Best Projector for a home theater?

What kind of coax cable are you talking about? Like a TV antenna or cable TV cable?

There is NO SUCH THING as a great looking projector for under $1000. They ALL SUCK HORRIBLY with gray blacks, blurry images (compared to flat-screen TV) and they are WORTHLESS for 4K/UHD and HDR. At under $1000 you won't get more resolution than 1920x1080, but the optics won't be great and TVs don't have lenses. Furthermore, in 10-15 years, projection is going to be DEAD. Expandable LED screens will rule the world because of the larger number of colors, minimal heat generation, long life, clearer images without optics interfering with image quality. For $999 MSRP, the Hisense H9G will DESTROY the image quality of ANY projector even remotely CLOSE in price. This is a nano-dot TV (they call it ULED) with VERY wide color gamut and close to 2000 nits of brightness AFTER calibration. By contrast, a sub-$1000 projector setup with an ACCURATE picture mode and good menu settings will be lucky to produce 140 nits of measured brightness. If you just want a bigger picture, what you need to do is move closer to a 65-inch TV. The big screen MEANS NOTHING. What is important is viewing angle... the amount of your field of vision filled up by the screen. If your big screen setup produces a 40-degree viewing angle, if you move close enough to a UHD TV that you also have a 40-degree field of view, your viewing experience will be IDENTICAL to a large projection screen. But with the 65-inch TV, you get WAY more color and all the luminance capability you need to make UHD/HDR programming (UHD discs, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, and others offer new/original programming in UHD/HDR). DLP projection technology hasn't improved its inherently poor black levels since around 2010 while LCD and LCoS projection technology have made HUGE strides in improving black levels in that time. Calling DLP "black level" black is ridiculous because it isn't even a very dark gray. Put a space movie on the screen and it looks HORRIBLE because the blackness is nowhere near black. Epson makes some of the best inexpensive projectors, but in a $2500 Epson, the replacement lamp costs $300 from Epson, but you can purchase clone lamps for $60-ish. The Epson lamp and the clone look IDENTICAL in every way (I am engineer, trained to notice fine detail differences and design changes) on the outside, but when you put a clone lamp in the Epson projector, there is a beeper inside the projector that goes beep-beep-beep constantly when there is a clone lamp in the projector. Install the Epson replacement... silent projector. No difference in image quality, it's just a matter of Epson screwing with the lamp INTENTIONALLY to force you to buy expensive lamps from them! Why participate in that level of baloney? (I cannot say if Epson does the same with projectors priced under $1000). I have a $25,000 laser-phosphor projector sitting here idle for a year because 65 and 75 inch 2019 and 2020 top-series TVs look so phenominally better than the $25,000 projector that I've lost all interest in projection. And I have a $7000 projection screen that makes images look incredibly better than a cheap screen or a screen painted on a wall. So $32,000 of projection gear is unused for a year (may even be more than a year now) while 8 TVs with MSRPs of $899 to $4000 pass through, every one of them producing images so demonstrably better than the projector (which has FULL 3840x2160 resolution, not pixel shifting like inexpensive projectors you will be looking at) that NOBODY would choose the projected images over the TV images. Note that when projectors say they accept 4K/UHD inputs, that doesn't mean they DISPLAY UHD resolution... the projectors have to down-convert to 1920x1080 (or lower if the projector's native resolution is less than 1920x1080).

I have a 70 inch LG "8K" tv and I got it for the color rendition it has that I like, not some kind of non visible improvement in resolution. At that size pixel count is a joke. I also have a 119 inch 4k screen and 4k Sony projector. The upscaling of a even a dvd is fantastic on my projector. My seat is about 16 feet from either screen. The screen drops in front of the TV screen. The projector and screen cost me about $10 k. For tv and cable tv shows, I am happy with the tv. With a good movie I prefer the bigger screen to sitting closer to the screen on the tv. Each step up I took on the tv and price gave me improvements. Same as for the projector. Thje projector really loves a darkened room as opposed to the tv. One thing not mentioned. For me for a good theater, the sound system if good, is as much of a factor as the picture. For just music, I prefer only my two front main speakers on a good amp and preamp system.
For a good movie I use the 11.2 surround system with a pair of big subs. I am stuck with changing amplifier wires to the front ain speakers since for a movie or tv I don't want to use up the tube life on the stereo system. Same goes for using the projectror to watch tv shows.
Pick your poison. If in a small room, maybe a large tv with appropriate sound system would be as impactful as a projector in a larger room with a very good sound system.

dayaghana84 said:

I've been wanting to get a projector for my house for a bit now and I was wondering which one is the best under $1000. I was also wondering if there are any projectors that you can plug a coax cable directly to. Thanks

Click to expand...

