front projector/ store?

[flying M]

I am looking to go out and view some front projectors for a theater room, but all the shops I know of have closed or is moving location (audio&video enviroments and nicholson's HI-fi) The only one I know of that is left is HIFI buys , so I went by there today and they are moving the HT rooms around so the projectors are not all set up. Any one know of other stores that have working displays. I thought there was one in brentwood at one time but I am not sure. thanks for your help, John

[KREaton423]

PM AllstokHonda . You may want to ask him, but I think the place he works sells that stuff.

[flying M]

thanks, I will give him a try. there has to be other stores out there, maybe not.

[flying M]

I tried to pm him, but it does not seem to go through. maybe someone can tell him to pm me. thanks

[slowlx]

any projectors in particular you've been looking for?

[AllstokHonda]

Hey John, Sorry for the slow reply. I was in atlanta all week. I'm loading up a gallery of pics I've taken over the past few months.. Lots of cool stuff, but they're all camera phone pics. So, please bare with that. I can't wait to have my own little home theater one of these days.. I'll post the link as soon as I get them all upload.




-Chad-

[AllstokHonda]

here's a few pics of some things I've done and or projects I'm working on... photobucked loaded all the pics from most recent to latest. So, start from the end and work your way back. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/allstok03dmax/Work%20pics/

few preview pics of our theaters.

1950's Drive-in Theme theater we completed a few months ago. All hand painted by a lady that does work for one of the builders we deal with.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/allstok03dmax/Work%20pics/0605070832a.jpg

110" screen. custom fiber optic star field!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/allstok03dmax/Work%20pics/0605070836a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/allstok03dmax/Work%20pics/0606070930.jpg

Here's another theater that I really like. Not that it's super special, but it really satisfied my likings and wasn't very expensive, compared to most. 110" sceen. 7.1 surround sound w/klipsh speakers, and Mitsubishi HD4000 projector. This theater setup only took myself and one other guy about 4-5 hours start to finish. So, when properly thought out. Theaters can go in pretty quick.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/allstok03dmax/Work%20pics/0505071156a.jpg

Just check out my pics and tell me what you think.. We custom design most theaters from prewire to compeletion. Most all equipment, furniture, and lighting is supplied by us.

-Chad-

[flying M]

wow very cool. it looks like you guys do quality work. I will be doing most of it my self. I will show you what I have got drawn up. I wish I could go with the star field but I don't think I can with my ceilings. maybe we can talk about that later. I am going to come by and check out your showroom and view some projectors. thanks

[flying M]

any projectors in particular you've been looking for?
well I have a few in mind, Mitsubishi HC5000, z5, maratnz, benq 8720, but Right now the Epson pro cinema 810 is on the top of my list because the specs seem to fit with everything I am doing. It is a little high money wise for a 720p, so I am trying to decide if I should go 1080 . The only thing is that I don't think it will be much of an improvement picture quality wise for my set up at the moment, plus these are the first 1080 projectors out and they will get better. I think I will get the 720p and be happy with it until the price drops and spend that extra cash else where.

[AllstokHonda]

I'm really happy with the quality I'm seeing out of the Mistu stuff. We've installed a few of the models and the HD4000(I think), has a great picture. We are a big dealer for marantz. So, if you decide on anything marantz.. Please let me know.


-Chad-

[slowlx]

well I have a few in mind, Mitsubishi HC5000, z5, maratnz, benq 8720, but Right now the Epson pro cinema 810 is on the top of my list because the specs seem to fit with everything I am doing. It is a little high money wise for a 720p, so I am trying to decide if I should go 1080 . The only thing is that I don't think it will be much of an improvement picture quality wise for my set up at the moment, plus these are the first 1080 projectors out and they will get better. I think I will get the 720p and be happy with it until the price drops and spend that extra cash else where.

while i've never had much personal experience with mitsu's front projectors, the ones i've seen have all looked really good.

i would probably stay away from benq since we've had some major quality issues with them. while the picture quality is terrific for the price point, we've just had bad luck with them staying running. now granted we only sold one 7700, but our client is currently on projector number 3 and it(they) have been down a total of 5 times with bulb and heat issues. i will NEVER sell/install another one again!

