TV v Projector Dilemma

[Abyss]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted in here but as life took over my home cinema hobby and I've become somewhat of a lurker.

I am at the point of either upgrading the living room TV or projector and would appreciate your advice.

Current setup:

• Projector - Optoma HD200x (served us very well, but was about £1k new from memory so not a high spec projector)
  
• Screen - Optoma electric screen (can't remember the exact model, circa 120")
• TV - Hisense 65" - Can't remember the exact model but it's 2 years old and was around £700
  
• Audio - Sony STRDN1010 AV amp, with 7 Mordaunt Short speakers and 1 BK Monolith sub
• Viewing distance is circa 4m

Main usage is:

• Netflix / Amazon series such as Agents of Shield 4 to 5 evenings per week
• Films 2-3 evenings a month
• Gaming 2-3 evenings a month

The main things on my mind are

• We used to use the projector in the last house a lot, but in the new one it gets used less due to more natural light and the projector brightness dropping. The plan is to redecorate the room a lot darker, better control ambient / artificial light sources and properly box the projector screen into the ceiling
• Whenever I game ( I end up moving the sofa to right in front of the TV and using the 65". I mainly play GTA and night time scenes are difficult to see enough detail, even in a pitch black room
• The 65" was a fairly budget purchase (about £700 from memory). I've been pleased with it but it does suffer from below average black levels and an uneven light distribution on dark scenes
• Whatever route I go the living room is getting overhauled. We use the open-plan living/dining/family area day to day so 80% of the livingroom usage is for watching TV/films or gaming.

The three routes I am considering are

• Replace the projector with something higher spec. Potentially the Epson 7400 at £1,900, or the 9400 at £2,400. Keep the TV and use it for daytime playing of Peppa Pig
• Keep the projector and upgrade the TV. I'd want to go circa 84" so it'd still need to be a lower spec panel for circa £2k. I did consider 75" but drew it on the wall and it's not enough bigger sitting 4m away to be worth the cost
• Stick with what I've got for a couple more years and wait for 85" panels to drop. Eventually sell the projector/screen and replace it with a big TV only

I don't have a fixed budget as such, but don't want to go as far as replacing both the TV and projector. I was aiming to redo the living room for around £5k but was aiming to replace the sofa and get paint/coving/accesories within this.

What would Overclockers do? Appreciate any advice you can offer.

I'll post some photos of the room in question shortly.

 

[Rroff]

For me nothing has the impact like a decent projector for watching a movie - even similar sized TVs to the projected image - but I really struggle with the convenience side of it - more often than not I don't use the projector - so I'd put the money on a decent TV personally - even an older projector can give a very decent experience.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Projectors really need expensive equipment or a dedicated room to really shine.

A decent TV will always outperform it other than size.

Also hisense TV's are an absolute joke in this country we don't get access to the high end panels that America does for some reason.

Personally the amount of money you spent last time around was circa £2k.

That today would get you a high end 75 inch FALD lcd.

Unless you are living in a mansion that size of TV should be enough.

I'd love a projector but the cost and compromise needed to do it right just isn't worth it when you can sit closer and get a massive TV these days for even a grand which will outperform most projectors costing 2-3 times as much.

If I was going to get a projector nothing other than a complete custom built cinema room would be good enough personally for me.

Which means that I'd rather just get a TV and be done with it

 

[Abyss]

Photos of the current room below. Still very much a work in progress.





Intention is to paint the room a lot darker (including the ceiling). Also ignore the positions of the rear speakers, they are wall mounted for 5.1 but the intention is to move them to the side and position the floorstanders in the corner for 7.1

 

[Abyss]

For me nothing has the impact like a decent projector for watching a movie - even similar sized TVs to the projected image - but I really struggle with the convenience side of it - more often than not I don't use the projector - so I'd put the money on a decent TV personally - even an older projector can give a very decent experience.

Cheers. I'm comfortable from a convenience point of view, it's all setup on the Harmony remote so the difference between using the TV and projector is just pressing a different button. The curtains are also very rarely opened in the living room. I do however need to get the lighting set up so am going to get round to finally fitting lightwaveRF in there.

