I may moving into a new place and was considering getting a projector as an alternative to an HDTV. The pro being the larger viewing area. Anyone have a projector set up care to comment? Right now I do have a big HDTV but I'm considering moving it to another room and setting up a projector.

Comments, thoughts?

There are several of us here that have projectors. And so far as I have ever read, everyone his very happy with their projectors and would not go back.

But to get meaningful help, your going to have to get a little more specific. What do you hope to do? What do you want? How big of screen do you want? What are your source? Are you willing to install yourself? Do you just want to put up a projector or are you trying to develop a theater room?

But in brief...once you go big, you will never go back.

You can see the development of my theater in my signature. When Brian jumps in and I'm sure he will at some point, his theater is in his signature as well.

I have a very good RPTV that I watched movies on for years. I've barely turned it on since I got a projector that has twice the diagonal screen size. It's just more theater-like.

I'm thinking of moving the RPTV to the bedroom.

I guess I hadn't given it that much thought yet. I still have to measure and see what I can fit. I'll probably post again later with more details and plan ideas. For now I was just looking for comments like this "once you go big, you will never go back."

Make sure you can control ambiant light in the room, make sure you can neatly run the wires to where you mout the projector. Also there is a distance calculator on avs forum that shows how big specific projectors can project to at what distance.

I love my projector, and use it all the time. It will get wxpensive when I have to replace the bulb but it is so worth it

Oh and I never use my 51" tv anymore

You know it is funny. Just a few years ago a 37" tv is was considered a "good size". Even today once you get to 50" that is more or less considered "big".

But it is amazing how enjoyable and use you get to watching a quality source on a 100" (in my case 94") screen. Even with every day shows. Yesterday I watched the golf tourney in HD back in my theater room. It was awesome. The pans from the blimp showing the course were impressive. And you could see every drop of sweat on every player.

I honestly thought putting in a pj/theater room would be mainly for "Saturday night movies". But we watch everything in there. With all major prime time shows on in HD, and I can get them all OTA...CSI, Vegas, Leno, all look awesome. Not to mention NFL, NBA (tho I don't watch I see Nascar has a lot in HD), etc.

And I'll continue to argue that the bulb issue is not a major issue. First, it ends up being just pennies a day. Second, many RP's out there use a bulb, so you have the same issue with them. Third, many quality plasma's and LCD flat panels in the 50" and up size are more expensive then a nice projector/screen. So you may very well save several bulb costs on the front end. And lastly, burning a bulb is a great excuse to upgrade. I waited till my bulb was fading on my x1 before going to HD. Now I'll probably go thro 2 bulbs on my HD70, then consider 1080p.

If you're planning on putting the projector in the main tv/entertainment room then you may want to consider leaving a cheap LCD/plasma in the same room for daytime/regular viewing to save hours on your bulb.
Like the others say it does need a lot more forethought than a smaller screen
Throw distance, wiring, signal splitters for multiple screen setups and speaker arrangments.

I you have the space and can deal with the setup, a projector is the way to go.

Ask away, several of us have been through it all. I planned my theater for a year before actual construction.

Well worth it in my opinion.

It really depends on the amount of light in the room and when you plan on watching. I have both, but I can't use my projector during the sky due to the good ole' sky lights.

You have a home theater in space?!?!?!?!

There are those that really advocate this. And I respect anyone that does it. But to be honest, I just don't get it.

Why would you want to turn off a nice quality big display to watch a "cheap" terrible picture? And if your talking about even something as small as a 42" LCD/Plasma, what is that, $700-900??? That's at about three bulbs which even watching several hours a day, per day is about 6 years before you pay off that LCD/Plasma. And that doesn't include that added complication of setting up two displays (tho with the 4X2 hdmi switchers out there, wouldn't be to bad).

I of course don't think a pj is right for everyone in every situation. But if it works I don't see the need to have a 2nd display "just to save bulb hours". These bulbs are not a $1,000 or anything. Typically around $250, which over about two years (even maybe a little less) is cheaper then a coke a day, a lot cheaper then then that half calf, hot, mocha latte per day.

One issue to argue is if you have no light control except at night. Maybe, I sort of see this. But still, not really. I'm not going to buy a $2,000 high end plasma, get HD and blu-ray and everything else and then let light shine on it from a window. It will look like crappy. To look it's best all displays need some light control. I would agree that PJ tend to be more sensitive in this area, but newer pj's seem to do a good job with this. My HD70 is no light cannon, but I can watch Sunday day football games without shutting every curtain I have in my room. Most pj have different program setting you can make. Why not set up the pj with a touch more brightness for daytime viewing and "normal" for critical viewing at night or with the shades closes?

