£3,000 Budget -TV / Projector - Surround Sound - Opinions
Discussion
Evening All
I have a bonus coming in a week or so and am looking at putting it into some tech upgrades.
We currently have a 7/8 year old Samsung 55" TV, which is still working well and my wife thinks it is plenty big enough for our living room. Obviously we all know she is wrong.
I have a study/den which was previously a single garage so that you have an idea of rough dimensions. I have previously painted the end wall white to use it as a screen for a projector, which never materialised as the room was required as my study.
I am now considering the following and would appreciate the opinion of those rather better informed than I.
My thoughts are as follows:
Samsung OLED or QLED 75 inch in the living room, which then frees up the current 55 inch for the study/den.
OR
Leave the current TV as it is and purchase a projector to use in the study/den. I know less than nothing about projectors or what to look for and having had a bit of a look, price doesn't always seem to equal spec, so I am a bit lost.
I also have x7 Sonos Play 1 located around the house with a stereo pair in the living room working purely for music. I am considering a Sonos Beam or Arc to use in conjunction with the x2 P1s. I appreciate there may be better out there for similar money, but do like the usability of SONOS, especially when linked with Spotify.
I could probably get a TV, Projector and Beam for my budget, but would rather buy less things, but have better versions if you get my drift, so possibly just a projector and an Arc. I have also read on here that the Amp is a worthy investment, but it is quite expensive.
I don't have to spend all of the £3k and it would be quite nice not to have to. I am no audiophile as you will have ascertained by now. I want to watch action films and jump when explosions go off behind me etc etc.
We have an XboxS and a Switch for the children (7+8) and I am not sure if they would be better using a massive projected screen or just stick to the TV.
So are projectors worth it, if spending £800 or so £1000 max, or do you think a TV at the same approximate cost in 75" would be a better investment?
All and any opinions are very welcome and thank you in advance for your suggestions.
I have a bonus coming in a week or so and am looking at putting it into some tech upgrades.
We currently have a 7/8 year old Samsung 55" TV, which is still working well and my wife thinks it is plenty big enough for our living room. Obviously we all know she is wrong.
I have a study/den which was previously a single garage so that you have an idea of rough dimensions. I have previously painted the end wall white to use it as a screen for a projector, which never materialised as the room was required as my study.
I am now considering the following and would appreciate the opinion of those rather better informed than I.
My thoughts are as follows:
Samsung OLED or QLED 75 inch in the living room, which then frees up the current 55 inch for the study/den.
OR
Leave the current TV as it is and purchase a projector to use in the study/den. I know less than nothing about projectors or what to look for and having had a bit of a look, price doesn't always seem to equal spec, so I am a bit lost.
I also have x7 Sonos Play 1 located around the house with a stereo pair in the living room working purely for music. I am considering a Sonos Beam or Arc to use in conjunction with the x2 P1s. I appreciate there may be better out there for similar money, but do like the usability of SONOS, especially when linked with Spotify.
I could probably get a TV, Projector and Beam for my budget, but would rather buy less things, but have better versions if you get my drift, so possibly just a projector and an Arc. I have also read on here that the Amp is a worthy investment, but it is quite expensive.
I don't have to spend all of the £3k and it would be quite nice not to have to. I am no audiophile as you will have ascertained by now. I want to watch action films and jump when explosions go off behind me etc etc.
We have an XboxS and a Switch for the children (7+8) and I am not sure if they would be better using a massive projected screen or just stick to the TV.
So are projectors worth it, if spending £800 or so £1000 max, or do you think a TV at the same approximate cost in 75" would be a better investment?
All and any opinions are very welcome and thank you in advance for your suggestions.
Interesting timing. I have a room of very similar dimensions, it's currently the kids Den and I've decided to upgrade it a bit into the family cinema room!
I have a 75" Sony X90J coming on Thursday and as I also had a few Play 1s kicking about I've put a pair in there with a Gen 2 Beam that arrived today.
I have an original Playbar in my lounge and first thoughts are ...the Beam / Play1 setup definitely lacks base. I'll be getting the subwoofer in due course but have seen rumours of a Mini Sub so might hold out and see what that's like (...once the TV is up at the weekend I expect my patience for that plan will run out pretty quick
)
I didn't think the room was really wide enough for the Arc and I have a vaulted ceiling for a skylight right Infront of the TV so thought the Atmos speakers might be a bit wasted firing up into the void!
I have a 75" Sony X90J coming on Thursday and as I also had a few Play 1s kicking about I've put a pair in there with a Gen 2 Beam that arrived today.
I have an original Playbar in my lounge and first thoughts are ...the Beam / Play1 setup definitely lacks base. I'll be getting the subwoofer in due course but have seen rumours of a Mini Sub so might hold out and see what that's like (...once the TV is up at the weekend I expect my patience for that plan will run out pretty quick
)I didn't think the room was really wide enough for the Arc and I have a vaulted ceiling for a skylight right Infront of the TV so thought the Atmos speakers might be a bit wasted firing up into the void!
