Bloomy
Incredibly nice projector. I am glad we didnt go for the more expensive models because this one is amazing already. The picture is incredibly clear. We have it projecting onto a 100 inch Elite screen and it is just as clear and bright as the TV at night time. It is also bright enough that we can watch it during the day as well with all of the lights in the room turned on. The picture isnt AS bright of course, but it is plenty bright enough to watch and enjoy. At first I was looking at one of the Epson projectors because I was really worried about the DLP and the rainbow effect I have read about. We are using it in a room with some windows though and this one had a higher brightness rating on it. I also figured I could just send it back if the rainbow thing was an issue. No one in our family has noticed any rainbow effects and we have watched several different kinds of movies and shows. I was also looking at getting the Optoma HD143X because it was the same price point and had a lot of good reviews. I went with this one because I like the brand name and the fan was rated as quieter. I dont know what the Optomas fan is like, but this one is incredibly quiet. We dont have it mounted on the ceiling yet so we are sitting right next to it and you cant even hear the fan going at all. I think it looks nicer than the Optoma one too. The only possible downside is the speakers on this one are really quiet. I mean even at full volume and right next to it, you can hardly hear it. They are almost as quiet as the fan. But we have a separate speaker system hooked up so that wasnt one of the things we were looking for anyway. Several nice features: It can project from behind a screen (flips the picture sideways). We dont plan on using this, but it was a cool feature I didnt know it could do. It can project upside down for when we mount it on the ceiling. It automagically switches between inputs based on which one is turned on and showing a picture. This was an unexpectedly nice feature because we have several items hooked up to it and the projector just switches inputs on its own to whichever one we turn on. It also automatically adjusts the screen size to match what is being shown (4:3, 16:9, etc). The zoom is really helpful. We have a 100 inch screen and as long as this projector is within a foot or so of the 11 foot distance sweet spot for that size, you can just zoom to make the picture bigger or smaller to match the screen size. It doesnt change the picture quality or the focus at all. It just changes the size of the picture. That is going to be really helpful for mounting it because I am sure we wont get it in the exact right place down to the inch. So the zoom can make up for that. The eco bulb mode is really bright. We have used this day or night and we just leave it on the eco mode and it has been great. There isnt a lens cover. But I didnt want one. Did I mention the picture quality? It is amazing. Im no videophile, but at night on a decent screen, this thing really looks as good as a regular TV. I am sure the more expensive projectors are somehow better, but I dont see how, and whatever small difference they might have couldnt justify the huge price difference to me.