Peter Duniho wrote:
"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Given that it is so easy to Google either DLP or MEMS, it shouldn't
matter.


So why bother answering Jay's "what's a 'digital light processor'" question
at all? Google would have given him WAY more information on that than any
of us have.

To heighten his curiousity and give him even more incentive to look up
the acronyms. So why bother commenting on my reponse and using an
acronym in your useless comment?


[...]
We use probably 50 where I work in our conference rooms and, trust me, the
cheap ones just don't cut it unless you are in a cave to view them.


You haven't earned my trust.

And for that I'm grateful. I only care if people I respect trust me.


Furthermore, I have seen DLP projectors NOT "in a cave", which cost only
around $3000, and which do the job just fine. Your blanket statement is
patently false. Frankly, I don't really care to argue about the price
point, but if you insist on continuing the "you can't spend less than $5000
and get a decent projector", I don't feel I have a choice. That statement
is simply wrong.

I'm sure Jay is smart enough to compare a few options for himself. If
he's happy with a cheap projector, that is fine with me. I'm just
encouraging him to look at a range of options before jumping at a cheap
solution that he'll be disappointed in later. My impression, though
I've yet to meet him personally, is that he likes to do things right
with his Inn and buying a cheap projector and shining it on a painted
wall simply isn't a quality solution no matter how much you claim it to be.


If you want to define "decent", and you manage to come up with a definition
that supports your statement, by all means do so. But as long as you
continue to use an ambiguous term like "decent", and yet insist that a
"decent" projector can't be had for less than $5000 (or even within some
small percentage of that price), you are making incorrect and misleading
statements.

I'm sorry my standards are much higher than yours.


So, do you have any idea of what it is you actually mean by "decent"? That
is, some quantifiable number that describes one or more specific performance
parameters of a DLP projector? If so, then post that (or those) parameters,
and we'll see whether or not there are any projectors less than $5000 that
meet that (or those) criteria.

Unfortunately, there is no set of specifications that completely
characterize how the human eye perceives an image. Camera companies and
others have tried for decades to develop them, but they still fall
short. Certainly brightness and contrast ratio are important, but keep
in mind that most of these specs are provided by the manufacturer and
there is huge variance among them. I'd only trust numbers that were
generated by a competent lab not affiliated with a given manufacturer.

The best way to know what you like is to look at as many options as you
have the patience for and compare them in situations as close as
possible to how you plan to use the device. For me "decent" is
something I'd be willing to buy for myself, and of the projectors I've
seen, I've seen few less than $5K that I'd buy for myself. I will be
buying one in another 3-4 months so I've been looking at them a fair bit
of late.

Matt