Tweet 3D Projector for Blu-ray and Smart TV ?? Need help to buy

Hi guys -- I've read reviews on here of numerous people who have bought Digital Blu-Ray projectors, and the amazing experience they have watching blu-rays, and I'd like to buy one now they are coming down in price, (especially this week, with it being "Black Friday Week") (Otherwise I will wait till the January Sales are on)...

Anyway, this Epson is seemingly the first one I have found that is within my price range. But I need lots of help, because I don't know the first thing about them? Is this one a "good deal" ?? And why is it called a "Gaming projector" ? I don't want it for games -- I only want it for films and television. (I'm far too old to be playing video games).

What features I am looking for on it are as follows: 1080i HD, 3D ready, Smart TV included so I can use it as a normal TV as well as a film projector, (I am going to keep my regular TV to watch normal programmes on), But as "The Wizard Of Oz" (1939), and "Titanic" (1997) have both already been converted to 3D, I would LOVE to be able to see them in 3D.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epson-EH-TW5100 ... +projector

Epson EH-TW5100 Full HD 1080p 3D Home Cinema and Gaming Projector
by Epson
116 customer reviews | 26 answered questions
RRP: £599.99
Price: £479.00 & FREE Delivery in the UK. Details
You Save: £120.99 (20%)
Only 2 left in stock.
Sold by TopProjectors and Fulfilled by Amazon in certified Frustration-Free Packaging. Gift-wrap available.
7 new from £476.78 4 used from £432.71
Style Name: TW5100

TW5100
£479.00


TW5200
- -
Epson 3LCD technology for bright, accurate colours
1920 x 1080 resolution (1080p Full HD)

I have an Epson 3020 that sound very much like the one you describe. I've had it for a couple of years and I love it! Beautiful picture, excellent 3D. They don't do much in the way of sound so you also might want to get an A/V receiver and speakers. It will not only amplify the sound, but you can use it to switch between sources like blu-ray, your cable box, a streaming box like a Roku and if you decide to have a second childhood, a game system!

I have an Epson and also an Optoma. I like the Optoma WAY better for two reasons:

1) It's much brighter.

2) It's WAY quieter-- to the extent that I thought there was something wrong with it and brought it back to the store to exchange it. I got it for use on an episode of the TV show "Manhattan" where it was to be used for a scene where the scientists are being shown footage of the destruction going on in Europe. I was afraid it wouldn't be usable, since it was so loud, but luckily they wanted the prop 16mm projector (for which the Epson was doing the actual projection) running, and that thing was louder.

Here's a good Optoma that's roughly the same price as the Epson you posted:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Optoma-GT1080-Full-1080p-Projector/dp/B00M2YDDLU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448818720&sr=8-1&keywords=blu+ray+projector+optoma+3d

Note: The projector I have isn't current, and while it's still somewhat available, it's now more expensive than current models. I have the Optoma HD25-LV.

Thank you so much for replying guys... I spent all last night plowing through countless YouTube clips and watching all these American Technical guys talking about what function certain Epson projectors have, and how many Lumens they all have etc. That seems to be THE BUZZ word "Lumens"... "You've gotta have a lot of Lumens" one guy said.

I came away with the impression that the MORE Lumens you have, the better the picture quality, and the better the colour, and the better the image on screen. But I don't know if that is true or not?

I found this one within my price range that has 2,200 Lumens, which is seemingly the most I can afford. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epson-EH-TW5300 ... b_title_ce Epson EH-TW5300 LCD Projector (3D, 2200 lumens, 1920 x 1080, 16:9) Its going for £604 pounds... (or £541 from different dealers on Amazon)...

I had a tax rebate of £400 and I can scrape together the rest, but i don't want to spend more than £700. I definitely can't go into the "thousands" which is what some of these guys were saying.

Basically I don't want it for games at all.. I never play video games any more, so I wouldn't want it for that. I would only want it for used as a home cinema, so would be watching blu-rays on it. ( I would also want to watch movies broadcast in HD from BBC1 and BBC2 and Channel FourHD, etc etc)

I have measured the distance between my two walls; the back wall and the front wall (as I thought I could just paint the back wall white to use a screen, and move the side-board into the dining room) and its 160 inches, which is 13 feet. So if I am projecting from 13 feet away -- how BIG will the picture be? Do you know? Because I haven't got anyone to ask? If I did paint the back wall white then I would want the picture to go from floor the ceiling!! Wow that would be awesome!

The other thing is this... I have heard guys on YouTube talk about a little gimmick thing that sort of "throws" the information to the projector, so that you don't have to wire up the blu-ray player via an HDMI cable all the way to your bluray player ? Is this true? Can you buy software / hardware gizmo that actually beams the information from the blu-ray player up to the projector (on the ceiling -- as I would like to have it hidden away on the ceiling if possible), and not have to have loads of wires into the projector. (In fact I can't even imagine an HDMI cable being long enough to reach the projector, if its on the ceiling) -- and that also begs the question, how on earth would I get up there to faff around with it each time I want to plug in a different HDMI cable?? I'm only 5 foot 10 LOL... One guy on YouTube was saying that he has encountered some sort of "out-of-synch" problem between sound and picture when he used one of these gizmo's? Is that true?

