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Big-ass TV, PJ, or smaller-ass TV + PJ?

vbuggy

vbuggy

Golden Member
So I thought about sticking this on AVS but as a precursor I thought I'd get some answers from people for whom it may not be their primary interest.

I have a 'me room' in progress. It's about 4 x 4 x 4.5m in volume.

I'll have a desk at the other end of the room, and a sitting area in the middle of the room. As current plans go, from the sofa facing the screen, it'll be about 2.5m distance.

This will be somewhere I'll probably be spending quite a lot of time in, but it won't be my primary 'HT area' - I'm having a cinema room built for that, and there'll also be a decent setup in the living room. Having said that, I probably will watch quite a lot here - especially in terms of casual watching, news, etc. However there may be times I want to sit down on the sofa in the middle of the room for a bout of solitary movie-watching. Don't need 3D... I'll reserve that for the other rooms.

The integrators have suggested a DLA-X90 on the other side of the room throwing onto a 2.5m screen, which will motor both out of the wall and then down, as well as a 55-inch class TV for 'regular watching'. I've measured it up though and from the other side of the room the TV is going to be a bit tiny and having both seems a little too complex for the level of casual watching I'm looking for in this room.

I'm wondering if instead I could get away with just a large TV like the Sharp LC-70 or 80. As I said, this is going to be far from my primary home theater so I'm going to value convenience over any ultimates.

If you - that is, those of you who knows general HT gear better but aren't consumed by it - were in a similar situation, which setup would you go for?
 
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Why not just use the projector for all your TV viewing? I don't really see the point in having a projector and a flat-panel sharing the same wall.
 
NutBucket said:
Why not just use the projector for all your TV viewing? I don't really see the point in having a projector and a flat-panel sharing the same wall.
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Bulb life and instant on. With a standard LCD or plasma, there is no "warm up" time. You just turn it on, and away you go. Projector noise is another factor.
 
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v, if you are going to have a dedicated theater room in another place in your home, I'm not sure a TV and another projector will be needed elsewhere. If it were me, I'd just get a nice 70" Sharp Elite in that room and be done with it. If you want the best of both worlds in that room though (while still keeping costs reasonable), you can get a Panasonic 65" ST50, mount it flat on the wall, and have a drop down screen come down in front of it when you want to use your projector. All you'll need is an AVR with dual HDMI out connections.
 
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I guess I should read better but given the setup he's describing I doubt the cost of bulbs would be an issue. And, I guess I'm not picky enough to be bothered by 15-20 second warm up time.

That said, it does seem like the best choice for that room would be a large flat panel given that it isn't your main theater room.
 
NutBucket said:
I guess I should read better but given the setup he's describing I doubt the cost of bulbs would be an issue. And, I guess I'm not picky enough to be bothered by 15-20 second warm up time.

That said, it does seem like the best choice for that room would be a large flat panel given that it isn't your main theater room.
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Cost is not the only concern. Bulb brightness is not the same when it's new as when it has 2000hrs on it. The picture slowly dims and if you are stickler for having a calibrated picture, you'd have to adjust brightness every 1000 hrs or so. Not a huge issue, but for someone that wants just a simple setup, it could be a pain. With a flat panel, you just set it and forget it, for the most part.
 
True. I'm aware of the bulb issues as I have a rear-projection DLP TV.

I've told my wife our next TV will likely be a LaserVue set...unless there's something better by then.
 
NutBucket said:
True. I'm aware of the bulb issues as I have a rear-projection DLP TV.

I've told my wife our next TV will likely be a LaserVue set...unless there's something better by then.
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There have been several sets better than the LaserVue ever since its release back in 2008. I never really understood the appeal of the LaserVue. If it sold for a little more than a standard DLP, I could understand its appeal. However, given that its MSRP is almost on par with a high end flat panel, I just don't get it.
 
Lasers output a single wavelength. So, you get pure red, blue and green. If you start with pure colors then the only limitation on the accuracy color reproduction is "speed" of the DLP light engine...or how precisely one combines the primary colors.

From a physics standpoint, I just don't see a better way of doing it.

A bit OT but that's why I'm still sold on LaserVue.
 
NutBucket said:
Why not just use the projector for all your TV viewing? I don't really see the point in having a projector and a flat-panel sharing the same wall.
Click to expand...

As others have said, there's the instant-on aspect. Projectors take some time to come on, screens take a while to motor out even if I didn't have the actual screen assembly motorised as well as the screen itself. And there's of course also the lighting aspect.

I guess I could have a projector as a backup - but I really do wonder how often I'd use it in that room.

The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards just a big-ass TV. Anyone else have anything obvious that I might have overlooked so that I don't look like (even more of) a n00b in front of the integrators at the next meeting?
 
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vbuggy said:
As others have said, there's the instant-on aspect. Projectors take some time to come on, screens take a while to motor out even if I didn't have the actual screen assembly motorised as well as the screen itself. And there's of course also the lighting aspect.

