Home Theater 101: Act II - TVs and Projectors

A continuation of our Home Theater 101 Series

In our first installment, we covered the critical, yet perhaps not the most exciting aspect of the room and space where you'll be building your very own theater. In this part we'll treat those gander globs of yours to some sweet eye candy. So what's it gonna be?, a TV or a Projector? Both?

Thinking back on your past visits to a large cinema theater, they of course had a massive screen and a projector system. Most large chain theaters have been upgrading their equipment to some serious kit. High resolutions that make use of the latest HD goodness that Hollywood has to offer. Visit their websites and you'll see that they make sure you know they have the best for you to view the latest flick. However, is it simply because it's the best way to show the same movie to lots of people at the same time? Or are there other benefits to this format? TVs are so popular, why even consider a projector? Time to dig a bit deeper. TVs vs Projectors...fight!

Projector Basics

Just like TVs, projectors have various technologies and price points that offer an array of flavors to choose from. However, here are some useful things to know about our light throwing friends.

*Lighting

Movie theaters are dark. Not just because the lights are off, but the colors, paints and fabrics are dark in color as well. This is purposeful. Projectors work best in low-light environments. If your room's lighting cannot be controlled, projectors may not be right for you. While sunlight is the main concern, if you're using a projector in a main living space while others are in adjacent rooms with the lights on, this might be irksome. This is not to say projectors cannot work in lit rooms, but the best environment is a room you can make dark on command. If you think Batman would approve of the level of darkness, then you're in the clear.

*Size and Distance

Projectors for home theater use generally operate by creating images that start at 70" diagonally and go up to about 135". That's awesome indeed, but be sure you have the space for such an undertaking. Also, projectors like cameras operate with lenses, these affect how much a projector can focus and magnify the image passing through them. The worst cases of scenarios result in the projector being too close and unable to focus, or expand to the desired screen size. Or by expanding out to the large screen size they diffuse too much of their light, resulting in a poor visual experience. Other issues may also exist by having to place the projector too high or too low in order to hit the screen, turning the rectangle of an image into a trapezoid. Projectors do offer some tools to help fight these but, that either can add some serious cost or even degrade the image. There are projector calculators that exist to let you know if the projector you have your eye one will work in your situation.

*Installation considerations

Besides the size and distance considerations above, they also may require some thought as to where and how they will call a location home. Projectors with their bright bulbs can produce a lot of heat. They have fans to keep them cool, and most operate in near silent mode assuming adequate cooling is taking place. The vents (and sometimes filters) must be kept clean and free of obstructions. If mounting in a box or on a shelf, enough air space around the unit must be considered as well. If ceiling mounting, you must also consider the task of getting power and signal up to where it will be mounted.

*Cost

It always comes down to money doesn't it? Most popular home use projectors range from $700 to $3,000. Typically, they'll be a little more than the average person will spend on 70" or larger TV since you must also factor in the cost of a screen or wall treatment as well. Although if you consider $ per inch of screen, they really aren't too far off from being a great deal. There is one caveat to all this, the bulb. Most projectors use light bulbs to produce an image. These are seriously bright devices. But like must bulbs, they have a set life. For most projectors that use bulbs, they last about 3,500-5,000 hours and typically cost $80-$500. However, newer laser projectors do not have traditional bulbs and can shine for 20,000+ hours, for a price. As far as price goes, the ranges can be extreme, just like with TVs.

*Screens

A projector is nothing without a screen. You may be surprised to find out that an off-white orange peel textured wall is not the most ideal surface to use for a projector. While there are wall treatment products, most folks opt for a screen. Most screens can hide up and out of the way while not in use. They can be manual pull-downs or motorized and automatically controlled. They also have other characteristics, such as gain, or the reflectiveness of the material. If say a plain average sheet of white copier paper has a gain of 1.0, then a darker sheet will be below that at say .8. And a screen with reflective microscopic beads could be something like 1.8. Darker screens will require a brighter projector but generally offer better contrasts and lifelike colors. Brighter screens are better for lighter rooms, but can hot spot, or be slightly brighter when looking at the screen directly versus at an angle, especially in the center of the image versus the outer edges. Some screens can also be considered acoustically transparent (you'll pay a bit more for this feature). The materials and even the construction of many small holes allow more sound to come through if speakers are placed behind them. This can be extremely helpful in order to allow much greater flexibility in placing the screen and speakers in a room. Most traditional screens will muffle higher frequencies, drastically affecting the sound quality if speakers are placed behind a traditional non-acoustically transparent screen.

TV Basics

I will not take up a whole lot of your time going over basic TV features, you probably own more than one and use them daily. That said, let's dig in briefly.

*Screen size

Most TVs are great deals up to about 65". Going to the 85" or larger, can result in extreme sticker shock. Moving a large, extremely flat TV, can be a delicate operation as well. Mounting and even moving from one house to another could be fatal if not done correctly. So, if you crave that larger cinema experience, and have a room fit for it, a projector is the way to go when going big.

