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Wayne, here are 2 pretty useful sources for projector info:

1.  projectorcentral.com has extensive specs and reviews, though I can't 
vouch for their objectivity.  I've found their "find projectors" tool 
(http://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm)  especially useful - you 
can enter the throw distance, brightness, price limit, and other features 
you need, and it will list all projectors in the database meeting your 
requirements.  Note that actual street prices are often considerably less 
than the retail prices in their database, and refurbished units are 
commonly available for even less.

2.  AVSForum http://www.avsforum.com has detailed discussions of 
projectors, though primarily for home theater applications.

Which projector is best depends very much on the intended uses- for 
example, watching movies at home, making powerpoint presentations on the 
road, generating calibrated visual illusions, and projecting images in a 
museum, are four very different applications with distinct requirements for 
optimal brightness, resolution, quietness, color fidelity, lamp life, DLP 
versus LCD, throw distance, size and weight, sensitivity to dust, etc.

If you're going to be travelling quite a bit with it, I'd suggest you 
consider the Sharp XR-1S, quite a nice little DLP projector that weighs 
only 3 pounds and has a 4000 hr lamp, usually available for under $1000 new 
and a lot less refurbished.

Good luck,
Richard

********************************************************************************
Richard O. Brown, PhD
Staff Neuroscientist / Exhibit and Project Developer
The Exploratorium, A Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception
3601 Lyon Street
San Francisco, CA 94123-1099
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At 09:42 AM 7/4/2005, you wrote:

>Any good sources on the latest on computer projectors? PC Magazine? Popular
>Science? Consumer Reports? I'm looking for something under $1000 that I 
>can use when I give public talks, or even at home. Most organizations I 
>deal with don't seem to own these projectors. I understand the replacement 
>prices on bulbs is pretty high, but they have an expected life time of 
>maybe 2000 hours. I understand the bulb replacement might be 40-60% of the 
>cost of the projector. What  about the reliability? I was in a large 
>electronics store in Sacramento yesterday and asked if they carried an 
>extended warranty on these projectors. They have them for lots of 
>the  stuff they sell. Nothing for projectors.

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