Projector Dilemma.

Vas · September 18, 2014

Hi all,

Normally i don't solve my problem by asking in forums but, I've came to like the LinusTechTips community,a lot, so here we go.

I've decided to by a projector, as i love big screens, the bigger the better. I've made my mind on few of the parameters, like 2000 to 2200 is a perfect Lumen level for the room that i intend to use, during day and night time.

What the projector will be used for is, movies and some casual PC and Wii gaming. Therefore the things like refresh-rate and input lag are not that much of a problem. The refresh-rate is OK allover the options, and the input lag should be good enough so that I don't feel disorientated, but not the needed one for competitive gaming.

And here came the question. Is it a good idea to buy a very nice projector like BenQ W1070 or W1300, or should i aim for something more casual, as for what I'm going to use it?

Currently I'm able to spend around 1000$, as the price of the two mentioned above is.

I would like to hear form someone who have struggle with something of a sort.

Should i spend a lot of money for 1080p projector with perfect specs and renown reputation, or should I just go with a 720p decent option for half the price?

Also a lot of the projector give a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 and native 1024x768, could someone decipher this, in my head contradicting information, for me?

I love making the initial research before buying something, so blogs, reviews and anything of a sort will be appreciated.

My doubts comes from the fact that, as reliable as the current projector market is, you will need to change the bulb in 3-5 years. This will cost as much a new low class projector, which is better the your high-end old one. TECHNOLOGY, WOW. I would gladly consider this as a good purchase if i was buying a PC, TV, Air conditioner, Washing machine and other thing that you use on dally bases or a lot of functionality. I doubt that a projector for casual gaming and casual movie watching will fall for me in this category.

What I'm looking for is someone to convince me that, a cheep projector will do me the same justice. Or to convince me that it would not be a casual experience, and it will fall in the dally and functionality category.

Apologies for the long post.

If you don't like reading, you can just read the bolted text.

Thank you for the attention. Regards, Vasil Nikolov