Reccomend me a projector

[G4Z]

I just came in to a large amount of vouchers from work today and I am considering a projector as a possible purchase. I am looking for suggestions for a decent (HD if possible) projector that will be sited on the opposite end of the room from my shuttle (about 10 meters). VGA is a must, and I have around £700-800 to spend.

Oh, and I am also a bit limited because I can only get vouchers for PC world, Currys.digital , comet.

[TheAnimus]

VGA.... i take it you mean as a resolution not as an analouge interface (just checking!)

Also how's your prirorities go?

Picture Quality
Running Costs
Low Sound Operation.....

etc.

I'm not a hudge fan of projectors, they are great for hosue parties (the time we gafa taped my old projector to the leg of a coffie table, shining R4 visualisations on the ceailing for instance... woke up the next morning to find a rather red eyed hosue mate still staring at them in awe) but for home cinema, i find them noisy, hot, expensive to run, and with a picture quality thats questionable (i've yet to see a good single bulb projector, that dosen't suffer from RGB ghosting in fast action if you move your heard) then too top it all they require a completely black room, before the bulb blows at a £100 a pop.

[Lowe]

£100 bulb is cheap as well! More like double (or worse) that!

Big screen video/gaming is great, but it's not something for every day use chap.

[SiM]

Bulbs last 2000-3000 hours usually... So you will have to replace approx every 2 years with average use... They can cost up to £300 at a time so make sure you factor that in.

I would look at getting a 720p projector with that price range... Its advisable to see the projector in action before buying because some projectors do not suit some people. eg. Some people notice the rainbow effect when viewing DLPs

[G4Z]

Thanks for teh advice, I am not planning on using it for TV everyday. Just for the odd bout of mario kart in 4 player, pro evo or a DVD. When I say VGA I mean interface, but thinking about it HDMI would be better, if possible I would like a 720p res because i have beccome used to it

Also thinking about buying a nice new amp, might have to make a new thread for that.

[SiM]

If you don't suffer from rainbow effect then look at optoma HD65... £500 @ PC World
some reading:
Optoma Hd65 Hc Projector - AVForums
Optoma HD65 Review & Screenshots - AVS Forum

There were some newish HD65s going for around £400 on avforums because they used to be £416 at Dixons... so keep an eye out there too

[G4Z]

Quite cheap tbh!

[G4Z]

Right, another question. I am planning to have this on a shelf behind my sofa and it will be about 10M away in cable terms. Will I have any issues with a 10m+ HDMI/VGA cable? (thinking, HDMI from my 360 for DVD's and VGA for my PC for downloads).

[SiM]

Originally Posted by G4Z

Right, another question. I am planning to have this on a shelf behind my sofa and it will be about 10M away in cable terms. Will I have any issues with a 10m+ HDMI/VGA cable? (thinking, HDMI from my 360 for DVD's and VGA for my PC for downloads).

I have no experience with this, but with HDMI, if it works, it works perfectly... VGA may have variable quality with long cables... So in short a cheap 10m hdmi cable is fine, but if you want quality with vga it might cost you a bit... might be worth using hdmi/dvi from PC instead, might need to buy hdmi switch or better still hdmi av receiver/amp

tbh you are better off buying a cheap monitor for standard pc usage (so you don't waste the life of your projector lamp)

Also if I was going to buy an av receiver/amp now I would get the Onkyo TX-SR605... its got HDMI switching, the new lossless sound formats and great sound quality...

[G4Z]

Well, its not for PC usage I have my HDTV for that and my dual 24" on my main PC.

Its just for watching films and playing games. Can you reccomend me anything in the way of an amp/HDMI box? At the moment I havea stero amp, with my decks, 360, wii, sky, DVD and shuttle plugged into and all of that (except the decks obviously) straight into the back of my HDTV. I have 2 big TDL 10's at the front and 2 mission 700's at the back. All I need is a centre speaker and sub and I would be good to go on 5.1 as well.

[SiM]

Originally Posted by G4Z

Well, its not for PC usage I have my HDTV for that and my dual 24" on my main PC.

Its just for watching films and playing games. Can you reccomend me anything in the way of an amp/HDMI box? At the moment I havea stero amp, with my decks, 360, wii, sky, DVD and shuttle plugged into and all of that (except the decks obviously) straight into the back of my HDTV. I have 2 big TDL 10's at the front and 2 mission 700's at the back. All I need is a centre speaker and sub and I would be good to go on 5.1 as well.

You said PC for download, so I wasn't sure what you meant... If you are going to be watching films and gaming, definitely go for hdmi/dvi for pc input too... vga is a too big step downwards...

As far as the AV amp goes, depending on your budget, have a look at the Onkyo 605 (£400) and the Onkyo 705 (£600)... both have hdmi switching and do the hd sound formats

review:
Home Cinema Hardware Reviews

[G4Z]

Would I be able to use those amps for video switching as well e.g VGA from my shuttle into the amp and then out o the projector on HDMI?

[SiM]

It doesn't have vga inputs for switching but you can switch (& upscale) from component, composite, svideo to hdmi... I have never seen any amp that has vga input... If your htpc doesn't have dvi or hdmi, then I would upgrade graphics, it will only cost £20-£30 to get one that does

[G4Z]

Humm, seems really I need an AV box with 2 HDMI outputs. One for the TV and one for the projector and the Onkyo's don't seemt o have that.

[G4Z]

Originally Posted by SiM

It doesn't have vga inputs for switching but you can switch (& upscale) from component, composite, svideo to hdmi... I have never seen any amp that has vga input... If your htpc doesn't have dvi or hdmi, then I would upgrade graphics, it will only cost £20-£30 to get one that does

Sure, I can upgrade the shuttle, not a huge issue.

[G4Z]

Also, I notice some warnings about speaker impedance can anybody link a good guide that explains it?