Projectors vs TVs

[EMAGDNIM]

I've been putting more and more time and money into my projector setup as I HATE going to the theater these days. Movies come out on BR rather quickly so I'm not missing that much going to my local cinema.

[cam555]

what is a good cost effective projector that will kick my 52 xbr4's ass?? lol

[drjay71]

How can I improve my home theater picture quality?

I recently finished my home theater and have the following components:

JVC HD-950 projector
142" diagonal 2.35:1 Black Diamond II 1.4 gain screen
Denon 3311 AVR
Sony BDP s-570
Verizon Fios HDTV STB

In my family room I have a new Samsung 63" plasma.

Both the Fios STB and Blu-Ray players on each device are connected of by HDMI cables

My PQ with Blu-Rays on both the TV and PJ is awesome. No complaints. Better than a movie theater IMHO.

My problem is, HDTV (1080i or 720p) content looks flawless on my plasma but hit or usually miss on my PJ. Heck, even SD content looks really good on my plasma and expectedly sucks on my PJ. The theater room with the PJ is completely dark with what I would consider high end components. The PJ was calibrated and even has a THX mode. Again, Blu-rays look stunning on the PJ but NFL football for example, looks average.

I realize a lot depends on content and source. I just want the best possible PQ with HDTV especially for sports so that when we have a watching party on our PJ it looks stunning like Blu-rays already do.

Knowing what I have, do you guys have any suggestions as to what else I can do or add to improve PQ? Maybe a DVDO processor?

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by drjay71

Knowing what I have, do you guys have any suggestions as to what else I can do or add to improve PQ? Maybe a DVDO processor?

A video processor from DVDO or Radiance would likely improve your HDTV picture quality, but that is an expensive solution.

I don't know what your issue with the HDTV signal is, but you could try a gamma booster like GammaX(uses a d-15 connector, not hdmi).

[superapplekid]

Originally Posted by drjay71

Knowing what I have, do you guys have any suggestions as to what else I can do or add to improve PQ? Maybe a DVDO processor?

Is your plasma calibrated? I have a samsung LCD in the bedroom that I never bothered calibrating because it looked good out of the box and all my critical viewing was done on my Epson projector. I've noticed the smaller Samsung seems to take Netflix material a lot better than the PJ, but critical analysis of it revealed the contrast and information retrieval was about the same, the samsung was just turned up a lot brighter by default, and I always 'watched' it with the lights on.

I've since set a mode on my projector for Netflix or SD viewing with amped saturation and brightness to get closer to the appropriate look. Calibration is great for blu-rays but it won't do any favors at all for SD (so much so I had a friend who thought HDTVs actually made SD content look bad on purpose in order to sell units).

[i007spectre]

After getting my Epson 5010 I have bought my last Regular television. I just cant see myself going back.

[Fors*]

I will always have both in my HT. I like the convenience of the TV for everyday viewing (especially for the kids and their shows), but the moment I turn off the lights, turn on the projector and pull down the screen, it feels more like an instant family event as we all sit down to watch a movie, and I love that feeling of excitement with my wife and kids around me. (I should add that I don't use the projector much, or let me put it this way, my projector only has 185 hours on it in just about 3 years of use, so that is why we still get that excitement element when we actually do get to watch a movie together on the projector.)

[MrFattBill]

Originally Posted by Fors*

...my projector only has 185 hours on it in just about 3 years of use, so that is why we still get that excitement element when we actually do get to watch a movie together on the projector.)

And I thought I ignored my theater I have about 205 hours on the JVC I got in March.

Bill

[i007spectre]

119 hours in two weeks.

[EMAGDNIM]

Originally Posted by MrFattBill

And I thought I ignored my theater I have about 205 hours on the JVC I got in March.

Bill

It's funny to think that I had my last projector for about 9 months before I had sold it and it only had 163 hours on it...I can't remember the last projector I owned that hit over 1000 hours...

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by EMAGDNIM

It's funny to think that I had my last projector for about 9 months before I had sold it and it only had 163 hours on it...I can't remember the last projector I owned that hit over 1000 hours...

I've had my Epson since Sep. 17 2011 & I have just over 500 hours on it. Not even a year yet

[Reference_head]

Originally Posted by Fors*

I will always have both in my HT. I like the convenience of the TV for everyday viewing (especially for the kids and their shows), but the moment I turn off the lights, turn on the projector and pull down the screen, it feels more like an instant family event as we all sit down to watch a movie, and I love that feeling of excitement with my wife and kids around me. (I should add that I don't use the projector much, or let me put it this way, my projector only has 185 hours on it in just about 3 years of use, so that is why we still get that excitement element when we actually do get to watch a movie together on the projector.)

That’s my plan to but it’s really hard not to lower the screen to watch everything lol.

[ozzsoad]

Originally Posted by i007spectre

After getting my Epson 5010 I have bought my last Regular television. I just cant see myself going back.

Yep, after a few days of watching movies on my Epson, my wife and I both agreed that we'll never buy another regular TV again. Bigger is definitely better.

[NightAire]

I've just read through through this thread and felt like my questions were almost but not quite answered.

