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Question

I've been trying to reach someone at Dell about some information about the Dell 4100 and the Dell 2300 projector, but I wasn't able to reach anybody - so I thought I would post here get peoples feedback.   I'm deciding one of these projectors to buy - but the tech specs are a little vague in terms of feature quality between the two. I was also wondering what the main differences were because the 2300 has higher lumens than the 4100, but is less expensive - so I don't know how that affects the pictures quality. Also, what features does the 4100 have that the 2300 doesn't and vice versa. And lastly, for a home theater system, what would you suggest ?   Thanks in advance to anybody who can give me a few pointers !

countryboy03 · Answer

I am set to move in my new house next month, and the basement(a room) will be the theatre. What do you all rec. I was looking at that also, and didnt see alot of difference. For a home theatre(it will not have any windows whatsoever) I just want to know what my best option is... a big Dell TV, or a Projector, price is not the option here, if i were4 going to buy a tv i would spend 6-8000, and a projector would be a good price break. It will be a theatre and I am leaning towards the projector... any help

jingyenshiau · Answer

Using a projector you need to get good projection screen for the best color result. Then every 1000 hours (don't take it literally though) you need to get a replacement lamp. Pretty soon your expense could add up to a flat TV.

Look up the archived posts on home theatre setup. They will tell you what screen to buy or what paint to use for the projected image.

rafaeldominguez · Answer

I'm in the exact same boat... deciding between the 4100 and the 2300.  The brightness and lumens are specs are just amazing for the 2300 but I want to get the best picture out of my Comcast HDTV receiver (Motorola 6412) and might want to connect my laptop to it occasionally.   I believe that none of the Dell projectors (inc. the 4100) can work with DVI inputs from a video source anyways, Can someone please confirm if that is true???   If so, then my question would be if there is a difference in video quality between using the M1-DA connector on the 4100 versus the Dsub 15-pin connector on the 2300 (for HDTV of course)????   Differences that I have found so far (please correct me if I'm wrong): The 4100 does have a longer lamp life (3000 hours in eco) versus the 2300 (2500 hours in eco). The 4100 has an RF control remote so you can't just use a universal IR remote to control it The 4100 has PIP You can have both the HDTV and a PC connected to the 4100 at the same time via the M1-DA and D-sub connectors The 4100 has electronic/automatic keystone controls ... what does the 2300 have?? I read somewhere that the 2300 has 2:3 2:2 pull down.  What is that??? Does the 4100 have it?   C'mon guys, give us your input... your help would be very much appreciated!!   Rafa

tlcastle · Answer

I went through the same decisions in my purchase. I ended up getting a 2300 - I use it only for home theater use. I figured the additional brightness was far more important than whatever other features the 4100 has.

The 2300 has no DVI input, which bites. Dell has close-up pictures of input/output panels for their projectors, I think, so I'd take another look at the 4100 product page if you're unsure.

The keystone controls on the 2300 are manual. This doesn't concern me the slightest bit. My projector is mounted to the ceiling and stays there, so it's a set-and-forget type deal that takes about 15 seconds to get through. I wouldn't pay a dollar more for automatic keystoning.

I have no idea what pulldown is.

rafaeldominguez · Answer

Thanks for the info...   Do you have the projector connected to an HDTV receiver??? If so, how's the picture quality??   Thanks, Rafael   Message Edited by rafaeldominguez on 01-21-2005 10:00 AM

tlcastle · Answer

Yes, I have the 2300 hooked up to a HD DVR from Time Warner. I think the HD receiver/DVR is the Scientific Atlanta 8000-HD.

HD picture quality is superb, with one problem. I have terrible line noise/signal interference. This is a potential problem on all TVs, especially HD TVs. But this projector seems especially bad in that regard. On the other hand, my house is 80 years old with original wiring. I'm getting the Monster HTS2600 surge protector/line noise filter to fix that problem.

But aside from line noise, I'm extremely happy with picture quality. You might notice a very slight "rainbow" effect as a result of the color wheel. Except from super-expensive projectors (which have 3 separate DLP chips, one for each primary color), all DLP projectors in this range use spinning color wheels to produce the 3 primary colors from one chip. The problem is that some people can see very brief artifacts sometimes - parts of the image may, for the tiniest moment, appear all red or all green. I saw them originally but I think my brain adjusted to it, and I don't notice it anymore, so I don't think it's a big deal. Regardless, unless you're willing to spend 10 grand on a projector, any brand and model will use a color wheel. But pay attention to this as soon as you get the projector set up so you can return it in time if you find it bothersome.

I also found it's worth the money to buy extra-long cables, because routing video cables to the projector (at least for home theater use) is far more involved than I expected. I used every bit of a 100 foot component video cable and my theater set up isn't really that big.

rj11425 · Answer

i have a 2300mp projector and i have an xbox hooked to it with the new component hookups. i can run the game in 420p.  The only way to hook component to the projector is through the VGA and i know that through that port i can only get 780x420 resolution.  How can i increase the resolution so that i can run the games in 720p

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