Given your point about older projectors do you think it might be worth just keeping the one I've got? It's probably circa 8 years old so I assumed things would have moved on a lot since the early DLPs.

 

[Abyss]

Projectors really need expensive equipment or a dedicated room to really shine.

A decent TV will always outperform it other than size.

Also hisense TV's are an absolute joke in this country we don't get access to the high end panels that America does for some reason.

Personally the amount of money you spent last time around was circa £2k.

That today would get you a high end 75 inch FALD lcd.

Unless you are living in a mansion that size of TV should be enough.

I'd love a projector but the cost and compromise needed to do it right just isn't worth it when you can sit closer and get a massive TV these days for even a grand which will outperform most projectors costing 2-3 times as much.

If I was going to get a projector nothing other than a complete custom built cinema room would be good enough personally for me.

Which means that I'd rather just get a TV and be done with it

Thanks. That's part of the dilemma I think. It's ultimately a living room that is almost entirely used for TV/films and is rapidly heading towards becoming a semi-dedicated room (certainly from a layout, lighting control and wall colour point of view).

It's definitely tempting to go for a 75" tv. I just worry it felt too small when I marked it out on tape (as per the image), but it seems the sweet spot for value and £2k gets a very nice TV.

I also wonder, if I do go the TV route how much darker paint and a new bulb will help the current projector.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Thanks. That's part of the dilemma I think. It's ultimately a living room that is almost entirely used for TV/films and is rapidly heading towards becoming a semi-dedicated room (certainly from a layout, lighting control and wall colour point of view).

It's definitely tempting to go for a 75" tv. I just worry it felt too small when I marked it out on tape (as per the image), but it seems the sweet spot for value and £2k gets a very nice TV.

I also wonder, if I do go the TV route how much darker paint and a new bulb will help the current projector.

If you can go the dedicated room.route and customise the room around a projector to suit it fully then go for it.

Otherwise a half hearted attempt just ends up being compromised in so many ways a TV is better.

I've thought about it many a time. I could even convert the garage to do it but I'd rather be able to use the space for a more casual experience tbh.

 

[lucid]

The three routes I am considering are

• Replace the projector with something higher spec. Potentially the Epson 7400 at £1,900, or the 9400 at £2,400. Keep the TV and use it for daytime playing of Peppa Pig
• Keep the projector and upgrade the TV. I'd want to go circa 84" so it'd still need to be a lower spec panel for circa £2k. I did consider 75" but drew it on the wall and it's not enough bigger sitting 4m away to be worth the cost
• Stick with what I've got for a couple more years and wait for 85" panels to drop. Eventually sell the projector/screen and replace it with a big TV only

I don't have a fixed budget as such, but don't want to go as far as replacing both the TV and projector. I was aiming to redo the living room for around £5k but was aiming to replace the sofa and get paint/coving/accesories within this.

What would Overclockers do? Appreciate any advice you can offer.

I'll post some photos of the room in question shortly.

There might be an option that allows you to have your cake and eat it too.

Put yourself back in time to the point when you were looking at the Optoma HD200X. If you'd have had three or four times the budget then you might have considered the JVC DLA X3 at the time. The performance gap between the two projectors was huge. As good as the HD200X is, it's mainly a gaming and entertainment projector. This means it's tuned more for brightness rather than picture fidelity and black level. The 3-chip DiLA JVC was designed to get the best from movies. The native contrast ratio was much bigger, and that meant the blacks went much deeper and it made the whites pop that much more.

The issue with dedicated home cinema projectors though at that point in time was they sacrificed some brightness in order to help get those deep blacks. In a dark room that really didn't matter so much. But when used in a room with light walls and some ambient light then the image lacked the impact of the brighter gaming machines even if the colours and the video processing were better. The JVC X3 was one of the projectors I recall that bucked that trend. It was still bright enough to go toe-to-toe with the gaming machines for TV and entertainment duties.

