Can a projector be as good as a plasma?

[PhilboSE]

We've got a "standard" AV setup of Panasonic 55VT50, Onkyo 700-series receiver and decent 5.1 speakers. We also have a small room (about 10'x 25') in an outbuilding which is accessible from (attached to) the main house. Currently this room is used for storage and is single skinned. However it has power, lighting and heating. It has no external windows and by the time a DPM, insulate and screed goes down the ceiling height would be about 6'5" so I'm beginning to think...proper cinema room.

Candidates for the screen would be a monster plasma or a projector. The projector would give the better screen size, but the thing is that I have grown to really, really love the quality and nature of the VT50. The last projectors I looked at (around 4 years ago) looked washed out by comparison, especially when thrown against a decent sized image.

So...what kind of image quality do modern projectors give? Can they be compared against plasmas for things like contrast and colour or are they just "different" and you trade off IQ for screen size?

[JimbobVFR]

Projectors can be fantastic but they are highly reliant on the screen you use to project onto and the ambient light levels in your room, both in light leaking into the room and light reflected from your walls and surroundings.

With your dedicated room you are in an ideal place to make the most by having really low light levels and nice dark none reflective colours on the wall, and a decent fixed screen.

[talkssense]

JimbobVFR said:

Projectors can be fantastic but they are highly reliant on the screen you use to project onto and the ambient light levels in your room, both in light leaking into the room and light reflected from your walls and surroundings.

With your dedicated room you are in an ideal place to make the most by having really low light levels and nice dark none reflective colours on the wall, and a decent fixed screen.

There are some superb projectors about, but they are expensive.

For anything up to the latest 75" TVs my opinion is that for the same money (around 3.5k) you will get a better picture from the TV than from a 3.5k screen and projector, although you could probably balance that against a bigger image.

To match the image quality you will get on a TV, on screen over 100" is going to start to get expensive. To get close to the picture quality of a TV, not so expensive.

If the budget is there it would be well worth speaking to a local specialist

[PhilboSE]

talkssense said:

If the budget is there it would be well worth speaking to a local specialist

I'd happily pay the current £3500 for a 65VT50. I'm thinking the room could handle a 100" or bigger screen though. The same money buys What HiFi's current Best Buy projector, but I have no idea if that is what I want.

Unfortunately the nearest specialist to me closed down a few years ago. I only have Richer Sounds in reasonable proximity now, and while they're decent box-shifters, they're still box shifters. I'll see if I can root around and find someone with a decent projector demo setup.

[JimbobVFR]

Given this dedicated room how far away would you be from the screen (presuming the TV would be wall mounted so in the same approximate position as a PJ screen)

Based on this viewing distance calculator http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistance...

It suggests a viewing distance of 11.2 feet for a 100" screen and 7.3 feet for a 65" screen based on the THX recommended viewing angle. I just wonder if that might effect your choice of TV vs PJ

[HowMuchLonger]

I have a Sim2 Mico60 GC, which to me blows any plasma I have seen out of the water. As a cheeky aside it may be available on the 2nd hand market.

[JimbobVFR]

HowMuchLonger said:

I have a Sim2 Mico60 GC, which to me blows any plasma I have seen out of the water. As a cheeky aside it may be available on the 2nd hand market.

Very nice but wasn't that circa £20k when new?

[PhilboSE]

JimbobVFR said:

Given this dedicated room how far away would you be from the screen (presuming the TV would be wall mounted so in the same approximate position as a PJ screen)

Based on this viewing distance calculator http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistance...

It suggests a viewing distance of 11.2 feet for a 100" screen and 7.3 feet for a 65" screen based on the THX recommended viewing angle. I just wonder if that might effect your choice of TV vs PJ

Thanks - this calculator suggests a screen size of 100"-120" depending on whose "minimum" standard you want to accept. A 65" plasma at an expected viewing distance of around 15" gives a viewing angle of 19degrees, which is much less than the recommended-THX range of 26deg-36deg.

So it confirms that a PJ would be a better experience.

[PhilboSE]

HowMuchLonger said:

I have a Sim2 Mico60 GC, which to me blows any plasma I have seen out of the water. As a cheeky aside it may be available on the 2nd hand market.

Sounds good, but it would have to be for a current £18K list price. I don't think I would be prepared to spend that much but there's an outside chance I could be convinced. This Sim2 is about x5 more expensive than a What HiFi Best Buy, yet looks like it's pretty similar tech (lamp based DLP). In what way is its picture better than a more "mainstream" PJ?

[probedb]

A projector + screen can't be beat for that cinema experience My friends have a cheapo 720p projector and although the image quality/black levels are nowhere near what my TV can do, I find I get lost in the film more with the projector than the TV.

Good screens are just as important as the projector and they can cost thousands as well, more than TVs.

Panasonic's 2013 range is out and getting even better reviews than last years so check that out too

[talkssense]

PhilboSE said:

Sounds good, but it would have to be for a current £18K list price. I don't think I would be prepared to spend that much but there's an outside chance I could be convinced. This Sim2 is about x5 more expensive than a What HiFi Best Buy, yet looks like it's pretty similar tech (lamp based DLP). In what way is its picture better than a more "mainstream" PJ?

