Home Theater Projectors under $250??

[Maple Larynx]

I'm seeing some relatively low dollar (<$100) LED bulb projectors, but, I'm concerned about the 'you-get-what-you-pay-for' impact.  Thought I would check with you all to see if $250 was enough to get a 'decent' quality for gaming and movies.

Has anybody purchased a home theater projector for $250 or less that they were happy with??
If so, what was the brand and model?

Thank you!

[pickdropper]

That's a tall order right there.  If you find something HD that fits the bill at that price, I'd love to know what it is.

I've looked in the past, but I generally haven't liked much sub-$1k.

[tunatuk]

When I did mine a few years ago, I paid $650 for a 720p/1080i projector. They can be had for a little less now, but nothing of quality for sub $400

[pickdropper]

Yeah, I want a 1080p projector and one that has decent image quality (I'm somewhat picky about that).

Last time I checked, there were some at the $1200-1300 range that were OK, but not stellar.

[Maple Larynx]

Thanks for the comments.  If I do end up finding something, I'll circle back here with a review.

[Chandler]

dell 3300mp was a good home theater projector for me....you can find them dependent on bulb life and what they come with for 200 to 250.....warning though once I had my first taste of projector I upgraded right away and got a optoma hd66....so unless you are serious you might want to be sure you arent going to get the itch as I did and I now have a 100" screenin my room along with a hd projector.

[Maple Larynx]

Thank you for the feedback, Chandler. 

In the months following my OP, I was able to soften my wife's stance on the location of the artwork above our fireplace.  She saw the error of her ways ( ) and agreed to install a 55" flat screen on the wall to replace the 32" flat screen that maxed out the width of our entertainment center.  Our room isn't very deep, so this new screen provides enough viewing area for us at 1080p, so we are good at this point.

I was concerned that a 'good enough' projector was going to be way above what I thought it was worth.