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[PhilStubbs]

The wife will be taking the 52" tv in the living room when she moves out in a month or two and I have been considering projectors. Is it something that can be used for everyday tv watching or is it more of a movie/game type of thing?

The cost is a lot less than big tv's, but I'm not into the stuff so I don't know. I usually just try to find the best price for the biggest numbers in the listing.

[tekno]

A decent one is more expensive than a decent tv and the bulbs for some of them can be ridiculously expensive. It's not something i would leave on all the time like you can a tv.

[ratcityrex]

I like projectors alot, for a theater room its cool. But to just watch the news or whatnot its kinda a pita to always make sure the blinds are closed an let it warm up and shit. I have a older infocus x1 and in a dark room with hd ran to it its Fucking dope!

[JaredKaragen]

Projectors are good but... Correct, they can be cheaper and more expensive depending on what you get.

Bulbs are pricey, like $400 pricey every 1,000 or so hours of use.

Space is another factor; they make standard projectors, and smaller ones that take little room to display a 50" screen... But there are a few thousand dollar difference to get one of those.

The typical good quality picture model will run you 1,000-2,000 or so, but you will get tv-like contrast ratio.  Investing in a silver screen to me is a must.  Night and day picture difference.

I'd say get one... Smaller footprint, and you don't have to worry about knocking the tv over or damaging the screen!

If I wasn't living in my rv right now I would buy a bulb for my proxima and start using it again... Awesome hd picture quality out of that puppy.

I may consider selling it too...  But it's worth holding onto I think

[shogun]

optoma has some decent ones, if you are looking for 50" or less go for them

http://www.optomausa.com/CES2012/products.pdf

[Cmak]

I have seen some amazing pictures from units costing around $500, but I haven't owned one so I don't know about bulb life or warm up times as mentioned above.

[ratcityrex]

not all bulbs are that spendy. Just check them out b4 you buy one. Most have a 2000+ hr life span. Some will go 4k hours, but the picture will start to look shittyer

[PhilStubbs]

kinda sounds like its not what i want. i want 60" or bigger picture, dont want expensive bulbs and dont want to have to mess with it. i was hoping i could treat it like a tv where i set it up once and never touch it again.

i think ill just get a 60" plasma

[Jorsher]

I'll actually be buying one in the coming months so have already done a bit of research on them...

The bulbs, for most modern ones, actually are rated 3000-4000 hours.  It all really depends on the brightness.  Obviously the dimmer you run it, the longer it will last.  The bulbs are typically $300-400 to replace.

If you are looking for 1080p 3D, get the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 3010 for around $1500

If you couldn't give two shits about 3D, I don't know.  Read around projectorreviews.com or some of the other sites.

I doubt they'd be good for "general purpose use," and people that I've spoke to with em have pretty much confirmed it.  The bulb replacements are an expensive consideration, and unless watching a movie or game I don't see why you'd want that much screen.  Will probably want some blackout drapes.

[PhilStubbs]

The reason I was thinking about it was cause I have a really big living room and it seemed like it would be cheaper than a big enough tv. We have a 50" now and it's not quite enough for the size of the room. I also thought it would be cool to play wii bowling on and not have to worry about the control being thrown through the screen

[Jorsher]

The reason I was thinking about it was cause I have a really big living room and it seemed like it would be cheaper than a big enough tv. We have a 50" now and it's not quite enough for the size of the room. I also thought it would be cool to play wii bowling on and not have to worry about the control being thrown through the screen

Yep, that's pretty much my reason.  I have a 15x25 foot living room (probably small to some of you ballers).  Shelf on the back wall, projector there should give me 120" screen easily, and coupled with the sweet new 7.2 home theater should result in a decent home setup.  Currently, my largest displays are the 24" inchers on the desktop, which isn't really good when company is over, but most of the time I'm home alone and it's sufficient...  With limited use, size/price, projector seems the best route.

