kapone32Why are these so expensive? I understand their use in a business setting but for the regular consumer. A 75" TV would be cheaper and probably look sharper. 8K TVs are also almost here as well. Then there is the BENQ name that is associated with being cheaper like Acer but better in quality.

kapone32Why are these so expensive? I understand their use in a business setting but for the regular consumer. A 75" TV would be cheaper and probably look sharper. 8K TVs are also almost here as well. Then there is the BENQ name that is associated with being cheaper like Acer but better in quality.

HeadRusch1"Why buy a projector in 2024 when you could get a big TV?".

First is most "big" TV's aren't that big by projector standards. My PJ screen has been 110" for some time now.....I could go about as big as 130" if I chose to. What is a 'big' TV these days...75"? 85"? Meh. If you mean the 98 or 100"+ models those are relatively new in the "affordable" price segment. But let's say you go that route....and we aren't talking some paltry 65 or 75 set, let's assume its like 85 or 90" minimum, because that is more comparable to a small projector screen on average....

That Giant TV is going to weigh more than 100lbs and it's going to be a fixed set of dimensions, that means if you need to take it up to a second floor or down into a basement you may have a challenge getting a big TV to fit down an enclosed stairway. Next, at those sizes you will need the TV to be up off the floor a bit, but not too high.....as the screen gets bigger, maintaining that sweet-spot of looking dead on center of the screen is a thing so your existing furniture may not work, if you want to hang it from a wall...you're gonna need a beefy mounting bracket, and that will need a big ol' flat wall behind it.

One of the nice things about retractable projector screens is....they retract :) You can hang them anywhere, and then move them up and out of the way when you are done. If you have a place that has no wall, maybe you want to put the screen in front of a picture window, etc.

Now, is the TV the better technology? Sure in a lot of respects it is, but the cheapest 'big tv's' are still small, and the bigger they get the more awkward they are to move, to own, to position and...if something goes wrong, are you tossing it in the Civic and returning it to Best Buy? Right.

I'd probably go as big as a 75" TV but any larger and it just starts to become unwieldy. Then again, when an 85" TV is like $399 on Black Friday....well...I'm gonna forget I said all of this and get one too, but to answer the question: There's still plenty of valid reason to stick with Front Projection.

thomasjprExactly this. There are TVs better specced than most projectors on the market, including those you'd find in an actual commercial theatre. Projectors are also highly dependent on their environment...it needs to be a dark room for the best experience. But even with all of those caveats, it's hard to beat the immersive experience of having a giant projection screen on the wall in a dark room, paired with proper surround sound. It's definitely not for everyone, and my kids would honestly prefer to watching Netflix on their tiny phone screens, but going down to the basement to experience a film like Dune on my 120" screen is thrilling every single time.

Also, having recently moved across the country, I can verify that putting my 4k projector back in the box and into my car was a lot easier than moving a TV (the movers destroyed both the 70" and 65" screens on that same move -- yay insurance.)