projector post turning into rant...

[VJ]

Hello,

It seems I may be in the market for a new projector... My current Epson EH-TW2900 seems to be acting up, the dreaded auto-iris problem started surfacing (2 leds blink red, image goes black). For now, a restart fixes it temporarily, but I've read that the frequency of it occuring will just increase. The projector has 12 years, and is already quite far on its second lamp, so no point in getting it fixed, and time to start looking (for some time it also has a purple-ish band at the bottom, but as most things we watch have black bands, it was not visible).

I'm a bit disappointed by the current options: everything went with DLP-technology, but it is no good for me as I'm very sensitive to the rainbow effect. 3DLP projectors and LCoS/dILA/sXRD are still at too high a price-point for me. There is a big increase in ultra-short-throw projectors, with 3 lasers etc, which also should not suffer from the rainbow effect, but I cannot position this: I'm projecting on a screen that rolls down in front of the window. I have no possibility to put a furniture to put the short throw projector on, and I cannot ceiling mount as the image would be too high (and most do not allow ceiling mount). I would also have to change the screen to accommodate for the properties of a short-throw laser.

That just leaves Epson as one of the only manufacturers till sticking to 3LCD models. And while they have 2 models (that are already a couple of years on the market), the two newest candidates lack horizontal lens shift. I need a minor horizontal lens shift as the projector mount is not exactly centered with the screen... so I just have a choice between the Epson EH-TW7000 and the TW71000, with the latter boasting slightly better specs for a much higher price.

How come DLP got so popular? When you read reviews or comments, there are many people that are sensitive to the rainbow effect... yet virtually all projectors currently on the market have it.
Why is it that technology so often now makes steps backwards? I see it in more and more devices I buy: useful functionality that was present 20 years ago in my car-navigation is not available anymore (single button to indicate that the road you are on is to be avoided for the next x kilometer), similar with mobile phones, television, washing machines, software, ... And probably in 5-10 years from now some manufacturer will re-introduce those features and will be heralded as the great innovator.

Sorry, just had to rant...
(I'm beginning to feel like Victor Meldrew, from One Foot In The Grave)

[UtwigMU]

Because it's good enough at price point. Those who care about image can get oled or hd led. One company is replacing their projectors with tvs.

[VJ]

But it is not... I get that DLP is can be cheaper and more compact, but the prices for similarly specced projectors are similar to the those of the LCD variants.

And why are new models behind on old ones? e.g. the Epsons that were released last year are missing horizontal lens shift, have louder fans, a slightly lower brightness and less contrast. So that are four aspects on which they went backwards compared to the 2019 (!) models that are still being produced and sold at a very similar price point.

edit: the explanation is probably that the newly released ones are positioned below the old ones, with the old ones up for renewal next.

This is a trend I'm seeing everywhere... some functionality is added (usually in the form of "smart", which stops being compatible after the first 2 years), and basic stuff is lost.
Some examples: My previous LG TV could play music from a usb stick while displaying other sources (the music control keys on the remote popped up a small status window), current LG TVs that even run the same WebOS lost this functionality. My first navigation had a simple button to set that a road is blocked, my second one had that quite deep in the menu that was not usable as a driver (or you had to pull over), my current one does not have such functionality.

[VJ]

While the projector is slowly dying, my washer-dryer decided to do it faster: it became impossible to set any program. The controls just went wild (any program immediately went from the planned duration to 1 min then to 0 min; a turn of the program selector started a program rather than selecting it, etc.). A 10 year old Electrolux... it seems a bit young for it to go, but I anticipate the cost would be expensive (mainboard replacement would be close to 30% of its new-price). So I got an AEG (ok, same group, but it was washing very well).

Just a heads-up if you are in the market for a washer-dryer combo: most of them have a cleaning program which takes out the fluff of the drum (you run the program and then clean the drum: a lot of fluff is then caught). However, it does not go so well, so in my experience even after running that cleaning program, you still should have at least 1 light-coloured laundry after a light-coloured drying cycle, before starting a dark laundry. Otherwise, the dark laundry would still be full of white fluff.
The new models that have a heatpump for drying do not suffer this issue: they have a normal fluff-filter as a regular dryer would. They are in the higher price range, but that fluff-issue can be annoying as you have to schedule and remember laundries. In addition, they do not use water for the drying cycle (the washer-dryers without heatpump use 20 litres of water for their drying cycle).