Some things to consider:
- Projectors have expensive bulbs that generally last 2000-4000 hours.  That's the time the bulb is supposed to be at half the original brightness, and I'm sure since the metal composition changes the color output and accuracy also degrades.  Just like with growing lights don't turn them on/off frequently, as it damages the electrodes.  Let them completely cool before turning back on, and completely warm before turning off.  If you plan to use OFTEN, it's probably, overall, cheaper to get a big TV.
- May want to invest in blackout drapes.  I've seen some decent (cheap) ones for $10 at your favorite Chinese retailer (Walmart).  In the long run it'd be much cheaper both in power use and bulb replacements than cranking up the brightness...
- You'll want a screen.  Not a white wall (although I think there's projector screen paint now), but a fucking screen.  Generally the higher gain the better, since it will let you turn the brightness down on the bulb (saving power/bulb), and the contrast/sharpness/color/etc is better.
- You'll possibly need a mount for the projector.  I'm just going to put a small shelf on the wall to set it.
- You'll definitely need a home theater system.  I'm assuming you already have this...
- You'll possibly need longer wiring.  My HTPC, Xbox 360, receiver, will all be in the front of the living room so that any IR shit works fine, and because that's where I think that shit should go.  Just going to wire it all into the receiver, then run a nice 25ft high-speed (necessary if you want 3D) hdmi cable back to the projector.  monoprice.com nigga
- You also might want an HDMI splitter/switch unless you have one of the rare receivers with two outputs, or a rare TV with an output that does hdmi passthrough.  I'd go monoprice for that too...there's cheaper ones on amazon and whatnot, but I'm not confident how well they work with the HDCP bullshit.

May also want to consider a Mitsubishi 73" DLP.  It shouldn't have as big of a problem with ambient light, probably better on power consumption, doesn't require all the extra stuff needed to accommodate a projector, and you'd probably be hard-pressed to find a projector with similar picture quality at the same price-point.  The only negative is lamp-life is about the same.

[Lowerit]

wife moving out? WtF?

[PhilStubbs]

She is moving on to a guy that will get her pregnant. I'm not doing that.

[PhilStubbs]

No need to be sorry. We always got along great, but I'm happier now and have a shit load more money for some reason.

Thanks for the info too.

[rawr]

but I'm happier now and have a shit load more money for some reason.

funny how that shit works. its like my bank acount went on explode

[rawr]

She is moving on to a guy that will get her pregnant. I'm not doing that.

also pro  /salute

[dvst8r]

My vote is for the sharp 80" tv.

No warming up, works in all lighting, no bulbs to replace, and will still overpower most rooms with it's size. If my Pioneer Kuro ever dies, or gets stolen that is what I am moving too.

From my experience with projectors, you really don't get good ones until you get in the $5k+ range, plus screen, plus room treatments. A $1200 projector + $1000 or more screen for a 60" screen is not worth it, a 60" plasma is better at everything at that level.

If you are building a dedicated home theater, with 100"+ screen size and appropriate lighting ect... then by all means. 

[Jorsher]

http://www.projectorreviews.com/1080p-projector/index.php

That may help.

I wouldn't bother upgrading a TV if you have one that will run another 2-4 years and have some patience.  OLEDs will finally be out this year and beat current TVs in every way possible.

[Lowerit]

She is moving on to a guy that will get her pregnant. I'm not doing that.

Good for you for not caving and becoming some sort of man slave...

[97Econobox]

I went to BJ's wholesale the other day and they had all their TV's lined up and the one that stood out BY FAR was the Sharp AQUOS 42"  i know they make them larger but that TV looked badass, it was Bright, color was sharp and the motion was so fluid it was ridiculous.  easily the best looking TV ive seen yet.  It was somewhere around 700-900 i think don't really remember, but i do remember that the tv next to it was around 1500 and didn't look half as good.  Literally caught your eye when nestled among like 16 other tv's, there was no way you wern't going to notice it.

No idea what the refresh was on it as appearntly Sharp doesnt want you to know or something.  they don't even have it listed on their website which IMO is about on par with not stating what size it is.  Its pretty fucking important but it had to be atleast 120, im thinking 240 honestly.  Find someone with a Sams club/Costco/BJ membership and go check it out.

[PhilStubbs]

My wife has a BJs membership and my roomate has a sams membership. I may go there. Do they have 60"-ish tvs?

[97Econobox]

Im not sure to be honest.  If they didn't still might be worth a trip to see them in person. 

