TV or projector which is better
Many who want to buy big TVs have this doubt ‘which is best Projector or TV?’ A big TV compared to a projector has many advantages like ease of use, and others. Buying a TV is an easy decision because you are doing what everybody else does and not venturing out of the ordinary. But the lure of a giant picture from a projector, at almost the same price or even cheaper than the big a TV, does make some to take the bold decision to buy a projector, and most of them will never regret that decision. The drawing here compares the size of a 42 inch TV with that of 100 plus inch screens and a 6 foot man. If the picture on these big projector screens are clear and bright, then there should be no doubt that a projector is a better buy than any big TV.
With a projector in the house, you literally have the same type picture on a screen like in a Movie Theater. Watching a movie in your own house, on a 100-inch or more screen with full surround sound is an exhilarating experience and is as good or better than seeing a movie in a theater. The sketch above should give you an idea of how a projector screen size compares with a TV. With a bright projector picture, not even the biggest TV can come close to the enjoyment of watching a movie on a projector screen.
We have a table below outlining the comparative advantages and disadvantages of TV vs Projector.
| Feature | TeleVision-TV | Projectors |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Size and Cost | TVs bigger than 70 inches costs over a 1000 dollars, and the maximum size of a practical TV is 85 inches, which which will cost nearly five thousand dollars. | Projectors with a picture size of 120 inches or 10 feet are now available at affordable prices starting from about $500- upwards. It is possible to set up a 120-inch screen size home cinema with a budget of about one thousand dollars, which will include the projector, screen and a soundbar. We have made a dummy purchase of a good Home theatre system below to give an example of how to select and buy a good home theater projector system online further down on this page |
| Installation | Installing TVs bigger than 65 inches is a proffessional job and requires the help of installation technicians. Big TVs are heavy, and one person alone cannot manage it. | Projectors are easy to install. The projector itself is very light and small and can be easily hidden away in a cupboard. One person can easily install the screen. Walls can also be turned into projector screens. |
| Convenience | Once installed a TV cannot be moved about from room to room. | Projectors are small and light, and it can be moved about from room to room or outdoors or even taken to a friends house. A screen is not essential for a projector, A projector picture can be seen on a wall, and the picture will be good if the wall is smooth and without any fixtures. |
| Connections | Making connections to a wall mounted TV is difficult. | Making connections on a projector is easy and straightforward. Anything that can be connected to a TV can also be connected to a projector. |
| Brightness | A TV has a very bright picture and can be seen with the room curtains opened or with lights on in the room. | Projector pictures are not that bright and hence to see a good projector picture it is better to have the curtains closed, and the lights switched off. |
| Eye Strain | A TV picture tends to cause more eye strain. This is because the TV picture occupies only a small fraction of the angle of vision of the human eyes when sitting about 8 to 10 feet from the TV. So your eyes find it difficult and struggle to cope with a bright object in a small fraction of your total vision. | Watching Projector images are less of a strain on the eyes, first of all, because the picture on the projector screen is not overly bright. Secondly, because of the massive size of the projector picture, it fills a significant fraction of the total angle of vision of the human eye and hence causes less eye strain. |
| 3D picture | 3D picture images on a TV screen is not that good compared to a projector picture images. | 3D picture images on a Projector screen are much more lifelike and is so realistic that many times you duck or move away from flying objects coming towards you. |
| Maintenance | A TV once installed will usually give trouble-free life of about ten years | Projectors require some maintenance. Every three months or so, depending on your usage, you need to clean a small air filter element in the projector. Once every 3 to 4 years depending on usage, the projector lamp has to be changed. The projector lamp can be replaced multiple times. Projector lamps can be priced between 50 to 200 dollars depending on the projector model. The newer Laser projector lamps will last as long as about ten years or more depending on usage. |
How to convert diagonal screen size to actual width and height of the screen
When projector manufacturers say the size of a projector image, the mean the diagonal size of the projector screen. It is always nice to be able to convert the diagonal screen size to actual width and height of the screen. We like to share with you an easy method to do this.
To convert 16:9 Screen Diagonal size to its width and height: Assume 'd' is the diagonal width specified by the manufacturer, then use the following conversion factor to get the width and height of a 16:9 HD aspect ratio
Width = 0.872d and Height=0.4905d.
Thus for a 100 inch diagonal screen, the width of the screen will be 0.872*100=87.2 inches and Height will be 0.4905*100=49.05 inches.