The X3 was superseded by the X30 and then the x35. This was the last of the native 1080p DiLA machines before JVC introduced e-Shift pseudo-4K in to its entry-level range with the DLA-X500.

Good X35s are changing hands for around £600-£700 on AVForums classifieds. Something like this would be a significant step up in your projection system and leave you with more funds for a bigger and better TV and room decor. IMO it would be impossible to beat the picture performance of this with any of the new pseudo-UHD projectors under £1500 despite their resolution advantages. My view is that they're all a bit hamstrung by the cost of the pixel-shifting tech which then makes them compromised in lens quality, contrast ration and video processing.

Entry-level true native 4K 3-chip projectors are still relatively expensive. The Sony VPL-VW270 is £5K. The Epsons are good, but again still not true native UHD resolution.

 

[Warbie]

How important is the fireplace? If that were my room and if it we a dedicated movie/tv watching area - i'd knock that out or box it in and get the biggest OLD budget would allow. 65" are going for great prices these days, have the best PQ there's ever been, and are feature rich. Every use is covered.

I'm with Physcho in that current panels offer such good pq/value for money, that i'd only consider a dedicated space with relatively high end equipment for a pj setup. I'm not trying to talk you out of a pj btw - i'm a big fan and am planning one in our next room - just that it's hard to knock current OLEDs for the price.

 

[Rroff]

Projectors really need expensive equipment or a dedicated room to really shine.

A decent TV will always outperform it other than size.

Can't agree with that - some of the cheaper lesser brand projectors sure but a decent, but not stupidly expensive, Optoma, etc. even in a room that isn't setup for it and a fairly basic screen (as long as it isn't one of the naff cheap ones that try to do silly tricks too boost quality and fail miserably) will give an experience for watching movies only a very few TVs can compare to. Never mind a dedicated room properly painted and with a decent screen/surface to project on to.

Even my ageing 720p Optoma HD70 will give much better spec TVs a hard run for their money (unless you have some true 4K content which is properly mastered). (Especially with Netflix, etc. at the moment the Optoma with its image processing beats the **** out of my Philips Momentum - would probably change a bit if they go back to decent bitrates, etc. at 4K ).

Where TVs win out massively is the convenience side.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Can't agree with that - some of the cheaper lesser brand projectors sure but a decent, but not stupidly expensive, Optoma, etc. even in a room that isn't setup for it and a fairly basic screen (as long as it isn't one of the naff cheap ones that try to do silly tricks too boost quality and fail miserably) will give an experience for watching movies only a very few TVs can compare to. Never mind a dedicated room properly painted and with a decent screen/surface to project on to.

Even my ageing 720p Optoma HD70 will give much better spec TVs a hard run for their money (unless you have some true 4K content which is properly mastered). (Especially with Netflix, etc. at the moment the Optoma with its image processing beats the **** out of my Philips Momentum - would probably change a bit if they go back to decent bitrates, etc. at 4K ).

Where TVs win out massively is the convenience side.

If that was true I'm sorry but more people would own projectors.

I don't know a single person who owns a projector and I know plenty living in large homes with dedicated games rooms and man caves even then they opt for TV's and soundbars.

Simply because they have massive amounts of natural light coming in and bright white walls, etc. Projectors just won't work in such rooms not without looking washed out and significantly compromised. Then you have room lighting to add into the mix again it needs to be suitable for a projector set up.

You can't just shoehorn a projector onto most people's homes and it works well. It will work for a minority but the majority it will be terrible.

I've always wanted a projector but I've never went for one because I'd need to significantly change the room to make suitable to the point.

I'm not surprised you are disagreeing after all you own a projector so are heavily biased in that regard. Unless you can place your projector side by side to a high end TV and compare 4k Netflix on both at the same time you cannot say that it's indistinguishable. I'm willing to bet I could distinguish between them but I'm used to using high end sources and high end TV's and I know what to look for I refuse to watch anything bar 4K these days and majority of my source material is from my own server.

 

[Rroff]

If that was true I'm sorry but more people would own projectors.

That comes more down to the convenience factor where TVs vastly outperform projectors (same for much of what you posted below that - you don't need to go to the extremes you are talking about to get a great experience from a projector though - even if it is improved by having a proper setup).

