Please share your memories of the day you switched from tv to projector?

[toddly6666]

Can anyone describe their first experiences of how you watched your projected film in your home theater? How did it feel seeing and hearing the difference? What movies did you try? Did you even tear up because it felt so much better? Was it like, "how was I even able to watch a movie on tv before?"

[octagon]

Twelve or so years ago I tinkered with a couple CRT projectors and when I finally had one dialed in I had two of my nephews and their dads over for a guys night. We popped in the first X-Men DVD and my then four year old nephew's face lit up and he said 'wow, it's like a movie' and then immediately frowned because he knew that wasn't quite what he meant.

He concentrated for a few seconds and then his face lit up again and he said 'it's like a movie theater'.

That was a pretty good moment.

[Riddler The Slag]

It was 5 weeks ago and I haven't looked back since.

[Badas]

1999.

Sharp had introduced a DLP 720P widescreen projector. XV-Z something.

LOTR Fellowship looked amazing on DVD upscaled to 720P.

Never used a TV for a film watch again.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Badas

LOTR Fellowship looked amazing on DVD upscaled to 720P.

Yeah, it's fashionable now to call DVDs unwatchable but I was upscaling through an HTPC to 720p and 1080i and DVDs could look pretty freaking great.

LOTR and Revenge of the Sith were eye-candy standouts but I still remember being completely floored projecting things like Anatomy of a Murder and The Maltese Falcon.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by octagon

Yeah, it's fashionable now to call DVDs unwatchable but I was upscaling through an HTPC to 720p and 1080i and DVDs could look pretty freaking great.

LOTR and Revenge of the Sith were eye-candy standouts but I still remember being completely floored projecting things like Anatomy of a Murder and The Maltese Falcon.

I didn't try those type of films back then. I was a bit of a boom head.

I enjoy those films now tho. With the projection I have now I forget it is digital. Blu looks film organic and older films look sooooo good.

[motorheadache95]

I've had my Epson 8350 for a few years now-- I bought it to replace a 61" LED DLP set I had bought in '07 I think. It was going in my bedroom so I wasn't sure how it was going to work out or how big I could get the image.

When I saw how gigantic the screen was when I set it up and zoomed it in properly I was floored. I was like "this is honest-to-god like having a theater screen in my room."

The first movie I watched on it was "The Goonies" on Blu-Ray. I don't remember now why I picked that one to break in the projector, but it was awesome!

[silentbob]

I remember seeing an ad online for EastHamiltonRadio on an Epson 8350 with 106" screen for about $1400 Cnd (before taxes) almost 5 years ago. I had a 50" RPHDTV but being the movie fan and gamer (plus being a movie projectionist) i always had that urge to go bigger. So i did a full year equal monthly payment and picked up my bundle. Sadly i was in transition of switching rooms and was about 2 months away from having both projector and screen mounted up. Actually took the screen a bit longer to get up (needed my buddy to help and was unavailable for a bit) So i would turn my tv on for the sound (too lazy to get surround setup done at time) and watch projecting onto my never uneven/non painted wall. Still it was amazing to know i had a projector setup and was even better with a screen. First movie i watched with the screen was Tangled and it was stellar looking. Still have a 51" plasma for when i just want to veg and not worry about burning my bulb hours, but overall i try to watch everything projector wise. Got even better upgrading last year to a Sony 40Es and doing 106" of 3D awesomeness

[toddly6666]

Keep the stories coming! These are excellent!

[xenoyako]

Finally made the jump to a big screen three years ago. I went from a 65" plasma to a 120"W 2.35:1 screen with a JVC X35. I popped in Dances with Wolves and Amadeus to focus and position (zoom/shift) the image. I just got sucked into watching them. Like the boy in the post above said, "it's like a movie theater."

I'd rather watch a DVD upscaled to 1080P than 4K on a 65" anyday, anytime. There's no going back after you experience a big screen; it's just so much more immersive!

I think the lack of reflection from the screen helps with immersion also. Nothing bothers me more than seeing my own face or room objects reflected in the screen during a movie.

