Should i go LCD or projector

Sparky

Right so, the attic is being converted and as a gift for the family i decided i should get us some HD stuff, now the thing is should i go with an lcd television
like this one

or go for a projector thats hd ready aswell here

now the attic wont be completed till probably mid september, so id assume prices will drop some bit.

if anyone knows anywhere else to get a better deal on lcd's in dubin or the net tell me.

anyways which one should you think i should choose?

thanks people.

Ciaran500

If you have a room dedicated for it go for the projector. You get a huge and high quality image for the price of a 32" LCD.

Sparky

Ciaran500 wrote:

If you have a room dedicated for it go for the projector. You get a huge and high quality image for the price of a 32" LCD.

yea was thinking that, but im sure it would be used nearly everyday for sky etc, and the bulb lifetime is 2000 hrs, so it wouldnt be long till its gone

i havnt a clue of what price of new replacement bulbs

pH

The hitachi tx100 is equivalent to my panny ae500, and compared to a 32" lcd tv - well there is no comparison!

The projector needs a fairly dark enviroment, for best results it needs cinema levels of darkness - not compatible normally with your average front room at 1 in the afternoon.

The projector needs to be ceiling mounted to get it out of the way. Also as the projector goes at the rear of the room it means that the equipment needs to be placed at the back of the room (the opposite end than where you'd put your DVD/sky box with a normal TV).

If you can get the low-light environment then get a PJ, you'll not look back.

Sparky

pH wrote:

The hitachi tx100 is equivalent to my panny ae500, and compared to a 32" lcd tv - well there is no comparison!

The projector needs a fairly dark enviroment, for best results it needs cinema levels of darkness - not compatible normally with your average front room at 1 in the afternoon.

The projector needs to be ceiling mounted to get it out of the way. Also as the projector goes at the rear of the room it means that the equipment needs to be placed at the back of the room (the opposite end than where you'd put your DVD/sky box with a normal TV).

If you can get the low-light environment then get a PJ, you'll not look back.

well the windows are velux windows so im sure i can get some blinds for them also im planning on putting the equipment in a flush cupboard in the side wall, but having the projector on the ceiling is going to be a though decision because it right up at the top of the roof.

ailsa craig

Hi in response to buying either a LCD or a back projector, the bulbs in a back projector will need replacing after 2 years at a cost of 80 euro or so. Also if you are building a home theatre in the attic and are converting it, I would strongly suggest that you get the builder to do a double layer of plasterboard on the rafters of the roof. You may lose a couple of inches but a THX-qualified engineer said it was the best way to sound insulate. Also get a very good quality carpet underlay for the floor.

I am in the market for a 26 inch LCD TV and a cinema surround system for my sitting room and a 15 inch LCD TV for my bedroom. Budget is Eur1500-1700 all-in. I have the Creative CD radio for my bedroom which is really worth the Eur270 I paid for it at Christmas. I went to DID and Power City and am going to Peats tomorrow. Any assistance anyone.

Ailsa Craig

Tom Dunne

ailsa craig wrote:

the bulbs in a back projector will need replacing after 2 years at a cost of 80 euro or so

I think you are a bit off with those figures - a bulb will last for a certain number of hours, not years. If you use it 3 hours a day, 7 days a week, it ain't gonna' last 2 years.

80 Euro for a replacement bulb :eek: - please enlighten me as to where I could find one for that price. The bulb for my lowly Infocus X2 projector costs 219 POUNDS STERLING ex vat (example link)

Maxwell

The blubs cost between 200-500 sterling and are quite costly.

In response to your question, it really depends on what you will be using the LCD/PROJECTOR for and as you seem to be using it for a TV, then the LCD is the way to go.

The projector is really just a movie luxury - well it is for me anyway.

Jammer

ailsa craig wrote:

Hi in response to buying either a LCD or a back projector, the bulbs in a back projector will need replacing after 2 years at a cost of 80 euro or so. Also if you are building a home theatre in the attic and are converting it, I would strongly suggest that you get the builder to do a double layer of plasterboard on the rafters of the roof. You may lose a couple of inches but a THX-qualified engineer said it was the best way to sound insulate. Also get a very good quality carpet underlay for the floor.

I am in the market for a 26 inch LCD TV and a cinema surround system for my sitting room and a 15 inch LCD TV for my bedroom. Budget is Eur1500-1700 all-in. I have the Creative CD radio for my bedroom which is really worth the Eur270 I paid for it at Christmas. I went to DID and Power City and am going to Peats tomorrow. Any assistance anyone.

