Bidding on some projectors

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rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
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Dec 9, 2009
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I'm bidding on a pair of Panasonic, 6000 lumen projectors. It's from a govt surplus site and the listing says they're in good condition and functioning properly. These are some big, 35 pound units and I'm thinking they'd be great for rear-projecting on my big screens, just not sure how far I should go on price. I'm currently high bidder at $375 but have already been knocked off twice. The auction ends on Friday. Anybody care to venture an opinion on what you think they would be worth?

PANASONIC WXGA6000 PROJECTORS
 
Anybody care to venture an opinion on what you think they would be worth?

They're worth whatever you're able to get for them when you decide to sell them, which won't be too long from now.

The bottom line: they're 13-year-old projectors designed for permanent installs. Bright and heavy, but with limitations, including obsolete inputs (BNC, S-Video & VGA only) and a relative low native resolution of 1366 x 768. There are no remotes included with them, you have no idea where they've been, they could be full of dust and you have no idea what the lamp hours are on each one. From what I can tell based on the photos in the auction (easy to find online), each projector uses two lamps to achieve the high brightness that they advertise. So if you need to replace one lamp, you need to replace two. Plan on spending $700+ just to replace bulbs in a single projector.

Unless you know the lamp hours on each projector, the whole thing is a crapshoot. Projectors in permanent installations like conference rooms and auditoriums are either heavily used, or not used at all - or they're left powered on 24/7, showing a blue screen because nobody knows how to turn them off. They seem like a great deal because it's an auction, and each projector sold for about $27,000 new. However, projector technology has improved a lot since 2004 and the need for boat-anchor-weight projectors with BNC connectors is no longer there. Personally, I'd pass.
 
A quick look at eBay they are going for around $1600-$1800 a piece used. If you could wind up with both for $1000 you would be doing pretty good
 
A quick look at eBay they are going for around $1600-$1800 a piece used. If you could wind up with both for $1000 you would be doing pretty good

I'm high bidder at $375. So in other words, I can go a lot higher. IF these dudes work, they could prove very useful on some of my larger presentations. They're twice as bright as anything else I have currently.
 
Brendan says they are 13 years old I thought they didn't make that particular model till 2009. Either way like he said they have their limitations but at $1K or less for the pair I think you'll do ok even if you decide to move them down the road
 
Brendan says they are 13 years old I thought they didn't make that particular model till 2009. Either way like he said they have their limitations but at $1K or less for the pair I think you'll do ok even if you decide to move them down the road

At current, I do probably a half-dozen events per year where that stronger projector would prove useful. I've got an awards show in June that we've done for several years now, and these would let me take over the video portion of it. Thanks for your input.
 
Factor in 2 replacement bulbs to your bidding numbers. 6000 lumen bulbs won't be cheap.
 
Those are the asking prices, but I'd be surprised if anybody's actually buying them.

I can't imagine they sell like hotcakes but there were a few sold I found in a search.

Something I thought of after I posted is I wonder the durability being moved all the time they are actually meant for fixed installs
 
I have two larger 5k lumen Mitsubishi projectors which are around 10 plus years ago. I'd say now they're only worth couple hundred dollars each. I use them only for my large outdoor movie screens were throw distance isn't an issue. For everything else i've converted to the new projectors with short throw lenses. You'll find it's a hell of a lot easier to position the new projectors with the short throw lens. Plus the lamps last 2 to 3 times longer than the old projectors. So if your getting a old projector most likely the lamps will need replacing as the lamps progressively get dimmer over time and only last around 1500 hrs so add that into the equation. Personally I wouldn't buy anything that old especially since prices in the 5k lumen range has dropped in recent years.
 
