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I decided that I would forego the purchase of a traditional television set and get a digital projector instead. After shopping around, I found a great deal on a ViewSonic projector with all the features I wanted. Just hooked it up to my DVD & VCR/TV tuner and it so sooooo coool!
I'm watching TV on what amounts to a 90" flat screen with controls to go to even larger sizes and even movie-screen aspect ratios if I want to. Amazingly clear picture too!!! Plus, if I have something on my computer that I want to show, it'll do that too.
I'm so psyched.
Now all I need is my chair (on order) so that I can sit dead center in between the 4 speaker stereo system (sorry, no surround sound) and watch LOTR or Harry Potter.
Yippee!!!
Oh yeah, I'm still unpacking boxes, so I haven't actually reached my video collection yet. It's in here somewhere...
We can all watch irritating slideshows of all of our trips around the world to meet other Hatrackers! For hours and hours and hours and hours... Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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projectors are super keen. My roomate just bought one. Mighty nice mighty nice.
tis a shame he's going home this weekend. I'm looking forward to watching 16:9 movies 10 feet across or so on the wall. Sadly we don't have space to show them any bigger than that.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I occasionally borrow one of these beauties from my dad's office. They use it for trade shows and classes, but I use it for 10 foot movies on the living room wall.
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Bob, how's the projector under normal light levels? Do you need to close the shades to get a good picture?
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I am verrrrrry jealous. This has been one of my dreams for 5 years now, to own a home theater projector. So far all I've been able to do is borrow one here and there.
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Cost: too much, really. But I really didn't want a TV and when compared to the price of projectors a couple of years ago, it was a bargain. Cheapest you can find (new) is about $1000. Prices on these things can go WAYYYYY up if you are interested in true home theater units (saw prices as high as $46,000 if you can believe that.
Also, compared to a flat panel screen of any reasonable size, these things are a huge bargain (less than 1/5 or even 1/20th the cost.
What you sacrifice: - some resolution. Best tip is to buy one that is at least SVGA resolution and contrast ratio of 400:1 or better. To me, it's clearer than a regular TV and just freq'in HUGE so that's a major plus.
- you have to have wall space. Flat white wall is probably the best most people do. You can purchase a screen, but one that's as big as these things can project and has the superior coatings is going to cost almost as much as the projector. So, I'm hanging a sheet over the wall in my house and leaving it at that.
As for ambient light levels, it works pretty darn well with the light levels I'm working with in my den. I can leave the blinds open and even turn on the overhead lights if I want to. It looks best in the dark, of course, but so does regular TV...to me.
I imagine just about the only thing that wouldn't look better on this than a regular (smaller) TV would be porn. Not that I'm going to try that, I'm just saying...you know...way too big!!! YIKES!!!
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A friend of mine did this in his home office. We watched a couple of DVD's on it and it was great.
While it doesn't do much for Solitaire or Mine Sweeper, most good games are uncomfortably powerful done on this. (Then again I played Donkey Kong on a 2 inch screen once).
SIDE NOTE: (sorry for any derailling) I saw the original "Mummy" on TCM Tuesday night. While some of the stuff in it was racist, and the Archeology was lame, I found the plot more interesting than any of the more current versions. The Mummy was not an all encompassing evil destined to destroy the world. He was a man in love, who went to far to regain his love, and lost his soul in the bargain. Boris Karloff brought depth to the character, and a frightening skill to the acting that was scarier than any special effects. The hero was useless. You could not stop magic with a well placed shot, nor was the intelligent archeological hero also a masculine crack shot and world reknowned brawler. Despite the literally Dues Ex Machina ending, I applaude it and think there is a Great remake (or book) in their somewhere, once you avoid the special effects trap.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Projectors are very fun. My father used to snag one from the university and bring it home on weekends so we could watch HUGE movies on our HUGE living room wall (complete with bass to rattle the walls from the stereo system). *sigh* We had considered buying a projector recently, but they're still a little expensive (for us), so we settled on a used 61" tv. Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I took a trip to the Nauvoo visitor's center a few year's ago and noticed that they weren't using the CRT projectors anymore. We found them stashed behind the movie screen, covered with dust. I offered to buy them, but the director of the visitor's center said he couldn't sell them. I left him my phone number, and a couple of weeks later he called and offered to give them to me if I paid for shipping.
My brother and I both got one. His worked right out of the packing crate, but mine needed two new tubes at $2000 apiece.
Well, it's hanging from the ceiling in the basement, and I'm using a 5-dollar, 80-inch movie screen from the school district surplus warehouse.
My wife hated me for a couple of weeks until she saw her first Cary Grant movie on the big screen. Now she lives in front of the thing.
AVS Forum is a good resource for home theater enthusiasts.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote: Projectors are very fun. My father used to snag one from the university and bring it home on weekends so we could watch HUGE movies on our HUGE living room wall (complete with bass to rattle the walls from the stereo system). *sigh* We had considered buying a projector recently, but they're still a little expensive (for us), so we settled on a used 61" tv.
Hmm..maybe I should have pushed harder then to get a projector for the living room (even though it's quite small currently - but will be huge in our new place!). Oh well, I like our current tv still Posts: 851 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Another cool thing about projecting is that you can show big movies in unusual places.
We took my little DLP projector on a church campout, suspended the screen between two spruce trees, and ran the sound through a boom box. We popped popcorn on the Coleman stove, bundled up in blankets, and watched National Velvet in the woods with the stars overhead.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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