A New Paradigm for Home Entertainment
After having access to various projectors through employers for several years I decided to purchase the 2300MP for both home entertainment and business use. In my current setup I have the projector connected to a TimeWarner DVR (SA 8300HD). Audio is run from the DVR to a stereo computer speaker and subwoofer system (see review Dell Champagne speakers). It is a quite impressive arrangement. At first glance many viewers' draws drop when they first see the screen which is merely projected on a beige painted wall.
With a throw of approximately 11 feet it creates a screen 7'2" across. The formula for the maximum screen size is: diagonal = 0.618*dist + 0.0192. However this is somewhat misleading as the distance changes with the incident angle (think Pythagorean Theorem). Yet if any single characteristic of projectors can be considered a handicap it would be the limitations imposed by the lens distance to the screen.
Distance also affects brightness as there is less light intensity per square area. However brightness is not a problem with this projector. One of key selling parameters of DLP projectors is the number of lumens which describes the total visible light output. Low-end portable projectors are generally under 1000 lumens. At 2300 lumens this projector is bright enough to hold presentations in a daylight-filled room. In fact the projector is so bright that I have to navigate through the sluggish management menus to reduce brightness when there are scenes with snow-filled landscapes.
While the projector comes with a remote to operate the management controls the whole system of operating the projector is a big cumbersome. This problem is compounded when the projector is mounted on the ceiling. In certain instances it is difficult to determine if the projector is on. The small green status LED's are difficult to see from a distance. As a testament the quietness of the fan it is barely audible and completely unnoticeable when there is any background noise. Unfortunately in about one out of 25 times the projector just doesn't start properly. This sometimes necessitates a hard kill by unplugging the unit. Some of these difficulties may present a difficulty for the non-technical user.
Having a separate tuner (owned and maintained by Time Warner) and projection device is a very very clean setup. This separation allows for added flexibility as evolving video input options that are separate and distinct from the projection device. Despite the distance limitations the setup is a great space saver. Moreover the portability is incredible as it only weighs 4.9 pounds. In my case the [pre-existing] wall is the viewing surface so there additional hardware such as screen.
Before I purchased this projector purveyors of competing products warned me about the rainbow effect which appears on certain images when displayed via a DLP projector. The rainbow effect is a strange artifact that only some viewers can see. Basically prismatic colors form around certain objects with parallel lines such as a pinstripe shirt. In the first couple of weeks I occasionally saw the effect. However I have not seen it in the past several months. In general the picture is fantastic. It appears that most anomalies exist in the video source because DVD's appear crisper than recorded DVR movies which in turn appear better than live broadcast television. With a great picture portability and tremendous flexibility the Dell 2300mp represents the future of entertainment.
Pros
Giant high resolution pictures for entertainment or business
Portability
Flexibility
Great performance for the price
Multitude of inputs (svideo PrPbY RCA VGA)
Cons
Long Startup Time/ Occasion Failed startup
Sluggish management controls
Required skill to setup
Some limitations on setup (screen size vs. distance)
Electrical consumptions and heat generation
No HDMI
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