Projectors vs. OLED, LCD? What's better? What are the trade-offs?

caesar

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May 30, 2010
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A while back, I saw a projector listed at $69,999 on Amazon.com. Not sure if this was a typo or some smart ass trying to take advantage of a clueless millionaire...

Is the seemingly higher price of projectors commensurate with quality? Are projectors always better than OLED and LCD TVs? Are five year-old projectors better than 5 year old TVs?

Other than someone tall potentially hitting their head on a projector hanging from a ceiling, what are the trade-offs of running a projector vs having a TV?

Thanks!
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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speaking only for our own experience, we are not videophiles, but there is a completely different experience (for us) when our screen drops down out of the ceiling at almost 8 feet, the lights are down low...and the color is actually sharper and clearer than in the movie theaters. I am sure those sized flatscreens exist...but i suspect they cost a LOT more than most projectors.

We actually even decided to throw the Olympics up on the big screen when the entire system was not fully up (no audio...except from laptop)...and it was still a lot of fun.

Add to that the full audio system (2 channel but we have a big sub which is calibrated differently for video)...and its a lot more fun than we when we had a flatscreen tv. far more immersive experience.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Speaking from vast readings around the globe (mainly French, from French experts), 4k/3D front projectors can give you "Magnificat" for less than ten grands and with a picture 120" across. OLED 4K/3D won't give you that size, and will cost you both legs. :b

Ask Chuck (audioguy) here, he has a JVC 4K/3D front projector. And it doesn't cost sixty grands (that's for the ultra high-end videophilia with theaters accommodating two dozen guests from Dubai and Abu Dhabi). ...Princes, Kings, Princesses, Queens, Presidents, Fashion Models, Actresses, ...all that jazz.
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Strictly on the TV front; experts generally agree on OLED, overall best picture quality winner.
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There are very high-end front projectors, expensive; and it's not to rip off rich people. It's for the very high-end clientele way above us.
With higher prices in the front projector's world you get the best lenses and the best everything else, generally. Research is recommended.
Quality costs money.

Today's projectors are vastly superior to the ones of five years ago. They also cost much less, and are up-to-date with the latest...UHD (4K). ...HDR, ...
JVC seems to be among one of the very best brands in front PJs, and affordable too. They have several models to accommodate all taste and all budget.

You can position a projector on a shelf (back wall), so you won't hit your head.
Like any piece of video electronics some maintenance and calibration is a good plan. And light bulbs don't last forever. And size matters.
OLED is a complement, a TV that you put behind the screen for those TV occasions (other stuff than real serious movie watching). My opinion.

This is a great subject, because we are entering a new and exciting era on moving pictures @ home.
...The era of 4K with everything attached to it (and there's a lot of stuff with UHD), including the death sentence of 3D.

We love high-end hi-fi stereo, we love audiophile music recordings, we love cinema from all around the world.
We're art lovers, creators' appreciators. ...In all aspect of moving music and images...deep deep down emotionally, fully immersed in all our senses and sensibilities.
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Last but not least: TVs in 2017 "crashed" 3D all together; not so with front projectors. My recommendation (personal): don't buy new TVs, only old ones with 3D capability.
Or buy 3D front projectors. If everyone would follow my recommendation; people like James Cameron would sell their boats and submarines to make more movies in 3D above the sky, aboard planes, helicopters, spaceships. And others would join in masses @ developing the best glasses-free 3D movie experience. The direction taken by the Hollywood movie industry and businessmen, is not the best one; it's what they think is most profitable financially. Money @ the disservice of true art. We are so behind that we look like a bunch of prehistoric mammoths. We can't even make proper cabling for our electronics.

{This is my personal opinion, only based on readings; a very flexible opinion as time and weather and nature and room's temperature change, and sun and moon and planets move in an orbital and gravitational force, and not based on ownership and personal experience. Those are just my thoughts, without definite science, without absolute, in all relativity, in my own words, in my own way as honestly as the rocks we can see in the clarity of the creek's water running.}
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I'm outside right now (26° Celsius) with the biggest screen across. All colors pure and natural. The projector was FREE. :b
And the best movie is playing; "Diurnal Animals" ... in Real True 4D.
 
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Hi-FiGuy

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Feb 23, 2015
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There are plenty of projectors out there that cost as much as the big Wilson's or Evolutions.
They are truly amazing and the biggest gain with them is the ability to watch in brightly lit rooms.
 

NorthStar

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I looked for the biggest, the baddest, the most expensive 8K 3D front projector in the world and I couldn't come up with anything else than one from a true IMAX 3D theater. There wasn't any mention of price. But I did not search for very long...time is a precious commodity the older we get each and every day.
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* Bonus:

That second video above; those are affordable.

* Just for fun (older models):

 

16hz lover

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2013
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Projected image size is more affordable with a projector. I have a 110" screen and would not want to go down to a little 70" tv:p
A friend just got his 160" screen setup , and like she said " once you go big, you don't want anything smaller "
 

16hz lover

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Aug 2, 2013
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cjfrbw

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Apr 20, 2010
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It may just be a matter of taste. I still find a projected image in a dark room special in a way that direct view isn't. I also like the direct view TV experience, but not as much. My 50 inch in Santa Cruz is a much reviled SXRD rear projector, which still has some of the qualities of a projected image i. e. smooth but both sharp and colorful.

Projectors are now in some kind of arms race, too, to get a pitch black contrast but extremely bright, plasma-like view, rather than trading on it's traditional intoxications of subtle, flickering impressionistic magic, like old fashioned films in a theater. I find HDR somewhat paradoxical to the quest to keep projection "film like" rather than "digital bright and artificially detailed assault on the senses". My older Sony VPL VW200, with the xenon bulb, puts out a sensuous image and would be great for an 80 to 90 inch setup, but with planned obsolescence, I can't sell the thing for shillings now.

However, I can see that digital needs to progress for cameras and such, so the HDR standards and ultra contrasts and brightness are probably a necessary direction for them to go to get closer to an eye-like recording and color palette. I am just not so sure they are for projected images as I have known and loved.

Strange, I found that the cheapo Samsung blu ray playing well mastered DVD through my 4K projector puts out a very intriguing and film like presentation that makes me enjoy ordinary DVD in a way I never thought possible. I guess I am just a luddite.
 

astrotoy

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May 24, 2010
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For many uses, the relatively recent ALR (Ambient Light Rejection) screens give you the advantage of the giant picture that no regular TV can give, with the ability to watch with a good amount of ambient light in the room. I have a 100" diagonal DNP Supernova in my room. Does a nice job with no artifacts and wide viewing angle. Not cheap, but much cheaper than fancy front projectors.

Larry
 

astrotoy

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NorthStar

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Thanks, I was just going to post it; you beat me to it.

Diagonal Size of a home theater projector screen: 100"
Projector screen height: 0.495 x 100" = 49.5 inches.
Projector screen width: 0.87 x 100" = 87 inches.
 

COWY

New Member
Nov 3, 2017
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Nice quotes of the day! im aggree i think we enjoyed the big screen more! hahaha
i think the trade of sometimes can be the space its required to operate, for example, you need high ceiling for your projector to do its job. however, you just need a little space needed for the LED tv. thats my opinion tho.
 

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