Projectors vs TVs

528491

Hi,

Did anyone try projectors as alternatives to TVs to watch movies?
Is it easier on the eyes?

JTL

__528491__ Most projectors except the super expensive "three chip" models use a spinning colorwheel, where the image on screen has the colors flicker very fast in order to make a full picture.

Something to keep in mind.

Slacor

Epson Home Cinema 2150 has worked fine for me.
uses a bulb (instead of LED) for illumination which I think helped me.

Trialed a LED one (RAGU Z720) prior and was no good for me

KM

Slacor Do you mean you can watch it without any eye strain for hours? How does it compare to your usable monitors? How do "3LCD" projectors control the brightness? Is there any flicker?

randomboolean

Yes, I am going to buy one as no TV (LCD, LED, Plasma) is usable for me. Have tried a couple of DLP projectors and they work very well for me, no symptoms. Of course they were not the cheapest ones, all ~900 EUR (I do not remember the models, they were all Benq's). The Full HD one had a lot of details, no blurry pictures. Also my room is very bright during the day, but I could see the picture very well.

KM

randomboolean Did you try cheap ones that were not usable?

randomboolean

KM I think I recall one time during last year when I had to use meeting room, but I refused to look at laptop. It was a 800x600 simple projector. I guess it was DLP. My eyes were OK.

Seagull

randomboolean

In my experience the low res business projectors are all LCD

Slacor

I can watch it for hours. It's connected to a Rpi3 with hdmi but no issues.
Compared to my monitors, if i use the rpi3 over hdmi there is some minor irritation. That's promising to me.

KM How do "3LCD" projectors control the brightness?
Is there any flicker?

Well it states it's in the "power conserve" mode or something like that.
Probably by flicker, but I don't think it's a issue because it uses a older kind of bulb (incandescent?).
It definitely uses a lot more power (I think 160 watts) to run.
This is the replacement bulb you can buy

KM

Slacor Compared to my monitors, if i use the rpi3 over hdmi there is some minor irritation.

Same here. Cannot use current Linux-based Raspberry OS's over HDMI. On RiscOS it seemed to be different, but that OS is of very limited use to me.

JTL

KM Similar to this?

https://ledstrain.org/d/354-osmc-raspberry-pi/13

KM

JTL Maybe. All I know, which is not much, is in this old thread: https://ledstrain.org/d/59-raspberry-pi-open-source-video-driver
Bottom line: trial and error - some distros work/worked, others fail, no one knows why, not even the driver developer.

KM

I have bought the Epson EH-TW650. Its outer appearance and the specs look the same as the Home Cinema 1060. Probably just a different labeling between Europe/USA. It seems to use the same lamp as the higher priced EH-TW5650/Home Cinema 2150, which is why I bought it.

Sadly, it is irritating my eyes. My whole face seems to be irritated when looking at the projection for just a few seconds. Feels like the muscles around my eyes are tensing. This usually happens when there is flicker and afterwards stays for much longer, even hours.
I measured the light coming from the wall from 3 m away with my current oscilloscope setup. It revealed pretty obvious flicker at around 200-400 Hz (constantly changing) in Normal Mode and 1400 Hz in ECO Mode. I played with settings but no relief in sight.
I will add some proof pictures later.

So if you're sensitive to flicker, better stay away from this device.

ECO Mode:

Standard Mode:

The flicker frequency of Standard Mode is changing constantly.

randomboolean

I tested The Optoma HD27 for a hour or two and it was NOT OK, but it gave me very different eye strain (left eye) compared to LCD screens. Would not recommend this device for eye strainers. 🙂

hpst

randomboolean As far as I know all projectors flicker one way or another due to color wheels or PWM or both, so that's more evidence that some sort of flicker somewhere is a problem. I have strain even on PWM free panels so if its not dithering it has to be something else we dont know of.

laur5446

I sat through a 2 hour movie in November at the theater and did experience some discomfort but more mild compared to the TV or computer (which is severe). I figured I should try a projector at home. I am not techy like the majority of you...so despite this projector being LED, I figured it would be worth a trial and error approach. I purchased this projector during a Black Friday deal: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078J2CZ4B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have tried it twice so far. The first time for about 1.5 hours...experienced some mild strain and sensations, for lack of a better word. I tried it on Saturday for about 4.5-5 hours and did have some more moderate strain. I need to try it some more before deciding whether or not to keep it but, at this point, mild/moderate strain seems like progress when the TV or computer is severe. I imagine I will have to still limit my use of it to only a couple of hours...no binge watching shows like I wish I could still do. Someone on this thread mentioned a bulb projector...maybe that's worth a try. A DLP TV bothered me so I am not so sure about trying a DLP projector. I am interested in trying a CRT TV, but I have no idea if I can connect that to any streaming devices.

Anyway, if my results from this projector change, I will update my response but so far, it may be okay (mild strain) to use in smaller increments of time.

cybee

laur5446
Thanks for sharing your experience!

laur5446 bulb projector

They probably may give a different experience (better or worse) as projector bulbs have quite different spectrum in comparison to the LED.