I'm not surprised you are disagreeing after all you own a projector so are heavily biased in that regard. Unless you can place your projector side by side to a high end TV and compare 4k Netflix on both at the same time you cannot say that it's indistinguishable. I'm willing to bet I could distinguish between them but I'm used to using high end sources and high end TV's and I know what to look for I refuse to watch anything bar 4K these days and majority of my source material is from my own server.

I've picked up a fair bit of experience over the years and own a range of displays myself including some fairly decent stuff - I've no bias in that regard.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

That comes more down to the convenience factor where TVs vastly outperform projectors (same for much of what you posted below that - you don't need to go to the extremes you are talking about to get a great experience from a projector though - even if it is improved by having a proper setup).



I've picked up a fair bit of experience over the years and own a range of displays myself including some fairly decent stuff - I've no bias in that regard.

Convenience isn't an issue when you have a dedicated man cave with a pool table, etc.

You can customise such rooms and yet I know people with such rooms and yet they always go for a big TV. I suggested a projector to one of them and they were totally against it and wanted an oled but a 77" oled was £5k at the time so they spent £2500 on a 75" FALD Samsung instead the top of the line at the time.

I just think now TV's have gotten so big it's pretty much an extremely niche market. 25 years ago the average size TV was 21-32 inches and large TV's were considered 38 inch or so for the home and for pubs showing football 50 inch rear projection units were what were being used.

Now you can buy a 75 inch Samsung tu8000 for £940 out of Costco.

So the largest of the largest TV's of a generation ago used in pubs for large public viewings are now considered the absolute minimum size these days for most.

The jump between large TV and projector simply isn't as big as what it was and arguably most folk couldn't even accommodate a 100-120 inch screen in their living rooms without it looking stupid. Even a 75" screen would look funny in small places but not in large homes.

I'll make a decision when I finally convert the garage and I know one person who lives in Canada who has a custom built room with a projector but even then it has issues and doesn't work perfectly and tbh isn't that impressive as you are so far away from the screen as it's a very long room, my garage you would be a lot closer to the screen where a large TV would give the same experience with less issues.

Projectors are a niche product and I don't think convenience is an issue to those with money to spend they will pay for whatever is best.

 

[Rroff]

You can customise such rooms and yet I know people with such rooms and yet they always go for a big TV. I suggested a projector to one of them and they were totally against it and wanted an oled but a 77" oled was £5k at the time so they spent £2500 on a 75" FALD Samsung instead the top of the line at the time.

Personal preference not really relevant to the merits on the technical side.

Conversely I know quite a lot of people who have setup a man cave with both and will always use the projector for movies, etc. if they can. Quite common in very high end, money no object, setups to have a movie room with a projector over a big TV as well.

 

[Abyss]

If you can go the dedicated room.route and customise the room around a projector to suit it fully then go for it.

Otherwise a half hearted attempt just ends up being compromised in so many ways a TV is better.

I've thought about it many a time. I could even convert the garage to do it but I'd rather be able to use the space for a more casual experience tbh.

Cheers. What else do you think I should be doing to make the room more dedicated? Current plan is darker walls/ceiling, box in the screen, chase in the speaker cabling and change the sofas to something more suitable.

There might be an option that allows you to have your cake and eat it too.

Put yourself back in time to the point when you were looking at the Optoma HD200X. If you'd have had three or four times the budget then you might have considered the JVC DLA X3 at the time. The performance gap between the two projectors was huge. As good as the HD200X is, it's mainly a gaming and entertainment projector. This means it's tuned more for brightness rather than picture fidelity and black level. The 3-chip DiLA JVC was designed to get the best from movies. The native contrast ratio was much bigger, and that meant the blacks went much deeper and it made the whites pop that much more.

The issue with dedicated home cinema projectors though at that point in time was they sacrificed some brightness in order to help get those deep blacks. In a dark room that really didn't matter so much. But when used in a room with light walls and some ambient light then the image lacked the impact of the brighter gaming machines even if the colours and the video processing were better. The JVC X3 was one of the projectors I recall that bucked that trend. It was still bright enough to go toe-to-toe with the gaming machines for TV and entertainment duties.

