Front Projector vs. Plasma

[mankite]

Can you get as quality of a picture with a 1080p sub 10k Front Projector as a 60" 1080p quality Plasma?? Every Front Projector I've seen in person hasn't wowed me with picture quality like a high end Plasma. Is it just I haven't been seeing really good front projectors or is that just the trade off, size for quality??

 

[mike c]

were you viewing the projectors in a completely dark room?

for me, the only trade off of Front Projectors is that viewing is done in a completely dark room.

 

[apatel25314]

yeah i do think that the pq would be damn close , head to a specialty store and look at both

 

[BMXTRIX]

A plasma will always have a brighter image since the source of the light originates at the panel. So, while you won't get as much puch with a front projector, you will get as much punch, if not more, than what you get in a movie theater.

For about the same cash as a good 60" plasma, you can typically get a front projector that will run at 100+ inches. That's about 3 to 4 times the surface area and the quality of the video will be phenomenal.

In a perfectly dark room that doesn't have white walls, and uses dark furniture you will end up with a simply awesome image. Since your eyes will adapt to the light on screen then you will have an image that typically looks 'plasma' bright, but is in fact much dimmer. Yet, a good projector will have as accurate of colors and as good, if not better, of a contrast ratio. The display will still be 1080p resolution, so if you are sitting at 1.5x the screen width of your 60" display, you need to be at 1.5x screen width of the projection screen for the same appearance to your eyes.

Don't believe that a projector can appear awesome, check out these 100% unretouched photos...

http://www.avintegrated.com/lighting.html

The first image you would probably swear was from a plasma... but none of them are.

 

[SamW]

To me rear beats front

To me rear beats front for quality of image...front beats rear for size of image. My brother in law has the Sony VPL-VW50 HD front projector with a contrast ratio of 15,000:1...supposedly it's a 1080p picture quality, but my Samsung DLP 61" 1080p rear projection TV is waaaay clearer than any front projection image I've ever seen.

I've experienced the same feeling with every front projection I've ever looked at in anyone's home, or in any showroom anywhere. For me the bigger front projection are better for entertaining groups, but the rear projection quality is better for watching for me.

Personally, I might spend $14,000 to get a 71 inch rear projection before I'd spend $3000 to get a 100 inch front projection picture.

 

[BMXTRIX]

To me rear beats front for quality of image...front beats rear for size of image. My brother in law has the Sony VPL-VW50 HD front projector with a contrast ratio of 15,000:1...supposedly it's a 1080p picture quality, but my Samsung DLP 61" 1080p rear projection TV is waaaay clearer than any front projection image I've ever seen.

I've experienced the same feeling with every front projection I've ever looked at in anyone's home, or in any showroom anywhere. For me the bigger front projection are better for entertaining groups, but the rear projection quality is better for watching for me.

Personally, I might spend $14,000 to get a 71 inch rear projection before I'd spend $3000 to get a 100 inch front projection picture.

I'm not sure why you would have had this experience. Rear projection is using, most often, the exact same technology that front projection uses. It's a proejctor showing an image on a screen.

Now, if you view your screen at 10 feet and then view a screen that's 120" from 10 feet you should see a proportional drop off in image quality because the image is 4 times the surface area of your 61" display. The quality of the screen and the quality of the projectors in the showrooms could also make a fairly big difference.

Yet, I've been working recently with the BenQ W10000 on a 106" diagonal screen and I can tell you that it is one of the best looking front projection images I have ever seen and fairly easily rivals anything else out there. But, once again, it has to be in the near perfectly dark room to achieve these results. The client is sure as heck really happy.

I would love to gather some people up who haven't been thrilled with front projection and have them sit down to see what a couple of really nice setups actually can deliver.

 

[ace55]

Plasma will be brighter but front projection will give you that "wow" effect and a great picture on top of it

 

[mtrycrafts]

Plasma will be brighter but front projection will give you that "wow" effect and a great picture on top of it

I haven't seen a 114" plasma yet, affordable, nor one that would also roll up afterwards.

 

[avaserfi]

Well they have plasma's that hit 100" and its only a grand per inch! (keep in mind the article is from 06)

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20060310/lg-philips-develop-100-inch-plasma-tv/

 

[mtrycrafts]

Well they have plasma's that hit 100" and its only a grand per inch! (keep in mind the article is from 06)

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20060310/lg-philips-develop-100-inch-plasma-tv/

Yes, but it still won't roll up and, you need the Bill Gates pocketbook

 

[avaserfi]

Yes, but it still won't roll up and, you need the Bill Gates pocketbook

Just imagine what a pain it would be to mount that thing!

 

[BMXTRIX]

Just imagine what a pain it would be to mount that thing!

The last company I worked for had half a dozen of those on order. Yep, there are some companies in the DC area with some DEEP pockets!