Hey guys,
I don't want to be fired upon, this is not blasphemy but a simple newbe "I don't know what I'm talking about" kind of question so please bear with me.
Is DLP better / worse than DIY?
The reason I asked is that I can get a DLP for about 900 bucks (new at sam's club with, well almost a liftime warranty on the VERY expensive bulb)
The guy (friend of mine) swears that the quality is better on a DLP...
So please let me know what you think bout that.
(please remenber I'm new at this big screen kind of deal...)

heh, you're going to get a million different answers here.
I suggest you at least mention what the model DLP you're looking at, and what type of PJ you're considering making.

Otherwise...it'll just turn into a pissing contest

At most retail DLPs will give you 1024 x 728 resolution. With our DIY you could get 1080i if you do it right. Even if you use a 17" regular LCD you can get 1280 x 1024 res which is much better than DLP.

Edit: On the other hand DLPs have a much better contradt ration (brightness) than DIY. Qualiy wise DIY has much more potential than DLP.

Let me just say that I'm pretty much repeating what I've read here, not talking from experience.

In a side by side comparison a comercial proector is probably going to look better in pretty much every respect except possibly resolution. The nice thing is that it's very hard to notice the difference when you can only see one at a time.
It's like looking at a piece of paper at home, then looking at another at work and trying to say which one is "brighter."
I think it's pretty much accepted that the image will be brighter with a comercial, this is pretty much a given, and is DIY's biggest problem IMHO. Nice thing about DIY is that all we need to do is make the room darker to compensate and our eyes do the rest.
Resolution is where DIYs shine. If you want a 1080p projector you can have one for realisticly $1,100 instead of $10,000 that a comercial would cost.

So really what you have to ask is: what is better, brightness or resolution?

Of-course each has their own pros and cons, here are some DIY pros:
It's a hobby, and building stuff is fun.
It's way cooler to build a projector than to buy one.
You know your projector inside and out, if something doesn't work like you want, just get in there and fix it.
The resolution is way better. If you plug a computer to a comercial PJ you're going to be hit with some serious disapointment when you have to set the resolution to 800*600. Everything will be huge and you'll get well aquainted with the horisontal scroll bar (gag me with a spoon).

That's all I can think of right now... I'm sure there's more though...