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Post by copperpipe on Feb 4, 2016 16:48:01 GMT -5
Anyone have any opinions on what yields better picture quality, on average? Are some projectors better than most tv's, or is it more a case of "projectors are used when scaling beyond (say) 60 inches due to tv costs" ... Do projects only work with the lights off?
I'm in the market for a new tv, my ideal size would be b/n 40 to 46 inches. I love the oled lg I found in Best Buy but that price is too rich. So any opinions, thoughts, ramblings?
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Post by yeeeha17 on Feb 4, 2016 16:58:57 GMT -5
If you are looking in that size range just grab a tv that you like. Projectors is for people who wants bigger screen size( 92" and up ) and don't want to pay $50k for a tv that size.
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Post by restless on Feb 4, 2016 17:05:26 GMT -5
I bought a VISIO 43" 4K TV at Costco for $529.
I work at a computer all day long, so having a clear monitor is a good thing.
The VISIO has LCD segments that control the backlight, rather than only EDGE lighting in most the 4K TV. Only the top Samsung, or top Sony have that type of backlight.
So, for that price, the VISIO work great. I have streamed YouTube 4K videos, and they are great. Most the 1080P stuff works well as well.
I also have a LG 55 OLED TV (Flat), and the VISIO is not quite as good as the OLED
(The BLACKS are OFF on OLED, not just dimmed. Totally black, so all the other colors seem that much more vivid.)
However, the price difference is about $2K, so for the price, it is excellent.
John
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 4, 2016 17:13:48 GMT -5
Depends on how big a picture you want. Above 75 inches, flat panels quickly become prohibitively expensive. With a projector, you can go as big as the projector has the output to throw. Want to project on the side of a building? PROJECTOR.
Now that said, you'll get more brightness from a flat panel full of LEDs than with a projector. If the use is for TV viewing in a bright room, then flat panel is the choice. For watching movies in a darkened room, projectors rule.
Regardless of what you get, buy a Spears & Muncil calibration disc. Out of the box, both flat panels and projectors come with black levels set way high into the grey range. You'll need to reduce the brightness on anything you buy.
If you get a projector, you also need to consider the screen or projection wall. Most opt for "high gain" screens that are designed to reflect as much light as possible. They are a necessity if watching in brightly lit rooms, but if you can darken the room, I prefer a "high contrast" screen. These are typically gray in color & won't reflect so much light. They give (as you might suspect from the name) better contrast and if you forego motorized features, they are amazingly inexpensive. A pull-down Chinese screen can be had in 110 inch size for less than $200 last I looked. If you have a permanent "movie room," you can just paint a wall grey & be good.
You can spend a LOT of $$ on a screen, but the cheap ones provide 90% of the performance at 15 to 20% of the cost.
Happy shopping!
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Post by copperpipe on Feb 4, 2016 17:55:31 GMT -5
Ok thanks guys, I'll stick with a LED tv for now then.
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Post by millst on Feb 4, 2016 19:09:59 GMT -5
Front projectors are more difficult to setup and their performance is hurt if there is too much light in the room. If you can get past that, then you'll probably get a better picture for the price than any type of TV (same size...nothing wrong with projecting 60"). Plus, you can go much larger. Once you have a nice screen, you save money by upgrading only the projector.
-tm
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Feb 4, 2016 21:40:04 GMT -5
Ok thanks guys, I'll stick with a LED tv for now then. I have a projector, but I prefer (for video alone) my LG TV and my Sony TV. Much better picture than my PJ. But,my biggest TV is 43", and my PJ is 106". In my theater, I value more than 2x size over a gain in image quality (note that my PJ quality is pretty good..the TV quality is amazing!) Mark |
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Post by hemster on Feb 5, 2016 3:04:43 GMT -5
I'd love a 120" LED projector! One that doesn't get warm after 2-3 hours of use and one that doesn't need expensive (~$400) bulb changes.
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Post by Tony_Rocky_Hara on Feb 5, 2016 4:58:44 GMT -5
I have a 55" 4K and an epson home cinema 3500 projector, picture is a little better on the 4k, but not by a lot. Now I do have my projector calibrated perfectly, but what really the difference is screen size. When I want to watch a movie and get the whole experience I use the projector, but when I just want to watch some tv for a bit I use the 4k.
