Simple start

So just to test this blogging and all that I've decided to pick a nice easy subject to get going. Today I'm going to talk about selecting projectors and what I did to get mine, take it or leave it. So first of all some background; I decided to finish my basement, a room of which would be dedicated to a home theater. After debating on whether or not to go for a TV or Projector, I went with a projector 'cause you just can't beat the screen size. Of course there's also the footprint in the room, quality of picture (which I'm blown away with my projector) and the location of the hookups (Picture, Power, Sound etc...)

I started looking into the AVS forum (avsforum.com) which is the greatest resource for anyone looking into this kind of stuff. After reading some posts on selecting projectors I found http://www.projectorcentral.com/ and narrowed it down to two models: The Mitsubishi HC5000BL and the Panasonic PT-AE2000U. These two were pretty comparable and at the time the cheapest 1080p projectors out (don't go with anything less than 1080p on a projector, you won't be disappointed).

Next thing was finding the right price; never pay retail for anything (I'll go to the store and buy something as long as it's cheaper than any price online) and eBay had the best prices at the time (a couple years ago that is...now it's pretty overpriced, you can usually find the same items for less on amazon.com or craigslist). Now I didn't buy the lowest price projector straight away, I had time, the basement wasn't anywhere near completion. After watching the items list and sell for a few months, a private seller listed a Mitsubishi HC5000BL at no reserve. I used http://www.ezsniper.com/ to get it at the last minute (you get three free "snipes" when you open an account) and managed to get it for $1600 which was considerably less than the next lowest price at $2499.

Fixed screen or drop down? I went with the fixed screen for a couple reasons.

1. I liked the fact it was fixed to the wall and not just flailing in the wind.


2. I had plenty of room and didn't need the wall for anything other than a screen/speakers


3. The cost of the fixed screens are considerably cheaper which means you can get a much better quality screen material for the money


4. Drop down screens have moving parts which like anything deteriorate over time


5. The fixed mount screen is classic and acts as a piece of furniture for the room


6. A buddy of mine was selling fixed projector screens and gave me a great deal!

So that's about it; to summarize, research is key to buying anything, do it!