Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm currently in need of a new 1080p projector to replace an aging Infocus X10. I'd like to spend $1000 or less, but would spend more if there's a particularly good value to be had. I believe I've narrowed my selection down a few units with good reviews and strong customer feedback:

Vivitek D950HD
ViewSonic PRO8200 HD
Acer H6500

Vivitek, although I'm not familiar with the brand, seems to have one of the best and brightest for the price and if I was using the projector just for movies/surfing I would be ready to make a decision. Unfortunately, I'm still not sure which of these, if any, are best suited for gaming. While they've all received great reviews, they were all rated just about average for motion and responsiveness in the reviews I read. I'm hoping any of them will be better than the Infocus, which has been satisfactory but does have some noticeable trailing in certain games. I have a fairly high quality screen, but brightness is still a big consideration as it will be installed in a 18x37ft room with a couple of windows and a 12ft glass wall with glass door that won't be easy to keep blacked out. I plan to have it connected to a PC and satellite system, and I'll be using it for a variety of purposes but mainly for games.

Does anyone here have any experience with these projectors or any tips for buying a projector for PC gaming use?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

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Twitter: GalaxyUS / Facebook: GalaxyUS

Sounds like the main issue will be ambient light. Another thing to be mindful of is lot of 1080p projectors have pixel processing engines in them that will induce input lag through the HDMI port. You might look through the projector manuals to see if there is an option in their configuration to turn that on or off as needed. Alternately if the projector has a S3D or Game mode in which it wouldn't be enabled. What screen size and aspect ratio are you shooting for?

Here are the Projector Calculator Pro pages for those to give you an idea of required mounting location and projection lens throw.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Vivitek-D950HD-projection-calculator-pro.htm
http://www.projectorcentral.com/ViewSonic-Pro8200-projection-calculator-pro.htm
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Acer-H6500-projection-calculator-pro.htm

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Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

Thanks for those links. That information will be very helpful.

Brightness is indeed a big deal for me, as I also intend to use the projector for "work" to test new cards, run benchmarks, and other things that require a reasonably bright light level in the room for taking notes and other various things. The projector I use now is only 1200 ANSI lumens, and while it gets the job done I do have to adjust the gamma to maximum on most games if I'm playing during daylight. There is also some color trailing and blurring during motion with the X10, but it's slight and not particularly noticeable except during certain situations. From what I recall, the reviews I read mentioned that each of the projectors in question had no pixel/motion processing engine of any kind (part of the reason for the low price, I imagine).

I have a 120" 4:3 projector screen that I plan to fill horizontally with a 16:9 image, so I estimate the actual viewing area will be about 100".

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i7 950 @ 3.45GHz / Thermaltake Frio Cooler | Silverstone Raven RV-01 Case | Corsair HX1000W PSU | Corsair 6GB PC3-12800 | Gigabyte X58A-UD3R | WD Caviar Black 500 GB | Galaxy GTX 680 GC 4GB

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Twitter: GalaxyUS / Facebook: GalaxyUS

what your concern is, is called "input lag".

Look into the Epson 8350, or the BenQ W1100. Both are 1080p, 3-LCD and DLP respectively. Both from what I read have very minimal input lag (minimal processing), which equates to good gaming.

Both are around $1100 if I recall.

I knowthe 8350 has a lot of lumens. BTW my home theater projector has only like 500 ANSI lumens but looks spectacular! Gotta control your light as much as possible.