Well I have 0 right now from working and birthday money I want to buy a projector or a tv. I have a completely dark room where i can put my projector and a screen but i also have a tv stand and a Directv and Tivo which i know how to connect to a tv but not a projector. Thank You.
Projector or a Plasma T.?
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It really comes down to how important a big picture is to you.
Either a projector or TV can be connected easily to DirectTV or Tivo. You just use HDMI, Component or other video cables (since the DirectTV or Tivo act as the tuner). But since a projector doesn’t have a useful amplifier section you need some type of home theater amp or receiver and speakers with a projector, while a TV has an amp and speakers built in.
In general, above about $1000, quality of the picture / image (in a dark room) will be more or less equivalent between a TV and projector at the same price range … but the projector image will be approx 2X the size of the TV.
For $500 you can’t get an HD projector though (although it may handle an HD input signal). At a minimum aim for a 1280×720 resolution projector with a contrast ratio of more than 10,000:1. If you can’t get that for what you are able to spend (and are not really tied to having a 100" screen) consider a plasma (or LCD) flatscreen.
short answer:
spend that $500 on a plasma/lcd
long answer:
a projector is going to require more than $500 to use and maintain. you should buy a dedicated screen for the best picture quality (because projecting on a plain white wall will bounce back too much light into the room and any dents/marks on the wall will project onto the images), you could buy a special paint instead of a projection screen but again the wall has to be smooth.
the projector will have to be mounted out of the way so that people/objects do not get in the way of the images being projected. so you may have to build or buy a high wall or ceiling mount.
also depending on the model of the projector, the light bulb will need to be eventually replaced at a cost of a few hundred dollars every few years (again depends on the model, usage, etc.)
another thing: most projectors do not output audio so you would have to route that to external speakers via a receiver/amp.
finally hiding cables is not as easy as throwing them behind a tv cabinet because of where the components will be located in the room (e.g., projector on the ceiling, directv near the wall outlet to the rca cable, amp/receiver next to the wall outlet/surger protector, etc.)
TV lifetime=10 years or so… depending on usage
Projector=2-3 years then replacement of bulb..
You would spend around 1200 on a projector due to bulbs cost alone. And the projector system only last about 5 years till it starts burning up and such.
Even though the most practical answer is simply to put on the wall an LCD or plasma TV; there’s nothing like a movie-size projected image on a white wall. It’s truly the movie house experience bar none. I’d look for a used or refurbished Infocus SP4805 DLP projector with the theatre standard quality Faroujda interlacer [to remove the jaggies] either at amazon.com or at craigslist.org. This 480i projector with built-in speaker is sufficient to project standard quality DVDs movies as well as digital video imagery. Why go with the crowd? Build your own home theater and act like a major Hollywood producer.
Good luck!