CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Elf Six · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 21

Hi all

I'll be moving to a new house soon, so me and the wife started to think about our
Marquee 8500 Ultra. It has served us very well for over ten years, without any problems
(except a blurry blue tube). We run 720p on it. So, my wife asks if I we should hang it
in the ceiling in the new place or on the table, like now. That's when I start to doubt if the
wisest choice would be to wrap it up and put it in the basement.

For the fun of it, I started to look a the digital pjs you can buy at normal warehouses. The wife
found this to be very strange, coming from the 'high-tower'. But time marches on I guess.

I then thought; has the tech moved so far that I would impressed even with a lower-end digital?
Like, if I were to put this one up next to the Marquee, what I would see? How would it compare?

Marquee 8500 Ultra vs. BenQ W1300 DLP(or the like). I would guess that I would get a sharper image(1080p vs 720p)
a brighter image, not-so-good blacks, maybe artifacts?

But in the real world, would it be better? Or how much would a digital pj cost if it were to be 'in the same
ballpark'/better than the 8500 ultra?

Thanks

Tim in Phoenix · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 4409 Location: Phoenix

Hello

Your blue tube may only need a magnetics alignment to regain focus

Elf Six · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 21

Tim, I tried everything and it's just blurry.

However, even if it were good, we would still need to think about mounting etc in the new house.
Smile

ElTopo · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1640

A Barco 909 will give you Reality Mr. Green

Tim in Phoenix · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 4409 Location: Phoenix

Hello

Do have streaking on blue? Try swapping neckboards. I have never seen a 180DMB22 just go blurry on its own

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 4:17 pm Post subject:

No matter what you read online, you need to go check a digital out in person. I still don't like any of the low end stuff I've seen. With the price of good 8" tubes being relatively cheap, you'll still be into a replacement blue tube for far less than a new decent digital.

As for hanging the thing, well frankly, my $.02 only, but I've never understood the 'big job' attitude of hanging a CRT projector. Granted, I've done pretty close to 100s of them, so I know what to do, but it really isn't a big deal.

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

Elf Six · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 21

I'm just a little wary of buying another blue tube. This never really became a hobby for me, and I can see that the JVC's
at about 3K, as you mention draganm, are held to pretty high regards. One of those would probably walk over my Marquee.

I'm not going to install new lenses etc.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Just remember to figure future lamps into the equation. And if there happens to be a failure after warranty the repair cost can be great.

jbmeyer13 · Joined: 03 Dec 2010 Posts: 1135

There's two parts to this equation; performance and time. From a performance stand point the low end digitals (like aforementioned BenQ) are not going to have decent black levels but they will be bright and sharp. The JVC's performance will surpass your stock 8500 Ultra but will be a significant investment. And as Mac said you may need a spare lamp which adds more to the cost. Your current projector is capable of 1080p.

Time is the other issue. With a little leg work you could replace the blue tube (40 minutes), add a Moome card to run 1080p straight into the PJ (5 minutes) and set up the Marquee at your new home. Setting up the PJ is dependent on your expertise, familiarity and where you want to place the projector. A good set up shouldn't take more than a day's effort. A digital PJ can be set up in a fraction of the time.

In summation:

a) For approx. $500 and a day's worth of work you can continue using your Marquee.
b) For approx. $1,000 and a couple of hours you can have a digital with lesser performance than your Marquee
c) For approx. $3,000 and a couple of hours you can have a digital with better performance than your Marquee

IMO, you go with either a or c depending on your preference for time/money.

ecrabb · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:15 pm Post subject:

We're looking at a used CRT, and an 8-inch at that, so we don't need to compare to a brand new digital for a valid comparison.

For instance, an acquaintance of mine is selling his JVC RS45 on AVS Classifies for $1,495. I have the same projector, and it's truly an OUTSTANDING projector for $1500. It's 2.5 years old, has about 1500 hours total on it, and it's on its second lamp with 240 hours on it. Depending on how much you watch, that's probably good for at least a year or two before you have to put a lamp in it. Comes with a transferrable Mack warranty good until November. He's only selling it because he upgraded to a 2014 model.

I switched from a G70 to an RS45 two years ago, and I couldn't be happier. No, the black level isn't quite as good, and since I sit very close to my screen, if I strain and look very closely, sometimes I can just see pixels. But, other than that, it's far superior to the CRT in every other way. Super-quiet, very small for little impact on room or seating, very easy to hang, little to no setup, powered lens shift/zoom/focus, so much more flexible installation. It's much brighter so it can handle a bigger screen and even scope without a scaler. For me, at $2200 it was a no-brainer. At $1500, it's a downright steal. In fact, I would't even bother looking at a low-end BenQ or Epson.