Let's say you had identical plasma and projector screen sizes (I know, that would be stretching what plasma can do, and shrinking projection WAY down... just humor me).

Is the detail, clarity, and color comparable between the plasma and the projector? For some reason I would expect a projected image to be "soft" compared to the sharpness of plasma.

Can you "see the pores," is film grain as obvious?

I get that a huge image is far more engaging than even a 65" plasma... but I'm curious (besides ability to watch in bright rooms) what I'd be giving up by going from an HDTV to a projector.

Are projectors capable of equal sharpness and motion clarity as plasma?

I'm thankful for this forum; your educated input is appreciated!

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by NightAire

I've just read through through this thread and felt like my questions were almost but not quite answered.

Let's say you had identical plasma and projector screen sizes (I know, that would be stretching what plasma can do, and shrinking projection WAY down... just humor me).

Is the detail, clarity, and color comparable between the plasma and the projector? For some reason I would expect a projected image to be "soft" compared to the sharpness of plasma.

Can you "see the pores," is film grain as obvious?

I get that a huge image is far more engaging than even a 65" plasma... but I'm curious (besides ability to watch in bright rooms) what I'd be giving up by going from an HDTV to a projector.

Are projectors capable of equal sharpness and motion clarity as plasma?

I'm thankful for this forum; your educated input is appreciated!

These are screen shots I took with my DSLR camera at my 8 foot wide x 4 foot tall PJ screen. Should show you with a good PJ the picture is just as good as a plasma.

[NightAire]

Looks spectacular; thank you!

[Taygan315]

I got my first projector the week of Thanksgiving. Have not quite 45 hours on it. I watch about one movie a night (this will change when I go back to work January 2nd....then it will be 2 movies a week). I have to give credit to i007 spectere. He started a thread (on another site) about how he was going to go ahead and take the plunge and get a projector. I was thinking about it at this time. I read his posts and saw his pics and I was just BLOWN AWAY! Then I got mine home....WOW! I still have and love my Sony and I still use it for movies, games, and sports. But for new releases, 3D, or classics, I use the projector. I find myself going back and re watching my movies again just to see them on the projector. Like watching them with new eyes,lol. Only way I will buy a tv again is if and when my Sony goes out on me. Even though I still use it, my tv has taken a back seat to the projector. Flat panels are great and awesome. But size DOES matter.

[HammyTown]

For the last four years or so I've only used projectors (134" screen, dedicated light control basement theater), the only other displays I've had were flat panels in my bedroom. Over the summer I bought an Epson 5010 which had horrible convergence that I should have returned immediately, but I kept it and then added a BENQ 7000 as a 2nd projector to my setup to overcome some of the Epson's issue with lag time, ghosting (3D), and convergence.
I sold my 5010 and used the money to put a 60" plasma in my living room.
I sit about 12' away from the 134" screen; and about 8' away from the 60" screen - and I'm still impressed with the sharpness and overall picture quality of the plasma compared to all the projectors I've owned. When I watched the projector after I got the plasma the image was noticeably softer and the colors just weren't as rich or pop like the plasma. I briefly considered selling all the gear in my projector setup and as a result a friend made an good offer on the BENQ so I sold it. After a couple weeks without a projector though the main thing I missed was having something to watch from my treadmill - which is in the basement. So I just picked up a new panasonic AR100U (I've owned one of these before I had the 5010) and it works great for the treadmill. The only other time I watch the projector now is when friends are over because they want the big screen.
I'm also burned out on worrying about all the typical issues with projectors: convergence issues (LCD), rainbows (DLP), firmware, fan noise, auto-iris noise, lamp life, light leaks, ambient room light, etc. Plasma has it's issues too but the only thing I've really been conscious about was possible image retention issues with letterbox content or station logos - which have not been a problem so far.

[i007spectre]

Originally Posted by Taygan315

I got my first projector the week of Thanksgiving. Have not quite 45 hours on it. I watch about one movie a night (this will change when I go back to work January 2nd....then it will be 2 movies a week). I have to give credit to i007 spectere. He started a thread (on another site) about how he was going to go ahead and take the plunge and get a projector. I was thinking about it at this time. I read his posts and saw his pics and I was just BLOWN AWAY! Then I got mine home....WOW! I still have and love my Sony and I still use it for movies, games, and sports. But for new releases, 3D, or classics, I use the projector. I find myself going back and re watching my movies again just to see them on the projector. Like watching them with new eyes,lol. Only way I will buy a tv again is if and when my Sony goes out on me. Even though I still use it, my tv has taken a back seat to the projector. Flat panels are great and awesome. But size DOES matter.

I do what I can to grow the ranks of the technological elite.

[r32]

I own a Pioneer plasma and just got my first projector, Sony VW1000ES with 123" screen.

We don' t need to show off this kind of pj / screen set-up by high contrast BD, I chose a famous BD with terrable S/N and encoding, WKW' s Grandmaster HK version.


Upper : BDP-LX91 / KRP-600M KURO, pure mode

Lower : PS3(1G) / VW1000ES, reference mode, bright mode

Both are not calibrated.

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