Television & Film
Buy and sell TVs, projectors and DVD players in Guatemala.
In Guatemala more than half of the homes with a television also pay for cable, so the set rarely works alone: beside it sits a decoder, a streaming stick or the player that still runs the family’s discs. Sticks and players change hands here new and pre-owned, along with the screen itself and the projector, for anyone who wants a picture the size of a wall. Before paying for any of it, ask to see it working on a screen, and bring your own HDMI cable if you can.
Screens, projectors and the boxes that sit beside them:
the picture comes first. Televisions run from a 32-inch set for the kitchen to the OLED in the living room. For a bigger picture than any affordable TV there is the projector, the same machine that hangs from the ceiling in classrooms and meeting rooms. Around the screen sit the smaller pieces: a streaming stick from Roku, Amazon or Google that gives an older set its apps, and the Blu-ray and DVD players that keep a disc collection playable.
A television or a projector on the wall:
the room decides. A projector needs darkness and a pale, flat wall or a proper screen; in a sunny living room even a good one looks washed out and the TV wins. Where it does work, it throws a picture of 100 inches or more for not much more than a 65-inch TV costs. Two claims on the box tell you whether it is any good. Brightness only counts in ANSI lumens: a mini projector advertising thousands of “lumens” may be rated at 120 to 250 ANSI, enough for a bedroom wall at night. And “4K supported” means it accepts a 4K signal, not that it shows one; look for the native resolution, which on cheap models is often 720p. That gap is where the money goes. A mini projector costs well under Q1,000 new, while a Full HD home projector from Epson or BenQ starts around Q5,000, and the difference buys real brightness, sharper optics and a fan you cannot hear over the dialogue.
Streaming sticks, Android boxes and the cable decoder:
look alike and do different jobs. A Roku, Fire TV or Google TV stick plugs into HDMI and runs the official apps, and a used one is a fair buy if its remote comes with it. Generic Android boxes sold “with every channel loaded” depend on channel lists that stop working without warning, so pay for the box, not the promise. The cable decoder is a different matter: the cable company usually lends it with the subscription and pairs it to that account – a national operator or one of the small local firms serving towns like Chiquimulilla and Samayac – so one bought loose will not open channels on your own service.
Lamp hours and the image on a used projector:
tell most of its story. Lamp models keep a count of lamp hours in the information menu; compare it with the lamp life in the manual, because a lamp near the end is one the next owner pays to replace. Laser and LED models have no lamp to change, which is part of why they cost more used. Project a plain white image: blotches or a yellow cast on an LCD model point to dust inside the optics or an ageing panel, while fixed white or black dots on a DLP model are failed mirrors on the chip and have no cheap fix. Leave it running for half an hour; one that switches itself off is overheating, often from a clogged filter or a tired fan. With a stick, ask the owner to sign out and factory-reset it in front of you.
Before a projector or a stick goes up for sale:
photograph the projector’s information screen with the lamp hours showing, and a picture thrown on a wall, not just the case. Give the native resolution and ANSI lumens from the label or the manual, and say what comes with it: remote, power lead, HDMI cable, a ceiling bracket or a screen. Remove a stick from your Amazon, Google or Roku account before handing it over. The cable decoder stays out of the sale; it belongs to the company that lent it. Anyone driving in from Cobán or Jalapa for a projector will want to watch it fill a dark wall before paying, so arrange to meet in the evening or in a room where the curtains close.