Swapping projector for large TV?

Can you do photos with devore activated and not activated with the lights off? I'm thinking of stealing that excellent idea :)

Will see if I can do that this evening as we'll be watching a film later. I'll put the projector on first and take a photo. The camera may well compensate though, so perhaps won't give the full impression, but in person the image just looks so much richer and punchier: I ran my Lumagen/Chromapure auto calibration with it set up this way, so it's a calibrated image too (at least as calibrated as my i1D3 allows). It looks washed out without the Devore pulled out.

You can see in the 'Everest' screenshot that my white coving is concealed by the velvet until you look at the front edge where the ceiling cover stops.
 
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I think long term you would miss the projector, the 7500 is one seriously good projector and most other brighter projectors like my Epson won’t have the black levels you are use to. I do think you should do some research into AT ALR screen material to see what’s now out there, there might be some brands offering positive gain versions that might match your existing out.

The question is if you had a setup (projector+screen) that was dead simple and none of the fuss you currently have would you use it significantly more than the 250 hrs you have done already?

If the answer is yes then maybe you need to either look into a new method of turning your room into a home theatre at a touch of a button or change screen or both screen and projector to give you that big movie experience without the compromise.
 
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@KelvinS1965 you have a lovely room... gone to some effort I can see... as soon as I see a AT screen and speaker setup that is a straight call out...theres no way a TV going to replace that...we dont have AT screen TVs yet :D

and scale of TV vs projector screen just not going to happen for quite a long while...

re brightness... there is a point here... I think often missed.... TVs can be very bright... on a smaller screen that is ok... get larger and it really is pumping large amounts of light to point going to hurt the eyes...yes i know its not like daylight bright ... but we tend to have sunglasses for that :D the other point is if doing reading there is note re OLED and darker rooms too... this is a fact often ignored... especially if you want to see fade to blacks and such in movies you are going to miss that in a lit room...

I agree with illuminated above, id look at ways to make the transition between tv and projector screen viewing easier..

your last post #20 shows how much effort gone through... to be truthful do you have to do all that ? have you experimented with removing some of the huge effort sections removed ? just remove one or two perhaps wont hit picture as much as think and make the transition lot easier ?

some other things... only you can just maybe little but does removing ornaments have to happen cant they go on a lower spot so not be in screen view in projecting ?

instead of a pull down screen can you just switch to a motorised one? so dont have to grab the stool and reach up and pull it down and put it back up again ? these little things can be easily automated

re ALR screens yes and no... export for your self. only you can just for self and agree re the impact AT screen wise you want to choose very carefully. getting an ALR screen and an AT on top that suits might just be all too hard and sense that in your posts ... but certainly explore ...
 
OP how old are you out of interest?

An easy way of testing if you’d like the smaller screen is shrink your existing screen size down to 77 with zoom. See how it looks.

Personally the blacked out room and full cinema experience is what I like, I always feel really relaxed as soon as I close the door. But everyone is different.
 
I do think you should do some research into AT ALR screen material to see what’s now out there, there might be some brands offering positive gain versions that might match your existing out.

Might be worth some investigation, but previously I've always felt that ALR in a light room is a poor second to a white screen in a treated room.

The question is if you had a setup (projector+screen) that was dead simple and none of the fuss you currently have would you use it significantly more than the 250 hrs you have done already?

It's actually at 300 hours as I checked last night. :blush: I would probably watch another film mid week if it was easier, but from about April to September I don't watch ANY films on the projector as I don't want to sit in the dark on the light evenings: I prefer to sit out in the conservatory or better still out in the garden.

My other issue is that I struggle to find films I want to watch these days: I looked on my Cinemaparadiso page yesterday to add some films and managed one. I don't tend to watch a lot of the films that seem popular on here, such as the Marvel type or animations, etc. Last night we watched a Spanish film with subtitles for example 'Julia's eyes' which is more typical of the sort of thing we watch. Not that I haven't watched films like Gladiator and Terminator, but there are only so many times I want to watch those films...

your last post #20 shows how much effort gone through... to be truthful do you have to do all that ? have you experimented with removing some of the huge effort sections removed ? just remove one or two perhaps wont hit picture as much as think and make the transition lot easier ?

Trouble is that if I'm going to use it then not putting some of it up would just annoy me and distract from the film now I know how good it can look.

some other things... only you can just maybe little but does removing ornaments have to happen cant they go on a lower spot so not be in screen view in projecting ?

As above, also note the high gloss white top of the cupboard (white with a clear glass top) which is very reflective and just in front of the screen.

instead of a pull down screen can you just switch to a motorised one? so dont have to grab the stool and reach up and pull it down and put it back up again ? these little things can be easily automated

It's actually a fixed screen: The TV goes down on an electric lift. It's the Devore ceiling cover that I have to step up to reach. This is what I'm currently working on to make it a pull out flat panel, but it's a work in progress.

I took the various photos last night, so will put a couple up here and the rest on my build thread as I want to progress the build thread as I add the easier set up parts.
 
