Yeah. A well maintained cinema/projector with a sound system designed around the audience AND a good audience is an experience like no other. I think I have had that ONCE in my life when I caught Arrival in the UK. And even that was mostly a function of the audience being small enough that we could all mostly stay in the center of the theatre.
Because yeah. Most projectors are misaligned and poorly maintained. Even the digital ones are often a bit sketchy. And the audio experience mostly benefits maybe the middle (pulling this out of my ass) 30% of the room with everyone else outside of the sweet spot. And audiences tend to be on their phone, screaming, etc.
Its why… ever since I got my own place and built a halfway decent 5.1 setup, I really don’t care about theatres anymore. Worse audio, often worse visuals, can’t pause if I need to take a leak, and going to miss something important because some asshole in the front is on his phone.
Part of me does think catching Oppie in even a halfway decent imax would be AMAZING. But… more in a “laser Floyd” kind of way where it is less about appreciating the media and more about just the sensory experience.
Worse audio, often worse visuals, can’t pause if I need to take a leak, and going to miss something important because some asshole in the front is on his phone.
This is why I own a high-end projector and a badass sound system. The stereo and speakers are for music first and video second. It’s not convenient as I don’t have (or want to accommodate blackout curtains), but it’s the best movie experience hands down for ^^ these reasons.
I want to build a mancave downstairs, but I wouldn’t watch enough things to warrant a TV. I was thinking of buying a projector. Projectors used to be expensive, very expensive. Good projectors still seem to be, however now there are a plethora of cheap projectors on sites like Ali, Temu, Amazon, etc. Is it worth buying a high quality projector? Will I notice the difference? Or can I get away with a $40 projector bought off one of those sites?
My plan would simply be to stream stuff off my phone. If a cheap projector is a bad idea, what is a good protector and how much would I need to pay? Also, anyone know what the best audio setup would be for this?
I bought an unknown brand on amazon for 250 maple syrup dollars and I’m pretty sure everything it says on the box is true. It’s 1080p native and 450 lumens. I use it to watch movies outside. I have to wait until sunset but otherwise I’m really happy with the picture quality. This is the one I got. I think if you got anything less it would probably be okay for your needs, but you might regret not getting something better the first time.
I’ve seen friends all buy types of these thinking they will get some good one and be impressed, 1080p, 3000lumens etc, all the specs say yes but the experience… no.
Go for an entry level from a brand that does projectors, eg I got Optoma but there’s Epson, even acer is fine. I got a 720p with 1080p source, or BluRay rips and it looks very legit.
Of course you can go higher, but sounds like you just wanted to start out… Optoma H183 I think is mine.
Never owned one, but I have a hard time believing that $40 pocket projectors are any good. LED projectors at that price range are going to be pretty dim, so you’ll absolutely need a dark room and to buy a proper projection screen if you want to see what’s going on. I think most of those are also 720p, maybe 1080p. The speakers on such a projector are going to be awful, tinny garbage.
For the price of $40 1080p projector, $50 screen, and $60 Bluetooth sound bar, you could get a 43" 4k tv that’s on sale somewhere.
Honestly? if you are streaming from your phone then basically the cheap aliexpress projectors or even just a tv in a bright room is fine. And regardless, if you just pay attention to sales, you can get a pretty good 4k tv for not a lot of money at this point.
Same with audio. I have no idea if the phone adds any additional constraints, but a lot of streaming content has questionable surround sound (was it netflix that “got caught” basically just sending stereo and calling it 5.1?).
Unless you are going to go hard on your source material, you are honestly not going to get much beyond the family room tv and a soundbar. And you can use all the money you saved on tricking out a phone dock for something useful.
I would say that for (again, percentage out of my ass) 99% of people out there (… self included), all you really need is a cheap namebrand 4k tv (get it in a sale), a soundbar, and one of the nvidia shields that supports dlss upscaling. That will get you the visual quality and good enough sound quality. I personally have a plex server full of ripped blurays (uhd and normal) and a 5.1 setup, but I am stupid.
I think you are misunderstanding some assumptions.
This will be for a “Manc-Ave” (SO ref) that I will likely, get maybe, at most a movies worth of my own time… And I do intend to watch all the scary moves that my wife won’t allow down there… so that’s a plus, although thet get boring quick.
Yeah. A well maintained cinema/projector with a sound system designed around the audience AND a good audience is an experience like no other. I think I have had that ONCE in my life when I caught Arrival in the UK. And even that was mostly a function of the audience being small enough that we could all mostly stay in the center of the theatre.
