Back in the home cinema game, struggling to justify a projector purchase

When films are made and released the first place they are generally shown is at a cinema on a big screen with a projector, it’s the way it’s intended... Yes we know have big flat screen TVs and things have moved on, but a big projected and immersive screen is what the director intended despite what Panasonic say...
 
And from 30 cm from your cellphone you also get that immerse...
You can't cheat your brain getting closer to smaller screen. And 3m is comfortable for 3-4 person, 1,6m is barely for two. Better view movies with girlfriend than some dude on 55" inch tv.
Speaking as a gay, I’ll take the dude every time. Thanks.
 
Just finished placing black velvet on half my cinema room ceiling and around the sides of the projector room, this room is already painted a very dark grey/black colour. Now my projector looks amazing at 119 inches, can’t fault it but I have a dedicated cinema room. The plan in 3-4 years is me and my wife will be selling the house and down sizing into some apartments we own. This is all white with plenty of glazing. A projector won’t work there so in the future I will be looking at large OLED screen. My friend has just got the LG OLED C8 77 inch, looks good but still to small for me. I am hoping in 3-4 years I should be able to get a 88 inch OLED 8k at a good price as these were shown off at CES this year. This will still be smaller than my existing 119 inch screen but I don’t need a complete bat cave in the apartment for an OLED. If you can accommodate a projector with a large screen in the right settings, I would take that over a large TV under 100 inches.
 
ALR?!?
 
Hi, I had a ALR screen in the past, I had the react 2.1, I personally could see a shimmer effect, my son and others could not. That’s why my wife eventually agreed for me to go complete dark for the room and then changed to a white screen. I have allot of planning to do for the future for my cinema room. For the next 3-4 years I will enjoy the projector and the setup I have now.
 
I have recently ditched my 65 inch tv in favour of the Xoami PJ and 100 inch ALR screen. So i use the PJ on a daily basis and have to say it is the best thing i have done. Whilst it may not have the picture quality of a top end tv, it is more than good enough for me and in this case big is better lol
 
Should add to that as people are mentioning it being a faff to use a projector. My oldest who is now 9 often goes to my house when i am at work and when he is at his grandmas (my mum, she lives round the corner) to use his xbox and manages to use it with zero fuss.

So if a 9 year old can use it then surely anyone can
 
I said it was a ‘bit’ of a faff, I don’t really think it is that much and it’s not once setup. I love my PJ, I regularly change and it takes me 5 mins to swap them over, I find it a cinch...
 
Having a dedicated room with an intelligent remote or perhaps a living room set up where absolute picture quality isn't expected shouldn't be more of a faff than just putting a TV. Just press the button and go (once the lamp has brightened up enough).

However, being a half way house of the too (and having high expectations for picture quality) means I have to do some preparation before putting a film on: Move a few ornaments, lower my TV, put some Devore across the shelf below the screen, pull out the Devore side curtains and close all the blinds/curtains. I wanted it all to be automated when I planned the room, but it just wasn't possible in the end. I do enjoy the picture quality once I do all of the above and wouldn't watch in the room without pulling the Devore curtains, etc as the image just looks washed out then.

Have to admit that after years of owning a projector I do wonder if one day I'll be tempted just to get a big TV for ease of use. Maybe if they start doing 2.40:1 aspect ones again like Philips used to do as that's part of the attraction for me when I watch on the 'big screen': It just feels a bit more of an occasion than watching on TV with black bars top and bottom.

The only issues I have with a big TV is that I can't then have the LCR properly lined up behind the screen as I do now (big improvement since I did this IMHO) and very large TVs can seem a bit chavvy and take over the room when not in use.
 
My PJ is 78" screen and I sit 8ft away, with a full-size speaker surround set-up.

Used to love it. However, now I find the PQ annoying compared even to a 2008 vintage Samsung 40" LCD in the room, let along my 55" HDR LCD....

The upshot is I don't want to watch movies at home - too small TVs vs too dull PJ.

I hope a 75" TV marginally closer since its not the wall could replace the 78" PJ to bring back that cinema feel - 39 degrees Field of View is my "threshold" when the screen size becomes cinema and not TV.
 
I still use my pj almost nightly, projecting 120” wide (CIW) sitting about 14ft from the image. I have a big enough matt white very smooth wall to project onto so no screen. I do put Devore up but it takes less than a minute so the “faff” is very minor and the result is awesome even with my humble 1080p JVC X3.

I can’t see me ever being without a projector, it was an essential requirement when I bought this house that I bought a house where I could get an image as big as possible.

Basically I prefer a big high quality 1080p experience to a small 75” 4k hdr experience.

I even use my pj for good tv series (walking dead etc).
 
I’ve mounted my 4 year old BenQ 1080p projector onto the ceiling and simply project it onto a flat wall at around 120 inches - it only cost about £550 at the time including the mount. Also have a 2 year old 58 inch Panasonic 4K LED TV that cost over twice as much and for watching movies the projector wins every time, you can’t beat a massive screen. You do need a darkened room though otherwise the colours don’t look great.
 

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