Oled to projector advice

Mack errol

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Evening all,

Probably a question that gets asked frequently and seeing that I’m asking it in the projector forum I know I’m probably going to get a roasting.

I’ve a 65” Oled and am in the process of convincing the wife that we need a bigger screen in our film room , I’d been drooling over a 77” Oled then that has lead onto the 83” now that the price is starting to come down. But the price difference between the 77” to 83” for what you actually gain in screen size has got me thinking of going down the projector route which is something I’d never considered until now and know very little on.

Our (family) film room was part of our extension a couple of years ago. I did put a cable in for a single socket where a projector could go and due to the screen wall being built forward with an accessible void behind it I can access the screen position to make putting a hdmi cable possible due to a mini duct put in front to back, unless our room isn’t long enough for the throw ratio and an Ultra short throw is recommended.

I’m hoping you guys can advise me if you’d recommend going down the projector route or stick with what I know in the Oled’s.

• looking for 4k Ideally with Dolby vision.
• 95% 4k disc/Blu-ray , Netflix/Apple tv/Prime.
• 5% Sports.
• 0% Gaming.
• Black out blind makes the room erm Black.
• 7.1.2 atmos set up.
• Dark decor to room.
• Could move my front L & R speakers closer to the side walls and achieve around a 100” screen.

Have been reading up a bit on the ultra short throw projectors, I’m very interested in this concept?

I’ve attached a plan of the room that I hope will help with the guidance from you guys.

Many thanks,

Mack.
 

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You would have to mount the projector close to the rear wall but with a 100” screen you could use a JVC N5 which will give you the closest to OLED blacks from a projector for a bit more than £6k, plus it’s got the best tonal mapping for HDR so will cover all your streaming, movie etc sources. Though you say the room can go dark with blackout blinds this works different with a TV compared to a projector, for the best results the walls, ceiling and floor need to be treated against reflection because whatever light the screen gives off is reflected back by the walls etc even dark paint reflects which is why some of you with dedicated room cover everything in black velour/velvet, of course being a family room this isn’t an option but you can counter this effect with an ALR screen.

These screens aren’t the cheapest but best talk to someone like @Rickyj at Kalibrate who could be able to sort you out with projector and screen.

I can’t answer the question about Dolby Vision as I don’t believe any projector actually deals with it but I think there’s a work around that some are using so hopefully they will pipe in to your thread.
 
Sorry to enable but if you can't choose, get both. 65 or 77 OLED and then a projector for those really special family movie nights. You can't lose
 
You would have to mount the projector close to the rear wall but with a 100” screen you could use a JVC N5 which will give you the closest to OLED blacks from a projector for a bit more than £6k, plus it’s got the best tonal mapping for HDR so will cover all your streaming, movie etc sources. Though you say the room can go dark with blackout blinds this works different with a TV compared to a projector, for the best results the walls, ceiling and floor need to be treated against reflection because whatever light the screen gives off is reflected back by the walls etc even dark paint reflects which is why some of you with dedicated room cover everything in black velour/velvet, of course being a family room this isn’t an option but you can counter this effect with an ALR screen.

These screens aren’t the cheapest but best talk to someone like @Rickyj at Kalibrate who could be able to sort you out with projector and screen.

I can’t answer the question about Dolby Vision as I don’t believe any projector actually deals with it but I think there’s a work around that some are using so hopefully they will pipe in to your thread.
Thank you for your time, I’ll read up on this projector, slightly over budget especially with a screen as well but if it’s night and day the best option it is worth considering.
 
Sorry to enable but if you can't choose, get both. 65 or 77 OLED and then a projector for those really special family movie nights. You can't lose
Hmmm now that is a good idea, I could mount my existing 65” Oled on the wall and as you say use the projector for those special family movie times . 👍🏽
 
Thank you for your time, I’ll read up on this projector, slightly over budget especially with a screen as well but if it’s night and day the best option it is worth considering.
If you were to keep your TV and wanted a movie experience from a projector which will still be very good and saving you a sizeable amount of money then you might also consider the projector I am using, the Epson TW9400 is the best sub £3K projector on sale and when combined with the Panasonic UB420 BR Player the image is throws both in 1080P and 4K is top notch. Just check out the link to my movie image collection or check out the Movie screenshot eye candy thread for inspiration on possible options of projectors.

Send Ricky a PM as I am sure he will help steer you in the right direction and as a forum dealer member should treat you well. ;)

Here's a few images I took from recent movies and my machine is almost 3 years old on the original bulb.

p.jpeg

Black Widow 4K
p.jpeg

Free Guy 4K
p.jpeg

Monster Hunter 1080P
 
Just bare in mind you can’t use screenshots to judge how an image actually looks in person because a camera doesn’t work the same way as our eyes and compresses the contrast which can make it look better or worse depending on how it’s setup and finally the screen you view the image on will ultimately determine the contrast ratio of the image.

