I can't say enough good things about this projector. ViewSonic PJD5134 SVGA DLP Projector, 3000 Lumens,3D Blu-Ray w/HDMI, 120Hz is an amazing value and delivers a superb theater experience in my living room. Just a little background in my home theater experience... In college, one of my buddies had an old auditorium projector in his dorm room. We fashioned a screen out of a grid of computer paper on his wall so that he could still open his door haha. When we got an apartment together during our senior year, we made a screen out of a California King sheet. We stretched the sheet tight and made a border out of black duct tape. We enjoyed a year of movies and shows on our 155" screen.
Fast forward to now. I wanted to take my home theater experience to the next level and this projector was the perfect way to do it! Here's a brief outline of key features and my impression of them: Resolution: The three biggest features most people look for when talking about projectors are resolution, contrast ratio, and lumens. The resolution of this projector is SVGA 800x600. This is far from full HD, which is the majority of content I'll be viewing, but the picture is astounding! I'm a stickler when it comes to picture quality. I have a 42" 120hz 3D tv in my bedroom. I ALWAYS buy the blu ray version of new movies and I stream HD all the time on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I care deeply about picture quality to say the least. That being said, this projector blows me away in picture quality. I watched Star Wars on blu ray last week on my tv and watched it again this weekend on the projector for comparison.
Although the picture was slightly better on the tv, nothing compares to watching Star Wars on a big screen. The picture was very sharp. Absolutely amazing. Contrast Ratio: 15,000:1 contrast ratio. What can I say, the shadows were very dark and the highlights were very bright. I don't have a proper home theatre with dark walls and such so there was a lot of reflected light but I was blown away again with the high contrast image. Lumens: It is important to know the lighting conditions in your theater when choosing a projector. Rooms with higher ambient light will need a higher lumen projector to overpower the ambient. With the shades drawn, I have no problem watching movies with this projector during the daytime. Of course, wait until night with complete darkness and the screen is incredibly bright and vivid. This projector beyond bright enough for my conditions. Inputs/Outputs: Okay so now onto the fine details. The Viewsonic has multiple inputs for a wide variety of devices. I run an HDMI cable from my bedroom to the living room for my theater. The projector takes an HD signal and converts it to the proper resolution. I then use the 1/8" audio out to run to my sound system. Placement/orientation: This is the only gripe I have with this projector.
I have a relatively long living room. My screen is 110" diagonal and is located at one of the far sides. I wanted to be able to mount the projector and the other far end, high on the wall for convenience. Unfortunately for me, the distance was too great to fit the picture on to my screen. The projected image was about 6" too big on all sides. I was upset but this was not the projector's fault; I had a limited mounting options (I live in an apartment so no ceiling mounts) and I had a fixed screen size. My issue with the projector came in when I tried to place the projector on a table towards the back of the room. The image beam from the projector comes out in four ways: Front ceiling, rear ceiling, front table, rear table. The "rear" refers tor rear projection. All of these settings have an angle pitch that is a little extreme. The keystone adjustment offers a little correction but not enough. I had to put little pieces of cardboard under the back feet of the projector to properly line up the image. So, more options for the angle of the lens elements would have been nice but this all is not a deal breaker by any means. Bulb life: Rated at up to 6,000 hours. I have no clue how long this will actually last me. I imagine during the first several weeks/months I will use the projector very frequently but then may ween off a bit in order to maintain the magic of the viewing experience each time I use it. One helpful tip is to use to projector as a treat or special event. Don't watch Judge Judy or American Idol on it or it will quickly lose that "wow" factor. Instead, use it for social gatherings, the season finale of The Walking Dead, the Super Bowl, gaming tournaments, etc. Bottom line: I use this projector for both video and gaming. It provides a stunning picture even for a videophile like me. If you are looking into setting up a home theater, take a serious look at this projector before considering spending much more money on an HD projector. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. UPDATE: I made a video review but wasn't happy with it so I didn't post it. Instead, I will answer any questions you have about the projector in the comment section. Since writing my initial review, I have used the 3D function pretty extensively. I use the Sainsonic DLP Link glasses.
