What are the drawbacks of buying a projection HDTV?
Bryan H asked:
In the next few months I plan to buy myself a HDTV. I have been cruising different electronic stores looking for the right one. I want a pretty decent sized one. So I’m thinking about getting a projection HDTV which are relatively inexpensive compared to LCDs and Plasmas of the same size. So I was wondering are there any drawbacks to projection HDTV?
In the next few months I plan to buy myself a HDTV. I have been cruising different electronic stores looking for the right one. I want a pretty decent sized one. So I’m thinking about getting a projection HDTV which are relatively inexpensive compared to LCDs and Plasmas of the same size. So I was wondering are there any drawbacks to projection HDTV?
September 29th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Well, you’re still paying a rather large sum of money so you can watch television. Really large television. That’s a drawback right there.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
FYI Disney, Pixar and plenty of other companies are eliminating the HD projectors and going strictly Blue Ray take a look into it You’ll be surprised at what you find.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:33 am
-Can’t wall mount
-Heavier
And of course all the nitty gritty tech specs.
I got a 50″ Ultraslim Samsung DLP Projection about a month ago, no complaints yet. I don’t know if non-digital signals look better on LCD’s?
October 4th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Rear projection TVs have several disadvantages relative to flatscreens, including:
- The lamps must be replaced every few thousand hours, and they are expensive (~$300).
- They are bulkier (mainly thicker) than flatscreens (although some of the newer ones are not much thicker than the base on a flatscreen.)
- They usually have a lower angle of view than flatscreens (you can’t sit as far off centre).
- picture quality isn’t as good as the best flatscreens.
- They are more likely to look washed out in a bright room.
On the other hand, they are cheaper and still can give a good picture.
You might want to consider a front projector though. They have some of the same disadvantage as rear projectors (lamps need replacement, work best in dim/low ambient light room), but are the best way by far to get a cinema-like experience of a really big picture (8-10 feet). They can take up less space than other types of big screen HDTVs, and They are about the same price as a 720p or 1080p HDTV half the size. See projectorcentral.com for further info.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:05 am
I’d stick with LCD if they have the screen size you want - they’re sharper. One thing I noticed at the store about the projection tv’s is if you view at an angle looking up or from the side - there’s no picture! Check it carefully for that - it only looked ok from a slightly downward view angle to me.
Plasmas suck 4 times the energy as LCD and put off more heat.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
The times of a ten year life of a tv are gone. if you get five years out of any tv, expecially a projection tv, consider yourself lucky. The projection tv will eventually have lamp problems and dust problems. After three years, dust will accumulate on the projector, and this will need cleaning. The fan cooling the temp on the projector assembly will eventually fail, causing the projector bulbs to burn out. The replacement cost of the bulbs is high, in the hundreds. There is a class action suit on for certain Sony projection tvs for this problem.
The price is good, the picture nice (from the front at a certain angle) and you will enjoy it. The price drop among flat screen tv’s is worth waiting for to purchase. Or worth paying the extra few hundred to get a flat screen, hd tv, now. Go check out Costco, or get a return from Sears.
October 11th, 2008 at 2:34 am
agb is absolutely correct. I say 10pts to you sir.