is it typical to use front projector for regular television viewing?

[Semidevil]

how is the quality for projection for everyday television viewing in the living room? Is a regular television a better choice?

anybody use projection tv everyday? how is it?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Your living room will likely be too bright alot of the time for the projector to be comfortably seen.

 

[Kaido]

I use a tube TV for television and a projector for movies. I don't have a dedicated, light-controlled room at the moment so I can't really do otherwise. The issue is that a projector is basically a flashlight - any light in the room detracts from the brightness of the image from your projector. If you have a light-controlled room to put it in, as well as the money to cover the cost for new bulbs periodically, then by all means go for it!

 

[jkresh]

Semidevil it depends on the projector and how much light the room has. DLP and LCD projectors tend to be brighter then older crt ones, so you can use them with some light (I have been using a panasonic AE900 for most of my tv viewing for a year now and its fine with lights on in the room as long as they aren't too close to the screen and don't point at the screen). Unfortunately i have giant 9 foot bay windows so the projector does get very washed out during the day in the summer (there are hours when its not useufl during the summer, though if I got good blinds it would be fine). If you have a room with few windows (or at least ones that don't touch the screen area) and you don't have other people who want to read in that room while you watch tv then its fine, just remember that projectors take some time to warm up and cool down so they are not good for quickly checking something (ie if you aren't watching for 30+ minutes then its not worth turning on, and in general sessions of 1+ hour make more sense). Finally while price to size ratio cant be beat for a projector you od have consider your total viewing time and bulb life (ie if you leave it on all day all then bulbs wont last long and replacement costs will catch up to you).

 

[pennylane]

Like others have said, it mainly depends on how much light enters your room and how bright (how many lumens) the projector can put out. The darker the room is, the better the projector looks. But for normal TV viewing, you can get away with some dim light.

Are you just floating the question or are you considering a specific projector or something else?

 

[Rio Rebel]

I have a dedicated theater room that is totally light controlled. There is absolutely NOTHING like watching your favorite college football team on a high def projector.

(The only problem is you need to control the lights, so it's not really a party atmosphere. But if you're like me, it's all about the game, and you want your friends to STFU during the game anyway. )

 

[sdifox]

That is the case for me. I don't watch it during the day so no problem for me.

 

[ericlp]

Only if you want a headache. Regular TV is pretty poor video to begin with. I dunno, it just looks bad ... A lot of times when they go out in the van to cover a news story it's really bad camera bouncing all over the place. I guess it depends on the viewer. I put my regular 32" TV on a stand with wheels, when I want to watch a movie I wheel it out of the way...

 

[Big Lar]

It all depends on the projector, and ambient light in the room. I run an Infocus IN72 with both DVD's and Comcast TV. I have 2 windows in the room with blinds that are within about 10' of the screen, and another window about 20' back with an open vertical blind, and in daylight, with the 2 closer windows having the blinds closed I get a very decent watchable screen. At night, it is better, but daylight is doable.

I will Never go back to a standard TV, and replaced a Dual Tuner 57" Sony with the PJ, Even the wife agrees that we should have done this long ago. Light control is a must, but if you can control that, regular TV is just fine with certain PJ's.

I have read that alot of the 720P and up PJ's have a problem with TV viewing, which is why I picked the IN72, and will never look back, it is great, IMHO. I watch a 90" home made screen with Behr Ultra Pure White paint, (upw), and a coat of Matte Urethane. Just couldn't be happier here

Larry