[Jorsher]

I went to BJ's wholesale the other day and they had all their TV's lined up and the one that stood out BY FAR was the Sharp AQUOS 42"  i know they make them larger but that TV looked badass, it was Bright, color was sharp and the motion was so fluid it was ridiculous.  easily the best looking TV ive seen yet.  It was somewhere around 700-900 i think don't really remember, but i do remember that the tv next to it was around 1500 and didn't look half as good.  Literally caught your eye when nestled among like 16 other tv's, there was no way you wern't going to notice it.

No idea what the refresh was on it as appearntly Sharp doesnt want you to know or something.  they don't even have it listed on their website which IMO is about on par with not stating what size it is.  Its pretty fucking important but it had to be atleast 120, im thinking 240 honestly.  Find someone with a Sams club/Costco/BJ membership and go check it out.

Refresh rate is more marketing hype bullshit like the dynamic contrast ratios that get ridiculously inflated every year and still don't mean shit.  The only benefit to 120hz is that it doesn't require the 2:3 pulldown shit that's usually used to adapt the 24fps video to 60fps framerate TVs.  60hz/24fps = 2.5hz per frame (which isn't possible, so some frames are repeated), whereas 120hz/24fps = a nice and even 5hz per frame.  Ignoring the fact that most people can't even notice the pulldown shit going on, and some frames getting a few more ms than the others, it's hype.  240hz is imperceptible from 120hz, and 600hz? lol wtf cmon plz

The fluidmotion or whatever motion interpolating bullshit; IMO all it does is make your movie look like a soap opera.  It'd be good for sports, but otherwise will make everything look like it was recorded with your 59.97hz ntsc videocamera.  I think it looks retarded, and is just another "feature" people think they want.  However, check it out yourself.

I'm going to lol so hard when the 8k ultra-high-definition 42" panels come out and people pay a premium for them, despite the fact your eye isn't capable of perceiving a difference between plain 1080p from a reasonable viewing difference.

[97Econobox]

I think i know what you mean josher, when i got my tv (phillips 42") it has a contrast rate like 3-4 times higher than any other TV on the shelf yet only looked a little brighter.  I figured it was hype and bought it based on i could tell it was a tad brighter, despite the numbers. i think it did say Dynamic contrast to be honest.

As far as Mhz i don't think i could pick one out of a line up but most 120 mhz tv's seem to have a smoother picture than 60.  As far as that Aquios TV i have no idea what hertz it was at all.  But it clearly stood out among every other TV there as a tad brighter and about 4 times smoother.  No idea what was going on with it but all 12 of them were showing i think cars 2 or something and the picture just looked so much better on that tv.

I wasn't shopping for TV's at the time so i didn't really look any more into Spec wise or anything like that, but walking in and having a wall of TV's near the entrance that was the TV everyone looked at first. 

[imburne]

I was looking into doing a DIY projector but never got around to it. I think the forum was called lumenlab which showed some pretty good projects. Don't know if it's still around but it's an option

[MAJORAHOLE]

i have an optoma hd66. its 720p and 3d"ready". although i still cant just hook up a 3d bluray player and get it to work. it needs a different format of 3d, not side-by-side or whatever standard they came up with AFTER mine was made, so i will need to use my pc when i want to do the 3d shit.

i dont have it fully installed, im in the process of finishing my basment, and it should be installed soon.
so as far as picture i had it set up for a while against a piece of drywall and i thought it looked pretty damn good(so did everyone i showed it to). but im sure it will be better on a true screen.
i plan on making my own screen, with blackout cloth, a frame, and screen paint.
if you go to avsforum and look in the diy screen section there's a ton of ideas/guides.
its pretty bright too, so ambient light isn't an issue as long as its not the lights directly above the screen. i probably wouldnt use it for my main living room tho. if you are i would look into one with high lumen output too.
and btw, the grey/silver screens are for rooms that have more ambient light. they push the washout threashold back a bit.
i only have 255hrs on my bulb. i run it in econo-mode(less bright) to save life and its supposed to last 3000hrs.
also, to save bulb life(as ive read other places) i dont turn it on unless i will use it for at least 2hrs. apparently turning it on and off hinders bulb life.
overall i love it. best bang for the buck as far as screen size.
i got it for $680 with a 4 year warranty.

