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Compaq IPAQ MP4800…Projector Lamp Anyone?

Three years ago, all the way back in the year 2002 when projectors for the most part seemed to be taking a step back, Compaq introduced the almighty MP4800.

Compaq, not known for being a leader in the industry, and quite young at that delivered an impressive little wonder that still can go head to head against the best.

Sure, it didn’t come with lens shift, but most people I know don’t even use the feature because they build their room accordingly anyway. And it may have a noise level of 36db but it in reality doesn’t so much as whisper. I went down to Village Electronics and set one up in their projection booth and I was not bothered by the ultra quiet fan.

What really separated this behemoth of a machine from others produced in the same year is the price, and its incredible balance between lumens and contrast. Most projectors give the optimized ANSI lumens, but the MP4800 shoots out 2000 ANSI lumens and truly keeps a bright picture throughout. With the extra brightness you can add to the already impressive contrast, and project a bright image in most scenarios involving ambient light.

The 2000 ANSI lumens are powered by a 200W projector lamp and this was a smart move by Compaq since the 200W UHP lamp technology has become a lot better. Unfortunately, the projector lamp life is reduced to 1000 hours, making you spend a little more, but thanks to myprojectorlamps.com, finding a low price for this projector lamp, even as it becomes rare, should be easy.

The contrast for this beauty is rated at 450:1 but with a little tweaking and after pushing some buttons it can be as much as 1800:1. You always should optimize your settings; otherwise, you may never know what your projector can handle. It is a native XGA resolution pumping out 1024x768p, which can be increased to an SXGA level if the source is correct. Basically what this means is that you can compress an SXGA quality image into your MP4800.

It only weighs a little under 6 pounds allowing you to take it anywhere and it has every input known to man including DVI and HDTV up to 1080i. Did I forget to mention that the MP4800 is a DLP projector that was originally priced at only $3600 US, but keep in mind that the price is from 2002, so it must have come down a lot since then. Go pick one up today along with a spare projector lamp from myprojectorlamps.com and save some money!