Page 1 of HP Home Cinema Digital Projector £299!!!

HP EP7112 Home Cinema Digital Projector for £299!!

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/store/16/category/Projectors/rb/21276021876

It may be entry level but at this price it`s not bad spec - over £1000 elese where!

I spotted this earlier in the week, but wasn`t sure how much of a bargain it was - apologies for not posting it at the time!

For info, mine arrived yesterday, and I`m very happy with it. It`s quite bulky, but relatively lightweight and nicely designed. Good remote, trivial setup. Got it currently in my smallest room (only 8 feet from lamp to screen) but still getting a great image, I`d say about 5 to 6 feet diagonal from that distance.

My opinions below - although it`s the only projector I`ve owned, so I don`t know how it compares to other ones

The good :-
Colours are really bright and vivid, as clear as my HD LCD television
Works well even at small distance
Quick startup
Very visible - I can run it in daytime (albeit with curtains closed) against a pale green wall and happily sit and watch it
Built in speaker, half-decent output
Good lamp life - quoted at 4,000 hours, seems to be above average

The not-so-good :-
It claims to be "virtually silent" - b0llocks. Quoted at 34dB, not too intrusuve once you`re used to it, but definitely not silent. SImilar noise to an XBox 360
Resolution only 800 x 600, but can support HD inputs up to 1080i (and downscale)
No VGA or DVI input - very much home cinema

At the moment, I`ve got mine hooked up to my Xbox, and it`s awesome. Gaming on such a screen is a totally different experience, and movies are great.
Finally, if buying from eBuyer, you can pay £299.97 for just the projector, or you can pay £299.40 for a bundle including the projector AND a DVD player. From what I can see, it`s higher spec, and better reviewed, than anything close to it`s price range. I`m delighted with mine

Sandy

I really like the look of this. How would I hook it up to an Xbox 360?

You`d hook it up to a Xbox 360 using the standard HD cable that comes with the Xbox - 5 phono connectors, 3 for component video plus audio left and right. So you don`t need to buy additional cables. However, bear in mind that it won`t be in high-def, as although the projector can accept 720p and 1080i inputs, it will downscale the picture to the equivalent of 480p

Oh I see. That`s not a huge problem, but a bit of an annoyance nonetheless. With HD and Blu-ray just around the corner its probably worth buying a projector that can take HD images, right?

If you expect to move up to HD at some point, then yeah, you`re as well going for an HD-capable one. However, I`d expect to pay quite a bit more for a projector that can do this. Also watch out for the various terminology that goes with these TVs and projectors these days - it almost seems designed to confuse :-

[*]Accepts HD inputs - means that the input can be in HD, but the projector / TV may not display in HD. This projector falls into this category
[*]HD Ready - worryingly, this doesn`t even mean that your will get the resolution you expect. HD pictures are typically broadcast at a minimum of 1280 x 720 - however, HD Ready only guarantees that it can display 720 lines, not necessarily 1280 horizontally. Many plasmas and projectors that are HD Ready are actually 1024 x 768

If you want to get the full resolution, look at the quoted resolution, and make sure it`s at least 1280 x 720. If you win the lottery, you can even go for 1920 x 1080.

From my perspective, the projector is only going to be used with non-HD sources (Xbox, PS2, DVD), so the restrictions don`t apply to me, and it`s perfect for my requirements. Also, the prices of these will fall, and the spec will go up, as more HD devices appear, so one approach is to buy a £300 cheapy one today, in the knowledge that when you upgrade to SkyHD, Blu-ray and so on, the HD projectors will probably be £300 cheaper. Note - This approach is known in my house as "SandyMaths" - whereby you decide what you want to buy, and then justify it by building a scenario which makes it seem cost-effective, regardless of how far-fetched said scenario may be....Sandy

That`s fantastic Sandy. Thankyou for the tips; clears up a lot of things for me. :D

Seen this projector in ebay shops, is this a good one?

Model Ally PTV-01B
Brightness 1,200 Lumen
Contrast Ratio 500:1
Resolution Supports 640*480, 800*600 and 1024*768
Light 175W Golden Bittern Lamp
Lamp Life >6,000 - 8000 hrs
Voltage 240 volts AC
Projection Distance 1.5 to 4 metres
Projection Size 45"-150"
Aspect Ratio 16:9 and 4:3 Switchable
Body Size 380mm x 120mm x 300mm
Interfaces Video Inputs: PC, TV, Video, Audio, S video
Output Video, Audio
Speaker 3W Stereo speaker
Controller Infrared Romote controller
Other functions Keystone Correction, auto turn off, high-temperature alarm Etc
Lens Manual Focus
Projection Type LCD Panel

Here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Digital-Home-Cinema-LCD-Projector-for-TV-DVD-PC-Games_W0QQitemZ140023687566QQihZ004QQcategoryZ22610QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Advice please, as thinking of this one or the HP one at EBuyer, which one would you go for or is there another cheap one available????

This item was edited on Saturday, 2nd September 2006, 01:22