Cheap projector suggestions

[paulears]

Can anyboady recommend a cheap, probably unbranded projector that I can buy a pair of for a project. Primary requirement is bright and wide as projectors will be fairly close - input from HDMI. Sound unimportant and manual focus and zoom would be fine - no requirement for cleverness or even long life. Something I can order from Amazon would be nice. There are some I've seen but at the cheap end, the specs are probably suspect - so if anyone has one they think OK, I'd rather take a recommendation here than from the idiots on Youtube who mostly get impressed by anything that light comes out of, and say everything is amazing.

[J Pearce]

On a slight curveball - there's a lot of companies clearing old stock atm, I saw some Sanyo XPs listed very cheaply last week (I think it was around £300-400 but I can't find them now) - perhaps more of a known quality than cheap alibaba stuff?

[ninjadingle]

I'm thinking second hand ultra short throws - eBay seems to have some Epson kit going cheap. Add a new lamp and it'll probably be the same cost as something unknown and new?

[paulears]

I used to have a couple of Sanyo XPs until some scroat at the theatre 'accidentally' took them during an out and I didn;t notice for three weeks. Thanks for the suggestions - Maybe I can fond a couple of identical Sanyos or Epsons. It's finding two cheap ones that's the snag.

[Stuart91]

Watch out for Ultra Short Throws that have come out of school installations - they'll have a lot of hours on them.

 

A fresh lamp can help with the brightness, but in LCD models the panels may well have begun to fade so you end up with washed-out colours.

 

Also beware of Hitachi models that have a folding mirror (CPA-100 and 200 plus various other derivatives). The mirror mechanism has a finite number of operations before the motor fails, daily use in a school for 5+yrs will definitely get you close to that limit.

[J Pearce]

Considering the current climate, in your position I might be tempted to talk to some of the video hire companies to see if they have any stock they want to move on cheaply. Plenty still have XPs and the like in a dark corner of the warehouse, and they may be glad of a bit of income.

[GaryNattrass]

Is still have a BENQ DLP projector and had my first one when I had a Soho dubbing theatre in the late 90's.

 

The current one I bought for my pub in 2006 but it is still going strong and has been very reliable.

 

Not sure of the model but found this one on Amazon so presume it is the latest version as it looks the same: https://www.amazon.c...la-880936966798

 

P.S just found the video I did of my Soho facility in 1999 and the screen image is around 2min 40 in:

Edited January 20, 2021 by GaryNattrass