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Projector for home (Read 5281 times)

James Malloch

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Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 03:30:16 pm
We're thinking of getting a projector in our new house (ideally <£400 if you can get anything decent in that price range) which we would combine with a chromecast for Netflix etc.It would need to case about 3 meters.

Ideally we would have the sound coming out of some speakers on the other side of the room (currently also using chromecast) though I'm not sure this functionality exists.

Any tips on how to best set this kind of thing up, and projector recommendations, would be very welcome.

Ideally we wouldn't have to run a wire right around the room to the speakers. Maybe a small bose speaker, or similar, could be installed next to the projector and just connected in line?

cheque

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#1 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 04:04:50 pm
Why do you want a projector rather a big telly James?

nik at work

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#2 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 04:55:56 pm
We have one for movie nights. It’s ace. Ours is a fairly high spec one, second hand from a family member at bargain basement price including speaker setup. But still came in at about £800 I think...? Dunno what is available at sub-400 but if there is anything decent I think it’s worth it as a luxury treat. But you’d still want a telly, projector is great for movies but would be draining to watch general telly bobbins on I reckon.

Johnny Brown

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#3 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 05:02:24 pm
I might be a couple of years out of date but have bought a couple for work. They are alarmingly low res if you are used to any sort of high def screen. My experience with casting type devices is poor, so unless youtr favourite prelude to a movie is endless reboots, updates and 'connection lost' messages I'd go for hard wiring at least one end if you can.

tomtom

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#4 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 05:07:26 pm
£400 buys you quite a lot of 4K tv real estate...

cheque

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#5 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 05:11:38 pm
I used to have one and there are two things that made me very happy to replace it with a telly, both relating to the fact that they work via a big lamp- there’s a fan blowing the whole time it’s turned on (adds to the movie atmosphere at first but gets old pretty quick, particularly when it’s late at night and you don’t want the volume very loud) and the lamp burns out quicker than you’d think and costs a lot to replace.

tomtom

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#6 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 05:13:53 pm
For any presentation stuff at work - if it’s a small seminar room i much prefer a large telly... 65 inch 4K start At 550..

ali k

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#7 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 05:53:03 pm
Shame that experiences of them seem to be poor. I was hoping to do away with a TV when this one dies and switch to a projector to avoid a huge screen dominating the room most of the time. I like the idea of a screen there only when I want it to be. Disappointing.

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#8 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 06:26:10 pm
No personal experience, but short throw projectors might be worth looking at

Bradders

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#9 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 07:43:41 pm
RE casting, I haven't had an actual TV aerial for quite a few years now, and instead made do with a Chromecast. Never skips a beat, and I've now recycled almost all of the DVDs I had as they were pointlessly taking up space.

James Malloch

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#10 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 10:42:54 pm
Why do you want a projector rather a big telly James?

We used one on the boat we had for a few years (which was a bit of a pain) but like the fact it didn’t dominate the room at all. We only watch some films and series now and then (never normal telly) so would prefer not to have a TV out on display all the time.

We’re used to crap quality so it would probably be a step up from what we currently have anyway. Definitely not bothered about 4K/HD etc.

Been looking at the room more and I think that running a cable to the speakers would be okay going around the picture rails - you probably wouldn’t see it - so that would solve the sound issue.

It’s a shame that the better projectors are more expensive but if anyone does have a recommendation it would be great. We will have a look online too but I’ve no idea what I’m looking at really...

