I'm intending to get a projector now, before the HVX is out. Would be ideal that it can handle the HVX's quality in the future. Any recommendations?

I'm intending to get a projector now, before the HVX is out. Would be ideal that it can handle the HVX's quality in the future. Any recommendations?

If budget is not a obstacle, 1080p 3 chip DLP or high LCD/LCOS. But be prepared to spend $10, 20 30k plus deal with noise.

I was on a tight budget but needed HD projector to check my current HD project and got the new Panny AE900 - incredibly good color, better than DLP contrast (shocking for an LCD) and no DLP rainbows. Very tweakable for calibration. Decent brightness. Runs about $2k. However, it is 720p (thought it will take 1080i and 1080p signals without artifacts).

I hate to send you away from DVinfo, but a great resource for projectors is projectorcentral.com. You can see the specs on practically any projector, as well as compare specs between models, calculate projection distances and check on available accessories and lenses...

If budget is not a obstacle, 1080p 3 chip DLP or high LCD/LCOS. But be prepared to spend $10, 20 30k plus deal with noise.

I was on a tight budget but needed HD projector to check my current HD project and got the new Panny AE900 - incredibly good color, better than DLP contrast (shocking for an LCD) and no DLP rainbows. Very tweakable for calibration. Decent brightness. Runs about $2k. However, it is 720p (thought it will take 1080i and 1080p signals without artifacts).

Sorry, I forgot to say budget is an obstacle. I'm in a $1k/3k range. Not for commercial use. I would love to get the most quality (hopefully be able to project HVX footage at it's best) within this range.

Sorry, I forgot to say budget is an obstacle. I'm in a $1k/3k range. Not for commercial use. I would love to get the most quality (hopefully be able to project HVX footage at it's best) within this range.

The Panasonic AE-900 has the best image for under $2k. Do check the projector central reviews as well as avsforum.com

I did a lot of research on this about 12 months ago and ended up not going for the Panny - it's definitely a breakthrough projector (like all the 3 chip native LCD 720P projectors running around), but just too much bad karma - globes blowing up ridiculously early (caused it seems by a poorly desinged power supply), bad vertical banding problems that vary from unit to unit and poor service mentioned in numerous forums across the web.

In the end I went for Sony VPL-HS50/51 and a DVDO iScan as a scaler, as recommended by ProjectorCentral. The projector doesn't have a great internal scaler, but apart from that it is a remarkable product - zero vertical banding, great colour response and a terrific image. The Panny and the Sony were the only two projectors to feature a dynamic iris control which improved the contrast of the image to near DLP quality. A cheaper option than using an external scaler is to use a scaling DVD player and there are some good options. I went with NuoNeo player from Neodigits which has all the bells and whistles including HDMI - cost is around $US250.. IMO the scaler in this player is on a par with the DVDOiScan+

http://www.neodigits.com/body/product/HVD2085/feature.asp

no service though as they are China only, but excellent customer response for a Chinese web based retailer. This is one of the only upscaling DVD players I could find that outputs upscaled video on the component as well as the HDMI output. The above version is an improved model from mine.

Another good option is the Sanyo 720P projector - no dynamic contrast control but an excellent picture and quite cheap.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=356453&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

One other thing - for the screen I would recommend either spending up to buy something good like a Stewart or ScreenTechnics or going cheap with a product like ScreenGoo. The inbetween stuff which looks attractive will just disappoint; The ScreenGoo will be the equal or exceed these products, while if you have enough cash the Stewart Grayhawk has received rave reveiws and is the standard to which others aspire. Haunt the home theatre forums to find out more.