Sat Jul 04, 2015 2:05 pm
#91484
Amanda, I may be late to the plate, HOWEVER as the owner of multiple projectors which I use all for Halloween or professional commercial displays nowadays, the #1 rule for me is EBAY, ..the #2 rule is make sure you get a "standardised" easily replaceable bulb which a brand uses for a large qty of it's range, for that purpose my optoma bought years ago now, runs like a dream & the bulb is one of the cheapest on the market.
#3 cheap projector price will trip you (more often than not) with a pricey bulb therefore do your homework & cost it in, don't buy without research & acceptance of replacement price / availability.
#Avoid Sony £$$$$$£ --kerching, had a lawsuit out against em, high cost, not really that great.
#4 Texas instruments DLP chipset, ..legendary, used by many, therefore lower price as everyone piles on.
#5 LED BULB. ..hooray! they are becoming more & more common, run far less hot than a regular bulb last possibly for the duration of a unit, BUT might be non replaceable ...check that out.
#7 an LED bulb projector solves ballast problems & allsorts, as they don't run hot, are very low voltage, cheap to produce, pretty darn reliable & cool , ..you don't need to run a fan (typically) in high altitude / high heat dissipation mode, (less noise..GOOD)
#8 regular halogen bulb types do run hot, which means burn out prematurely very often, therefore a necessity to run in high altitude (faster fan speed & more noise) to save money in terms of replacement bulbs / bulbs & housings that cost alot!
#9 a projector is for life not just Halloween ...you will get a lot of joy selectively screening your dvd's from a decent projector, ..even onto a white wall, ...make it part of your lifestyle.
#10 plenty of cheap projector screens on ebay, pick your time, lots of folk upgrade.
Remember years ago I bought mine for hallowindow's? ..well I was not allowed to sell it on afterwards, ...suffice to say my optoma still runs on the original bulb (fingers crossed) ..has been lugged aroundf to others houses, for outdoor cinema (which ryan also knows alot about) & gets used mo than the television 99% of the time just for films.
Don't hook it up to the tv ..it will just burn out used night after night for dross, ..& will be taken for granted keep it for date night & be constantly wowed at your BIG screenings of film.
on a budget & for hallowindows look for a 2.5mm jack to the rear, for computer speakers, the JBL??? Animal speakers (stormtrooper white helmet v2 as I recall) absolutely canes it for portable use & sticking through windows.
Sound on Hallowindows makes it, "Silent aint scary" (or thrilling)
Good luck
No, i'm not back.
(unlike Jonny)