Are projectors the "bang for buck" they used to be?

[PJTX100]

Just over 4 years ago when I bought my projector the average price of a plasma was 1.5K-2K. I bought my projector for 1K.

I remember thinking what amazing value projectors were, relative to TVs - in effect I was getting an image 4 times the size for half the price.

I've just bought a full 1080p screen for just over £500. And all the projectors that take my fancy at the moment seem to be around the 2K mark.

I know you can get projectors for a lot cheaper, but I do get the impression the price drop in LCD/plasma screens over the past few years has not been matched by projectors.

I suspect manufacturers have settled on them being a specialist product at a premium price and attract sales via improvements and additional features, rather than reducing the cost.

However, LCD/plasma TVs are also getting better, but the costs are still tumbling.

From what I can see PJs arent the amazing bargain they used to be.

But they are still my display of choice for films.

[indus]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

Just over 4 years ago when I bought my projector the average price of a plasma was 1.5K-2K. I bought my projector for 1K.

I remember thinking what amazing value projectors were, relative to TVs - in effect I was getting an image 4 times the size for half the price.

I've just bought a full 1080p screen for just over £500. And all the projectors that take my fancy at the moment seem to be around the 2K mark.

I know you can get projectors for a lot cheaper, but I do get the impression the price drop in LCD/plasma screens over the past few years has not been matched by projectors.

I suspect manufacturers have settled on them being a specialist product at a premium price and attract sales via improvements and additional features, rather than reducing the cost.

However, LCD/plasma TVs are also getting better, but the costs are still tumbling.

From what I can see PJs arent the amazing bargain they used to be.

But they are still my display of choice for films.

I see where you are coming from but disagree. The biggest TV you can get without spending £50k is about 62". The Pioneer and Panny cost £3-4k. I've bought a pj for £1.5k and a will get a screen for say £500 so for £2k will get a 106" image. So twice the image for approx half the cost.
Maybe thats not as good a ratio as it used to be, but it still seems like a no brainer for serious movie fans to me

[kbfern]

Also you have to remember economy of scale,they must be selling millions and millions of lcd/plasma tv's where the numbers of pj's is probably in the tens of thousands(Uk only).

Apart from us folks on here I only know one other person who has a pj and thats my brother in law who got one after seeing mine a few yrs ago.

I am still happy that pj's are effectivley the only way of getting a huge screen at a cheap price.

[spaceman763]

Don't forget that uptake of PJ's will never increase due to space limitations. Several friends have seen my PJ and commented on how they would have got one had they a) not been renting their current accommodation or 2) had more space. Compare this to say a 32" or 37" LCD / Plasma where the same issues are not inherent.

[Chester]

Yep, the recently reviewed 65" Panasonic plasma monitor is £8K, plus input cards of your choice. Even with a mid-range projector at about £4K-5K, partnered with a reasonable screen, you can get far greater image sizes and I'd an wager an in movie experience that far surpasses a plasma screen. If you've got the room for it, PJ+screen is still better value, even when considering mid-range components.

Personally, I'd love to go that direction. But the room won't allow it.

[Phill1978]

yes imo, i have the BenqW5000 (bought for £1250 inc vat and delivery although list is £1700) and its amazing, once you dial out some red and green, set the brightness and contrast correct feeding it with a hdmi 1:1 1080p signal shows a level of detail akin to a small lcd but at over 80-100", the black is great the colours are well beyond anything ive seen from a normal screen being DLP it just has no smear, no banding, no input lag, no ghosting, no noise, no grid effect, no solarisation/poster efect, no aliasing or bars, no convergance problems just rainbow like colours and a see through film like clarity.

it is brill really cant imagine getting much better from the format apart from two areas.. black although great within the image the borders are grey`ish and motion is amazing on 60p 50p games but on 24hz blueray @ 48hz double framed it still looks a bit jerky on big pans TBH its bluerays biggest let down so id expect a next gen 1080p pj to run 96 or even 120hz + with better blacks.

mainly its down to getting the white balance and brightness correct and most importantly a really decent screen, pref grey !

only thing i can compare it too is a old school trinitron CRT monitor but with more detail (and worse blacks) !

[theritz]

From what I can see PJs arent the amazing bargain they used to be.

It all depends on what you mean by an amazing bargain - when I got into digital projectors first (around 2002) the Panasonic AE100 was the projector which opened up the home cinema market (there's a huge thread lurking here, maybe on the archives where lots of vets cut their teeth) , up to then lots were using projectors designed primarily for office applications (Infocus and NEC). The AE100 was costing us £1200-£1400 for an 848x484 LCD projector with it's fair share of issues, guys with 1280x720 projectors were in the "big leagues" - I can remeber going to see an Infocus 7205 and being blown away by the difference and CRT was still king for image quality.

The same money will now get you into the lower reaches of full HD, considerably less than that for 720p, all with image quality and reliability far in excess of what was the norm a few years ago. Read Phil Hinton's review of the Infocus IN80 and see how far things have come along.

The reality is that image quality and reliability have improved dramatically and prices have fallen in real terms over the last 5 or 6 years, exactly what you would expect to happen when you consider the normal development path of entertainment technology.

I have never believed that it is rational to make a comparison between LCD/Plasma and a projected image, I have a Panasonic Z81 and it produces a very different image than my projection setup, benefitting from far higher contrast and fullHD over a 42" screen as opposed to lower native contrast, 720p over a 100" screen.

At the end of the day for a "movie" experience I'd always opt for a projected image, I was using an 8mm projector watching silent "penny dreadfuls" back in the day !!


Ritz.

[Phill1978]

lcd and plasma do have a higher contrast for sure but with a well controlled environment you dont struggle with this you beneift as everything isnt back illuminated and forced like these screens, i.e its easy on the eye

[welwynnick]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

Just over 4 years ago when I bought my projector the average price of a plasma was 1.5K-2K. I bought my projector for 1K.
I remember thinking what amazing value projectors were, relative to TVs - in effect I was getting an image 4 times the size for half the price.
I've just bought a full 1080p screen for just over £500. And all the projectors that take my fancy at the moment seem to be around the 2K mark.
I know you can get projectors for a lot cheaper, but I do get the impression the price drop in LCD/plasma screens over the past few years has not been matched by projectors.
I suspect manufacturers have settled on them being a specialist product at a premium price and attract sales via improvements and additional features, rather than reducing the cost.
However, LCD/plasma TVs are also getting better, but the costs are still tumbling.
From what I can see PJs arent the amazing bargain they used to be.
But they are still my display of choice for films.

My initial thought was that projectors are much better value than they were a few years ago, but I take your point.

However, compare a current 2k projector to a 1k projector from 4 years ago. The difference in performance is huge - better resolution, better colours, better contrast, better reliability, better connectivity and processing. I know flat panels are getting better, but I don't think they're out-pacing projectors.

BR, Nick

[Darkstar_surfer]

I think there are a few points that have been missed here. Plasma/LCD TV prices may have dropping vastly but unfortunately so has the build quality and even though you can now pick up a 42" plasma/LCD for under £500 its picture is actually very poor compared to a good quality plasma from 3 to 4 years ago costing £1,500 - £2,000. In reality you still need to spend those numbers to get a good plasma/LCD today. Where as PJ prices are dropping and the quality is improving. I bought a Benq W100 two years ago for £346 and if I had been quick I could have got a Optoma HD65 for under £400 a little while ago. The same goes for most price points for PJ's.

So my vote is a PJ is now more "bang for buck" than a plasma/LCD.