the marantz vp-4001 was an outstanding projector for the money, but it has been discontinued. marantz has since gotten out of the "entry-level" projector market, but we were very happy with the performance of this product. you very well may be able to find one of these online for the $2-$3k range, but i do know marantz is currently out of them, including "b" stock as i tried to get my hands on one last week for a project we are currently working on.

i have still yet to see anything from epson that impresses me. it could be because one of our "competitors" here in town is a dealer and has no clue on how to calibrate one, but the picture has always seems really washed-out and poor black levels. the epson rep for our territory is trying real hard to have us pick them up, but he's going to have to loan me 2-3 models to play with before i could even consider them.

our two lines we currently carry are optoma and sim2. we are a pretty big sim2 dealer and have installed everything from their new $3k domino 10 to their 3-chip ht-500 e-links. their quality, service, and performance have been outstanding and the domino 10 is now our go-to projector. the only real optoma we install is the $1k hd70 for cost-conscience media rooms. for the money, that projector is pretty nice.

personally i wouldn't worry too much about a 1080p front projector. in order to get the resolution you will probably be sacrificing picture quality. i would put the 720p d10 up to a $3k 1080p projector any day.

[flying M]

while i've never had much personal experience with mitsu's front projectors, the ones i've seen have all looked really good.

i would probably stay away from benq since we've had some major quality issues with them. while the picture quality is terrific for the price point, we've just had bad luck with them staying running. now granted we only sold one 7700, but our client is currently on projector number 3 and it(they) have been down a total of 5 times with bulb and heat issues. i will NEVER sell/install another one again!

the marantz vp-4001 was an outstanding projector for the money, but it has been discontinued. marantz has since gotten out of the "entry-level" projector market, but we were very happy with the performance of this product. you very well may be able to find one of these online for the $2-$3k range, but i do know marantz is currently out of them, including "b" stock as i tried to get my hands on one last week for a project we are currently working on.

i have still yet to see anything from epson that impresses me. it could be because one of our "competitors" here in town is a dealer and has no clue on how to calibrate one, but the picture has always seems really washed-out and poor black levels. the epson rep for our territory is trying real hard to have us pick them up, but he's going to have to loan me 2-3 models to play with before i could even consider them.

our two lines we currently carry are optoma and sim2. we are a pretty big sim2 dealer and have installed everything from their new $3k domino 10 to their 3-chip ht-500 e-links. their quality, service, and performance have been outstanding and the domino 10 is now our go-to projector. the only real optoma we install is the $1k hd70 for cost-conscience media rooms. for the money, that projector is pretty nice.

personally i wouldn't worry too much about a 1080p front projector. in order to get the resolution you will probably be sacrificing picture quality. i would put the 720p d10 up to a $3k 1080p projector any day.
Do you work at another store? I have to agree on the 7700 from Benq but the 8720 is a really good projector. The Marantz can still be picked up from a few places on the net for rather cheap. From the members of another forum it has a great image it projects. The sim2, if I had the money , would be the way to go, but right now I need to get a projector so I can get the rest of the theater rolling. Mitsubish makes great products. The 4000u really is more of a media projector and you would see a better picture if you went with the HC4900/HC5000 , or even the entry HC1500. Who is your dealer for Epson, if you don't mind me asking? What models have you worked with? Using the theater models,Epson projectors are very good as long as you like LCD, some don't. The Epson pro cinema 810 720P is a light cannon at 1600 lumens and has a contrast of 10000:1, so it is no slouch. I am not sure why you are seeing a washed out picture, but like you said, it may be because it is calibrated wrong. what type of screen are you using? The big problem with going with projection is room light control. There are two main trade-offs:
1. Projectors are a bulb-based display and as such, the brightness changes with time, and you will need to replace the bulbs every couple thousand hours at $300-400 a pop.
2. Projector performance is heavily dependent on the room environment. If you have much ambient light in the room, or light colored walls, you will not get the movie theater performance that you are likely imagining. This can be mitigated to some degree with proper projector and screen selection, but if you want a display to watch TV during the day with sunlight coming in through the windows, you would probably be better served by a flat panel TV. Also, SD TV looks very poor at 110"; you can see all the warts and compression artifacts in the source signal if you blow it up that much. With a projector, you will want to restrict your viewing to DVD or better sources. Anyhow this is a project hopefuly I can pull off, I cant wait to have it rolling. I will post pics along the way.... well when I figure out how to post pics on this site.

