that panasonic sounds ok, whats the 1999 deal? and where from?

mate.. most lcd's now are 3 lcd panels and rainbow effect in DLP projectors is like the days of the 3 speed kingswood. i wouldn't spend my money on lcd .....period!!! you do realise lcd panels degrade in time and in only short periods like 2000-6000 hours also you cannot leave static pictures on the screen or you will get screen burn(so be carefull of what gaming you choose to run on it), and the list goes on..........i do this for a job, and i don't gain from giving you the wrong info



bla bla bla

luke

what is this rainbow effect?
is this where you are watching it and if you move your head you see a flash of RGB in your peripheral vision? I've noticed it on some newer model DLP's

I think there is definately better picture quality from the DLP's than from the LCD's from what i have seen, all the LCDs look washed out camparatively, i just think the LCD's aren't capable of the same contrast levels that the DLP's are, i've been looking into this for a good few months now.

Well as you know a LOT of people tend to compare DATA projectors rather than the Home Theater style ones... and as far as im aware most of the cheaper projectors in LCD style that are data ones dont have the 3-LCD feature... .as for rainbow effect, i have personaly owned a BenQ PB6100 ... and to be 100% honest i could only sometimes see the effect, and that was usualy whilst trying to look for it... but then i've got a mate who rekoned he could see it the whole time... and that's on a 3x DLP wheel....

Each to they're own... i still think the Panasonic is an EXTREMELY good projector for the price...

Also... seeings i've had a supposed 1500 ANSI Lumen DLP with 2000:1 Contrast... and i've now got a 1200 ANSI Lumen 3-LCD with a 2000:1 Contrast... i can say that the LCD is A. Brighter, More Vivid... and it's also got a better contrast than my DLP i had... and the DLP was defintatly a duller picture... even tho it's supposedly 300 ANSI Lumens better...

The only way to choose is to see them both side-by-side.

Regards,

SiriX

i thought 3LCD was just a marketing thing and that all lcd projectors had to have 3 lcds...one for each of the R, G & B panels. eitherway it doesnt help with screen door effect. ur main concern here is the size of the projected image and the native resolution. more pixels...more gaps between the pixels but they r smaller and less noticable. and of course the larger u project ur image [or the closer u sit] the easier it is to notice screen door. so dont go overboard i guess.

as previously stated...dlp rainbows arnt much of an issue with the higher spinning wheels and more color segments now used. however some ppl get annoyed by it more than others. spend as much time as possible watching demo models in proper conditions and make sure it isnt an issue for u.

if ur budget is 2-3k then id also suggest u checkout the dlp benq's at this price point. they have a new 1280x720 res model which catches them up to the lcd's in the same range.

also the lcd sony hs51. retail is about 3500$ but street price is well under 3k if u ask around and that thing is pretty amazing. the auto iris really does the trick when trying to get good contrast on the screen.

the biggest problem ive found trying to demo projectors is that most shops have nfi how to set them up to get the best out of them. now im not expecting a full calibration...out of the box settings r fine for the most part. but for the love of god at least feed the thing a decent source image using the best of the available inputs. if its got hdmi/dvi and can handle 720...use it!

sorry this post is getting huge. just that my head is absolutely chock-a-block with this info as ive spent the last 2-3 months researching these for the in-laws home theatre setup. components should be arriving soon and i cant wait to see it all come together.

good luck, if u havent fallen asleep yet and want more info. feel free to msg me. i got tonnes of good bookmarks on the topic.

cray-

cray-, have you seen a PT-AE700E? In a nutshell... basicly the way it gets rid of the Screen Door Effect is by slightly offseting each of the 3 panels, and then correcting the blur through the lens at the front, this way you loose the fly screen, and maintain a supurb image.

Regards,

SiriX

agreed the panny is a damn fine projector for the price. dont get me wrong. and your right in that it has less screen door than some others. i didnt know it was cause they purposefully misaligned the panels. doesnt sound like an ideal solution. but then again some ppl do unfocus their projecter slightly to achieve the same result.

thats y many ppl dont like the panny. too soft..not enough detail. but its one or the other. chance of screen door and nice sharp detail...or softer picture which is smooth and more film-like. just a personal thing really. also more of an issue for nice clean HD material as opposed to relatively low res dvd's.

anyway i wasnt trying to talk PAKA out of getting the panny. going back to the orig question. it absolutely kills the hitachi. just suggested that he also looked at the sony and benq's if they where in hs price range.

cray-

thanks cray i looked at the benq but not sure on the model was very on par to the hitachi going to take some of my vids in on sat to compare them i would like to see the sony but dont think they stock them here any idea of model numbers for the benq and sony??? which is the way to go lcd or dlpfor the price of around 2g???

i went and viewed the projectors today panasonic p700e was a nice image but blurred abit when there was movement . hitachi was good the pjtx10 i thought it was the 100 but it wasnt i can get the pjtx100 for $2400 and the p700e for $2700. there getting in a hitachi cps225w for around $2100 anyone seen these in action???.i think i like the hitachi better as its a crisper picture and if i can afford the 100 i might go that.

the sony is the hs-51....though sony japan just announced the hs-60 so lookout for price drops in a few months. this projector can be seen at sonycentral in the city and westcoast hifi ozzypark store had one. they also have the panny so a good place to compare em back to back with the same disc.

the benq range is a bit confusing there is 3 models of interest:
pe7700 - 1280x720 - 1100 ansi lumens - 2500:1 contrast ratio
pe7800 - 1024x576 - 800 ansi lumens - 2000:1 cr
pe8700+ - 1280x720 - 1000 ansi lumens - 2000:1 cr
now if i remeber correctly. the 7700 is actually the newest. it replaces the 7800 at the 3000$ or so retail price point. but it is higher spec'd than the older 8700+ which would have been quite a bit more expensive when new. if ur budget is closer to 2000$ than 3000$ u might wanna try and get a deal on the 7800. it wont look quite as crisp with HD stuff because of the lower res. but for dvd playback its pretty damn sweet.

alot of ppl..especially salesmen are very biased against lcd for various reasons. just because they do it for a living doesnt mean they know everything. and i dont claim to either. lcd's lagged behind dlp for a longtime but the newest models are a huge step forward. they have the brightness and contrast of the dlp's at a much lower price. this is driving dlp prices down as well.

honestly i havent seen the hitachi's. from what i was told they didnt really compare to the panny/sony/benq's. but i was looking at closer to 3-4000$ than 2000$. so if your happy with the picture and can get a good deal then go for it. good luck

cray-