Given that, I'd amend Justin's list like this:

1) For approx. $500 and a day's worth of work you can continue using your Marquee.
2) For approx. $1,500 and a couple of hours you can have a digital with better performance than your Marquee

The CRT is nice because it won't ever need a lamp. OTOH, this situation (and so many others on this very forum) makes it clear they certainly aren't free to own (as some would have you believe). If you have one for some length of time, it's highly likely you'll have to put some money in it. Yes, they're generally inexpensive to repair, while the digital is not - as long as you're not talking about replacing tubes.

I'd also add that a JVC that's even a year or two older than my RS45 is similarly competitive with an 8-inch machine, but at a used prices closer to a grand.

So, it just comes down to budget, time, aesthetics, performance, and which of those things you value most.

Cheers,
SC

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

tschaeikaei · Joined: 08 Apr 2013 Posts: 490 Location: Germany/Saarland

If i were you, i would first care about a screen.
You will use a projector, that's clear.
If you're not shure about the Marquee, place it on a table and do a setup.
You recently moved to a new house? Well, there may be more things to care about than home cinema, i gues.
So don't play with your money, use the marquee, maybe test another projector (CRT or digital) from a friend on your screen
and see how it goes.
I personally would keep the marquee. But as i don't know your preferences, chill out and enjoy movies.
If you can grab a cheap blue tube, grab it and maybe resell it if you should decide against the Marquee.
The question is not, what would be better (which would call thousands of post here and on other forums) but what you like best.
You know that projector, how to do a proper setup and thats a good start.
Digital is too easy Smile

Just hang it and turn the lens to focus. Where is the challenge? Smile

Remember lamp life and cost if you should tend to digital again.

Regards, Julian

CIR Engineering · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:25 pm Post subject:

Personally, I'd go with a newish JVC over any 8" CRT. I'd only consider keeping the Marquee if you decided to upgrade the tubes from Curt to 9". Curt has had some really really really low prices on Marquee 9" tubes so it might be worth considering.

If it were me, I would look at NOS JVC projectors from last year for economic reasons. A lot of people do it, but I wouldn't consider buying a used digital projector unless it were a really high end model or less than two years old (but that's me). The digital projectors have gotten more reliable for the past several years which is one of the reasons I say look at the newer ones. The other reason is that image quality has marched forward incrementally every year.

This year and last black level on the JVC and Sony projectors has really improved too. If you are thinking about professional calibration at all than there is more to the story, but for a stock projector both the JVC and Sony models are relatively nice looking out of box. IMO either one would surpass all but the very best 8500's out there.

craigr

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 10:34 pm Post subject:

I'd look at it one more way regarding pricing. As Mac says, do factor in ONE new bulb into the equation. I'm not sure about the JVCs, but most of the lower end digitals will last 2-3 bulbs before the chassis blows up. After the second bulb is close to the end of its life, I wouldn't bother buying another bulb (third into the set),as almost guaranteed that there will be chassis issues shortly thereafter.

too bad you won't consider dropping in 9" tubes. For $1500 you could turn that projector into a 9500 Ultra. Where are you located?

Bucketfoot · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 698 Location: Centennial, CO

I always think the bulb comments are way overstated. I'm closing in on 5 years with my RS2 and I've replaced the bulb once. I don't watch it daily, but it's on a several nights a week and pretty much all day every weekend.

I certainly agree that if you are going digital, JVC is the way to go.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Using a term of years or months for bulb life has no relevance. A 15 year old lamp could still work fine depending on its hours.

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

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

Elf Six · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 21

Hi all

The wife said no to any low-end digital. She especially said no to ever having anything called Epson as a pj.
"Are we having a meeting in the company conference room?"

It seems we are going for a JVC DLA later on. At 2k to 3k (USD), it will be hard for me to use 500USD on a new
blue tube. That's too high a percentage of an JVC DLA. Then shipping comes into play, too. I'm located in Copenhagen,
Denmark.

I put some stuff up for sale here on the forum, because I am trying to downsize stuff in my depot. So maybe my mind
is set? I don't know. It's difficult after having used the Marquee for so many years without any problems. But maybe it's
wrong hanging on to 'being special'. Bite the apple and go to the warehouse and buy a digital pj in the same place you
buy your dishwasher.

At least I've decided against a cheap one Smile