Question Home Projector + Screen for under $2,000 ?

[Muckster]

I'm just starting to understand the options and lingo around home projectors. I'm thinking about getting one that would meet the following criteria:

1) quiet or relatively quiet

2) wall/shelf mounted to focus screen about 15 feet away

3) able to connect to a laptop to stream movies, play games, etc. (I'm really not up to speed on connectivity options)

4) Something that has some hope of working in non-total dark rooms. Little daylight, lamp light, etc.

I'm looking for a few go-to recommendations I can start with just to see what's out there and what I can afford. I've only watched/read a few reviews so I'm not ready to dive deep just yet.

Thanks if you have any suggestions for what to look at.

 

[Eximo]

What size screen are wanting to achieve?

Any sufficiently large screen size is going to demand 4K for decent clarity, and that means a powerful system for gaming, though you could game at 1080p upscaled.

HDMI 2.1 120hz would be the standard to aim for today.

For reference, there are 77" OLED TVs under $2000 (not ideal for brighter rooms)

98" Samsung LCD at BestBuy for $3000.

 

[Muckster]

Thanks for he post Eximo, but I think I posted too early. Wow, there's a lot to consider and I'm down the rabbit hole. I have conflicting needs for it and I really don't understand the stats well enough to judge. For example, how bright can a room be and still have a decent picture? It might be so subjective that I'll just have to try it to know.

I think I'm settling on a 100" diagonal screen, but it has to be pull up. I think there are options for it to be greyish instead of white in some cases? Like I said, a lot to process. I think I'll be better off doing more homework before checking back, which might be a week or so. Still, I totally appreciate your response.

 

[Eximo]

Yeah, it is a bit overwhelming.

Depends a lot on the projector. Brightest ones are laser models, and they can work decently in non-blacked out conditions, normal room lighting. Most other projectors, you need a relatively dark room for a decent experience or you lose a lot of color contrast.

Seems the market for laser projectors has exploded since the last time I looked. Quite a few models, some even relatively cheap, but no idea how good they are.

Screen materials differ a lot as the price goes up. The more reflective ones help with brightness. There are also special paints you can use directly on a wall if you don't want the hassle of a pull down screen.

 

[Muckster]

Okay, I've educated myself more now and am looking for feedback.

My main restriction is the room itself which has a high ceiling and several windows, including two sky lights. My hope for ambient light viewing is to be able to watch late in the day, maybe 2 hours before dusk. Not much of an issue in the winter months where it gets dark near 5pm.

For a variety of reasons, I just don't see how I can get away from using a pull down screen. This basically means no ALR/CLR and the screen will not be very "flat". I've come to understand that Short and Ultra Short Throw projectors don't work well on pull down screens because they aren't flat enough. Also, because it's roll down, I wouldn't be able to use the ALR/CLR that seems to greatly benefit ST and UST. I also had to rule out the screens that roll UP from the floor.

Anyway, I think the way to go is to use a pull down 120" screen, probably white, unless I see a reason to go grey.

Right now I'm thinking... Elite Screens Manual Series, 120-INCH 16:9, Pull Down Manual Projector Screen, $300.

Of course, I want it all, but in this order.

1. At least a good or very good picture for viewing in a dark (after sundown) room with shades pulled. It will not be a pitch black room. In other words, whatever I compromise on, I still want to have a good picture at night as this will be 85% of the way I will use it for movies, tv, etc.

2. Ambient viewing. This one's hard to know without acutally seeing in person. Stats only say so much. Again, I'd like to be able to start watching an hour or two before dusk in the summer time. So maybe 2000 lumens at the least?

3. Gaming. I'd like to be able to game, not competive online FPS, but maybe more than casual. Not sure what input lag should be. Under 30 maybe?

4. Fan noise. I might just browse online using the projector without volume. I don't want to hear fan noise, so maybe 30db or less?

5. I'd like to do LED or laser. Traditional bulbs blow out faster and would probably be hotter and therefore noiser.

I mostly expect to just plug my laptop in and use the projector that way, so I'm not going out of my way to use android TV or other built in stuff.

Ideally, I'd like the projector to have decent audio. Nothing extraordinary, but like you might get from a quality flat screen TV. However, if the projector ends up being right in front of my sitting area, or above my head on a shelf, I may not be able to use the onboard audio so I might have use some kind of 3rd party sound bar. I'm not sure.

