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I'm curious as to why projection tv, which can be had for about half the price of a big LCD or plama, is not as popular as these two technologies.
What drives people to projection, instead of LCD or Plasma? Or DLP for that matter?
thanks for your thoughts as I'm debating on which technology to go with.
ml
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Front projection systems can be inimical to domestic bliss. For best picture, light must be controlled in the room; the darker the room, the better. This often means dark walls/ceiling, dark furniture, heavy drapes, etc. Furniture must be placed to accommodate the projection system. Combined with the obtrusiveness of a large screen, all of this means that a well-set-up FP installation is incompatible with most peoples' notion of a well-decorated room.A screen must be carefully chosen and installed. A front projector has to be properly installed and aligned. This means more work and fiddling.
A TV set, OTOH, is ubiquitous. Everyone is so used to owning TVs that they aren't considered to be out of place in most rooms. Most TV types can be used in bright rooms, and since TVs are single-box items that are much more portable than a large screen/FP combo, the furniture can be arranged and then the TV plonked down where it's most convenient. TVs take very little fiddling. You can pull one right out of the box and it will work just fine for most peoples' purposes.
On that ubiquity issue - unless you're single, you generally must take your spouse/family into consideration. Pick any random woman and say, "Have you seen the new widescreen TVs? Pretty cool stuff! You need one, especially one of those decor-friendly flat panel models." You probably won't get any disagreement. Say to that same person, "You need a movie projector and a big movie screen for your living room!" See how interested she is :-)
Add to that the ease-of-use factor. Show me someone who has a complicated A/V system with multiple remotes for TV-watching , and I'll show you a geek who lives alone :-)
We have a 720p Sanyo Z4 front projector and a 92-inch screen that we really enjoy. The other comments about WAF are largely correct. It's a different setup, and takes some planning.
However, I would take issue with some of the comments. My system replaced a large console HDTV, and the result was that we now have lots more usable space in the room, since the pull-down screen takes no floor space when the screen it retracted. Regarding installation, I really didn't have any complex mounting or positioning issues. - I merely placed the projector (1-foot square, 4.5-inches tall) on top of a bookcase accross from the screen, in approximate alignement with the screen, adjusted the focus, and turned the vertical and horizontal positioning knobs to precisely align the picture with the screen. Connecting the cables from the receiver to the projector took a little more time. It's true that for best results, the room should be darkened. But this doesn't mean that you can't see the picture and hear the sound in a partially darkened room, which is the case when I'm watching the news, etc. I do agree that this shouldn't be your only TV. However, the effect of a good large-screen picture is spectacular, particularly in HD, and even with 720 resolution.
In other words, there are positive as well as negative installation and WAF issues. - With the screen retracted, you can use the room for other purposes.
Jim
It doesn't sound like a technology I'd want to get into. I only have a 14 by 18 foot living room, and no space to fiddle with a projector at one side of the room and a screen at the other. I'm thinking an LCD 42 inch or better would be best for me.
I do appreciate the input, it was very informative..
ml
is about viewing distance.
The recommendations for viewing distance for hi-def screens are closer than those for standard def screens, basically because the picture elements (pixels for hi-def vs lines for standard def CRT) are closer together so you can sit closer without getting pixelation. Why would you want to sit closer? Simply because the screen then fills a larger proportion of your field of view and the experience is closer to being in a cinema with a large screen.
So, to the recommendations. I've seen viewing distances from 1.25 times the screen diagonal to 2.5 times the screen diagonal recommended. The really close end, the 1.25 times, is intended to reproduce the viewing angle a large screen makes at the cinema. In my view you'd really only want to go that close with a very large screen like a front projection screen, simply because it puts you very physically close to a 'smallish' screen like a 32" screen and you probably won't feel that you've got the space to stretch your legs out in front of you.
I've got a 32" LCD screen and my viewing distance (eye to screen) is roughly 80" or 2.5 times the screen diagonal. I find that quite a comfortable viewing distance and it gives me some room for a footstool between the sofa and the screen. It also allows some room behind the sofa for the side and rear surround channels of my 6.1 surround sound setup. I think I could comfortably view up to a 42" screen at that distance, just maybe a 46", but I probably wouldn't like to go as big as a 50", even though that still falls reasonably short of the close end of the recommendations.
