OT--buying a tv projector
I'm moving into a new condo, and there is a giant giant white wall, and it is screaming at me to install a projector and project onto it.
My question is, does anyone know how much quality difference I'm going to have if I buy one of these $60-$120 HD projectors off amazon/ebay vs. buying a $400 one? Is it resolution, size, or size and resolution?
Edit: thanks for all the input! In hindsight, I suppose this blog isn't the best source of info for "fake" people (students) as most of you have more experience using projectors for legitimate home theaters. After giving it some more thought, I'm going to use my nice 42 inch tv on a short tv stand, and then get a $250 projector from amazon for use exclusively at night time. I unfortunately don't have more to spend on it, so if it looks stupid I'll return it.make sure it has a hdmi on it. and its at lease 720 p . i had one a year ago. look on craigslist. too
120 dollar ones are most likely only 480p
like 80-100 inches of mediocre screen quality for $100-300. my biggest concern is that the room is too bright
Don't go with the projector. A large white wall is not a good screen. Just get a decent hdtv and you'll be happier.
Also if you live in a condo, I imagine this is like your main room. That means, you will need to keep your place dark... i.e., it will be annoying if you need to get up and around or if your kitchen light pours in... also imagine bringing a new date over, and you have to make the place pitch black just to watch a little tv.... that's the creep factor going for you right there....
Here are some projector basics. I would be concerned that if you have some background light, you may be disappointed with the results, particularly when you don't have a screen.
http://www.cnet.com/news/projectors-vs-tvs-giant-screen-pros-and-cons/
http://www.projectorcentral.com/
I have an 9 year old Sony HS-VPL51 in a windowless media room in my basement. My family loves it for sports and movies. It is a 720p projector, and if your up close you get screen door effect, but from any normal viewing distance the picture is awesome. (My point is you you don't need the highest resolution to get a great picture 720 or 1080p is good enough.)
My suggestion is to research projectors for your room environment before you buy.
Also, while a white wall will work, you'll probably also want to get a screen - especially in room with windows. I have an inexpensive 120" one made by elite screens. The reflectivity of the screen material helps a lot when we have the room lights turned up - primarily when watching sports either socially or while live blogging.
I can't imagine you're getting a very quality projector for $60-$120. The bulbs alone usually cost more than that. Two main things usually bump up the price in projectors - max resolution and brightness. Most of the cheap projetors are cheap because 1. they won't do 1080p and 2. they are extremely dim. As other posters have mentioned, I would wager that you're going to be dissapointed by the results if you're watching TV during the day. Any amount of light really washes out even some of the best projectors, let alone cheap projectors.
I'm guessing, since his target products above are less than $400, a $4000 80'' TV is a little out of his range.
Just when I was about to suggest this one:
Projectors are cheaper than 70-80" flat screens for a reason.
This is the absolute minimum cost projector I'd recommend for a room with a lot of ambient light:
Also, I'l get yourself a quart of Behr silverscreen paint from Home Depot for the wall. It's marketed towards people in your position.
I have also had great success using the Behr Silverscreen paint. I normally ask them to only add 50% of the tint to the paint.
What you get is a $30 solution that simply looks like a wall when the projector isn't in use (which, outside of the football season, is the majority of the time for me).
I have a projector setup (108") in my basement, and you absolutely want to get a high quality projector - 1080p or bust if you plan to watch movies or sports (I splurged for the Epson 8350 about 2.5 years ago when I bought my house, but there are cheaper options that would work reasonably well). And you need to not have ambient light, especially if you're looking at going cheap on the projector - I have blackout curtains for the lone set of windows that work really well.
I highly recommend projectors, since my entire setup (projector, screen, surround sound) was about $2k for what is effectively a very high quality 108" HDTV, and good luck finding one of those for that price. Plus it's great for hosting parties to watch sports/movies/shows, if you're into that kind of thing. You just need to take everything into consideration if you want to have something usable that's worth what the money.
