Help choosing a projector!?

Question

I'm looking for a home theater projector (~1500$ range or less) for my pool house. The building is about the size of a large living room, and there are a lot windows.

The main thing I've found, is that I probably want something thats pretty bright, a lot of lumens (is 3000 necessary?). I picked out two I thought might work, but since there are so many, I really don't know where to start, but I've been looking at some reviews on cnet..

1. http://reviews.cnet.com/home-theater-projectors/dell-2400mp-dlp-projector/4505-7858_7-31878925.html?ttag=rev_spon_prod

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824248056

Answer 1

There are a lot of multimedia/presentation projectors that have high lumens but they are typically less than ideal for home theater use. They use 4:3 ratios and generally have pixel counts like 1024 x 768 or 800 x 600 which are lower than high definition's 720p or 1080p.

They may be your only affordable option though as most home theater projector don't go over 2000 lumens and most being under 1500. You could go with one of these and use a high gain screen.

A high gain grey screen would be best when you have more ambient light in your room. Of course then you're talking about a screen that could cost as much as your projector. You will probably need a grey screen to help your black levels anyway.

Ultimately though you are going to have a washed out picture with poor contrast unless you are viewing movies at night. Have you though about buying some blinds or heavy blackout curtains for your windows?

Answer 2

Unfortunately both of your selections, the Dell and Mitsubishi come with a 2X color wheel which is too slow and you will see "rainbows."  instead look for a 4X DLp projector.

Check out a refurbished Infocus SP4805 4X projector at amazon.com which sells for around $600. Here's the URL:

http://www.amazon.com/InFocus-Screenplay...

It comes with a built-in speaker. Read the 15 Customer Reviews.

And here's an actual 96" diagonal movie image [A Good woman] from a distance of 13.5 feet.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/...

Good luck!