[Holland Home Theater]

My first projector was shortly after I bought my home back in 1999. As a slight (haha) upgrade from the 32" TV, I bought a used Sony CRT projector (otherwise known as a massive tank!) off of eBay from a shop in San Jose, CA and hung it from the ceiling. At first, I projected the image onto the paneling on the wall (wood grain and all) but then bought 3 sheets of drywall. I cut off a foot on each sheet so they were now 7' high and then cut a foot off the middle sheet so that one was only 3' wide and that gave me the 7' high x 11' wide "screen" that I used.

The power supply went on that first Sony CRT projector, I bought another used Sony CRT projector off eBay, almost identical to the first one. That one had a broken mount for the blue cannon so even with the grid lined up as good as it could get with all 3 cannons, there was still a blue shadow outlining everything. I dealt with that for probably 2 years before buying a used Sharp LCD projector also off eBay.

At the end of a very rough year in 2012, my wife and I decided to upgrade the home theater. So I bought a brand new Epson 3020 with ceiling mount and 2 pair of HDMI cables as a Black Friday package off amazon and then ordered a custom 139" diagonal screen from Jamestown (I think that was it?) and replaced the Sony 5-disc DVD changer with a Sony 3D BD player, Roku box and a new Sony 7.1 receiver. I decided to also upgrade the sub from a small Pioneer 8" to a B.I.C. America 12" sub and also added a Monster surge/line conditioner.

Then in 2013, I added a modded region-free Sony 3D BD player (the new model that replaced our region A player) so we can watch anything now.

The next thing I want to upgrade is the surround speakers. I want to go full Klipsch Reference Pro set up and with 2 of the 15" subs. And build a riser to put another row of leather reclining theater seats on, preferably a 4-seater this time.

Right now I am in the process of building the media room accessible through a hidden door that will display all of our Blu-Rays, DVDs and CDs along with collectable bust sets and box sets. I want to be able to "face" all of the Blu-rays and DVDs like in a movie rental place but that's going to eat up a ton of space.

[ambientcafe]

Probably back about 25 yrs ago when I had a Zenith CRT front pj, with a 10-ft 4:3 screen, and using an $1,800 (Cdn) Pioneer dual-side Laserdisc player (still have it ) to play pricey discs ($50 and up!) that I had to import from Ken Crane's out of the U.S. ... ah, the good ol' days of being a niche H/T enthusiast

[SillySauce]

2013

I had wanted a projector since I saw one on MTV cribs. They listed the electric screen and projector as an estimated price of $25,000, so I stupidly thought they were all very expensive. I remember it said Epson, so even in 2007 that figure was extremely off. I kind of forgot about it until 2011.

The first movie I watched was The Shawshank Redemption. I felt (still do) like I had my own private screening room. I finally felt like I was watching movies at home as they were intended to be seen. I then rewatched Lost. It was like watching it for the very first time. I love how projectors give TV shows a much more grand feeling.

[BluVinyl]

Fall 2009. I replaced the 26 inch tube tv in the living room with a 55 LCD, and a 36 tube tv in the basement with the pj. I projected on the wall for about month playing around with screen sizes. At that time I thought God this is big, but the 55 inch looked better. Once I painted the room (black near the screen) and painted the screen (120 inches) with screen goo I was in LOVE

First game I watched was a Boise State home game. Don't do that, the blue field is actually frightening at that size. But when I started watching Star Trek TOS BD's, it was like somekind of revelation. Besides the movies and sports, concert BDs are truly awesome.

[meremortal]

Old thread, but got a little nostalgic for projection as it's been a while. My only projector is an old native 480p one from the dvd era. It does have a pretty good scaler, though, and I remember standard def material being a whole lot of fun. I remember liking the softer look of DLP at the time. It was pretty mindblowing to see movies on like a 100"+ screen on even bare wall. This was during a time when the average tv was probably still only like 32". I didn't use it all the time, but it was fun to pull a double or even triple feature spree since I'd read at the time to try not to turn the lamp on for brief viewings. Wish I still had the room for projection as it was really enjoyable for the immersion alone. I also liked the customization settings built into the projector; some of them were fun to tinker around with even if they deviated a good bit from say a proper calibrated setting.

[andjar01]

14 years ago i used to borrow my auntie's bussiness projector for weeks at a time.She was only using it for work. It was a NEC wxga(1280x800) DLP. Projected directly on a big wall in my big room...must have gotten a ~130'' image.

