Slashdot Mirror

Not enough room. You need to have a sizeable room for front projection if you really want to get to that 100" size. Being able to project the image is only part of the equation. Optimal viewing distance for a 50" set is between 6 and 10 feet (depending on HD or SD content). Do you really have a room big enough to accomodate a 20ft viewing distance for your 100" image?

Not enough control over ambient lighting. Front projection needs a relatively dark room, much moreso than a rear-projection TV (CRT, LCoS, DLP, LCD) or direct-view (CRT, LCD, Plasma).

Wife-acceptance factor. Try telling your wife that she has to make sure the blackout shades are down if she wants to watch her soaps or Oprah in the middle of the day.

You realize that size isn't everything. Sure, you can get a 100" display, but depending on the technology in your projector you'll likely suffer screen-dooring or pixelization (especially for low-end consumer-grade projectors). 1280x720 (16x9 720p) at 100" diagonal is 14 pixels per inch.

You realize that the price of the projector isn't everything. For proper viewing, you really need a good screen. A flat, white wall is merely "okay". A flat wall with special paint is better. A proper screen is best. Bear in mind that most people don't have truly flat walls, since drywall is usually somewhat textured. It might look flat, but project an image on it and you've suddenly got a bunch of little bumps causing little shadows all throughout the picture. A screen is really the way to go, and that's not cheap, especially if you want a roll-up model so it hides easily.

You can certainly go overboard, like a friend of mine who just put in a $15,000 theater, but even a modest projector + screen + blackout curtains will run you more than the $2000 I spent on a 50" rear-projection DLP.

Also, how long do plasmas and lcds last. It's a lot of cash for a limited lifespan and a lot of cash to replace. At least I just get a new bulb. Of course you need a tuner as well, but I'm using the pc for that.

You people with your silly single-chip DLP monitors. There's no color wheel if you buy a 3-chip model.

Or save a lot of money and just get one with a 7x or 14x color wheel -- I don't care how sensitive your wife is, she isn't seeing any "rainbows" in that. I don't know about rear-screen units, but front-screen projectors have all been 6x+ color wheels for a while now, and regardless of what the LCD manufacturers say, there's no persistence of vision problem for anyone other than Steve Austin.

I have the Infocus Screenplay 4805 http://www.infocus.com/Products/Projectors/SP4805. aspx and I really love it. When I was looking at buying a projector last March I was comparing the 4805 to the X3 which has a higher native resolution but it also has 4:3 native aspect ratio instead of the 16:9 the 4805 has. The 4805 also has component input which the X3 does not. Because of my preferences I went with the 4805 and I LOVE it. The picture looks flawless and I am VERY happy with my purchase. Infocus is great at making projectors and I highly recommend them. FYI I ordered mine through Dell and they have been great about service. The first 4805 I received had one pixel that would always stay black and it was very easy to notice once I realized where it was. I called Dell and in 2 days had a new projector which I unpacked and put the old one into the box and sent it off with no problem at all.

You mean, like the Infocus LP120?

At 2" x 3.6" x 9.75" and less than two pounds, it's the most portable 1024x768 native XGA projector I've ever used. Sorry it's a regular lamp, and the 1000 Lumens isn't the brightest in a well lit room, but the only thing holding it back from being a multimedia powerhouse is the lack of Component video inputs. But for that I'd recommend the LP640 with component adapter. It does native 1080i at 2000 lumens.

Hehe... never thought i'd get modded a flamebait. i've been +5 modded interesting or informative though...

1. montrous size - such a large screen is much more affordable than most would think. You can buy an Infocus X1 for $650 and get a great 60"-80" image at 800x600.

http://store.infocus.com/escalate/store/DetailPage ?pls=infocus&bc=infocus&pc=X1&tab=desc

2. massive strength of the computer - I buy alot of games that are a year old or more. Been playing Max Payne 2, Unreal Tourn, Farcry, etc. They all play pretty damn well at 1600x1200. Any recent system should have no problems with such titles. especially with some cheap SLI cards.

3. The LCD TV is not that huge of a luxury. Given the cost of plasmas, I'd say they're a great bang for the buck for an HD display.

And my penis size is just fine, thanks. ;)

You just bought a CRT as an HDTV ? How big is that then ?
I debated for months over a 19" LCD or bigger ( I use the monitor for tv / dvd ) and eventually bought a 19" CRT for computer _work_ (runs at 1600x1200) and payed out for an X2 projector for the tv stuff. Much better.
Instead of 19" flat screen, I have 84" flat screen. Ok, its only good for 1028x768 max res, but for tv purposes, its the dogs. Price wise, at the time I bought, a decent 19" LCD was around £350 ($650 - $700) and the CRT was £120 ($200 - $240). The X2 cost around £550, but as regards inches per £/$ it's unbeatable.
(Plus it has a max diagonal of over 21' !)

"Getting a group of 10 friends at someone's house with cheap popcorn and a free movie means you save 150-200 collectively... That's a lot of cash that could be spent elsewhere."

Agreed. I regularly throw movie parties at my house. I have an InFocus X1 multimedia projector which, while not the brightest model on the market, throws a gorgeous 10" diagonal image on my wall and it cost me less than $1,000. In terms of screen size per buck it was a great deal and I laugh at people who spend four times as much for a smaller rear projection or plasma screen.