Projector Screen size compared to TV 65 inch
Let us consider the ratio of the screen area of a 65 inch TV image to a 100 inch Projector image. The Width of a 65 inch screen is 56.65 inches and the Height 31.87 inches to give an area of 1805.34 inches². A 100 inch Projector image has a width of 87.2 inches and a height of 49.05 inches to give an Area of 4273.00 inches². Even though the difference of the diagonal size is only about 1.5 (100/65 = 1.54) the difference in the area of the two images is 2.37 (4273/1805 = 2.37). Thus you get a projector image almost 2½ times the size of a big 65 inch TV. TVs bigger than 65 inches are very expensive, much more than a high quality Projector.
The quality of a 100 inch picture produced by a good quality projector is superb and if seen side by side with the best quality TV image on a 65 inch or even larger TV, you will definitely opt for a projector. The downside of the projector is that you should watch a projector in a room that is not too bright. As long as the room is dark, the projector image will have a much better quality, like better contrast ratio, more clarity in the larger picture and feeling you are seeing a real cinema in a theatre. The Projector image is easier on the eyes and causes less eye strain compared to the bright picture in a TV screen.
To summarize here are:
Advantages of Projector over TV
The main advantage of a projector over TV is that you get a much larger picture for about the same price as a big TV. If you consider the cost per inch of TV size, a projector works out much cheaper. One other good advantage of a projector over a big TV is the size of the projector. A projector weighs less than 20lbs (9Kg) and is very easily portable, can be quickly dismantled and set up in a new location with no problem. A large TV on the other hand is heavy and fragile and you have to be very careful when moving a large TV. You will need specialist installers of TVs to remove and set up a large TV in a new location.
Disadvantages of projector over TV
The biggest disadvantage of a projector over a TV is that you will require a darkened room to see good pictures. It is possible to have very bright projectors which can be shown in regular room lighting, but such projectors are more for business use. Home projectors are meant to be shown in rooms with blinds, shades or curtains drawn and room lighting switched off. In a darkened room, no TV picture can compare with the quality of the large picture of a projector.
Another major disadvantage of the projector is life of the projector lamp, which is about 3000 hours for the shortest life and cheapest Metal Halide Projector Lamps. So if you are watching the projector with Metal Halide Projector Lamps for 4 hours daily on an average, every day of the year, then you will be using the projector for 365x4=1460 hours and you will require to change this lamp once every 2 years. The cost of Metal Halide Projector Lamps is under $100 for the 3000 hours projector lamps. High efficiency HID Projector lamps with service life up to 10,000 hours are now available, though they are more expensive.
The latest projectors are now available with LED and Laser light sources. The LED projector lamps are claimed to last over 20,000 hours but are not as bright as the Metal Halide projector Lamps. Projectors with Laser lamps are also long lasting and very bright projectors, but right now they are priced very high. Expect laser projector prices to drop soon as more and more manufacturers get into this field.
Other problems with Projectors with Metal Halide Lamps are:
- The heat produced by the Projector’s Metal Halide Lamp requires a high speed fan to keep the Metal Halide Lamp cool and the fan noise may be disturbing for some.
- The Metal Halide projector Lamp requires a few seconds, up to 20 seconds, to start up and so not a an instant on like a TV.
- When shutting down a projector, the lamp needs to be cooled, and so the projector fan keeps running for about a minute after it is switched off
- Projector Metal Halide Lamps requires about 200 watts of power to run.
Where to buy Home Theater Projectors and Projector Screens online
The best place to buy Projectors and Projector screens is the Amazon online store in your country. Amazon is best to buy online Projectors and Screens because not only are they very competitively priced, but you also have the assurance of service, and in the worst case, even return for a refund in case you are not satisfied.
Links for Home Theater Projectors
This is the Link for Home Theater Projectors from Amazon AUSTRALIA
This is the Link for Home Theater Projectors from Amazon CANADA
This is the Link for Home Theater Projectors from Amazon INDIA
This is the Link for Home Theater Projectors from Amazon UK
This is the Link for Home Theater Projectors from Amazon USA
Links for Projector Screens
This is the Link for Projector Screens from Amazon AUSTRALIA
This is the Link for Projector Screens from Amazon CANADA
This is the Link for Projector Screens from Amazon India
This is the Link for Projector Screens from Amazon UK
This is the Link for Projector Screens from Amazon USA
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