Buying a projector in Argos.

enviro

A friend is considering buying a projector in argos, he has a budget of around 600 euro.

He would mainly use it for the ps3/sky

I reckon he would get a better deal online.

Any advice would be great, thanks.

eddiem74

Main thing is to do the research, look for online reviews, and decide what will suit. I would expect better deals are out there, but a budget of €600 could be about the absolute minimum for something. Also need to consider whether to go for LCD or DLP (and risk possible rainbow effect).

kippy

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/computing/projector/3058/9/categorie.html

I disagree with 600 being the absolute minimum.
There are some EXCELLENT models out there for less.
Important factors:
Cost of replacement bulb.
Bulb lifetime.
Lumens output, generally the higher the better.
But these would all be pretty standard in and around the same budget.
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4108536/art/acer/h5360-3d-video-projector.html#tech-specs
This would be a decent machine for the money although it would be a bit more than 600 with delivery.

You will almost DEFINITELY get better value on online + online is much easier to research reviews etc.

eddiem74

kippy wrote: »

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4108536/art/acer/h5360-3d-video-projector.html#tech-specs
This would be a decent machine for the money although it would be a bit more than 600 with delivery.

As I said, €600 could be about the absolute minimum for something.

jmal

Important factors:
Cost of replacement bulb.
Bulb lifetime.
Lumens output, generally the higher the better.

Bad advice! This advice is more for a business projectors not PS3/Sky.

If you are looking for a projector to use with PS3/Sky/Movies the important factors as as follows:

1. Resolution: Recommend 720p or WXGA resolution. 1080p is best but you will pay about €1000 for a good entry level 1080p projector in Irish retailers.
2. Connections: HDMI is very important as this has the biggest effect on picture quality with a PS3/Blu-ray/Sky HD and future proofs your projector.
3. Contrast Ratio: About 2500:1 should be min.
4. Brightness: 1500 - 2000 is normal for this type of projector designed for use in near darkness. The higher the brightness, usually the lower the contrast ratio which means poor black levels.
5. Aspect Ratio: Native 16:9.

Some suggestions you could search for are as follows:

BenQ W600
Optoma HD65 (HD66)
LG AH215


I would also recommend a DLP projector. There is alot of talk about RBE (Rainbow effect) with DLP projectors which usually comes from people who have only read about it and never experienced RBE. Most of the above projectors would not suffer much from RBE as they are Home Theatre Projectors and have a fast colour wheel 3X or more. RBE is only an issue for 3-4% of viewers. I have seen it from time to time on my old Optoma HD65 but it does not bother me a bit or for that matter it has never been an issue for any of the people who have seen my projector over the past 2 years (100+).

Lamp life is not an issue for most users. A projector in most cases is not used for the same hours as a TV. I have only 650 hrs on my HD65 over the past 2 years for movie watching and PS3 gaming so when you are getting a lamp life of 4000hrs, that is a huge amount of Movies or Gaming.

One other piece of advice on projectors is to buy from someone who can advice on installation and setup. Projectors and much more difficult to install correctly than an Flat screen and a little advice and save alot of mistakes.

HTH

kippy

jmal wrote: »

Bad advice! This advice is more for a business projectors not PS3/Sky.

If you are looking for a projector to use with PS3/Sky/Movies the important factors as as follows:

1. Resolution: Recommend 720p or WXGA resolution. 1080p is best but you will pay about €1000 for a good entry level 1080p projector in Irish retailers.
2. Connections: HDMI is very important as this has the biggest effect on picture quality with a PS3/Blu-ray/Sky HD and future proofs your projector.
3. Contrast Ratio: About 2500:1 should be min.
4. Brightness: 1500 - 2000 is normal for this type of projector designed for use in near darkness. The higher the brightness, usually the lower the contrast ratio which means poor black levels.
5. Aspect Ratio: Native 16:9.

Some suggestions you could search for are as follows:

BenQ W600
Optoma HD65 (HD66)
LG AH215


I would also recommend a DLP projector. There is alot of talk about RBE (Rainbow effect) with DLP projectors which usually comes from people who have only read about it and never experienced RBE. Most of the above projectors would not suffer much from RBE as they are Home Theatre Projectors and have a fast colour wheel 3X or more. RBE is only an issue for 3-4% of viewers. I have seen it from time to time on my old Optoma HD65 but it does not bother me a bit or for that matter it has never been an issue for any of the people who have seen my projector over the past 2 years (100+).

Lamp life is not an issue for most users. A projector in most cases is not used for the same hours as a TV. I have only 650 hrs on my HD65 over the past 2 years for movie watching and PS3 gaming so when you are getting a lamp life of 4000hrs, that is a huge amount of Movies or Gaming.

One other piece of advice on projectors is to buy from someone who can advice on installation and setup. Projectors and much more difficult to install correctly than an Flat screen and a little advice and save alot of mistakes.

HTH

Fair enough.

stephendevlin

I used to have one and I used it for PS3. It was great for gaming. Only I had it up to big. You need a good size room to get the best out of it. A painted white wall is also fine!

BArra

i recently got an epson eh-tw450

its a 720p lcd projector and i find it gives a very sharp image only projected onto a wall

what swung it for me was a promotion that it came with a free portable tripod 80" screen (still to get it though...)

but also this model has a 3 year warranty on the unit and the bulb