[gorgeousgeorge]

Hello,

helping a friend buy a projector, has anyone seen both these in action,
what would you recommend?
any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, George

[LadyDog]

George,
Both are excellent projectors, especially for the money.  This is really a no lose situation as your friend would/will enjoy either one.  

The 4805 is more of a plug and play projector as it will come out of the box pretty much set.  The H31 needs a bit of tweaking to get its picture to look best.

Imo, the H31 has a bit more pop to its picture.  The colors stand out more.  Depending on your view, this may be a positive or negative?

Lastly, while the blacks on the 4805 are very good, I thought there were better on the H31.  

A positive for the 4805, it has better bulb life.

As previously stated, both are great so maybe costs will be the deciding factor?  

Regards,
Jeff

[werner52]

I own a H31, so I can only comment on that model.  Got it at a great price and used video essential for fine tuning the picture.  I previously owned a Sharp DT200 and the H31 is quite a step up from that projector, albeit at even a lower price.  I haven't researched any current models, but at the time Optoma won out for me.  At the prices for these models I plan on using it for 3-4 years figuring then XGA's may be the entry level price point as SVGA's are now.  
 
Positives:  Excellent black detail, bright vivid picture, quiet operation (The H30 had a weird pitch to the fan IMO).
Negatives:  Can't quite get reds to look really blood red, has a lean towards red/orange, have heard about some issues when using HTPC, however I use a standalone player and it performs flawless.