CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[robbedenys]

Hi!

This is my first topic here!
First thing: this is a great website and a great forum. Thank you for all this work.

So, my story:

A month ago I've bought myself a Sony 1252. After a lot of trying and tuning, the picture now is really nice.
I bought it for 300 EUR, and it had 1966 hours on all tubes. It also had a Sony IFB-FULLHD HDMI 1.3 input card.

Now i have the opportunity to get a Sony D50 for 200 EUR. The owner of the projector is sending me the CRT timer display any minute. He says it is in good condition, there is also no dust inside the beamer.

The first thing i did was searching the forum for topics about the D50.
The weird thing (for me) is that almost all topics are negative about this projector?

In the projector rankings the D50 is ranked a lot higher than the 1252, but when I search for the 1252 on the forum there are almost no negative comments!

Is the D50 a good upgrade from a 1252 or should i just keep the 1252?

I hope you can help me out here.

Thanks!

Greetings,
Robbe

[Mark_A_W]

It's not much of an upgrade.


I'd aim higher. 8" em focus, preferably LC.

[robbedenys]

Ok, thanks for your answer.

I thought the higher bandwidth and extra converge points would be a good step forward.

I also have the offer of an NEC PG-6200 (6PGxtra) with 2800 hours of play.
Don't know his price.

Is this projector as easy to set-up as the Sony's are?
How much should i give him for his projector?

[Curt Palme]

the D50 really depends on the condition of the tubes. If they are low hour, it is a step up from a 12XX series, if they are worn, it's a step down.

Same with the PG. The hour meter tells you almost nothing about the set. A set with 2800 hours on it could have completely shot tubes or pristine ones, depending on how the set was used.

Keep in mind that I also am blowing out most lower end sets other than 9" at this point. I completely recondition sets, shipping to Europe usually is about $400 USD, so you'll spend a bit more, but you'll get a set in exactly the condition that I say it is in.

As for an as is set that you can't inspect before buying that isn't anything but a high end 8" or 9" set, I personally would pay no more than $200 USD plus shipping, and then expect to spend $300-1000 to replace the green and/or blue tubes.

[Curt Palme]

the D50 really depends on the condition of the tubes. If they are low hour, it is a step up from a 12XX series, if they are worn, it's a step down.

Same with the PG. The hour meter tells you almost nothing about the set. A set with 2800 hours on it could have completely shot tubes or pristine ones, depending on how the set was used.

Keep in mind that I also am blowing out most lower end sets other than 9" at this point. I completely recondition sets, shipping to Europe usually is about $400 USD, so you'll spend a bit more, but you'll get a set in exactly the condition that I say it is in.

As for an as is set that you can't inspect before buying that isn't anything but a high end 8" or 9" set, I personally would pay no more than $200 USD plus shipping, and then expect to spend $300-1000 to replace the green and/or blue tubes.

[robbedenys]

The sets are both inspectable, i am from Belgium, and distances between city's are not large here.
The projectors are located a half an hour drive from my home

The main reason why i would get another beamer is that i see it as a kind of investment (and improvement). I didn't pay much for the 1252 (300 EURO with a HD card in it worth 350 EUR). Without the card I think I can sell the 1252 for 150 EUR or something like that.

The next step (when i know the D50 is in good condition) is buying the D50 and inserting the HD card.
Quick calculation: When all works out fine, i have a D50 with HD card for 350 EUR.

Isn't that a good deal?

I am calculating a lot, reason for that is that actually I really don't need a projector, but I have one because its a lot of fun and these things don't cost a lot of money. I don't want to put more than 400 EUR in it.

I was really happy with the image quality of the 1252. If there is a possibility to improve the image quality by buying this D50, I don't see a thing why I shouldn't do it.

When I would buy the PG, I am setting myself off with buying a HD card for it, and that would cost me more than the projector itself!

I hope you guys can follow my way of thinking a little bit.

Greetings,
Robbe

[Kiev Savoie]

In my opinion $200 EUR is not a lot of money money, but, I still would not buy one unless it was in almost perfect condition with almost no tube wear. I had a D50 and a 1272. The D50 is definitely sharper and I enjoyed using it. But here is the thing, and this is why no one is giving you much encouragement, two or three years ago most people would tell you to jump on a D50 at that price if it was in good condition, but the price of projectors has gone through the floor since the global recession and digital projectors keep getting better so a lot of home theater owners are dumping there CRT units for the newer technology. It is now quite easy to get a great 8" inch machine for the same price a 7" machine would have cost 3 years ago! So, if you want the D50 to play with and you have extra money to spend and you have space for a couple of machines laying around, then great! Buy it, have fun and keep looking because there are much better machines out there for cheap, but don't count on being able to resell the D50. I have a perfectly good 8" Barco 1208 laying around because I got two Sony G70's and i don't have the heart to tear it apart and i can't find any one who wants the whole unit.
If you are not the kind of person who likes to play with old stuff and collect a lot of junk and you just want a nice projector, I would highly recommend one of Curt's machines. Curt can give you a great machine and save you a lot of hassle and he gives great service after the sale.

