Should I buy an LCD projector, or an LCD TV?
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
I've had a projector system for years, and here's something to consider. In addition to the fact that the bulbs are pretty expensive to replace (~$300), when they go it sounds like a small explosion and the last one that went showered the couch and floor with a fine mist of powdered glass. Never again.
How long did your projector last before the bulb blew itself out?
Do you know...LinFu?
I've been happy with bulb life overall. Had it 5 years and replaced the bulb twice, the last time just a week ago. It's the powdered glass that I'm not wild about. That said, projectors are definitely the best bang for the buck in terms of screen size. I paid $1250 for the projector and $800 for the 76" screen and the quality is decent as it's only an 11 foot throw. The biggest flat panel back then was around 60" and cost $10k.
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
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I was thinking of buying an LCD projector (720p) with an HDMI input and then turn one of the walls in my room into a projection wall so I could make my room seem like a movie theater when I turn all the lights out. The problem is that the LCD projectors here in Manila cost about the same as buying a small 32-inch LCD TV with a 1080p resolution. So anyway, here's the question--in your opinion, which would give a better picture quality--the LCD TV, or the LCD projector? I already have my 5.1 speaker system set up in the room, but I can't decide which option is better. The thought of having a wall-sized display is geekgasmic, but then again, going for the 1080p might give me the same picture quality with a tighter screen. What do you think? :)
Do you know...LinFu?
We just bought an LCD/LED TV for our Anniversary: Amazon Link We love it! The picture quality is amazing and has plenty of input/output options. I believe we have the cable box, PS3, and Computer hooked up to it and it has optical out which is nice too. The picture is sharp and the colors are fantastic. Best of luck! ~k
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My 2c Before buying a projector, check out the bulb cost and expected lifetime. Also check your room will be able to be sufficiently dark to get a good picture when you want to watch. If you can afford it, look at 11080p projectors See here for one[^] Cost aside - projectors fro movies just can't be beat - assuming your room is set up OK - but a telly is better for most telly. Check out the distance between you and he screen - and take into account the size of the picture you'll be looking at, and the surface you're projecting on. at 1080p projecting a 3m wide picture, your individual pixels are only 1.5mm wide - on your 32" screen they're 0.4mm wide there's a calculator here[^] that shows you the viewing distance for various set ups. Also remember that with 1080p any lower resolution source (like DVDs0 will be upscaled to that resolution - so you're really gaining nothing and maybe losing quality. Likewise if your source is 1080p and your projector 780p it will be downscaled - so you lose resolution. Finally, I remember a survey late last year (can't find it right now) where a large percentage of those tested cold not tell the difference between standard and HD quality tv pictures - so you need to find out if you can before forking out the extra dough on higher resolution if you can't tell the difference. Oh - and also some projectors are quite loud (the fan noise) which is fine if you can pump up the volume but can be annnoying in those quiet bits! Oh - and playing computer games such as driving games or first-person shooters can be fantastic on a wall-sized display - but beware motion sickness!
___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
_Maxxx_ wrote:
Oh - and also some projectors are quite loud (the fan noise) which is fine if you can pump up the volume but can be annnoying in those quiet bits!
A friend of mine has the projector and big screen setup. His is an older model with a loud fan, and his advice (I agree) is spend the extra money on a quiet one or don't bother with a projector at all.
The latest nation. Procrastination.
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I've had a projector system for years, and here's something to consider. In addition to the fact that the bulbs are pretty expensive to replace (~$300), when they go it sounds like a small explosion and the last one that went showered the couch and floor with a fine mist of powdered glass. Never again.
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
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I had a projector (1/4 HD res) for > 5 years in the basement, and really enjoyed it. No problem with bulb burning out spectacularly, but the entire did require replacing once :( The issue is that you really must have the lights down, which is great when you want the movie theater experience at home, but a PITA for general TV viewing. We recently moved from US to UK and the new house has no basement, so we've gone for a 32" LCD, and to be honest, we don't miss the projector much. In fact (and I know some will disagree) I would say that the sound quality is a much more significant factor than HD vs standard. $0.02
IF you're willing to pay enough you can get daylight suitable projectors. Dunno what they cost but we've got a number of in focus[^] projectors at work. They do better with the lights dimmed than a full intensity but are still usable when the room is fully lit up and you certainly don't need blackout curtains.
The latest nation. Procrastination.
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I was thinking of buying an LCD projector (720p) with an HDMI input and then turn one of the walls in my room into a projection wall so I could make my room seem like a movie theater when I turn all the lights out. The problem is that the LCD projectors here in Manila cost about the same as buying a small 32-inch LCD TV with a 1080p resolution. So anyway, here's the question--in your opinion, which would give a better picture quality--the LCD TV, or the LCD projector? I already have my 5.1 speaker system set up in the room, but I can't decide which option is better. The thought of having a wall-sized display is geekgasmic, but then again, going for the 1080p might give me the same picture quality with a tighter screen. What do you think? :)
Do you know...LinFu?