How big is your room and will it be easily made dark? IUs it to be only for the projector? Do you have a sound system in that room? If the room cannot be dark not so you cannot find your way around but not just dim, you will not be happy at all with a projector. There are some projector screens that can be used in an almost daylight room but they cost big bucks and cannot match a tv in contrast. . You can get a pretty decent tv with a big screen for under $1000 but even the pulldown screens for a projector are not cheap. Personally I would keep the cost of the picture such that your sound system is as costly as the picture system, at least if you want it for movies. A big picture with a wimpy sound system is really upsetting once you do it. A great sound system is to me more important than a big picture.
Almost all projectors other than some only used for presentations use HDMI and a audio/video receiver. You will need an Audio Video Receiver (AVR) and a blue ray player (or cable tv or sattelite subscription) and a movie screen and a video source like a tv or projector. Do you already have a sound system? If you are going to just paint the wall white and use a junk sound system, go with a big TV. You can figure at least $300 for a cheap screen and the same for a receiver, again a cheap one. Speakers???, A set of tolerable speakers is well over $500. A sound bar for a tv or for a screen is that much and it is whimpy for movies. For most projectors bulb cost is not insignificant so to use it as a tv all day as well as for movies can be quite costly. Go tv! Look at the lowest cost SVS brand subwoofer and a decent AVR, a small Yamaha receiver maybe. Then go for very efficient speakers that can give you some real volume with just the amplifiers in the receiver. I have my whole audio and video systems in my living room. TV Stereo and projector. I use blinds to darkent he room for movies with the Projector. I built my front right and left speakers over the past 50 years. I upgraded my speaker from two way to three then to 4 way over the years. I heard a big pair of JBL L-200s around 1972 and had to have them. I wound up buying the drivers after a few years and building my own cabinets. Still cost me over $1200 just for the drivers back in the early 1970's. I had built a audio receiver and at 60 watts per channel was enough to do a fair job with my JBL speakers. I still love them but now they are each up to a 4 way speaker. They still use the same bass driver and midrange horn that I bought in the early 1970's. Good stuff costs but lasts. I don't have a lot of rooms but do have a big living room in which I basically live. Plan ahead to decide what you are doing. If you are after just a bigger picture start with a big tv for now. Figure on replacing it in 4 or 5 years though. Nothing is repairable anymore.

Da Wiz - I appreciate the time and effort and money you have put into screens and their technology. I am sure you have spent a lot of time doing this. Your 'go-to' response is filled with some good info and passion. I wish I had the funds to buy and try things like you have.

However, your responses are being received as rather aggressive and demeaning. Experienced readers can read them and take or leave what you have to say. New readers can be put off as it appears you are putting them down for an idea that you do not agree with. Notice most never respond past your post...

I believe a lot of new-comers do not have background a/v knowledge nor care to learn much details. They are simply looking for guidance within the realm of their budget / area of living. To try to 'educate' someone on the tech of brightness, contrast and clarity with an "in your face' response is not the best way to get them to agree with you. It usually does the opposite and makes them feel bad for even asking on this forum.

In my experience, most people who are not willing to shell out 1k-2k of money ( on av equipment) and aren't interested in saving up to get better. ( "...cause walmart's got a 65" on sale for..." ) The most common reply I get after chatting with them about what they are thinking of getting compared to what I have or other similar comparisons is "well, all I want is this..." or "I just want it to do this". And what they are willing to spend on it will fill their 'all I want' list.

I think many people who ask the 'what can I get for $...' question upfront are not too interested in technical specs and calculations. They are looking for something like their friend or uncle has or they got curious looking through amazon.

