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General discussion

Projector Recommendations and Wiring Question

by Mrs. M Nov 29, 2005 12:30PM PST

Hi All,
My husband I would like to use a projector in our basement for daily watch of TV, Playstation, movies, and work out videos. Our plans are to hang it from the ceiling.

Question 1. Recommendations for a projector? I have read the reviews but would like other opinions or suggestions. Would like it to be HD compatable. Looking to spend around $1000 max. Can go over but only if it really is worth it. He is more of a sound guy then visual.

Next....now understand we've been working with a pretty old TV with limited inputs - so we have been using the receiver - when we went to the store to look for potential replacements for his receiver no one could understand why we would run visual through it. We use the reciever to switch between cable, vcr, dvd, playstation, my super nintendo...etc. Little did we know modern tv's have so many inputs now. Little does it help us since we plan on using the projector.

Question 2. Is this possible with HD signal? If so can someone please suggest a wiring scheme? New construction and if I have to pay more money because sweet hubby changed his mind one more time we will be broke!! We can't figure out how or what wires need to be run to the projector or if special wires are needed, especially if we are running the visual signal through the receiver. And the audio/visual/wiring people aren't helping, they swear they don't know and keep getting more money as we change plans. At one point my husband told them he would need three coaxial cables run between the projector and the receiver. Then that changed to some high priced wiring some guy in Best Buy told him to use....funny it also went with this high priced receiver....but my CNET research said that isn't necessary so and that HD can go through a receiver without the high priced cable we were shown in the store and there are other receivers that are cheaper and seem to be HD compatable.

Hope I didn't ramble too much!! THANKS!!

Question 3.

Discussion is locked

2 Posts
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Some questions????
by jcrobso Nov 30, 2005 2:56AM PST

But first here is a homework assingment go to this link and read and read.
http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5102926-1.html?tag=dir

Now about you basement does it have a lot of windows????
Even $10,000, 5200 ANSI lumin front projectors have have the image washed out by outside light. They only work in VERY dark rooms For $1000 you will get about 1200~2000 ANSI lumins max.
Have you thought about a CRT rear projector??? there are some realy good ones that are close to your price range, and you can watch them with the lights on!! John

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a different homework assignment....
by 3luke3 Nov 30, 2005 10:49AM PST

There is no doubt that projectors are better in dark rooms, so I assume you know that. you probably also know that they offer more real-estate for the buck & can get that WOW factor from all your friends if you set everything up well. Try out this site for comparisons on projectors, please note that you can get them online for about 80% of their listed price there.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/home-theater-multimedia-projectors.htm

Here are some setups that some people have done. Some of them are nice (like mine) & some are just cheesy college guys throwing together what they could with a few hundred bucks.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/my-home-theater-system.cfm

As for your connections, you probably first need to realize that you can't get a good native 720p set for 1 grand. You can for 2 grand, but not 1. So you are probably looking at a 480p set, which looks really good with DVDs, TV, SNES. HD still looks really good on it if the video processors are good. The new TI chip does well, & so do faroudja chips. Most newer infocus projectors one of those, so I will recommend the "infocus screenplay 4805". The rest depends on your receiver, but I can tell you a few things because of the video input devices you listed. You'll probably have to have a receiver that does component video switching & composite video switching & I think you can fit everything in. You might have to run your SNES through your VCR. Do you know what receiver you will have (or have?) ? In the end, you'll have the following video lines going up to the projector:

1. component video
2. composite video
3. *** I would recommend running a digital line up there as well for the future; either a DVI or HDMI (as far as video goes, they are the exact same digital signal & can be converted with a cheap adapter if you happen to need one plug over the other).

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