I had not thought about this (see long rant above). Do the skylights not effect your other display? Are they clear or frosted?

I have had some success using those heavy film from like HD or Lowes (tho I bought mine over the net). If you have flat skylights, you might try that. If they are domed, don't know if they would work.

No brainer...get a projector. Probably the best purchase I've ever made. And I could never go back to a plasma or similar small 50" set.

If you have ambient light or do a lot of daytime watching get a bright projector such as the Panasonic AX100. As long as the sun or bright lights aren't shining directly on the screen/viewing wall you'll be surprised just how solid the picture will look even with a good bit of light in the room.

Projector (+)

Larger screen

Projector (-)

Can't watch in daytime bright light
Expensive bulb to replace every 2,000 or 3,000 hours.
Requires big room for seating distance




Plasma (+)

Can watch in daytime
No bulb to change
60,000+ hour half life
Seating distance can be closer
42" and 50" can be Cheaper

Plasma (-)

Size (if 50"or 58" is not big enough)
65"+ plasma is expensive




I owned a projector and currently own a plasma. The plasma has a much better picture-- the blacks are better, the colors are deeper, and the picture has more depth. For 90% of my viewing plasma is better than a projector. The only time I want a projector and larger screen size is watching 2:40 movies and there are black bars which takes away picture height. For everything else I would use a plasma over a projector. I don't like watching sports in a dark room.

What PJ did you have?

I don't ever watch Sunday sports in the dark and pic looks great! I have a wall of window in my media room that I have curtains on. But on Sunday football or whatever I only close the ones nearest the screen. This leaves more then enough light for even reading a paper or something. Especially if you are sitting in the back 1/2 of the room. (room is about 15X13 w/2 rows of seating).

I have two rows of track lighting on dimmers. In experimenting, I have found that my room can have quite a bit of lit in it and the PJ still look good (especially on HD) so long as the light is not directly hitting the screen. So I have most of the track lighting pointing towards the walls. But I have one or two pointing towards the seating area. This allows me to turn up the lighting to read, play on the computer while the screen remains dark and image solid.

I would also like to know this. HD material on my projector looks just as detailed on my projector as it does on my plasma/LCD. I prefer to watch everthing on the projector.

I watch football in HD with my projector and I leave my side wall sconces on while doing so. Guess that is personal preference.

While I agree light control is important with any display, the saying "you need a totally dark room to have a PJ" is a urban legend and simply not true. In fact, many people including myself prefer to have a little low light on. Hence a lot of people install low level sconces, or low indirect lighting.

Sdallnct - Nice theater pics in your sig.

You can watch most of the newer projectors with plenty of ambient light. it's not like it used to be. You can get a $1300 HD projector with 2000 lumens (AX100) and as long as the sun isn't shining directly on the screen/wall light is not a problem.

I tell people to add a replacement bulb to the cost of the unit. So if you plan on having the projector 4 years, add $300. So the cost is $1600. Not a big deal imo for the huge increase in overall viewing enjoyment a projector provides.

Define big room? I sit 12' away from my 112" image. Most people sit just about as far from their puny 50" plasmas. So I would disagree that you need a big room. In the event someone does have an unusually small room they can drop the image size accordingly. Personally I'd still take a FP at 90" over a 50" plasma.

I talked about getting rid of our 4:3 480p projector when the bulb was running out of hours for a 50" plasma. My wife basically said no way in hell (she's really the movie/DVD buff).

We instead got a 16:9 720p projector (115" currently). Projectors are movie and video gaming heaven.

I picked us up a 37" LCD for $600 and wallmounted it for daytime use. Daytime light control is doable, but I don't want to close all the blinds and have my toddler growing up in the dark . And that way the wife isn't burning bulb hours on Sesame Street and fuzzy SD feeds of Oprah and Dr. Phil and HGTV/Food Network running as background noise.

IMO a projector and a cheap LCD/plasma is the best of both worlds and cheaper than buying a 60"-70" behemoth. I simply don't understand buying a huge RPTV like that when you could have a good projector and an LCD/plasma for casual viewing that likely cost about the same or less. Only for smaller rooms or maybe renters do I understand folks getting RPTVs (but when I rented I just ran the projector on an end table).

From his comments, I have a feeling knowing the screen would be more useful. Doesn't sound like an appropriate one for his PJ or viewing habits.