I've been highly considering a projector lately. I have a 55" Samsung LED TV but really want a 100-150" screen for a theater experience (mainly for movies). My price range is ~$1000-1500. Here are few good options:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401527,00.asp

It seems like for my price range the Epson 3020 (not e - don't care about wireless) would be a good option. For ~$1000 the BenQ W1070 also gets great reviews. I don't necessarily care about 3D but if it comes with the Epson it would be cool for movies like Gravity.

It seems at this point in time most of the issues have been worked out with newer LCD projectors i.e. no rainbow effect, longer bulb life (4000-5000+ hours), bright enough.

The Epson 5020 is really temping but it's a bit more than I wanted to spend. One feature the 3020 does not have is lens shift which is better than distorting an image with keystone. I can get around that by just getting a decent ceiling mount and mounting it right the first time but I've never done it.

Thoughts on screens? I have almost no knowledge into this. I will be moving in July to a new apartment so I'll probably wait until I know the dimensions of the room but it seems like a 125" screen is easily doable in a standard sized living room assuming a 12-15' throw distance and a decent ceiling mount.

The challenge I have here is I would like to still be able to use my existing 55" Samsung for TV shows where I don't care about screen size. This probably requires me to mount the screen from the ceiling and have it be retractable.

2/19/2014 6:39:39 PM

Look at Craigslist. I recently scored a low hour 1080p 2500 lumen Panasonic with lens shift and the whole nine yards for 400 bucks

2/19/2014 9:05:08 PM

Manual retractable Dalite screens aren't terribly expensive. Couple hundred bucks for a Da-Lite Model B pulldown screens. Would recommend the Video Spectra (for low light rooms), Silver Lite (for rooms with windows and ambient light), and High Power (rooms with lots of light and short throw projectors) materials

2/19/2014 9:10:46 PM

Get a sony laser projector.

Not too expensive, especially considering there's no lamp to replace or worry about.

2/20/2014 10:08:53 AM

^^^Not really into buying used electronics. I'd rather just get it from Best Buy on sale. Plus I have 30 days with no re-stocking fee to return it if I want.

^^Thanks I'll check them out!!

^Those are really pricey. The current projectors come with a 5000-6000 hour lamp life. I'll probably buy a new projector before I buy a new bulb.

2/20/2014 11:00:09 AM

What about electric ones? Seen a lot of good things about these:

http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Screens-Electric100H-Spectrum-Projector/dp/B000YTRFEG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1392913361&sr=1-1&keywords=elite+screens

2/20/2014 11:23:33 AM