Thanks for the input from everyone though. I’ll not get my hopes up too much for a decent budget setup!

nik at work

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#11 Re: Projector for home
December 07, 2020, 10:55:25 pm
I agree with a lot of what Cheque said, and if I was a telly watcher then I’d get a telly over a projector. As it is I generally watch films and do that fairly infrequently, so would happily get rid of the telly. Sounds like you might be of a similar mindset...
A couple of points:
1 our projector is HD, but our screen (convenient white wall) is probably just over three metres wide, so it’s a big ass picture. Obviously a smaller screen would “hide” lower definition better. SD sources don’t look good at the scale we are projecting.
2 you can watch a telly with the curtains open on a sunny day, not so much with a projector. Although the enforced cinema darkness does add to the occasion of watching a movie on the big (-ish..) screen.

yetix

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#12 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 01:20:55 am
There's a projector in my house which was here when I moved in (will check the spec on it tomorrow) we watch movies on it as house a couple of times a week and love it. Sure the quality isn't as high as the some 4k/hd tvs but I still think it's more than good enough personally. No bulbs have been replaced whilst I've lived here but we don't watch much TV generally but like I say a few movies a week as I mentioned. More enticing than previous houses I've lived in with a TV in I thought personally.

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#13 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 08:37:51 am
... it’s a big ass picture...

Hey, whatever you choose to watch behind closed doors / in the privacy of your own home Nik...

T_B

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#14 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 09:28:41 am
Jay at https://cinemaforall.org.uk/ in Sheffield advised us on projectors for work. We ended up getting a Vivitek dh331 (£1300), which is very bright with vivid colours. Ideally you’ll project onto a screen with a black border. There’s something weird that goes on with your brain if you just project onto a white wall with no border to the image. It doesn’t look anywhere near as bright.

cheque

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#15 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 09:36:22 am
We’re used to crap quality so it would probably be a step up from what we currently have anyway. Definitely not bothered about 4K/HD etc.

Right, resolutions-

DVDs are 720 x 480

“HD” is 1080 x 720

“Full HD” (quite often referred to as simply “HD” these days) is 1920 x 1080

“4K” is 3840 x 2160

When they’re abbreviated to one number it’s normally the smaller (vertical) one.

Sometimes they give you projector resolutions in computer monitor codes. This mind-boggling chart will help with that.

That should help you shop. I had a quick look and it seems that for under £400 you’ll be looking at quite a low res unless you don’t mind closing the curtains and you don’t need a short throw one. Short throw seems to be defined as 3-8 feet so you may not.

tomtom

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#16 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 10:41:02 am
Fully appreciate a TV is not the ideal solution James.

But....  TV's seem to last 10-15 years between needing an upgrade - and from my lecture room use of projectors is about every 3-5 years... (I've had a bulb go on one - once - only once...)

nai

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#17 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 10:49:26 am
mount a tv on a wall and use a throw or something more imaginative to cover it when not in use?

CrimpyMcCrimpface

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#18 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 11:26:10 am
Second Nai's comment above about mounting on the wall and covering when not in use.

Installed a TV this year and, like you, I didn't want it to dominate the room so mounted it on the wall and surrounded it with shelving. The TV mount is on an arm so you can pull the TV out into the room and retract it when not watching. The mount was around £28 on amazon and is really robust. I bought the mount with the longest arm and lowest folded profile.

Some pics here for inspiration.. https://imgur.com/a/vwLe1Og

The other thing, I don't know much about energy consumption, but I would think powering a bulb to project light across a room would require more than powering lots of LEDs to light themselves. Depends on usage I guess.



Johnny Brown

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#20 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 12:48:56 pm
Quote
TV's seem to last 10-15 years between needing an upgrade

 :lol:  The old CRTs maybe. Good luck getting firmware updates that will keep your smart TV running any useful apps beyond 5 years. I know this is an argument for using a Firestick and that's why I'm doing it. Just be glad you didn't splurge '000s on a B&O system that it compatible with fuck all, like my Dad did.

cheque

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#21 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 01:00:48 pm
Can’t you just use a Smart TV without any of the apps then? The 50” LG one I replaced my projector with in December 2013 still works fine. Did I buy in a sweet spot before they became app dependent?

