All round projector for £800-1500

[Ian der Laan]

Hi,

 

I'm currently sourcing out a projector for the college I where I work. It will be exclusively used in the performing arts dept and will be used for a variety of applications including; performance work & presentations, gigs, fashion shows + lectures (including rear projection). It needs to be fairly durable, have fairly high connectivity & be capable of maintaining good intensity over distances of up to approx 20m (max)... I was thinking something like this.

Any ideas would be gratefully received as I'm not an expert.

 

Thanks in advance,

Ian.

[dunk_1984]

Just so people know, are you looking solely at buying new?

[Ian der Laan]

sorry... yes, brand spankers only please! :)

[smalljoshua]

A quick look on ebuyer brings up this Sanyo 4500 Lumens. But it is LCD not DLP though.

 

Josh

[handyandi]

If you want rear projection & the ability to place the projector up to 20m away you will need one with interchangeable lens's which will not be in the price range you are after. (Assuming your screen size will stay consistent) Most standard lens only have a limited amount of zoom. (ratio 1.5-2.0:1) A new lens ranges from £800 - £1500 a piece, on top of the projector, as I currently have found. Pushing the price up on my current install!

 

If you keep within standard projector to screen distances you should be OK.

[Ian der Laan]

thanks guys...

if we project from a distance, I don't mind if the screen size increases as we have a very large white wall at the back of the space to project on to ( I know I'll lose picture quality but it will probably suffice for some applications) generally though, I'll be projecting at normal distances... I'm not after top notch results as this is education and we need equipment which can 'multi task' and I think the interchangeable lens is out of the question (budget wise). also, I think I'm looking at lcd, not dlp, in this price range?...

what do people think of the Hitachi CPX-450 3,500 ansi or the sanyo mentioned above (thanks smalljoshua!)?

[revbobuk]

I've got a similar (CP-X445) Hitachi, and have installed a couple of the same, and they are fine. Nothing flash, but powerful and reliable. But you might like to take a look at the NEC NP-600, which is the same kind of brightness, smaller and lighter. NEC have a pretty good reputation for reliability, and installs I've done with this projector have been fine.

 

You might like to take a look at Ivojo or AVSL for supply - I've dealt with both, and they're very competitive on price.

 

Both the NEC and the Hitachi are LCD projectors, which in my experience is more appropriate than DLP for most uses - although DLP are often preferred for Home Cinema applications. There's a really good introduction to the differences here if you want to read it.

[jason5d]

I'd go for a sanyo.

 

You mention 'all round projector'

If you can afford it get one with interchangeable lenses

which will also have remote zoom, focus and lens shift-

God sends when you're flying projectors.

 

the XT series do all this and is not too expensive

We do the Sanyo xt21 for less than 2 grand its 4k with 1000:1 con

yes it may be up to 500 over budget but.....

These facilities are well worth paying extra for and will give you room

for change in the future instead of having to get a new projector down the

line.

 

I speak from experience - trust!

check out loads of pics regarding temporary screen installs

in the gallery on our website

[Ian der Laan]

thanks again jason, I'll check out every option! can anyone endorse any of the above suggestions?

 

thanks for all of the suggestions!

[639me]

the Sanyo PLC XT21L is 39dB!

otherwise seems great

[Andrew C]

One thing to consider; find out what your local A/V hire company use and go that route. That way if you do need a different lens, want to double up, or have a failure, you will have a local source.

 

We went the Christie route, partly for this reason (and the free advice and good price).

[Pete McCrea]

I'd also suggest checking the prices accurately, i.e. speaking to a person. We're find that prices are rising almost weekly in some instances. Machines that cost us £800 a month ago are now costing £1200....

 

To be fair the XT range from Sanyo is fairly quiet. 39dB may seem a lot, but in a room it's soon lost in the background noise. Also be aware that a lot of companies have the Sanyo XP and XF ranges in stock, so have lenses for these readily available. However very few I know of (us being the only one on the SW) have lenses for the XT range. All are differing sizes so are not interchangeable.

 

As others have said, call your local hire companies and find what machines they have available- this will make things like lenses easier to source, spares, and when the brown hits the fan, hopefully assistance quicker to get as you'll have a relationship with them.

 

DLP or LCD? Well that's a bit down to your preference. The LCD can still suffer from burn out and colour shifting over long periods of time and with intense use. Something that the new inorganinc LCD's are meant to stop, however it will take time to see if they are as good as they claim. Some DLP claim to have sealed optics- the DLP chip is sealed, but the rest of the system isn't so dust can be a similar problem in both systems, but can be dealt with a little bit more easily in the DLP machines.