And some are just happy as a lark 'cause they got a big picture tv on sale at best buy. This does not make them stupid people. In fact, they are probably more happy and content with their $899 purchase than we are with our 5k$ purchase.

I really like my epson 'fake' 4k projector and 106" screen, but make no mistake about it, if I could get a 106" led screen for less than a 20 year mortgage, I would!

the kid said:

Shene - "...A set of tolerable speakers is well over $500 ... Wow! While I understand that speaker tech / sound advances along with higher dollars, I think we may have different economic outlooks...

Sounds like you may have some nice equipment along with some good 'ol stuff from an earlier era of audio. I have a brother who is also still happy with a set of TL speakers he built in the 80's.

I have been into av for a long time, more so at a 'knows enough not to get hurt' level. I am sort of a hermit in all this as no one in my travels seems to really care beyond the tv and bose mini-surround system they got at bb or costco on black friday. I have a couple of friends and relatives who at least pretend to be interested in av while talking to me...

As a black Friday / Christmas gift to myself this year (of course I have to play the selfish card and get myself something each year) I plan on expanding my 7.2 speaker system with atmos. So I will be a little closer to your 11.2...

Click to expand...

Don't get hooked into side speakers that point up and are supposed to make you think it is comong from above. That DON"T happen. Your ears are not so stupid as to pinpoint them to where they happen to be pointed. What ever you buy put them ON THE CEILING. Get at least a 5 inch driver with or without a center tweeter and mount it facing down! If nothing else a couple of old car speakers in small enclosures. Just cause they call them atmos speakers that does not make them any good. Accuracy is not important overhead. Surround sound is usually what we would call noise or atmosphere sounds. Atmos is nice in that it may track some things overhead but cannot do that from the sides pointing up!

Almost all of my speakers came from ebay or on blowout sale. I am a believer in putting the same amount of dollars into an old piece of good stuff rather than paying full price for newer technology. About 5 years ago I bought an Accuphase C200 preamp that was likely built in the 1970s. I found one at a good price (about $800), and now I am seeing them selling for $2 to $4 thousand dollars. A lot of people into "high end" are constantly upgrading and selling their older stuff dirt cheap.

Ps, I heard a pair of JBL L-200s at a store because I wanted to hear the L-100's (which were also beyond my buget). Once I heard those I saved for 5 years to see what I could come up with. I still could not afford the L-200's but for about $1200 I was able to get two bass dreivers, two horns and lenses and two crossovers to build my own L-200's. I still had to take aout a loan to do that. I had a Heathkit 60 watt receiver I bult and it was strong enough to drive those speakers pretty well. Later I added a tweeter, later yet I found some used drivers in Canada on line and grabbed those and then I found that JBL had upgraded that monitor with an additional 10 inch driver. Off to mods again. I finally got them sounding just right this year. That's 45 years to get where I am finally happy with the main speakers. Nothing out there I would trade them for. I lost my wife of 54 years a couple of years ago and to keep my brain busy I recently got into upgrading my electronics. Hey at my age there just ain't a "someday I want to......."
.

That's a cool history. Admirable that you stayed the course to get what you wanted.

My speaker system is also comprised of kits and diy. Nothing extravagant, but I think decent. My mains are a floor standing MTM TL design I took years back from a diy'er I saw via parts express website. Center channel also a borrowed diy design. My surrounds are BR-1 kits from same parts express. 2 12's make up the subs. Room size is 14x20 with 10ft ceiling. To me, the 10ft ceiling gives the room a feel of extra bigness.

While not saving up for high class av equipment, I have learned to research what I need today and what I may want a couple years later when looking for features. So last time I purchased a receiver I made sure to get one to accommodate my current 7.2 system while allowing additional atmos positions. So I guess I am looking at 7.2.2. And no fear, I plan to get ceiling speakers with 8" woofers and swivel tweeter. I think the 10ft ceiling will add a little extra room space giving me a little larger surround field than standard ceiling rooms. The ceiling speakers I am currently looking at each have an added +/- 3db bass and treble switch on the face plate. So, being a tweaker, this feature appeals to me.