Front Projectors as a Display Alternative

Nice article and good info there.

I did come up with another Con to these though....Space constraints. To get that huge screen you need two spaces. first off the space to actually project onto, second the space inbetween the "screen" area and the projector. While this might not affect some it would be a bear for me. I live in an older trailer house(yep, I'm good ole whitebread, cornfed, trailer trash). I don't have a wall in my house that is suitable for projecting onto. So I would also have to invest in a screen. Then I would have to find a place to set it up where my girlfriend won't be constantly walking between the screen and the projector. The one thing that an LCD gives you is a shorter allowable distance between you and the screen.

That's what I was thinking too. A projector is great, but you really need a room dedicated to it. And I honestly don't want to have to switch back and forth from the projector for games vs. email. If I had a house in which I could set up a dedicated projector room, I'd be all for it. Until then...

Is it possible to project unto the ceiling???? That would be awsome! So many ideas!! Like laying in bad, comfortably looking at the ceiling watching a movie!!!

I'm making a projector as we speak!

I've been running my Viewsonic DLP projector with my HTPC since December, 2005 and although I don't game, it makes for a fantastic home theatre experience.

7' wide ceiling-mounted pull-down screens go for only about $70 and provide a perfect display surface in virtually any location. My projector is only 10' away from the screen and the image fills it very nicely. The space dedicated to this system is very minimal (far less than a large-screen TV would consume) and the image quality IMHO is far better.

As the author notes, bulb replacement needs to be considered in the operating cost of the unit. Also consider that a typical 2000 Lumen projector consumes 200+ watts of electricity (an important factor for those of us who pay US$.035 per KHW) and produces a considerable amount of heat.

Using a separate LCD (as the author suggests) for those times a large display is uneeded is a viable alternative, as is using remote desktop over the network for those with a LAN and more than one machine.

As for the market being in "freefall", I'm not too sure. I paid US$783 for my projector nearly a year ago, and the current market price for the same model is now $729; that's only a 9.3% price drop over the course of a year; comparable projectors (DLP, same resolution and brightness) sell within the same price range.

Maviryk said:

I'm making a projector as we speak!

Click to expand...

I made one a while back - best couple hundred dollars I ever spent:

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7261&hl=stoanhart

Deadbot1_1973 said:

Nice article and good info there.

I did come up with another Con to these though....Space constraints. To get that huge screen you need two spaces. first off the space to actually project onto, second the space inbetween the "screen" area and the projector. While this might not affect some it would be a bear for me. I live in an older trailer house(yep, I'm good ole whitebread, cornfed, trailer trash). I don't have a wall in my house that is suitable for projecting onto. So I would also have to invest in a screen. Then I would have to find a place to set it up where my girlfriend won't be constantly walking between the screen and the projector. The one thing that an LCD gives you is a shorter allowable distance between you and the screen.

Click to expand...

It's very inexpensive to make a nice screen. For about $15 in black out cloth from JoAnn Fabric and another $10 in wood and staples you can make a screen up to about 8 feet diagonal. I helped my neighbor with his and nobody can tell it's home made. It looks like something purchased at a high end home A/V store for several hundred dollars.

Stoanhart said:

I made one a while back - best couple hundred dollars I ever spent:

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7261&hl=stoanhart

Click to expand...

I'm currently working on one. I've got all the parts except for my fresnel lenses and reflector. It's awesome fun and I can't wait to complete it (on hold currently because I'm building a deck w/ hot tub ).


The story from the main page was excellent I thought. It hit all of the main reasons why I'm going the projection route for TV viewing and game playing. For web surfing and productivity stuff I'll probably stick to a monitor though.