HD Projector vs LCD, LED, Plasma

OverKill69 said:
The same friend that has those Dipole Speakers has a PolkAudio 500w sub, the one that matched the previous range of front speakers to the ones you have. Dude... the BASS is STUPID! He has to turn it WAY down to match the fronts. He does have a "bass-y room" though. I think that sub isn't too expensive, certainly cheaper than R7k

I see you have tiles...
Which can mess with bass a little... It reflects bass quite a bit and can cause phasing and dead spots.
Placement becomes highly important, so be prepared to fiddle with your sub placement to get everything sounding just right.
Click to expand...

The room is temporary - I'm 'renovating' another room for my media purposes, floor will either be carpeted or wooden.

I've actually been advised to try two Jamo Sub 300's in the new room :)

Yeh - I H-A-T-E going to cinema's now - I watched Alice in Wonderland the other day in HiDef - and WOW....

But I really want a HD projector for a BIIIIG screen experience.
 
Over 40"... plasma looks better with *** media. IE, DSTV SD, DVD's etc.

Around and under the 40" zone, LCD is the way forward.

That's my opinion at least... You're not ONLY going to watch Blu-Rays ALL THE TIME with your huge LED screen... and a DSTV SD picture looks SHOCKING on such a big LCD. I have a 40" LCD at home and I can't bear to watch TV on it. Even DVDs look "weird". With their 700 000 00 gazillion contrast ratios, the dark spots look like there's aliens waiting to pounce out of the blackness...

Plasmas are a little more forgiving to crappy input quality at larger sizes.
A mate of mine has a 45" plasma and his DSTV picture is WAY better than my 40" LCD... it's softer around the edges of the pixels and it hazes the blockiness into each other as opposed to the stark contrast of the LCDs.

I always tell people to remember that they're gonna wanna watch EVERYTHING on the screen, not just HD content... it makes the bigger screens a little bit more difficult to live with.

*cough cough*

Saying that, I have 6 pairs of curtains to close before I watch TV... LOL!
But the projector is a lot more forgiving to *** input quality too...

EDIT:

xrapidx said:
The room is temporary - I'm 'renovating' another room for my media purposes, floor will either be carpeted or wooden.

I've actually been advised to try two Jamo Sub 300's in the new room :)

Yeh - I H-A-T-E going to cinema's now - I watched Alice in Wonderland the other day in HiDef - and WOW....

But I really want a HD projector for a BIIIIG screen experience.
Click to expand...

Dude... I've heard those fronts together with the Polk sub... funnily enough with the 200w Onkyo amp
The MTM arangement of the Polks give the Polk fronts a fantastic mid and treble range and sound (you'll notice I went for the same design when I made my center speaker cabinets)... They were always a bit lean on the bass. Which is why the RTi 9's have 3 woofers!
However... those puppies just can't move enough air to give that full bass needed for movies. (hardly any front speakers can... unless they're powered)
The polk sub goes well with those fronts... it can go INSANELY loud without distorting and it doesn't "flubber" at lower freqs. (please note, flubber is my own terminology)
Jamo isn't bad... but I've always preferred Polk for AV stuff
Careful that the dudes at the shop aren't trying to get you to buy stuff just coz they get it at better rates or something like that... I've found sound salesmen to be on the same level as used car salesmen and lawyers.
Rather listen for yourself and make a decision on what YOU prefer.

This review sums it up pretty well... and the dude used the same sub I'm taking about.
http://www.hometheatermag.com/floorloudspeakers/890polkrti/
 
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OverKill69 have you tried blackout cloth behind the curtains? It really does it's name proud.
Also, a suggestion if I may, frame your screen with black velvet. The frame really adds a "pop" to your picture.
 
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I don't know if anyone here would consider these as a projector adequate for this purpose but the days of 2000(ish) xenon/HID/whatever bulbs are numbered - behold 20 THOUSAND hours worth of solid-state illumination, in the top-end model out to 3000 lumen: the Casio XJ-A255/A250 data projector (the full-page ad in the latest PopMech had me transfixed for a moment or few when I saw it...)
 
zeb said:
OverKill69 have you tried blackout cloth behind the curtains? It really does it's name proud.
Also, a suggestion if I may, frame your screen with black velvet. The frame really adds a "pop" to your picture.
Click to expand...

I agree. I can send you a sample of blockout lining for your curtains and I can get it sewn up for you (but dont ask me to come measure or install).
If you got a double rail then the blockout lining will have to be stitched onto your main curtain. If you got a triple rail, you can have the blockout lining stitched up on the third rail on its own and it really makes a massive difference.


PM if you need my help.
 
I've cut custom pieces of thick, black roof lining and I use tape to cover the entire sliding door glass when I have people over to watch sport during the day.

Curtains just don't do the job. There are so many windows, including skylights, that the little light that comes through the bottom causes too much ambient light. It doesn't help that the floor is covered in high gloss white reflective tiles either.
The west facing sliding doors (4 sets of them) are 2.8 x 2.1 m and I have 2 sets on the North facing side. The room was originally designed to catch as much sunlight as humanly possible... unfortunately, I now have other uses for the billiards room.

I had to remove the dark hardwood frame off the edges of the board because of the room logistics. My old projector used to have a much smaller picture. Fit perfectly between the columns that are on the wall. However, this projector's image couldn't get any smaller with the distance from the screen. The image get's right against the edge of the board. I'm not too stressed though, this setup was an experiment for me, I'm busy building my new house where I've designed a proper A/V room. complete with 20mm conduits for each of my speakers and a 50mm conduit going through the roof slab to the projector. Proper baffling and I made sure the room is on the ass end of the house, where the sun will only see it in the early morning.

But thanks for your suggestions guys! If any of you have projector, screen or A/V questions... feel free to ask! I've fiddled and messed around so much over the years that I'm pretty much masterful in setting up sound systems. I even wrote my final year's Engineering dissertation on sound systems much to my Prof's horror...
I don't consider myself to be an Audiophile... because they're idiots... usually with far too much money.
I consider myself to be an Audio-Aficionado.
 
Here is my setup:
Optoma HD 20 projector
HD PVR 2P
PS3 120gig Slim
Onkyo TX-SR508
Jamo S506 HCS 3 speaker package
JAmo SUB200

My projector is ceiling mounted and projecting a 162' screen size. The next step is to paint my wall as I have not been able to find a piece of laminate in that size. I've just bought some test samples of paint to see which shade of white/grey would look best. I've gotten quotations for a proper projector screen that size in excess of 10k.

With regard to the Optoma HD20, has anyone had a problem with the screen freezing or getting a static screen when you switch it on? Usually re-syncing the source rectifies it. A quick search on google indicates that it is a common problem with this model.
 
For a flat panel in a dedicated theatre room, plasma over any LCD/LED tech, hands down. LCD over plasma ONLY in VERY brightly lit rooms.

I moved from HT projectors to plasmas long ago and have not looked back. I didn't mind the fact that I had to fork out a few grand for a new bulb every now and again, but what really p#ssed me off was the fact that a new bulb had way way better performance during its first 300 hours than later on. So, you basically watch 1700 hours knowing that your projector can perform a lot better, but at R4000 a bulb you don't want to replace before it goes.

Think someone else also said this: Your best setup, if cost is not a real factor, is to have a wall mounted plasma with a projector screen that can pull down in front of it for when you occasionally want to get the "big screen" effect.
 
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