The X3 was superseded by the X30 and then the x35. This was the last of the native 1080p DiLA machines before JVC introduced e-Shift pseudo-4K in to its entry-level range with the DLA-X500.

Good X35s are changing hands for around £600-£700 on AVForums classifieds. Something like this would be a significant step up in your projection system and leave you with more funds for a bigger and better TV and room decor. IMO it would be impossible to beat the picture performance of this with any of the new pseudo-UHD projectors under £1500 despite their resolution advantages. My view is that they're all a bit hamstrung by the cost of the pixel-shifting tech which then makes them compromised in lens quality, contrast ration and video processing.

Entry-level true native 4K 3-chip projectors are still relatively expensive. The Sony VPL-VW270 is £5K. The Epsons are good, but again still not true native UHD resolution.

Thanks, that's been really helpful and definetly opened up a new avenue. Given projectors are usually attached to a ceiling and just left there it looks to be easy to get hold of mint condition kit for very little. There seems to be limited availability of the X35 currently, but keeping my eye open. There's one on AVForums but collect only and being sold on behalf of someone else which puts me off. Certainly seems like a great way to upgrade the projector and still have budget available for an OLED.

This does seem like the best route to go, and if it doesn't work out I'll lose a minimal amount by selling it on.

Can't agree with that - some of the cheaper lesser brand projectors sure but a decent, but not stupidly expensive, Optoma, etc. even in a room that isn't setup for it and a fairly basic screen (as long as it isn't one of the naff cheap ones that try to do silly tricks too boost quality and fail miserably) will give an experience for watching movies only a very few TVs can compare to. Never mind a dedicated room properly painted and with a decent screen/surface to project on to.

Even my ageing 720p Optoma HD70 will give much better spec TVs a hard run for their money (unless you have some true 4K content which is properly mastered). (Especially with Netflix, etc. at the moment the Optoma with its image processing beats the **** out of my Philips Momentum - would probably change a bit if they go back to decent bitrates, etc. at 4K ).

Where TVs win out massively is the convenience side.

I must admit the more I think about it the more I enjoy using the projector. I've made a point of using it more over the last week and forgot how much I like watching it. Even watched WandaVision on it last night and was better than on the TV.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Cheers. What else do you think I should be doing to make the room more dedicated? Current plan is darker walls/ceiling, box in the screen, chase in the speaker cabling and change the sofas to something more suitable.



Thanks, that's been really helpful and definetly opened up a new avenue. Given projectors are usually attached to a ceiling and just left there it looks to be easy to get hold of mint condition kit for very little. There seems to be limited availability of the X35 currently, but keeping my eye open. There's one on AVForums but collect only and being sold on behalf of someone else which puts me off. Certainly seems like a great way to upgrade the projector and still have budget available for an OLED.

This does seem like the best route to go, and if it doesn't work out I'll lose a minimal amount by selling it on.




I must admit the more I think about it the more I enjoy using the projector. I've made a point of using it more over the last week and forgot how much I like watching it. Even watched WandaVision on it last night and was better than on the TV.

People use dark fabric on the wall surrounding the screen itself and the ceiling to stop reflection of light.

Have a thick black border around the screen made of thin wood covered in black fabric.

Ensure all lighting is controllable. So I'd probably have spotlights rigged up to dimmer switches and be able to for example only turn a few on at a time so I could have a little light around the edges or the back and then another switch or two for ones in the middle and then another to control the ones nearest to the screen and in direct path of the projector.

Blackout curtains and blinds.

Atmos speakers in the ceiling minimum of 4 I'd maybe wire 6 in for future proofing.

Basically I'd be able to control every natural and bulb light source. Control all reflections as much as possible. Room fully wired for a proper Atmos set up.

Then it's just organising of furniture and the screen to maximise the space.

Also try and minimise reflective surfaces for sound. So carpet would be a must or large rug.

