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NateTTU
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 297
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 Link Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 4:16 am Post subject: Cheap Digital Gaming Projector |
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I'm looking for a dirt cheap 480 or even better a 720p projector for around $400. (used or new doesn't matter as long as the bulb doesn't need immediate replacement) Less is better but I would like to point out this is not for really a great picture but just for a big picture to play my games on. The crt is simply not cutting it for me. My crt is certainly still the movie pj but I need a gaming pj. Any help would be appreciated.
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WanMan
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 10273
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:53 am Post subject: |
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I thought I could get away with a cheap digital projector for gaming, but the games I play frequently have extreme dark maps (environments) that make it a no-no for digitals. Also, because of the rapid panning involved in FPS games, I couldn't use DLP either.
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oliverg
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 800
Location: Melbourne, Australia
TV/Projector: Sony G90 X2 - Vidikron Vision 1
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 10:37 am Post subject: |
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What don't you like about your CRT for gaming?
Apart from burn in, response time is fantastic with CRTs - minimal input lag.
There are plenty of cheap digitals around but most have awful PRT and abysmal levels of input latency.
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WanMan
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 10273
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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Nothing! For the Xbox 360 I am using a 65" CRT-based RPTV. The enhanced blacks are terrific. I have not tried the VGA cable because it will not do 1080i (progressive only output).
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oliverg
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 800
Location: Melbourne, Australia
TV/Projector: Sony G90 X2 - Vidikron Vision 1
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry Wanman my question was to the OP lol 
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AvgOrdinaryGuy
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Northeast Arkansas USA
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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| oliverg wrote: | | What don't you like about your CRT for gaming? |
I'm not the OP either, but I think he said in another thread that he wants to take the pj with him when he goes to friends houses to play games. That is a real pain in the back with a CRT! 
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oliverg
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 800
Location: Melbourne, Australia
TV/Projector: Sony G90 X2 - Vidikron Vision 1
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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Finding a digital that is good for games is a pain in the neck.
VERY few (apart from the 'high' end (a relative term)) actually have the PRT to play games properly, especially FPS's. Its not so bad with RTS etc type games but the moment you have anything that requires >4ms you end up in trouble. Portable digitals are universally terrible!
I'm sorry to be so negative, I do wish you all the best in your search but I'm afraid your expectations may be too high unless you aren't playing 'action' type games.
I suggest you get a Barco Reality 909 and build a custom car trailer that can be towed from a bicycle. Then you can lug it around with you and impress the ladies.
Seriously though, you may be better thinking in terms of large fixed displays
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paw
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 1176
Location: Arvada, CO
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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| oliverg wrote: | Finding a digital that is good for games is a pain in the neck.
VERY few (apart from the 'high' end (a relative term)) actually have the PRT to play games properly, especially FPS's. Its not so bad with RTS etc type games but the moment you have anything that requires >4ms you end up in trouble. Portable digitals are universally terrible!
I'm sorry to be so negative, I do wish you all the best in your search but I'm afraid your expectations may be too high unless you aren't playing 'action' type games.
I suggest you get a Barco Reality 909 and build a custom car trailer that can be towed from a bicycle. Then you can lug it around with you and impress the ladies.
Seriously though, you may be better thinking in terms of large fixed displays |
Can you tell me what these terms mean?
PRT
FPS (OH! First person shooters)
RTS
Just curious. 
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Aubrey
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oliverg
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 800
Location: Melbourne, Australia
TV/Projector: Sony G90 X2 - Vidikron Vision 1
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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PRT - pixel response time
FPS (OH! First person shooters) yes
RTS - Real Time Strategy
Any other TLAs you need translating? (Three Letter Acronyms!)
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NateTTU
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 297
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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Well that does kinda suck then because I mostly play FPS games and some racing ones also. My crt is great in and all but just doesn't have enough brightness for most of my games and I hate having to run it at 80+ brightness levels and also the ability for me to take this to a different place is a great feature. I didn't really think to much about the response time of digital projectors I just figured since the actuall screen (not projected image) is so small that it could retrace the image fairly quickly. I'm currently looking at these projectors:
Samsung SP-H710AE (supposedly ~$800)
Optoma HD70 (~$700)
Epson Powerlite Cinema 400 (~$550)
I was leaning more towards the Cinema 400 because it is suppose to be exceptionally bright and has a warranty of 2 years instead of 1 and I could also buy a 3 year bulb replacement warranty.
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garyfritz
Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 12026
Location: Fort Collins, CO
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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Oliver, I understand your point about rainbows with DLPs in fast-moving games. But how could DLPs have slow PRT? The mirrors are flapping many many times per frame! How could they not respond quickly to the next frame? Or is there some image-processing hardware/software that slows it down?
Nate, maybe a dumb questions, but you DO know you increase *contrast* to make it brighter? Increasing *brightness* will just wash it out.
