan?
Much, much cheaper. I got the AE-300 for the price of the AE-100 over here. Took 4 days to arrive!
I imported my new PAL progressive DVD too :)
Sounds like a good idea.
Are there any power issues or is Japan the same as here (but with I assume a different plug)?
How much are we talking about btw? I have no idea how much an AE-100 is either! :)
The AE-100 is about £1200 over here. I paid about £100 more the the 300, which is two models up - higher resolution etc.
The power supply is universal, you can just use a laptop lead into the Panny, or get a travel convertor to convert 2 pin Japanese plugs in 3 pin UK plugs.
I'm sure the AE300 has worked out at about £1300 delivered but I'm not certain whether there's a sting in the tale with VAT been asked for by the courier at a later date.
I would be very tempted to go via this route, but if there are any issues with the machine i.e dead pixels etc, although Price Japan will exchange they state you have to pay shipping - someone on the AVforums has just shelled out £200 for a return trip for his machine!!:shocker:
Kramer has one for sale (the AE100 that is) - presently at about £900 - he's in N Ireland though. (AGain he's on the AVforums)
I personally wouldn't touch a TV now with a barge pole. I had the 46" & 56" Tosh RPTV and although excellent, they don't match the big screen image. WHen I sold my 56" I was looking at my options and although Plasma was tempting, I felt it was a bit expensive and the prices were dropping anyway. I plumped for the AE100 in the end - if I sell now I won't lose too much, but after reading Wonderpants comments I don't thnk I'll be looking to upgrade just yet anyway.
The picture for me is fabulous - just onto a painted wall, nothing more! Maybe doing a direct comparisson with other sources may reveal I have an inferior piccy, but I really find it (all 120" of it) to be better than the local UCI. I am running it via VGA so I get a progressive output!)
The picture for me is fabulous - just onto a painted wall, nothing more!
Same here, I was planning on building a screen tomorrow, but I think I'm just going to use my wall.
My piccy is probably about 8 feet wide - I don't understand how you can't see the pixels at that size, but I'm not complaining :)
Which one of you is sunlink? ive just been reading your posts on AV forums with regard to price japan. im seriously think of selling my Sanyo and buying a plasma and a an AE300! as im underwhelmed with it! i think if someone is in the market for a £5k projector CRT is the way to go.
Damn, all this stuff on projectors has got me thinking of getting one again!
I'd borowed one from a mate for a day a couple of months back to see what they were like, it was a Sony (can't remember the model but it wasn't current, only just superseeded or something). It was an office/corporate model but had a 16:9 mode (although it was a 4:3 LCD, I think, I'm not sure & no expert).
I didn't have enough time to play around with it to get a good picture plus projecting it onto my wall wasn't the best thing. I did get a huge picture out of it though which was really impressive - something equivalent to a 65" wide screen TV :) (I'd have to have the thing going across my room which is only about 9 feet.)
The real problem I found was the noise from the fan. Since it had to be next to you, during quite parts of a film it was just too much.
So, now I've explained that what I wanted to ask is how much difference is there in terms of noise between the office/corporate projectors and the dedicated home cinema projectors?
I also noticed that some home cinema projectors are designed so that they can be positioned offset from centre and so out of the way a bit, any of you guys have that feature on your projector?
EDIT: Just had a quick search and it was a Sony VPL-CS3
So, now I've explained that what I wanted to ask is how much difference is there in terms of noise between the office/corporate projectors and the dedicated home cinema projectors?
Mine is very quiet - just a faint hum. Im about 4 feet away and pretty noise sensitive.
Here's a couple off LOTR (I'm at an angle hence the scewed pic)
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/lotr-c.jpg
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/lotr-b.jpg
This is using PAL Progressive (625P), coming from a 963SA with DCDi enabled.
The image is about 8 feet wide.
Andy, those are such sweet pictures. :mad:
/ jealousy mode OFF
Boink! :o ;)
I am very jealous!! :)
Must resist until I have researched this further........
The noise from the fan of both of my projectors hasnt been a problem at all. They have had to be suspended from the ceiling because we live in a small flat so where around 2 feet below the projector when its working and i cant hear it!
Im still gutted about getting ripped off with the screen though!
The noise from the fan of both of my projectors hasnt been a problem at all. They have had to be suspended from the ceiling because we live in a small flat so where around 2 feet below the projector when its working and i cant hear it!
Im still gutted about getting ripped off with the screen though!
The noise from the fan of both of my projectors hasnt been a problem at all. They have had to be suspended from the ceiling because we live in a small flat so where around 2 feet below the projector when its working and i cant hear it!
Im still gutted about getting ripped off with the screen though!
When did you get the screen?
Ive had it 6months now, its a good screen it pulls down with a click of my pronto and is very discreet when closed. but if i'd of known i could of got a cheap one i would of done!
And well done me on a triple post!!
Ive had it 6months now, its a good screen it pulls down with a click of my pronto and is very discreet when closed. but if i'd of known i could of got a cheap one i would of done!
And well done me on a triple post!!
Double :confused:
You've got a decent quality electrical screen. Enjoy it..... :)
stuff like this always happens :(
Originally posted by AndySymbian
My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
Was it pal progressive and multiregion out the box.
How did u order when the sites in another language
How did you pay
How long was delivery
How much better then the 962sa is this player
if you could answer these questions it would be great.
Speak soon
;)
:eek:
[:eek:
:eek:
4 posts brad!!!
test
Can I play?