Have sound absorbing panels on the walls and try and reduce large flat hard surfaces as much as possible.

AVforums has all the info you need on it

 

[Firestar_3x]

Few considerations in my room:

- Walls are matt black, my ceiling is grey as are the coffers.
- The carpet is black with thick underlay.
- The screen is attached to the wall and has a non reflective border.
- The windows have blackout blinds and then acoustic theater cloth attached to a wooden frame "plug" which goes in the window recess with acoustic insulation behind.
- Have 7 seats all are black as are the tiered seating stages.
- Everything is Phillips hue, the whole room is controlled through an app, the door is a fire door and "sealed".
- The AC ductwork into the room is sound insulated.
- System is wired for 9.2.6, though I only use 7.2.4 at the moment.
- Projector is mounted on the back wall as far away from the back seating as possible and is black.
- Rear seats are moved away from the wall to help move you out of any Bass accumulation zone.
- All Av equipment, i.e. processor / amps / shield etc etc is hidden under the tiered seating with wisper quiet fans.
- Acoustic absorbers on first and second reflection points.
- Got some acoustic foam on walls opposite the side channels.
- Room is corrected using REW and a UMIK-1, multisub using a MiniDSP 2x4HD.

So much goes into a dedicated room, mine will never ever be finished, you always find something else to do, or go reading an discover a better way to do things.

Using the room to watch a movie is an experience and we really enjoy it, still feels special, I would not entertain the idea of having a projector in a normal living room, it simply isn't worth it, better off getting a TV.

 

[lucid]

If that was true I'm sorry but more people would own projectors.

I don't know a single person who owns a projector and I know plenty living in large homes with dedicated games rooms and man caves even then they opt for TV's and soundbars.

Simply because they have massive amounts of natural light coming in and bright white walls, etc. Projectors just won't work in such rooms not without looking washed out and significantly compromised. Then you have room lighting to add into the mix again it needs to be suitable for a projector set up.

You can't just shoehorn a projector onto most people's homes and it works well. It will work for a minority but the majority it will be terrible.

I've always wanted a projector but I've never went for one because I'd need to significantly change the room to make suitable to the point.

I'm not surprised you are disagreeing after all you own a projector so are heavily biased in that regard. Unless you can place your projector side by side to a high end TV and compare 4k Netflix on both at the same time you cannot say that it's indistinguishable. I'm willing to bet I could distinguish between them but I'm used to using high end sources and high end TV's and I know what to look for I refuse to watch anything bar 4K these days and majority of my source material is from my own server.

Without a strong incentive, "people" generally go for what's easy. A sound bar is easier than a full surround set-up. Streaming is now easier than physical media. A smart speaker is easier than a full Hi-Fi set-up. How many people do you know who own floor-stander speakers, a pre-amps and power amp(s)?

People also go for what they know. It's a comfort-zone thing.

A TV is an easy-to-understand item. A bigger TV is still just as easy to understand, except that perhaps folk forget (or ignore) the fact that stretching the screen size requires a disproportional increase in budget to keep the quality level the same as a smaller TV. Projector images scale up in size much better.

Compared to a projection system, a TV and sound bar is an easy installation, just as the smart speaker is compared to a full stereo system. Someone might say they're perfectly happy with their smart speaker because they can turn the lights on/off or order an Uber or check the weather... "oh, and it also plays music". If they are then good luck to them, but would you be happy swapping your stereo system for one? My guess is no. That's because you understand the performance gulf.

You've made the necessary adjustments in the room and equipment layout to get the best from your music system. A projection system versus a TV is akin to having a good stereo compared to a smart speaker or mini system. Each requires a level of commitment if it's going to yield the good results. That doesn't stop people trying to put good Hi-Fi in to bad rooms just the same as using projectors where they're really not suited.

I mentioned before about incentive. There are times when really only a projector will do. You want that 100+" screen for gaming and watching sport, but you just can't quite stretch to £85,000 for the 98" Sony 8K TV, or £5,000 for the 82" Samsung? Then say hello to the ultra-short-throw gaming projectors. Less than £2K all-in for the projector and say 120" screen. What's not to like?