Wall to screen wall is 14.5', so if I'm sitting on the couch, maybe 13+' between my eyeballs and the screen. I could put the projector on some kind of table in front of me or I could mount it on a shelf on the wall opposite the screen. The high ceiling disqualifies a ceiling mount.

Budget just for the projector? Maybe around $1,500 but I could be talked into a little more to get the stats I want. I've searched a bit and seen projectors that fit my criteria. I can study stats and what's recommeded, but I just don't think I'll understand what matters until I see it. Likewise, I've read complaints about certain models or brands but I really don't know how seriously to take them. My plan is to buy 2 or 3 projectors and test them out before returning two. If it turns out, for example, that I just can't get a decent viewing with ambient lightly, I might just restart my hunt and aim for a projector that only needs to work in the dark. I have almost zero real life experience with projectors and will be buying online. US Market.

 

[Eximo]

Top of the list here is a little more expensive than your budget, but would be pretty decent for mixed use. You might want to explore some of their notable mentions at the bottom. Several are in your price range, but are typically lamp/LCD type.

https://www.rtings.com/projector/reviews/best/projector

 

[Muckster]

Okay, thanks for the link.

If anyone has any more info about certain brands reliability or can address the specific issues I raised, that would be great. Again, I don't want lamp. That said, I realized Tom's is more about PC hardware and Home Projectors may not quite be in the wheel house of this forum.

I will say in doing my research, AI has been more helpful that I expected, although it's never to be trusted 100%. You can just ask... give me full stats on this or that model. Compare models. Tell me what model goes with this screen, etc.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Sorry to jump in so late on this topic.

If you haven't been to Projector Central, that needs to be your next stop. They have reviews and a throw distance calculator so you can determine your image size vs throw distance for each projector.

I actually own an Elite Screens 135" pull down screen. Worked very well for me and my mostly darkened room. Yours should do well for you. Probably can't do too much about the sky lights, but you may want to consider black out blinds or curtains for your windows. They will definitely help with the ambient light situation. Mine worked very well for West-facing windows while watching daytime Sunday football.

As for projectors, I really don't have too much experience with them. I don't remember the model of my first one, but it was a BenQ something. The last one I owned was the Optoma HD20. It was 1080p and gave a great image at 130" diagonal (around 19' throw distance). Had it hooked up to my HTPC (w/Blu-Ray drive and Ceton InfiniTV4 Card installed). Had the audio go out to my Onkyo Home Theater System via optical out on the motherboard and video to the projector via HDMI out on my AMD HD4650 graphic card.

While I was sitting approximately 15' away from the screen, I didn't notice any "screen door" effect. That only came into play when I walked up close to the screen. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with playing games with it.

Head on over to Projector Central and take a look and which ones match your desires and which one are best reviewed. In my opinion, Epson and Optoma are two of the best brands and BenQ is more budget friendly.

-Wolf sends

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Are there no stores where they have CInema Room setups near you? We have some (Ireland Local Stores), so you can go in and see for yourself. They have everything set up, and you sit down and watch. They can switch between different audio devices and speaker setup, and inputs to show various aspects of the projectors or large TVs.

Maybe that's an option.

 

[Muckster]

Sorry to jump in so late on this topic.

If you haven't been to Projector Central, that needs to be your next stop. They have reviews and a throw distance calculator so you can determine your image size vs throw distance for each projector.

I actually own an Elite Screens 135" pull down screen. Worked very well for me and my mostly darkened room. Yours should do well for you. Probably can't do too much about the sky lights, but you may want to consider black out blinds or curtains for your windows. They will definitely help with the ambient light situation. Mine worked very well for West-facing windows while watching daytime Sunday football.

As for projectors, I really don't have too much experience with them. I don't remember the model of my first one, but it was a BenQ something. The last one I owned was the Optoma HD20. It was 1080p and gave a great image at 130" diagonal (around 19' throw distance). Had it hooked up to my HTPC (w/Blu-Ray drive and Ceton InfiniTV4 Card installed). Had the audio go out to my Onkyo Home Theater System via optical out on the motherboard and video to the projector via HDMI out on my AMD HD4650 graphic card.

