Page 1 of Ann recommendations for decent budget Projector

Richer sounds are doing the Sony VPLHS1 for £999.99, was £2,200 about a year ago and given a best buy. Is it any good or can you suggest better, people seem to rate the Panasonic AE100

Hi Mac

I am one of those Panny AE100 owners, I recently bought one. When I put on my 1st film I just though "WOW!" I use it in low power setting, very little difference to the output, but makes a BIG difference to lamp life. It is quoted as 5000hr lamp life in low power, but only 2000hr in high.

Sound and vision have been selling them at £799. I was well pi**ed, I paid £899 just a couple of days earlier.

http://www.soundandvision.uk.com

if you want to read up further http://www.avforums.com have lots if info on the Panny ptae100

Hope that helps

Doodlebug

This item was edited on Saturday, 22nd February 2003, 21:24

Yup, I have one of those too, driven by a PC. See http://www.areyoulocal.com/cinema.asp for some info on my room and screen build - a work in progress (the website I mean - PJs up and working happily). A progressive scan DVD player that can do PAL progressive (I think the Philips 963 with a hack) can get very close to PC quality, without the hassle.

Thanks for that Doodlebug, that is a heck of a price, any idea how it compares with Sony?

Have a look over on the AVforums. Until the Sony HS10 and the Panny AE200 & 300 came out, the AE100 was the king of the budget projectors, the only fly in the ointment being a poor reliability record - there have been a lot of them have the power supply go pop.

Richard, is the HS10 you refer to different to the VPL-HS1 that I am refering to. Another thing that confuses me is the reference to the AE100 having a "16:9 aspect ratio LCD panel" in the literature. does this mean it can only project widescreen and the Sony can`t.

No they`re different projectors - the HS10 has only just come out.

The Panny has a native 16:9 panel, so when a widescreen film is projected you use the full panel. If you view 4:3 material, you`ll get vertical bars left and right. With a 4:3 panel projector, you`ll get horizontal bars top and bottom when viewing widescreen material, and none when viewing 4:3. That`s not the only reason to choose a PJ, though. One other thing to consider is throw distance - the distance the PJ needs to be from the screen to project a certain size image. The Panny is quite short - 13` away for an 8` image (or there abouts) - this suits many with smaller rooms, but is actually a pain for me in that large room, as I`d much prefer the PJ to be mounted on a back wall or something rather than hanging from the middle of the ceiling.

There seems to be alot of talk about PJ on this thread. But what about Duncan?

All the best,

The 42%er.

LOL. No, it`s short for PJ Harvey - bet you didn`t know I`d had her strapped to the ceiling for the last 8 months, did you?

So who`s Ann?