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scottap
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 177
Location: Palo Alto, CA
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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I had a Mitsubishi HD1000 (720p dlp) for a while. The strobing from the color wheel gave me a huge headache whenever I watched it for very long. Never tried it for games, but whenever I watched a movie with fast moving action, the projector would drop frames (as if it couldn't keep up with the motion). It was almost a strobe-like effect. Very annoying. If I had to go digital for gaming, I'd look for an LCD projector.
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NateTTU
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 297
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| Link Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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| oliverg wrote: |
I'm sorry to be so negative, I do wish you all the best in your search but I'm afraid your expectations may be too high ...
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I don't have high expectations I just need a cheaper digital that can play games and is portable (all satisfy the last requirement). I can't be too picky with a cheap digital I just want a large bright screen. Thanks for all the advise I guess I will seriously have to consider my options and check out some lcd projectors. The cinema 400 seems to be a better option.
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oliverg
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 800
Location: Melbourne, Australia
TV/Projector: Sony G90 X2 - Vidikron Vision 1
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| Link Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 2:02 am Post subject: |
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| NateTTU wrote: | Well that does kinda suck then because I mostly play FPS games and some racing ones also. My crt is great in and all but just doesn't have enough brightness for most of my games and I hate having to run it at 80+ brightness levels and also the ability for me to take this to a different place is a great feature. I didn't really think to much about the response time of digital projectors I just figured since the actuall screen (not projected image) is so small that it could retrace the image fairly quickly. I'm currently looking at these projectors:
Samsung SP-H710AE (supposedly ~$800)
Optoma HD70 (~$700)
Epson Powerlite Cinema 400 (~$550)
I was leaning more towards the Cinema 400 because it is suppose to be exceptionally bright and has a warranty of 2 years instead of 1 and I could also buy a 3 year bulb replacement warranty. |
My advice to you is to actually audition them first. That's the only way you can be absolutely sure they will be up to scratch. AFAIK, none of the PJs you have listed are sub 8ms and really you NEED at least 8, preferably >4.
Despite being 'small' even if you get a good TN panel, they still aren't fast enough
Good luck
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oliverg
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 800
Location: Melbourne, Australia
TV/Projector: Sony G90 X2 - Vidikron Vision 1
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| Link Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 2:07 am Post subject: |
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| garyfritz wrote: | Oliver, I understand your point about rainbows with DLPs in fast-moving games. But how could DLPs have slow PRT? The mirrors are flapping many many times per frame! How could they not respond quickly to the next frame? Or is there some image-processing hardware/software that slows it down?
Nate, maybe a dumb questions, but you DO know you increase *contrast* to make it brighter? Increasing *brightness* will just wash it out. |
DLPs are even slower again - there is way too much motion lag.
I personally prefer using a brighter CRT - anything over 1000 lumens works - but you do need a dim viewing environment. But if you absolutely want to go digitial, your best bet is an SXRD (an LCOS variant) by Sony. SXRD has a response time of less than 2.5ms and are great for games.
Good luck
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klover
Joined: 30 Sep 2006
Posts: 124
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
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| Link Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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I use an Infocus IN72 (480p) for gaming (360) and it's great. Cheap and nicely calibrated picture out of the the box.
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NateTTU
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 297
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| Link Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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Not that I'm trying to be picky but since 720p projectors are pretty common and really cheap I would rather buy that than a projector that can only do 480. Klover, what types of games do you play on this? Are there any cheap (sub 1k) projectors that incoporate the sxrd or lcos technology?
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Ridebreck
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 943
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
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| Link Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| oliverg wrote: | | garyfritz wrote: | Oliver, I understand your point about rainbows with DLPs in fast-moving games. But how could DLPs have slow PRT? The mirrors are flapping many many times per frame! How could they not respond quickly to the next frame? Or is there some image-processing hardware/software that slows it down?
Nate, maybe a dumb questions, but you DO know you increase *contrast* to make it brighter? Increasing *brightness* will just wash it out. |
DLPs are even slower again - there is way too much motion lag.
I personally prefer using a brighter CRT - anything over 1000 lumens works - but you do need a dim viewing environment. But if you absolutely want to go digitial, your best bet is an SXRD (an LCOS variant) by Sony. SXRD has a response time of less than 2.5ms and are great for games.
Good luck |
Weird. I haven't noticed any dropped frames or "slowness" in my HC3000 in action scenes or games. Then again, I've only played Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell on it.
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WanMan
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 10273
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| Link Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:59 am Post subject: |
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How on earth you play pan-heavy games on a DLP display is amazing. I've tried playing Ghost Recon on a DLP a couple of times and the RGB separations were way too much for me. I thought I was on [other] drugs.
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oliverg
Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 800
Location: Melbourne, Australia
TV/Projector: Sony G90 X2 - Vidikron Vision 1
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| Link Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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| WanMan wrote: | | How on earth you play pan-heavy games on a DLP display is amazing. I've tried playing Ghost Recon on a DLP a couple of times and the RGB separations were way too much for me. I thought I was on [other] drugs. |
Some of the more modern ones must be better .. personally, I wouldn't risk it unless I'd auditioned it first
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