While I was sitting approximately 15' away from the screen, I didn't notice any "screen door" effect. That only came into play when I walked up close to the screen. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with playing games with it.

Head on over to Projector Central and take a look and which ones match your desires and which one are best reviewed. In my opinion, Epson and Optoma are two of the best brands and BenQ is more budget friendly.

-Wolf sends

Thanks for your feedback, the link and sharing your experience. I started thinking I'd do a 100" screen, but then I realized I have room for a 120", so why not? I'll spend a little time over at Projector Central, but mostly I've just been doing youtube reviews.

Good feeback on Epson and Optoma. I'm actually not having much luck finding long throw projectors in laser or LED, but I do find many with good stats using the old school lamp. Right now my plan is to try a few different throws, starting from inches, to about 7 feet to about 14 feet. Hopefully I'll have a better sense of what the stats actually mean by then. Sometimes, with lumens or contrast ratio, different brands aren't even measuring the same thing or the same way.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

 

[Muckster]

Hey there,

Are there no stores where they have CInema Room setups near you? We have some (Ireland Local Stores), so you can go in and see for yourself. They have everything set up, and you sit down and watch. They can switch between different audio devices and speaker setup, and inputs to show various aspects of the projectors or large TVs.

Maybe that's an option.

I hear ya. I know there's an audio joint not far, but given the sheer number of projectors out there, I can't imagine they'll have much of a in-stock inventory to test out. My ears and eyes are too old for me to be true audiophile anymore.

It's just so easy to buy something from places like Amazon, try it out, then return for free a week later.

 

[Muckster]

Here's an example of not being able to judge well by stats. Looking at Projector Central link from Wolfshadw, there #1 under $3000 projector is the BenQ TK700STi ($1,619). Well, that projector only has a contrast ratio of 10,000 to 1. I say only because other projectors in this price range are 50k, 500k, or over a million. When I looked more into, the BenQ tk700sti is showing NATIVE contrast ratio while others are showing in terms of DYNAMIC which is usually much higher. But how to convert native to dynamic in order to make an apples to apples comparrion. Who knows? lol. This is why I think I just have to try a few out.

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you're willing to try out a short throw projector on a budget, then this is the one I'd try out first: Optoma GT3500 HDR DLP Projector.

Something I didn't mention in my previous post. Projectors aren't known for their awesome audio capabilities. If you have a sound system, you'll probably want to look at connecting the laptop audio to that instead of relying on the projector speakers.

-Wolf sends

 

[Muckster]

If you're willing to try out a short throw projector on a budget, then this is the one I'd try out first: Optoma GT3500 HDR DLP Projector.

Something I didn't mention in my previous post. Projectors aren't known for their awesome audio capabilities. If you have a sound system, you'll probably want to look at connecting the laptop audio to that instead of relying on the projector speakers.

-Wolf sends

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback I'm getting as I waver back and forth a bit before making my order.

As mentioned, I'm looking to order 2 or 3 and try them out and I've looked at stats on about 20 now. The model you mention was already one I plan to get and will have a 2 1/2" throw at 120", so your'e right on with understanding my need. I thought I'd also try a standard/short throw, around 7 feet, and then another on a shelf above my sitting area about 14.5 feet away. 14.5 feet is actually the wall to wall distance, screen to viewing area (couch). Ceiling is high so I can't mount it there.

For the 7' throw (at 120") I'm currently leaning towards the BenQ x500i.

BROADER QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP...

So, am I just hung up on the idea of laser or LED? Seems I can spend $1000 rather than $1500 and get what I want in a lamp (traditional bulbs), especially for Long or Standard throws HPs.

What are the real world problems with lamps, other than shorter bulb life and the run hotter. Hotter bothers me because fan noise is going to bother me. But if I spend $1000 instead of $1500, I'll have room to buy a few extra bulbs over years. Am I needlessly hung up on the idea of lasers/LED? Is it kind of a gimmick?

Please let me know the "Street smart" of what's wrong with lamps. I don't see much in $1500 range for non-lamp HPs in long or standard throw (about 14 feet throw), so I'll probably try out a lamp. Maybe something like the Epson Home Cinema 4010?

As for audio, if the HP speakers are poor quality, I'll probably do some kind of blue tooth speaker off the laptop I'll mostly be using in conjunction with the HP. I'd like to keep the wires to a minimum.