:nuts:
:D
Have a look here
:nuts:
Hi Brad
I answered all your questions on the AVForum thread I posted...
quote:
Originally posted by AndySymbian
My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
Was it pal progressive and multiregion out the box.
YES
How did u order when the sites in another language
e-mailed them, as per AVForums thread ;)
How did you pay
PALPay - as per...
How long was delivery
Sent Friday, arrived tuesday
How much better then the 962sa is this player
No idea, not seen a 962SA
if you could answer these questions it would be great.
Already did a few days ago on AVForums (posting as Puddleduck)
Speak soon
thanks for that.:)
is the power lead a UK plug or is a conversion required.
the lead is detactable so you can use a PC type lead, or kettle lead.
(I'm just using a spare PC lead)
Originally posted by AndySymbian
The picture for me is fabulous - just onto a painted wall, nothing more!
My piccy is probably about 8 feet wide - I don't understand how you can't see the pixels at that size, but I'm not complaining :)
Obviously I de-focus the lens a bit to lose the pixel definition and the overall result doesn't impact too much on the image clarirty. When there are light backgrounds sometimes the pixel edges are slightly noticeable - but this is only on a static image, once there is camera movement you can't see the effect. I don't wear specs or owt:dork: and I'm fairly cetain my eyesight's pretty good - once actually "watching" a film your mind doesn't actively look for pixel lines. Even if I do concentrate on looking for screendoor effect I have difficulty spotting it.
EDIT - are those piccys of your AE300 btw?
are those piccys of your AE300 btw?
yep, only arrived from Japan yesterday, so just plonked it facing the wall and watched LOTR. Not tweaked it at all yet, as things look so damn good "as is" :)
you impressed with your picture on your 963sa.
and you asy its avout £340 delivered:)
I'm very impressed with the 963SA :)
I was always going to get a 962SA from "HiviZone" in HK, but they were pretty expensive, so when I heard about the 963SA I decided to wait. From all accounts, its got a later generation DCDi chip.
Its really nice to see the 625P indicator on the AE-300 light up to, when I send it PAL Progressive :)
It was £342 all in, including shipping by Dutch Postal Service, and Dutch VAT at 19%. No import duty to pay, as The Netherlands are in the EU.
E-mail soundform.nl - you know you want one :)
ive just emailed them.:)
I've just bought a Philips Bsure SV1 projector off Loot. Was only £725 and the bloke delivered it about an hour ago. Less than 10 hours use. Just gotta get a screen now, but will have to wait and see what will fit in my new flat (when I decide where I want to live).
Originally posted by 8-]
Currently have:
Pioneer DV-454 (in case you hadn't guessed) :)
Videologic Digitheatre DTS
21" Toshiba TV
:lol: That sounds exactaly like mine, 21" Goodmans, Digitheatre DTS and Phillips 701 DVD Player. I know what you mean about the small picture, you can't help feeling when watching ATOC or LOTR that despite the excellent sound it'd be improved 10 times with a huge picture.
:notworthy Great thread 8-], i've learnt a lot and now find myself yearning for a projector. I had set my heart on buying a big Tosh in the future but a projector seems so much more convenient, tucked out the way, easily transported and i guess when you step back and look not that disimilar in price to a big screen TV.
Those LOTR screens looked superb.
As i'm typing this i'm thinking about where i could stick a screen in my room :D Do i really need windows?, ventilation? air?? :nuts: i could perhaps border those up. :D
you can't help feeling when watching ATOC
Having just watched AOTC on my screen last night, a big image doesn't do it any favours - you can all the dodgy CGI / Blue Screen work a mile off :(
On the other hand, LOTR looks STUNNING :)
Originally posted by AndySymbian
you can't help feeling when watching ATOC
Having just watched AOTC on my screen last night, a big image doesn't do it any favours - you can all the dodgy CGI / Blue Screen work a mile off :(
On the other hand, LOTR looks STUNNING :)
Quite possibly - but I'm sure that our temporary (21" TV being fixed) solution of a 14" portable Sony (and 15 years old to boot) is not doing AOTC or any films justice :(
The big screen does show up the limitations of PAL/NTSC encoding.... we want HDTV!
Indeed, the "garbage in, garbage out" thing is very apparent on a big screen.
Here are some more shots:
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/monsters-inc-480x270.jpg
Click here (http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/monsters-inc-960x540.jpg) to see the above at the projectors native resolution
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/thx.jpg
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/monsters-inc-1.jpg
In the bottom image you can just make out my centre speaker, which should give you an idea of how big the images are.
AndySymbian Great pictures mate, my Sanyo gives a larger picture but the quality seems the same, do you think it could be because ive not set it up properly? or do you think its a crap projector, sadly i bought it blind as it had the best reviews in my price range but i still feel you have the better projector!!
I can't really comment if your projector is crap or not - I'm sure its fine :)
The picture I have is actually the smallest it will go - it can go 20% wider at the same distance as the proj. has got a +/1 20% zoom factor (those shots are at -20%). Because I sit quite close I like to have a smaller pic. or its a bit overwhelming!
I can't quite get over how rich in colour those pictures look. Even though they're just photos (from a digital camera i presume) they just look great.
I guess the darkness is an attributing factor but they still look great.
I really fail to see why people go for large TVs now whith quality like that, it's gotta be even better in person. Do you play video games through that Andy??
Also do you find watching the projector in the Summer limiting, seeing as it's lighter later??
I really fail to see why people go for large TVs now whith quality like that
me too - my proj. cost £1300 (imported from Japan) and there are no geometry problems - none of the nasties you get with modern W/S TVs. And the best thing is - it takes no space, I just project straight onto my wall. A 36" WS would cost more than my proj....