But here's the thing: I don't feel the need to pirate a movie to do this. I pay $20 a month for all I can eat from Netflix, or if I don't have the time to plan getting something from Netflix, I cough up the $5 and rent it from Blockbuster. I don't feel the financial need, or consider it my moral imperative, to download the movie and save that extra $5.

I understand the general disdain for the Hollywood system; many people feel that it's simply unfair to pay $9 to see a movie that benefits an industry where stars regularly get $10 million + per picture. I avoid this issue by sticking mainly to arthouse type fare -- indie and foreign films. They're generally better, anyway, IMHO. I understand that entertainment is not my God-given right and I don't think for a second that I'm being forced to resort to piracy. Also, paying to see quality indie and foreign film is my way of voting with my wallet that I'd like this particular sub-industry thrive.

People who are so entirely jaded with the movie industry also have another option: support the online film community by visiting sites like freetorrents.com and ifilm.com -- lots of great stuff there (although I did not enjoy seeing my grandmother getting shot in the head). Pronouncing one's disdain for the Hollywood system while actively pirating its output is not the best route.

I know you weren't advocating that in your comment; that was a bit of a tangental rant.

Some projectors come with a remote control that sends next slide / previous slide commands to the computer via a USB cable from the projector. This results in Page Up / Page Down occurring on the computer, which changes the slide. Not exactly universal, but it is an option.

I did the same thing recently. After much research, I concluded that the $1000 InFocus X1 was an especially good value: It uses DLP technology which doesn't burn-in if you play lots of games, and is quite bright (1100 Lumens). I just took a trip to their site, and see that they now have an X2 which ups the brightness a bit for the same price. They also don't rape you quite as bad as other companies for new bulbs. The only downside to this projector is the 800x600 resolution.

BTW, on the subject of games - playing on one of these is videogame ecstasy. Definitely plan to invest in wireless controllers for each of your consoles.

I think the point is not just for TVs, but for projectors. As projector and screen prices keep coming down, people are looking for ways to make the image look even better.

You can get a good Infocus X1 projector and a decent Stewart screen for right around $2,000 USD. This is around the same price as most large rear-projection HDTVs, and much much less than any plasma, LCD, or LCOS TV.

Plus, if you're willing to support the evil empire, you can get discs like Terminator 2. It has a version of the film in Windows Media format that's actually in high def.

Sorry, I wis mis-remembering the res a little - it really is 480p. I only remembered for sure it was less than 500 and thinking how low that seemed...

The projector bulbs for the X1 are not that bad, $299 from Infocus!! One of the reasons I bought the X1 was the great bulb life - 3000 hours. I use it for TV, gaming, DVD's, and HDTV as well (it's only 800x600 but supports up to 1080i resolutions and downconverts). I have to say that for video it looks great, much better than I would have thought 800x600 would be. I have about a 63" across (not diagonal) space that I fill with the image, and it looks good.

At the rate I watch TV/play games, I'll probably need a new bulb in about two years. Then again with a projector you can get a much larger image with more options on where to put it, and by the time you need a new bulb perhaps you can get another projector with true 1080i resolution support! Thus you can buy THREE really great projectors for the same price as the plasma, and at the end have a much more impressive setup.

I actually live in Denver and have been to the local Gateway store - I saw the plasmas running so I guess they work to some extent (and I have a friend at work that bought a Plasma [non-Gateway] that is working well). But I really did think my projector image was more impressive at the time.

HDTV actually really does look amazing. The downside is serious lack of good content. I can only get Discovery HDTV and CBS HDTV at the moment (via Dish). I mean to put up an antenna sometime, as what I really want is PBS HDTV... you'd think DiscoveryHDTV would be great but they repeat shows a LOT. They could at least run an HDTV cam in different cities or something to offer a little fresh content - but what they seem to be doing instead is sending of expeditions to various parts of the globe to bring back long documentaries. They look great but then get added to the rotation where you can see each show a hundred or two times in a month.

Boy, that is really OT.

Well, I do believe extra screen real estate is good; less scrolling and MUCH better window tiling. But I think that the ultimate kicker, since I sit in front of these damn boxes all day, is REDUCED EYE STRAIN.
As my monitors get bigger, my eyes hurt less. This is why I am in love with my InFocus LP-530 (XGA resolution, progressive scan component video, DVI connection, and 2000 lumens!)...it kicks but, especially at lan parties.

Well, I do believe extra screen real estate is good; less scrolling and MUCH better window tiling. But I think that the ultimate kicker, since I sit in front of these damn boxes all day, is REDUCED EYE STRAIN.
As my monitors get bigger, my eyes hurt less. This is why I am in love with my InFocus LP-530 (XGA resolution, progressive scan component video, DVI connection, and 2000 lumens!)...it kicks but, especially at lan parties.

You can get a 1k lumen XGA-resolution projector from Infocus, weighing 4.8 lbs, for about $6000.

You can get a 1k lumen XGA-resolution projector from Infocus, weighing 4.8 lbs, for about $6000.