Is a TV or a projector the better choice for your home theater? Our comparison explains the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques and reveals what the decision depends on.
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How many hours do you use your television per day?
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Do you have the space you need?
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4K also makes sense for projectors with a larger seat spacing
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HDR – advantage for the television
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When comparing prices, think about the additional costs
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Conclusion
Anyone who wants to set up a home theater at home will then very quickly have to decide whether to have a television or not Smart TV is enough or it is a Beamer for a real cinema feeling. There are a few points to consider.
How many hours do you use your television per day?
The lifespan of beamer and television is very different. The lifespan of projector lamps is often around 4,000 hours. With daily use of 4 hours, this corresponds to a little less than 3 years. During this time, a projector lamp not only loses its brightness, but also the color rendering.
The lost brightness can be replaced by a new lamp. However, the color rendering is not brought back to the initial level even with a new lamp. It is therefore important to know how many hours per day the screen will be used. Classic projectors are not intended as everyday devices that run in the background all day.
Do you have the space you need?
Projectors need a certain minimum distance to the screen in order to fill them out completely. There are extra image width and distance calculators for this. Projectors differ in their lenses and so you should plan before buying a projector whether it can be set up in such a way that it fills the screen.
For an image width of 2.40 meters, a projector quickly needs a distance of up to 4 meters from the projection surface. At the other extreme, a projector may not be set up as far away from the screen as you want. With this problem, the zoom lens helps all of that Home theater project or
The class of ultra-short distance projectors is an exception. You simply display them on your sideboard and a distance of less than one meter is enough to throw image diagonals of 120 inches and more on the wall. Such projectors are particularly recommended in living rooms where there is not enough space.
4K also makes sense for projectors with a larger seat spacing
If a television or projector has a 4K resolution, it is important to ensure that you are close enough to the TV or the screento distinguish 4K from full HD. As a rule of thumb, the distance between the seat and the screen is a maximum of 1.5 times the screen diagonal.
Since this is not the case in most cases, the high resolution is not worthwhile with comparatively small televisions. If, on the other hand, you choose a 120 inch screen, you can still use the potential of UHD with a seat distance of 4.5 meters.
HDR – advantage for the television
In addition to the resolution, the brightness range also plays a major role in image quality. HDR (High Dynamic Range) stands for a large dynamic range. The screen can show both a very bright and a very dark picture, and that in different areas of the picture at the same time.
Projectors are far inferior to televisions in this area. For a large dynamic range you have to dig deep into your pocket for projectors. The problem lies in the technology itself and not so much in the technical implementation. In order to display an image area really black, a projector would not have to send any light to this point. Projectors usually produce a grayish black and cannot keep up with OLED televisions.
If black levels and dynamic range are very important to you, you should get a TV.
When comparing prices, think about the additional costs
Many of the costs that arise when purchasing a projector are easily forgotten at first glance. A projector doesn’t really get by without a screen. Of course, the picture can simply be thrown on the wall, but the quality suffers.
TV offers: These televisions are currently available at a massive discount
There are also costs in the form of wall and ceiling mounts and new cables. That’s why you shouldn’t compare the price of a projector with that of a television, but rather include the screen and accessories in the comparison.
Conclusion
If you plan to watch films and series for several hours a day, a projector is not recommended. Televisions get almost exponentially the bigger they get. The possible image size of home cinema projectors, on the other hand, is almost independent of the price. For better color depth and black values, on the other hand, projectors are exponentially more expensive. You will pay a lot more for a very good color rendering with a projector than with a television.
Accordingly, you should buy a television set if you want a good-colored and bright picture with a limited budget. Above all, if you want a large, high-resolution image, then you are well advised to use a projector in combination with a screen.
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