I can't quite get over how rich in colour those pictures look.
Me too - I only got my proj. on Thursday and I never expected it to be this good :)
I am planning to hook my XBox up - not a big gamer TBH, but may do it later tonight.
Obviously its better in a dark room, that THX shot you saw was taken around 3pm on thursay with curtains drawn, so you can imagine the light levels.
Just been speaking the missus, im gunna try and take my proj back and get a refund. as we had 5 bulbs go in the first week, although they were replaced for free, its still a fault and i should be entitled to my money back, im gunna go for one if these and a plasma probably.
Nice projector mate, you got a bargain!!!
I think you should get that X-Box on there asap. :D. Talk about the motion sickness, don't drink anything before hand ;).
Think I will in a tick :)
MS just sent me a complimentary XBox Live kit (and a sad t-shirt), so its a good excuse to fire it up :)
Below is a picture of "Wanted Dead or Alive" on XBox (S-Video) - blurry shot is due to fast movement / slow shuttle speed on camera.
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/doa.jpg
Gaming that takes up your entire field of vision..... fantastic!!
Good colour still, shame its a bad picture really. do you have a link to where you bought it from mate?
my xbox is already plugged to my sanyo, ill have to lend a digital camera from work so i can post some comparisons. im just shopping for a cable long enough so i can play my GC on it too. its great for fifa 2003 BTW!
Bloody fantastic :D this smiley is very indicitive to the look of my face right now :D :D Racing games would rock on your system Andy.
Who needs arcades and the like when you got that. Pic still looks good even tho it's blurry. I still can't get over how good those colours look.
I had a quick play with Rallisport Challenge, that was scary, it was so damn fast! Cockpit view is almost too much like being there!
Its really hard to get good screen shots due to the lack of a pause button on the XBox - I'm using a slow shutter speed on my digital camera to avoid it using its flash due to the darkened room.
Andy you want to try flight sims on the PC i havent done it myself but my brother does it all the time. they look cool and with decent speakers its like your there.
I've not tried the PC yet - mainly cos I've not got a VGA-VGA or DVI-DVI cable.
Apparently 1:1 pixel mapping is awesome with this proj.
Play a first person shoot-em-up like Unreal 2003 :)
Andy, just out of curiousity, is the Monsters INC DVD shown in your pics NTSC or PAL?
Just wondering what difference it makes when blown up to that size... :confused:
If you're using an X-Box on the projector I reccomend getting hold of the Hi-Def AV pack from America (DVDBoxOffice sell them), nice progressive scan image:) I tried Project Gotham through S-Video and felt ill after a few minutes, progressive is much nicer, I can play for hours!
i borrowed a playstation 2 once and put it through my projector, classic... I played grande theft auto for hours on it. I also played star wars rougue leader on gamecube on it and attached the speaker set up too...awsome, there was missiles flying everywhere lol.
id recoomend getting a projector just to play games on if you are a games freak, i am not sadly and get bored easily with consoles.
:)
Great news! my local AV shop is going to take back my projector i think i convinced them its a faulty unit, with 5 bulbs blowing in the first few days and the quality not being great, theyr taking it back. so tomorrow i should be quids in, im going to wait for the PATE300 to hit the uk and try and see if my mother in law can get me a good price on it.
What does your mother-in-law do? Does she work for Panasonic?
She works at John Lewis and apparently there Home cinema employees get a 25% discount.
Originally posted by wonderpants
She works at John Lewis and apparently there Home cinema employees get a 25% discount.
That's a good discount! Especially in conjunction with their "never knowingly undersold" promise..... plus 5 year warranty!
25% is nothing, Fraser Hart employees (jewlers) get 30% off all jewelery.
I had a job interview at HMV, and they stated (i can't quite remember) but it was either 45% or 65% discount off all products.
If its actually only 45% thats still bloody good!
Superdrug only give 10% off, stingy beggars!
Originally posted by Robby
I can't quite get over how rich in colour those pictures look. Even though they're just photos (from a digital camera i presume) they just look great.
I guess the darkness is an attributing factor but they still look great.
I really fail to see why people go for large TVs now whith quality like that, it's gotta be even better in person. Do you play video games through that Andy??
They look great here, but these are pics scaled down a huge amount from the real size. As anyone who's done prints off scans will tell you, you need a much bigger pic/resolution than the final print size to make it come out good. The original scans can often show up a lot of flaws, but because it's scaled down you don't notice it.
Before making any decisions I'd want a live test.
Absolutely, but for one thing Andy must be dead chuffed about his Digital Camera too as i think those piccies look fantastic, :D maybe you can't make out the detail too well but as an initial impression you can't grumble.
I read the long thread over at the avforums. Very interesting reading, seems a bit of pot luck though if you're going for a projector from PriceJapan that you won't get one with dead pixels. :( At £200, it's a bit steep to return for a new model. I've not checked back yet to see if that lass has her replacement yet. She only had a couple of dead pixels, i can understand her dissapointment but what if she get's another back with 3 dead pixels?. She'll be pig sick.
Originally posted by DeadKenny
They look great here, but these are pics scaled down a huge amount from the real size. As anyone who's done prints off scans will tell you, you need a much bigger pic/resolution than the final print size to make it come out good. The original scans can often show up a lot of flaws, but because it's scaled down you don't notice it.
Before making any decisions I'd want a live test.