If there's even an outside chance you would consider spending that sort of money you need to get to a specialist. No one is going to be able to convince you of the benefits of a SIM2 over an Epson via a forum, you need to sit down and see one that has been properly set up fired at a decent screen.

[anonymous-user]

Here's the $64K question!!!

Can you get a decent electric 'drop from the ceiling' screen that's not going to cost a fortune? Or, to ask another way, if I want to go that route how much should I expect to pay for a decent screen.

Oh, and what drop down screen would people suggest?

I'm just starting my self build and would love a cinema screen to drop in front of the TV for nigh-time film watching.

Thanks

[PhilboSE]

talkssense said:

If there's even an outside chance you would consider spending that sort of money you need to get to a specialist. No one is going to be able to convince you of the benefits of a SIM2 over an Epson via a forum, you need to sit down and see one that has been properly set up fired at a decent screen.

I agree, I'll get myself to a specialist if I can find one local to me (mid Surrey). The ones I knew have all gone to the wall...

Can anyone give me a rough idea of the price point for a PJ & screen where the image quality starts to get significantly better than the typical "Best Buy" price point? We do like watching films, in fact I probably spend more time watching films than I do in my cars, so I can vaguely begin to mentally justify some proper expense...

[Magic919]

garyhun said:

Here's the $64K question!!!

Can you get a decent electric 'drop from the ceiling' screen that's not going to cost a fortune? Or, to ask another way, if I want to go that route how much should I expect to pay for a decent screen.

Oh, and what drop down screen would people suggest?

I'm just starting my self build and would love a cinema screen to drop in front of the TV for nigh-time film watching.

Thanks

Hmmm. Depends what folk call decent. I got one fom eBay and it works better than a white painted wall, just. Motorised, 2.4m wide was under £300.

[OldSkoolRS]

PhilboSE said:

I agree, I'll get myself to a specialist if I can find one local to me (mid Surrey). The ones I knew have all gone to the wall...

Can anyone give me a rough idea of the price point for a PJ & screen where the image quality starts to get significantly better than the typical "Best Buy" price point? We do like watching films, in fact I probably spend more time watching films than I do in my cars, so I can vaguely begin to mentally justify some proper expense...

I'd recommend Ricky Jennings at Kalibrate near Caterham if that's near enough. He's a forum sponsor (assured advertiser) on AVForums. I've bought most of my non secondhand AV equipment from him. He has a light walled demo room and a proper black pit demo room, so you'll be able to see what difference the room makes (lots) and he has some special screens that help to get a decent image in a light walled room (it's not just about how dark you can make it).

http://www.chromapure.co.uk/default.asp

You can buy cheap screens (like the £300 eBay one mentioned) but be prepared to treat it as a stop gap to getting a better one later. They tend to curl and ripple over time unless a well made tab tensioned screen: I've had mine for 5 years and it's still perfectly flat, but it did retail at around £1,500 (Beamax, who have since gone to the wall I'm afraid).

In answer to the OP, a decent projector is much better than a plasma as the size really matters IMHO, plus watching in the dark tends to make you concentrate more on the film. It is a totally different style of image, but can still look sharp if you choose and set up wisely. I've not bothered upgrading my lowly 40" LCD TV for this reason as any 'serious' viewing is done on my projector which makes even an 84" TV look small (my son said as much in Harrods recently when we saw the new 84" 4K LG, I don't know whether anyone in earshot just presumed he was being sarcastic when he said it looked small ).

[PhilboSE]

OldSkoolRS said:

I'd recommend Ricky Jennings at Kalibrate near Caterham if that's near enough.

Thanks for the detailed response - Caterham is well within reach. I can double up the visit with a trip to a gun shop I've been meaning to go to as well

[Wild Rumpus]

Projector every time, even if it can be difficult to get black blacks, the big picture in a dark room just draws you into the film far more than even a big screen plasma can.

[stuarthat]

i have had a few themescenes latest hd83 on 84inch screen, also panasonic tv plas, and the projector is superb, with blue ray, will not watch films on the tv anymore.

[afzala]

I would recommend the pure theatre range of screens. Im about to have a ceiling recessed screen professionaly fitted, along with an EPSON TW3200 projector, and a ceiling recessed lift from PureTheatre too. The install will be featured on the hometoys website,so you may be able to get some ideas from that perhaps. It is expensive, but I already have a 52inch LCD, and still think the projector experience is far superior for the drama and occasion that it creates. It really does feel like being at the movies if you have the right set up. It need not be expensive having said all of that. My current projector was purchased of ebay for £200, and has served me well for the last few years (projected onto a white loft wall). I just wanted to upgrade to a newer version. Hope this helps

[OldSkoolRS]

I was going to buy one of those lifts myself, but unfortunately for my JVC X35 and my Isco lens I would have had to go to a custom size which IIRC was about £3k (maybe more?). It would have been really slick, but to spend more than the projector on the lift seemed a bit silly to me. Instead I built myself a floating shelf: Not quite as discrete, but not too bad and with the white projector I didn't think it looks too ugly in a non dedicated room. In a few years time I hope to have a proper dedicated room so it would have been a waste for the lift for such a short time. At least my shelf only cost about £50 worth of metal and MDF: