CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

I have a friend who's moving to a different house and wants to take his marquee with him. We're looking at a cheap replacement projector to leave in the old house. I think there's 2 options

1) get a cheap , used digital LCD or DLP, the plus side here is it would take just 30 minutes to install and set-up, but finding one in good shape might be a problem since you have no idea how they were used or maintained.

2) install a Runco-Zenith pro 900 that's just sitting around at another friends house. The problems here are

a) I believe the zenith has a much shorter throw distance, so we would have to patch the ceiling in the old spot and move the mounting forward, try and hide the cables somehow.

b) I'm not familiar with the Zenith. The install manual is horrible IMO, and doesn't really make sense so set-up will inevitably require a lot time and a lot of cursing.

c) I also don't think the zenith accepts component, so we would need a component video to RGB transocder to hook up a basic DVD player .

any thoughts or ideas?

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:52 pm Post subject:

As I quickly found out last fall showing the house to a few people, a CRT in a house for sale is generally a net-negative. While some of us may appreciate it (or at least not mind), we're in the vast minority. Something as old and clunky as the Zenith 900 would be even worse. The Zenith (or any CRT for that matter) has negative value to most people. It's something they'd have to "deal with", so I'd get it out of there.

I'm seeing cheap, working, 720p digitals on Craigs here for $200-300. They should be quite plentiful in the Denver area. That's what I'd do.

SC

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

thanks, I completely forgot to look at this from the viewpoint of a typical Best buy shopper, but what your saying makes perfect sense. The average person, especially the female half, would look at the big ole Zenith and see it as a huge problem, something to get rid of. Sad

I guess a cheap , used bulb burner it is then.

Any suggestion on brand, models to looks for? I'm completely out of the loop on this. The Epsons, Infocus, and optoma's have a horrible reliability record.

TheVerge · Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 928

Lots of people don't even like theater rooms.

Mr. Green · Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 2:53 am Post subject:

I agree, cheap digital and/or try to stage the "theater" as a bedroom or some other room as they tend to have more value to most buyers than a theater. If you can make it a multipurpose room so buyers can think of many uses for the space as opposed to just a theater, I think that might play out better for your friend. I'd almost scrap the idea of putting any projector in there and maybe just use a big plasma for selling. Without knowing what the house is like it's hard to know. I know this is going beyond the original question, but if it isn't listed yet, I'd get a local "specialist" realtor or more than one for the area that does free evaluations to give you ideas for the space to maximize the list price. You don't owe them anything until you sign a contract for them to be your selling realtor. Just a thought. Sounds like staging might be less effort than trying to hang something else in there if he can borrow someones extra furniture until it sells.

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:18 pm Post subject:

What else HT related stuff is being left behind? What sort of room is it in?

IIs it a dedicated HT and other stuff's being left behind then a small $200 used digital is definitely the best idea. If it's in a family room or some other general usage room and nothing else HT related is being left behind, I wouldn't put another projector in. People won't want it, won't care.

Kal

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

good question. It's a full walk out basement with a HT "space" on one end, hanging tab tensioned screen, built in equipment rack/closet, and a game room with Foosball table, air hockey, etc. on the other end, bathroom etc. The house is huge, so I doubt it needs another bedroom.
I see you can get a decent, brand new 800 x 600 LCD off Amazon for 250 + $20. for a bracket. I think that's definitely the way to go, put up a small, shiny black PJ on the ceiling that will look good turned off Laughing