Chuck, you can get a 500 projector but i like to call those "one time projectors" because by the time the bulb goes out your gonna be slammed with a high fee to change the lamp. Replacement & possibly time and labor having it shipped off.
There are some great brands out there, if you need to rent I highly suggest using
http://www.wagnerdirect.com I know the president personally (Wayne Wagner) and we use them quite often at my place of employment, offices in Houston & Las Vegas. They have a selection of good projectors for any environment, take the hint from them is what I'm suggesting.
Viewsonic, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, NEC, Barco, Eiki
mostly you can't go wrong with these brands... However don't settle for what you see at Office Depot or Best Buy. They have a limited selection and you may not get what you need, many times projectors have scan lines that interfer with your picture, some look horrible, and some or not bright enough... I highly recommend you choose a reliable company that knows the ins & outs on projectors. Not to push my company, i don't get a penny for doing it... But we are knowledgable and do many corporate events and portable systems for major accounts such as wrestler associations, ncaa, tv station networks, our line card goes well above and beyond.
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Point: Get somebody you can trust, if there is a company you feel highly confident in dealing with, then by golly use them
