Project or TV for home theater?

DLD said:
Laser projectors use a phosphor wheel, which can also produce RBE (depending on a scene?). Some use a phosphor wheel and a color wheel, a combination that's supposed to eliminate RBE.

But, at least, there's no screen door effect anymore.

Or is there?
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Not all.

My projector has three individual lasers: a Red laser, Blue laser and a second blue laser that has a phosphor to make it green. No color or phosphor wheel.

From a review on the LG HU85
This design, however, has the advantage of not needing a spinning phosphor wheel. Most laser projectors rely on phosphors to create green, (and red – if only blue lasers). This LG does use phosphors too but doesn’t need the spinning wheel to accomplish its task.
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I remember the early (1990's) standard def Sharp LCD projectors. Good Lord. Now THAT was screen door effect.
 
In the 90's, you still had RGB lamps. They weighed a ton, lacked brightness and, for extra res, top units had line doublers or external video processors ... but them wuz gorgeous.
 
Projectors require more maintenance than TVs, you'll need to clean the lens, clean/change the dust filter, and keep an eye on the lamp hours.

I maintenance the projectors at work, and I've had lamps that are rated for 2,400 hours fail at 1,000, but sometimes they make it pretty close to the rated lifespan, albeit with dimming along the way.
 
I like how projectors feel on the eyes. reflected diffused light, slight lens blur to the pixels, lower contrast, while not lacking in contrast either.



But horribly impractical at times. I am still getting by with a 60" HD plasma. I have an eye on some LG OLED's, but hope to end up with a projector some day. Even if cinemas move to large TV screens, I may still prefer projection at home.
 
DLD said:
In the 90's, you still had RGB lamps. They weighed a ton, lacked brightness and, for extra res, top units had line doublers or external video processors ... but them wuz gorgeous.
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I remember ‘triple gun’ CRT projectors. Beasts...
 
Imamacuser said:
Projectors require more maintenance than TVs, you'll need to clean the lens, clean/change the dust filter, and keep an eye on the lamp hours.

I maintenance the projectors at work, and I've had lamps that are rated for 2,400 hours fail at 1,000, but sometimes they make it pretty close to the rated lifespan, albeit with dimming along the way.
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Yep, I have to wipe the lens off on mine every week or few days, depending(its worse with my UST than a normal throw would be, since the lens is essentially facing up). But not all projectors are lamp based, now, so that may not be a worry for some, if they get a projector that uses lasers or LED’s as the light source(you see most life ratings of at least 20K hours).
 
Well had a 55 in tv in the living room with a 10-12 ft viewing distance and bought an Epson 5030 projector today so I'll be going the projector route. Still need to find a ceiling mount and figure out screen size (debating between 110, 106, and 100 in as I am going to use this for movies and video games) but still coming in cheaper than updating to a 75 in TCL Series 6 which was my original idea. Plus will hold me over for OLED to drop in price or I can pick up a smaller OLED down the road for the bedroom. Funny enough was testing screen sizes with a friends old projector that only does 800x640 pixels and only accepts RCA cables. Only DVD i had laying around was the movie Prisoners, ended up watching the whole thing again because its just that good.
 
Just checked Epson's own site. 5030 is a discontinued 1080P projector. You're sure it's not 5050? (half sure?)
 
anyone have any tips or recommendations for choosing a wall mount for a tv? i just bought a 65"

tilting/pivoting seems nice...though I'm also seeking maximum child safety and so a flat mount probably prevents the climbing/hanging opportunity of hardware sticking out from the wall...
 
ahalpert said:
anyone have any tips or recommendations for choosing a wall mount for a tv? i just bought a 65"

tilting/pivoting seems nice...though I'm also seeking maximum child safety and so a flat mount probably prevents the climbing/hanging opportunity of hardware sticking out from the wall...
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Peerless, Sanos, and ChiefMfg are common high quality brands. Many options to chose from. For large displays the X-large series mounts will have load ratings up to 200lbs, though modern 65” LEDs weigh much less than 100lbs. Good safety factor for small kids though if they are anchored into studs or plywood backing.
 
