Slashdot Mirror
Plasma TVs vs. LCD Projectors for Your Home Entertainment?
Kent Brewster asks: "We're working on making the presence of a TV set in our living room as unobtrusive as possible. The two main flat-or-invisible screen choices seem to be plasma and LCD projection. Gateway has a $3000 42-inch plasma screen, but I see ominous comments on Usenet about how that one's not really an HDTV and therefore to be avoided. Projector Xpress has a page of Sony projectors that are at or around that $3000 mark, and the street price for a home system that's HDTV-compatible seems to be working its way down to $1000. I would love to hear from anyone who's actually owned one of the Gateway models and might be willing to discuss pros and cons; same goes for anyone who's watching TV on a video projector. How's your bulb life, and what do they cost? Is the thing hot and noisy? Was it hard to set up? Have you integrated it with your home theater? Are you using a screen, or just shooting it onto the wall? If I do this, am I going to feel like an idiot a couple of years from now when LED bulbs replace everything?"
Not LED bulbs, buddy... Laserbeams!
The in-development technology will use lasers fired at scanning, switching MEMS mirrors to produce an image. It's kind of a cross between DLP, laser scanners, and nanotech.
The best part about it? No lens. No bulbs to replace (Though your lasers might burn up), and your throw distance can be basically any length without the distortion you'd get out of traditional optics trying to do the same thing. Want a 100 inch picture three feet away from the projector? No problemo.
Also, I have hooked it up to my home theater and watched crystal clear DVD's on the size of my wall, played my PS2 on it, and used it as my computer screen on occasion when playing some games. It works perfectly in all of those scenarios.
I have even pointed it outside and the picture was stunning up against the neighbor's house...it was at least 40 ft wide and 25 feet tall!
Also, it is a very small device. Much smaller than InFocus' stuff. Very easy to hide, or remove and put away until you need it.
Best part is they are available on ebay for less than or close to $1000.
I have a Sony KP61PS2 - it's a 61" (yes, sixty-one inch) rear projection CRT set.It's not a HD set because there is no HD programming here in the UK, but since I mainly use it to watch DVD's anyway, that's hardly a problem. Instead it has Sony's "Digital Reality Control" (DRC) which doubles the apparent resolution (it's necessary at this size).
The screen technology they use throws the vast majority of the light directly forward in a fairly narrow cone, concentrating it powerfully, so the brightness and contrast has to be seen to be believed. Even when viewing in daylight.
This set absolutely rocks for viewing movies.
Surprisingly despite its size, the set is no deeper than a conventional TV and will fit against the wall without sticking out too far. In fact it sticks out just far enough that if you are using external speakers, the front of the set will be just about flush with them. Perfect.
As for price, this TV cost me quite a bit less than a low-end 42" plasma screen. With none of the picture quality deficiencies inherent in plasma screen displays.
The only thing that would beat my TV is a good quality ceiling mounted CRT projector. And you know how expensive those are.
BTW I coupled this with a JVC DVHS machine, and the picture quality of my digital off-air recordings is indistinguishable from the original, even on this monster screen. I doubt most DVR recorders are that good.