Ailsa Craig

32" LG LCD - 1299
20" Samsung LCD - 469

Currys/Dixons

or 26" Samsung LCD is 999 if your spce limited...

dub1dude

Go on. Spoil yourself. Get the projector. They are getting better and cheaper. Using a bulb 3 hours a day, 7 days a week with a life span of 2000 hours would be 7x3=21, 21x52=1092 hours a year. So 2 years isn't that far off. It would be great for the fights and the football or whatever sport you want, even it is chess or waterpolo.

Projectors don't have to go on the ceiling, it just has to shine the light onto the screen. So it could go on top of a wardrobe or under a chair. It doesn't have to be directly in front of it.

LCD's tend to burn the image into the screen if left on too long and can only stay the same size you bought them. The projector can get up 80 or more inches.

My advice, spoil yourself. You'll easily save up for a new bulb in 1 or 2 years and who knows they may be cheaper by then.

Good luck.

blorg

Definately a projector if it is mostly for movies, wouldn't be so great for standard TV though.

Edit: Komplett have my projector on sale for €979 which is a fantastic deal, was ~€1,700 a year ago (note it's refurbished, but 0 hours on bulb and comes with a full warranty.) This is a very nice projector, I'm certainly very happy with it.

pH

Just on the old TV watching thing ...

I have an AE500 and a 42" LG Plasma, and I watch TV on the projector all the time in preference to the plasma.

I agree that an aeriel/ntl analog picture would not look great, but Sky via RGB to the ae500 looks great.

djmarkus

If you wer feeling up to it you could use an old 15' TFT and an over head projector to make a digital projector?

Sparky

djmarkus wrote:

If you wer feeling up to it you could use an old 15' TFT and an over head projector to make a digital projector?

yeah i seen that on THG's website, interesting.

In view to the other posts, this tv would be on at least 5-7hrs a day, and isnt just for the movies, we've decided it to be more of an entertainment room, just as a case of interest i measured the distance of the wall and with the planned door going at the side wall there, which would mean for the image to be displayed fully on the wall it would be nearly on the ground, because of the v in the roof, so ive decided to go with the lcd, more for the fact of it being used everyday. I would of loved to get the projector, damn it.

PWEI

Which is better for watching dvd's,a projector or a high definition Plasma like
the Hitachi 42PD7200 that Maxwell was going to buy.I also just finished an attic conversion last week and was planning on buying a Plasma next month.I plan to only use it for watching dvds that's why I'm curious to know would I be better off buying a projector?

gonker

Was just about to post the same question so Ill hijack your thread hope you dont mind. I have a room on the back of my house approximately 26foot by 16 foot maybe bigger. Its sitting there doing nothing just a junk room basically. I want to get a projector for it set it up as a home cinema other half wants a lcd/plasma dont know the difference but I reckon that its such a big room a projector would be cool in it. (Already have 7 other televisions in the house I know I know just short of one in the loo but two are very old ones over ten years old they broke down we bought to replace then got them fixed ) So anyway what would be better. We already have a 30something inch widescreen in the living room.

Tom Dunne

I don't have any experience of a plasma screen, but I can wholeheartedly recommend a projector. You can't beat the size of the image. I have mine in the garage conversion - it's a long room, so the image takes up almost all of the back wall (I don't use a screen). Hook it up with a 5.1 speaker system and it's heaven. Games, internet and the odd TV show looks good (though I find East Enders @ 7 foot tall quite disturbing).

pH

If you've got the time then I'd say go projector, with the following caveats:

Projectors (the ones mentioned here ae500/ tx100) cost around 1,500 euro. This is a lot cheaper than a 1280x720 lcd panel. Expect to pay 300ish euro every 4,000 - 5,000 hours for a bulb.

You won't watch the projector with the curtains open, while a Plasma will be fine.

Projectors have a hot bulb and a fan. Also the projector tends to sit back in the room with the viewers making fan noise noticable in very quiet scenes.

A projector will come with no RF tuner and no teletext. You really need a digital source (sky/ntl) or DVD/HTPC.

You'll need a completely separate sound system (amp and speakers)

Because the PJ sits at the rear of the room you need to position your AV kit here or have long cable runs.

You'll need some sort of screen.

For best results you should ceiling mount the PJ. Modern PJs have a lens shift but my ae500 needs to be positioned almost level with the top OR bottom of the screen (no keystone!). Bottom of the screen would be knee high and just wouldn't work.

