Complete Newbie here w/ a question

AVNovicr · #1 12-04-2005, 08:05 PM

Hey guys,

I am totally new to the home theater stuff. But I am slowly but surely looking and researching on the best ways to get into it. I have been looking at a lot of specs on front projectors. I have one friend who has one, but he is projecting it on a crimson wall with semi gloss paint. So it was not that impressive. The only other ones I have seen in person are at restaurants and bars and with the lights and smoke, I don't feel I get all they have to offer. My question is do they actually look good with standard tv. I have DirectTV and will upgrade to hi-def soon. I like watching movies and sports, but I want to know if I can sit and watch a show on regular tv and be wowed. Any input is appreciated. I don't have a dedicated theater room at the moment, so I have to take that into account. What specs are most important? I am thinking that lumen output will be important to me because I don't have a dedicated room. Thanks.

BMXTRIX · #2 12-04-2005, 10:57 PM

In my opinion, four items matter most of all.

#1 - You being able to control light in the room.

That's it, period! You don't watch a movie in the theater with the lights turned halfway up for a reason. It is because your screen is white, and when you shine a light on it, the screen becomes more and more visibly white. The ONLY way to achieve black is through absence of light, which you can only generate with front projection by starting with a 100% dark room. You can have so-so results, at best, without light control.

2. Color

Getting good color is missed in many projectors, most often business class projectors. Those cheap projectors at Staples are not what you want in your family room projecting onto the wall. You want a projector that is designed to give you flesh tones that aren't of the more common business class shade of martian.

3. Motion handling - This is another huge deficiency in the business class projector department. The projector really should handle incoming video and be able to deliver it to the screen clean and smooth. Any serious motion artifacts and details that are lost due to the projector having poor processing is a big loss to the overall quality. I'm kind of lumping video scaling and image processing into this group.

4. Black levels/shadow details/contrast - This goes back to #1 on the list. But #1 is the key. A projector with a rated contrast ratio of 5,000:1 has a drop of contrast to 500:1 with the light from a SINGLE candle added to the room. But, if you watch after dark, then those sci-fi movies and all dark scenes in general will carry the full detail that was on the original film. The newest generation of LCD & DLP home theater projectors do an excellent job with black levels and contrast.

As you can see, lumens are not on this list. Specifically this is because if you actually look at about 20 or so home theater projectors in price ranges from $1,000 to about $30,000 you will find that they all have one thing in common - They have VERY similar light output levels.

Home theater projectors are calibrated to output correct light levels for home theater. That means, ideal home theater with light control and a screen in the 7-11 foot wide range.

There is a ton of information - hours and hours of reading - along with some forum info over at www.projectorcentral.com

Go give that a read.

mulester7 · #3 12-05-2005, 07:58 PM

.....it tickles me certain members are so very strong in their areas of expertise....I'll continue to gladly take tickets at the door......

BMXTRIX · #4 12-06-2005, 12:31 AM

Thanks - now please don't ask me about speaker recommendations.

Somehow I got roped into moderating the forums at Projector Central... you pick up a lot of stuff really quick. I try to avoid being as techie as some of the AVS Forum guys though.

"For optimal image you should use a Fuji #129 green filter with a 72mm thread size for that projector."

Drrrrrr.... just enjoy it, they are super fun.

MBauer · #5 12-06-2005, 12:58 PM

While the advice is great, one question to answer right away is what are you going to watch and how will you watch it. If you are going to watch movies and try to emulate a theater, perfect. If you plan to have folks over to watch the Super Bowl and pass out food, drink, etc then light output would matter as well as motion handling. If you don't have a dedicated, light controlled room available, then light output also matters.

Watching sports can be very interactive amongst the audience while movies are usually watched with less noise, interruptions, etc. Regular TV programming is a mixed bag to me.

westcott · #6 12-06-2005, 04:44 PM

I think you missed one of his question bmx and I think it is a very important one.

Standard Definition programming is not going to look all that hot if you blow it up to sizes usually reserved for front projection (90+"). Very few stations provide quality signals any more with all the channels they try to cram into a limited bandwidth.

I would suggest having a small CRT display (27" to 32") for SD programming and using your projector for HD and DVD programming.

Good luck and I hope this helps. I agree with BMX on everything else he pointed out.

BMXTRIX · #7 12-06-2005, 07:59 PM

Yes, that's very true - I did gloss over that.

I agree entirely... Regular TV is the dregs these days. It doesn't look good. It's not that it won't look good at 100" - it is that it doesn't look good on a 42" plasma which is less than 1/4 the overall size! But, this is a question of how critical of the image you are. DirecTV with their digital channels still look pretty good. Not HD or DVD quality, but good. So, if you aren't overly critical, and just want to relax and enjoy the game it will be fun. Not spectacular looking, but decent, and fun.

I would call that the key - when you want to have fun, don't put quality first. When you just want to be 100% floored by the experience, go with the best possible source (HDTV), great speakers, and a great movie. It'll be fun, and floor you. But, if you use regular TV as your benchmark for the quality, you will be very disappointed because the projector can really look so much better.

I gotta say, I do know people that use their projector as a daily viewer, but most people use it for HD and DVDs. That's what they excel at. But, I wouldn't go so far as to not recommend a projector if it is (for example) going into the basement and you guys will throw the game on while shooting some pool, drinking some beers, and just having a good time. It most definitely WILL look better than the stuff you see in bars and will be much more fun than a 27" TV down there.

Don't throw away the daily viewing TV for a projector though.

CRIPES - The best thing to do is find ONE home theater projection setup in a store and ask them to throw it on NBC or something for you so you can see for yourself.