Discussion
I currently have a 65” Q7F Samsung tv which is great, however I’m thinking of getting a projector for films and sport, I don’t want to go any bigger with a tv as I use it for gaming and don’t quite fancy having anything bigger.
Having recently completely redecorated the living room I want something relative sleek/ modern looking, I’m not going to be able to pass off a big bulky projector and screen with the mrs.
I’ve seen some labelled “short throw” etc and thought I’d best ask here for advice as I’ve no experience on projectors.
I assume the hdmi cables connect to the projector which is usually situated on the ceiling behind you, which is rather annoying as we had the ceiling down a few weeks ago so would have been an ideal time to route the cables, I’m hesitant to start making a huge mess again, what are the ones which sit under the screen like?
Screen wise, I’ve seen the ceiling flush units which would be great, only issue is the joists are running the wrong way for this setup, I’ve seen the rise up screens however there very expensive.
Basically I’m after a nice subtle modern 4K decent projector and screen which won’t involve having to tear the room apart to get it looking subtle, if such thing exists?
Budget wise, I’m looking for no more than £3000 for both projector and screen
Having recently completely redecorated the living room I want something relative sleek/ modern looking, I’m not going to be able to pass off a big bulky projector and screen with the mrs.
I’ve seen some labelled “short throw” etc and thought I’d best ask here for advice as I’ve no experience on projectors.
I assume the hdmi cables connect to the projector which is usually situated on the ceiling behind you, which is rather annoying as we had the ceiling down a few weeks ago so would have been an ideal time to route the cables, I’m hesitant to start making a huge mess again, what are the ones which sit under the screen like?
Screen wise, I’ve seen the ceiling flush units which would be great, only issue is the joists are running the wrong way for this setup, I’ve seen the rise up screens however there very expensive.
Basically I’m after a nice subtle modern 4K decent projector and screen which won’t involve having to tear the room apart to get it looking subtle, if such thing exists?
Budget wise, I’m looking for no more than £3000 for both projector and screen
Ok, here we go.
Shorth Throw are acutually pretty rare in the AV world, usually reserved for Commerce and Schools.
But.
The Ultra Short Throws for AV work are amazing. I installed one just before lockdown1 and at 4k it was rather amazing.
4K, 120" image from a projector sat about 400mm from the wall. The layout matrix even allows you to make adjustment to the image to take into account walls that are not flat.
Not cheap, but if you have a wall and mount point to put it on it is an amazing solution.
There are even AV Cabinets now that the projector can mount into and hide away, just pull the draw out when you want to use it and the projector comes out with it, ready to shine up onto the wall.
Optoma seem to be the main line developers of these are the moment, available in the UK, with Samsung and Epsom and I think Sony coming to market.
Happy to help out more, if needed.
Shorth Throw are acutually pretty rare in the AV world, usually reserved for Commerce and Schools.
But.
The Ultra Short Throws for AV work are amazing. I installed one just before lockdown1 and at 4k it was rather amazing.
4K, 120" image from a projector sat about 400mm from the wall. The layout matrix even allows you to make adjustment to the image to take into account walls that are not flat.
Not cheap, but if you have a wall and mount point to put it on it is an amazing solution.
There are even AV Cabinets now that the projector can mount into and hide away, just pull the draw out when you want to use it and the projector comes out with it, ready to shine up onto the wall.
Optoma seem to be the main line developers of these are the moment, available in the UK, with Samsung and Epsom and I think Sony coming to market.
Happy to help out more, if needed.
Yes I was looking at the ultra short throws on richer sounds, good to hear these aren’t really compromise on the traditional projectors.
We have the tv wall mounted with a Sonos playbar wall mounted underneath and a tv unit underneath that so would be looking to place the projector on the unit and have a screen drop/rise to cover the tv, in fact it would have to drop or we would also cover the Sonos!
We have the tv wall mounted with a Sonos playbar wall mounted underneath and a tv unit underneath that so would be looking to place the projector on the unit and have a screen drop/rise to cover the tv, in fact it would have to drop or we would also cover the Sonos!