What a BLAST that was! I was amazed every time...for me it was the best thing you can have next to a private jet.

Couple of years later got my own home theatre full HD,3d projector...an Optoma HD131Xe.I was quite fond of it ...great movie night memories together with my wife...no kids,2 sometimes 3 movies in a row.

[Tok]

It was 2004 and I finally jumped to a projector setup. A DLP 576p Matterhorn with a 92-in screen. And I immediately realized that most DVDs looked like crap at that size. Moved up to a HD projector and a larger screen within 3-4 years for HD content.

[steel_breeze]

Love this thread! Back in 2005, when my main TV was a "huge" 32-inch 4:3 CRT Sony Wega (that sucker was a BEAST)... my wife and I had borrowed a 480p Canon projector for a power-point lecture I was giving at a film festival, and one night I swear I couldn't sleep thinking about the possibilities. At literally 2 or 3 in the morning, I leaned over to my wife and told her: "I can't sleep; I'm gonna get up for awhile", and went out to hook up the projector to our DVD player in the living room. Popped in Attack of the Clones and projected the end battle of Geonosis HUGE on the wall; no sound, just picture. I watched in awe as all the possibilities flooded into me. I'd wanted something like this since I was 12 years old in 1983 and bought my family's first VHS VCR with my lawn-mowing money.

Two weeks later, we'd returned the borrowed Canon projector, bought a Panasonic 720p model, and I'd prepared three aspect ratios of white foam core I could prop up against the "Sony Wega beast" -- 2.35:1, 1.85:1, and 1.33:1. Made 'em as big as the throw would allow in the 10x10 spare bedroom; probably the equivalent of about 55-inches or so. First "full movie with sound" was Raiders of the Lost Ark; my all-time favorite flick ever since I saw it in theaters in '81, and the first VHS tape I'd watched back in '83. It was jaw-droppingly satisfying; I found myself wishing "12-year-old me" could see it.

Four years later, we'd gotten rid of the Sony Wega CRT beast, moved to a stand-alone house, equipped a 12x12 dedicated home theater room with black-out curtains, hung a 92-inch 2.35:1 Carada screen on the wall, hooked up Blu-ray and HD-DVD instead of DVD, and upgraded to the 1080p PT-AE1000 Panasonic projector. Couple years later we upgraded further to the PT-AE4000 model that I'm still using today; same home theater -- now with an Oppo 203 driving the picture, down-rezzing all my 4K discs to 1080p SDR. I absolutely love it and have no plans to upgrade. In fact, just bought a new bulb for that ol' 2010 model projector, which I'll be due to change around May.

For me, projection makes it a "movie" again; nothin' beats a flickering image across a white canvass, instead of a bunch of flickering pixels -- no matter what the resolution may be.

[D00mM4r1n3]

IMG_20191129_164613.jpg

2019 my brother gave me a cheap 720P Chinese LED projector. The image it produced was much better than this photo implies, and I of course moved the poster. Tested it with Alien.

It was the perfect thing for watching streaming movies in my bedroom. My current room (moved at the start of the pandemic) doesn't have a wall clear to do this anymore. I just watch everything on a 4K TV now.

[HeavyHitter]

I went front projection in 2014. I would have gone FP sooner, but I was always under the misconception I needed a "giant" room. My room is only slightly larger than 12X10. By ceiling hanging my projector from the closet for extra throw, I can project a 9 foot wide image with a JVC.

I came from a Panasonic 65" VT60 plasma which gave a stunning 1080p image. I bought a JVC RS4810 at that time which had about the same native contrast, so I didn't really lose much. However, going to a 9 foot wide scope (which is equivalent to watching scope at 124" on a 16:9 screen) took things to a new level and has to be seen to be believed. I sit about 9.5 feet back from the screen. The image size and PQ quality absolutely blew me away. I was always thinking front projection would look like crap from experience with school projectors, business, or certain low contrast commercial theaters. But nope! Having had 15 years of home theater experience, it put my enjoyment on another level. I recently upgraded to the JVC NP5 which is native 4K with true DTM and gives a phenomenal 4K UHD image and is a major upgrade from that R4810. I couldn't be more thrilled. I really do get a "filmlike" image that is just different than a flat panel. Creating a black pit really optimizes brightness and perceptual contrast.

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