Just look at the difference between the first shots of a Epson TW9400 and the JVC X7900, they basically look identical contrast wise but having seen them on the same screen I can tell you the JVC is miles better contrast wise, the Epson in comparison looks like LCD vs. OLED where you have a sort of washed out appearance.

That aside you can still get a feel for what is possible just don’t expect it to look exactly like a flat panel as 14fL (cinema standard brightness) just isn’t as bright as TV and reflected light looks different regardless. What you should compare to is the cinema and it’s here where home cinema blows away what you will get there (except outright scale) in terms of contrast and black levels unless you have a local Dolby Cinema of course or £250k to buy a Christie Eclipse to go in your current room and another £250k to build a room 5 times it’s size!

100” would be plenty at 2.3/2.4m viewing distance, I had the one in my signature at ~3m and firing it up and the screen coming down in front of the TV was always an awesome experience and massive increase in immersion and scale over a 65” TV.

I think with it being a family room you should go the same route, electric tab-tensioned ALR screen like the Draper React 3.0 and the 65” OLED for daytime and TV watching when you don’t want to darken the room as a projector is nigh on useless with sunlight bouncing around. The screen will be quite pricey though unless you can find one second hand.

Projector wise at the moment your choices are limited, forget Dolby Vision, doesn’t exist on projectors but if you want it’s equal then the only game in town is JVC and their DTM (dynamic tone mapping) system which is basically real-time Dolby Vision to put it in simple terms which is straight into £6500+ territory. The other option is a Lumagen but those also start at prices not much lower before you even get a projector unless you find a second hand one but it’s still going to be ~£3000 which with an Epson TW9400 totals £5200 so you may as well get a JVC N5 at that point for the far superior native contrast.

If you can find a second hand JVC N7 they go for around £5500 that would be the best projector money can buy for ~£5000 and have dynamic tone mapping so you don’t have to worry about HDR movie brightness.

All that being said the Epson I have used with Auto HDR and I’ve found it perfectly fine and only needed to adjust when watching streamed HDR so the TW9400 may well be more than enough for you as it has similar modes. Best to get a demo and decide what you can afford and if it gives you what you are looking for as only you can decide what’s right for you as some people do stick with larger OLEDs.
 
Hmmm now that is a good idea, I could mount my existing 65” Oled on the wall and as you say use the projector for those special family movie times . 👍🏽
this is what i do... keep the tv you have..and put the money into a projector instead ...

we have a 65" sony a90J oled and we have a projector screen that drops in front of it for larger screen experience ...projector is jvc n7 :)

the sony 65" will allow a 30 deg viewing angle which rtings call the sweet spot for mixed viewing..

with the larger projector screen we can have a viewing angle of ~40 deg whcih rtings recommends for movies... :) 40 deg is approximately the thx recommendation for immersion as well :) and just not practical or even affordable to try do that with a TV !

below is a screen shot taken from my viewing position of said TV with a full frame camera and 50mm lens which best represents the perspective off human eye...

B21317E1-D20F-432E-8124-25B461C4EDCA.jpeg


here is the same lens and camera from also viewing distance and this time with the projector ... and image only slightly cropped to square up...

23728517-2706-4118-B76E-21361F558771_1_201_a.jpeg


hopefully can see the level of step up in immersion the larger projector screen affords ...something the TV simply cant match !

dont get me wrong the TV is outstanding we use it all the time ... for every day tv, streaming and even catch up TV via the fta tv services and the sony and given its screen size is quite kind to low bit rate starved material... that just wouldnt do justice putting up on the larger projected screen.

the projector is just a treat for blu-ray. 4k uhd blu-ray. HD and 4k streamed and other good quality media and fine also for watching larger screen programs like sport (cricket car racing, eurovision) and such where not going to be too critical on the picture quality but enjoy the larger screen experience .... :)
 
It’s the immersive experience a big screen projector brings that’s the biggest surprise to most who haven’t experience it in a home environment, you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people that would prefer to put the screen away and watch a movie on their OLED because it’s got better dynamic range.

It never ceases to amaze me when in the family room watching a movie or anything just how many of the family are also on their phones, so basically not watch the TV at all only really glancing and listening at most but when it’s the projector it’s total focus. It’s like at the local cinema and its to watch a movie it’s why you went.

Don’t know of too many who haven’t been happy getting a projector and screen.
 
I was in a similar dilemma at the beginning of the year... replace my 55" Sony OLED with a 65/77" model, or add a projector.

I went with the Epson EH-TW9400 (100" screen from 2.4m) and there hasn't been even a single "movie night" when I thought about missing the contrast, blacks and etc. from the OLED TV.It's also been more then half a year since the last time I've watched any movie on the TV.