I got a the BenQ V600 UST and screen combo last year to demo for a customer shortly after release. Very impressive I have to say ... if you have issues with ambient light, then this is a great item. We had it running in the office with full lighting ... not as bright as a TV but you could theoretically watch TV during daylight hours in a fairly well lit room.
We have previously installed one of the Sim2 XTV units and had a bespoke unit made to house it ... this was a 3 or 4 years back and it was only 1080p although still a great image .. .£17k retail though so out of your budget! But the game has certainly moved on as the BenQ is a better/brighter image than I recall the Sim2 was.
The BenQ is also a little over budget but its a laser projector so you don't need to worry about lamp swaps.
We have previously installed one of the Sim2 XTV units and had a bespoke unit made to house it ... this was a 3 or 4 years back and it was only 1080p although still a great image .. .£17k retail though so out of your budget! But the game has certainly moved on as the BenQ is a better/brighter image than I recall the Sim2 was.
The BenQ is also a little over budget but its a laser projector so you don't need to worry about lamp swaps.
We used to use a projector instead of owning a TV. We enjoyed it, but having moved to a TV when we moved house I now wouldn't go back to a projector. The room has to be very, very dark if you don't want the image to be washed-out. It's fine when you want the cinema experience, but when you're watching sports with your mates you'll want some lights on so you can find your drinks and chat with each other, and not trip over the dog when someone scores 
I did this photoshop merging of a pic recently to show (ok, encourage) a mate to go ahead with a similar set-up as a comparison between a 60 inch plasma telly and a 150 inch projection image without lowering the screen. Obviously we're fortunate to have the space for a dedicated room and had enough black paint to throw at it, but it does give a whole immersive experience on a different scale from a big telly.
threadlock said:
We used to use a projector instead of owning a TV. We enjoyed it, but having moved to a TV when we moved house I now wouldn't go back to a projector. The room has to be very, very dark if you don't want the image to be washed-out. It's fine when you want the cinema experience, but when you're watching sports with your mates you'll want some lights on so you can find your drinks and chat with each other, and not trip over the dog when someone scores
Only if you have a crap projector. Can easily have several table lamps on in the room while watching ours. 5 year old Sony that was £1800 at the time, so not stupidly expensive.
rossub said:
Only if you have a crap projector.
Can easily have several table lamps on in the room while watching ours. 5 year old Sony that was £1800 at the time, so not stupidly expensive.
Yeah, it's possible to have lights on, and it's true that our last projector was "only" a £900 Optoma DLP, but there is a big difference in the contrast levels between TV and projector when there's ambient lighting and although we lived with it for years it wasn't ideal. It's like watching TV with bright sunlight on the screen - it's still possible to watch it but you'll pull a curtain to stop it.Can easily have several table lamps on in the room while watching ours. 5 year old Sony that was £1800 at the time, so not stupidly expensive.
The OP may find he ends up wanting sealed blackout blinds or shutters if his cinema room has any windows, and he may not have considered this. Just thought I'd mention it
Only thing to add is that, as I understand it, due to the ultra short throw pjs being very close to the screen and therefore projecting at quite an acute angle, this makes the image very sensitive to imperfections in the flatness of the screen surface.
If you're looking at a screen that drops down (rather than a permanent screen on the wall), then you would be well advised to ensure that you go for a good quality screen, and ideally a tab-tensioned one, which helps the screen to remain completely flat rather than developing waves in it, which would have a noticeable negative effect on the image.
Although we're not using a UST projector, we went for an electric tab-tensioned screen and over 2 years later, it is still perfectly flat, so I do not regret the additional cost and would buy the same type of screen in the future.
Just as an example, we went for a Sapphire one from Projectorpoint, although definitely worth talking to the likes of VEX on here.
If you're looking at a screen that drops down (rather than a permanent screen on the wall), then you would be well advised to ensure that you go for a good quality screen, and ideally a tab-tensioned one, which helps the screen to remain completely flat rather than developing waves in it, which would have a noticeable negative effect on the image.
Although we're not using a UST projector, we went for an electric tab-tensioned screen and over 2 years later, it is still perfectly flat, so I do not regret the additional cost and would buy the same type of screen in the future.
Just as an example, we went for a Sapphire one from Projectorpoint, although definitely worth talking to the likes of VEX on here.
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