CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

holdenkicks · Joined: 29 May 2011 Posts: 56

I have seen both of these for sale. The NEC has the optional convergence board for fine tuning and is a lot cheaper than the barco. Both come with manuals and ceiling mounts.

Both PJ's are in the same category on Curts PJ rankings page, but the barco goes up to higher resolutions and is 1250 lumens vs the NEC's 1000.

The NEC has 2670 hours on it, the barco has about 19000 but the owner says its (the 808s) had its tubes replaced at some point, and describes their condition as Red=9, Green=7, Blue=7/6..

The blue and red tubes on the NEC are about an 8, while the green is more like a 6, owner says tube wear has no impact on the picture.

The NEC is about a 600 mile drive from me, the barco is only about 120 miles from me but is almost three times the price.

I only want to do 1280x720P from the HTPC and am considering upgrading from my newly installed 1271 cause its blue focus is rubbish and its convergence needs to be re-aligned every time I tun the set on, and its very annoying!

So which would you buy? Im attracted by the cheaper price of the NEC but the fact that the barco has better specs and is way closer to me weighs heavily in its favour. Is the barco worth the extra... say $450 or so (factoring in travel costs) over the NEC?

gjaky · Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 2802 Location: Budapest, Hungary

Hi,
Well I have a NEC6PG xtra with ~3500hrs, and my blue tube almost do not show wear at all, and the green is at least 7. I would ask both seller to take pictures from the tube faces.
These sets do not make a stunning 1080p picture so the resolution gain of the barco is not a big deal -my 6PG xtra locks to 1080p@60 though. Also I doubt that you could see a big difference in brightness (note the NEC XG uses the same green tube as PG xtra, and the XG is rated to 1200 lumen)
19000hrs in barco means that it is a reliable chassis, but this also means that the parts are more stressed, a recapping should be the first thing to do after buying.
The NEC has better optical system (HD145 color filtered lenses vs barco's clear HD-8s)
I would take the NEC, but I am a NEC fan -so wait for other replies Wink

TheVerge · Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 928

i'd buy which ever one was newer.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:22 pm Post subject:

Unless it's from a reseller with a warranty, it would seem that the Barco is a bit overpriced. I know that's a bit ironic coming from someone that sells his projectors for as much as he can, but a worn tube set like that, I'd be asking about $900 for it as well.... with a warranty.

holdenkicks · Joined: 29 May 2011 Posts: 56

Sounds like thats three votes for the NEC so far.... I have seen pictures of the tube faces for both these PJ's and the description i gave of their condition in the OP is accurate.

The barco actually has an opening bid price of $500 and buy it now for $900. With 19000 hours on the set (although not on the tubes by the looks of it), is that too many hours for me to bother with this even if I got it for $500?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:32 pm Post subject:

No, Barcos can go to well over 60,000 hours. THe tubes could be original in the Barco if it was not projecting light for long periods of time. If this is on eBay, I'm sure the bidding won't go over $500...

holdenkicks · Joined: 29 May 2011 Posts: 56

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:48 pm Post subject:

the Sony is probably a bad V board, which has the convergence section on it. They develop bad solder joints, I've seen that before. It's really a tossup between the BArco and the NEC, you'll see a big improvement either way.

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

I have a friend who owns a Sony 1272Q and he loves it, mainly for the price of it being practically free. We spent about $250 in accessories and parts to get it back up to spec. Every capacitor it had, we replaced with brand new ones. Theres about 50+ that I can remember (Maybe more).

Did it help? A little, if anything it made it more stable but thats about it. We got a set of HD-8 Rev B lenses for it too and that also improved the sharpness significantly over the original crappy HD-8 Rev A lenses.

However, If I were you, I wouldn't spend any money on the 1271Q, its just not worth it. The Barco or NEC will give you a much much better picture thanks to EM Focusing.

I personally own a NOS NEC 9PG Xtra with mint original tubes. Ive used it for a couple hundred hours but thats about it. The picture on it is honestly better than my NEC XG 110 because the tubes on my XG are fairly worn.

