I spent a lot of research on those Optoma porjectors mentioned and read virtually every spec sheet and review on the internet. What it boils down to is that the EP756/7 is not really a Home Cinema projector, its a business orientated presentation projector, hence the amount of lumens. Now, with increased Lumens, most people would assume this to be a good thing. In practice it is not. With Home Cinema, detail and picture clarity are the most important things for us users. Now, the one good attribute, apart from the standard expected of XGA, is that it has a 2000:1 contrast ratio at Max. However, realistictly, this is more or less around 1000:1 when running the projector in normal use. With a high amount of Lumens, 2300, the effect is normally to drain the depth out of a picture. Details in shadows and other darkened areas tend to give the picture a flat appearance which isnt ideal for Home Cinema, but fine for presentations. The other thing to note is that the Optoma EP757 is a 4:3 aspect ratio projector. This means that in effect you will get a lot less than the XGA resolution when viewing a 16:9 movie on a screen, due to a lot of the pixels being wasted to display black bars top and bottom. With this in mind, if you can afford the H56, it is so much better for Home Cinema than the EP757. It also has a faster spinning 6 segment colour wheel, virtually eliminating all rainbow artifects that can sometimes cause eye strain with DLP projectors. It has a native 16:9 setting on it to allow it to porject the image without wasting pixels and it has 2000:1 contrast ratio with 1000 Lumens, much better for home cinema. To give you an idea of my set-up, i have an 850 Lumens projector, though i have it set to output only around 600 Lumens (that figure realistictly is more like 450 Lumens) with a 1300:1 contrast ratio (Realisticly around 900:1) and a native WXGA projection 16:9 system LCD projector. In a darkened room, the quality, clarity and colours are amazing. The low Lumens doesnt drain the picture like a high Lumen output would give you. In fact, i have a friend who projects around the equivalent of 450 Lumens with a 9000:1 contrast ratio, max at 15000:1 on his CRT system. Now that gives details lol and you can get one for a good price, but very bulky, not digital, and you would need to invest in a good scaler/de-interlacer etc... If you are interested in the Optoma, this guy usually has the best price on them: H56: http://www.coleprojectors.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_31&products_id=35 Hope this helps, Chris
Hi Oriphus, Thanks a lot for the info. It really helped. I was always wondering what the difference was between home cinema or business. At several specs the business seemed better and cheaper. I also thought a high lumens was required. I will check the european price on the H56. Thanks again.
A high amount of lumens is only required for a very bright room or for presentations. For home cinema, a lower amount, somewhere in the region of 600-900 is about perfect in a dark room with a good contrast projector. One of the reasons the business projector tend to be cheaper than the home cinema projector, in DLP anyway, is that it usually doesnt use as fast a colour wheel or one with as many segments. Some of them even use DLP chips with a 10 degree turning angle, as opposed to the 12 degrees ones on the DDR chips. Im glad you found the information useful. If you can get in within the next two days, there seems to be a great deal on ebay at the minute on that projector. Normally, we are talking over £2000 for it in the UK, but here it is used for only 175 hours (if that is correct) for a lot less: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22610&item=5700473516&rd=1
Hi, I'm a new member to this forum, and also very new to this field of projectors & media. I am also looking for my first projector. I've read some links on this forum and some other websites, and I think the LCD projectors are a good choice. Oriphus recommended the Panasonic PT-AE500 and a few others. My budget for a projector is $1,000-$2000. But the more I read about these projectors, I am even more confused, with the widescreens, the ratios, etc. So I guess the best way to ask about what projector is right for me is, what I am going to use it for. 1. Watching video clips and movies, and especially want to link it to my computer so that it is possible to view programs on it. Also I heard someone say something about a specific dvd for a specific projector. I have a dvd drive on my computer, and though if it was possible to use just the dvd on my computer, rather than buying a new dvd player. 2. Secondly, I have come across this item: http://www.viewsonic.com/products/tventertainment/tvvideoprocessors/vb50hrtv/ And I was thinking of somehow using the projector to also watch tv, as well as play gaming consoles (such as Playstation 2) through this device by Viewsonic. Or maybe it's possible to do all this without using it. I have no idea. =( I read a link about Xbox supporting some screen ratio of 16:3 or something, and I'm absolutely confused. I know that lumens are important, and I would want one that I can see with the lights on. I also know that the lightbulb(?) or something rather is important too, for how long the projector can run until it needs to be given a new bulb or something. I have no idea on that too. Sigh. 3. I also thought if it was possible to use my computer monitor at the same time, using the projector. I've seen some computer connected to the projector, and the computer had used the projector as a second monitor. I don't know whether that is better, or if the projector replicating what I see on the monitor is better. Again, I know the people in this forum know so much more.. I looked at Dell's 3300MP, found here: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=5188&page=external I have no idea of other projectors. I would appreciate it if someone would help me with picking one. Sorry, if this is a long link. I want to ask one more question. I know that for DVDs, sound is just as important (if not more) than the picture. I thought maybe if it was possible to get a 5.1 surround sound system connected to the computer, so that I could play music through the computer, as well as watch dvd with the system. I've seen the Klipsch PC speakers, and the Logitech z-680. Other than that, I don't know much about the receivers, and such. Maybe this should be posted on the other forum. But just in case anyone could help, thanks.
