Video Asylum

Posted by MTZ (A) on January 30, 2004 at 15:19:35

I have a 2-channel audio system that I'm quite proud of but I would like to add a video aspect to it. I do not have the physical space for a standard tube TV, RPTV, or the money for a plasma/LCD. That leaves the option of a projector which I do have adequate space for.

I do not want this video aspect to be used for any HT aspects as I already have a system designed for that. The reason that I want to add video to my 2-channel is so that I can watch live concert DVDs with my better sounding stereo because my opinion is that the sound quality overall is more important than the multi-channel aspects (and some live concert DVDs do not even have multi-channel programming).

Because this has one and only one usage, I do not really want to spend alot of money on it. I know that most people will feel that this initiative is not worth pursuing but I am determined to do so. What I want to do is buy an old, used LCD projector off of Ebay. I only plan to spend around $350-$400 for the projector and maybe another $150 for screen material. I would be able to stretch that budget for a used but proven video projector (like a used InFocus X1) but they come up for sale so rarely that it doesn't seem like a likely prospect.

My question is, what kind of picture quality can I expect from these older LCD business projectors? I know the obvious stuff; they'll likely be somewhat dark due to used lamps, they'll likely have 6 or 7 stuck pixels etc. but I'm more interested in the picture quality than the picture defects (which I can live with). Will this be equivalent to a cheap television, worse, better? Is the refresh rate of these business LCDs quick enough for video applications? Are lamps readily available for 5 and 6 (+) year old machines?

Thanks for your insight,
Markus.