I have been using a projector for about 4 years now. The distance between the projector and screen is far, so movies are typically 85" range. Games are great too - my kids use the XBox with it and enjoy the immersive experience it provides. The thing with projectors is that you can block the image when you walk in front of them when crossing the room. I have mine mounted on the ceiling using a special mount that keeps the projector from moving and keeps it out of the way. The mount has space for cables, etc so it looks pretty neat (as in not cluttered - but it is cool too). I'm not at all concerned with bulb life since I plan to get another projector when this one stops working (the bulb is around $300 - a new projector is around $500, and features improve over time so might as well upgrade). The down side to a projector is, unlike a TV, the projector does not have speakers. I have a separate set of speakers setup so we get a movie-like experience (not surround sound - just basic speakers in various ranges in strategic locations). The upside is that games sound great when we turn up the bass - nice booms! Hope that helps! -Erik
Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net -
I was thinking of buying an LCD projector (720p) with an HDMI input and then turn one of the walls in my room into a projection wall so I could make my room seem like a movie theater when I turn all the lights out. The problem is that the LCD projectors here in Manila cost about the same as buying a small 32-inch LCD TV with a 1080p resolution. So anyway, here's the question--in your opinion, which would give a better picture quality--the LCD TV, or the LCD projector? I already have my 5.1 speaker system set up in the room, but I can't decide which option is better. The thought of having a wall-sized display is geekgasmic, but then again, going for the 1080p might give me the same picture quality with a tighter screen. What do you think? :)
Do you know...LinFu?
Neither. Wait a couple of weeks for the new Laser projector from Microvision. www.microvision.com[^] Always in focus, 10" to 100". Can use it for your home theater and then drop it in your pocket to take with you (no more vacations w/o a big screen). Connects to you laptop/netbook, iTouch/Pod, etc. All for about the price of a regular projector's replacement bulb! :thumbsup:
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Neither. Wait a couple of weeks for the new Laser projector from Microvision. www.microvision.com[^] Always in focus, 10" to 100". Can use it for your home theater and then drop it in your pocket to take with you (no more vacations w/o a big screen). Connects to you laptop/netbook, iTouch/Pod, etc. All for about the price of a regular projector's replacement bulb! :thumbsup:
Good luck using it anywhere other than a pitch black room with a big screen. It's a 10 lumen device.[^] Newegg doesn't carry any home theater projectors below 1000 lumens, and only 4% of its business projectors are under 1000.
The latest nation. Procrastination.
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My 2c Before buying a projector, check out the bulb cost and expected lifetime. Also check your room will be able to be sufficiently dark to get a good picture when you want to watch. If you can afford it, look at 11080p projectors See here for one[^] Cost aside - projectors fro movies just can't be beat - assuming your room is set up OK - but a telly is better for most telly. Check out the distance between you and he screen - and take into account the size of the picture you'll be looking at, and the surface you're projecting on. at 1080p projecting a 3m wide picture, your individual pixels are only 1.5mm wide - on your 32" screen they're 0.4mm wide there's a calculator here[^] that shows you the viewing distance for various set ups. Also remember that with 1080p any lower resolution source (like DVDs0 will be upscaled to that resolution - so you're really gaining nothing and maybe losing quality. Likewise if your source is 1080p and your projector 780p it will be downscaled - so you lose resolution. Finally, I remember a survey late last year (can't find it right now) where a large percentage of those tested cold not tell the difference between standard and HD quality tv pictures - so you need to find out if you can before forking out the extra dough on higher resolution if you can't tell the difference. Oh - and also some projectors are quite loud (the fan noise) which is fine if you can pump up the volume but can be annnoying in those quiet bits! Oh - and playing computer games such as driving games or first-person shooters can be fantastic on a wall-sized display - but beware motion sickness!
___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
Interesting comment. My wife can't see the difference between 1080i satellite broadcast and Blu-Ray. She also can't hear the difference between our old speakers and our new ones, even though it's like we took blankets off. Several people I know can't see the jitter problems with LCD that make me sea-sick. So I've got a spectacular 60" plasma, single pane of glass. Yes there are still jitter issues but minor compared to LCD.
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I was thinking of buying an LCD projector (720p) with an HDMI input and then turn one of the walls in my room into a projection wall so I could make my room seem like a movie theater when I turn all the lights out. The problem is that the LCD projectors here in Manila cost about the same as buying a small 32-inch LCD TV with a 1080p resolution. So anyway, here's the question--in your opinion, which would give a better picture quality--the LCD TV, or the LCD projector? I already have my 5.1 speaker system set up in the room, but I can't decide which option is better. The thought of having a wall-sized display is geekgasmic, but then again, going for the 1080p might give me the same picture quality with a tighter screen. What do you think? :)
Do you know...LinFu?
