Home theatre

[James]

While we've talked about home theatre stuff all over the forum, I couldn't find a dedicated thread so let's start one!

We're moving next year so I'm actually in the process of uninstalling my current home theatre setup. But between that and looking at where I might put one when we're looking at new houses, it's got me thinking. (Obviously until we get a new house I can't know my space constraints, but still starting to think!)

Right now I'm projecting about a 110 inch diagonal screen. TV monitors now are reaching 85 inches. What are the upsides and downsides of potentially switching?

The projector gets me a bigger canvas obviously. It also evokes that real theatre feel. But a tv monitor allows usage in brighter situations (allowing me to make the room multiuse, like with a gameroom). And some of these new display technologies have such a gorgeous picture.

Again, a long way from any decision, but I'd love to hear thoughts from others!

[Ben]

For me it’s projection all the way, not only for that real cinema feel, but the size — we have a 14 foot diagonal screen, which is about 165 inches.

Obviously the size of your room will dictate, and also how seriously you want a movie room as opposed to an entertainment or multiuse room for movies and games. And then, as you say, the differences between 85 and 110 inches gets a little closer, and there are pros and cons on both sides with ambient lighting needs, where a brighter image is better…but smaller.

But…going back a while, some friends in the US that had a pretty cool multiroom in their basement always lamented that their expensive back-projected TV, which sat in the corner with what was one of the first awesome LaserDisc collections I ever saw (though how they stacked them and didn’t care for the jackets shocked me!), had been damaged some, having often been hit with stray pool balls and table hockey pucks!

But if you have a dark room — especially if you have a dark room — then you can’t beat projection and a great sound system! I’d love some kind of games space (table hockey *was* always fun!), but we're kind of looking at a back yard extension maybe for that kind of thing…and you know how serious I am about my movies!

[Randall]

I've used a projector to watch football games in the middle of the afternoon. If you have a bright enough projector, then the brightness of the room doesn't matter so much. My projector is so bright, that I keep it on the eco setting all the time, even in daylight situations.

For me, a projector is always the way to go, from the simple standpoint of it feeling like a theatre.

Additionally, I love to see 3D films, particularly ones from the 1950s golden era of 3D films. With no 3D TVs being produced anymore, I must rely on my projector.

But I do plan to get a 65" 4K set to check out some of the 4K discs that have sneaked into my collection, as my projector is just plain old HD.

[Ben]

And therein lies the conundrum: even at my size, the difference between HD and 4K is not night and day, like in the way we instantly saw the difference between the 20,000 Leagues DVD and BDs when you were over, Rand.

Like VHS to DVD, and DVD to BD, the difference when one swapped from one to another is obvious, but the upscaling of HD to begin with means that you just don’t get that hike from HD BD to 4K UHD, especially on titles that are upscaled 2K anyway (and a lot — most — of them are). So many 4K discs that I do A/B comparisons on don’t sometimes stand up as well as the BDs, especially when a bad HDR job dims the image. True, the coloring can be more vibrant, but even then I tone it down a bit as it can feel oversaturated.

There’s nothing "plain" about "plain old HD"!