And as @Luminated67 mentioned, the experience is so immersive (at least for me), that I have never even used my phone during a movie (*) . :)

(*) Taking pictures for the movie thread doesn't count :)

But, I wonder if I would've enjoyed the picture so much, if I didn't went through the hassle to make custom removable DIY velvet curtains for half of the living room.Probably I would, but still, worth mentioning.

Well, that is my personal and highly subjective opinion on the matter.
 
I'm a big advocate for projectors, but would choose an 83" oled over a 100" pj setup all day.
 
I'm a big advocate for projectors, but would choose an 83" oled over a 100" pj setup all day.
You will get the odd one who will pick a smaller TV over a projector but for most screen size wins out. Plus again my opinion but there’s something magical about a projected image compared to a TV.
 
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Thank you all for the replies it has certainly given me a lot to consider and think about. A friend is also looking to go down the projector route (he has a lot more room to play with) so will have to go and demo a few including the two recommended above.
I was expecting someone to recommend an ultra short throw projector for my room size, has anyone got any opinions on them or is it too new a product/technology?

Thanks again,

Mack.
 
Thank you all for the replies it has certainly given me a lot to consider and think about. A friend is also looking to go down the projector route (he has a lot more room to play with) so will have to go and demo a few including the two recommended above.
I was expecting someone to recommend an ultra short throw projector for my room size, has anyone got any opinions on them or is it too new a product/technology?

Thanks again,

Mack.
I personally have no experience of UST projectors but if you can get a demo then definitely do, just make sure you view some very dark scenes on it as their native contrast isn’t that good. Where are you based, hopefully some members might know a few good dealers in your area.
 
As above I have no experience with them and for the cost if you can accommodate it a normal one is better. Most projectors these days allow a pretty good screen size from the distance you are looking at.

The other benefit is you can stick it on a the ceiling or a shelf out of the way whereas a UST is going to need a table further out from the screen somewhere which personally I think is less convenient and more susceptible to damage.
 
You will get the odd one who will pick a smaller TV over a projector but for most screen size wins out. Plus again my opinion but there’s something magical about a projected image compared to a TV.

I agree when the difference in size is larger.
 
I can see the logic of an 83” TV instead of a 100” projection screen for sure, but only in a dedicated room - I can’t imagine actually having a TV that gigantic in a normal room of a house
 
83" vs 100" is still a big difference. I have a 77" OLED and I still miss the feel of a projected image, let alone the impact of size.
 
size is easier to do with projectors :)

cost difference in projector going from say 83" to going bigger 100" or there about is not significant... 120" 16:9 onwards does still start to push limits with many projectors as well...especially when comes to HDR and 3D...

with oleds though... with sony for instance you get an older gen oled panel with the 77...go the 83...and read the issues... starting with even getting one to your home in one piece :D. these are very large delicate yet heavy things to transport !

panels are also not perfect either ... and their issues start to rise to surface the larger you go... ie the issues are just more apparent...that you might not notice on a smaller set :)

its not really that different with projectors ... the larger the screen the more apparent the flaws... in the source material (and comes down to how display handles these) but also tech use and how flawed is it ... nothing is perfect :)

83" and above is one big huge TV too...mounting let alone taking over the room... for many its jsut too much.. for our multi use room a 65" tv is plenty and projector screen is motorised and goes away so not in your face
 
+1 for a dual installation . I considered the requirements for 4K HDR before choosing a panel to go with my jvc7000e which is used for 3d and 2d bluray as tv's dont do this anymore.
A panel with high nits is perfect for hdr over a low nit projector so I got a 85" hisense with fald for great contrast ; none of the cheapo edge lit rubbish :) . I see theres a lg 83"oled available for around 5000pd ; maybe theres even a cheaper high zone count led out there [what i got - can disguise it with a wallpaper simulation gui afaik ] ; hopefully with hdmi 2.1 ports [if your a gamer ?]
 
Thank you all for the replies it has certainly given me a lot to consider and think about. A friend is also looking to go down the projector route (he has a lot more room to play with) so will have to go and demo a few including the two recommended above.
I was expecting someone to recommend an ultra short throw projector for my room size, has anyone got any opinions on them or is it too new a product/technology?

Thanks again,

Mack.
Hi mate, you live near me, feel free to come over for a demo on a pretty much ultimate projector setup if you wish…….

Thread 'Shed of Darkness 9.4.6'
Shed of Darkness 9.4.6
 
Hi mate, you live near me, feel free to come over for a demo on a pretty much ultimate projector setup if you wish…….

Thread 'Shed of Darkness 9.4.6'
Shed of Darkness 9.4.6
Hello Mate,

You blew me away with your set up quite a while ago when I brought Blade 4k off you through the classifieds, got chatting when I picked it up and you showed me the shed of darkness. Would love to come and see it again and pick your brain.

I’ll pm you.

👍🏽
 

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