The experience is very enjoyable with a much more immersed feeling than my 3D tv. The 3D elements pop off the screen at you like in the theater. Also, I've been watching the NCAA tournament with some buddies using the projector. My house has become "the spot" for watching the tournament. It truly does create an atmosphere that a tv cannot begin to touch. We've been able to have the lights on and eat pizza and wings and drink some brews while watching Syracuse dominate ;) I'll see how well they do in the Final Four this Saturday on a glorious 110" screen with all my buddies. I'm telling you... get this projector and see how much of an impact it has on your entertainment experience!!
Fast forward to now. I wanted to take my home theater experience to the next level and this projector was the perfect way to do it! Here's a brief outline of key features and my impression of them: Resolution: The three biggest features most people look for when talking about projectors are resolution, contrast ratio, and lumens. The resolution of this projector is SVGA 800x600. This is far from full HD, which is the majority of content I'll be viewing, but the picture is astounding! I'm a stickler when it comes to picture quality. I have a 42" 120hz 3D tv in my bedroom. I ALWAYS buy the blu ray version of new movies and I stream HD all the time on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I care deeply about picture quality to say the least. That being said, this projector blows me away in picture quality. I watched Star Wars on blu ray last week on my tv and watched it again this weekend on the projector for comparison.
Although the picture was slightly better on the tv, nothing compares to watching Star Wars on a big screen. The picture was very sharp. Absolutely amazing. Contrast Ratio: 15,000:1 contrast ratio. What can I say, the shadows were very dark and the highlights were very bright. I don't have a proper home theatre with dark walls and such so there was a lot of reflected light but I was blown away again with the high contrast image. Lumens: It is important to know the lighting conditions in your theater when choosing a projector. Rooms with higher ambient light will need a higher lumen projector to overpower the ambient. With the shades drawn, I have no problem watching movies with this projector during the daytime. Of course, wait until night with complete darkness and the screen is incredibly bright and vivid. This projector beyond bright enough for my conditions. Inputs/Outputs: Okay so now onto the fine details. The Viewsonic has multiple inputs for a wide variety of devices. I run an HDMI cable from my bedroom to the living room for my theater. The projector takes an HD signal and converts it to the proper resolution. I then use the 1/8" audio out to run to my sound system. Placement/orientation: This is the only gripe I have with this projector.
I have a relatively long living room. My screen is 110" diagonal and is located at one of the far sides. I wanted to be able to mount the projector and the other far end, high on the wall for convenience. Unfortunately for me, the distance was too great to fit the picture on to my screen. The projected image was about 6" too big on all sides. I was upset but this was not the projector's fault; I had a limited mounting options (I live in an apartment so no ceiling mounts) and I had a fixed screen size. My issue with the projector came in when I tried to place the projector on a table towards the back of the room. The image beam from the projector comes out in four ways: Front ceiling, rear ceiling, front table, rear table. The "rear" refers tor rear projection. All of these settings have an angle pitch that is a little extreme. The keystone adjustment offers a little correction but not enough. I had to put little pieces of cardboard under the back feet of the projector to properly line up the image. So, more options for the angle of the lens elements would have been nice but this all is not a deal breaker by any means. Bulb life: Rated at up to 6,000 hours. I have no clue how long this will actually last me. I imagine during the first several weeks/months I will use the projector very frequently but then may ween off a bit in order to maintain the magic of the viewing experience each time I use it. One helpful tip is to use to projector as a treat or special event. Don't watch Judge Judy or American Idol on it or it will quickly lose that "wow" factor. Instead, use it for social gatherings, the season finale of The Walking Dead, the Super Bowl, gaming tournaments, etc. Bottom line: I use this projector for both video and gaming. It provides a stunning picture even for a videophile like me. If you are looking into setting up a home theater, take a serious look at this projector before considering spending much more money on an HD projector. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. UPDATE: I made a video review but wasn't happy with it so I didn't post it. Instead, I will answer any questions you have about the projector in the comment section. Since writing my initial review, I have used the 3D function pretty extensively. I use the Sainsonic DLP Link glasses.
The experience is very enjoyable with a much more immersed feeling than my 3D tv. The 3D elements pop off the screen at you like in the theater. Also, I've been watching the NCAA tournament with some buddies using the projector. My house has become "the spot" for watching the tournament. It truly does create an atmosphere that a tv cannot begin to touch. We've been able to have the lights on and eat pizza and wings and drink some brews while watching Syracuse dominate ;) I'll see how well they do in the Final Four this Saturday on a glorious 110" screen with all my buddies. I'm telling you... get this projector and see how much of an impact it has on your entertainment experience!!
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