Projector instead of TV?

[wedge22]

Is it possible to just use a projector instead of a tv or would this be impossible?

[5lab]

yes, but not very practicle - projectors are good for films, but not so good at just being a tv - the bulbs go fairly regularly

[ikonia]

possible, but tough to use as an every day device.

A colleague of mine debated plasma / projector for a while.

He went for projector, and bought the top spec one - and it really was the top spec.

the picture was amazing, and he projected a 6 ft image onto the wall.

We watched football on it, payed xbox, it was great.

the problem was a.) they are a tad noisey (some models) when the heat up, the bulbs are quite expensive and if I remember correctly last about 400 hours.

To position one you really have to have a perminant fixture and cable it really well.

you need good space away from the projection area so the projector is a distance back.

Even the top spec projector suffered with light in the room and although we didn't need to close the curtains we did need to play around with things to block direct brighter light. There is no sound from the projector so you have to use an amp 24x7 for sound.

So yes - its possible, but it can be hassle as I don't believe they are meant for every day use.

I think I still have a picture of us enjoying it in his front room when he first got it.

FYI: he's moved back to OZ now, and bought an LCD TV as a main device as its way to sunny out there.

[wedge22]

So it would be better to get a plasma or an LCD then, many thanks for the input guys.

[silent ben]

I'm not sure where you're getting 400 hours from....maybe bad quality bulbs only go for that long (normal bulbs, just given more power).

At college, I asked the physics tech about the projectors, they cost £1500 each, and replacement bulbs were £400 each. These projectors have been used 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for the last 2 years, and have only needed 1 new bulb (and that was because the picture had small blue blotches, so they changed the bulb, and still didn't fix the problem).

Buy a projector would be my advice, but dont try and do it relativily cheaply.

[Matt1eD]

Yup, go down the projector route. Some bulbs should last over 1000 hours.

*too lazy to go to ebugger and find out *

Noise, amp, light in room, (the surface is very important), needing permament fixing

Get a good one though, they'll be the quietish, have good keystone correction, zoom, sideways positioning, upside down positioning so flipping of image, if doing computer presentations aswell - is a good idea to laterally (I think) invert the image, so it can be behind a screen. Sanyo do some good models.

As for school, we have Sanyos in each room; the main lecture theatre/cinema! has an excellent Sanyo. Is used alot and bulb rarely needs replacing. I'll try and find out what model it is but you easily get over 10ft with that (but then its mounted on rails!).

[ikonia]

400 hours was the figure I remember when he bought the project - I did say it was from memory but I'm almost certain it was right. Don't forgot there are about 4 types of project I think, all with different pro/cons

I'd still recommend for home everyday use, a TV.

However if you are serious go to a serious (not currys style) Audio Visual shop or even phone one if there are none 'that' good in your area and chat it through, don't listen to my memory recolection of things, or silent ben's physics teacher, get opinions from here (mine was stated in my first post about the quality etc) then go to a pro to get the technical data on what you want

[derthballs]

most projectors bulbs will last 1500-3000 hours. 400 hours if you were using it as a tv, could mean you spending £3-500 every 2 months if you used it 6 hours a day.

Definetly a bad idea as a main unit.

[unrealrocks]

Yuppers - its normally between 1500-3000 hours. There is the odd few that'll do 8000hrs and vaugely remember seeing one that claimed 12,000hrs ... thats almost as much as a plasma (mtbf).

[Rave]

Consider a DLP rear projection TV. The latest ones look amazing.

[Butuz]

Its perfectly possible as said above, but its very impractical - now the best thing to do would be to have a plasma/tft for watching casual tv and the projector for films etc. Projectors are noisy, take 2 mins to come on and 5 mins to go off, and the bulbs cost a fortune. Bulb life is kinda like your lightbulb life - its random. One bulb may last 4 monts another may last 2 years.

I cant reccomend highly enough NEC projectors though - ive got 15 sanyos in work and i am not buying any more (and ill be replacing them when they break with NEC) theyre not particularly reliable, the older ones are crap @ image quality, and NEC are really cheap. the VT46 is a superb little value projector for the home.

Butuz