[CIR Engineering]

The D50 is actually a pretty nice projector. You hear a lot of negative things about D50's because there are a lot of much better projectors out there. But all that aside, the D50 has an excellent software interface and is extremely easy to set up compared to earlier projectors. The D50 works really well for 1080i material, just don't try 720p or anything above 1080i. You probably won't fully resolve 1080i, but it will be close...

...and don't forget that the D50 is of the same vintage as the G70 and G90. This is why the user interface is so good Make sure it comes with a remote though as these run about $125 USD because the same remote works with the G Sony projectors.

If the D50 is in good condition I would upgrade to it. However, if the tubes are not nearly perfect on the D50 stay away from it. Those tubes are hard to find and by the time you get them you will have spent more money than the projector is worth.

craigr

[robbedenys]

Thank you both for your answers!

@Kiev Savoie:

I am a person who does like to play with old stuff. I bought the 1252 just because it looks cool, and because I wanted to learn more about CRT beamers.
Here in Belgium you don't see CRT beamers often on second hand auction sites. There is a G70 for sale for 1000 EURO (way too much money for me) And while I'm typing this I just see an ad for a 1252 for 1100 EURO (!!)

So, apparently, people here ask more money for their old CRT beamers :p

@CIR Engineering:

Well, I thought it would be something like that. Of course there are much better projectors out there, but what do you have to pay for it?
I don't need the best picture quality ever, It just needs to be nice.
The D50 I would be buying comes with a remote and a service manual.

------------

I just called the guy and he asks 200 EUR for the NEC PG also.
Maybe I'm a bit autistic, but I have a sony now, and I like the way it works. I'm a little afraid of buying the NEC because it is something new to figure out.

So, what I'm going to do:
Contact the guy and tell him I want to see the tubes of both beamers.
If they are ok (good - really good), which one should I take?

[Zebu Fellenz]

If the tubes are both equally nice I would go for the PG, it's an EM set vs. the ES in the D50, so it will be sharper, and will work better with higher resolutions, the PG may also have the better HD-144 color filtered lenses.

You could always get a Sony Switcher to put the HD card in to run with the PG.

[Mark_A_W]

[Kiev Savoie]

If the tubes on both machines are good, You have a choice between an easy to setup relatively small and quiet D50 and the much sharper picture and better color reproduction of the NEC. The NEC will be harder to setup but I personally will never bother with a 7" machine again after seeing the image a good 8" machine can produce. The D50 with a remote at that price IS great, but if it's a choice between one or the other I would definitely take the NEC. If they are both cheap and both in good condition though, you might think about buying them both. the D50 would make a great backup machine while you figure out the NEC!

[AnalogRocks]

I've had a Sony 1252, an NEC 6PG (Runco 900 ) and a Sony D50. The D50 is the worst. Prone to streaking. the 1252 is built like a tank and while harder to set up initially the NEC smoked them both.

[AnalogRocks]

I've had a Sony 1252, an NEC 6PG (Runco 900 ) and a Sony D50. The D50 is the worst. Prone to streaking. the 1252 is built like a tank and while harder to set up initially the NEC smoked them both.

[CIR Engineering]

If the tubes are good, the NEC will certainly have the nicest image quality.

craigr

[AnalogRocks]

I should add the 1252 had 12 000+ hours on it when I got it. The D50 had 6000 hours and the NEC had 5300 hours.

[AnalogRocks]

I should add the 1252 had 12 000+ hours on it when I got it. The D50 had 6000 hours and the NEC had 5300 hours.

[KrisRoberts]

My second crt projecor was a D50 and I was very happy with it. For me it was an upgrade from a video only vph-1020? - it had basically the same throw distance and fit under the coffee table I had modified for the older one. My room was rather small, and the D50 did great at 540p for DVDs and 1080i for HD looked great on the 96 inch screen.

Since then we have moved into a new home with a dedicated theater and I'm now running a G90 on a much bigger screen.

But there is no way I could have fit a bigger projecor in the old place.

So I wouldn't discourage you from the D50. With a moome card and good setup it can do fine. Especially if it fits your space.

[ginger123456]

Hi robbedenys,

Not all d50's can accept the moome ifb card, if its a d50q then it has an ifb slot, if it is a d50 htu sold more in europe it does not and the moome card will not fit, you could use that card in a pc1271 switcher to feed the d50.

Ginger123456

[robbedenys]

Hi!

thanks for all your replies!
I've got the hours of the D50: it has 2109 hours.

The D50 has an IFB slot.

I haven't figured out yet what I should choose. I sometimes think it would be nice to buy 'em both, but then I am equipped with 3 CRT projectors and that's not what I need.

What do you guys mean with "streaking"?

[Kiev Savoie]

that's not very many hours. was there any tube wear?