Valid point, but I guarantee that in person you ain't going to notice that much of a reduction in quality just cos' you're seeing the life size version. I would always recommend a viewing before committing to a purchase but what you see there on your monitor screen - a 5 inch piccy - will look more or less the same lifesize!! If anything, although they show up superb colour they do lose clarity - especially the Monsters one with Mike's car - due to the image movement. Watch it real time and it's as smooth as a babys arse!:thumbs:
Those pictures were taken with a 3 mega pixel Olympus 3040Z Zoom BTW.
Any Cambridge based Forum members are welcome pop by for a demo - I'm sure you'll be impressed :)
Originally posted by Robby
Absolutely, but for one thing Andy must be dead chuffed about his Digital Camera too as i think those piccies look fantastic, :D
Good point. Shows off the camera's qualities, especially the reproduction of colours (and as rogeralpine says, that does show the projected image has superb colour reproduction).
Originally posted by AndySymbian
Those pictures were taken with a 3 mega pixel Olympus 3040Z Zoom BTW.
I know's it's slightly OT, but how much and where from? :D
The camera original cost around £600 over here, but was bought in the US so worked out my cheaper.
I don't want to get a large TV as I may be going to Australia in the next year or so, but a projector could travel with me.....
I don't want to get state of the art as that can wait until I get separates etc.
Currently have:
Pioneer DV-454 (in case you hadn't guessed) :)
Videologic Digitheatre DTS
21" Toshiba TV
The TV is just too small - in fact currently its being repaired so we're having to use a 15 year old 14" Sony :shocker: :(
I'm still buying/collecting DVDs and wanted to know how much it would cost to get an introductory projector and if I'd need anything else to use with my current setup.
Thanks
8-]
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I recently upgraded from a panasonic PATE100 and it was fantastic, so good infact im wondering if ive wasted my money upgrading. for a budget model it has fantastic picture and for me it was very reliable. i think its discontinued now but two models are going to be replacing it. but you can pick them up for around £700, i sold mine for £800 but it had a recent neew bulb. on top of the price of the projector you will need a screen and for a good picture your looking at the best part of a grand, but a painted wall will work but not as well.
If i were you id go for a 32" w/s and a good set of speakers with a nice amp to go with it, for the same price you can get good stuff and then get it shipped when you move to oz.
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Thanks for the info m8.
When you say the best part of a grand is that for the projector and the screen or just the screen? :eek:
Are bulbs the only real consumable with projectors?
If so roughly how long do they last?
Would I need anything in order to watch TV with a projector? I mean I assume that you attach the projector directly to the DVD player and that works fine, but how would you watch TV on the projector? Is there some sort of tuner required?
Sorry about the 101 questions :) :o
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To watch TV you would need one of those tuner box things (i dunno what they are) you need to watch TV on a plasma, thats not my thing as i never had one. the projector is like a plasma as it needs a source and is only a display.
The projector ( second hand ) should cost around £700 and the screen around £1000 although you can buy cheap ones for £500 the quality is ****.
Bulbs cost around £300 and loast about 2000 hours wich is plenty and i only replace mine as it was smashed when i got burgled.
A new projector starts at around the £1500 mark plus a spare bulb £300 so when yours pops you dont have to go without and around £1000 for a good quality screen.
I updraged to a £5000 sanyo from the panny and it wasnt really worth downgrading my car for as the quality improvement isnt worth the extra cash, so we might be selling it for a plasma. it is wicked for dvd's and playing xbox and stuff but its probably too big a picture for TV mine was over 80" wide but i think they can show a good picture up to around 100".
Oh and the PATE100 was made for widescreen and for use in the home a lot of projectors are 4:3 and for corperate use. as for connectors it was fairly basic, but nowadays there's an adapter for everything.
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Thanks a lot for the info/advice m8.
:shocker: :shocker: at the cost of screens! I had no idea.
Why do they cost so much? I mean isn't it just a piece of white cloth?
I could imagine spending about £700 for the projector, but the screen sounds too expensive!
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Like i said mate you could paint a wall as many people do, but its worth paying for a good screen. im off to watch band of brothers in a bit on mine!
I may be wrong but i did notice a huge difference when i bought a decent screen.
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Originally posted by wonderpants
Like i said mate you could paint a wall as many people do, but its worth paying for a good screen. im off to watch band of brothers in a bit on mine!
I may be wrong but i did notice a huge difference when i bought a decent screen.
I understand that there was a big difference when you got the good screen but I assume that the difference between 21" TV and a projection onto a wall is a bigger improvement than between a projection onto a wall and a projection onto a good screen?
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You don't need to spend that much on a screen! I bought a 80x45 (92" diagonal) for £175 2nd hand. Have a look at www.direkt2u.co.uk for Da-Lite screens. These are manual pull down and very easy to put up. You certainly don't need to spend £1,000 on an electric screen when starting out!
There are several good new projectors waiting in the wings, both Sony and Panasonic have new models meant for home cinema arriving soon. Best bet is to have a look on www.avforums.com - You might be able to pick up a decent 2nd hand projector and screen there. There's also several professional installers that frequent the board who could help you out.
One last thing, several people have reported that the Panasonic AE100 really needs progressive input to get the best out of it. That either means a home cinema PC or a progressive output DVD player.
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Thanks Nigel
I'll look at the avforums site.
:thumbs:
Anyone else with any thoughts/advice please feel free to post.....
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I'm using a PTAE100 myself, very happy with it, my "screen" is a piece of white hardboard, painted mid-grey and screwed to the wall, cost about a tenner and works fine for me! Might not be as good as a proper screen but certainly good enough for the moment!
For TV I just use the signal from my Sky via Tivo, you could in theory use a VCR to get a TV signal as well, but you wouldn't be able to watch one channel and record another!