Cheers Doogle.
I also have a vaulted ceiling, but at the front half of the room as opposed to where the TV/Screen would go.
Beam, Amp and Sub perhaps. The Arc idea was for the living room to go with a pair of 1s.
Richer Sounds said go for neither a Samsung or LG. 2 of our 3 current TVs are Samsung, so planning to stick with the brand.
Thanks for your input.
I also have a vaulted ceiling, but at the front half of the room as opposed to where the TV/Screen would go.
Beam, Amp and Sub perhaps. The Arc idea was for the living room to go with a pair of 1s.
Richer Sounds said go for neither a Samsung or LG. 2 of our 3 current TVs are Samsung, so planning to stick with the brand.
Thanks for your input.
Nothing in AV and tech is an investment. Investments are made to pay a return which means getting more money back than you put in, and never happens with new AV gear.
Whilst £800-£1000 is a decent budget for a TV, it's very much as the budget end of the projector market if you want to play UHD content. Stuff you might almost take for granted when spending a grand on a telly such as a built-in TV tuner, streaming apps and Dolby Vision and HDR10+ for HDR you won't find that in projectors. It's not just for cost reasons. There are some technical limitations too to do with the fact that the screen and light source are separate, and that the screen size ad lighting conditions are unknown, so any dynamic range calculations used for the metadata application with TVs go straight out of the window with projectors.
Some of the more practical limitations to consider are signal routing for UHD picture and for sound.
You have some other sources - the XBox and the Switch - along with whatever you'll want to use for regular TV viewing and for streaming. Potentially then you have three or possibly four sources. How many inputs do you think the average £1,000 UHD projector has? It isn't like a TV with 3 of 4 HDMIs. That then brings you to the next question of how you cope with multiple sources.
Your first thought might go to a HDMI switch. Okay, but you've now added an element of complication. Then you need to think about getting the high bandwidth UHD signals from the swich which lives near all the sources to the projector which is probably going to be mounted on the ceiling. That means sending the signal up the wall and across the ceiling to get to the projector. That's a long way. Standard (cheap) copper HDMI cables won't cut it for UHD over about a 5m length. You're going to have to spend 5-10% of your £3000 budget just on a single active or Optical HDMI cable.
Then comes sound.
You've sent your signal to the projector, but how do you get sound to the sound bar which is back at the front of the room?
"A projector has an audio out"
Great! But in most cases it's analogue stereo only, so wave goodbye to Dolby Digital, DTS, and HD audio. Maybe you drop lucky with your projector choice and you get an Optical output. That's better but still limited to DD5.1 (no Atmos) and maybe stereo DTS if the Gods are in your favour.
The source switching and audio handling are both major reasons why projector installations benefit greatly from an AV receiver. You'll still need the expensive HDMI Optical cable for picture, but at least your amp will make it easier to handle all your sources. It also helps with the "I want to jump when the explosions happen" side of things. If you're determined and have the patience to find a combination of boxes that isn't flaky or idiosyncratic then you might be able to get away with a HDMI switch and an audio stripper, but it's neither pretty nor that user friendly a solution. Some things are worth spending on just for peace of mind, and an AV receiver falls in to that camp.
Next, your screen, or the lack of it. The painted wall is a low rent solution. You're in the lucky position though that you have a flat wall, so if you do go projector then you should think about a fixed frame screen. The cheap ones at £150-£300 will still beat the painted wall for sharponess and colour accuracy. But that's another 5-10% slice out of your budget.
You might think by all of this that I'm anti-projector. Nothing could be further from the truth. The simple fact is that I'm pragmatic when it comes to choosing display options. Projectors done right are epic. There's really nothing that beats the sense of scale and immersion they create. What has become a massive challenge though in the era of UHD is that projector tech to match Ultra High Def TVs is hugely expensive. A single chip DLP or 3x chip LCD/DiLA/SXRD in true UHD res' will cost you upwards of £4K before you've even thought about screens and signals cables and audio.
The £1,000 UHD projectors on sale today are not the same resolution as your 4K TV. They use an optical trick called pixel shifting to make a 1080p panel or half-UHD resolution panel emulate a UHD 4K display. In some respects it works okay, but the cost of the tech is high and so corners get cut in other areas.
Where your budget is limited but you want impressive visuals and the sound to match then a really good TV - one with a native 100Hz/120Hz panel refresh and full array backlighting with local dimming - or an OLED - and that can handle gaming with minimal lag, and that has a full true 10-bit panel married up to a sound system with a whopping powerful sub will tick most if not all your boxes.