@kenshingintoki

Here are two photos taken with my DSLR in manual mode. I'm by no means an expert photographer, but I changed the settings to ISO 400, aperture was on the largest (F5.6 I think, but the same for all the photos I took) and exposure of 1/8 second, with the camera stood on a makeshift stand.

This is the menu for Lucy with my X7500 set to give 14fL in fully calibrated rec709 setting. Nothing was changed in the projector settings between photos, only the Devore added/pulled out. The projector had been on for about 20 minutes when the first photo was taken, but the lamp had stabilised by then.

Bare room in TV mode, with the (Christmas) ornaments removed:
Lucy No Devore.jpg


The full Devore mode:
Lucy Full Devore.jpg


Try having the two photos loaded into whatever viewer you have and flicking between them: The black level on the left side is visibly deeper, but in person I find this even more noticeable.

Hope you find this useful; I've been meaning to do it for ages. :)

I've put more photos on the last page of my build thread:
When Worlds collide: The dedicated living room cinema (Updated May 2020)
 
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^An ALR screen in a light room might well be a poorer substitute to a treated room with a white screen but is it less of a compromise to that of a significantly smaller TV in a light room?
 
To be honest, neither appeals to me. Focusing on making the whole setting up process slicker is probably better use of my energy and finances.

Also; my apologies to the OP for taking over the thread. :blush:
 
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OP how old are you out of interest?

An easy way of testing if you’d like the smaller screen is shrink your existing screen size down to 77 with zoom. See how it looks.

Personally the blacked out room and full cinema experience is what I like, I always feel really relaxed as soon as I close the door. But everyone is different.

Hi

Thanks for replying.......I’m 45, not really ‘old’ as such, but each of us only go through this process once and I’m certainly at the stage in life where I’m reflecting on all sorts of things, having to make certain adjustments where I may not be as capable as I once was etc!

The shrinking down the image is actually a really great shout........the same thought suddenly occurred to me too yesterday whilst I was pondering how I might test out different screen sizes “if only I had some sort of display device that allowed me to experiment with variable image sizes?.........”. This is the age thing kicking in again you see!!

I think I am going to get the PS4 hooked up to the pj and do this. I was actually in John Lewis yesterday checking out options. The LG 65” OLED was superb, was quite impressed with the 75” QLED there too for only £1,500, but I would be very wary of going with a non OLED for fear of getting it setup and being unhappy with the blacks and overall image. Actually quite surprised that a 77” OLED costs ‘only’ £3,300. Now that would be nice.

TBH having given this some more thought, I’m going to bide my time with this. A few extra things have occurred to me. Firstly 3D which I have really enjoyed. Moving to a TV makes all those movies redundant. Secondly, I was perhaps a bit overexcited about maxing out the capabilities of a PS5. I watched a YouTube video yesterday of COD: Black Ops running at 120fps and the texture pop in was horrendous. As I’m not into competitive multiplayer, I’m probably going to be fine sticking at 60fps. I also stuck another movie on last night and really enjoyed it, the image quality of the X7900 still takes me by surprise at times.

Given all this, I think I will continue to keep this under consideration, but defer any decisions for now. It’s Winter which is prime projector viewing season and I don’t yet own a PS5. I’m guessing once I get one of those, my thoughts should become a bit clearer.

Many thanks to all posters, gave me lots of things to consider. Has been extremely useful.
 
Getting too old for the whole projector experience in a dark room and yet talking about gaming on a PS5, that cracks me up :laugh:

Yep I can see this......struggling to come up with any defence to this charge!
 
To be honest, neither appeals to me. Focusing on making the whole setting up process slicker is probably better use of my energy and finances.

Also; my apologies to the OP for taking over the thread. :blush:

No apology necessary Kelvin, I’ve found your insights very useful over the years as I think we have had a very similar projector journey (HD350, X500, X7500/X7900).
 
Get a 77'' OLED and an electronic ceiling mounted PJ screen.

For films, going from 100'' to 77'' is massive drop down in size and immersion but 77'' is nice enough.

Then imagine putting some black bars on both of those.


Your other option (if being in the dark is an issue) is a switch to ALR so you can introduce some ambient light. I do sometimes also get a bit fed up watching stuff in a totally blacked out room as some content is just easier to watch with a bit of light on (football, TV shows which aren't very cinematic).


My personal advised setup is:
1. ALR screen
2. PJ
3. 77'' OLED

The PJ becomes somewhat of a Swiss army knife, with ambient light being able to be introduced so its just a bit easier to watch.

The 77'' OLED acts as a reference monitor and single player competitive gaming display whilst also being the perfect device to use during the daytime or when you need ALL the lights on.

This would be an absolutely perfect setup, but unfortunately finances dictate it has to be one or the other for me!
 
This would be an absolutely perfect setup, but unfortunately finances dictate it has to be one or the other for me!


Damn :(
I think you could do it on a budget with some compromise. Second hand ALR screens can be quite variable in price, and an Epsn 9300 of JVC X5000 banging about are around £1k.
The LG OLEDs are dropping in price currently about £3.4k.

For the price of an X7900 you could be very well equipped.
 

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