£500 Projector for Games and Films

[iamrcb]

I'm looking to get a projector, mostly for console gaming but also some films.

Got a few questions:

- My budget is £500 for the projector. I'm not expecting "fantastic" picture quality. Will I get something decent for under £500?

- Is gaming heavier on the lamp use than normal DVD? How long do the lamps normally last because replacements seem very expensive.

- Lastly, any projector recommendations?

The maximum distance between the projector from the screen is about 4m. The projector will be ceiling mounted and the screen will be a roll-up job (£60 to £100).

Thanks

[ItsTony]

iamrcb said:

I'm looking to get a projector, mostly for console gaming but also some films.

Got a few questions:

- My budget is £500 for the projector. I'm not expecting "fantastic" picture quality. Will I get something decent for under £500?

- Is gaming heavier on the lamp use than normal DVD? How long do the lamps normally last because replacements seem very expensive.

- Lastly, any projector recommendations?

The maximum distance between the projector from the screen is about 4m. The projector will be ceiling mounted and the screen will be a roll-up job (£60 to £100).

Thanks

I have a Sony projector in a similar price range to what your after and to be honest its not great for gaming. I just find it no where near as clear as a plasma and also not as bright, especially considering at this price range, the bulbs are not bright enough to give a good picture in a brightly lit room. Games where the levels are dark like on Halo or Gears of War were particularly bad and it was hard to see some of the detail. Granted my projector is not HD.
Dvd's are great, plus I also plug my laptop in to watch i-player or downloads etc, or even surf the net fine. Through the VGA input, my projector was capable of displaying a higher resolution than when I plugged in my Xbox. I'm sure the newer HD models will have the relevant inputs so gaming might infact be a lot better than my projector.

As for lamps, from what I've read, they claim about 2000-3000 hours bulb life, but are more likely to give about 1500-2000 hours. As far as gaming and dvd's are concerned, the bulb life in relation to its usage should be similar. Its more to do with settings I think. If you leave the bulb brightness on a higher setting (i.e Brighter) then it will help lower its life. I'd imagine if some games are quite bright it might have a similar effect.

I'm sure one of the pro's will come along and help.