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MikeTech
01-31-2005, 09:06 AM
I am interested in picking up a new line of projectors. I haven't done too many in the past, and been left wanting on my previous installs (Infocus). What do you guys prefer and why?
Let the games begin.

Thanks,
Mike

PHSJason
01-31-2005, 09:10 AM
What kind of price point are you looking for? We really like Epson for PQ in the under 5K range. All discrete, RS-232etc.

Jason

MikeTech
01-31-2005, 09:37 AM
Lets say up to 10k. We're getting more requests for actual "theaters", and the last couple I finished didn't do it for me although everybody else oohed and ahhed. If i never touch an Infocus again it will be too soon.

Gary
01-31-2005, 10:35 AM
I think one think to think about with projectors that often get overlooked is lamp replacement. I think as service to our clients we shoiuld keep a replacement lamp for each different projector we sell. It has been my experence that lamps aways go out an hour before 25 guest are showing up for the big game.

That said, we carry Sim2, mostly ot the HT300 varity. Great picture, RS232, discrete IR, and we've had very few service issues.

But I've been thinking of changing to Dwin. Anyone else do Dwin?

sirroundsound
01-31-2005, 11:14 AM
Dwin??? Aaaaauuugh...... yuck.
A house I have been fixing for the past year has two Dwin Projectors, transvision2, both have a pretty finish, but don't look very good. Being unfamiliar with them I had to try to trouble shoot why the picture looked so poor, they had this external box (just like Runco) that handled all the switching etc. Then I found out if you are using a composite input, it outputs only on green, if s-video in, it uses 2 of the 5 and so on, I would have thought it might have upconverted, but no, just a fancy pass through. Not sure about any newer product from them, but I certainly wasn't impressed with what I saw at this clients home.

vwpower44
01-31-2005, 05:27 PM
Sim2 projectors can last up to 8000 hours. We use infocus and haev had poor luck with everything from their low end PJ's, but the 7200's haev run strong with a great picture. We also going to start using Sharp. Check out dreamweaver, vidikron, and runco.

Mike

Gary
01-31-2005, 05:35 PM
Dwin??? Aaaaauuugh...... yuck.
A house I have been fixing for the past year has two Dwin Projectors, transvision2, both have a pretty finish, but don't look very good. Being unfamiliar with them I had to try to trouble shoot why the picture looked so poor, they had this external box (just like Runco) that handled all the switching etc. Then I found out if you are using a composite input, it outputs only on green, if s-video in, it uses 2 of the 5 and so on, I would have thought it might have upconverted, but no, just a fancy pass through. Not sure about any newer product from them, but I certainly wasn't impressed with what I saw at this clients home.

I heard the TV3 was a kick ass projector, anyone seen it?

Greg_C
01-31-2005, 07:00 PM
We've put in a few TV-3's and am pleased with install ease and quality. Just got off the phone with their VP and the new TV-4 should be an ass kickjer at $6500 retail with an external scaler.

Gary
01-31-2005, 07:35 PM
We've put in a few TV-3's and am pleased with install ease and quality. Just got off the phone with their VP and the new TV-4 should be an ass kickjer at $6500 retail with an external scaler.

What's the story on the TV-4? This is the first I've heard of it.

Brijaws
01-31-2005, 08:03 PM
Digital Projection. Awesome peices. Lowest end is around 13K retail but their customer service is awesome and the product is even better.

DDeca
01-31-2005, 08:40 PM
We have had great luck with Vidikron. No internet sales, RS-232, all discrete IR, easy to calibrate, looks GREAT with 480i, very good support.

$4500 for a killer Materhorn single chip DLP.
$8000 for a HD2+ DLP.
$13000 for a 3 chip DILA.
$30000 for a 1080P DILA.
$30000 for a 3 chip DLP.

Nice to have this much price range in one company. Also make KILLER plasma's.

Good Luck!

Greg_C
01-31-2005, 08:49 PM
TV-4 uses the same scaler, but has less lens offset capability as the TV-3. Also a little lower quality Zeiss Lens. www.dwin.com/pressroom/TransVision4.htm
Delivery expected in April-May.

Gary
01-31-2005, 09:09 PM
TV-4 uses the same scaler, but has less lens offset capability as the TV-3. Also a little lower quality Zeiss Lens. www.dwin.com/pressroom/TransVision4.htm
Delivery expected in April-May.

