For the second year in a row Amazon highlighted a number of HD/4k projectors during Amazon Prime Day. I actually purchased one last year along with a 120-inch projector screen because I wanted to have little movie nights in the absence of being able to go to the movie theater.
The system works pretty well once you get the screen set up and the lighting right. But would I use a system like that instead of a TV? Most definitely not. Here is why. Sure you can invest $400.00 dollars into a projector and then get a much bigger picture than you would otherwise get from a 400.00 TV. But I have an utterly average-sized home. There is not one wall that has 120 inches of clearance available. We have a relatively small living room as well. For that matter, I would not buy a 120 inch TV either, even if I could afford it.
What is your house like? Can you line up four yardsticks end-to-end, not even accounting for a frame or stand in your home? If you can then bully for you. But that is a pretty large space to have currently unoccupied. You may well have a garage available but that is a very different thing than sitting down in the living room.
While there is a trend in higher-end homes to have home theater rooms and some folks converting basements into home theaters, many homes do not lend themselves to having a screen that large set up at all times. For those with that kind of space, that’s great. And there are amazing products out there to serve those needs from high-end projectors and sound systems to media servers, custom furniture, and more. But these cheap projectors are not aimed at that audience. They are aimed at the folks who buy TV’s on sale on Black Friday. And honestly, the place where they have space for something like that is outside. Not the living room.
Can you buy one of these things and use it outside? Of course. Heck, invite your neighbors over to watch a big premier movie. But that is not the same thing as watching the evening news during dinner.
Major Weaknesses of projectors (especially discount projectors)
Placement
They need distance. Sure, you can make the screen huge. As long as the projector is far enough away from your surface. That means that you not only need a wide room to take advantage of it, but you also need a long one. Where is this thing going to sit? Is it going to be mounted at the back of your living room like some corporate conference room?
The Screen
Do you want a big screen set up all of the time? Do you want to have something that has to be set up and taken down? Are you going to have a screen installed in the ceiling that lowers when you are checking out Netflix? Well your 400 dollar projector sure is getting expensive then. Be realistic. Sure, you don’t have to have the max size of the projector, but if you are not going to max it out, do you really want to deal with a projector when they already make TV’s?
Light
Cheap projectors are not going to perform well with lighting. You have to make a substantial investment to get a projector that can operate optimally with sunlight or even lamps on. There are projectors that can, but they are not on sale for $300.00. This even applies to the folks who want to set up outside. Understand that you will need darkness. This would make something like that difficult at best to use during the day unless you can make a room very dark.
Inputs
The TV is still the centerpiece of most living rooms. And while a streaming box may have taken the place of something like a Blu-ray player in some homes that is not the only thing that needs to plug into a TV via HDMI ports.
Maybe you don’t really have all that much stuff to plug in. Nobody said you have to have one of everything right. But a growing trend is that people are using soundbars more and more. This is because speakers on TV’s can’t deliver quality audio due to limited space. You don’t want to depend on some little laptop-style speakers for a family room anyway. Do you have a video game system? XBOX, PS5? How about cable? Did you buy a smart projector? If not you would still need to hook a streaming device unless you are not streaming yet. Ok, so you can get an HDMI splitter to set up multiple things. But I mean is that worth all the trouble? Do you currently use a soundbar that hooks up with an optical cable? See if any of these little projectors have one of those.
Durability
Projectors have a lot of moving parts. Look into how long the lights are supposed to last and consider how easy it will be to replace them when needed. What will you do if the fan burns out. Will it survive long if you plan to use it 35o nights a year for 4 hours or so a day at the minimum?
Will the whole household understand the setup?
One of the reasons cable has endured during the rise of streaming and cord-cutting is the ease of use. Grab the remote, turn it on and click away. What will the process of booting up the projector look like, will it have to be focused? Does anything have to be plugged in again? How likely are you to get a call or shout from down the hall saying “We can’t get this to work”?
Where will all the cords go?
Something that we have designed homes around is TV placement and outlets etc. Most homes have cable coax ports near where a TV would logically be placed according to room designs. Even if you are only streaming that is needed for the modem/router. There are also usually power outlets at the far end of the room. Cabinets have been designed to help place things and hide all the ugly wires and things that actually make things go. But if you again are using a projector, where does all of that go? Is it hanging behind your couch over the family portrait? running under a rug or your coffee table?
Why am I hating on projectors?
Look. Truly dedicated home theater rooms are awesome. And those who can set one up probably get a great deal of enjoyment from them no matter what it is that they are watching. But without the ability to do it right, with good seating, room to set it up, sound requirements etc, it is not worth a big investment. People who invest in real home theaters spend a whole lot more than a few hundred bucks on the components. Speakers alone can cost thousands. While you may fantasize about playing Maddon with life-sized players the chance that you will find a way to make it happen go down with the amount of space you do or don’t have available.
On a personal level, I have enjoyed my projector very much. We have set it up outside 3-4 times in the past year. With a TCL soundbar with Amazon Fire TV built-in we have a huge assortment of apps and audio that supports a good viewing experience. But I would not want to use that instead of a TV all of the time. Not by a long shot. So if you are tempted by the vision of having your own movie theater take those things into mind. You can certainly pull it off in the right circumstances. But you may want to just get a little old 65 inch TV for the family room instead. That concept isn’t broken and does not need fixing.
