You may be thinking about adding a home theater to your house since you have the room for it. But it can be difficult to choose between a television and a projector for your home theater purposes. In this article we’re going to go over 4 points to consider before you make a purchase.
Brightness
When it comes to projectors, brightness is something that many pay the most attention to. The more ambient light there is in an area, the more brightness there will have to be to make sure images don’t wash out. Brightness levels tend to make projectors more expensive also. Many projectors that are able to produce close to 1,500 to 3,000 lumens will cost around $2,000. Make sure to purchase a projector with an ANSI lumen brightness rating though since manufacturers try to deceive consumers by giving the brightness of the light source.
LED TV’s that cost close to $1,000 are capable of being much brighter, but remember that TV brightness is measured in nits rather than in lumens. Screen/projector combinations have more work to do to be as bright as televisions are capable of being. And, another issue in the projector corner is that their bulbs tend to die out and need replacing.
Brightness doesn’t tend to be an issue if one is able to sit in a room that has low ambient light – this is a major reason why projector movie screens don’t cause much eye strain.
Size
At one time, when it came to size, TV’s were way behind projectors. Nowadays though, one can get an 85 inch TV for around $3,000. Projection screens start at the 100 to 120 inch mark, and one can purchase a projector with good color reproduction, brightness, and 4K resolution. So even though TV’s have gotten larger, projectors are still on top.
Contrast
A screen’s contrast is decided by the combination of brightness and black levels. Projector brightness capabilities can often be guessed by looking at how dark the room can be made and the shade of the projection surface. Many projectors don’t have a chance when they’re in areas with high ambient light, while TVs may get washed out but will hold up just fine.
Sound Quality
When it comes to sound quality TVs win this one. Mainly because of the fact that TVs always come with speakers, and solid speakers at that. Many projectors come with speakers as well, except for those newer laser-based models, since they’re usually tiny and positioned overhead.
Most TVs come with good sound quality fresh out of the box, but their main role is displaying good video. If you really want solid sound quality though, it’s best to opt for a speaker system.
When projectors are compared to TV’s, they usually always need a separate speaker system and thus lose this one.
Smart Features
Every person doesn’t really need to have smart features pn their projector or television. One may have all the smart tech they need on connected set-top boxes, consoles, or dongles (as long as they have the corresponding open ports). If built in platforms are of interest to you however, there are still a number of choices to choose from.
A number of the projectors on the market today, come with platforms similar to what is used on smart TVs. Samsung makes use of it’s Tizen platform in their brand home projectors, while companies such as Hisense use Google/Android TV, somewhat like you’d find on Google chromecast. These companies also provide voice assistance such as Bixby, Alexa, or Google Assistant.
Installation
TV’s tend to be easier to install. While larger TVs can be heavy and somewhat fragile, they’re simple to put in a home theater and have a certain ease of use. Also, they can easily unite all of your devices since everything can be hooked directly into the television, and can be controlled using the TV’s remote control. Installation for TVs tends to be fairly painless, if it’s not being mounted to the wall.
Projector setup can require a great deal of effort and planning to install them – even though short and ultra short throw projectors are much simpler to install. One thing that has to be considered is the screen. Will you purchase a screen or be painting a wall? You’ll also need to make sure you have the space necessary for the setup. You’ll also have to make sure the projector will be positioned correctly, which can be more of a challenge than one might think.
You’d also have to input HDMI cables to the projector or include wireless transmitters, which makes things more expensive. Unless you plan on only having a few sources, you’ll probably want to get an AV receiver or an HDMI switcher, so you’re able to run a single HDMI cable to your projector.
Color accuracy
One doesn’t have to break the bank to get decent color accuracy in a projector. Depending on the type of projector(LCOS, DLP, 3-chip LCD), one can expect to get good colors at a decent price. Televisions, to get the same processing, require more effort, which makes them more expensive. The best 4K televisions produce wider color gamuts than a majority of projectors, but projectors are inching up on them. If one compares the cost to the performance, televisions would win this one. If one doesn’t care as much about price, projectors would have this one.
Cost
When one takes a look at some of the best projectors and televisions, they’ll see a variety of prices from $700 to $3000 for lower and higher end devices. With that, when one pays more for a television, they’ll often get features that one really can’t find in a projector. Those models that are higher end will have features such as QLED and OLED screens, higher levels of brightness, excellent color accuracy, and speakers that come built in that are much better than that that projectors nowadays will offer.
Projectors will often have other costs including wall mounts or costs for screens. TVs are, on the whole, much better when it comes to cost.
HDR and Resolution
Home projectors have finally gotten to a similar spot as HDTVs, and have a number of options for video standards such as HDR and for higher resolutions. There is a higher price tradeoff when it comes to projectors and video standards as the better the resolution is the more expensive the projector tends to be. While the features of a television and a projector may be similar, you can expect to pay more for the projector.
Side note: a 4k TV will cost around $500, while it’s projector counterpart will cost close to $1,500.
Outdoor use and portability
TVs don’t have to move very often once they are installed. This is isn’t true of all TVs that are wall mounted but is true of all home theater screens/ Even the models that are ultra slim are too heavy and bulky to be moved at all times.
Some projector models have an advantage in this area. They are built to be compact enough to be moved, and most can be repositioned in other places when necessary. There are even some portable projectors that can be moved and used outside for movie nights.
This is a level of versatility that one can’t really find in many of today’s televisions and use them outdoors isn’t really a part of the question unless one wants to put the money up for a weatherproofed model.