LCD Projector vs Direct View

Dear all,
I really like the idea of a projector, but all the LCD TVs I've seen look fairly rubbish. Would one of the "New Batch" LCD projectors give a BETTER image than a direct-view TV (obviously it'll be much bigger!). The TVs just seem to give a really noisy picture - full of blocking and blurring on scrolling text etc etc. Obviously the panels in a projector are much smaller than in a TV, but are they significantly different to give a much better picture?????
Thanks team

 

I would say yes it would outperform a lcd tv in alot of ways. Give it a good source and it will impress

 

Personally, I've not seen an LCD TV that delivers a picture quality I could live with.
However, I've owned 3 LCD projectors over the last 3 - 4 years, and the picture quality on them all wipes the floor with LCD TV's.
In fact, my current Sony HS50 seems to deliver a better picture than my 32" CRT TV..... even at 6ft wide!

So, although I can't give a technical reason as to why it should be, I believe an LCD projector does deliver a better picture quality than an LCD TV.

 

hoped you might say that!
Now which one....??
A nice problem to have - but I think I feel a Z4 coming on - or maybe an AE900.......
Wait and see I guess. Hoping to see these in action at the What Hifi show. Do we think they'll be demos of them both?

 

Xavster,

I purchased a Z3 two months ago as my first projector and have been blown away by the picture quality (provided a decent source is playing).

My Z3 seems much happier with an HDMI source than with a component signal. The picture through HDMI is much cleaner and rock solid.

If the Z4 is as good or better than the Z3 you won't be dissapointed.

Whatever you decide to go for, hope you enjoy it, I'm sure you will

 

As others have hinted, although the two are both "LCD" products, they are very different implementations of LCD technology.
However I also think that the poor pictures you have seen on LCD TVs are probably more down to poor image processing by the TV (deinterlacing/scaling/"enhancement" etc) and/or poor input signal quality than the technology of LCD panels themselves.
They are after the mass market, and I suspect that the manufacturer's margins on these types of TVs are thinner than on many of the projectors we usually talk about!

 

It seems that high street shops like Dixons, Currys, Comet etc all display poor source footage. Some TV's look fantastic where other more expensive HDMI, 100Hz display units look utter pants. Its really quite anoying.

With LCD TV's you really have to demo them too because of the viewing angle. Look at some from the side and they produce a green image whereas others don't do this.

I think the highstreet TV world is consentrating on BIG rather than quality at the moment.

Anim

 

I've seen a few LCD TV's running dvd's and they were all without exception terrible.
I have a a panasonic plasma and a sanyo z3 and I can safely say that the the Z3 produces a far cleaner, sharper and much more cinematic image even though it's an 8 foot diagonal picture compared to a 37" screen.
For a long time my plasma was one of the best pictures I'd seen.
Since having my Z3 I think my plasma was a complete waste of money!

 

Maybe I'm being cynical, I suspect that many people are buying big plasma and LCD TVs just so they can tell the neighbours they've got one, so picture quality probably isn't a consideration...

 

Personally I bought my plasma as it was the only way to get a large tv( a crt would have taken far too much room).
I still wish I'd gone down the projector route in the first place though, I seriously doubt I would have bought a plasma if I'd bought a pj first.

 

Just to clarify, I wasn't talking about the kind of people who use this forum! Nevertheless, plasma and LCD TVs seem to have replaced Burberry caps and Kappa tracksuits as the must-have items at the moment, though...

 

I went to the currys in worcester yesterday, they had some new LG units setup quite nice, i think they were displaying HD demo, the 50" unit looks superb, but it is 3k, but all the other tv`s looked pap, even those with HD demo`s on.

Its a pity i have missed out on a Z3 now too, they were a billy bargain compared tot the price of even small lcd`s/plasma`s

 

If you are into films then projectors are so much better value than plasma's it's unbelievable.

 

Then why didnt you?

 

So do LCD projectors suffer from blurring/ghosting like some lcd tv`s do

 

No

 

I was in comet and they were showing one of Sky's hi-def adverts using Battlestar Galactica. LCD TVs were showing it and whilst the images were completely stable and noise free only one of them managed to show a single star in the background, all the others were murky grey. So check contrast ratio before you buy. It put me off upgrading my CRT tv. I'll just get another projector (the new batch of LCDs look right smart).

 

I have an AE700 and it knocks spots of any lcd tv, if i was looking for a projector i would wait for the new AE900 with 5500.1 contrast your going to get exceptional quality, blacks will be really black.

Chris.