*Lighting

This is the area most TVs beat most projectors. As long as you don't have direct sunshine hitting the TV, they can handle a brighter room better. Granted, some TVs have a very reflective surface and are more sensitive to light and reflections, but most likely the curtains and blinds you already have can help in those situations.

*Cost

The issue with cost here is often our familiarity with the deals that are out there. It seems each year you can get bigger TVs and higher resolution TVs for almost nothing. A basic 4K 65" TV goes for around $500, why would anyone spend more? It all depends on your priorities and how you assign value to features. A high-end 65" 4K OLED TV is about $3,500 or 7 of those other budget models. So there is a lot more that goes into the cost of a TV or even a projector, other than resolution.

*Smarts

Most projectors do not come with smart apps like almost all TVs do. TVs have apps and wifi connectivity and many other features that try and add value to them. Many TVs partner up with some other manufacturer of smart devices to be able to stream, install apps, etc. While these are convenient, they do not always age well. In fact, when comparing TVs, it's best to leave the smart functions last. If all else seems similar between two models, then compare the apps and built-in streaming. The cost of external standalone streaming devices are generally pretty low and can be upgraded when the time is right and not require you to buy a whole new TV.

Visual Technologies

The above covers just the basics, this after all is Home Theater 101, not some postgraduate thesis level of madness. So, while we covered some general points that differ let's journey down the road of some technologies that both TVs and Projectors offer.

*Resolution

SD, HD, 4k, and now 8k. It may seem that the higher the resolution the better. While a high resolution is nice, you must consider your sources. How much 4k do you actually view right now? Where do you even find 8k content? Simply buying the highest resolution you can afford might be a waste at this point in time. If you are serious about resolution quality, streaming with its compression will be inferior to say physical 4k UHD discs. Also, surprising to most people, in order to enjoy the sweet goodness of higher resolution you either need to sit closer or have a bigger screen. For an extreme example, would you be able to tell the difference between regular HD and 4k at 20ft?, 35ft?, 50ft? Determining the best viewing sweet spots may require the help of useful resources like this page here. Basically, we suggest staying with 4k at this point unless you have a compelling reason to move to 8k.

*High Dynamic Range

High Dynamic Range is the one of the more recent visual technological advances and if done correctly, can make a stunning difference. You'll see this technology under various names such as HDR, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, etc. This technology mostly deals with colors and dynamic ranges or differences in brights and darks. Rather than just the signal being sent to the TV or Projector to display an image, it includes extra info telling the device how to display it. This information deals with total available colors and displaying images that require both light and dark contrasts at the same time, rather than choosing one over the other. While more and more devices are supporting HDR, usually only the higher-end devices make good use of HDR. Not so easy to explain I know, but easy to see. You can Google some examples or better yet, take some time in person at your local BestBuy or other retailer and ask for a demonstration.

*Contrast

The difference between the most extreme light and dark. The higher the ratio the better. This is critical and again the higher-end units make better use of this. The main struggle for TVs and Projectors is being able to display an image and blocking out the source light. For example, and LCD TV uses a back light (a bright source behind the color LCD panel) and while brighter is better, how do you use that thin LCD screen to block all that brightness coming from the back? It's no easy task. Some display technologies have less of an issue with this. Laser projectors are very precise and can practically be on or off resulting in astounding ratios of 3,000,000:1 or even OLED TVs that can shut off pixels individually, approaching near perfect black/white contrasts.

*Refresh rates and input lag

These features relate to how long it takes the unit to process then display the signal being sent. Ideally it'd be zero milliseconds. But between the processor deciding what and how to display and the physical display elements (chips, crystals, cells, lasers, mirrors, etc) to react, it can be slower. Most processors take only a few milliseconds and then another couple milliseconds to physically adapt. This is a big concern with high resolution, fast moving objects across the screen. Gaming in HD 4k? Be sure and keep these figures as low as possible.

*Upscaling

Digital wizardy used to increase an image's size while making it look like you didn't just zoom in on a low-resolution photo. If you displayed an HD picture on a 4k TV using a pure 1:1 pixel count, you'd only use a portion of the screen (~25%), the rest would be unused and not displaying a thing. That would be a waste of a large screen. So, display units are asked to add in extra pixels using fancy algorithms to keep the image sharp while increasing its size. The more powerful and high-end, you guessed it, the better it can perform this task.

Decisions, Decisions

"Okay, so tell me which one I should get, a Projector or a TV?" That's up to you (you didn't expect a straight answer did you?). For most people the convenience and familiarity of TVs will keep them in that arena. But those willing to take a few extra minutes to learn about projectors will find they deliver a better theater-like experience. The appeal of a large enveloping screen is not something to be passed on lightly. And to keep things clear as mud, it's possible to do both. Many mid to high-end A/V receivers offer two HDMI outputs for just this scenario, one for the TV and one for the Projector.

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