I have this projector with a 92" (diag) motorized screen and a Bose acoustamass surround system. Love the setup! I happen to have a good dark room for it. I did a lot of research before purchasing and was really suprised at the picture quality after setting it all up for the first time! If you have the proper room to do it, a projector is the way to go. Bright rooms are a challenge though.
You had me, until the Bose mention
and get yourself a 60", 70" or even an 80" TV instead of a projector. It will last longer and you won't have to worry about picture quality at all. I work in the audio/video world and it amazes me that some of my customers think that projectors are the way to go, but some have scaled back on the amount of projectors they are putting in their new stores (think chicken wings) because they know that projectors are dying "breed" if you will... projectors are only meant conference rooms, or large scale venus like concerts...
but if you have your heart set on getting a projector Brookstone sells LED lampless projectors. They're pocket projectors and hook up via HDMI, follow this link: http://www.brookstone.com/portable-projectors this would be the best option for an in house projector...
as for the TVs Sharp has the market cornered for the consumer versions of 70" and 80" TVs at a low cost. you should be able to get a 70" for around $2000 and an 80" for around $3600... now if you want to get crazy there is always the pro models that Samsung, Panasonic and NEC make in these sizes but for those you will need to take out loan...
Electronics are very important. Don't go cheap, but don't overspend. Do a lot of research and you'll be well rewarded/
But, as many have said, so much of it depends on the ambient light level of the room. I got my 110" screen on amazon (Elite Screen) and it's worked really well. As for the people who are saying that flat panel beats projection I'd say it all depends on your setup. I haven't found a TV that looks any better than my 1080p Optoma projector but I also have it setup in a media room that's really just a small theatre with 2 level seating.
Personally I'd get the screen on Amazon, make sure you have a buddy to help you put it together since the tension fittings are a bit taxing and invest in some decent black-out curtains.
after taking in all the very good comments above is to wait to make your purchase a bit while you do your research. Save up some money, delay your gratification (TWSS) and buy something higher end than you can afford at this moment. Whether its a projector or a large screen TV, generally speaking you're going to get what you pay for. And if you wait for some holiday sale, you may be able to get your dollar to go further over Memorial Day weekend or Labor Day weekend. Be patient. You have a plan, that's good. Don't be in such a rush that you regret your purchase in a year.
You definitly want to have at least 720P resolution and I would really recommend 1080p if you are already use to a flat screen TV that is high resolution. You will want a minimum of 2000 lumens to get a 100+ inch diagonal image. If you can not control the lighting in the room at all (i.e. lots of big windows and you do not want to always have the blinds closed) you will need to be closer to 5000 lumens. This is not in the $80-$120 dollar range. You could get by for $400 - $600, but you are probably looking more towards $800 - $1500.
I would also invest in a high gain screen which will help with the contrast ratio. The screens can be expensive as well, or as one user already pointed out, you can get paint that does a similar job, although you will see the paint strokes and wall texture which is annoying
EDIT: I worked in the projection industry for 17 years, if you have other questions, let me know.
Sorry to hijack a piece of this thread, but I figured while we're OT on something non sports related I would throw mine in, as opposed to creating another OT thread. I just got a job in Ann Arbor and am hurriedly looking for a place to live. Think I found a good apartment, but want to see if anybody knows anything about the neighborhood. I'm looking at The Lake Shore Apartments in Ypsilanti. Anybody have an opinion on the area? The apartments? Again, sorry to hijack.
I'm on my 2nd projector now for TV watching, it's a Sony 720p HD projector with an HDMI input, so I can watch hi-def sports or movies (we bought an HDMI splitter jack so we have 3 HDMI inputs instead of 1), and we watch it on a blank white wall. The projector was about $900 when we bought it, but that was also about 5 years ago. I think comparable ones sell for around $600-700 now. It's absolutely amazing if it is dark out. If it is daytime though, the picture can be a bit washed out, or hard to see if the imagery on the screen is dark. If you are going to go the projector route, I strongly encourage you to get the darkest possible shades for your windows that you can, to block out as much outside light as possible. Here is what the image looks like in the daytime, and we just have vertical blinds on the windows, so not dark curtains. The porch window is directly to the right of the screen, which is why the image is more washed out on that side.
robot doing what it looks like it's doing to the other robot?
yes, droids, my bad. I figure they're not since his kid is standing there watching. Just a hilarious still-frame, especially with the caption at the bottom of the screen!