I put up a bunch of Sanus wall mounts back when I was installing home theater systems. The LG 84" weighed more than I did, so it was very important to have a good mount when TVs were heavier. I just got a cheap Amazon mount for my 55", as it's a pretty light TV, and the mount is of sufficient quality, but it definitely doesn't have the premium feel of a Sanus. Sometimes Amazon sellers lie about size & weight rating, so bear that in mind.

A leveling feature is a plus, but probably isn't needed if you get it level from the get go.

P.S. You can get toggle bolts that are rated up to 200 lbs; I'm always nervous when using toggles, but sometimes you just don't have a choice.
 
ahalpert said:
anyone have any tips or recommendations for choosing a wall mount for a tv? i just bought a 65"

tilting/pivoting seems nice...though I'm also seeking maximum child safety and so a flat mount probably prevents the climbing/hanging opportunity of hardware sticking out from the wall...
Click to expand...

Where is it being mounted(how high above the viewing position)? I have a tilting mount for the TV in the bedroom, because it is mounted fairly high over a chest-of-drawers and is tilted down at roughly 20-30 degrees.
 
Run&Gun said:
Where is it being mounted(how high above the viewing position)? I have a tilting mount for the TV in the bedroom, because it is mounted fairly high over a chest-of-drawers and is tilted down at roughly 20-30 degrees.
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That's part of the issue. I'm planning to mount it high - maybe 4 or 5' from the floor to the bottom of the screen. To keep out of reach.

So it'll be way above the optimal viewing angle from the couch

The unit is only 37lbs so maybe I should get the tilting mount and not worry so much
 
DLD said:
And another thing with kids is to beware of cables. No tripping, no ripping.
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Definitely. I'm planning on bracketing the power cable to the wall and mounting the unit right above an outlet. It has android tv controls built in so there's a good chance I wont be connecting a single input device
 
ahalpert said:
Definitely. I'm planning on bracketing the power cable to the wall and mounting the unit right above an outlet. It has android tv controls built in so there's a good chance I wont be connecting a single input device
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Tape cables to the floor/wall, if you have any. Try to do it in a cosmetically pleasing way to account for the WAF.
 
ahalpert said:
I'm planning to mount it high - maybe 4 or 5' from the floor to the bottom of the screen. To keep out of reach.
So it'll be way above the optimal viewing angle from the couch
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Mounting the TV high won't be an issue if you can recline the couch to achieve the correct viewing angle.

Here's a couple DIY mods to consider (if you don't plan on moving anytime soon):

1. Install an outlet behind the TV (DISCLAIMER, I'm not an electrician, attempt the following at your own risk).
- After you've secured your wall bracket, cut a 1-gang outlet box sized hole somewhere in the wall where it will be covered by the TV (make sure it's in the same stud cavity as the outlet near the floor).
- Turn off the breaker to your outlet and confirm there's no current with an outlet tester, then remove the outlet plate and outlet.
- Knockout a hole in the outlet box, and thread 14/2 AGW electrical wire up to the hole by the wall mount using fish rods, and insert the wire into a 1-gang outlet box (there are variations of outlet boxes, so you may be able to use an existing hole, or might be better off swapping out the outlet box).
- Cut the electrical cable so that you have about 8" sticking out from the wall at each outlet box ( you can always trim it down if you need to).
- Cut a set of approximately 10" long 14/2 AGW pigtails and connect like colors with wire nuts, then connect the outlet to the pig tails (this Wire Electrical Receptacles on a Single Circuit In Parallel graph might be more clear).
- Wire in a surge protected outlet at your top outlet box and you should be golden.

If you're not comfortable doing this, you could hire an electrician. FYI, you can get thin flexible fish rods for $10 at Harbor Freight.

Workaround method I employed as an installer:
- Cut a hole beside the outlet and a second one behind the TV (make sure they're in same stud cavity).
- Install 1-Gang Low-Voltage Brackets.
- Thread an extra long TV power cord through the holes with a fish rod.
- Drill a power cord sized hole in two 1-gang unbreakable cover plates.
- Make a cut in the side of the plates with a scissors, so that you can wedge the power cable in the cover plates.
Your power cord will be mostly covered and the wall will look pretty clean.

2. Install an IR extender to put a BluRay player away from the TV.
You'll need to run CAT5 through the floor or ceiling and wall.
 
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