TV or Projector?

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

As an 'industry' guy, a couple of points. I have owned and sold both projectors & big plasmas & I am seriously biased.

Everybody wants a screen that is too big for their room. From your seating position, you should not have to move your head to see what is happening at the extreme edges of the picture.

The sound system is as important as the video system so think about spending equal dollars (or even more) on the audio. Dual subwoofers are good.

A good screen will maximum brightness - which is a good thing. The blacker the blacks, the better the color dynamics.

Led displays (or projectors) always have a 'video' look rather than a 'cinema' look. That's why plasma displays are often preferred - they give you cinema. You choose which one you can live with.

4k displays are stunning but most of your watching will not be 4k . . .

Ian

Also from a guy who works with both big screens and projectors.

Projectors get dirt inside and need to be cleaned periodically, and obviously you will need to change lamps every 1000-2000 hours depending on manufacture (check the price on replacement lamps before you buy), and lamps dim over time, oh and many projectors have filters that will need to be changed too.

I guess what I am saying is projectors are a lot more maintenance (and thus $$ to maintain) than a big flat screen.

Another thing, if the projector you buy doesn't sell well and is discontinued they may discontinue making the replacement lamps leaving you with a Dodo.

Edit to add: Obviously I would go with a big screen but I am biased by working with projectors that run in public 7 days a week, 5-6 hours a day, However note that the big flat screens I work with run the same amount of hours and need (almost) zero maintenance.