Here in Canada, I picked up a Sanyo PLV Z5 from fb marketplace in 2020. It's an old, discontinued model but it still blew me away. It had optical zoom, decent lens shift, and the colors just popped. I had to sell it to save up for my first trip home after COVID. I regretted it until I spotted the same model years later at a thrift store and immediately picked it up.
I currently own 5 projectors. I just like tinkering with them and making them work. I only pick up a thrift store projector if I see some promise for a use case at home or if I'm looking to gift it. Have given away three projectors already like this.
Will briefly discuss a few in my collection right now.
The afore mentioned PLV z5. The image is still bright but the polarizers have burned leading to a very yellow image. Like the mexico filter in Breaking Bad. Still a decent product and I will hold on to it for a while. Bought for $24 for Renaissance.
This next one is a steal. The model is Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 5020UB. Picked up for $35, I immediately noticed the lamp was super dull, almost dead. This is an enthusiast level projector with industry leading specs such as high brightness, very flexible zoom and lens tilt, and 3d support. So I decided to invest in a bulb and tey my luck. I first tried an AliExpress replacement but it made no difference...same image quality. I wondered if its a ballast issue or if the image block itself is degraded. Found an ebay Epson replacement for $140 and went for it. Too pricy I know but having scored a $3000 projector for peanuts I reasoned its an okay spend.
The bulb didn't make a difference so sent it back and lost $50 in return fees.
Then,
- I decided to open it up to see what was going in. It took me a great deal of effort and watching multiple videos on other models to muster up the courage to disassemble it. It was a complex operation and I used an ice cube tray to hold all the screws with notes on what goes where. The insides were absolutely filthy and it took me forever to clean.
- I had to order an air blower for assistance on hard to reach corners and between the glass surfaces.
- The polarizers seemed safe from burn damage but I couldn't be too sure.
- Ordered new grease and applied it to the gears and moving parts.
- couldn't clean the insides of the lcd assembly between the glass panels and lens unit as the gap was too narrow. I used a micro fiber cloth and a visiting card as best as I could but was sure there was still dust.
- once I was content with the cleaning, I slowly put it back together. Even with the notes and pics I was taking, some parts took me forever to figure out how to put back but taking breaks I was able to put the projector back together. Realized I missed one small metal bracket but it wasn't a critical miss.
- moment of truth - powered it on and connected it to my computer. The image is much brighter now. I would say its a 70% recovery. The colors look great on test videos but there's definitely a halo or haze on the full display that is still a bummer.
- No big deal for my daily random videos though. I should be able to make this my daily driver now.
I will discuss my other projectors in another post. Will add some pics of the project here.
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