Best projector for around £4k

I'm in a similar situation but more in the £2-£3k bracket.  Looking to buy a projector for the in-laws who are building a house somewhere sunny.

It won't be ready until July, and I'm charged with fitting the home cinema room in the basement (shame I'll only be there for two weeks a year

Screen is a 106" fixed screen that I got from SSAV in their clearance sale (£150 for one that cost £1,300 new) and I'm passing on my LX53 receiver to them.

I have a Sony HW15 at home and it is great, but the HW30 apparently has 300 extra lumens, and the HW50 is the dog's "little bits" according to all the reviews. A real bargain at about £3k now.

But should I also wait until 4k passes down to the HW50 price level?

I think it will be a while until 4k is available sub £3000 and the key with this is how the 4k is implemented at the lower price points. The HW50 is a safe bet right now  and several steps ahead of the HW15. The HW50 should hold its value over the coming years as well so not all is lost if you upgrade now.  

jcshutts wrote:

should I chose an anamorphic sized screen or a 16:9.  Its a little confusing?

I went for a 2.35:1 screen a while ago, but changed back to a 16:9 because I was sick of full screen films looking small (width wise) in comparison. With a normal screen, everything I know watch is 7ft wide.

As mentioned, it'll be a while until 4K reaches that price point. I think you'll probably be looking at three years minimum, but it could also be five years away, who knows. Plus you'll need the necessary source for 4K, and until there is a source available, prices of movies won't be known. We could be talking £25-30 per film. My guess is it'll be a niche market, with only the real film enthusiasts going for it. Unless of course, the hardware and software is pitched cheap enough for it to become mass market.

The HW50 is well worth the extra over the HW30, and this will see you through until 4K becomes 'affordable'. It is as much as I'd spend on a 1080p PJ right now (having seen what upscaled 1080p looks like on a 4K PJ).

I think we're at one of those points where you can genuinely say "you've never had it so good". There's some cracking AV products out there for relatively low prices compared to what you could buy 5-10 years ago, and that's taking into account features and quality. Only 7/8 years ago we had £12k Runco projectors on demo (pre-HDMI) that were only capable of 720p, not that anything could do 720 back then, only 576p at best. Admittedly, these PJ's looked stunning, but with HD nowadays, £3k PJ's are in another world as far as quality is concerned. Plus, you needed the best DVD player you could get, which meant another few thousand on top. All you need now for a good picture is a £100 Bluray player! (No, I'm not saying a £100 Bluray player is the be all and end all!)

the Panasonic PT AT6000 hasnt had much of a mention so far on the thread.  Why is that?  WHF liked it a lot in fact it gor the 2012 award

 http://www.whathifi.com/review/panasonic-pt-at6000e

any views?

JVC should not be forgotten as well. 

The DLA-X35 has received a very high status on AVforums.

The Sony was reviewed as well but I imagine they didn't use an external video processor.

It seems the JVC has the upperhand with blacks and it has lens memory functions.

Just something to compare as well.

thanks SG.  I am off to the Bristol AV show to see if I can try and compare a couple. the two that keep coming up at the moment is the Sony HW50 which seems favourite with most, the JVC and the Panasonic.  All I have to do is choose!

Trying to get a general idea of ongoing costs for owning a projector. I know lamps will go after a period of time. What are replacement lamps likely to cost. Do projectors also require an annual service and where are these done? By several service outlets or are there very few? What are the standard  costs for a service?

thanks