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Getting the movie theater experience at home has always been the dream. As soon as flat screen, rectangular TVs gained popularity–burying clunky square TVs housed in armoire-sized cabinets in the tech graveyard–the idea that you could create an experience as good as (if not better than) a movie theater really took a foothold. The prices came down as the sizes went up, and screens ranging from 65” to 85” went from being an insane luxury to industry standard. Throw in economical sound bars and lighting effects, and your couch started to feel more and more like the inside of an AMC theater.
But like intrepid mountain climbers, once cinephiles reach one peak, they start to look for an even taller one. The rapid technical improvement of portable projectors, their increasing affordability, and the fact that television viewing has evolved into its current wifi-driven streaming form provides home entertainment enthusiasts another possible option: Do you scrap the TV all together and just project your favorite shows and movies onto a huge screen or blank wall?
The answer to the question “to TV or not TV” comes down to a few key factors, including the layout of your living (or viewing) space, your expectations and your other entertainment outlets. To help you decide, here are a few considerations to mull over before you fire up the popcorn maker.
Size and price
The fact that there are quality 65” 4K QLED smart TVs available on the market for under $600 tells you a lot about how accessible this technology has become. However, there does seem to be a cap when it comes to size. For some reason, 65” seems to be something of a dividing line. There are affordable options for TVs 65” or under, but once you creep into 75” or 85”, the prices start to creep up as well, into the thousands. If you start looking into 95” and higher, things become prohibitively expensive for the average consumer.
[Related: The best projectors under $500]
Compare that to a projection screen. Initially it may seem like a no-brainer, with screens as large as 100” available for well under $400. But of course, you have to factor in the cost of the actual projector as well. High-end projectors like the Epson QB1000 4K projector can run as much as $8,000, but there are more affordable options (including those from Benq or Optoma) ranging from $700 to $2,000. An additional factor is adapters–you may need accessories in order to connect to, say, a Macbook or an iPhone to stream content. These tend to be inexpensive, but it all adds up. For a base price, a large TV is pretty much ready to plug and play right out of the box, whereas a projector requires a more elaborate system to function properly.
Which leads us to the next consideration…
Location
One of the major factors in choosing a TV over a projection set up is the size and–more importantly–brightness of the room you’re looking to use as the primary viewing location.
Although 4K projectors will work in bright rooms, a screen or a blank wall obviously don’t offer any additional protections against sun glare. If you are unable to darken the room considerably, you may have to contend with a less contrasty image and fewer visible details. Most TVs, on the other hand, do offer some kind of anti-glare technology–also referred to as “reflection-handling technology”–that provides a crisper image even in brightly-lit rooms (which, in most cases, means the average living room).
Current TVs involve light sources shining directly toward the viewer. Most TVs are transmissive, which means a light source shines through panels of filters and polarized material to create an image. Any variety of OLED TV is emissive, which means that each pixel creates its own light that it sends directly to the viewer’s eyeballs. In both cases, the light comes from in front of the viewer.
[Related: The best projectors for daylight viewing]
Projectors work very differently, with the light produced from the source reflecting from a surface instead of being emitted directly. Therefore, depending on the type of projector and its positioning, the light source needs to be bright enough to remain visible in various conditions. It comes down to “nits” and “lumens.”
As explained by European tech company Riverdi, “Nits are used to measure the brightness of emissive displays, such as televisions, smartphones, and smartwatches. Higher nits values indicate brighter screens, allowing for better visibility in well-lit environments or under direct sunlight. Lumens are utilized to assess the total amount of light emitted by a light source, but they are not directly applicable to displays. Lumens are more relevant for projectors, flashlights, and lighting fixtures.” One nit is roughly equivalent to 3.426 Lumens. When looking to set up in a light room, you would need a home cinema projector with an output of at least 1000 lumens.
Screen
No matter how good your projector is, the screen surface you choose will have a tangible effect on its performance. You can simply shine a projector at a white wall, but that comes with some downsides. Paint isn’t designed to be reflective, so you’ll lose some brightness and contrast. If the wall isn’t perfectly white, you can also get a color cast. Any texture in the wall will also cause distortion of the picture.
There are some solutions to these issues. You can buy projector screen paint, which reduces glare and increases reflectance for better brightness. The downside is that it’s expensive and won’t fix any issues you have with a wavy wall.
A stand-alone screen is a better option if you don’t mind the expense and the setup. These screens typically have a white or silver surface and get rid of potential color casts from projecting on a wall. They also typically have a matte black surrounding area to give the screen contrast and crisp edges. Most importantly, the reflective surface increases overall brightness so the image is more visible and contrasty under a variety of ambient light scenarios.
If you’re going to watch all of your content on a projector, we highly recommend a screen for the best experience.
Storage
One of the other major contributing factors to the “TV vs. projector” debate has to do with storage. In short, do you want to simply mount your TV and go, or do you want to juggle the logistics of either having to set-up your projection screen manually, install a roll-down screen (which can also get pricey) or hope a blank white wall does the job well enough?
There are potentially more moving parts to a projector set-up, but it does give you added flexibility, especially if you have a projector that can work outside as well as in. Being able to move your viewing experience rather than being locked into one couch set-up is another potential plus.
Viewing habits
The last thing to consider is how you or your family most use your entertainment center. Smart TVs obviously come with a slew of streaming options already installed, some projectors need a secondary device such as a laptop or a smartphone to access platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and others (although there are models that come with Google TV accessibility, for example).
And, of course, there are more entertainment options than just movies and TV. If you are a gamer, this may impact your decision-making. TVs are, again, pretty plug-and-play when it comes to most major consoles, like a PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or Nintendo Switch. Most modern Smart TVs have pre-set “Game Modes” that can adjust frame and display rates to optimize for the game experience.
Projectors, however, can often suffer from input lag, which means the delay between pressing a button or a trigger and seeing the corresponding response play out on screen. This can be maddening for gamers, but connecting directly from the console to the projector with a strong HDMI connector, checking to see if your projector has a game mode to optimize performance, and ensuring that all firmware is updated can help you guard against this.
In conclusion…
Given the state of projector technology, it is possible to build around it to create your perfect entertainment center. It has a much higher degree of difficulty than a smart TV, but does offer added flexibility and a more affordable avenue towards enormous (100”-plus) viewing windows. Consider it the home cinema equivalent of a standard vs. automatic car. If you don’t mind the extra work and extra accessories, then a projector might be a good bet. But a good, vibrant Smart TV will always deliver, too.