There's nothing worse than an ugly HC installation, cables everywhere! - just ruins the point of doing any of it!

If anyones interested in seeing an AE500 installed in dublin then PM me.

PWEI

Thanks for the info.
Is there any company in Dublin that would install the full kit,ie
the projector,amp,speakers for a reasonable fee? Its sound like a fairly big job.

Tom Dunne

I don't know of any company that would do it, but you could be sure they would charge you through the nose for the privilege.

Ask an electrician - it really consists of burying a load of wires, mounting the speakers and mounting the projector. I would imagine a good electrician could do this.

Sparky

well im a sparks as they say and ive installed a few LCDs and plasmas, but most of the places we deal with have a consultant so we do the dirty work like chasing the walls and trunking the cable and sometimes getting in a plasterer to skud a finish on the wall.
Then the consultant does the tidy job of opening up the boxes and connecting the amps decoders etc. and tweak's the system to its full advantage.

But as mentioned there is companies who do the whole job, one i know of is Instacom
http://www.instacom.ie/
i was involved in a job with them, so i only came across them once.

SouperComputer

PWEI wrote:

Thanks for the info.
Is there any company in Dublin that would install the full kit,ie
the projector,amp,speakers for a reasonable fee? Its sound like a fairly big job.

Back From The Future on Aungier St might do it. They have a small demo room out back and two of the guys there do installs in the after hours.

PWEI

Thanks.
I went to Back To The Future at lunchtime.
Their own don't install Projectors anymore,they used
to but now just recommend people who do.They
have a number of people they recommend but one
in particular is excellent and very reasonable. About
€300 for a full installation, Projector, screen and home
cinema.They had a Sanyo PCL-SW35 on special offer,
normally €2000 but for sale for €999.Anybody know
anything about this model?

PWEI

Here's the spec;




Image Contrast Ratio 400:1

Bulb type UHP 160 Watt ( 2000 hour(s) )

Video Input RGB, S-Video, composite video, component video ( NTSC, SECAM, PAL, PAL-N, PAL-M, NTSC 4.43 )

Video Output RGB

Audio Output Speaker(s) - integrated

Sound Output Mode Mono 0.8 Watt

Input Device Remote control

Power AC 110/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )

Power Consumption Operational 250 Watt

Manufacturer Warranty 3 years warranty

Product Description Sanyo PLC SW35 - LCD projector

Device Type LCD projector

Form Factor Portable

Built-in Devices Speaker

Dimensions (WxDxH) 27 cm x 19 cm x 7.8 cm

Weight 1.9 kg

Image Brightness 1500 ANSI lumens

Max Resolution 800 x 600

Colour support 24-bit (16.7 million colours)

blorg

That sounds like a very old model, might have been €2,000 three years ago but certainly today you could do a whole lot better for your €999. Sounds like surplus that has been sitting there forever and they just want to shift. It also sounds more like a data projector one suitable for home theatre: 4:3 with decent brightness but very poor contrast ratio (and poor resolution.) Contrast doesn't matter for presentations in lit/semi-lit rooms, what you need there is brightness. And vice-versa: brightness doesn't matter so much for film watching in near-darkness, what you need there is contrast. I'd suggest this instead, for €979: http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=305439&view=detailed - 16:9, 1300:1 contrast, 1280x720 resolution (e.g. 720p HD). This is refurbished but comes with a 0-hour bulb and full guarantee. Have the very same projector myself, cost €1,700 a year ago and _very_ happy with it. The new model is even nicer but costs €1,459, don't know if it is worth an extra ~€500 over this refurb.

PWEI

blorg wrote:

That sounds like a very old model, might have been €2,000 three years ago but certainly today you could do a whole lot better for your €999. Sounds like surplus that has been sitting there forever and they just want to shift. It also sounds more like a data projector one suitable for home theatre: 4:3 with decent brightness but very poor contrast ratio (and poor resolution.) Contrast doesn't matter for presentations in lit/semi-lit rooms, what you need there is brightness. And vice-versa: brightness doesn't matter so much for film watching in near-darkness, what you need there is contrast. I'd suggest this instead, for €979: http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=305439&view=detailed - 16:9, 1300:1 contrast, 1280x720 resolution (e.g. 720p HD). This is refurbished but comes with a 0-hour bulb and full guarantee. Have the very same projector myself, cost €1,700 a year ago and _very_ happy with it. The new model is even nicer but costs €1,459, don't know if it is worth an extra ~€500 over this refurb.

