Spec me a projector (and sound solution) for the bedroom wall

snow patrol · 31 Dec 2020 at 08:15

Hello all,

I'm hankering after a projector for a nice white empty wall that I've got in my room. Ideally something that can project from a phone/tablet but also from hdmi on a laptop. Also, I'm a complete noob in the projector world, so some sort of easy to use speaker solution so that the sound isn't coming from the phone / laptop would be great. Neither have to be top of the range, but preferably 1080p quality. I was thinking of spending up to 250ish but again, not sure if that's a good ballpark number!

Many thanks for any input offered

Troezar · 31 Dec 2020 at 16:27

snow patrol said:
Hello all,

I'm hankering after a projector for a nice white empty wall that I've got in my room. Ideally something that can project from a phone/tablet but also from hdmi on a laptop. Also, I'm a complete noob in the projector world, so some sort of easy to use speaker solution so that the sound isn't coming from the phone / laptop would be great. Neither have to be top of the range, but preferably 1080p quality. I was thinking of spending up to 250ish but again, not sure if that's a good ballpark number!

Many thanks for any input offered

It's a minefield! My research so far seems to point to more money gets better results but projecting under the best conditions you can manage makes a huge difference. By that I mean, the surface you project on to has a large impact and the darkness/reflectivity of your room affects contrast and therefore black levels massively. Check the distance you want to project over matches the projector i.e. will your projector project a 90" image at the distance you have, say 12ft. How bright will your projector go, real not exaggerated lumens. The bigger the image and the brighter the room the brighter the projector will need to be.

I bought an Optoma 143X which is at the cheap end but still performs pretty well. That's just over £400 to give you an idea. Is this just for a bit of casual use or more serious watching?

lucid · 31 Dec 2020 at 17:09

snow patrol said:
Hello all,

I'm hankering after a projector for a nice white empty wall that I've got in my room. Ideally something that can project from a phone/tablet but also from hdmi on a laptop. Also, I'm a complete noob in the projector world, so some sort of easy to use speaker solution so that the sound isn't coming from the phone / laptop would be great. Neither have to be top of the range, but preferably 1080p quality. I was thinking of spending up to 250ish but again, not sure if that's a good ballpark number!

Many thanks for any input offered

£250 will keep you relegated to the "toy" projector division. These are the ones you'll see advertised starting at around £50 on Amazon and Ebay. The adverts make it look like you get top-class features. The brightness, the resolution, the potential screen sizes; it's all a con based on selective wording to catch the gullible and first-time buyers.

Whilst projector prices have fallen to far more accessible levels over the past decade there's still a minimum spend required to get sonmething worth owning as a home entertainment projector. £450 is about where you need to be before adding ancillaries such as a Chromecast or other streaming solution and sound system.

aoaaron · 1 Jan 2021 at 20:09

I'd abandon a projector.

People seem to be under the impression that a projector is a device you can shoe-horn into a room with a white wall and it will give you an amazing result.
Its not, and most of the time you'll be better off watching that content on your ipad or buying a TV.

a projector is really to have a room designed around it, not the other way round. you need to control light, reduce ambience light and reflected light to maximise contrast and have an audio solution (aka AVR + speakers) where the image is being predicted.

what you're suggesting/wanting is ultimately going to lead to a crap experience which is going to be nothing more than a little gimick you'll grow tired of.

projection is meant to be the pinnacle of home theatre (within a <50k budget ignoring samsung's the wall) and provide you with a true home cinema experience. its not a device which is easy to just plonk into a room.

if you are just looking for a very casual crap quality experience, then just grab any projector off of amazon with the features u want. if PQ is at all a priority, you need to re-think projectors and how they work and what means they function to extract the best possible performance from them.

aoaaron · 1 Jan 2021 at 20:10

lucid said:
£250 will keep you relegated to the "toy" projector division. These are the ones you'll see advertised starting at around £50 on Amazon and Ebay. The adverts make it look like you get top-class features. The brightness, the resolution, the potential screen sizes; it's all a con based on selective wording to catch the gullible and first-time buyers.

Whilst projector prices have fallen to far more accessible levels over the past decade there's still a minimum spend required to get sonmething worth owning as a home entertainment projector. £450 is about where you need to be before adding ancillaries such as a Chromecast or other streaming solution and sound system.

I agree.

At a bare minimumt to extra 1080p decent quality from a PJ which does it fairly well; I'd suggest

1. JVC X30 £450 second hand
2. AVR £250 second hand
3. Passive speakers (minimum a pair of stereos) £100 to £10000
4. A subwoofer £100-10000
5. HDMI and wiring
6. Room treatment
7. A projector screen (no projecting on a white wall isnt really ideal...)

etc.etc.

Psycho Sonny · 2 Jan 2021 at 00:59

aoaaron said:
I agree.

At a bare minimumt to extra 1080p decent quality from a PJ which does it fairly well; I'd suggest

1. JVC X30 £450 second hand
2. AVR £250 second hand
3. Passive speakers (minimum a pair of stereos) £100 to £10000
4. A subwoofer £100-10000
5. HDMI and wiring
6. Room treatment
7. A projector screen (no projecting on a white wall isnt really ideal...)

etc.etc.

