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Wanted: "Dumb" projector for home use (piefed.social)
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by cabbage@piefed.social to c/buyitforlife@slrpnk.net
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Until recently I had an old projector inherented from a university to use for movie nights, but after a rather expensive bulb change the picture started flickering and it is now pretty much unusabe. So I am looking for a new one.

Things I want:

  • HDMI or DisplayPort
  • A standardized bulb of sorts, if possible - changing the bulb in my old projector was very specific and therefore expensive
  • Reasonable brightness - I want to project across the room onto a white wall
  • Somewhat silent - we have the projector behind us watching movies, so it's good if it's not very loud.
  • Available in Europe
  • Affordable

Things I do not want:

  • Smart functionality or any form of spyware

It doesn't need to be super compact, but a smaller form factor is of course an advantage. Most importantly I just want a no-nonsense projector that does the job, is as repairable as possible if something breaks, and ideally doesn't cost a fortune.

If there's a projector that's reliable enough that it can safely be bought second hand that would be great.

Edit: I would ideally not pay much more than €600, and I am not very picky when it comes to picture quality - I just want to watch some movies now and then without having to buy a piece of trash with Android on it. I want a projector because I don't want a TV in my living room, not because I want a full-blown cinema experience at home. I'm sorry I didn't make this clear right away!

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[-] dadarobot@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

With a smart tv(or projector) set up a temporary guest network on your router if it has a mandatory update. Then disable it and never connect to the internet again. Worked for me.

[-] cabbage@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, I'm just radicalized to the point where I would rather go without watching movies than to buy some product I have to fight against in order to have it work for me. But it's true that as long as there's HDMI input there should always be hope.

this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
90 points (98.9% liked)

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