The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards just a big-ass TV. Anyone else have anything obvious that I might have overlooked so that I don't look like (even more of) a n00b in front of the integrators at the next meeting?
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windows? as in where the windows are in relation to the display location.
 
sdifox said:
windows? as in where the windows are in relation to the display location.
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Opposite screen wall. Runs almost all the way up and a good way across. Also secondary potential source of light even without room illumination is the glass wall beside the screen wall - it'll be covered in smart glass, and when the room on the other side is lit (since it's basically a datacenter it'll be very brightly lit) you'll get a frosted glass illumination effect from the other side.
 
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Just to clarify, vbuggy, were you planning on using the DLA-X90 in the secondary room? If so, what projector are you using for your theater room?
 
vbuggy said:
Opposite screen wall. Runs almost all the way up and a good way across. Also secondary potential source of light even without room illumination is the glass wall beside the screen wall - it'll be covered in smart glass, and when the room on the other side is lit (since it's basically a datacenter it'll be very brightly lit) you'll get a frosted glass illumination effect from the other side.
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well, as long as you watch tv only at night, it might not be much of a problem ()🙂

Glare will definitely be something you have to figure out.
 
I would not run a projector in a room that I could not make completely dark. The contrast of projectors is just destroyed when there's ambient light. From what it sounds like, your room will require a lot of curtains to block out the light from the windows and the glassed-in server room next door....
 
Yeah - glare vs total washout is basically what I'm looking at I guess. I've arranged to go and look at the Sharp and also a Panasonic plasma so I'll keep the 'needs to power past glare' aspect in mind.

We're still humming and hahing for the glass wall though. It's possible that I might not go all-glass but just have the smart glass airlock door and a couple of large, flush smart glass windows (they may not have to sweat the noise insulation aspects as much and it would probably be cheaper), or alternatively have floor length drapes for the wall that I can draw but I don't think either gives the look I'm aiming for.

Either way, there's not really an option for the TV / screen to go anywhere else - the other non-window wall will have bookcases/storage and will also be split into two levels with a walkway and I don't want a TV / screen interrupting / underneath that.

JackBurton said:
Just to clarify, vbuggy, were you planning on using the DLA-X90 in the secondary room? If so, what projector are you using for your theater room?
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Digital Projection something in the cinema room - they ran so many options past me I lost the will to live and just said 'you pick the correct one'. Even if I don't opt for the DLA-X90 in this room another will definitely be also going in the living room, which will have a dual screen setup.
 
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sdifox said:
I meant to block the light from his windows 😀
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Ohhhhhh right right right right 😉

In all seriousness though, I've seen one of these screens...they're absolutely unbelievable. DEFINITELY need one for my PJ, but itll be a while before I cough up the 3-4k for one 😛
 
sdifox said:
I meant to block the light from his windows 😀
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Since the whole point of an airy room is to have light, that's not going to happen during daytime.

BTW I don't know what sort of PJ screens you guys are using / thinking about but after the auditions I've had I'd never consider anything but an ambient light PJ screen in a general-purpose room, i.e. something along the lines of the linked Black Diamond which I was also shown - in my living room's case it will be a Dnp (? I think that's how its spelled - they were able to accomodate what I wanted better) screen,. I still find they look washed out though even with indoor lighting. The integrators were almost literally dancing around me saying "Look!!! See how vivid it still is?" and maybe I have unrealistic expectations and I know it's way better than a regular screen, but I was still like a bit "meh".
 
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vbuggy said:
Since the whole point of an airy room is to have light, that's not going to happen during daytime.

BTW I don't know what sort of PJ screens you guys are using / thinking about but after the auditions I've had I'd never consider anything but an ambient light PJ screen in a general-purpose room, i.e. something along the lines of the linked Black Diamond which I was also shown - in my living room's case it will be a Dnp (? I think that's how its spelled - they were able to accomodate what I wanted better) screen,. I still find they look washed out though even with indoor lighting. The integrators were almost literally dancing around me saying "Look!!! See how vivid it still is?" and maybe I have unrealistic expectations and I know it's way better than a regular screen, but I was still like a bit "meh".
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any ambient light and projection will not look good, just a matter of the way it is.
 
sdifox said:
any ambient light and projection will not look good, just a matter of the way it is.
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Yep, the screen is, at its core, a surface that reflects light that is coming from the room, i.e. from the projector. Any additional light (i.e., light that is not from the projector) will reduce the black level (and therefore, the contrast) and diminish the saturation of colors. TVs can have anti-reflection coatings because their light is transmitted through them, not reflected off of them. While there may be projection screens that are designed to diminish off-angle reflected light, there is no way to bring it down the same level that a TV can have; and if the screen is directly facing a wall of windows, well, it's simply a lost cause.
 
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