[herodotus13]

First off: total noob!

Here's the info:
Room dimensions & seating: Living room, viewing distance is an 6' screen, about 5 - 8 feet away. Meant to be big.

Lighting conditions: living room space is modular and the AV system is meant to be "torn down" when not in use. Not a dedicated space, with some windows that are curtained with blackouts, mostly evening viewing for special movie-night occasions.

Viewing habits: Special occasions. Nighttime viewing. No TV or whatnot...have a computer for that.

What projector you have (if you already purchased one), and the exact brand and model: I am being offered a Sanyo PLV-z4 for $500 cash. Slightly used. Lamp life unknown. Nothing on eBay or whatnot.

Would appreciate thoughts or help on this for comparable models!

Thanks,

H.


Read more: Buying Your First Projector? Please Read - Home Theater Forum and Systems - HomeTheaterShack.com

 

[Anthony]

That throw and screen size should be doable with the Z4. I have one and it is very versatile for setup. It also throws out a fair amount of light, but I would go with a grey high gain screen to improve the contrast.

My old house, I had a 92" screen at 11' viewing distance (projector was 18' back) and it looked great. It was on an Optoma greywolf II screen (1.8 gain) and looked good in moderate light (basement with two windows with blinds) and great at night (total blackout).

$500 is a good price, but beware, you may be putting in a $250 bulb right away, depending on usage. For $1k, you could probably get a new 720p projector, although I haven't shopped for a while.

Good luck and welcome to HTS.

 

[lcaillo]

I would not pay that much for a used projector that you don't know much about. Not only could you need a lamp, but you could also have light engine cleaning issues or filter problems. Display a full field of red, green, and blue on it and look carefully for uniformity.

 

[TypeA]

Why cant you check the hours on the lamp? I got a used mits hc3000 on craigslist and it was listed as having "only about 400 hundred hours on the lamp." A quick search on google told me how to check the hours and I verified in his house that it had 1450 hours on the lamp! Talked him down to $175 from $400, mainly just because of the false advertising and dragging me across town under false pretenses. Moral of the story: high lamp hours can be a powerful bargaining chip on a "slightly used" projo

 

[mechman]

It's pretty easy to reset a lamp timer without changing a lamp. I don't think there's anything built in that would check to see if the bulb is actually new. Then again, maybe there is... :sneeky:

 

[tonyvdb]

The Z4 is a great projector but $500 is a bit high I would not pay more than $400. But as others have said test it out first and find out the bulb use first.

 

[TypeA]

Suppose resets without bulb replacement is possible. In the case of the hc3000 it has a overall hours counter also