[mythtv-users] What's a good projector for Myth?

[david]

On Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:04:13 -0600, Nick F <nikos.f at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 2:39 PM, david <david at functionalchaos.net> wrote:
> 
>>
>> However, I would recommend you stay clear of the BenQ W5000 that someone
>> recommended and look at the Pasonic AE3000, it sells for around 2200 -
>> 2500.
>>
> 
> David,
> 
> I'm curious - what makes you say to stay away from the BenQ W5000?  The
> refurb that was going for $1299 sounded like very good value - and the
> forums at avsforum point to it being a very good projector - albeit one
> that
> may not work in all room sizes.


Because I own a BenQ and I, along with all the other PE7700 customers, were
put through the ringer with their premature lamp failure issue. You can
read about it on the 4 year long forum thread dedicated to the pe7700 at
avsforum.  BenQ eventually got our projectors working for us after we all
sent them back (several times for most of us early customers) paying
shipping charges and being with out our 3 month old projectors for weeks at
a time.  One of the results of their "fix" was to increase the fan speed. 
I am sure they had to do this to resolve the issue, but one of the reasons
we bought these units was for the sound level.  In the end we go no
compensation for the fact that are projectors did not meet the sound
requirements we bought them under and in fact we had to pay them to fix
their manufacture defect issue (shipping charges and our loss of use) and
now most are prematurely failing outside of the warranty period from long
term heat issues, i.e cracked color wheels.  The projector was one of the
best available for the features and price when I bought it 4 years ago. I
do like the picture and the features, but I can not recommend BenQ to
anyone ever again after seeing how they handled the issue.  

Sorry for the rant, I chose to leave it off before because I knew it was
not appropriate for the myth list.

Regarding the W5000 in specific, it does not have a throw range that is
very useful compared to the other projectors on the market.  In Jim's case
(20 feet) it would probably be fine, but it would not be that versatile for
most peoples rooms that come closer to +/- 15 feet of throw.


David