Because my main use is movies/TV at night when it's dark, am I right to stick with a white screen? Some say go grey to get the blacks with ambient lighting, but wouldn't this harm the over all picture at night? (I'd really like to order that 120" white pull down screen and get it in place before ordering the projectors to try).

Anything else I can do to make the screen flatter (more stable) for ST or UST projectors? I've seen some are retractable or even have some sort of tension supports on the sides but for me having a simple pull down screen is key to my whole setup. I wonder if there's a makeshift way to make a pull down screen more rigid by making extra connections on the corners like light bungies or something. This may be stupid, but just wondering if anyone' s come up with something.

And finally, how important is 4k at 120" screen? Most of what I watch isnt' 4k. I'm not a sports guy at all. Just movies and sometimes video games, how many shows are actually streamed at 4k off Amazon prime or Netflix?

Thanks again, I appreciate all the feedback.

 

[Muckster]

I'm looking hard at the BenQ x500i paired with the Elite Screens Manual Series,120-INCH 16:9, Pull Down Manual Screen. It should hit 120" at about 7 feet. If anyone knows the reputation (good/bad) of this model or knows similar models, please let me know. I have the stats, but street word of mouth is good to know. I'm a little concerned about the noise of the BenQ some report, but some say that about similar models like the viewsonic. Any feedback is appreciated.

comparing to the ViewSonic X2-4K
https://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors-compare.cfm?pid_1=12203&pid_2=12043

Are there 3rd party solutions to getting the noise level down if it's a problem? Maybe some computer case fans?

 

[Wolfshadw]

No experience with that particular model, but one thing I'm not sure you've taken into account is the location of the nearest power outlet. At a roughly 7' throw distance, the projector is going to be sitting in the middle of the room. Unless you have an outlet in the floor nearby, you will likely need to run an extension cable to the wall outlet; creating a tripping hazard. If this is the case, you may want to consider investing in a Low Profile Cord Protector.

-Wolf sends

 

[Muckster]

No experience with that particular model, but one thing I'm not sure you've taken into account is the location of the nearest power outlet. At a roughly 7' throw distance, the projector is going to be sitting in the middle of the room. Unless you have an outlet in the floor nearby, you will likely need to run an extension cable to the wall outlet; creating a tripping hazard. If this is the case, you may want to consider investing in a Low Profile Cord Protector.

-Wolf sends

Good point, but in my case I would only be pulling it out when in use, much like the pull down screen itself.

 

[Muckster]

Not sure who's still following this thread, but just to share my experience so far...

I tried the Ultra Short Optoma GT3500. Fan noise wasn't bad (and it didn't hurt it was 12 feet away), but onboard audio was, at best, acceptable. It's a room with a lot of windows and two skylights, but with shades pulled down, I could watch some shows or browse online during the day. Image was very washed out. Watching darker tone video wasn't worth it, like watching a show that was filmed at night. I really wanted to like this projector, but, as predicted the pull down screen just wasn't "flat" enough. Mostly the screen looked normal, but it was still common to get ripples across it, as if the screen was on the surface of a waterbed. Also, it flickered once in a while with a yellow tint. Not sure if this was a defect or a product of using a pull down screen. Some kind of auto color correct glitching out? Not sure. Anyway, it's going back. BTW, Amazon clearly sent me an open box. Seemed to have everything with it, but not truly a NEW item.

Next, I got the BenQ x500i. The Optoma boasted 3800 lumens, while the BenQ had only 2200. As expected, results were similar to the Optoma, but even more washed out. Still watchable or browsable in day but far from ideal. The good news is the waterbed effect went away which makes it the better choice. The screen I bought was just over 300. To get a rigid retractable screen at 120" would be over a 1,000, so that wasn't worth it for me. If I could have used a fixed screen in my setup, that would hvae been the best choice and then I could have kept my UST.

Next, I'm considering what to try out for a long throw projector. For this, I'll have to mount on a shelf above the couch I'll be viewing from. Noise becomes even more critical and I think I'll have to expand my search to include the older lamp style. The big advantage a long throw has over the BenQ i500x is the convience of having it in a fixed position up and out of the way. Negatives are the way it looks, running wires to it (above my seating area), lamp style, and possible loud noise. I'll try something and if I can't make it work, the x500i will have to do.