That's a pretty hot price point for a 720p projector.

avdude
02-01-2005, 11:57 PM
the bar none...regardless of price right now...king of the hill in ALL price ranges, is JVC, with their PATENTED D-ILA technology...

Don't let anyone lie to you either...if it's D-ILA...it's JVC!

Runco just bought the rights to shell and rebuild 5 different D-Ila's, but they HAVE to give credit on the outside of the case so I'm told!

Anyway...they are a little more expensive than the DLP in the same price points, but they are three chips...and they are gorgeous!

I've installed several, along with Dwin, InFukus, Runco, Vidikron, hitachi, blah blah...and when it's time to put a projo in MY house, it will either SAY JVC on the shell, or HAVE JVC D-ILA inside!

vwpower44
02-02-2005, 07:13 AM
When using any 3 chip product or three LCD, am i correct in presumming that there is no color wheel. Also the JVC D-ILA is incredible, i just mentioned them in another post.

Mike

PHSJason
02-02-2005, 08:14 AM
When using any 3 chip product or three LCD, am i correct in presumming that there is no color wheel.
Mike

Sort of. There is no color wheel on any of the LCD or D-ILA product. In all projection LCD product, white light(or some other color) is passed through one or more(typically three) transparent LCD panels then passed through lenses for display.
On DLP, white light is passed through a spinning color wheel which seperates the colors, then reflected off a panel covered with tiny rotating mirrors. These mirrors can either be"on" or "off" and each mirror represents one pixel(until you get into the 1080p models and that is a different story, same concept, more processing). The timing of the color wheel and the mirrors determine what each pixel displays. The speed and timing of the color wheel is what causes people to see "rainbows". Color wheels are part of all DLP units regardless of whether it is a single or three chip unit. Three chip DLPs are available, but they are higher priced.

Jason

MikeTech
02-02-2005, 10:45 AM
the bar none...regardless of price right now...king of the hill in ALL price ranges, is JVC, with their PATENTED D-ILA technology...

Don't let anyone lie to you either...if it's D-ILA...it's JVC!

Runco just bought the rights to shell and rebuild 5 different D-Ila's, but they HAVE to give credit on the outside of the case so I'm told!

Anyway...they are a little more expensive than the DLP in the same price points, but they are three chips...and they are gorgeous!

I've installed several, along with Dwin, InFukus, Runco, Vidikron, hitachi, blah blah...and when it's time to put a projo in MY house, it will either SAY JVC on the shell, or HAVE JVC D-ILA inside!

I've heard lots of good things about the d-ila's. I'm definitely gonnna check them out. Thanks for all the replies and keep them coming.

Mike

ejfiii
02-02-2005, 09:36 PM
I second the JVC PJs. I end up discounting them a bit more than usual for price conscience clients to get the price close to the IF 72xx. There is literally no comparison between the two. I feel the same way between the DLP RP sets and the JVC HD-ILA RP sets. I sell the JVCs 10-1. Once the clients see it, there is no question they made the right move. ONLY problem with the JVC PJs is the long throw lenses. I wish they would wake up and make the lens a little more user friendly with a wider throw ratio.

mr2channel
02-03-2005, 05:32 AM
I second the JVC PJs. I end up discounting them a bit more than usual for price conscience clients to get the price close to the IF 72xx. There is literally no comparison between the two. I feel the same way between the DLP RP sets and the JVC HD-ILA RP sets. I sell the JVCs 10-1. Once the clients see it, there is no question they made the right move. ONLY problem with the JVC PJs is the long throw lenses. I wish they would wake up and make the lens a little more user friendly with a wider throw ratio.

OK all you JVC installers, I too have seen the picture difference, and agree it is as better picture, but we sell Samsung RP DLP and Infocus FP, but I am interested in knowing about the products reliability, and any quirks either if the JVC's may have. I just did an install were the customer already owned the JVC RPTV and the picture was down right AWSOME, but no discrete power, I did get lucky and find someone on RC that had created discretes. Also have any of you found integration issues with the JVC and other manufactures?

ejfiii
02-03-2005, 06:58 AM
Mr2channel, that was me that gave you the JVC discretes. I haven't had any real problems with the JVC stuff - except for the above mentioned lens issue. The JVC PJs have to be positioned pretty far back compared to a IF or other DLP. But the part that makes up for that is that it doesn't have the crazy screen drop that the IF has. The top of the screen is at the center of the lens - if you want. This makes a big difference for me as I have always hated the screen drop issue with the 72xx. There is a lens calculator on the JVC pro site.

