In my case, because I'm pretty ignorant about projectors and my situation is a little different than the OP, I'm not sure how relevant this all is. For our house, we thought a projector could be nice for the living room where we don't want a tv taking up permanent space against the wall and can potentially do this cheap. This would mostly be used for movie nights, so it might run 4 hours per week at the most. I don't think we'd spring for it if it were to run more than $100 total--- screen, projector, cable.
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edited to add -- I was just looking at the listing of the past auction. There were 8 projectors that sold for $40-80. Pricing for two that I saw new are about $900-1,200 I think.
Think about this logically. The university IT department is auctioning off $900-1200 projectors for $40-80. Most projectors have replacement bulbs that cost well north of $200, and many of the high wattage models also have proprietary fan filters that have to be replaced on a regular basis that frequently cost $50 or more that'll last for maybe 1000-2000 hours. Equipment gets replaced for one of two reasons: 1) there's excess money in the budget, 2) the technology has changed enough that it's more expensive to service and maintain what's there than to replace it. I know for a fact that 2020 has been a hard year fiscally for colleges and universities due to the pandemic. I also know a lot of projectors have expensive consumables, and they're expensive to repair and keep running. I also know that with stuff like this, if it's being auctioned off because it's cheaper to sell it off for a couple bucks to replace it, there's likely a major maintenance cycle coming up on the thing.
Feel free to research on your own and don't take my word for it... but I'd look up bulb life, filter life, and replacement parts costs for those projectors before even considering auction, and look up specs and throw distance. Even if you're only intending to use it "lightly"...
@Daley -- I'm a bit reluctant to take your advice too much to heart as you seem like someone who insists only the best is acceptable. Particularly when you talk about adding in the cost of stereo equipment.
Hardly. If you've ever seen any of my other computer/technology/phone recommendations, you'll find that I'm a huge proponent of cheap and refurbished business and enterprise equipment and living on the long tail of mid-grade hardware and DIY support and maintenance. I'm not a "only the best is acceptable" kind of guy by any stretch of the imagination. This said, I also firmly believe and live by a philosophy that a poor man can't afford to buy garbage, and a rich man doesn't remain rich buying garbage, either. Optics and light source are the two most expensive parts with a projector, and boy howdy do you get what you pay for. I tend to be a very hard-line pragmatist with this sort of stuff, and frankly question why anybody would even want this sort of setup to begin with... but with that said? Never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing. If you're going to spend the money to do it at all, spend enough to do it right.
As for the sound equipment specifically... I'm hardly an audio snob. You can get something cheap-ish shopping around, but the point remains that you'll need to get
something. Have you ever heard the built-in speakers on a projector? It's like listening to a laptop, or a $75 new LCD television.
There's a lot of hidden costs with projectors that most people don't think about on the surface for set up and cost, especially if you're so naive about the subject that you don't even know enough when asking for advice to know what to ask about, let alone using it for entertainment purposes instead of PowerPoint presentations. Those costs were easier to justify for folks when 56" LCD televisions were still running around $1000. I'm just pointing out that the cost ratio isn't that favorable for projectors with home entertainment anymore if you're wanting a giant screen for you and the family to gather around...
...and if it's just yourself this is for...
why!? You don't need a giant wall to watch anything on. Buy a 28" monitor or TV for your computer, sit three feet away from it, and save yourself a few hundred bucks.
Look, my hands-on experience might be a bit dated with projectors specifically, but I am aware of the basics and understand how the technology works. I've dealt with the pre-existing fool things for a couple congregations in my day for the overhead "praise and worship" stuff. You know what I told both congregations when the things started acting up and needed to be repaired or replaced? Go back to the hymnals you already paid for, it's cheaper.
They didn't listen to me, either... but at least you're getting the advice for free instead of paying for it.