[mythtv-users] Projector and Frontend upgrade advice

[Andre Newman]

On 26 Feb 2015, at 16:22, Damian <myth at surr.co.uk> wrote:

> On 26/02/2015 14:07, Andre Newman wrote:
>> On 25 Feb 2015, at 12:30, Damian <myth at surr.co.uk> wrote:
>> 
>>>>> Image Diagonal = 190cm (75”)
>>>>> Throw Distance = 318cm = 10'5" = (125”)
>> Ok, I got bored over a cup of tea this afternoon and ended up playing with projector throw calculators (Beamers, not Beemers) ;-)
>> 
>> The only budget DLP projectors that I know of and will meet your image size and throw distance constraints are the BenQ W1300 and the Optoma HD50 all the others give a much bigger picture for that throw. In fact both of these two can go even smaller than you need, I’m surprised.
>> 
>> Andre
> Thanks for this Andre!

No worries.

> 
> I actually started a spreadsheet myself last night and went through all of the options that you had suggested. I had considered buying a screen to go in front of our odd shaped wall, but saw that the BenQ W1300 would actually fit. I didn't think that the Optoma HD50 would when I looked at the numbers, but I'm sure you've done it right and I made a mistake.

Well don’t be too sure I was just mucking around in a tea break :-)

I had a look again and this suggests the Hd50 is a possibility, 68.6” to 103.2” at 125” throw, enough latitude to get it right, not sure about offset as I don’t know your ceiling height, mounting arrangements etc.

http://www.optoma.co.uk/distancecalculator/?model=HD50

> 
> Assuming that both of those projectors (or beamers) would work for me, is there much difference between them? The BenQ is more than £250 cheaper than the Optima on Amazon, so I'd need a really good reason to go for the more expensive option! :-)

As I understand:
BenQ W1300 has better colour accuracy straight off, supposedly a working de-interlacer (haven’t seen this in action) but is noisier and uses naff DLP link for 3D. 

DLP link gives poor black levels and some amount of (usually) red tint to blacks depending on the glasses, it flashes a big red frame to sync the glasses and a little of that lights the room up and squeaks past or around the glasses.

Optoma HD50 has ok colour accuracy after calibration but not so good straight off, no good de-interlacer, a bit quieter and uses RF for the 3D glasses, or you can use DLP link if you really wanted.

I very nearly bought the W1300 as it suited me well but the HD30 was quieter and had RF 3D glasses, The HD50 came along later and I believe is a slight image quality upgrade from the HD30 but I haven’t seen one. I didn’t find out about the colour accuracy until I got the HD30 and tried to calibrate, they all look over colourful in the demo room. All the recent Optomas seem to get blue slightly wrong.

I think the W1300 will give better colour and the HD50 will give better 3D.

How much 3D will you be watching?...

> 
> I like the fact that these projectors will fit in place, but can also do a larger image if I decide to get a screen down the line.
> 
> I'm also thinking of leaving the frontend as it is for now. I'll plug the HD projector in and see how it handles things. If it struggles with HD content, then I can look into how much a suitable replacement is going to cost.

Probably just a video card upgrade at worst.

Andre