Johnny Brown

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#22 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 01:05:06 pm
If it doesn't have apps how do you watch streaming services?

nik at work

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#23 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 01:09:09 pm
Firestick?

tomtom

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#24 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 01:15:46 pm
Last year we replaced a Sony 32" LCD 720 telly I got for £400 in 2005... Was (and is) still going strong..

As the others said - when the smart bit of the telly falls over replace with a fire stick/now tv box etc... they do all the shizz now for £20-30...

cheque

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#25 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 01:39:28 pm
If it doesn't have apps how do you watch streaming services?

Apple TV box through the HDMI input. Probably does the same thing as a Firestick? Before I got that (nearly 5 years ago) my desktop computer was in the same room as the telly and I just had the TV connected as a second monitor- great for watching edits of films you’re making too as you watch them in a different way when you’re sitting on the settee to when you’re in front of the computer you edited it on. The Apple TV lets you do that over wi-do (if you use a Mac obviously) which is cool.

Are there TVs where out of date firmware stops you watching what’s plugged into an input?

spidermonkey09

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#26 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 02:43:54 pm
We just got given a smart TV by my girlfriends parents. They were relieved to get rid of it as its an Android TV and they struggled using it as Apple phone users. Whilst on balance its great and a big improvement, its definitely temperamental and can see how the firmware will eventually just stop. We watch netflix, iplayer, nowtv and youtube etc through the apps on the smart tv. However, our satellite TV input doesnt work with it (you get the channels but the TV guide function doesnt update, so you cant see whats on!) so we have to watch normal TV through a Humax box. Equally annoyingly, all4 and itv hub require youview to watch via the smart tv, and youview requires an aerial rather than a satellite, so if we want to watch these we have to cast from a phone. The integrated chromecast is ok but definitely not foolproof so not sure how it would be for a full film. Basically its a total minefield, fine given the TV was free but I'd be pissed off if I'd paid for it!

If I was in James' position I would look into hiding the TV somewhere (sliding cupbaord?). Projectors look like an expensive, temperamental, energy inefficient and inferior solution to me, although the idea of them is great.

tomtom

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#27 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 03:16:55 pm
Light wooden frame that fits neatly over the TV with a canvas photo print on it?

Steve R

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#28 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 03:20:22 pm
my desktop computer was in the same room as the telly and I just had the TV connected as a second monitor
This is still the simplest and best solution for me (as linux not apple user).  Everything hard-wired, future proof and reliable, not to mention free...  Also, interface-wise, wireless keyboard+mouse >> intolerably clunky 'smart' tv controller or arsing around on phone. 

tomtom

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#29 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 03:57:21 pm
Ours is all linked into Alexa etc.. which whilst in many ways is a non future proof privacy minefield type arrangement - it does enable me to quell the wailing 4 year old in the room next door by just asking Alexa to put CBeebies on..

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#30 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 04:07:14 pm
Mum has 2 smart Panasonic TVs, work fine except.... the firmware is no longer compatible with BBC Iplayer, which is what she watches most....   Now dumb TV....

IanP

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#31 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 06:21:18 pm
Quote
TV's seem to last 10-15 years between needing an upgrade

 :lol:  The old CRTs maybe. Good luck getting firmware updates that will keep your smart TV running any useful apps beyond 5 years. I know this is an argument for using a Firestick and that's why I'm doing it. Just be glad you didn't splurge '000s on a B&O system that it compatible with fuck all, like my Dad did.

I know that app updating by TV manufacturers gets a bad rap but have to say our 2014, relatively cheap, Samsung TV is still going strong - IPlayer, Prime, Netflix, All4, Youtube etc etc all still working fine.  Sure I will have to replace / go down the firestick route at some point  but currently the only potential thing missing I've found is that Samsung haven't ported new Disney+ app to older smart tvs

tommytwotone

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#32 Re: Projector for home
December 08, 2020, 07:04:05 pm
I bought a new Toshiba in Jan and have gradually noticed the apps disappearing - YouTube went last week.

Fortunately I've got an XBox so have all the apps I need available through there.