 

I'm also considering one of the new D5 LCD projectors. Just to get an idea of picture quality, how would these projectors compare to your local Odeon when showing hi-def material? I like the hi-def pics on plasmas I've seen, but with the new D5 panels, can I get a superior picture at 120 inches sitting 2m away?

 

YES!

My AE300 definatley shows some blur but only on large camera pans. (I am assuming this is motion blur) A good way to show this (poor) trait is the pans in Fellowship OTR with the sweeping shot across the cliffs over the battlefileds in the prologue and also the sweeping shots into the depths of Isengard.

I'm looking to upgrade to a Z4 or AE900 and am hoping that this has been improved with the new panels. It is more distracting to me that the relative lack of contrast.

Do LCD projectors have refresh rates like the TFT panels? Can't recall seeing any figures published...

 

new d5 have lower response times about 12ms i think.

 

Chalk and cheese. Hidef is just high resolution video . Film is a different kettle of fish.
You will be able to get a picture that you are very happy with at home with an LCD projector and a hidef source ( or even sd) but its still a world away from 35mm.

As for the flat panels...I spent a few hours checking out lcds for some workmates who wanted desperately to buy one. No amount of tweaking made any of the lcds we looked at acceptable ( or even half way decent). The only panel that any of them liked was the panasonic plasmas (which was lower res than what they were after and too expensive for them).

 

120" screen @ 2m viewing distance???

I'd rethink that if I were you .

 

If you lived in the USA you could by a HighDef LCD TV, watch HiDef terrestrial Digital TV (ATSC) and you would be extremely happy. But I guess you live in Europe.

From my experience, most LCD TV's are utter rubbish. As are Plasmas.

I just don't know where to begin in describing the poor picture quality, but the major prob with LCD TV's is motion blur. Plus, most of them also look like someone has smeared grease on the panel. How they sell I just do not know.

Same for Plasma's, I still can't work out the best viewing distance, but it's about 80 ft.

Many of these current crop come with freeview tuners built in - and SD low-bit rate sources just make the whole image a lot worse. Watching the cricket was painful, the macro blocking was appalling. However, count yourself lucky you don't live in Germany where the bit rate is even lower and they try to squeeze 21 channels into a single multiplex.

Places like Richer Sounds have a great display of plasmas, fed off a uber quality DVD player with the best source material going. People go in, think "I'll have some of that" then are probably very disapointed when they get it home and watch the footy off their £50 freeview box (most plasmas don't come with a tuner). However, who's gonna have the balls to take it back once you've persueded the wife that 2k was a great spend, you've bolted it to the wall and shown your mates War of the worlds in 720p from your new DVD player?

Some LCD's look great though. But you have to spend upwards of 1.5K on them. The Philips 37PF9830 is lovely, but I guess you weren't thinking of spending 2.5K on your screen.

For less money you could have an unbelievably good CRT, but you would need a bigger room to store it and you're mates would think you were very "last century" because they've been into Richer Sounds and seen the wall of plasmas...

Me? I can't countenance spending that much on a display technology, not when I can blow £1.3K on a Z4, £300 on a XBOX 360 and be in gaming heaven by christmas. I mean, projectors rock, don't they?

 

I was watching my brother's new Hitachi 5200 42" plasma the last week I I was impressed, looked great with DVD and no slouch even with Sky. Cost £1400 I think which I thought looked very good value.

He'd seen my projector and was extremely impressed to the point of wanting one, but when I explained the limitations he agreed a plasma was the best bet for him and his family.

I wouldn't entertain a plasma (less than 80" anyway!) as my main viewing screen, but they can produce some great pics and look nice around the house!...PJ

 

Ok, how about from 2m 70cm away (I'm guessing this is still too close). Got a funny shaped room. Going further back means the left rear speaker will be closer to me as the left wall moves diagonally inwards for the entrance.

Thanks

 

You'd be better, IMO of course , with an 80in screen - perhaps even 70in if the viewing distance is nearer 2m.

Still, it's as much about personal taste as anything else - if you don't mind seeing some SDE and pixellation, and like a relatively huge image, then so be it!!

 

I think freeview gets a bad rap . The problem with a lot of digital panels stems from the terrible deinterlacing and scaling the panels employ. If you take a freeview signal and deal with it properly then the picture quality on the majority of channels is fine.

In fact I see more problems with the average Sky picture.

 

Yeah but with normal projector setup you dont see any pixelation or SDE. Thats ofcourse my experience with 720p lcd projector.

Projector problems compared to say plasma are bulb cost/life,dark room required and you cant just switch it on for 1 minute to check something