[mythtv-users] What's a good projector for Myth?

[Andre Newman]

On 26 Feb 2009, at 04:58, Jim Stichnoth wrote:

> I'm thinking of moving my TV setup into a different room and using a  
> projector onto a 100" projector screen.  I started looking into  
> projectors and I'm shocked by the enormous range of prices and don't  
> want to make a stupid choice.  I imagine that some of a given  
> projector's cost may be for features that MythTV doesn't need, such  
> as deinterlacing, or switching aspect ratios.  Other properties  
> wouldn't be Myth-specific, like ones that are important for the  
> specific room.  Can anyone share general wisdom or specific  
> recommendations?

I have a Optoma HD80 which I chose partly because it behaves better  
than a lot of home theatre projectors with a PC connected, it reports  
1080p60 and 1080p50 over DVI or HDMI EDID and doesn't crash on 1080p50  
like all the Infocus projectors I tried! You need to force 1080p24 as  
EDID doesn't report that correctly, apparently you can rewrite the  
EDID but I haven't bothered. I find that HDTV displayed on my  
1920x1200 HDMI LCD looks awful, poor colour reproduction and jerky  
motion, plugging the same frontend into the HD80 makes everything  
smooth and colour is great. I don't experience any of the TV hookup  
dramas that I read about on here :-) I made a point of taking a laptop  
and trying it with all the projectors I looked at, I also took a  
MythTV made DVD of DVBT UK TV so I could see how things looked with my  
main source of TV, I took some motor racing so I could easily see if  
the projector was scanning at 50 frames properly (many don't) that's  
equally important in Australia as here in the UK.

I use a PS3 for everyday Myth TV but I have an experimental VDPAU  
frontend that I will switch to when (if) it reaches the same HDTV  
image quality as the PS3, better would be really nice. :-)
>
> My living room has high ceilings and the walls are all white, and  
> there would be a fair amount of daytime viewing,

Same here, some times I run the projector on full bulb brightness and  
open the iris for watching daytime stuff, I never close all the blinds  
for daytime TV, I prefer some lost contrast to sitting in the dark!  
Doesn't get as sunny in the UK as is Aus though!


> so there could often be a lot of ambient light.  Fortunately, the  
> windows face north.  Ideally the projector would be mounted on the  
> back wall about 20 feet from the screen, but it could be mounted on  
> the side wall closer to the screen if necessary.  In either case,  
> the projector would be even with the edge of the screen.  It would  
> probably be mounted at or above the top of the screen and throw the  
> beam downward.  With a 100" screen, I don't know if 720p would be  
> adequate (for comparison, I'm completely happy with the 720p native  
> resolution of my 42" TV).

I get ~90" at 13 foot from the "screen" at this size I can readily  
tell 720p from 1080i and certainly 1080p. 720p would be fine at this  
sort of size but 1080p is worth it if you can afford it, I understand  
that 85" is supposed to be the point at which 1080p becomes  
distinguishable from 720p at the correct viewing distance, I have  
confirmed that for myself with my zoom.

Watch out for fixed offset projectors, although your room  
configuration would suit this as mine does it can restrict placement,  
if you are fussy about image quality then make sure you can install  
where you want without needing keystone correction.

One side note, I find that wall projection gives me a few things that  
a conventional TV or a projection screen doesn't, I understand the  
technical reasons for using a screen with dark borders but I wouldn't  
want to use a screen again. A couple of friends have the same setup as  
me and they are experimenting with one wall painted grey, one guy did  
screen paint part of a wall but found it too distracting.

When you turn the projector off there is "no TV in the room" that's a  
really nice change in our TV dominated culture.
4:3, 16:9 2.35:1 14:9, none of this matters as there is no screen to  
fill, great for those who hate "black bars", I sometimes switch to  
native resolution and just watch a smaller picture if the source  
material is low quality SDTV.
The PS3 Earth screen saver/ music visualiser is great as the blackness  
of space just keeps on going right across the wall!  There's a great  
scene in Fifth Element where the ball of evil is the only thing  
visible, just comes right at you with no borders.
Oh and the projector is great for looking at holiday photos, for that  
1080p is a must.

Hope something here helps.

Andre