Cheap projector with built-in DVD player (AU$550!)

One of the more difficult things to organise for the OneTwenty Trivia Night was the data projector. We didn’t really want to hire one, and sort of assumed that some friend of some friend would have one that we could borrow. No an ideal situation. Especially not if it inconveniences people. So I made a mental note to think of a better (more permanent) solution.

A few weeks ago, Kmart had a Sansui projector on special for $699 ($799 RRP). That’s very cheap for a brand-new projector. Moreover, it has a built-in speaker and DVD player that can be used to show a slideshow of JPEG images from a CD. Perfect for presentations since we wouldn’t need a laptop! I put it to OneTwenty for consideration, but it was deemed to expensive (and would’ve been too much of a rushed decision).

Jim and I were at Kmart the other day (Jim was buying a present), and I saw the projector behind the Audio/Video counter. I wondered what it was like, so I asked the lady behind the counter if I could have a look at it. It looked perfect; much less “cheap looking” than I expected and it came with all required cables, a remote control, and decent lamp life (“3000 hours STD”). I figured that I would check how much it was:

Beep! $649

Harh. I guess they aren’t selling as well as expected. I thought it was weird for Kmart to have projectors. Maybe they were testing the market waters and it didn’t work out. Still $50 cheaper probably wouldn’t change anything. But then…

Oh wait, I don’t think this scanner is registering today’s 15% discount. Let me scan it again… Beep! $552.20.

$552.20! That’s crazy! I asked Jim what he thought. We should get it. I called people. We should get it. Okay! We got it.

Here it is setup on my dining room table:

projector.jpg

and here is a photo of the projected image (from Rushmore, one of my favourite movies):

rushmore_projector.jpg

I think it perfectly suits what we were after:

  1. It’s “plug-and-play” in that it has a built-in speaker and DVD player
  2. It’s portable and comes with all cables (VGA, s-video, RCA)
  3. It has a remote control (for DVD playback and projector settings)
  4. Image quality is fine for presentations, games, and DVDs (800×600 native resolution)
  5. It’s quiet
  6. It’s cheap!

Needless to say, there will soon be a Wii Sports gaming night. Lifesize virtual tennis, golf, and bowling… oh yeah.

Conclusion: Highly recommended for the price!

16 thoughts on “Cheap projector with built-in DVD player (AU$550!)”

  3. For those who don’t want to follow heanson’s link, it’s a 16:9 projector screen for $169 (very cheap).

    BTW: I thought that you spelt your name “heanson” (?)

  5. hi !
    Looks like a good projector., i live in Melbourne, how old is yourprojector?
    I Might be intrested, all i need is for DVD & PS2.
    Does it come with a TV input too?
    You can reply to me 🙂
    Cheers !!

  6. Really nice price and from how you described it look good…and did the manual mentioned anything about replacement bulb? Where to get, distributor?

  8. Hi Kris,

    There is a note on the box mentioning that replacement bulbs can be sourced from:

    Yale Prima Customer Service Centre 1800 111 727

  9. Thanks for the info. Nick…and for those wanting one, I saw one at each of the 4 Kmart stores that I’ve been to in Melbourne at $649, or onlne at http://www.oo.com.au, for the same price. Have a look guys and good luck…I’m off to get one hoping to strike the same deal as Nick did.

  10. I bought one yesterday,24.1.08, at KMart for AUS$212, I couldn’t believe it. It plays DVDs great, but I tried to connect it on Laptop and when I turn on laptop the windows initial run up is visible great but when it turns to the desktop it’s gone. It changed the resolution itself ok. Any idea what I have to do?

  12. Sabine, Something to try: The specs say the projector only supports 800×600 resolution. It works fine for Windows boot, which is low resolution. Then when Windows gets past boot and switches to high resolution (e.g. 1024×768 or higher), the projector may not handle this. Try setting your display resolution in Windows to 800×600.

  13. Also, one other thing is that a lot of the time laptops/computers will register anything plugged into another VGA port as a second desktop… What you’re probably seeing is the projector showing a black background..
    Try right-clicking on the desktop, and going to properties, then settings, and see if it shows 2 monitors there. If so, then you’ll need to play around a bit with the settings to get it right.

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