R2 is delivering the dialog at the bottom of the screen!
that until you pointed it out. I took that pic because my son was entranced by Star Wars more than anything else, usually he ignores what we have on the wall. I didn't even realize the funny positioning of the droids until today. Nice catch!
I can't believe you show your kid droid porn. Disgusting.
You can get special paint sometimes or create a frame\screen yourself. Haven't played with in years.
Brightness(lumens) is going to be the biggest concern unless you're able to close the shades or doing this in the basement. I always used mine at night for movies and during parties to project visualizations have have incense floating up so you could see the rays of light going through the smoke.
I had a bunch of friends who were making projectors in college, most expensive part if bulb but can control brightness etc. They were all engineers though, so if you're not... get the brightest one you can for the price. Also know that the bulbs dim some with age.
Maybe... 80"-100" screen for large night stuff and a 40" when you get the money for times it isn't feasible? Can get a decent 40" for under $400. I say decent not good btw. If you want 240hz which personally I don't think I have the vision to notice the difference from 120 you'll be paying a ton still.
On a bright day I wouldn't bother though, I'd use the TV or my computer for watching things as I had a skylight I couldn't block out.
I have an HD projector in my basement and it's pretty cool to watch games and movies. I recommend spending the money of a good unit.
DO NOT buy from HD Projector World out of Canada.
Anybody bashing projectors has never had a good home theater done right, which means big bucks for the equipment. Go take a look and see what the images fromf the latest Runco projectors look like; just realize they can cost 30-40K, and that doesn't count the cost of the screen and for good screens, the price is steep.
http://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm?sort=date&mfg=Runco&hide…
I'd recommend a plasma set over an LCD, which gives you more bang for the buck than most LCD/LED displays, although without 4K, which is zero loss, and wait for OLED's to come down in price in a couple of years.
yea, but OP is talking about $100 to $400 bucks budget...
My post was directed toward those who were saying that projection systems are second rate. They are not, but they aren't inexpensive.
I understand what the OP was asking for, but this thread has taken a slightly different direction.
Take a $1500 80" LED TV vs a $1500 projector and see which one wins. Especially in a "normal" room with some windows (even with blackout curtains). The LED wins every time.
For the OP's situation, would a $400 Walmart brand 50" be better than a projector? I think so.
I agree with you regarding plasma over LEC/LCD for large screen HDTV's, for reproducing sports motion and movies there is no comparison. The best LED's can mimic, not actually produce, 240hz or sometimes 480hz, and that is mimiced, not actual reproduction. Plasma's are estimated to have the equivalent of over 600hz natural motion reproduction. I have both a high-end LED in one room and a high-end plasma in another, and the plasma blows away the LED for sports. It's not even close.
I recently got a Panasonic 65ZT60 and it has an amazing picture. A couple of years ago Sharp was making an Elite line of LCD/LED displays, which I believe were discontinued, but that set had the best picture I had seen that wasn't a plasma, and they were very pricey.
Ultimately, it will be about OLED's, which have an amazing picture, if manufacturing snafus which cause a high rejection rate of panels, are ever figured out.
If it's mostly for daytime viewing there are some options in the $400-$600 range that will do but they probably won't be 1080p. The projector I currently have has 2500 lumens which is plenty bright for daytime viewing in a room with a moderate amount of ambient light. IT ran me about $1200 which is considered "entry level" home theatre range.
What I can say is don't let people talk you out of getting a projector. My friend just plunked down about 6k for one of the new 4K tv's and while the picture is nice he says he wish he would have spent it on a projector instead. Nothing beats watching a game on a 120" screen. They also have screens that are great at reducing ambient light and are better suited for daytime viewing but those things cost a hefty price.