Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater TV for my Axioms

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Just one stupid question: can one watch television programming on a front projector, or just DVDs and videos?

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Yes, of course. Most HT projectors have a full assortment of input formats, including composite, S-video, component, VGA and often DVI. Just that the large size of front-projected images will make it less "forgiving" for the quality of source materials -- you will inevitably find that the picture quality of the standard TV (SDTV) is, at best, mediocre.

At any rate, if you wish to do some research on a front projector, besides projectorcentral.com, avsforum.com is a "must" place to visit. In fact, when I went to Tokyo for a business trip a month ago, I took a serious look at a whole bunch of projectors (from budget to high-end models; I picked up a mid-priced unit there) in the Akihabara electronics district. I posted in the AVSforum fairly detailed reports of what I saw. Whenever you have time, visit this thread at avsforum.com. I hope the thread gives you a good introduction...

Ditto on the room conditions. I WISH I had a basement though. Those aren't an option around here much.

As Chess mentioned size is definitely an important factor in getting a front projector. I am a condo dweller as some people are in here. The room I have is only 16L x 12W x 17H. An RPTV would take up too much room. So if I even think of getting a projector I need to find one with a very short throw lens. One that you can throw a 70"-100" nice picture within 9-14 feet or you will get pixelation since your sitting area is close to the image. There are only a few projectors under $2000 that give you short throw lens, great contrast ratio, and vivid colors. As much as a plasma would suit my environment the pricing leaves me left to be desired. Maybe a couple of years that will change. Also I have heard some plasmas leave burn-in of some images if an image lingers on the same spot for quite some time.

9-14 feet is plenty of room. I'm projecting a 106" diagonal from a little less than 14' with a Sony HS10, and the Panasonic PT-L300u has an even shorter throw distance.

The Sony HS10, Pany L300 and Sanyo PLV-Z1 are one of the few 16:9 native format under $2000+ that can do it well.

Hi,

Saturn is correct: plasma screens are subject to burn-in. DLP (Digital Light Processing) projectors, front or rear, are not.

Keep in mind that as appealing as an inexpensive DLP front projector is, if you want true HD resolution, you have to go way up in price. The inexpensive DLP projectors are HDTV-compatible, but they scale the image to their given resolution, which can still look very good, although it is not true HDTV. The argument for a rear-projection HDTV 16:9 CRT unit at 43 to 47 inches carries weight here, because those projectors will do true 1080i HDTV resolution, whereas similarly priced DLP projectors will not.

Regards,

Saturn,
Burn in (or perhaps a better term for some projectors is 'burn out') happens for any projector, but to different extents. Such is the power of light energy. Try staring at the sun for ten seconds and you will get the idea.
Don't stare for any longer though or the 'burn in test' idea will become permanent.

How often do you leave your tv on the same pattern for that many hours a day though?
Fall asleep much at 2am in front of the tv set once the test patterns come on?

Neither DLP nor LCD projectors suffer from burn-in. Some CRTs and plasmas are surprisingly easy to burn in... from static TV station logos, black letterbox bars, XBox games, etc. It's pretty easy to have a static image on part of the screen for extended periods.

JasonG
I think you missed the first part of my post where i iterated to some projectors having burn 'out' as opposed to burn 'in'.
It is true that LCDs do not burn in however, LCD more describes the screen than the projector. The light source can dim over time and LCDs do sometimes carry 'memory' images.

In my humble opinion, anyone who has a plasma tv for playing xbox on that much should easily have enough cash to replace it over time anyway. There are grey patterns that you can use on the screens to remove the images though as i understand it.

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LCD more describes the screen than the projector

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Not in the case of an LCD front projector.

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The light source can dim over time

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Yes, the bulb starts dimming the moment you turn it on, and bulb replacement cost must be a factor in a projector purchasing decision.

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anyone who has a plasma tv for playing xbox on that much should easily have enough cash to replace it over time anyway

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That's what I thought too, but the more I read the more I see people being surprised at how easy it was to burn in their expensive sets.