TV vs Projector

rG-tom · 29 Jun 2009 at 00:43

Hey guys,

Now, i want some honest unbiased reviews here!

if i was looking to spend £5-600 on a new method of displaying the video side of things in my home theatre, what would be the better option?

I imagine id be looking at a 42" Panasonic PZ Plasma vs the Optoma HD700X and a 92" Screen. I've heard a lot of MEGA feedback about the optoma, but would it honestly be a better quality of image than the Panny?

It'll be in a completely dark room that has NO ambient light whatsoever, being fed by a western digital media player through a Denon AVR-4306, supported by mission m35i, m3c2, m32i and a paradigm ps100 in the audio stakes, and will be replacing our VERY aging 32" Panasonic CRT:

Distance between screen/TV will be nearly 9.5 feet, and almost all usage will be HD

Cheers guys!

Tom.

-Ad- · 29 Jun 2009 at 08:27

Project and keep the CRT for normal tv usage.

Also, complete darkness will not matter, you will still get reflections off the light walls etc. Get loads of black drapes, and maybe some goth girls to serve you bloody grapes and mead

cavemanoc · 29 Jun 2009 at 09:15

-Ad- said:
...maybe some goth girls to serve you bloody grapes and mead

Linky please?

xxalxx · 29 Jun 2009 at 09:50

A big projector screen really recreates the cinema experience in your living room, something that a tv just cant do.

DJ_Switch · 29 Jun 2009 at 16:18

Projector. 100%

I've got a 720p projector (Infocus IN76) and a 1080p lcd (Sony X3000) and I'd rather watch the projector anyday. If you love movies then it's the way forward...especially at the distance you'll be sitting from your tv.

chad · 29 Jun 2009 at 19:03

infocus x9 here

worth every penny of £540
80" on the wall

Andr3w · 29 Jun 2009 at 19:08

Tom, that room is ******** brilliant!

Tattooed · 30 Jun 2009 at 19:10

Another vote for projector. Would highly recommend the Optoma HD700X PJ

Phobia_mp3 · 30 Jun 2009 at 19:15

Projector all the way

rG-tom · 30 Jun 2009 at 23:21

-Ad- said:
Project and keep the CRT for normal tv usage.

Also, complete darkness will not matter, you will still get reflections off the light walls etc. Get loads of black drapes, and maybe some goth girls to serve you bloody grapes and mead

CRT is going either way, it's taking up too much room and making the room look pants

It WILL be used for normal TV, will SD content look pants on 92" 720p?

Also, 720p does seem low for 92".....im guessing there'd be a massive jump to 1080 on a projector? What price do these start from, is it worth waiting?

Thanks,

Tom.

rG-tom · 30 Jun 2009 at 23:25

Andr3w said:
Tom, that room is ******** brilliant!

Cheers! It's not bad is it, could be better though.

After i've tidied it ill get some more recent photos, but here's a really old one:

That's before I bought any of the AV gear bar the sub.

I'll take a more up to date photo of the whole room soon though

....and for when I play online games (mainly l4d) with my girlfriend when we end up on opposite teams

and for the AV buffs in here, here's my @ PC audio setup:

Beyer Dynamic DT770s and a CMOY headphone amp

Tom.

Rroff · 1 Jul 2009 at 00:21

+1 For projector...

But +10 for either getting someone to properly calibrate it or calibrating it yourself - it made a HUGE difference to my projector - before hand there was deffinate color banding on flesh tones and yellows were over-saturated - folder icons in windows just looked weird... afterwards you really had to look for color banding and the folder icons were spot on sharp and well defined - not to mention movies looked far more crisp and "cinematic"

Also don't be tempted by cheaper SD/business projectors, get a good 720p or 1080p cinema projector.

I have Optoma 720p and 1080p projectors and so far they've been great - and nothing beats 100" and a decent surround sound system for recreating that cinema movie feel.

rG-tom · 1 Jul 2009 at 01:45

itll definitely be at least the hd700x rroff, you can see from the rest of my gear im not one to cheap out

Will a monitor calibrator work on one? I keep all my monitors calibrated for my photographic work so could I use that calibrator?

Cheers for the replies guys

Jfan · 1 Jul 2009 at 02:30

yes you should defo get a projector, It will be awesome in that room, 720p will be fine aswell

I think the suggestion of keeping the crt is a sensible one though
you wont want to be worrying about the projectors lamp life when your watching something like eastenders or gmtv (although kate garraway aint bad), maybe you could get the projector and a small-ish lcd to replace the crt?

Phobia_mp3 · 1 Jul 2009 at 02:33

HAHA I love the pull down blocker so she can't cheat of your monitor

rG-tom · 1 Jul 2009 at 04:01

Jfan said:
yes you should defo get a projector, It will be awesome in that room, 720p will be fine aswell

I think the suggestion of keeping the crt is a sensible one though
you wont want to be worrying about the projectors lamp life when your watching something like eastenders or gmtv (although kate garraway aint bad), maybe you could get the projector and a small-ish lcd to replace the crt?

bulbs are only 100 quid and we dont watch soaps or crap, mainly proper 1 hour type series that get released to DVD that are worth watching big

Rroff · 1 Jul 2009 at 15:51

rG-tom said:
itll definitely be at least the hd700x rroff, you can see from the rest of my gear im not one to cheap out

Will a monitor calibrator work on one? I keep all my monitors calibrated for my photographic work so could I use that calibrator?

Cheers for the replies guys

Didn't think you would judging by the room but never know

AFAIK monitor calibrators can be used I had mine done using spyder3.

rG-tom · 2 Jul 2009 at 10:12

rroff how did that work? I assume you had it calibrated with a media pc, what if the source isnt a PC? How would you actually for example tell the WD Media player to correct the colours? Or did you do as much of the correction as possible using the controls on the projector?

Thanks,

Tom.

Rroff · 2 Jul 2009 at 17:18

I didn't do it - but the person who did first made a colorspace(?) profile and then used that to match it as closely as possible with the projector settings using some system they had - sorry don't really know details. So now I can hook up anything and its more or less correct.

All I know is it looks fantastic compared to before - not that I'd have complained overly much at the original image.

ugly ferret · 2 Jul 2009 at 20:26

I would also recommend getting a projector, it's a tatolly different cinematic experience, and works well for games and sport as well. In terms of picture quality, they tend to offer a more natural and cleaner image than the processed mess you get from LCD's and plasmas.

However I wouldn't dream having only a projector, you'll really need another conventional display for times when the PJ isn't appropriate. Fair enough if there are no windows and no light, but it's still a chore to turn it on for a few minutes of tv watching.

You also might struggle to get the full 92 inches from the hd700x if the room is only 9.5 feet. I had a HD65 at 10 feet and it could do about 90 max, afaik they have the same throw ratio range. It's one thing to do all the calculations but in reality it often doesn't work out - just one thing to consider!