Budget starter projector

[SillySauce]

Originally Posted by Asdqqq

Received the open-box HD141x projector from Amazon. They had some kind of shipping delay issue, so they knocked another $25 off the price, bringing it pretty darn close to my original goal. There doesn't appear to be anything substantively wrong with the unit, and it says it only has 2 hours on the lamp. The only flaw is some weird sort-of faint brush marks over the whole top of the projector. Very superficial and not even really noticeable, but I can't even guess how it might have happened.

The picture looks really sharp, and the colors aren't too far off on the reference setting. I bet I can get them pretty good with some finangling.

Even in complete darkness, though, I can definitely tell that the black levels aren't the best. Of course, my main TV is a plasma, so I'm spoiled. From reading the reviews, it doesn't look like the entry level BenQs likely to be much better in that category, so I think I'll probably stick with the Optoma, especially for the price I got it. I haven't fiddled with the settings at all, either, so maybe lowering the brightness could help a bit too.

Any last thoughts on things I should be sure to look into to make sure I have a good unit before the return period runs out?

You're just not going to get great black levels. This is what seperates cheaper projectors from the more expensive ones. Using different paints to project on or ambient light rejecting screens will improve the black levels. If you have white walls, you can either paint them darker, put up black sheets or black acoustic foam around the sides and the top of the image/screen. That will also improve the black levels.