Projector VS Plasma HDTV

By chroniq
in Home Theatre Discussion

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chroniq

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Ok so heres my setup

media pc= dvi

gamecube= componant

xbox= componant

ps2= componant

speakers= logitech 5.1 digital

considering ether plasma or projector .. i like the film like feel from the projector, yet with plasma i get HD .. which iam not so sure i can get with a projector ..

are there any other things i am missing that i dont know about these two?

on another note, is there a way all my consoles and pc can connect to the opitcal cord for the speaker without resaulting in me going up and changing it from console to console .. cause its really bugging me on my current setup

also if i get a plasma or projector .. will they allow me to connect all the componants at once? and dvi .. so i dont have to go plug it in and hour everytime i wanna start something?

thanks in advance :)

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Dairyface69

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Ive been through this arguement before, and I went for a HDTV plasma.

There are 2 problems with projectors

Cost. The cost of a projector is probably less than a plasma, but you need to remember that the bulbs need replacing every x amount of hours, this varys from type to type, but they can come in at around ?100.

Secondly is light. Projectors are great...if you have lights off and your curtuins closed otherwise they are very poor and you cant see them.

This is why I went for a plasma, its a 1 off cost and it works in all light situations...and its still HDTV etc etc...

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SlowIce

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Ive been through this arguement before, and I went for a HDTV plasma.

There are 2 problems with projectors

Cost.  The cost of a projector is probably less than a plasma, but you need to remember that the bulbs need replacing every x amount of hours, this varys from type to type, but they can come in at around ?100.

Secondly is light.  Projectors are great...if you have lights off and your curtuins closed otherwise they are very poor and you cant see them.

This is why I went for a plasma, its a 1 off cost and it works in all light situations...and its still HDTV etc etc...

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Honestly:

If somebody invests in a projector of Plasma, they liek watchign tv and enjoyting it - and you peobably don't do that with your room all lighted up liek a christmas tree. To enjoy a movie or game you dim the ligths.... Which by the way makes the Plasma picture look better too.

Dimming a room is recommended for a good picture on both: Plasma and Projector, only projectors come in different 'Lumens' As higher as better. If you select a projector you also have to consider the throwing distance (Projector to screen). I have a 500 and a 1500 lumen projector. The 500 lumen needs a total darkened room to project a 100" picture, but if you do like a 42" pic the room does not have to be that dark. The 1500 lumen projector can throw a 100" pic with good quality (contrast taht is) with minor dimming, but of course: as darker the room as brighter the pic! (same with all TV's!)

Considered, that a good plasma with decent size is like $3000 and up anbd compared to a projector in that price range you will find a projector with 1500 lumens.

Another thign to consider: Plasma TV's are vulnerable to static pics - so called burn ins can happen (liek on those old TV's) which damages the picture forever. Plasma's are heavy, not easy to move. Projectors do not have the burn in effect at all, they are not heavy anymore, and you can even pack it up to take it to a friend to watch football on a brigth wall... ! Do that with a Plasma! :-)

Some tips if you buy a projector:

Ansi Lumens shoudl eb as high as you can afford. Make sure teh projector has common inputs. Speaker is not important, sicne you more likely hook it up to a nice surround system :-) Zoom! I recommend gettign a projector with manual or remote zoom. Most projectors are fixed distance projectors (the cheaper ones). Which means: If you want a 40" picture the projector has to be 5 feet away from the screen. 50 inch pic would be 6 feet... and so on. If you ahve a projector with zoom you can put the projector where you want to (almost), and then just zoom in or out to fit your screen.

oh: yes, light bulbs are kinda expensive. I agree with that. a ligthbulp is about $200 to $400 and lasts from 1000 hours to 2500 hours. Light bulps last longer if you use a energy safe mode (in case the projector has it), or you turn back brightness while wating in a dark room.

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chroniq

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thanks slowice :) .. i think u convinced me .. so what i understood is the more lumines the better image quality? .. can i pump the size to above 60" with no image degradation?

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SlowIce

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thanks slowice :) .. i think u convinced me .. so what i understood is the more lumines the better image quality? .. can i pump the size to above 60" with no image degradation?

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Yes, more lumens means brighter picture. A 'extreme proffesional' Projector from barco for example has 10000 (yes - 10k) ANSI lumens. It's a dayligth projector for big pictures... but one lightbulp is about $4000 for that $54000 projector :-)

(Probbaly shines through the wall if you use it in your livign room! lol)

Seriously:

All projectors have those definitions in their specs: minmum pic size and maximum pic size. The picture is always withoutr distortion. On lCD projectors you migth be able to see teh single pixels on the maxmimu picture size, but beleive me, while watchign a movie you focus on the movie and not if yous ee pixels or not! :_0

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SlowIce

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sony has some 3k and even some 6k .. an outragous price :/ ... whats a good number of lumines to go for? 2k maybe?

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1500 lumens shoudl do it in most occasions. But if you ever buy a projector, make sure it has the zoom function rather then more then 1500 lumens. If you get both for a good deal, go ahead :-)

I for exampel found a good deal (migth be buying that one) from BenQ on TigerDirect. $600for a 1500 lumens: Example for a decent projector (I hope ia m allowed to post this) But:

if you are plannign on getting a XBox 360 or PS3 you migth want to check for a projector with HiDef Input. I am currently not sure how compatible this BenQ is with std HDTV cable receivers for example (Quote: It is HDTV-compatible (480p, 720p and 1080i) with direct YPbPr/component (through VGA port)"), but that is somethign you have to research.

