Yes, projectors absolutely can be used for everyday, Television watching. It doesn’t do any damage to the projectors and may actually result in a better, television watching experience, while also being cheaper than many large TVs.
Aside from that, how many homes can you say you’ve been in where you went to watch television and they powered up their projector?
Not many.
While projectors can be expensive, they are usually no more expensive than a large television.
Ups and Downs of using projectors for everyday TV watching
There are a number of reasons why one using a projector for watching everyday television can be viewed as either a great or bad idea. It varies on the room the projector is placed in, the people who are watching the television, and more.
Benefits of using a projector to watch everyday TV
- Price advantage: The best television on the market today can’t beat a 100 inch screen nor can it beat the cost that one can purchase the actual projector for. If your objective is to watch content on a huge screen, you can do so with a projector at literally half the cost of a top notch large television.
- Great user experience: Large screens tend to make watching content more compelling, regardless of if you’re watching movies, news, or sitcoms, the screen size makes the content feel more engaging. It can make something that was already a part of your everyday routine and make it into something much more impactful. Another benefit of using a larger screen is that it actually lessens the impact that watching the content has on your eyes since the content will take up more of your visual field. If you tend to suffer from eye strain when you’re watching content, using a projector may work better for you.
Downside of using a projector to watch everyday TV
- Projectors tend to have higher operating costs: Projector bulbs tend to last around 2,000 hours, meaning that it will die quickly if the projector is used on a regular basis to watch TV. If you’re of the type to leave your television on in the background while prepping for the morning and on all night, you could end up using the whole 2,000 hour bulb life in the span of 250 days (8 hour run time daily)
This means the projector bulb will die after a year’s use. Keep in mind that higher end projectors are now moving over to higher end, longer lasting LED bulbs. This transition will bump up the life expectancy of the bulb by quite a bit as LED bulbs tend to last for around 30,000 hours rather than for 2,000. This means that if the bulb is used for the stated hours a day the bulb will last for 10 years. Another thing to consider is that it may actually be cheaper to run the projector than it would to run a TV.
- Audio setup can be complicated: TVs will usually have speakers that are built-in to the device that will work great for the standard user. Projectors, on the other hand, may not. When they do come with speakers built in, they’re usually cheap-sounding speakers that have non-existent lows and tinny highs.
Projectors often lack the width for left and right speakers and are often mounted overhead, so using the sound that comes built into the speaker will get tiresome quickly.
- It can be a challenge actually setting the projector up to watch TV: When you’re using streaming setups to get content on the projector it can be as simple as simply plugging the streaming stick into the projector’s HDMI port.
If you’re planning on using a traditional TV feed from a cable company, the steps to hooking the system up may get significantly more difficult. If the cable box is connected to the wall, placing it in the projector (or having a spot to put the projector) can be difficult. This is because you’ll either need a cable line long enough to connect to the projector or you will have to place the projector near the cable box. To get rid of the issue of having to connect an HDMI cord from the cable box to the projector you could always use a wireless HDMI setup.
Using a projector for everyday television watching is both possible and a great option. If you’re a person who would like to watch television on a larger screen, a projector may allow you to do so without breaking the bank.