Quote:
Originally Posted by Titan2
Thanks guys. I knew I could count on you two!
To be clear, this is not my house yet. If we get it, I am planning ahead. I have never had room for a projector, but the ones I have seen have not been super impressive. They were not expensive or set up like described above. I appreciate how much the screen would impact the experience. For the kind of money it would take to get a decent quality, it is not worth it for me.
My needs are modest. In my current place, I have a 55" Vizio, an Onkyo receiver and built-in speakers from Monoprice (I think). It is very basic and cost-effective but works for me and our basic viewing. I tend to game on smaller desktop screens, but that may change in the new place.
I like the effect I get from my current sound system, but after reading the above posts, that would be WAY overkill for my needs and ability to discern the difference. I am mostly a hockey and baseball viewer with occasional movies, but I do really enjoy the difference a nice sound system makes. I am not sure I would want to do built-ins again. We renovated, which is why I did them before. Stand speakers may be the way I go.
Strangely enough, around the corner, there is a space which is relatively small, but there are built-ins there. I think he may have had a dedicated 'watching' area separate from the living room area with a smaller TV that he sat closer to. The house has been staged, so it's hard to say what he did. A bit odd.
I am leaning towards a 65" TV and will utilize the Onkyo for now with some speakers.
I am very much an F-150, not a Lamborghini kind of guy when it comes to this stuff.
Thanks for your input. It was valuable to take the projector off the table.
|
Projectors aren't bad and they have their uses. Some scenarios you do want a projector over a TV and can get more screen real estate at a decent comparable quality viewing for less than the cost of a similarly sized TV. In other scenarios, you buy the projector with all the bells and whistles and realize you have to use it well below its capabilities because the wall just isn't big enough. A lot of people don't realize how damn hard it is to find a flat wall that's 120-180" for the screen. Many walls are just around 90-110" when you go and measure them.
The prices sound crazy, but they aren't unreasonable once you start to dissect the break down on the prices vs screen size. Plus I kinda scared you off with the premium stuff. Laser projectors are perhaps the higher tier performance stuff like OLED in a 4K TV. It's not equal to OLED side by side, it's that it maintains its quality at those 120"+ sizes.
A 85" 4K TV is like $3-5K? so a 4K projector capable of 120-180" at 2-10K isn't unreasonable based on the size scale up when considering costs from a 55" ($1500 or below) to a 85" TV (double+). But you also may want to buy a good screen which depending on the features and quality, it's between $100-3,000 for (let's say) a 150" entry level fixed screen without great light rejection vs motorized screens with lots of light rejection.
https://www.visions.ca/catalogue/cat...hoCMRoQAvD_BwE
https://vividstorm.ca/product/vivids...xoChB8QAvD_BwE
So $8K for a 4K laser projector + $2000-3000 for the screen in the 100-150" range. Let's call it $10K for 150" and this is top of the line 4K laser projector. Similar in nature to inexpensive and expensive 4K TV of the same size (ie: OLED vs QLED, vs LED).
https://www.visions.ca/catalogue/cat...BoCWWUQAvD_BwE
https://www.amazon.ca/NIERBO-Double-Layer-Projector-Screen/dp/B08JXB7T2V/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3E00Q4FKTXL45&keywords=150"+screen &qid=1698961713&sprefix=150+screen%2Caps%2C145&sr= 8-6&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.b06bdbbe-20fd-4ebc-88cf-fa04f1ca0da8
$1800 for the projector + $80 for a 150" pretty good and solid 4K experience (ie: Akin to buying a Hisense or TCL TV or something?). That price point rivals the lower end 4K TVs in the 75-85" range and it's still capable of a bigger screen size. The question is whether you can or want the bigger size. Based on what you described as your viewing habits and pickiness, these "lower end" 4K projectors are still potentially worth considering. Maybe you just have to add a little extra for some black out blinds to the project as well.
One issue is... where can you put a 150" screen? Many walls aren't large enough for some of these projectors to really stretch their legs and show their strengths. It's a little like having a pick up truck with a pristine truck bed. 80-120" is still plenty big, but it's not the full capabilities of the projector, some of which try to boast 200"+ viewing. Unlike TVs that are basically always capable of max performance, sometimes for projectors you have to derive the performance you want from it, knowing you're leaving extra on the table. But like I said, if you try comparing it from a cost vs screen size vs performance scenario, they are decently competitive.
Projectors also have benefits in some scenarios that beat TVs. For instance, I have a fire place. I want a TV on top of the mantle.
Issues:
- Worried TV will fall down.
- If fire place is on, heat could damage and prematurely destroy a TV just above it.
- Have you tried putting a TV mount through a fixture wall? What if you drill a hole and the wrong gasses escape through that hole?
- Have you tried lifting a 65"+ TV and mounting it 6-8'+ high? That's supposed to be like 3 dudes and a scaffold, but how many of the rest of us sweated through less and still succeeded? Projector is much more doable with 1 person than a TV for stuff that high.
3 years ago, I bought a 1080P projector for around $900, an 80" screen that's retractable for around $120 and it which coincidentally just fit with less than a quarter inch to spare in the mantle space and then another $100 ish for an electrician to install an outlet on the ceiling. $1200 for an 80" 1080p screen wasn't bad at that time, I think I could get maybe 55" 4K TV for that price. Price wise, I think I can get a similar set up for the same price, but 4K right now if I wanted to. When we have friends over, we can retract everything and have a nice looking family room. But then we can convert it to a space to watch a movie on a large screen. You can't really do that with a TV with perhaps Samsung the Frame as an exception. But turning the TV into art isn't the same as retracting the screens and having it all sorta out of sight.
The projector is great for movies and other media. I'd prefer something OLED for hardcore gaming though, but it's passable on the projector if you're not picky (ie: Nintendo Switch is fine vs Playstation or Xbox at max details).
Another scenario worth considering is a basement. Retract the screen and have the projector/other hardware in a protective box. Kids can't really break anything if they're throwing things around etc. so you don't have to worry as much with that set up vs a dedicated TV or tell them to stay away. I haven't delved deeply into it, but I do believe some people spend time to basically hide almost all of their home theatre set up and especially like how they can hide it all with a projector type set up vs a TV set up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Titan2
|
I think they'll be good speakers for your needs, but I'm not sure what specs your Onkyo has and if you'd probably be better off upgrading the receiver as well. Onkyo are usually good value entry level. I don't know the details of the specs of those speakers, but they seem like they'd be a little power hungry to me which means if paired with your Onkyo, it might work fine, but not to their best capability. But I don't know the Onkyo specs either. Knowing typical Onkyo performances though, I'd probably get a nice receiver to go with the new system and keep the Onkyo for another mini side system.
I'd be curious to know if you'd contemplated regular floor placement or if you'd ceiling/wall mount some of those speakers. Do it right and you barely notice it, plus you might get some guests looking around for where the sound is coming out in surprise. That beam on the ceiling looks like it could help you in that endeavor.
It's not necessary, it's just what you want to do and how you want to enjoy it.