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Thanks Neil
So if I get a cheap VCR I can use that to watch TV via the projector? I could use an aerial splitter and record with our current VCR.
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I use a PTAE100 onto a white wall in my front room. Picture is great even through s video and i cant waut to get one of those new Philips 963sa with component and pal progressive scan.
I paid £1400 for mine the first day it came out and have never had any trouble with it. I use mine for TV now too and have sold my 32 inch tv. Bulbs last 5000 hours on economy mode which is not that different from the maximum bulb light mode.
Best thing i ever bought, and it also maks your surround sound feel more surroundish as the picture is larger, heres a pic of my screen on but it was bright due to the flash on my digital camera.
http://www.instant-ringtones.co.uk/cinema.jpg
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You can get a perfectly good manual pull down screen for £250. I think mine was around £230. Probably not as good as a £1000 one obviously but for the PTAE100 a grand on a screen would be overkill IMHO.
You could always use Sky for watching tv through the PJ.
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I also have the ptae100 and watch everything through it. I use my tosh 510 player conected viacomponent to get progressive scan for r1 also connect my video which is a cheap lg svhs nicam video recorder via svideo so i can watch tv through th pj. It works very well, you could also just connect your current video to it by using a scart to composite cable picture wont be that great but will be watchable.
Check my sig for some pictures
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Thanks for the info guys. Nice pics chas :)
I've noticed that many people mount the projector on the ceiling. I assume that they work equally well (but are just more in the way) if they are perched on something in the room?
So - basically I could get a pretty good introductory projector and screen for about £1000. Sounds pretty reasonable.
Do the screens have to be mounted as well, or can they just be brought into the room and put up when necessary. Just that I'm currently in rented accomodation so we can't really drill into the walls etc.
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Where has everyone got these cheap screens from? i feel ive been ripped off!!
8-] i think i still have the brochure and promo material for the PTAE100 if i can find it ill post it off to you mate.
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Originally posted by wonderpants
Where has everyone got these cheap screens from? i feel ive been ripped off!!
8-] i think i still have the brochure and promo material for the PTAE100 if i can find it ill post it off to you mate.
Nigel posted this link for screens: www.direkt2u.co.uk
If you do find the brochure/promo material it would be useful to me - so please email me if they turn up. :thumbs:
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When I was originally looking at projectors, my local hi-fi shop tried to sell me a £1,000 screen too.
I've got my screen mounted on wall brackets as it need to be a few inches away from the wall since it covers a window. Haven't got pictures yet....
It can be mounted on small metal loops or via the inverted keyhole shaped holes i.e. it fits over wall mounted screws and drops down a few mm's to lock in place. So you could store the screen out of site and only set it up when needed.... all you'd have is a couple of screws on the wall. Some people have used large sheets of MDF (heavy) and painted it with Dulux Icestorm... might be a cheaper option for you and it doesn't require fixing.
My ceiling is only 8 feet high so I don't need too much of a drop since the projector is also ceiling mounted, try Unicol.co.uk for mounts.
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i have mine on a shelf at back of room next to my AV unit.
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Thanks for the info - you guys are great.
When I eventually get the projector (may well be a few months from now) I will probably do what Brad did and pop it on a shelf.
The MDF plan sounds like an interesting solution - I suppose it is only £30 or so.... so might be worth a try.
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My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
I'm planning to use white blackout material for my screen, or some painted MDF.
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How come you ordered from Japan?
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Originally posted by AndySymbian
My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
I'm planning to use white blackout material for my screen, or some painted MDF.
how much did it cost in total to get the 963sa please:)
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Hi Brad
£343 all in from Soundform.nl - see my postings over at:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51713&perpage=15&pagenumber=9
Lovely bit of kit running my new PT-300 at 625P :)
Nice!
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How come you ordered from Japan?
Much, much cheaper. I got the AE-300 for the price of the AE-100 over here. Took 4 days to arrive!
I imported my new PAL progressive DVD too :)
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Hi Brad
£343 all in from Soundform.nl - see my postings over at:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51713&perpage=15&pagenumber=9
Lovely bit of kit running my new PT-300 at 625P :)
Nice!
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Originally posted by AndySymbian
How come you ordered from Japan?
Much, much cheaper. I got the AE-300 for the price of the AE-100 over here. Took 4 days to arrive!
I imported my new PAL progressive DVD too :)
Sounds like a good idea.
Are there any power issues or is Japan the same as here (but with I assume a different plug)?
How much are we talking about btw? I have no idea how much an AE-100 is either! :)
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The AE-100 is about £1200 over here. I paid about £100 more the the 300, which is two models up - higher resolution etc.
The power supply is universal, you can just use a laptop lead into the Panny, or get a travel convertor to convert 2 pin Japanese plugs in 3 pin UK plugs.
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I'm sure the AE300 has worked out at about £1300 delivered but I'm not certain whether there's a sting in the tale with VAT been asked for by the courier at a later date.
I would be very tempted to go via this route, but if there are any issues with the machine i.e dead pixels etc, although Price Japan will exchange they state you have to pay shipping - someone on the AVforums has just shelled out £200 for a return trip for his machine!!:shocker:
Kramer has one for sale (the AE100 that is) - presently at about £900 - he's in N Ireland though. (AGain he's on the AVforums)
I personally wouldn't touch a TV now with a barge pole. I had the 46" & 56" Tosh RPTV and although excellent, they don't match the big screen image. WHen I sold my 56" I was looking at my options and although Plasma was tempting, I felt it was a bit expensive and the prices were dropping anyway. I plumped for the AE100 in the end - if I sell now I won't lose too much, but after reading Wonderpants comments I don't thnk I'll be looking to upgrade just yet anyway.