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Grand Master

Hupp

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plasma = paperweight

plasma dies faster than your average tv, it can't be fixed or replaced. Plasma deteriates and will never look as good as it did the last time you turned it on.

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SlowIce

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i don't think it's crappy.

Movioe Tehaters with digital projectors use dlp technology.

DLP is the best you can currently get. Best contrast ratio out there (for projectors) and i ahve not heard about plasma projectors yet :-)

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se7en.hu

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isnt dlp really carppy?

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LOL ok look DLP is the current best LCOS is on the way and sposed to surpass it but not just yet do not get a LCD projector or a CRT projector, why? Because LCD sucks why? Because it has low contrast ratios and suffers from pixelisation and a whole heap of other defects and faults and problems and it is old and outdated and just plain sucks believe me I am a home theatre expert i could go into hardcore detail but i cant be bothered just take my word for it CRT projectors are great but huge and heavy and dont last too long dont worry about these.

DLP is by far your best bet someone up there ^^ saying higher ANSI lumens is better, sorry but i disagree I think you said this is for home theatre use yes? If so lumens ratings from around 1000~1500 is what you should be looking for as far as i know you will actualy have trouble finding a true home theare projjector with higher lumens ok seriously look around Infocus is the best well one of them check out there ScreenPlay series even in there the Hollywood 8 or something like a 30K$ projector has a lumens rating of like 1500 or something. This is because for home theatre you need a low lumens to be able to see higher black levels and greater contrast think of it like this Home theatre = contrast ratio and Data/presentation etc = lumens etc etc. you will see that the home theatre projectors will usually have lower lumens rating and higher contrast for example mine is a Infocus X1 which i know is old and cheap now it is a DLP system 1100 lumens 2000:1 contrast ratio (****en awesome LCD projectors will offer somewhere between 300:1~700:1 etc) now you can however get projectors with like 1500 lumens and 5000:1 + contrast ratios however $$+ also.

www.dlp.com

check that out ^^ for more info there is more to the projector though then lumens and contrast ratio like the DMD it uses the color wheel (on DLP projectors) higher speeds and more colors are generally better higher speeds reduce the rainbow eefect however mine on the X1 isnt of that high speed and i never see the rainbow effect look there is so much more detail i could go into like signal types standards etc however i cant be bothered just goto this site here

www.projectorcentral.com

AND GOOD LUCK MANNNNN!!!!!!!!!

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idoia

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correct if I'm wrong, but both of them will eventually die after 7 years (of power use).

One you have to change like a bulb or soemthing that cost $$$$ .

So I guess take the one that lasts longer

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se7en.hu

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7 years of use ey? Not sure about that but all technological equiptment has lifetimes 7 years lol honestly who would keep something like this for that long? :huh: Light bulbs are generally not that expensive now the projector I have lasts for a good 4000 hours and some have said to have it last up to 5000+ if you clean the filters regulary etc. A new bulb here for my XI is AU$140 so thats like US$100~ which in my opinion isnt much and now calculate how much the plasma costs like what 3K+$$ and it lasts what ? I am not sure dont know much about plasmas now I got my projector for AU850 so like US$650 or something now add an extra lamp onto it US$750 now you have a projector lasting 8000+ years I leave my projector on almost all day even when not watching it i just like it left on now I have 500 hours used I have had it for like 1 year~ and it is seriosuly left on like 10 hours a day or so i dont know how the hour counter works but these things last frucking ages (Y)

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chroniq

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man i cant thank u guys enough .. u have enlightened me :D .. so .. let me get this straight .. DLP projector .. 1000-1500 lumines .. which should have a decent contrast ratio ... :) thanks alot :D

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se7en.hu

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Yes (Y) thats right make sure it has a very decent contrast ratio, how much do you have to spend I would highly reccomend you look into the projector I use as I have seen many before in Home Theatre centers etc and no offense to them but the X1 is cheaper and kicks there asses! Here is a link LINK HERE CLICK! thats the one and from personal expericence the quality of the picture is kick ass not **** man in my opinion it beats plasma off course if you sit close to the image you can see the pixels but they are tiny on this projector even though it uses the 0.55" DDR DMD SVGA but then sitting about 1 meter + from it you wont be able to make out the pixels they are really small (Y) color sharpness etc kicks ass I could take a photo of it if that helps and I can post it here so you can see a right idea of the pic quality off course you wont be able to tell greatly by a photo but take my advice ;) About your HDTV requirements from the link above this will support

Compatibility:

HDTV: 1080i, 720p 

EDTV/480p: Yes

SDTV/480i: Yes

Component Video: Yes

Video: Yes

Digital Input: No

Personal Computers: Yes

And look on ebay I saw them going in US for like US$400 bidding and US$650 or so buy it nows, good luck please tell me if you would like me to take a photo of the preojection or if you have any more questions ;)

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chroniq

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se7en.hu: thanks a million dude ... if its not trouble ... take a screenshot :) .. i'll check the x1 on ebay .. the price is more then perfect

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se7en.hu

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Sure here are some photos i went down to the lounge and snapped them just then :happy: these are from my Infocus X1 sorry about the image quality my camera is a ****ty cheap Kodak one of some sort, i snapped alot more images but they were of moving images and for some reason the camera made them seem really blurry and unfocused anyway I got these still images and i managed to get one from the movie phone booth that didnt have much blur. The blur is only because of my cam and the picture quality also looks alot better in life ;)

Photos below ;) Sorry had to put them in individual posts didnt fit in one :/

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