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Thanks for the input, guys. As of this morning, I'm still top bidder at $375. The auction ends tomorrow around 4:15p cst. If I get out-bid today I might bump on up to $450. It's a risk to get old projectors but some more industrial-grade units in the 6k lumen range could be a game-changer for the stuff I've been doing. I've got an awards show in June where they asked me last year to take on a bigger piece of the pie this year. The A/V company has been bringing 3000 lumen projectors to that one. I'm pretty close to being tooled up to handle larger conferences so this buy has a lot of positives to it.
 
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It's a risk to get old projectors but some more industrial-grade units in the 6k lumen range could be a game-changer for the stuff I've been doing.

Yeah, but when your only input options are BNC, VGA or S-Video and the native resolution is 1366x768, the high-def video that those corporate clients put together for you to project is going to look less-than-stellar. I just don't see the logic in buying a projector that weighs a ton, won't take an HDMI input and can't output 1080p.

There's a reason they're getting rid of these so cheaply. They're nearly obsolete.
 
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It's the 6k lumens the thing that's appealing?

Unless I knew these things were rarely used and handled properly, I'd avoid these. A 35 lb projector? Nothing seems mobile about that to me.
 
Also note that these are usually LOUD .. we had some Christie install projectors used as portable ones for our events in Spain a couple months ago (probably pulled from an install and are in their new twilight career). They were also 4:3 projectors, bright, but you could hear that fan run.
 
Yeah, but when your only input options are BNC, VGA or S-Video and the native resolution is 1366x768, the high-def video that those corporate clients put together for you to project is going to look less-than-stellar. I just don't see the logic in buying a projector that weighs a ton, won't take an HDMI input and can't output 1080p. There's a reason they're getting rid of these so cheaply. They're nearly obsolete.

Agreed. Rick, if you want to take gigs away from a rival production company, beating them just by having more lumens won't work. Not worth buying anything used for commercial production that won't do at least 1080x1920 no matter what the price.
1080 is already obsolete with the advent of 4k video, but will suffice and still be usable for a while and probably represents the best deals in the used market right now.
 
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They're not going to be what you think they are. They were 6k lumens when they were new - I can assure you they are no where near that level now. It's more than just the lamps as others have said - there is also the issue of the LCD color chips. They do not age well, and you'll find that your colors are not what they should be.

Corporate clients are all working with machines that have no VGA connector. You'll need to convert everything back RGBHV and you're resolution is the 16:9 equivalent of 1024x768 which is is about where you were when you were using Windows 98. These will look significantly less effective than the newer 3k units you say your competitor was using.
 
My guess is they may have some value to someone that had these already and can use parts and bulbs. I'd bet that is who you are bidding against.
 
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Rick
Remember when I was asking to buy your two water effect lights...
and you almost begged me to reconsider, because they just were not that bright?

Well, this is me returning the favor.

It seems as if the ONLY thing you are thinking about is the 6k lumens.
Like your buying a used Camaro because you love Camaros...
but you're overlooking the fact that the car is a POS and on it's last leg.
 
Rick
Remember when I was asking to buy your two water effect lights...
and you almost begged me to reconsider, because they just were not that bright?

Well, this is me returning the favor.

It seems as if the ONLY thing you are thinking about is the 6k lumens.
Like your buying a used Camaro because you love Camaros...
but you're overlooking the fact that the car is a POS and on it's last leg.

Well, you guys have certainly rained on my parade but the bid was placed and no way to retract it. I'm currently top bidder with a max of $390. I fully expect someone to top it, right towards the end. If they don't, and I win, I'm still hopeful that it will be a step up from the projectors I currently have. If these boxes will do a better job of servicing the existing return clients I already have, it will be well worth the price.

Thanks guys.
 
Well, you guys have certainly rained on my parade but the bid was placed and no way to retract it. I'm currently top bidder with a max of $390. I fully expect someone to top it, right towards the end. If they don't, and I win, I'm still hopeful that it will be a step up from the projectors I currently have. If these boxes will do a better job of servicing the existing return clients I already have, it will be well worth the price.

Thanks guys.

It's really a no lose situation. If you get one event out of them and sell them you will get at least what you are paying