Are you really suggesting pairing a £250 avr with up to £20k in speakers and a sub?

lucid · 2 Jan 2021 at 12:03

Psycho Sonny said:
Are you really suggesting pairing a £250 avr with up to £20k in speakers and a sub?

I think you're being a bit provocative to try to take that view. I can see what @aoaaron is trying to get at even if the message is somewhat jumbled. I suspect you can too, so let's be sensible and try to avoid this thread becoming derailed.

My guess is that @snow patrol has either lost interest in this thread or decided to ignore the advice offered and go ahead with an Ebay/Amazon cheap projector purchase.

Whatever is happening, until he(?) comes back with a new comment then is there really that much more to be said here?

aoaaron · 2 Jan 2021 at 12:17

Psycho Sonny said:
Are you really suggesting pairing a £250 avr with up to £20k in speakers and a sub?

No.

lucid said:
I think you're being a bit provocative to try to take that view. I can see what @aoaaron is trying to get at even if the message is somewhat jumbled. I suspect you can too, so let's be sensible and try to avoid this thread becoming derailed.

My guess is that @snow patrol has either lost interest in this thread or decided to ignore the advice offered and go ahead with an Ebay/Amazon cheap projector purchase.

Whatever is happening, until he(?) comes back with a new comment then is there really that much more to be said here?

Thank you. I'm glad at least one person here has some common sense.

I was trying to illustrate the vast price difference in passive components for speakers. I couldn't be bothered to do a price range for every component but for example, a Trinnov receiver runs around £13k so I could have easily have written £250 to £13000 for a receiver and £250 to £8000 for power amplification.

The wider point I was trying to explain is a projector isn't a device you throw into a room of compromise. Its a device where the room is built around it and the components are also built around it to match the cinematic immersive impact it provides.

The highest end home cinema setups I know (£10k+) all run projection for good reason. For some reason there seems to be a small misconception that projectors can be used as a shoe-in device and if they are, they will look absolutely awful.

Psycho Sonny · 2 Jan 2021 at 13:38

I just thought it was an extremely large figures being used for the speakers in comparison to the avr.

As for op it was a hopeless cause as soon as he mentioned he had a £200 budget for a projector.

A bit like saying I want to build an extension to my home and I've got £2k. The best he was going to get was a shed rather than an extension. Not fit for the real intention.

To then suggest up to £20k in speakers I don't know if that was a passive way of saying the same thing his budget simply isn't good enough but again the figures looked funny to me.

At £200 the op would be better off increasing his budget by 10 times that before even thinking about a projector set up as all the other stuff needed to make them work including adjusting the room, screen, re decorating isn't cheap and for £200 you would llbe lucky to get a half decent DIY screen paint.

lucid · 2 Jan 2021 at 13:39

You're welcome, @aoaaron.

I understand your point about price ranges. That said, the mere fact that there are literally dozens of sub-£200 Chinese projectors does suggest that there are enough buyers out there to make it worthwhile making/importing/marketing/selling these things. That means there are plenty of people in a similar situation to @snow patrol; they have a little spare cash and a space and that's about as far as the thinking goes before they push the button. They're not really looking to build a room around a projector.

Looking at some of the buyer reviews, there's everything from "blown away" through to "don't waste your money". That suggests a wide range of expectations; some folk are easily satisfied whilst others see why these things are cheap.

aoaaron · 2 Jan 2021 at 16:16

Psycho Sonny said:
I just thought it was an extremely large figures being used for the speakers in comparison to the avr.

As for op it was a hopeless cause as soon as he mentioned he had a £200 budget for a projector.

A bit like saying I want to build an extension to my home and I've got £2k. The best he was going to get was a shed rather than an extension. Not fit for the real intention.

To then suggest up to £20k in speakers I don't know if that was a passive way of saying the same thing his budget simply isn't good enough but again the figures looked funny to me.

At £200 the op would be better off increasing his budget by 10 times that before even thinking about a projector set up as all the other stuff needed to make them work including adjusting the room, screen, re decorating isn't cheap and for £200 you would llbe lucky to get a half decent DIY screen paint.

Sure.

lucid said:
You're welcome, @aoaaron.

I understand your point about price ranges. That said, the mere fact that there are literally dozens of sub-£200 Chinese projectors does suggest that there are enough buyers out there to make it worthwhile making/importing/marketing/selling these things. That means there are plenty of people in a similar situation to @snow patrol; they have a little spare cash and a space and that's about as far as the thinking goes before they push the button. They're not really looking to build a room around a projector.

Looking at some of the buyer reviews, there's everything from "blown away" through to "don't waste your money". That suggests a wide range of expectations; some folk are easily satisfied whilst others see why these things are cheap.

I agree. I think the 'blown away people' will in a few months abandon the PJ though and think in hindsight it's a cheap toy.

The fear I have with these cheap projectors is that people think thats what projection is capable of, which is far away from the truth since they are absolutely transformative in terms of cinematic experience in the home, when done properly.