Hi, I currently use an old vga pc projector in my basement that project on a specially painted 80inch board . I must say the whole family is very happy with it. It is noisy, but we got used to it. I currently have a tv receiver, DVD player and a Wii console on it and it is really fun to play. We also got an LCD TV for the living room so the projector is not the only mean we have to watch tv or movies. If you can afford it, I would recommend buying a used projector like I did, as long as you can still purchase a new bulb. Then I would complete it with a new mid size LCD HDTV. If I had to do it again, that's exactly what I would do. Regards and good luck.
Pierre Boucher 'Bien souvent on se rend coupable en négligeant d'agir, et non pas seulement en agissant.' - Marc Aurèle, empereur et philosophe romain.
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I was thinking of buying an LCD projector (720p) with an HDMI input and then turn one of the walls in my room into a projection wall so I could make my room seem like a movie theater when I turn all the lights out. The problem is that the LCD projectors here in Manila cost about the same as buying a small 32-inch LCD TV with a 1080p resolution. So anyway, here's the question--in your opinion, which would give a better picture quality--the LCD TV, or the LCD projector? I already have my 5.1 speaker system set up in the room, but I can't decide which option is better. The thought of having a wall-sized display is geekgasmic, but then again, going for the 1080p might give me the same picture quality with a tighter screen. What do you think? :)
Do you know...LinFu?
Unless all you watch are movies, you should think of a projector as a secondary viewing device to your tv. If you don't already have a tv that you're satisfied with right now, get the tv. Otherwise, you'll be needing to close your blinds/curtains every time you watch a show, in order to prevent a washed-out projection from a projector. This is besides the bulb cost/fan noise/etc. downsides that others have mentioned.
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I was thinking of buying an LCD projector (720p) with an HDMI input and then turn one of the walls in my room into a projection wall so I could make my room seem like a movie theater when I turn all the lights out. The problem is that the LCD projectors here in Manila cost about the same as buying a small 32-inch LCD TV with a 1080p resolution. So anyway, here's the question--in your opinion, which would give a better picture quality--the LCD TV, or the LCD projector? I already have my 5.1 speaker system set up in the room, but I can't decide which option is better. The thought of having a wall-sized display is geekgasmic, but then again, going for the 1080p might give me the same picture quality with a tighter screen. What do you think? :)
Do you know...LinFu?
Personaly, there is no TV at home. When i have bought my house last year, i have removed TV antena, Satelite receiver, event TV wires... No TV ! I' dont like it ! :wtf: But I have a projector that i use for movies (DVD) (whith my 5.1 system also). May be the quality is poorest than a LCD TV but it render not the same "athmosphere", not the same mood... it's realy cinema @ home. In addition, with projector you can project outdoor... I did it this summer with friends and it's really cool :cool:! Finaly, if you are TV addicted, projector not seem to be a good solution, it make also noise (fan) and produce a lot of heat. It's not convenient as TV. But, if you see films only few times a week, projector is a pretty thing !
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I was thinking of buying an LCD projector (720p) with an HDMI input and then turn one of the walls in my room into a projection wall so I could make my room seem like a movie theater when I turn all the lights out. The problem is that the LCD projectors here in Manila cost about the same as buying a small 32-inch LCD TV with a 1080p resolution. So anyway, here's the question--in your opinion, which would give a better picture quality--the LCD TV, or the LCD projector? I already have my 5.1 speaker system set up in the room, but I can't decide which option is better. The thought of having a wall-sized display is geekgasmic, but then again, going for the 1080p might give me the same picture quality with a tighter screen. What do you think? :)
Do you know...LinFu?
I'm not making any judgment call, just relaying my own story... I've paid $600 years ago for a used projector that can "only" do 1024x768; according to one of its menus, I've now got over 2300 hours on the same bulb...it's actually been telling me (since I went over 2000 hours) that I should replace the bulb if the picture looks dim, but since day one, I've always had the brightness set to less than half of what it can do. I suspect this helps in preventing it from wearing out prematurely (though that's certainly not the reason I reduced the brightness), and I'm still very pleased with the picture anyway. Of course technically speaking it simply cannot compare to anything (projector or otherwise) that can do 1080p, but it definitely qualifies as good enough for me, and that for a $600 8-feet across picture, I got my money's worth out of it. And I'd do it all over again. I've seen the $10,000 setups, and I don't see it happening...
modified on Friday, September 18, 2009 4:43 PM