Yamaha LPX-500: Drop it Like Its Hot.

The Yamaha LPX-500 might be the king of projector-land. It first debuted way back in September of 2002 for around one stack of high society or $10,000 USD. Since then, the price on this unit has dropped dramatically (now just over $5,000) but the quality of the LPX-500 has stayed consistent throughout and it still remains one of the best buys for its money, despite the fact that it is no longer in production. (Yamaha ceased producing the LPX-500’s in February of 2005).

This projector has just about every feature fans could dream of expecting at the time and it still is very competitive specs-wise. For instance, the LPX-500 operates with native 1280x720 resolution, which can be increased to 1280x1024 at the touch of a button. The projector is HDTV, EDTV, and SDTV compatible with high-resolution quality at all levels. It has plug for DVI-D, S-Video, Component and even direct hookup for personal computers. If the Yamaha LPX-500 has any drawbacks, one could argue that it is fairly heavy, tipping the scales over ten pounds. And these days, when Dell has just unleashed a sub 2.5 pound projector, ten pounds sounds like elephant type weight for a projector.

One positive about the Yamaha LPX-500 is the fact that the projector lamp for this unit (ID# PJL-5015) is easy to replace. The 150W UHP lamp is nestled inside it housing, but is not overly complicated to remove. In fact, we have had several customers buy new lamps for their LPX-500 for hundreds upon hundreds of dollars less than any other website is offering. Currently, myprojectorlamps.com is selling these lamps for $274.99 USD and at the time of writing this article the PJL-5015’s are the sites featured projector lamps for June of 2005. Click hereto purchase this lamp.

One minor flaw that this projector is almost notorious for in internet forums, chat rooms and discussion groups is what has become known as ”the lens cap issue”. The ”lens cap issue” crops up when most people go to put the lens cap on for the night (after an exciting day of watching the Michael Jackson verdict come down). The next day when people go to fire up the Yamaha LPX-500, they often find that the manual focus is tweaked just slightly. In short, the lens cap adjusts the manual focus a little every time you put it on. However, besides that annoying flaw, the Yamaha LPX-500 is one of the greatest projectors of all time and deserves all the praise in the world.

If you can pick one up for relatively cheap, then do not hesitate.