Like Natja, I'm a big fan of DLP and the black levels they can reach. I am on my second DLP projector, the first being a ho-hum business class Toshiba TDP-S20U the second being a far superior Optoma HD80. I can tell you when I first fired that beast up it wasn't the black levels that shocked me - it was everything else. But sticking with contrast, I was a little surprised that I didn't see more of a difference between my old Tosh and the fancy-shmancy HD80. Of course, what I was seeing was simply the limitation of projectors in general. A light is being used to create an image that isn't supposed to have any light in it! That said, around a week ago I received my Graywolf II as I couldn't turn away from that price either. I had still been running a Da-Lite Model B w/100" Matte White (4:3 screen!). The nice thing about the Graywolf was that I simply took the old screen off, and fired up the new one. The difference I saw was staggering. The difference in black levels and shadow detail going from Matte White vs. Graywolf were greater than what I saw going from TDP-S20U to HD80. Before anyone thinks I'm nuts for not seeing a big difference between my PJs let me remind you I'm just talking about black levels here! Now the Graywolf isn't perfect. You will see sparkles in bright scenes, and if the PJ is ceiling mounted (like mine) you won't benefit from the extra gain as it is retroreflective. Yes, Optoma advertises a 100 degree viewing arc but you aren't getting the extra gain outside a 30 degree range. That said, outside the sweet spot you won't be dropping below a 1.0 gain. So if you are using a matte white screen now, I would definitely recommend that you try out a high contrast screen. I am really happy with my Graywolf, and it is a great deal. As for LCD vs. DLP, at your budget you might as well wait before upgrading - short of a fabulous deal of course! I was lucky enough to get my HD80 for $1300 brand new (never get tired of saying that!) so you might as well be patient. The 6100 looks great, but the 6500UB looks a whole lot sweeter. It really seems like the current crop of higher end - at least in terms of mainstream projectors - LCD projectors are really "nailing" a lot of things right now. When you look at the Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Panny AE3000, Epson 6500UB, and Mitsu HC6500 & HC7000 they are all really amazing. Those are the PJs to wait for, as there is really nothing wrong with your AX100 so when you upgrade you might as well make it worth your while!

So I'll be getting my HD80 today and now have some setup quandaries. The first revolved around the screen. For the time being, I’ll be projecting onto my old screen which is made with Da-Lite’s Matte White. The screen material I’m considering for the new screen would be a high contrast with a mildly higher gain (1.1-1.5 range). The room is light controlled so far as incoming light, but the reflected light off the screen has lots of things to bounce off of. Does this sound like a reasonable approach? My only concern is that I like the viewing angle of the matte white so the more gain I get, it appears that the tighter the viewing angle becomes (in general). The other issue is HDMI. This projector will be used for a lot of DVD movies being played by a Toshiba HD-A3 HD-DVD player. The player outputs HD-DVD over component at up to 1080i, but caps upconverted DVDs at 480p. Before I spend the money on a long HDMI cable, I’d like some input on people’s experience with DVD on the HD80. Does the player do a good job with the 480p material, or would the A3 be better? Hey, $120 for a 10m HDMI cable is a nice opportunity for savings! I will need the HDMI eventually, but I can wait until I get a Bluray player before spending the money. Unless there is a Bluray player that can output 1080p over component J Thanks!