Writing-off projection based on who does- and who doesn't- have it is the same as someone writing off decent stereo systems for the same reason. I don't know any of my neighbours with anything better than a smart speaker or small shelf system. They might not even realise that specialist Hi-Fi stores exist, let alone be willing to spend more than a token amount to get something that really sings, but that won't stop me encouraging people to aspire to something better.

 

[Gengar]

Agreed with Lucid's summary.

Just my 2 cents: I have QLED (with soundbar), OLED (with 5.1) and a 4K pseudo Optoma UHD300X projector with Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 onto a 130" screen.
They are in different rooms.
The QLED is in my living room which is very bright hence the super bright Samsung QLED option.
OLED is in my loft "man cave". OLED in the living room would be a no go for daytime viewing.
The projector and Atmos setup are in the kids playroom. Nothing special done to the room from a cinemaphile perspective. But this kit gets used at nighttime when all sound asleep upstairs and therefore no bright light to compete with. I would not use this during the day unless blinds and curtains drawn which is not practical with daytime family life anyway. Viewing position is maybe 2.5m which makes it utterly epic and even watching any Amazon Prime content becomes an occasion.

Now the point I will make is: they are all great experiences that I use for different things. But lets be clear (in my opinion) - playing something like HALO 5 on a 130" screen with 5.1.2 is incomparable to the experience of either of the TV setups. Absolute PQ is not the only measure.
So my summary - have a TV and a PJ if you can - but there is no need to go for the whole "cinema room in your house" before you can have a great experience with a PJ. I just find that is often an argument made by TV users to dissuade people looking into PJ's.

 

[Abyss]

Looks like some very split views on being for/against projectors! For clarity I have no intention of removing a projector from the living room, certainly not until at least 85" TVs are a reasonable price and even then they just feel tiny in comparison. Some great suggestions above, and I'm probably a third of the way there with the suggestions.

I'm less concerned with the sound suggestions at the moment as I'm pretty happy with the sound and in reality if I want to go a lot better on sound I need to make some drastic changes including a better quality AV amp, additional speakers and acoustically treating the room. I used to be really into my audio for music but reached the point of massively diminising returns.

My thoughts on the suggestions:

People use dark fabric on the wall surrounding the screen itself and the ceiling to stop reflection of light

Current plan is to go a lot darker with the paint on the walls and ceiling. Currently looking at 2%-3% sheen. When the projector screen is down it fills from the ceiling down to just behind the unit so the only wallspace visible is the left/right ends. In hindight I probably should have gone darker on the AV unit and has now got me thinking to also paint/replace the white gloss doors on the front!

Have a thick black border around the screen made of thin wood covered in black fabric.

Given it's a electric screen and the intention is to still keep a TV in the room I won't be able to unfortunately.

Ensure all lighting is controllable. So I'd probably have spotlights rigged up to dimmer switches and be able to for example only turn a few on at a time so I could have a little light around the edges or the back and then another switch or two for ones in the middle and then another to control the ones nearest to the screen and in direct path of the projector.

This thread has made me finally get round to installing lightwaveRF in the room (tonights plan). The kit has only been sat in the garage for 2 years! Fortunately I put a lot of consideration into the wiring of the house when buying it so the living room lighting is on 4 circuits. The current plan is to replace the wall lights with ones that hide the bulbs to make the light less harsh. Long term I have started designing some bespoke oak film poster frames with LED strips recessed behind to give a halo light. I did consider adding LED strip behind the coving but having seen a few examples now it might look a bit tacky.

Blackout curtains and blinds.

Curtains are blackout and the window is north facing. It's been fine over winter but does let some light through the top in summer so needs sorting. Currently deliberating between timber shutters or blackout blinds.

[/quote]Atmos speakers in the ceiling minimum of 4 I'd maybe wire 6 in for future proofing.[/quote]
Aiming to keep audio out of scope for now as that'll add thousands. The amp does support atmos though, is the difference a big enough leap? I've at least 3 sets of spare speakers I could use to try it out.