Assuming you place the screen on a short wall and place your viewing position around 10-12' from the screen, you're probably going to be looking at something like 50-60" screen for your room, larger if you're going to sit further away. That should give you an idea so that you can stand that distance away from various screens in the shop and see what you think of the image size and how the picture holds up at those distances.
It's worth noting that at the 2.5 times end of those distance recommendations you probably won't notice much difference between 1080p and 720 p sources so a screen with a 1080 pixel height won't show much in the way of extra resolution over one of 720/768 pixel height. You may therefore be relatively happy with a 1366 x 768 screen of around 50" in size at a 10-12' viewing distance. If you reduce the viewing distance and keep the screen size, or increase the screen size while maintaining the same viewing distance, you're going to find yourself gravitating more towards a 1920 x 1080 screen simply because it's going to look better at the larger viewing angle those changes create.
Have fun shopping.
David Aiken
It would be nice if the only thing that counted was the picture but, of course, life isn't that simple.
For screens of the same size, plasma and LCD are thinner than rear projection and can be hung on a wall. If you're space challenged that can make a difference. I'm not certain but I'd think both were also lighter than rear projection, LCD probably for certain. In addition, both plasma and LCD are direct light emitting and will tend to have a brighter picture as a result.
The big divide between LCD and plasma is probably screen size with plasma not going below about 42" and LCD becoming increasingly expensive as you go above 42". Rear projection most definitely has the cost advantage.
I don't know how rear projection holds up in rooms with a reasonable amount of ambient light like mine. I made the choice between plasma and LCD purely on the fact that LCD works better in rooms with more light so I went LCD and a smaller screen size as a result. I would expect that rear projection isn't the best in lighter rooms. I also needed something I could place on top of an existing stand and which I could lift on my own, so size and weight were factors. Once I knew that LCD was probably the best option in my circumstances, I simply went looking for one with picture quality that appealed to me at a price I could afford.
In the end, what screen type is best is going to come down to a number of factors including the environment and personal taste, and those factors always include budget. No screen type is perfect but pick the one whose problems/shortcomings matter least in your situation and you'll probably be very happy. If you reduce the factors you consider simply to picture quality alone, sure you can get a screen that will deliver the best picture you can get-provided the room and surroundings don't cause problems that degrade the image. Put it in the wrong room and you won't get the picture quality that you paid for and you'll be disappointed.
David Aiken
The big divide between LCD and plasma is probably screen size with plasma not going below about 42" and LCD becoming increasingly expensive as you go above 42". Rear projection most definitely has the cost advantage.
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I have noticed these price differences. Can someone explain why a large LCD flat panel, but not a small one, would cost more than a plasma of similar size? This doesn't seem logical to me in view of the complex structure of the light emitting pixel structure of the plasmas and their heavy, relatively massive construction in large sizes.
Jim
Jim
I should have been more specific. I meant projector tv, the kind where you have this little box with a lens and you set it up across the room and it shoots a beam onto a pull down screen, or even a flat wall.
My brother in law just bought one of these, and he's trying to convince me that this technology is the way to go. I know very little about it, or whether it's even worth getting into.
ml
Hi there
"Projection" TV can be either from the front or the back (relative to the screen). The technology to produce the image could be CRT, LCD, DLP or LCoS. The "flat" (don't they mean thin?) panels (LCD and plasma) are heavily advertised. But rear-projection LCoS, LCD and DLP are currently designed to look like a panel TV from the front, and are about 18" deep.
The advantage of front-projection is image size, typically 100" diagnonal. There's really no sense in using a FP for a 42" image. The downside is the need from controlling room light, i.e. do you have a room to dedicate to HT?
Regards
Front projectors dont make sense if they are your only TV, but for a big screen DVD movie or the big game they make a lot of sense.
Many front projectors do well with significant Ambient light.
Check out the Panasonic PT AX100U and newly released 200U models for about $1400.
My "regular" TV is a 46" Sony CRT based RPTV.
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