New DCP Projector / System Suggestions

[Steve Guttag]

Dave, Barco is pulling support from their Series 1 projectors after 12/31/20 (they announced this at the beginning of the year). So, only parts that are common to their S2 projectors will be available from Barco, at that point.

Christie, on the other hand, announced that they were going to continue S1 support until 2022 or 2023 (I forget which and I don't have it in front of me). I have not heard from NEC.

[Carsten Kurz]

@João: What is 'a good price'?

- Carsten

[Marcel Birgelen]

Like Dave and Steve indicated... Sony is about to bail-out of the projection industry, getting parts for a relatively old, second hand model may become very difficult. Also, Barco is discontinuing support for their Series 1 projectors at the end of this year, meaning that you won't get any guarantee for availability of spare parts from the manufacturer and likely need to source them from secondary locations. So, it has to be a VERY good price in order to go for any of those two, more like an offer you can't refuse, like buy two for the price of one, so you have a spare.

[João Santos]

Thank you for all the replys, super helpful! We're maybe leaning towards the Sony projector, as the DP-2000 is too old. They're selling the Sony SRX R320 for about 10,000$. What do you guys think?

[Carsten Kurz]

That's the reason why I asked for an actual price - I think that is too much. It is certainly a good system, including server and projector, but i think, given it's age and the fact that Sony just announced it's departure from that market...

It certainly gives a very nice picture - if it hasn't accumulated too many full thrust hours on it's light engine.

It all depends on your alternative options, of course...don't know how big the market for second hand DCI equipment is in your area. Would the DP-2000 have come with a playout server, and if so, what type?

One positive aspect of a series 2 system is that server and projector can come and go for themselves, so, each is cheaper to replace. With the Sony, you can not swap server or projector, it all needs to be replaced, as it is an integrated system.

How many shows will you play per week?

- Carsten

[Marcel Birgelen]

Usually, I'd say that $10k for a functional DCI system (server and projector) isn't bad at all, but like Carsten indicated, it is highly dependent on the state of the machine. Those R320s were pretty prone to T-Core damage, especially if driven at high intensities and after accumulating a significant number of hours. Also, with Sony now quitting the DCI projector space, it remains to be seen how spare-part availability is going to turn out.

Also keep in mind that Sony projectors need to be re-calibrated regularly, or otherwise the image will slowly fade into rainbow-colored blobs. I don't know your particular market, but there really isn't any previously owned Series 2 gear available for "affordable prices", like a NEC NC900C or given your screen size maybe better a NC12000C?

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

NEC has been uber reliable for me. I did 334 conversions with NEC and GDC and the NEC projectors have only logged 9 actual breakdowns where a show was lost. 2 were NC-900 Lens mount issues early on, One was an NC-1200 ballast, Two ICP's, and the rest were just the power switch / circuit breaker failing. They are not the most light efficient, but that is just a matter of selecting the right projector for the right installation. My Tech friends in Europe have also reported similar luck while my Tech friends on here may dispute that. All my installs were in a very dry climate in the Mountain States.

[Marcel Birgelen]

For some reason, it's easier to find some used Barco DCI projectors (even Series 2) than NEC or Christie projectors, at least around here. It might be due to one of the main integrators over here is primarily a Barco shop, but the almost complete lack of NEC DCI projectors in the used equipment market around here is striking.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Marcel, People seem to keep their NEC's and there are even quite a few Series 1's in service over here. Reliability and longevity of service are certainly two factors. ITs true that in the States used NEC are hard to find...

[João Santos]

Thanks for all the replies. Unfortunately, NEC's are like an invisibility around here - they're either holed up working perfectly or nonexistent. Only secondhand selling we can find for DCI-compliant (series 1/2) projectors are mainly BARCO systems.