Great performance for the price

Loud fan

The 400Q is the best LCD front projector that I have seen (and the only one with 16:9 panels). It does not have the screen door effect that can be seen on the Sharp projectors and can be purchased for less than $4000 (Sony just raised their prices on alot of equipment). If you want to experience true home theater (I use the 400Q with a 92" screen), the 400Q is definately the best bang for the buck. Sure, you can get a better picture from a CRT projector with a doubler, but then you're talking 3 - 4 times the price.

Note: As with any front projection system, total ambiant light control is critical.

Great picture after tweaking it. Nice color reproduction, resolution and NO screendoor.

LCD equals no real blacks but after some tweaking you can get it to be good enough so no big deal.

I bought this after lots of research and couldn't be happier. At first I was dissapinted because the image was too soft (couldn't really focus) and the color wasn't too good as faces looked pastel colored. Still, I kept tweaking it and find nice info at the Big Picture forum that helped a lot. I even started 2 threads there focusing on "contrast" and "focus" which based on the feedback seem to help other members at getting the best out of it. Heck, when I compared the stock image with my newly tweaked one, its like having a whole different projector. Blacks seem "blacker" thanks to the improved contrast, color rendition is great and overall the image has a lot more "punch" to it. Its really impressive what can be achive by just going into the service menu and tweaking. I am projecting a 8' wide image with a viewing distance of 11' and it looks great, no screendoor and great detail. I paid $2800 cause I got an extra lamp.
I sincerly recommend it as FP is really what HomeTheater is all about.
Regards

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Sharp LCD, LT150 (DLP).

OK, I'll be the first. This is an awesome LCD projector for the price (~$3600 if you look around), built expressly for home theater.
Pros:
- 16:9 format LCD panels for excellent display of widescreen source material
- staggered pixel arrays mean no "screen door" effect
- exceptionally good built-in line doubler
- composite/S-video/component connections
- supports anamorphic aka widescreen enhanced DVDs (which look great!!!)
- HDTV (1080i) compatible (note that this does NOT mean full resolution)
- easy and flexible setup

Cons:
- noisy fan (but you can get/build an enclosure to fix this)
- blacks are not as black as can be achieved with CRT projectors
- not the best choice for use with computers
- needs very low ambient light levels for critical viewing (this is true for almost any front projection device today except D-ILA)
- some users have reported quality control problems (such as dead pixels), but that has not been my experience

On a price/performance basis, in my opinion it can't be beat.

Great price, good value, Sony reputation, great picture

Discontinued, somewhat noisy fan

This projector is brighter, sharper, more consistant, cheaper, and just plain better than any of the other projectors that I viewed before I bought this one. The clincher was when I went to see the set operating in the a home installation nearby. If you haven't seen HDTV on this unit, you haven't seen this set at it's best. Dvd quality varies considerably from print to print and it is very obvious on this unit. In the theater room that I set up in my home, it is quite easy to view the picture on this unit while reading a book using the ceiling downlights. No crt unit that I demo'd could do this (except a rear projection Runco unit that cost $20K). My only other comment is, if you see this unit in operation, you will be convinced.

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Compared it to all other available LCD and CRT front view TV's.

Best value, awsome picture, HDTV ready, Unique 16x9 panels

Poor quality control, noisy fan

Read the other reviews. They are right on! I have had quality issues. The first unit was dead in the box. The second one died after two days, but I chose to send it to Dan Baugh at sony repair in CA. He is the W400 GOD!! and it came back better than new.

Even with the early problems, there is no choice with this projector unless you can afford to spend more than $20K

I would encourage anyone looking for the HT experience to buy one, and if it breaks.. get it fixed. Its well worth it. AND, it has a 3 year warrantee!

Its replacement the 10HT is supposed to be even better.

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SharpVision, Novabeam CRT projector

Superb price/performance. Movie theater experience for rear projection price.

Fan noise.

As mentioned in the reviews below, this is an awesome unit for the money. Really, no other unit in the price range comes close. The picture is great, with no jaggies due to the unique delta-pixel arrangemtnt. For more info than you ever want to know about this projector, go to http://www.thebigpicturedvd.com/cgi-bin/w400.cgi -- If you have ambient ligtht controle, dont buy a rear projection unit untill you have checked this front projector out.

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Nothing comes close.

Awsome value for the money

A little "washed out" on dark scenes

In comparison to the 46-inch Mitsu (read my review elsewhere on this forum), the 70-inch picture of the sony viewed from almost the same sittin distance is _plain awsome_! Thanks to the Sony's staggered pixel arrangement, you don't get the "screen" effect so noticeable on Sharps. I must admit that I was very skeptical after reading all the rave reviews of the Mitsu and being very disappointed but this thing is darn impressive!

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Mitsubishi WT-46805

High pixel count, 16:9 panels, fairly good light output, and a great bargain.

Fan noise, heat, and some qc problems

I have used the W400Q for just about 3 years and have a bitter sweet relationship with it. That is, the picture is awesome, but you never know when the panels are going to go out or the lense is going to fog up. All in all, however, I have enjoyed this product, especially with the Faroudja VP100 tv enhancer....This is a recomended product, and would not use the projector without it!(you can also refer to the Tributaries s-video compensator...very similar to the faroudja with a better price)
This projector looks great on my Draper 106" screen.....The only way to watch movies is on a 16:9 screen/projector! I am selling my system to get the new Sony VPL-VW10HT, which has over TWICE the pixel count and brightness, not to mention the full benifits of HDTV.....Sony, you are doing good with this venue.....I'm going to give the value rating a 4 because I spent 6 g's on it 3 years ago, and will give the overall a GOOD 4.....

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Sharp LCD

Excellent picture quality, compact and portable size.

None found yet!

The polygon technology used in the imaging has allowed Sony to create a high quality picture without pixelation often found in LCD projectors. It's intuitive controls and simple operation make it a a joy to use day to day. The Keystone effect is virtually non-existant compared to other projectors I have seen. Excellent unit overall.

Picture sharpness and film like quality

loud fan and gray blacks

For the amount of money, this beats any HDTV I've seen thus far, and plus I can project a 100" screen dia (16:9). This is one amazing projector. All the reviews are true. The picture is film like. The color resolution is great. This projector will show the flaws of a DVD (American President) and the details of DVD.

This has the same flaw with all LCD projectors. It does not do blacks. This is a small price to pay ... after watching a 100" screen you forget about the blacks and the loud fan. With all the new projectors available I would still highly recommend this projector.