Until recently I had an old projector inherented from a university to use for movie nights, but after a rather expensive bulb change the picture started flickering and it is now pretty much unusabe. So I am looking for a new one.

Things I want:

  • HDMI or DisplayPort
  • A standardized bulb of sorts, if possible - changing the bulb in my old projector was very specific and therefore expensive
  • Reasonable brightness - I want to project across the room onto a white wall
  • Somewhat silent - we have the projector behind us watching movies, so it’s good if it’s not very loud.
  • Available in Europe
  • Affordable

Things I do not want:

  • Smart functionality or any form of spyware

It doesn’t need to be super compact, but a smaller form factor is of course an advantage. Most importantly I just want a no-nonsense projector that does the job, is as repairable as possible if something breaks, and ideally doesn’t cost a fortune.

If there’s a projector that’s reliable enough that it can safely be bought second hand that would be great.

Edit: I would ideally not pay much more than €600, and I am not very picky when it comes to picture quality - I just want to watch some movies now and then without having to buy a piece of trash with Android on it. I want a projector because I don’t want a TV in my living room, not because I want a full-blown cinema experience at home. I’m sorry I didn’t make this clear right away!

  • j_z ( j_z@feddit.nu ) 
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    7 months ago

    I was advised to try getting hold of a good screen (there’s some ”level of reflectiveness” measurement if I remember correctly) to project on. Then even a moderately bright projector will do

    • cabbage ( cabbage@piefed.social ) OP
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      7 months ago

      Makes sense! I have noticed there’s a huge difference in lumen, and wondering if 700 a lumen projector is good for anything. I guess if it has high contrast in a dark room on a good screen it can still look fantastic.

      For me though I need it to remain somewhat portable as I move between different countries relatively often, and I also just want something that disappears as much as possible when not used, hence my preference for projectors over TVs in the first place.

    • cabbage ( cabbage@piefed.social ) OP
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      7 months ago

      Laser sounds ideal, but all the ones I can find are either very expensive or very cheap and shipping with Android TV. I might end up getting something created for displaying powerpoint presentations in office settings, as the consumer market seems to be perfectly divided between products for rich cinephiles and cheap trash.

  • dadarobot ( dadarobot@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    7 months ago

    With a smart tv(or projector) set up a temporary guest network on your router if it has a mandatory update. Then disable it and never connect to the internet again. Worked for me.

    • cabbage ( cabbage@piefed.social ) OP
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      7 months ago

      Yeah, I’m just radicalized to the point where I would rather go without watching movies than to buy some product I have to fight against in order to have it work for me. But it’s true that as long as there’s HDMI input there should always be hope.