Hey TomG,
I am one of those guys that rents LCD Projectors for $350.00/day :) My company typically rents audio-visual equipment to corporate clients at hotels, resorts and conference centers that offer meeting facilities. You can purchase a lower end LCD projector(1000-1500 lumens) for around $1500.00 nowadays. Lumens is a measure of brightness in a LCD projector. The higher the lumens, the more expensive the projector.
Also, larger screens (9'x12' and up) really benefit from higher lumen projectors, because as you increase the image size the available lumens become dispersed resulting in less brightness and detail. We have LCD projectors that will give you 6000 lumens and more. Sometimes, we even stack them to increase the total lumens even more. Great for outdoor gigs or large venues that have a lot of ambient lighting. For your situation, a 1500+ lumen projector should suit you fine for screen sizes up to 9'x12' in a low lighting environment. We rent many types of LCD projectors, but from my experience, NEC makes great projectors, that are affordable, feature-rich(the latest low-end models even have automatic keystone correction) and are very durable, which is very important in the rental business.

HTH,

Billy Buck

Billybk,

Do you (your company) have a website? I'm going to need something for showing to 150 people at evening in a well-lit room with lots of windows in Vermont in October. Screen size estimated to be less than 9'x12'.

Thanks,

TomG

TomG,
The main website is here: http://www.avservicescorp.com/

But you may want to go directly to the AVHQ divsion and click on, the nearest city to your function: http://www.avhqrentalservices.com/contactus.asp


HTH,

Billy Buck

IMHO go for DLP rather than LCD, at least the color rendition doesn't shift with time.

Also factor in the VERY high cost of lamps, they don't last very long which is one reason the projectors are expensive to hire. That and the fact they are fairly easy to damage.

If you buy one keep the filters CLEAN!

A few months ago I got a great little DLP projector, the InFocus X1. It replaced an aging LCD projector whose panel had gone dim over time, as will happen with LCD projectors. The InFocus X1 has an amazing picture, especially considering the price.

You can now find it for $999 here or here.

I read somewhere that if you're using the projector for video (as opposed to computer output), LCD provides much better color/contrast than DLP, the latter providing better resolution which is great for computer projection. Any thoughts on this? Also, the lamps generally are rated for 2000 hours and average about $400.