The picture for me is fabulous - just onto a painted wall, nothing more! Maybe doing a direct comparisson with other sources may reveal I have an inferior piccy, but I really find it (all 120" of it) to be better than the local UCI. I am running it via VGA so I get a progressive output!)
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The picture for me is fabulous - just onto a painted wall, nothing more!
Same here, I was planning on building a screen tomorrow, but I think I'm just going to use my wall.
My piccy is probably about 8 feet wide - I don't understand how you can't see the pixels at that size, but I'm not complaining :)
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Which one of you is sunlink? ive just been reading your posts on AV forums with regard to price japan. im seriously think of selling my Sanyo and buying a plasma and a an AE300! as im underwhelmed with it! i think if someone is in the market for a £5k projector CRT is the way to go.
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Damn, all this stuff on projectors has got me thinking of getting one again!
I'd borowed one from a mate for a day a couple of months back to see what they were like, it was a Sony (can't remember the model but it wasn't current, only just superseeded or something). It was an office/corporate model but had a 16:9 mode (although it was a 4:3 LCD, I think, I'm not sure & no expert).
I didn't have enough time to play around with it to get a good picture plus projecting it onto my wall wasn't the best thing. I did get a huge picture out of it though which was really impressive - something equivalent to a 65" wide screen TV :) (I'd have to have the thing going across my room which is only about 9 feet.)
The real problem I found was the noise from the fan. Since it had to be next to you, during quite parts of a film it was just too much.
So, now I've explained that what I wanted to ask is how much difference is there in terms of noise between the office/corporate projectors and the dedicated home cinema projectors?
I also noticed that some home cinema projectors are designed so that they can be positioned offset from centre and so out of the way a bit, any of you guys have that feature on your projector?
EDIT: Just had a quick search and it was a Sony VPL-CS3
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So, now I've explained that what I wanted to ask is how much difference is there in terms of noise between the office/corporate projectors and the dedicated home cinema projectors?
Mine is very quiet - just a faint hum. Im about 4 feet away and pretty noise sensitive.
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Here's a couple off LOTR (I'm at an angle hence the scewed pic)
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/lotr-c.jpg
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/lotr-b.jpg
This is using PAL Progressive (625P), coming from a 963SA with DCDi enabled.
The image is about 8 feet wide.
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Andy, those are such sweet pictures. :mad:
/ jealousy mode OFF
Boink! :o ;)
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I am very jealous!! :)
Must resist until I have researched this further........
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The noise from the fan of both of my projectors hasnt been a problem at all. They have had to be suspended from the ceiling because we live in a small flat so where around 2 feet below the projector when its working and i cant hear it!
Im still gutted about getting ripped off with the screen though!
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The noise from the fan of both of my projectors hasnt been a problem at all. They have had to be suspended from the ceiling because we live in a small flat so where around 2 feet below the projector when its working and i cant hear it!
Im still gutted about getting ripped off with the screen though!
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The noise from the fan of both of my projectors hasnt been a problem at all. They have had to be suspended from the ceiling because we live in a small flat so where around 2 feet below the projector when its working and i cant hear it!
Im still gutted about getting ripped off with the screen though!
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When did you get the screen?
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Ive had it 6months now, its a good screen it pulls down with a click of my pronto and is very discreet when closed. but if i'd of known i could of got a cheap one i would of done!
And well done me on a triple post!!
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Ive had it 6months now, its a good screen it pulls down with a click of my pronto and is very discreet when closed. but if i'd of known i could of got a cheap one i would of done!
And well done me on a triple post!!
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Double :confused:
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You've got a decent quality electrical screen. Enjoy it..... :)
stuff like this always happens :(
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Originally posted by AndySymbian
My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
Was it pal progressive and multiregion out the box.
How did u order when the sites in another language
How did you pay
How long was delivery
How much better then the 962sa is this player
if you could answer these questions it would be great.
Speak soon
;)
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:eek:
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[:eek:
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:eek:
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4 posts brad!!!
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test
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Can I play?
:nuts:
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:D
Have a look here
:nuts:
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Hi Brad
I answered all your questions on the AVForum thread I posted...
quote:
Originally posted by AndySymbian
My Panasonic AE-300 just arrived today from Japan, so I'll be testing with my Philips 963SA which arrived from The Netherlands on tuesday.
Was it pal progressive and multiregion out the box.
YES
How did u order when the sites in another language
e-mailed them, as per AVForums thread ;)
How did you pay
PALPay - as per...
How long was delivery
Sent Friday, arrived tuesday
How much better then the 962sa is this player
No idea, not seen a 962SA
if you could answer these questions it would be great.
Already did a few days ago on AVForums (posting as Puddleduck)
Speak soon
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thanks for that.:)
is the power lead a UK plug or is a conversion required.
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the lead is detactable so you can use a PC type lead, or kettle lead.
(I'm just using a spare PC lead)
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Originally posted by AndySymbian
The picture for me is fabulous - just onto a painted wall, nothing more!
My piccy is probably about 8 feet wide - I don't understand how you can't see the pixels at that size, but I'm not complaining :)
Obviously I de-focus the lens a bit to lose the pixel definition and the overall result doesn't impact too much on the image clarirty. When there are light backgrounds sometimes the pixel edges are slightly noticeable - but this is only on a static image, once there is camera movement you can't see the effect. I don't wear specs or owt:dork: and I'm fairly cetain my eyesight's pretty good - once actually "watching" a film your mind doesn't actively look for pixel lines. Even if I do concentrate on looking for screendoor effect I have difficulty spotting it.
