Review of eBay LCD projector : PTV01B

OMcGovern

Hi,

I recently bought an entry level LCD projector from eBay, my first projector. There were loads of them advertised, and all looked the same model.
I found no reviews of the model PTV01B anywhere, but I risked it.
Anyways, here's my review, if anyones interested.
It's made by "Ally Shenzhen".

eBay link

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22610&item=9715792878

Price

There was a "Buy Now" offer for GBP £450, or "Make me an offer"....
I offered GBP £380 which was accepted, after I saw how other auctions were
going for the same item. Add GBP £65 delivery and convert to Euro and it worked out around €670.

The replacement bulbs for this projector are particularly cheap, at GBP £30,
and are supposed to last 6000 - 7000 hours.

Picture quality

I have a magnolia coloured wall which I used as the screen, in a dark room. The image was massive.... 96" ( 8 foot ) diagonal.
Basically the width of a 3 seater sofa, and height from top of sofa to ceiling. When the curtains are opened / light increased, then the image tends to look washed out. So a fairly dark room is optimum / essential.

After fiddling with the brightness, contrast and colour, I got a nice enough image. I'm only sitting about 8 foot from the projected image, so I can sort of see the pixels... but fiddling with the focus can sort that out.
Also seems a little like sitting in the front row of a cinema, ie. you have to look around the picture to take everything in.

Noise
It is noisy.... probably 1.5 - 2 times as noisy as an average PC fan.
When you've got action sceens on TV, you wouldn't notice... but during quiet
moments of suspense... you do notice. Maybe you could house it in a sound absorbing box, with airvents it might reduce the noise... who knows.

Dust

I sat the projector on a box which was a little dusty.... bad mistake.
Dust got into the internals and I can see dust sitting on the internal lense,
which is magified on the projected image. A bit like dusty dead pixels.
ie. this is not a "closed lense system".... That's annoying, and a hoover removed "some" of the dust... but not all. Not sure if I'm brave/foolhardy enough to disassemble it yet. Will have another go with the hoover, when the projector is turned off.

Sound

I use the surround sound speakers from a DVD player.
But since my TV is on the opposite side of the room, the speakers are set up for the TV, not the projector. So the back speakers are now the front, and left speakers are the right, and vice versa.... a little annoying.
Might be nice is I had a drop down screen immediately in front of the TV.

Seller

ace7866 - excellent communication, and answered all queries usually within a day. DHL Delivery got messed up, because they just put "Dublin" not "Dublin 1" on the package.... so it got bounced around depots, so for me it took 10 days, but for others it shouldn't take anywhere near that long.

Summary

I was pleasantly suprised at the image quality.... ie. good enough contrast, and brightness seems equal across the whole projected image.

When I turn on the projector, I just don't want to switch back to the 32" TV.
So it's getting good use for general TV as well as movies.

I watched "The Fifth Element" which looked glorious on it... very clear.
But some highly compressed DivX movies (700Mb) can look dodgy, eg. near black scenes can look badly pixelated... but thats due to the DivX compression not the projector.

Would I still buy it..... knowing what I know now?..... yes, but it needs a clean dust-free environment. I've even heard of people using air purifiers for projector rooms ( in general ).

Hope this helps anyone else who saw these projectors on eBay.

regards,
Owen

maco

Thanks for that detailed review . . . I might take one in the future but for now still happy with my 40 inch lcd.

Smoggy

"replacement bulbs ... GBP £30, and are supposed to last 6000 - 7000 hours."

Is very interesting , at prices like that you can use this projector as your main TV with out running up huge costs.

jameshayes

If you go to the company directly they will get you one of these much cheaper than ebay. www.ally3.com

The don't accept online odering but email them and they will sort you out.

bbbbb

Ok price for a budget projector, specs are only ok:
Brightness: 1200 Ansi Lumen
Resolution: 800 x 480 dpi (& Supports 1024*768)
Contrast: 500:1

Quick look komplett have this one for €649:
Image Brightness: 2100 ANSI lumens
Max Resolution: 800 x 600
Image Contrast Ratio: 2000:1

I'm sure shopping around you could get cheaper

bbbbb

Also a 31dB fan is not "super silent"
The cheapo BenQ above is 29 dB, and a good Sony would be 23dB or less (every 3dB = doubling of noise)

The Denouncer

Originally posted by OMcGovern
Not sure if I'm brave/foolhardy enough to disassemble it yet. Will have another go with the hoover, when the projector is turned off.

Cleaning off the LCDs is quite easy - get a can of compressed air and open up the unit, and spray the LCDs - it makes a big difference. Also from 8 feet I think 96" is way too big. Between 60 and 70" would give a better picture at that distance. Also I recommend getting a large whiteboard cut to a ratio of approx 1.66:1. Paint it a light-medium matte grey colour. Yes - grey. Then paint a black border all around it approx 6" thick. Project your image onto that.

Trust me, you will see much blacker blacks, a greater "3-D" effect, and the effect of having huge TV, the black border absorbing the light edge.

Ghost Train

The Denouncer wrote:

Cleaning off the LCDs is quite easy - get a can of compressed air and open up the unit, and spray the LCDs - it makes a big difference.

make sure you turn the projector off first. That stuff is flamable and with a hot projector bulb you could have a nice big fireball

That dust gets in so easy doesnt sound good. Bulb price is a big positive. Got a rufurbed infocus 4805 last feb for around the same price. I have some screenshots of the fifth element dvd at 7.5 foot wide picture on magnolia wall, i can post later if your interested. Resolution is fine for dvd

c154shalom

I have just bought one on ebay and i have a few problems
1.the projector cuts out after 2 hours,it will work again in 30 min or so
2.cannot find out how to connect cable tv although will try again
3.where to site it and other boxes
4.where can you buy ceiling mount?
if anyone can help that would be great,tried to email ally direct but recieved no response.:cool:

Onikage

This sounds like the pre-built kit projectors Lumenlabs were selling. Lumenlabs are a DIY projector company, they run forums and a shop for people interested in building their own projectors and screens. They started selling prebuilt projectors for about $500 about a year ago (or maybe longer) and had some problems with the supplier so maybe these are unofficial clones. The best part was definitely the bulb price, resolution is not so hot. The integrated tuner is also handy.

Site appears to be down, try http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:MdIaBqeI3L0J:www.lumenlab.com/+lumenlabs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ie

c154shalom

Hi thanks,?
does this apply to the PTV O1B ally projector as well.
the link you gave was not working but i will try later:rolleyes:

Onikage

According to google cache, the site was working on May 31st... maybe it is a temporary thing.

c154shalom, to stop your projector cutting out make sure it does not overheat. Place it in a well ventilated area, where hot air will not build up or become trapped. To connect to cable, we need to know what type of cable you are using, analog or digital. Dabs and Komplett sell mounts, but they are expensive (€80+). Ebay is probably cheaper.

http://www.dabs.ie/ProductList.aspx?&CategorySelectedId=11112&NavigationKey=11112&PageMode=1
http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10505

c154shalom

thanks,hope when it is on ceiling mount it will not overheat.just concerned there is a fault.
i will try e bay for ceiling mount