[slowlx]

Do you work at another store? I have to agree on the 7700 from Benq but the 8720 is a really good projector. The Marantz can still be picked up from a few places on the net for rather cheap. From the members of another forum it has a great image it projects. The sim2, if I had the money , would be the way to go, but right now I need to get a projector so I can get the rest of the theater rolling. Mitsubish makes great products. The 4000u really is more of a media projector and you would see a better picture if you went with the HC4900/HC5000 , or even the entry HC1500. Who is your dealer for Epson, if you don't mind me asking? What models have you worked with? Using the theater models,Epson projectors are very good as long as you like LCD, some don't. The Epson pro cinema 810 720P is a light cannon at 1600 lumens and has a contrast of 10000:1, so it is no slouch. I am not sure why you are seeing a washed out picture, but like you said, it may be because it is calibrated wrong. what type of screen are you using? The big problem with going with projection is room light control. There are two main trade-offs:
1. Projectors are a bulb-based display and as such, the brightness changes with time, and you will need to replace the bulbs every couple thousand hours at $300-400 a pop.
2. Projector performance is heavily dependent on the room environment. If you have much ambient light in the room, or light colored walls, you will not get the movie theater performance that you are likely imagining. This can be mitigated to some degree with proper projector and screen selection, but if you want a display to watch TV during the day with sunlight coming in through the windows, you would probably be better served by a flat panel TV. Also, SD TV looks very poor at 110"; you can see all the warts and compression artifacts in the source signal if you blow it up that much. With a projector, you will want to restrict your viewing to DVD or better sources. Anyhow this is a project hopefuly I can pull off, I cant wait to have it rolling. I will post pics along the way.... well when I figure out how to post pics on this site.

I own a custom integrations company in Evansville. We do strictly design and installation (meaning no retail) for everything from theaters, house audio, automation, and security.

As long as the new Benq is more reliable than the 7700 it will be a good projector. I have no issues with the performance at all. My big falling out with them (other than fooling with the same projector 5 times) is they failed to overnight a replacement projector to the client before the Super Bowl like they said they would. It arrived the Monday after.

Again, the Marantz has been an outstanding projector for us. We did a parade of homes where three of our homes had 4001s. All three were 100" screens, one was a rear projection shining on a DaLite DaTex screen, one was a DaLite Cinema Vision, and the other was a cheap Screen Innovations. All three, the projector displayed great images, however I was not a huge fan of the SI screen. Not bad for a $500 screen though.

Our rep for Epson is a firm that deals directly with the manufacturer. They are wanting us to pick up the line directly. The Epson's that I can easliy recall seeing, one was in our "competitor's showroom" on a tri-pod screen with little light control and the other's were in show homes on Draper screens. I never paid too close attention to what gain screens they used, but they are not the best designers in the world so the screens probably don't compliment the projectors very well for their enviroments. We've installed Optoma and Marantz projectors in light controlled rooms with the proper DaLite screens, but even with all the lights on in the room (usually 4-6 can lights and 2-4 wall sconces), they have still been considerably brighter than the Epsons I've seen. Again, this could easily be poor installation and calibration.

[AllstokHonda]

Some good reading guys. Great info.. I'm very new to the Home theater, automation, and audio. So, It's great to see some guys interested and doing the same thing. :up:




OT: Slowlx, do you have any opinion on the Cedia trainings siminars. I'm really wanting to learn and be taught properly, as much as possible. So, any info you'd like to pass along, please do. I would be greatful and would gladly help you out any way I could.


-Chad-

[slowlx]

i actually came from one of the founding members of CEDIA and currently an active member, so I'm a big proponent of CEDIA. This is the first year in 5 years i haven't been to the EXPO, it just about killed me, we've been just too busy to get away for a week. While I think their Boot Camp is is rather elementary, it's good for new installers in the business to get the general guidelines to A/V integrations. I made my Installation Partner get his Level I last year and was going to get his Level II this past EXPO, but we ended up not going. Now my other two Installers will be obtaining their Level I's this summer. The courses they offer at the EXPOs can be very educational and entertaining.

[AllstokHonda]

That's great.. My Boss is wanting to become a member and I've very interested in doing the boot camp and getting my Level I. I've been reading about the courses and it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.. If you have any other info about the cedia stuff you'd like to share. Please feel free to PM me. I'm really interested to hear about it. As, i hope to be going through some of the certifications classes in the near future. thanks again.

-Chad-