[UtwigMU]

I don't see a point in dryer:
- you cannot put clothes straight into closet after dry cycle, so you still need to leave them out to dry
- in summer you hang clothes on the balcony / in sunny part of apartment for half a day and they are dry
- in winter if your radiators work they take 1 day to dry inside, you need to provide moisture anyway.


Dried clothes are less wrinkly and are easier to fold.
No drier taxes clothes less.
Good washing machine with high rpm makes clothes almost dry
If busy you can skip the folding -> closet part and live of the clothes rack

I have Bosch washing machine that I've moved from one rental apartment to another (both were without)

90% of black clothes make life simple.

[VJ]

A lot depends on the climate... When I was in Santiago de Compostela, with 90%+ ambient humidity, jeans just do not dry when you hang them. edit: I bought a de-humidifier there, as it was just uncomfortably humid - it also helped with drying my clothes inside on the dry-rack . In Belgium it is similar - not as bad as an Santiago, but ambient humidity is just too high - so in such climates a dryer is almost imperative. I will agree that in Poland it is less of an issue, although in recent years the climate got more humid and drying on the balcony does not always go well. And there are conveniences to a dryer for some laundries and fabrics.

It is not true that you cannot put clothes away immediately after drying: you can just fold it and put it away - there are just some exceptions, but you just leave them out for half an hour or so and it suffices.

Hanging on our closed balcony is a problem when in summer it just gets too hot there (esp. cotton clothes dry too fast and just get hard); in winter cottons dry too slow (we don't have a good inside space for the dry-rack, the closed balcony is sort of the only place where we can comfortably put it).
I agree that a dryer is worse on clothes, but I only use it for towels, cotton undergarments and t-shirts (some shirts also), synthetics indeed do not need it.
My washing machine - both the previous as well as the new one - spins at 1600 rpm, synthetics are quite dry but cottons usually are more humid.

With two people, we have quite a mix of colours and materials, so I have to cope with that...

Still, wanted to give a heads-up for anyone in the market for a combo-washer-dryer. The heatpump models have an interesting benefit over the others...

[Umfriend]

We have seperate washer/dryers since, uhm, 1990 or so. Last dryer uses a heatpump. A bit slower but saves a lot of energy. Personally, I buy clothes that can go in the dryer or I put them in anyway .

I agree with Utwig: Mostly black clothes, ever more so.

[VJ]

The Dutch climate is somewhat similar to the Belgian: quite humid. My colleague from Finland (!) said he froze in winter in Netherlands, as he is not used to a humid cold.

I got a combo machine as a way to save space. Theoretically it would be possible to put one on top of the other, but it would require some changes to the door behind which they sit (the machine would have to be more to the right to keep the wall mounted tap accessible, but the current door prevents putting it too far to the right as it would block access to the front filter of a machine - with just one device, the taps is accessible from the top). So I just got another combo as it was the easiest; a change to that door are planned, with a mechanism that would allow to put the machine more to the right, it it is nothing I wanted to rush into.

[Umfriend]

But does your dryer deliver dry clothes as in, you can simply fold and put in closet? When my oldest was in Frankfurt for a while, she bought a combo but clothes would simply not be actually dry.

[VJ]

But does your dryer deliver dry clothes as in, you can simply fold and put in closet? When my oldest was in Frankfurt for a while, she bought a combo but clothes would simply not be actually dry.

Before two weeks ago, I would have wholehartedly said yes. My previous machine as well as my current one deliver dry clothes that can be put in the closet. I only use the setting "cupboard dry", but they have an additional setting "extra dry". With my previous machine, "cupboard dry" could feel slightly humid (as if after steaming shortly), but it was very faint and very evenly distributed. The current machine is even better and does not leave that slightly humid feel.

However, just last week I did some laundry for my mother in law and it turns out that her towels do not dry well in the dryer. There are wetter patches, and they are not soft like mine, ... Those towels are much older and potentially lower quality, and they were also usually dried by hanging outside in the sun - I have never known them to feel other than sandpaper. I don't know if those factors make a difference, but having seen that I have to say that there are some things that should dry well but don't. Both hers and mine are 100% cotton. (edit: I do not use fabric softener) I have no idea why this difference: I tried twice. Interestingly, mixing the towels (ours and hers) negatively impacts how ours are dried in that cycle. So... I'm puzzled... All our things dry perfectly as expected, but those not... I have no idea if those towels would dry well in a non-combo machine (edit: they also don't, according to my mother-in-law, they are old towels and they also don't dry well in her dryer).