[PhilStubbs]

im pretty set now on getting a 60" plasma. getting tax return soon, ill probably use that for it. gonna just leave it in the box till the wife and roomate move out though. he is the most inconsiderate person i know and hogs the tv in the living room. plus, he now works from home so he has the tv on 10-12 hours a day

[dvst8r]

im pretty set now on getting a 60" plasma. getting tax return soon, ill probably use that for it. gonna just leave it in the box till the wife and roomate move out though. he is the most inconsiderate person i know and hogs the tv in the living room. plus, he now works from home so he has the tv on 10-12 hours a day

70" isn't much more $ but is a lot more tv. Do it.

[Jorsher]

I was looking into doing a DIY projector but never got around to it. I think the forum was called lumenlab which showed some pretty good projects. Don't know if it's still around but it's an option

It's still around, and I was going to do the same (still have all the parts), but it's really not worth the money or hassle anymore.  Projectors are so much cheaper, and the quality so much better, it's kind of a waste of time and effort now.  LumenLab still exists, but apparently there's a ton of people that ordered their MicRo v3 (cnc or 3d printer type thing, can't remember) and never got them...  Average costs was ~$1800.  Lot's of unhappy people in their forums.

I think i know what you mean josher, when i got my tv (phillips 42") it has a contrast rate like 3-4 times higher than any other TV on the shelf yet only looked a little brighter.  I figured it was hype and bought it based on i could tell it was a tad brighter, despite the numbers. i think it did say Dynamic contrast to be honest.

As far as Mhz i don't think i could pick one out of a line up but most 120 mhz tv's seem to have a smoother picture than 60.  As far as that Aquios TV i have no idea what hertz it was at all.  But it clearly stood out among every other TV there as a tad brighter and about 4 times smoother.  No idea what was going on with it but all 12 of them were showing i think cars 2 or something and the picture just looked so much better on that tv.

I wasn't shopping for TV's at the time so i didn't really look any more into Spec wise or anything like that, but walking in and having a wall of TV's near the entrance that was the TV everyone looked at first. 

Contrast is a measure between the brightest white, and the darkest black.  Years back they introduced a method of "increasing" contrast by making dimming the backlight in dark scenes and increasing brightness in bright scenes.  They'd fuck the numbers by measuring the blacks with the screen fully dimmed and the whites with the screen full brightness.  However, you can't have the screen full dim and full bright at the same time, so the number is pointless.  The "native contrast" is what actually matters, which is rarely published, and pretty much everything is 1000:1-2000:1.  They've added "local dimming" lately to the LED backlit screens which has up to 128 "zones" (maybe more by now) which are 128 LEDs spread behind the screen so they can dim each section of the screen separately.  Still not optimal, but better...  Bottom line is, there's no standardized way to measure it, and manufactures measure and fudge the numbers to give theirs the biggest numbers so people that don't know any better think it's a better display...

OLEDs will fix all that.  Every single pixel can have its brightness adjusted individually, or even turned completely off.  The contrast numbers will still surely be fudged for marketing purposes, but they'll be significantly better than current shit by default.

My point wasn't that you can't notice a difference between 60hz and 120hz, it was just that I don't want everything super-smooth, even though that may sound crazy.  Movies have always been filmed at 24fps, even though it's been possible to film at 60fps for decades.  It feels more cinematic that way, instead of like a soap opera or home video...  Similar to how film grain is added for effect to digitally recorded video, and why video folks get pissed at Bluray publishers that use DNR (digital noise reduction) to remove grain and make it easier to compress...  For sports and shit that aren't meant to have a cinematic look to it, sure, but 240-600hz bullshit is more gimmick than anything.

[PhilStubbs]

im pretty set now on getting a 60" plasma. getting tax return soon, ill probably use that for it. gonna just leave it in the box till the wife and roomate move out though. he is the most inconsiderate person i know and hogs the tv in the living room. plus, he now works from home so he has the tv on 10-12 hours a day

70" isn't much more $ but is a lot more tv. Do it.

I can honestly say, I don't think I want a 70" tv. My living room is that big.