Also, I too often find people trying to use a projector as a versatile display device which I don't think it is a TV is a versatile display device as it has everything built in from smart apps, to sound. A projector is actually very limited and very niche IMO.

lucid · 2 Jan 2021 at 18:33

The "that's typical for projection" thought was something running through my mind too as I wrote my replies. TBH though, I don't let it worry me anymore. It's the same when someone buys a £100 stereo mini system, or a £200 for an all-in-one DVD/Blu-ray surround kit. If they think that's the pinnacle of home projection or domestic stereo reproduction or all there is to be had from surround sound then there's not much I can say that'll change their mind.

I've seen it so many times. A person comes on a forum to ask advice, but what they really want is for everyone to approve what they've already decided to do. Trying to debate the pros and cons or persuade them is pretty much a futile effort unless they're genuinely in the dark and just took best guess at what a solution might cost.

sja360 · 2 Jan 2021 at 21:53

Look at avforums as from time to time older 2nd hand full hd projectors come up for £200-300. Sounds to me like your just looking to dabble in running a projector rather than having a dedicated home cinema setup in a spare room.

I've purchased the BenQ W1070 a few years back for the Xbox one, it's perfect for what I've used it for. It's just sat on a Filing cabinet projecting to the opposite wall. For me I find it great as it is, I get it's not ideal ie no projection screen or properly setup but it's not a dedicated cinema room and it's just for me. So I'm happy.

snow patrol · 3 Jan 2021 at 11:40

sja360 said:
Look at avforums as from time to time older 2nd hand full hd projectors come up for £200-300. Sounds to me like your just looking to dabble in running a projector rather than having a dedicated home cinema setup in a spare room.

nail on the head really. Just something in the bedroom really for occasional use on a very lazy sunday. Not looking to replace my living room set up and i fully realise i won't be achieving amazing quality or anything close. I appreciate the responses...even if some of them may have misjudged the depth of my wallet

Warbie · 6 Jan 2021 at 09:13

I'd go for a cheap panel.

snow patrol · 6 Jan 2021 at 09:30

Warbie said:
I'd go for a cheap panel.

cool, i'll get the drill out and whack a 60 inch tv on the bedroom wall. That'll go down well. Cheers for the advice.

Warbie · 6 Jan 2021 at 10:45

snow patrol said:
cool, i'll get the drill out and whack a 60 inch tv on the bedroom wall. That'll go down well. Cheers for the advice.

It doesn't seem that crazy compared to having a cheap pj with separate audio system. Quality wise, even the cheapest panel you could find would eclipse a pj of that price. And then you still have to dick about with cables and set it up.

Swanster · 6 Jan 2021 at 20:28

Depending on the aims, I think the cheap projectors definitely have their uses.

I've got a really cheap (think it was <£70 a few years ago - firmly in the "toy" category) projector set up in my bedroom, projecting onto a white wall.
For casually watching crap whilst half asleep, it's fine. It was cheaper than normal TV, takes up less space, and all the cables are out of the way.
Is the picture quality any good? no, absolutely not, but it's quite watchable, so long as you don't have any kind of "home cinema" mindset when using it.

My only real complaint with it is that it's fairly noisy - certainly louder than your typical proper home cinema projectors. Given how I'm using it, I'd be more inclined to pay more for one that's quiet, rather than better PQ tbh.

For any serious watching (for want of a better phrase), I use a normal 50" 4k TV in the lounge anyway, and if I wanted a projector in there, I'd realistically need to spend rather more than £250 to make it worthwhile.

Given how quickly things improve, and with £250, I'm sure there must be far, far, better projectors than I've got which would be up to what it sounds like the OPs needs - so long as you don't see it as a home cinema set up, and more a cheap/convenient big screen that works.
Since I got mine, I've not looked at cheap projectors again, so have no ideas which are the best at that price point, though

aoaaron · 9 Jan 2021 at 15:40

snow patrol said:
nail on the head really. Just something in the bedroom really for occasional use on a very lazy sunday. Not looking to replace my living room set up and i fully realise i won't be achieving amazing quality or anything close. I appreciate the responses...even if some of them may have misjudged the depth of my wallet

Even then, you'll be better off with a TV. You still have the issue of sound so need speakers where the image is being projected for a half decent experience. Also if you did want to expand and plug in sources, you'll need to route the HDMI cable to your devices etc.

There seems to be a misconception PJs care versatile but they aren't. TVs are versatile IMO. They have the sound, apps, screen all built in. All they need is a power plug.

PJs need a projector screen for a half decent image, a throw distance which proivides a big enough image, cabling at the ceiling going around the room for power, a sound solution (thats if u dont get a pathetically bad PJ with sound 'built in'...

Its just frustrating for me as this is like when people use google or samsung cardbroad for virtual reality.. its just a very very very very very bad version of the real thing. A PJ setup properly or even half decently is amazing.. but the bedroom PJ setup is just IMO a fad which will die and a gimick. if you want to do it for that reason, buy the cheapest projector you can find on amazing which does this function.