Projector in the living room to supplement 48" TV?
Discussion
Hi guys,
A couple of months ago I upgraded to from a 48" top of the range in 2015 Samsung LED TV to a Philips 854 55" OLED. This was primarily to improve the viewing experience for films.
Since getting the Philips it has been nothing but trouble. Apps wouldn't open, Amazon Prime would decide to freeze or not open about 25% of videos, the TV would become unresponsive, decide not to output sound and when it was working the unit would vibrate at low frequencies etc. etc. Things only seemed to get worse with updates and I ended up constantly battling with connection settings and watching what the tele would allow me me play at the time rather than what I wanted to see.
Following a total lack of customer support from Philips I've fortunately been able to arrange a refund thanks to Costco's 90 day no quibble returns policy.
Mentioning all of this to a friend, he has suggested getting a projector rather than another TV.
Having initially laughed off the suggestion, I wonder whether placing the old 48" TV back in the living room for day to day viewing and using some of the £999 to buy a projector which I could get out for film nights could be a good option? The room is just over 16'x16' so the limiting factor for a TV has been the location of a fireplace and windows which wouldn't be an issue projecting onto the likes of a pull-up screen screen which I could put away.
I've got a Denon AVR-X540BT connected to Q Acoustic 3020s front and rear, a 3090C central speaker and 3070s subwoofer which I would want to connect the projector up to.
Does this sound like a reasonable idea given the potential for a much bigger screen for films and the fact that 48 inches was fine for daytime viewing? I see Richer Sounds do a range of projectors including several 4K models for under £1000. Is there a sweet spot in my range I should be looking at, are there any must- have features you'd recommend and would I be better off with a more expensive 1080 machine vs a lower end 4K projector?
Thanks for any suggestions.
A couple of months ago I upgraded to from a 48" top of the range in 2015 Samsung LED TV to a Philips 854 55" OLED. This was primarily to improve the viewing experience for films.
Since getting the Philips it has been nothing but trouble. Apps wouldn't open, Amazon Prime would decide to freeze or not open about 25% of videos, the TV would become unresponsive, decide not to output sound and when it was working the unit would vibrate at low frequencies etc. etc. Things only seemed to get worse with updates and I ended up constantly battling with connection settings and watching what the tele would allow me me play at the time rather than what I wanted to see.
Following a total lack of customer support from Philips I've fortunately been able to arrange a refund thanks to Costco's 90 day no quibble returns policy.
Mentioning all of this to a friend, he has suggested getting a projector rather than another TV.
Having initially laughed off the suggestion, I wonder whether placing the old 48" TV back in the living room for day to day viewing and using some of the £999 to buy a projector which I could get out for film nights could be a good option? The room is just over 16'x16' so the limiting factor for a TV has been the location of a fireplace and windows which wouldn't be an issue projecting onto the likes of a pull-up screen screen which I could put away.
I've got a Denon AVR-X540BT connected to Q Acoustic 3020s front and rear, a 3090C central speaker and 3070s subwoofer which I would want to connect the projector up to.
Does this sound like a reasonable idea given the potential for a much bigger screen for films and the fact that 48 inches was fine for daytime viewing? I see Richer Sounds do a range of projectors including several 4K models for under £1000. Is there a sweet spot in my range I should be looking at, are there any must- have features you'd recommend and would I be better off with a more expensive 1080 machine vs a lower end 4K projector?
Thanks for any suggestions.
IMO I would try and save your money and go for something like a C9 or CX at 55 or 65 inches. Some cheapo projectors aren't true 4k, they are effectively sampling the pic, and if you're happy with 48 for daytime viewing something like 55 or 65 would be good. I have a 65 and moved up from a 55 and that for me was a big difference, plus having 4k and HDR is a massive improvement
VEX said:
All projectors at that price will not be true 4k, they will be a sort of pseudo 4k. Using clever electronics to generate a 4k image rather than. Native 4k chip.
However the quality is still amazing compaired to 3-4 years ago.
At this price, our go to would be the optoma range.
V.
I'd also add its significantly more immersive watching a film on a large projected screen. 1080p is still a brilliant picture. It sounds like you have a good sound setup aswell. I have a 1080p projector, and can't say I've yet felt the need to upgrade to 4K. However the quality is still amazing compaired to 3-4 years ago.
At this price, our go to would be the optoma range.
V.
Great idea and I don't think you'll regret getting a PJ - we've had one for almost 2 years now and it really makes watching films and sport very immersive. As another poster mentioned, although it's 1080P I've not felt the need to look at 4k yet, and that's watching the image on a 110" screen from a distance of 3.5 - 4 metres.
One thing to consider regarding your overall budget is that it is worth investing in a decent screen - consider a tab-tensioned one if possible as this ensures the screen remains flat and doesn't start curling at the edges.
My thought process on this was that I pushed the budget a bit on the screen (spent more on it than the PJ), the rationale being that it's likely to out-last several projectors, and no matter how good a PJ you get, if it is projecting the image on a poor screen, you're never going to get the best out of it. Also, being permanently mounted on the ceiling, it's just a single push of the remote to bring it down and another press on the PJ remote and you're good to go, so minimum hassle. You can even wire the PJ to the screen so the screen drops automatically when you turn on the PJ, but I didn't bother with that as controlling them separately is easy enough.
Screens don't seem to get mentioned much - all the attention seems to be on which PJ and surround sound, so I wonder what the people working in the industry (such as Vex) have to say about pros and cons of different screens?
One thing to consider regarding your overall budget is that it is worth investing in a decent screen - consider a tab-tensioned one if possible as this ensures the screen remains flat and doesn't start curling at the edges.
My thought process on this was that I pushed the budget a bit on the screen (spent more on it than the PJ), the rationale being that it's likely to out-last several projectors, and no matter how good a PJ you get, if it is projecting the image on a poor screen, you're never going to get the best out of it. Also, being permanently mounted on the ceiling, it's just a single push of the remote to bring it down and another press on the PJ remote and you're good to go, so minimum hassle. You can even wire the PJ to the screen so the screen drops automatically when you turn on the PJ, but I didn't bother with that as controlling them separately is easy enough.
Screens don't seem to get mentioned much - all the attention seems to be on which PJ and surround sound, so I wonder what the people working in the industry (such as Vex) have to say about pros and cons of different screens?
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