EDIT - are those piccys of your AE300 btw?
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are those piccys of your AE300 btw?
yep, only arrived from Japan yesterday, so just plonked it facing the wall and watched LOTR. Not tweaked it at all yet, as things look so damn good "as is" :)
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you impressed with your picture on your 963sa.
and you asy its avout £340 delivered:)
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I'm very impressed with the 963SA :)
I was always going to get a 962SA from "HiviZone" in HK, but they were pretty expensive, so when I heard about the 963SA I decided to wait. From all accounts, its got a later generation DCDi chip.
Its really nice to see the 625P indicator on the AE-300 light up to, when I send it PAL Progressive :)
It was £342 all in, including shipping by Dutch Postal Service, and Dutch VAT at 19%. No import duty to pay, as The Netherlands are in the EU.
E-mail soundform.nl - you know you want one :)
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ive just emailed them.:)
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I've just bought a Philips Bsure SV1 projector off Loot. Was only £725 and the bloke delivered it about an hour ago. Less than 10 hours use. Just gotta get a screen now, but will have to wait and see what will fit in my new flat (when I decide where I want to live).
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Originally posted by 8-]
Currently have:
Pioneer DV-454 (in case you hadn't guessed) :)
Videologic Digitheatre DTS
21" Toshiba TV
:lol: That sounds exactaly like mine, 21" Goodmans, Digitheatre DTS and Phillips 701 DVD Player. I know what you mean about the small picture, you can't help feeling when watching ATOC or LOTR that despite the excellent sound it'd be improved 10 times with a huge picture.
:notworthy Great thread 8-], i've learnt a lot and now find myself yearning for a projector. I had set my heart on buying a big Tosh in the future but a projector seems so much more convenient, tucked out the way, easily transported and i guess when you step back and look not that disimilar in price to a big screen TV.
Those LOTR screens looked superb.
As i'm typing this i'm thinking about where i could stick a screen in my room :D Do i really need windows?, ventilation? air?? :nuts: i could perhaps border those up. :D
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you can't help feeling when watching ATOC
Having just watched AOTC on my screen last night, a big image doesn't do it any favours - you can all the dodgy CGI / Blue Screen work a mile off :(
On the other hand, LOTR looks STUNNING :)
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Originally posted by AndySymbian
you can't help feeling when watching ATOC
Having just watched AOTC on my screen last night, a big image doesn't do it any favours - you can all the dodgy CGI / Blue Screen work a mile off :(
On the other hand, LOTR looks STUNNING :)
Quite possibly - but I'm sure that our temporary (21" TV being fixed) solution of a 14" portable Sony (and 15 years old to boot) is not doing AOTC or any films justice :(
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The big screen does show up the limitations of PAL/NTSC encoding.... we want HDTV!
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Indeed, the "garbage in, garbage out" thing is very apparent on a big screen.
Here are some more shots:
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/monsters-inc-480x270.jpg
Click here (http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/monsters-inc-960x540.jpg) to see the above at the projectors native resolution
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/thx.jpg
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/monsters-inc-1.jpg
In the bottom image you can just make out my centre speaker, which should give you an idea of how big the images are.
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AndySymbian Great pictures mate, my Sanyo gives a larger picture but the quality seems the same, do you think it could be because ive not set it up properly? or do you think its a crap projector, sadly i bought it blind as it had the best reviews in my price range but i still feel you have the better projector!!
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I can't really comment if your projector is crap or not - I'm sure its fine :)
The picture I have is actually the smallest it will go - it can go 20% wider at the same distance as the proj. has got a +/1 20% zoom factor (those shots are at -20%). Because I sit quite close I like to have a smaller pic. or its a bit overwhelming!
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I can't quite get over how rich in colour those pictures look. Even though they're just photos (from a digital camera i presume) they just look great.
I guess the darkness is an attributing factor but they still look great.
I really fail to see why people go for large TVs now whith quality like that, it's gotta be even better in person. Do you play video games through that Andy??
Also do you find watching the projector in the Summer limiting, seeing as it's lighter later??
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I really fail to see why people go for large TVs now whith quality like that
me too - my proj. cost £1300 (imported from Japan) and there are no geometry problems - none of the nasties you get with modern W/S TVs. And the best thing is - it takes no space, I just project straight onto my wall. A 36" WS would cost more than my proj....
I can't quite get over how rich in colour those pictures look.
Me too - I only got my proj. on Thursday and I never expected it to be this good :)
I am planning to hook my XBox up - not a big gamer TBH, but may do it later tonight.
Obviously its better in a dark room, that THX shot you saw was taken around 3pm on thursay with curtains drawn, so you can imagine the light levels.
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Just been speaking the missus, im gunna try and take my proj back and get a refund. as we had 5 bulbs go in the first week, although they were replaced for free, its still a fault and i should be entitled to my money back, im gunna go for one if these and a plasma probably.
Nice projector mate, you got a bargain!!!
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I think you should get that X-Box on there asap. :D. Talk about the motion sickness, don't drink anything before hand ;).
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Think I will in a tick :)
MS just sent me a complimentary XBox Live kit (and a sad t-shirt), so its a good excuse to fire it up :)
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Below is a picture of "Wanted Dead or Alive" on XBox (S-Video) - blurry shot is due to fast movement / slow shuttle speed on camera.
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bxboards/doa.jpg
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Gaming that takes up your entire field of vision..... fantastic!!
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Good colour still, shame its a bad picture really. do you have a link to where you bought it from mate?
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my xbox is already plugged to my sanyo, ill have to lend a digital camera from work so i can post some comparisons. im just shopping for a cable long enough so i can play my GC on it too. its great for fifa 2003 BTW!
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Bloody fantastic :D this smiley is very indicitive to the look of my face right now :D :D Racing games would rock on your system Andy.
Who needs arcades and the like when you got that. Pic still looks good even tho it's blurry. I still can't get over how good those colours look.
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I had a quick play with Rallisport Challenge, that was scary, it was so damn fast! Cockpit view is almost too much like being there!
Its really hard to get good screen shots due to the lack of a pause button on the XBox - I'm using a slow shutter speed on my digital camera to avoid it using its flash due to the darkened room.
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Andy you want to try flight sims on the PC i havent done it myself but my brother does it all the time. they look cool and with decent speakers its like your there.
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I've not tried the PC yet - mainly cos I've not got a VGA-VGA or DVI-DVI cable.
Apparently 1:1 pixel mapping is awesome with this proj.
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Play a first person shoot-em-up like Unreal 2003 :)
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Andy, just out of curiousity, is the Monsters INC DVD shown in your pics NTSC or PAL?
Just wondering what difference it makes when blown up to that size... :confused:
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If you're using an X-Box on the projector I reccomend getting hold of the Hi-Def AV pack from America (DVDBoxOffice sell them), nice progressive scan image:) I tried Project Gotham through S-Video and felt ill after a few minutes, progressive is much nicer, I can play for hours!
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i borrowed a playstation 2 once and put it through my projector, classic... I played grande theft auto for hours on it. I also played star wars rougue leader on gamecube on it and attached the speaker set up too...awsome, there was missiles flying everywhere lol.
id recoomend getting a projector just to play games on if you are a games freak, i am not sadly and get bored easily with consoles.
:)
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Great news! my local AV shop is going to take back my projector i think i convinced them its a faulty unit, with 5 bulbs blowing in the first few days and the quality not being great, theyr taking it back. so tomorrow i should be quids in, im going to wait for the PATE300 to hit the uk and try and see if my mother in law can get me a good price on it.
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What does your mother-in-law do? Does she work for Panasonic?
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She works at John Lewis and apparently there Home cinema employees get a 25% discount.
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Originally posted by wonderpants
She works at John Lewis and apparently there Home cinema employees get a 25% discount.
That's a good discount! Especially in conjunction with their "never knowingly undersold" promise..... plus 5 year warranty!
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25% is nothing, Fraser Hart employees (jewlers) get 30% off all jewelery.
I had a job interview at HMV, and they stated (i can't quite remember) but it was either 45% or 65% discount off all products.
If its actually only 45% thats still bloody good!
Superdrug only give 10% off, stingy beggars!
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Originally posted by Robby
I can't quite get over how rich in colour those pictures look. Even though they're just photos (from a digital camera i presume) they just look great.
I guess the darkness is an attributing factor but they still look great.
I really fail to see why people go for large TVs now whith quality like that, it's gotta be even better in person. Do you play video games through that Andy??
They look great here, but these are pics scaled down a huge amount from the real size. As anyone who's done prints off scans will tell you, you need a much bigger pic/resolution than the final print size to make it come out good. The original scans can often show up a lot of flaws, but because it's scaled down you don't notice it.
Before making any decisions I'd want a live test.
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Absolutely, but for one thing Andy must be dead chuffed about his Digital Camera too as i think those piccies look fantastic, :D maybe you can't make out the detail too well but as an initial impression you can't grumble.
I read the long thread over at the avforums. Very interesting reading, seems a bit of pot luck though if you're going for a projector from PriceJapan that you won't get one with dead pixels. :( At £200, it's a bit steep to return for a new model. I've not checked back yet to see if that lass has her replacement yet. She only had a couple of dead pixels, i can understand her dissapointment but what if she get's another back with 3 dead pixels?. She'll be pig sick.
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Originally posted by DeadKenny
They look great here, but these are pics scaled down a huge amount from the real size. As anyone who's done prints off scans will tell you, you need a much bigger pic/resolution than the final print size to make it come out good. The original scans can often show up a lot of flaws, but because it's scaled down you don't notice it.
Before making any decisions I'd want a live test.
Valid point, but I guarantee that in person you ain't going to notice that much of a reduction in quality just cos' you're seeing the life size version. I would always recommend a viewing before committing to a purchase but what you see there on your monitor screen - a 5 inch piccy - will look more or less the same lifesize!! If anything, although they show up superb colour they do lose clarity - especially the Monsters one with Mike's car - due to the image movement. Watch it real time and it's as smooth as a babys arse!:thumbs:
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Those pictures were taken with a 3 mega pixel Olympus 3040Z Zoom BTW.
Any Cambridge based Forum members are welcome pop by for a demo - I'm sure you'll be impressed :)
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Originally posted by Robby
Absolutely, but for one thing Andy must be dead chuffed about his Digital Camera too as i think those piccies look fantastic, :D
Good point. Shows off the camera's qualities, especially the reproduction of colours (and as rogeralpine says, that does show the projected image has superb colour reproduction).
Originally posted by AndySymbian
Those pictures were taken with a 3 mega pixel Olympus 3040Z Zoom BTW.
I know's it's slightly OT, but how much and where from? :D
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The camera original cost around £600 over here, but was bought in the US so worked out my cheaper.
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