Johnny Brown

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#33 Re: Projector for home
December 09, 2020, 12:28:16 pm
Just to add Sony to the shitlist. Interesting re Samsung, seems like an outlier.

Quote
Apple TV box through the HDMI input.

This is not a smart tv. What makes a tv 'smart' is not needing anything else to stream.

nai

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#34 Re: Projector for home
December 09, 2020, 12:59:26 pm
Just to add Sony to the shitlist. Interesting re Samsung, seems like an outlier.

Panasonic can go on that list too.
But a 5ish year old LG still rolling on with all streaming apps available

James Malloch

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#35 Re: Projector for home
December 09, 2020, 05:09:11 pm
You may all be converting us...

We could fit a TV (32") into one of the alcoves which is largely hidden away. Though we would want it on a bracket which allows it to come out of the wall.

Like the look of the Samsung Frame which Nai linked too, though the premise of that seem to be that it sits flush and doesn't come out which would mean it couldn't be seen from a lot of angles in the room.

Any recommendations for this kind of thing would be welcomed instead!

tomtom

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#36 Re: Projector for home
December 09, 2020, 05:22:53 pm
32” are cheap...that would  leave some ££ for a soundbar or some surround sound speaker thingies?

Paul B

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#37 Re: Projector for home
December 10, 2020, 09:44:42 am
Samsung do The Frame if you liked that as an idea.

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#38 Re: Projector for home
December 10, 2020, 11:22:42 am

We could fit a TV (32") into one of the alcoves which is largely hidden away. Though we would want it on a bracket which allows it to come out of the wall.

Like the look of the Samsung Frame which Nai linked too, though the premise of that seem to be that it sits flush and doesn't come out which would mean it couldn't be seen from a lot of angles in the room.

Check my post from before with the image gallery link, that's exactly what I installed but the tv is 40" which was the largest could fit in the alcove.

This is the arm which has low profile and 610mm reach with around 180 degree range. This was the max reach/low profile I could find at the time. I measured it out on the floor with masking tape before buying to check could be seen from around the room. Very happy with result. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BHVQFAA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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#39 Re: Projector for home
December 10, 2020, 11:26:56 am
Just to add Sony to the shitlist. Interesting re Samsung, seems like an outlier.

Quote
Apple TV box through the HDMI input.

This is not a smart tv. What makes a tv 'smart' is not needing anything else to stream.

I think Sony are bomb proof and would be the top of my list.

I have had one of there smart TV for 7 years now and it wasn't the latest model when i bought it. Up until the last few months its never missed a beat, and its only Iplayer that is temperamental now, which is an easy thing to fix with a laptop and HDMI lead. Its been knocked over by the dog numerous times and even has a pin hole through the screen from being shot with an adapted Nerf bullet.

The TV i had before that was also a Sony and lasted 7 years before being killed off by a stray football.

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#40 Re: Projector for home
December 10, 2020, 12:27:42 pm
I bought a new Toshiba in Jan and have gradually noticed the apps disappearing - YouTube went last week.

Weird as we’ve got an elderly  (>6 years) Toshiba. It’s always been slow but none of the apps we use (YouTube, Netflix, iPlayer) have stopped working and it refuses to die, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family who want to get something bigger, faster and more sparkling. The 40” screen doesn’t feel dominating* in a 5x4m room.


*Possibly because it is smaller than the speakers...

SA Chris

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#41 Re: Projector for home
December 14, 2020, 10:04:05 pm
Mum has 2 smart Panasonic TVs, work fine except.... the firmware is no longer compatible with BBC Iplayer, which is what she watches most....   Now dumb TV....

£25 on a firestick fixes that. All terrestrial channel streaming services.

tomtom

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#42 Re: Projector for home
December 14, 2020, 10:18:44 pm
Fire sticks will be able to show nowtv soon as well. Sky and Prime have agreed a deal.

 

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