Thats what I thought also.
I found a guy who does installations.A sales assistant
in Harvey Normans gave him his number.He was in
my neighbourhood on Friday so called over.He
advised me to buy a DLP projector ahead of an LCD
projector.To make sure the Lumen Output was over 1000
and the Contrast Ratio was as high as possible,over 1000.
Does anybody know any such models that fit that spec?

gqma0

Hi Sparky_s

I'd go for the projector. Waiting for the house to be built to get the Infocus SP5700. In the meantime, I borrow the LCD projector (3M MP7750) occasionally from work to watch movies (LOTR is really impressive on a 7' widescreen). The quality is astonishing and I have to say it's still sharp and clear during daylight. The only thing I'd be cautious about is the fan noise level but they can be switched into silent mode.

Seen in your posts that you've done some installations and I'd like to get your advice there. My house is being built and I'd like to get it prewired but I'm trying to get the best cables in the market and the best ones are Monster cables but where can I get them ?

thanks in advance
Cheers

elbow01

Hallo there,
Thanks for the advertisement,I actually work for Instacom and my advice to you would be if you are going to be using the installation as a tv room
and watchin sky,ntl,etc.I would not get a projector(cheapest bulbs retail are around 200 euro and up) and therefore go for a flatscreen.Although I can't recommend getting an LCD,generally a decent plasma will give you a better picture even though most don't come with built in tuner boards.If you are watching an LCD from any sort of an angle you usually come across a deterioration in picture(might be worth finding a retailer that has the screen you want on display and cheking that out)where as you would not with a plasma so you might consider if wall mounting,using a swivel bracket.On the other hand if you want the big screen home cinema effect nothing beats a projector.Hope that was of some help to ya.

JacoStanley

I just bought this baby and it just gets better every day. http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/catalog.jsp?fhquery=fh_secondid%3D32pf5320_10_gb_consumer%26fh_location%3D%2F%2Fconsumer%2Fen_GB%2Fcategories%3Ccatalog_gb_consumer%2Fcategories%3Ctv_gr_gb_consumer%2Fcategories%3Cflat_tv_ca_gb_consumer%2Fcategories%3Clcd_large_30_40_su_gb_consumer%26&productId=32PF5320_10_GB_CONSUMER&activeCategory=TV_GR_GB_CONSUMER&fredhopperpage=detail.jsp&language=en&country=GB&catalogType=CONSUMER&proxybuster=NJVBJIDKEOJ2RJ0RMRESHP3HKFSEKI5P

I have a south facing house and our old crt was in the front room. I had to close the curtains every time I wanted to watch tv. The lcd is amazing. No matter what angle I am in the room, you get a clear bright picture and no matter how sunny it is I don't have to close the curtains. And it's HD ready so I'll be purchasing the cheapish HD dvd player for what I expect to be a pretty amazing picture. I love lcd.

irish_stu

i have sony projector over year and half,with just over 450hrs on bulb.bought it for 1500 euro at time,some sale,its great for tv,dvd,and xbox,getting 12ft wide screen.only cos wall limits me,and with vast array of options on the menu.was going to mount it to ceiling but sony wanted 299 for ceiling mount,yeah right,went for sweet little chrome tv bracket for portables in argos and bought a cheap video player from power city,just so that i could view tv on projector.tv in and rgb out on video.great for watching porn,nuff said.but multi player on xbox is great.no squinting at tv split up into 4 boxes.so i would favour projector over lcd.i have lcd,but just for viewing during day or for playing pc games on .but if ya have space in attic and want to maximise the viewing area,go big.impress the mates.

Sparky

elbow wrote:

Hallo there,
Thanks for the advertisement,I actually work for Instacom and my advice to you would be if you are going to be using the installation as a tv room
and watchin sky,ntl,etc.I would not get a projector(cheapest bulbs retail are around 200 euro and up) and therefore go for a flatscreen.Although I can't recommend getting an LCD,generally a decent plasma will give you a better picture even though most don't come with built in tuner boards.If you are watching an LCD from any sort of an angle you usually come across a deterioration in picture(might be worth finding a retailer that has the screen you want on display and cheking that out)where as you would not with a plasma so you might consider if wall mounting,using a swivel bracket.On the other hand if you want the big screen home cinema effect nothing beats a projector.Hope that was of some help to ya.

Well hello, i assume ya know Ken, is he back from his holidays yet?