I can say this, the NECs have what many would consider unreliable chassis, but if they have been well taken care of, they should be fine for the most part. I'm an NEC fan myself and I love both my XG, PG Xtra, and PG Plain CRT machines, the picture on them is damn good. heck, all 3 look better than my Sony VPL-VW50 SXRD PJ and all 3 cost less than that one!

so just because it has a higher resolution doesn't mean it will look better... honestly you can fool most people with 720p on a CRT vs 1080p on a digital display..

Id say go for the NEC, its cheaper, the PQ will probably be as good if not better, and remember it does use the 8" NEC XG Green so that is a plus (Sure is for me if my green ever takes a dump again in my XG).

The only thing about the NECs are they are the most complicated ones to setup because they have very extensive menus with lots of settings, and that confuses a lot of first time NECer's. If you stick with it isn't so bad, theres a method to setting an NEC up though, thats for sure. Smile

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

Doesn't the 808S use Sony tubes = rare as hen's teeth? With a $500. opening bid I'm betting it will get zero bids. No one is paying that for a machine with worn tubes, not even in the EU

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

You dont want the Barco for $900 cause $500 is the starting bid.

Yes the Barco is the Barco that uses the Sony tubes, and they are slightly worn, although in a pretty good large patern from what i saw when i looked. They are not too bad.

That NEC aint worth the ask, my mate bought an XG for less than that HERE in Australia with better tubes. He also bought a 9 PG XTRA for less than that, with tubes abit worse.

Those tubes in that NEC will affect the picture.

Draganm, youre dead right on the zero bids, that is what it has had every time, and its now on at least its 3RD run starting at $500 with a $900 BIN price.

Ive looked at this Barco a few times cause i thought about getting it myself, but not til it starts at a reasonable price...

philm · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 113

holdenkicks · Joined: 29 May 2011 Posts: 56

hey guys thanks for the advice, has certainly helped a lot!

Elaine Benes · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1416

They're both waaaaaayyyyyy over priced....

Personally, I'd choose the Barco, but only if it has Panasonic tubes. You have to actually look at the tubes to know for sure, the model can be one that typically comes with Sony tubes, and it can have Panasonics. Mine is like that, a high resolution "s" model with Panasonic tubes....

NEC's are fun, but a LOT of work, especially in regards to getting them to play nicely with color and black level, the Barco chassis is a much, much, much simpler implementation of color balance, in fact, much simpler in every setup respect...

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

I wouldnt say the NEC is ALOT of work myself, but you would certainly know better than me, ive only delt with Sony and NEC, and i dont reckon either one is all that perplexing.

Holden man, what state are you in and where in that state? If youre close enough youre welcome to come and have a look at an NEC in operation sometime if you like, that will give you an idea on whether you want to step up to this sort of thing, or step up another notch to something higher again.

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

just saw a BG808S listed with almost new P16LNQ hirez tubes for less than the BIN on the burnt one. I dunno why some fleabayers list the same horribly over-priced POS for months on end. I'm guessing they get some kind of "free" listing with their store fronts?

holdenkicks · Joined: 29 May 2011 Posts: 56

Hi, Im on the central coast of NSW, so at least a 1000 KM from QLD. Use to do regular trips to brisbane but not anymore.

Im actually going to look at the barco tonight and the guy agreed to my offer of $470. I figure its worth about that since i can actually make use of the inclusions like the ceiling bracket and hoist thingy, plus other things like the vga to rgbhv cable. Tube condition looks alright to me and I would only use this for about a 100 hours a year, if I get 4 or 5 years out if it ill be happy.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:27 am Post subject:

Yup, I'd say that's fair then.

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

Its a fair price with all the extras yes. The tube face's wear look in the pics to be quite large, which is good.

100 hours a year? are you sure? HAHA!! Ive put 10 times that on my NEC in the past 3 months just playing video games.

Once you upgrade from the Sony to the Barco, youll have to give serious thought about ditching the Holden for a real car... And not a bloody Falcon either!! Wink