We have the Optoma H31. Great if you are on a tight budget. It's DLP and native 16x9 instead of 4:3 like most conference room projectors. It's great for DVD's. I don't have HDTV yet. Regular TV is as good as can be but you cannot expect much without HDTV at these sizes. Check out the projector central website for more research.

Here is a link that might be useful: projector central

I have a Epson TW100h that is almost 3 years old now. It is a LCD projector. It also is 16:9 which is widescreen. The problems with LCDs is either dead pixel(shows up a black spot on screen) or stuck pixels(alway on & shows up at a colored dot either red,blue or green. I myself have a stuck green pixel which drives me nuts because I know it't there.If I don't tell anyone they dont usually notice it).The problem with DLP which all people don't see is rainbows if you move your eyes across the screen fast. The higher the lumens the brighter the picture and the higher the contrast ratio the blacker the blacks are rather that dark dark gray. DLPs generally have a better contrast ratio than LCDs however LCDs are getting better at that than they were when I bought my LCD. One thing you have to consider is if you have a bunch of windows in the room can you block out outside light because it will wash out the picture if there is too much light. Thus again you would do better with a higher lumen and contrast ratio for a room that has lots of sunlight coming in. You can help this with better screens also. Stewart makes some of the better screens but they are expensive. I have a 92" Stewart Firehawk which is a silver gray color and helps improve the lack of high contrast with my projector. My contrast ratio is 800:1 and the DLPs are around 3000:1 now.

The Optoma H31 has to qualify as the budget price leader -- an excellent projector for the money, and many would be very happy with it. At the next price level, check out the review of the Sanyo Z4 and the Panasonic AE900U at www.projectorcentral.com. These two are the current leaders in value per dollar in the ~ $2200 range, and they're arguably as good as the current crop of DLP projectors costing twice as much.

I'm on my second LCD projector, a Sanyo Z3. After ~ 10 months of use, I'm still delighted with the picture quality. It has its weak points, to be sure, but the overall movie experience I get in my HT is as good or better than most movie theatres, and I don't have to leave home, don't get disturbed by ringing cell phones, and don't have to unstick my feet from the floor after the show is over. ;-)

Consider looking at the Mitsubishi HC-900 or HC-3000. Awesome entry level projectors.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mitsubishi Projectors

We got an Infocus from WOOT.com for around $499. We are not aficionados, we just project it onto our basement wall and love it! We use it all the time. We also got a great sound system from WALMART (1000 watts) for around $200 (pioneer). I know a lot of people spend a lot more for their system, but the basement shakes from the sound system and it is great for us. Check out woot - they have only one item for sale a day, but about once a month they offer projectors for a great price.

I forgot to mention it's dlp

Determine your budget for the room first. Then after you determine $$$ then decide how much for a projector, speakers, receiver, subwoofer. All of it makes a difference for a great theater.
I know that every bodies expectations can be different.
But I find it pretty hard to do a "good" solid performing theater for under $5,000.00.

Have the infocus 4805 from Costco. Dont have a TV at all and dont think I can ever go back to measuring my "TV" in inches instead of feet