Really HUGE TV's - will it end projectors?

[RedCharles]

Obviously, commercial projectors will go on and on for theaters, and high end projectors that cost as much as a new car will be installed in homes with large dedicated home theaters. What's ten million dollar house without a dedicated home theater? Or an infinity edge pool? Or a guest house? Or a living wall? Or a garage big enough for ten supercars?

However, I'm sure most people with projectors have 90 -135 inch projector screens in their homes. If in say, four to five years, you could buy a 120" TV for under $5000 in 2021 dollars, would that spell the end of the projectors as we know it?

For the average four bedroom 2000 sq ft . home, is there really room for anything bigger than 120"? And if you could get a 120" TV without the hassle and heat of projector, why wouldn't you choose a TV over a projector?

 

[marticus]

There have been a few discussions about this on the YouTube channel, I think there was recently a video about how to deal with audio.

From my perspective, the biggest disadvantage of this outside of dedicated rooms is simply the space. You can use a roll up screen and put it up when your not using it with a projector.

But 120" and up is a huge amount of wallspace to cover with a TV.. I really don't want a black wall in my livingroom...

 

[lovinthehd]

I have a pair of 59"s that suit me fine for my main two rooms, but I suppose if these need to be replaced down the line I might consider something larger, and it would most likely be an OLED tv, perhaps move up in the 75 range. Projection I've not really the right rooms for altho I'd enjoy the experience if I went that way....maybe if I get ambitious. I'm not planning on moving again but would imagine moving such a large set as 120" Would be a pain, hopefully it's rather a seamless modular system to make it somewhat more manageable....

 

[marticus]

I have a pair of 59"s that suit me fine for my main two rooms, but I suppose if these need to be replaced down the line I might consider something larger, and it would most likely be an OLED tv, perhaps move up in the 75 range. Projection I've not really the right rooms for altho I'd enjoy the experience if I went that way....maybe if I get ambitious. I'm not planning on moving again but would imagine moving such a large set as 120" Would be a pain, hopefully it's rather a seamless modular system to make it somewhat more manageable....

Yeah I don't see anyway to move and manage a 120" TV safely, especially if you have hallways or stairs to navigate, it just won't happen. I don't think people really appreciate the scale difference.

Anything that size will have to be modular like the new systems.

Another thing to consider now I think about it, is the power usage, I remember reading a thread somewhere about someone who had one of those displays installed, and I seem to remember the words 'space heater' being used...

After an initial search 65" tv's take between 160 and 240 Watts, so anything over 120" could feesably use between 600 w and over 1kw!!!

I think op's suggestion about heat benefits over a projector my be unfounded.

 

[-Jim-]

My preference has always been towards large screen TVs, as our Atmos HT / Games room has one wall of windows (with California Shutters - but they don't get the room to be a blackout). We (like most I suspect) don't have it set up in Theater style seating, so my comments may not fit your situation.

We recently upgraded to a 75" 2021 Samsung QN85A Neo 4K Smart QLED TV and the main seating area is about 10 feet from the screen. To us the picture is large, and we struggle to imagine something larger in that space. Yes we do have wall space available if needed to go bigger, but doubt we'd ever go there. But how far away would you have to be from a 120 inch screen not to be overwhelmed? Must be a very large room.

My main problem with projectors /screens is they require a dark room (and no WAF there) and are not as bright as what a TV can give you. Most of the time the TV is not used for Movies. ( Sports, Broadcast TV, with Netflix, Disney+, Prime, and the odd YouTube in that order). The QN85A draws 0.5 watts on standby. Typically it consumes 89 watts, with a maximum of 250 watts. (The 85 inch version is 310 watts max.) For reference, the Denon AVR-X4400H that it's attached to the QN85A can pull 710 Watts. So I'd expect you could need a dedicated circuit feeding a 120 inch LED LCD TV.

Even though new TVs of this type are far lighter than generations past, they are getting up there. And dimensionally they are hard to handle. I rented a pickup to get the QN85A home, as it wouldn't fit in my 3 row SUV. It took two of us to haul it up into the room, and mount it onto the wall. But at least I didn't have to wire the ceiling for a projector. For most I suspect that would cause them to go to a TV instead of a screen.

My take is unless there is a way to reduce weight of a TV further (like removing all the electronics to a separate box and making the screen modular somehow) getting to a 120 inch TV inches seems too much of a hassle for those who want to go bigger than what's currently available. Who knows, but maybe they'll develop a roll-up LED screen with separate electronics and solve the problem.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There will always be front projection for years and years to come.

The 100" Sony is $20,000. It certainly is a long way from $5,000. It isn't going to be a quick downward spiral to get these sizes to a reasonable price point. I've been doing 98" displays in businesses for over five years now, and their price point is a bit prohibitive, but their size isn't nearly as impressive as some may hope. Especially when reading details from 15+ feet away. In the home, it may be a bit different.

But, those with a basement, with a love of movies, with a love of cinema, will ALWAYS lean towards front projection.

JVC is also out there leading the way as they move their entire new lineup to an all laser system of projectors. They certainly won't be the last.

Over the years we've seen projectors grow from a few hundred lumens calibrated, to well over 1,000 on most projectors. As they continue to get brighter, it will allow smaller screens to do a better job with HDR content, and will allow for great SDR viewing at extremely large sizes for the rooms and homes which can allow for it.

My own basement has standard 8 foot ceilings and I'm running a 161" screen. It's truly a fun cinematic experience that my family always feels is special to watch and enjoy despite us having a 85" display right upstairs in the family room. This screen is nearly four times the size of a 85" TV.

At the end of all of it, a home theater feels different. A good home theater is dark for a reason. It creates a room that is far different than any other room in your home. It's quiet, dark, and peaceful when done right. A theater screen also imparts a far different feel into the room than a LCD display glaring it's light into your eyes.

Yes, I am all about getting a 100" TV, but it certainly won't be a replacement to my front projection setup. For those who enjoy front projection, it won't replace their setup either. With the continued dropping in price of front projection and a cost of entry that can be well under $2,000 for 4K and under $1,000 for 1080p, it's not likely to go away either when you can get a solid 4K image on a 135" screen for your money. Even optimistically, that's not likely to happen with TVs anytime in the next decade, if ever, due to the large physical solid screen size a flat panel LCD would have to deal with, the requirement for professional installation, and the fragile nature of displays of that size.