Because yeah. Most projectors are misaligned and poorly maintained. Even the digital ones are often a bit sketchy. And the audio experience mostly benefits maybe the middle (pulling this out of my ass) 30% of the room with everyone else outside of the sweet spot. And audiences tend to be on their phone, screaming, etc.
Its why… ever since I got my own place and built a halfway decent 5.1 setup, I really don’t care about theatres anymore. Worse audio, often worse visuals, can’t pause if I need to take a leak, and going to miss something important because some asshole in the front is on his phone.
Part of me does think catching Oppie in even a halfway decent imax would be AMAZING. But… more in a “laser Floyd” kind of way where it is less about appreciating the media and more about just the sensory experience.
This is why I own a high-end projector and a badass sound system. The stereo and speakers are for music first and video second. It’s not convenient as I don’t have (or want to accommodate blackout curtains), but it’s the best movie experience hands down for ^^ these reasons.
Question for anyone reading.
I want to build a mancave downstairs, but I wouldn’t watch enough things to warrant a TV. I was thinking of buying a projector. Projectors used to be expensive, very expensive. Good projectors still seem to be, however now there are a plethora of cheap projectors on sites like Ali, Temu, Amazon, etc. Is it worth buying a high quality projector? Will I notice the difference? Or can I get away with a $40 projector bought off one of those sites?
My plan would simply be to stream stuff off my phone. If a cheap projector is a bad idea, what is a good protector and how much would I need to pay? Also, anyone know what the best audio setup would be for this?
I bought an unknown brand on amazon for 250 maple syrup dollars and I’m pretty sure everything it says on the box is true. It’s 1080p native and 450 lumens. I use it to watch movies outside. I have to wait until sunset but otherwise I’m really happy with the picture quality. This is the one I got. I think if you got anything less it would probably be okay for your needs, but you might regret not getting something better the first time.
If you’re looking to keep costs super low I imagine you’re better off going for a second hand projector over a cheap new one.
That is what I did, just make sure that you can get a spare bulb for reasonable money. Some old projectors have EXPENSIVE bulbs
I’ve seen friends all buy types of these thinking they will get some good one and be impressed, 1080p, 3000lumens etc, all the specs say yes but the experience… no.
Go for an entry level from a brand that does projectors, eg I got Optoma but there’s Epson, even acer is fine. I got a 720p with 1080p source, or BluRay rips and it looks very legit.
Of course you can go higher, but sounds like you just wanted to start out… Optoma H183 I think is mine.
Check out “The Hook Up” on YouTube. He has tested pretty much every projector on Amazon at this point.
Here’s his “under $100” video: https://youtu.be/2QOLL2TvpJ0
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/2QOLL2TvpJ0
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Never owned one, but I have a hard time believing that $40 pocket projectors are any good. LED projectors at that price range are going to be pretty dim, so you’ll absolutely need a dark room and to buy a proper projection screen if you want to see what’s going on. I think most of those are also 720p, maybe 1080p. The speakers on such a projector are going to be awful, tinny garbage.
For the price of $40 1080p projector, $50 screen, and $60 Bluetooth sound bar, you could get a 43" 4k tv that’s on sale somewhere.
Honestly? if you are streaming from your phone then basically the cheap aliexpress projectors or even just a tv in a bright room is fine. And regardless, if you just pay attention to sales, you can get a pretty good 4k tv for not a lot of money at this point.
Same with audio. I have no idea if the phone adds any additional constraints, but a lot of streaming content has questionable surround sound (was it netflix that “got caught” basically just sending stereo and calling it 5.1?).
Unless you are going to go hard on your source material, you are honestly not going to get much beyond the family room tv and a soundbar. And you can use all the money you saved on tricking out a phone dock for something useful.
I would say that for (again, percentage out of my ass) 99% of people out there (… self included), all you really need is a cheap namebrand 4k tv (get it in a sale), a soundbar, and one of the nvidia shields that supports dlss upscaling. That will get you the visual quality and good enough sound quality. I personally have a plex server full of ripped blurays (uhd and normal) and a 5.1 setup, but I am stupid.
I think you are misunderstanding some assumptions.
This will be for a “Manc-Ave” (SO ref) that I will likely, get maybe, at most a movies worth of my own time… And I do intend to watch all the scary moves that my wife won’t allow down there… so that’s a plus, although thet get boring quick.