BigW AIWA LED Projector - Thoughts

kickling on 20/11/2024 - 01:19
Last edited 20/11/2024 - 10:01 by 1 other user

Black Friday "deal" coming up on the BigW site, for a $169 AIWA LED projector

I know nothing about it, but kind of curious. Would be fun to kind of setup a cinema feel for the kids on a wall inside for movie nights, and also I guess maybe take it places (eg play movies off a USB stick and project it in a backyard).

I will not pretend to know anything about projectors, let alone LED ones. But given the price I will assume you get what you pay for.

So, any thoughts on the AIWA one and just in general on LED projectors?

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  bargaino on 20/11/2024 - 01:47

  The important spec is this: 300 ANSI lumens.

  I think we can take that as genuine, so comparable to a "3000 chinese lumen" projector on eBay or aliexpress.
  This is OK for a movie night in cinema-like darkness. No streetlights nearby. You can probably cope with a full moon though.

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  ESEMCE on 20/11/2024 - 08:14

  +2

  Projectors are great, but brightness is king.
  I used to run a XGA resolution projector and it was still great, cause the brightness was still there.

  I now own a FullHD Epson TW-5600 with 2500 Lumens output projecting a 3m (118") diagonal screen.
  That brightness is adequate, but certainly not as bright as a proper Cinema.

  As I understand it, Lumens is a Logarithmic scale, so 300 is not approaching 10 times less, but still ~3 times dimmer…

  To compensate and get the same brightness as my projection, you'd therefore have to reduce the screen size to around 1/3rd mine, so even at 50" (ie smaller than most people's TV's) the picture will be dimmer than my projector.

  Could you see a picture on a larger projection, sure.
  Will it be OK for kids? Maybe
  Will it compare to a Cinema? not at all.

  The main benefit of this IMHO is for portability, but it's still really just a toy.
  Look at a used "proper" projector if you want a good experience.

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    bargaino on 20/11/2024 - 13:13

    As I understand it, Lumens is a Logarithmic scale, so 300 is not approaching 10 times less, but still ~3 times dimmer…

    Not quite. Human perception of brightness is logarithmic, but lumens is a linear measure. 3000 lumens is 10X as many photos as 300 lumens, so can cover 10X the area.

    Area is of course proportional to the square of diameter, and i think you are confusing inverse square with logs. Square root of 10 is 3.

    A guideline is 200 lumens per sq.m. (20 per sq.foot). So 300 lumen will do a 1.8m wide home screen, while your 3000 lumen projector will light a 6-metre wide cinema screen. Assuming total darkness!

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      ESEMCE on 20/11/2024 - 16:14

      Thanks for clarifying, I assumed a Cinema Projector would be WAAAY higher in output!
      BUT I'm guessing that 200 lumens per sq.m. guideline is probably assuming projecting onto a proper Cinema screen?

      In my case, and for anyone using a $169 projector, a flat white house wall is the projection surface (I've even projected onto a Galv Shed on a warm Summer's night)
      I must be well over the 200 lumens per sq.m. yet the picture isn't nearly as bright as I see at a Cinema.

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  Jimothy Wongingtons on 20/11/2024 - 09:12

  could prob do worse for $169

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  altomic on 20/11/2024 - 11:30

  look on facebook marketplace for a decent spec'd projector with a non-functional globe.
  buy a replacement globe from aliexpress.
  I grabbed a free panasonic PT-LB50 , and then bought the globe for $30 delivered.

  note - some panasonic projectors have a globe "clock/timer" that will actually throw up an error/stop power to the globe once the clock/timer hits XXX number of hours. that clock/timer can be reset (has to be reset when putting in a new globe) so the original globe may still be fully functional but "the computer says no"

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  pc007 on 21/11/2024 - 12:52

  Buy and try.
  If you like it, keep it.
  If you don't, then return it.