garageCube

hello all
Not anything to do with the tip top bit of software we all know as Modul8. I need to purchase a projector and was wondering what brands I should be looking at.
To be used in a smallish venues.
Need wide angle lens to project wide area from relatively close distance.
I'm looking at about £300.
Any advise is appreciated.
thanx!

We have a pair of Viewsonic PJ 551 projectors and they're great. Prior to that we had a pair of PJ 501 projectors. The only difference between them is that the 551 is 1024x768 as opposed to 800x600 for the 501. In any case, they're both LCD projectors rated at 1500 lumens. However at that brightness, they're actually much brighter than several 2000 lumen DLP projectors that I've seen. We use them on a 10' wide 4:3 screen and they're excellent so long as the ambient light isn't too bright. One nice thing about these units is that the throw is pretty short (although nothing like some of the new projectors that are being introduced now), but they can be picked up pretty cheaply off of eBay...

Thanks for the info gmint, most informative. I have heard DLP are not as good or reliable as LCD. Any thoughts on this? I would be looking for 1024x768.

I can't speak to the reliability of LCD over DLP, however I can say that I've never had any problems with any of the Viewsonic projectors over the course of many years. The biggest downside of LCD vs. DLP is the contrast ratio. LCD is far inferior to DLP in this regard and this is especially true of the Viewsonic models I mentioned. Of course, for VJing, that isn't usually too big of an issue, but it depends on your particular scenario...

In any case, I don't think you would go wrong with a PJ 551. It's 1024x768 and I'm almost certain that you could pick one up for the amount that you're looking to spend...