Lidl Home Cinema type Projector for €380

See link below for details.

[broken link removed]

Looks good except that it doesnt seem to take HDMI (Media Player/Hard Disk) input, by any chance could that feed be routed through/converted into the listed inputs which are "RGB D-sub 15 pin, composite, s-video, and stero mini jack.

It has an integrated speaker but I gather you could hook it up to home cinema speakers.

Its out Monday & will probably sell that morning so any comments welcome - bit the bullet time for me as have been toying (pardon the pun) with getting a home cineam projector. Cheap and cheerful is my thing so even if this isnt top spec it would do if I knew I'd get over the HDMI issue.

Thanks.

looks like a good deal.
As well as reviews, worth checking out cost of replacement bulbs (& expected life)

According to Maplin you can convert HDMI feed to RGB (the blue 15 pin on the back of a laptop), the converter is €83 !! I suppose playing it through a laptop would do the same but sure hung for a sheep as a lamb - dont fancy having to tie up a laptop every time I want to use it.

So for €460 (combined) I get what I need.

Any views (.... with comments this time ;-) )

Maybe its not the same thing but I uncovered this on a google search. So maybe buy the projector, borrow some Wii leads and see if it works. If not then converter.

Great News! I had the same problem, but both Sony and Nintendo just fixed this for us! Both the P.S. 3 and the Nintendo Wii use this exact cable!!!! It is HDMI at one end, and 5 RCA type jacks at the other, gold plated and 8 or 10 feet, depending on brand. Three leads are R, G and B, the other two are R and L audio. Price is around $15-20 around the web, got mine from NewEgg(dot)com for $19.99. Best of luck! Mike

HDMI is digital. I'm pretty sure you'll need a digital to analogue converter.
I've seen HDMI to VGA leads, but at least for my projector, the VGA has to be analogue. (I was going to get an Apple TV)


Bulb life is interesting. I got my projector a few years ago, and I'm about halfway through the bulb life. By the time the bulb expires, my projector will be pretty obsolete.
I only use the projector for watching films and box sets, so it's not on the whole time like a TV would be. The bulb is expensive, so when this goes, it'll be better to just get another projector.

Bought this projector this morning - I will use it for presentations mainly. Following are observations after 1 hours use
Good features:-
* Very sharp picture, bright enough for a medium sized audience
* Colour really excellent - black is really black!
* Very simple setup
Less good:-
* Picture throw is quite long - for a picture size 1.5m(diagonal) your projector must be 2.3m from screen
* Zoom ratio is low - about 20% from min to max
* Remote control only controls the projector - if you want to control Powerpoint from the remote, you must buy an optional mouse control (about GBP26)
* Fan noise might be a little annoying as home cinema projector


Overall - an excellent machine at the price - for business presentations

Lidl NEC NP200 Lidl this week
Checked out on video by connecting to Sky box (Not HD) via a scart splitter.
Picture brightness, sharpness, contrast excellent (after these settings are adjusted significantly above factory settings. I suspect that such adjustment would shorten bulb life).
Produced an excellent 96-inch diagonal picture at a distance of 4m. Dealt very well with rapid on-screen movement.
Picture is 4:3 rather than 16:9 so somewhat horizontally shortened. Don't think this can be corrected in a low-cost machine.

got it to run direct from my media player (hard disc) as there are composite slots of various sorts on the back of the media player

so video ran on the yellow wire. the sound input on projector requires a 3.5 mm jack (headphone type) and there are 2 slots (red & white I think) to take sound off media player.

Looked in Maplin today for a 3 composite leads to VGA (laptop blue 15 pin connection) but they didnt have it. I think this would improve the picture as compared to the single yellow wire. So will keep an eye out for that.

Looks like I wont need to bother the whole HDMI to VGA conversion.