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Post by KeithL on Feb 5, 2016 10:28:11 GMT -5
Any direct access screen (like LCD or OLED) has individual pixels, with no blurring between pixels, and so should be "perfectly sharp" - if properly adjusted and given an appropriate picture; HD picture for an HD TV; 4k picture for a 4k TV. (Actually that's a slight oversimplification, because many do overscan electronically, but it's true enough for our purposes.) They can vary in terms of brightness, or in terms of how sharp a picture they can make when upscaling, but they'll all make a "pixel-perfect" picture. A projector can NEVER do better than that, and most of them aren't nearly as good. (Walk up to the screen; if you can't see the individual pixels with a magnifying glass then it's blurring the picture. If it blurs the picture the perfect amount, it can make the pixels invisible, while still not sacrificing much resolution, but few actually manage to hit that target precisely; mostly high-end DLP designs. This is why virtually nobody ever tries to use a projector for a computer monitor - because they aren't sharp enough. )
From a technological point of view, directly accessing the pixels is "the obvious best solution" - and a projector is always going to be a compromise based on practicality.... internally, every modern projector does in fact have some sort of direct-access image engine; but that image is then projected onto the screen using some sort of lamp and optics - which always reduce the quality along the way. (It should theoretically be possible to eliminate the lamp with OLED technology, but I don't think anybody's doing that yet, at least not with larger screens, and you can't eliminate the optics.) Some people actually prefer the slightly blurred picture you get with a projector (and some claim that "it looks more like film"), but the main reason why most people choose a projector, as has already been pointed out, is that projectors are a lot more economical than very large direct view screens. (There are also installation benefits; a 108" projection screen is usually a lot lighter than a 108" LCD or OLED panel; and it's a lot easier to have a projection screen retract into the ceiling when you aren't using it.) However, if you walk back until both just fill your field of view, it's virtually certain that the direct view screen will be sharper... probably a LOT sharper, and clearer, and brighter.
Another, and more difficult to define, factor is that "aesthetically", a projector delivers "a total experience" more like being in a movie theater - because it's what they use in movie theaters. Therefore, ignoring the technical details, a projector in your home theater will often make it "feel" more like you're in an actual theater.
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Post by KeithL on Feb 5, 2016 10:49:56 GMT -5
The thing to remember there is that, according to most authorities, the optimum distance for taking advantage of the resolution of a 55" 4k screen is about six feet. Any further away and your eyes will be the limiting factor and not the screen - and so you won't be getting "the full benefit". (You also need to realize that none of the currently available 4k sources delivers anywhere near the image quality that 4k is capable of... depending on how you rate "image quality". While the current streaming services can deliver the correct number of pixels, they can only deliver them at drastically higher levels of compression, because none of them come even close to the bandwidth of an actual 4k disc - which significantly limits their image quality. And an upsampled picture of course isn't a fair test there - since it isn't actually a 4k picture at all.) Here's a site where you can download many true 4k demos. (You'll need a TV that can play files off a stick or network, or a computer with a 4k output, to play these. Note that, other than those in 3D, and perhaps some HDR ones, most of these files will play just fine on any 4k TV - regardless of whether they call themselves "OLED demo" or "UHD demo" and, of course, regardless of the brand. The latest version of VLC can play the new HEVC files, but you'll need a VERY powerful computer to actually play them, or a graphics card that offers hardware HEVC decoding.) demo-uhd3d.com/I have a 55" 4K and an epson home cinema 3500 projector, picture is a little better on the 4k, but not by a lot. Now I do have my projector calibrated perfectly, but what really the difference is screen size. When I want to watch a movie and get the whole experience I use the projector, but when I just want to watch some tv for a bit I use the 4k. |
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Post by pedrocols on Feb 5, 2016 10:55:13 GMT -5
Some people like myself can be sensitive to the rainbow effect from projectors which can be very annoying.
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Post by mgbpuff on Feb 5, 2016 11:08:49 GMT -5
I have a 4K Samsung 65JS8500 LED set for everyday use. For movies I have a 120" electric screen that lowers in front of the Samsung. My projector is a Sony HW40ES (1080p). For sound I have a Marantz AV7702 and a 7.2.4 Atmos setup with ceiling mtd. TF and TR speakers. Movies are enjoyable using either display along with the Atmos sound system, but there is nothing like the immersion you get with the big 120" screen and the resolution is remarkably good.
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Post by jmilton on Feb 5, 2016 11:46:26 GMT -5
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hemster
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Post by hemster on Feb 5, 2016 11:52:09 GMT -5
Some people like myself can be sensitive to the rainbow effect from projectors which can be very annoying. This is especially true of DLP projectors but recent LCD ones don't really suffer from this issue. |
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Post by pedrocols on Feb 5, 2016 11:54:37 GMT -5
Some people like myself can be sensitive to the rainbow effect from projectors which can be very annoying. This is especially true of DLP projectors but recent LCD ones don't really suffer from this issue. Yes. The projector I used to have was a Optoma DLP projector. |
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Post by hemster on Feb 5, 2016 12:16:26 GMT -5
This is especially true of DLP projectors but recent LCD ones don't really suffer from this issue. Yes. The projector I used to have was a Optoma DLP projector. Until affordable LED projectors are available, I would recommend have a look at good LCD ones, such as those from Panasonic. They are really really good. Later models don't even have the screen-door effect. The only downsides being that they do get warm (and heat up the room!) and the costly bulb replacement, every 2000 hours. Still not bad really. |
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Post by hemster on Feb 5, 2016 12:17:39 GMT -5
Great WAF and only conspicuous by its pricing! Very cool though. |
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Post by mgbpuff on Feb 5, 2016 15:02:42 GMT -5
In addition to having $50k to spend on the projector, you must live in NYC, or LA. (Tokyo would probably work out O.K. also)! |
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Post by jmilton on Feb 5, 2016 15:05:54 GMT -5
^ Yeah, it wouldn't fit right in my log cabin, would it?
It's like a 4K projector from Apple.
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