If you are also asking about the RP sets - there is nothing I can say - awesome. Blows the DLP sets out of the water. Even the optoma sets.

sirroundsound
02-03-2005, 08:18 AM
We do the JVC's too, love them. Anyone out there use any type of scaler with the FP JVC's ? Tried a Focus but wasn't happy with results.

Ghost
02-03-2005, 11:14 AM
We do the JVC's too, love them. Anyone out there use any type of scaler with the FP JVC's ? Tried a Focus but wasn't happy with results.

Pat, try Lumagen. They have been building and modifing their design based on ISF calibrator's feedback for awhile. They really have an excellent scaler, especially for the money.
You can manipulate the video signal anyway you want as well.
http://www.lumagen.com/

Oh, and they have good mark-up too. Another plus.

mr2channel
02-03-2005, 03:42 PM
Mr2channel, that was me that gave you the JVC discretes. .

thanks again for those codes I had deleted the email, so I forgot who I got them from.

steinbecktech
02-03-2005, 08:57 PM
Runco is great if you can become a dealer. Worked for 2 dealers before I went on my own.Great product. Similar experience with Vidikron.
I am now a sim 2 dealer and they seem to be pretty good. If you saw them with the Ocean Blue screen you would be amazed.

rmht
02-09-2005, 01:20 PM
I have been selling, installing JVC DILA's for years and as long as the budget allows will not go another route.
Granted the G11, 15's and M15's had no discretes and were loud as hell, but with the Xenon bulb and itty-bitty pixel spacing there were no comparison. Filmlike and awesome reds. Use a hush box or build, design the unit into another room, soffit and away you go. Expensive bulbs mitigated by rehousing them at Atlas lighting ($580) cost took that sting out also.

We used to say about DLP that is no longer as accurate...
The blues are blue, the greens are green, and the reds are blue and green.

Now the HX2 MSRP is $13K with margin, silent as can be, cheaper bulb(no Xenon though) and what spiffs. Last year I got a free HD camcorder for selling a HX1, last month JVC's HDVCR for a HX2.

Free schwag. Love it.

I have six HX1's and two HX2's in the field without a problem(knock on wood)

By the way JVC's techs sent me power/source discretes for HX1/HX2 in NG3000 format, I haven't had time to upoload to RC.com but if any interested let me know and I will share.

RPTV's kick ass too.

Stevan

sirroundsound
02-09-2005, 08:58 PM
Someone mentioned lamp time, and JVC D-ILA. Here is a scary one, the big guy from JVC (1/4 millon$ projector) has a bulb life of about 1000 hours. Anyone want to take a guess how much to replace the bulb? (OK, someone out there probably knows, don't answer too fast, lets see some guesses first)

I agree with AVDUDE, the JVC D-ILA (not just the big one) are all terrific.

lowvoltguy
02-09-2005, 10:17 PM
Has anyone seen or installed the $200K JVC (or for that matter, another big ticket $50K+ projo)? ... I would love to just see it in action ....

sirroundsound
02-10-2005, 08:21 AM
THe picture I posted of the award winning theatre is using it, and we have to replace the Bulb (thus my other post above). It is on a 19ft wide screen and looks incredible.

rmht
02-10-2005, 10:54 AM
I was at infocomm in vegas 2000-01 (I don't recall exactly) when they trotted out the big boy for one of the if not the first times. Huge display area on a 26' screen.
The JVC's engineers were like umpa-loompas all over it tweaking and freaking.

They had this piece of video of Diana Krall singing at some festival by a river. On stage behind a piano they would take a close up of her and you could make out the the reflection of the crowd in her eyeballs. Stunning.

I also heard some outfit in Pheonix gave two PO's at that time even they were not shipping, I heard who it was but forgot. Would not want to guess at the bulbs price, although at some point probably was told. Kudo's to any who have sold and installed it, I'm still looking for someone to spring for the $30K option.

idodishez
05-22-2005, 10:57 PM
Ok, so who are some of the distributors of the JVC's?

Ive been carrying the Optoma line, and LOVe the PQ.

Id be interested to see/consider a JVS if the PQ is better than the Optoma.

Ca##### Sal##?

ALL###?

DB#?

CT#?

Do any of these distributors carry them?

lowvoltguy
05-23-2005, 01:42 PM
For rear projection D-ILA's, try 21st Century Dist ...