Thanks in advance for you advice.

[Christopher Jacobs]

I've moved this topic to "Tech Talk" where it belongs, instead of "Talking About Talkies."

As for a video projector, you will certainly want 1080i capability to watch TV but will need 1080p and 24 fps capability to watch Blu-rays the way they were intended. Some cheap projectors may not be able to run 24p images at 24p, and must convert them to make them play, reducing quality in the process.

The more lumens you can put o a screen, the brighter and more detailed the picture will look. Get as bright a projector as you can, especially if you'll be watching 3-D, which becomes much, much darker when wearing the 3-D shutter-glasses. It will also be darker in the "cinema" mode than the "standard" or the "dynamic," "sports," or "game" modes, but will show much greater detail and a more film-like image in the cinema mode.

The size of the picture from any projector distance depends entirely upon the focal length of your lens. It's safest to get a projector with a good zoom lens that has a ratio of at least 2 to 1, so you'll have some leeway in projector placement and also can keep a constant screen height, zooming out the picture for images wider than 1.78 to 1, and avoid the need for letterboxing. My screen is 4 feet tall by 10 feet wide, with projected images ranging from about 5 feet wide all the way to 10 feet wide, depending on the film, and the zoom lens lets the image height stay the same (my projector has customizable presets so all I need to do is go into the menu and select the aspect ratio I want). Zooming and focusing by remote control is very convenient, compared with projectors that have only a manual zoom and focus adjustment (which make ceiling-mounted units even harder to set properly if your ceiling is too high to reach easily).

Ceiling mounts DO need very long HDMI cables, which can be very expensive. My projector sits on top of the same cabinet that holds my Blu-ray players, each with a 3-foot cable to the a/v unit, and the a/v unit has its own 3-foot cable to the projector. Of course the disadvantage there is that people's heads can get in the way of the picture when they stand up in front of the projector, a problem avoided with a ceiling mount.

You'll need a newer a/v amplifier system that can pass a 3-D image as well as the multi-track lossless DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD digital audio. With my 7.1 Blu-ray audio system, which I bought before 3-D Blu-rays were introduced, I need to run an HDMI cable directly from the 3-D player to the projector for a 3-D image and used the downconverted PCM 2.0 audio to feed into the amplifier with an optical cable, letting the amplifier decode the 5.1 stereo information (7.1 audio can only be run through an HDMI cable). I also use the 3-D player to run films with mono soundtracks, since the 2.0 processing will then run the sound through the center speaker and the subwoofer, instead of just the right and left speakers only.

I don't know anything about wireless HD image and sound connections but with technology changing so fast these days I wouldn't be surprised if some players and projectors could do them. I expect wired HDMI connections would be more reliable, however. My projector is a Panasonic AE7000U but there's a newer model now available.

Sorry I came to the forum question late. There are some excellent resources in starting your search for the "ideal" 3D projector.
Projector Central has reviews of current projectors (pros and cons) link: http://www.projectorcentral.com/
A menu on the left side of the screen identifies projectors by type "Top Ten Projectors" Home Theater, 3D etc.
Check out both "Home Theater" and 3D projectors since both may do 3D (the description of the projector will say if it can do 3D)
A gaming projector can be used for movies (check out their reviews). Each model projector you examine on their site has a a little picture of a calculator next to it (you use this to find out how big or small of a picture that projector will throw from a set distance (some projectors have zoom lenses so you can change the picture size from a set distance). Figure out what projector you want and then order it (but don't buy the screen at the same time). Get the projector, set it up and then measure how big a screen you really want (you can use a bed sheet or white wall in the meantime).

You can mount the projector on the ceiling, a back shelf or put it on a coffee table. A wireless transmitter (from your blu ray player to projector runs about $150.00 USD (or just get a long HDMI cable and run it under the rug). I have ST projector (short throw lens) so I can fill a 90" image from about three feet, so I don't need a long cable run) (projector is on a roll around cart)
Active 3D glasses (unlike the ones you get in the cinema run anywhere from $25-50 USD and have a rechargeable battery) I've had good luck with the $25.00 ones. Active 3D glasses eat a lot of light so go for at least 2500 lumens to keep the image bright.
Some of the top brands include BenQ, Epson,Optoma. Read projector reviews on Amazon and check out projector reviews on Youtube.
Have fun, Just my two cents,
Bill

Here is a good review of the best Home Projectors. Hope it will be helpful for someone.
https://www.bestadvisor.com/home-theater-projectors

Why nobody talked about the LCD grid effect, the viseble grid on large projections of HD vídeo?

Why nobody talked about the LCD grid effect, the viseble grid on large projections of HD vídeo?

Have no idea what you are talking about. I've had an Epson 3020 for several years and it looks great. No grid effect.

Um, those are called pixels. All modern screens have them. You can't see them from a normal viewing distance.

There is something called fill fator, as you cas see in the .

LCD creartes a ugly pattern.

I would NEVER buy an LCD projector---DLP is the overall best display system for digital projection.

I would NEVER buy an LCD projector---DLP is the overall best display system for digital projection.

I agree. I've had both. I really love my Optoma projector.