Whilst £800-£1000 is a decent budget for a TV, it's very much as the budget end of the projector market if you want to play UHD content. Stuff you might almost take for granted when spending a grand on a telly such as a built-in TV tuner, streaming apps and Dolby Vision and HDR10+ for HDR you won't find that in projectors. It's not just for cost reasons. There are some technical limitations too to do with the fact that the screen and light source are separate, and that the screen size ad lighting conditions are unknown, so any dynamic range calculations used for the metadata application with TVs go straight out of the window with projectors.
Some of the more practical limitations to consider are signal routing for UHD picture and for sound.
You have some other sources - the XBox and the Switch - along with whatever you'll want to use for regular TV viewing and for streaming. Potentially then you have three or possibly four sources. How many inputs do you think the average £1,000 UHD projector has? It isn't like a TV with 3 of 4 HDMIs. That then brings you to the next question of how you cope with multiple sources.
Your first thought might go to a HDMI switch. Okay, but you've now added an element of complication. Then you need to think about getting the high bandwidth UHD signals from the swich which lives near all the sources to the projector which is probably going to be mounted on the ceiling. That means sending the signal up the wall and across the ceiling to get to the projector. That's a long way. Standard (cheap) copper HDMI cables won't cut it for UHD over about a 5m length. You're going to have to spend 5-10% of your £3000 budget just on a single active or Optical HDMI cable.
Then comes sound.
You've sent your signal to the projector, but how do you get sound to the sound bar which is back at the front of the room?
"A projector has an audio out"
Great! But in most cases it's analogue stereo only, so wave goodbye to Dolby Digital, DTS, and HD audio. Maybe you drop lucky with your projector choice and you get an Optical output. That's better but still limited to DD5.1 (no Atmos) and maybe stereo DTS if the Gods are in your favour.
The source switching and audio handling are both major reasons why projector installations benefit greatly from an AV receiver. You'll still need the expensive HDMI Optical cable for picture, but at least your amp will make it easier to handle all your sources. It also helps with the "I want to jump when the explosions happen" side of things. If you're determined and have the patience to find a combination of boxes that isn't flaky or idiosyncratic then you might be able to get away with a HDMI switch and an audio stripper, but it's neither pretty nor that user friendly a solution. Some things are worth spending on just for peace of mind, and an AV receiver falls in to that camp.
Next, your screen, or the lack of it. The painted wall is a low rent solution. You're in the lucky position though that you have a flat wall, so if you do go projector then you should think about a fixed frame screen. The cheap ones at £150-£300 will still beat the painted wall for sharponess and colour accuracy. But that's another 5-10% slice out of your budget.
You might think by all of this that I'm anti-projector. Nothing could be further from the truth. The simple fact is that I'm pragmatic when it comes to choosing display options. Projectors done right are epic. There's really nothing that beats the sense of scale and immersion they create. What has become a massive challenge though in the era of UHD is that projector tech to match Ultra High Def TVs is hugely expensive. A single chip DLP or 3x chip LCD/DiLA/SXRD in true UHD res' will cost you upwards of £4K before you've even thought about screens and signals cables and audio.
The £1,000 UHD projectors on sale today are not the same resolution as your 4K TV. They use an optical trick called pixel shifting to make a 1080p panel or half-UHD resolution panel emulate a UHD 4K display. In some respects it works okay, but the cost of the tech is high and so corners get cut in other areas.
Where your budget is limited but you want impressive visuals and the sound to match then a really good TV - one with a native 100Hz/120Hz panel refresh and full array backlighting with local dimming - or an OLED - and that can handle gaming with minimal lag, and that has a full true 10-bit panel married up to a sound system with a whopping powerful sub will tick most if not all your boxes.
Edited by Lucid_AV on Wednesday 12th January 01:47
If it helps, we've just done this in a room that is basically an extension over a single width garage.
We went for a 78" fixed screen. Just HD rather than UHD as genuinely we aren't fussed about 4k (or not yet anyway).
One of the biggest head scratchers as said above was audio. I connected a mini amp via the 3.5mm audio out jack and installed ceiling speakers, with the amp hidden in the loft. The benefits are that aspects of the install were neater as the fixed screen obviously just mounts with no cables, plus with the projector mounted on the ceiling opposite again I could just feed the cables into the void above rather than chasing into walls.
The other slight faff was getting the throw distance right and getting my head around the calcs. Not a major issue- just another small complication.
Total costs were £460 for projector (we were quoted around a grand for a UHD option), £160 for mini amp, £110 for speakers and £220 for screen.
The experience with this I have to say even with our 1k setup is pretty epic. Even the wife who isn't the least bit interested in audio visual upgrades, is really chuffed with it and is glad we didn't go for a TV. It's a real feature of the room, and it's just nice to have something a bit different in the house to watch stuff on. We do have the option of sub and so again could upgrade with celing or wall mounted speaker, or potentially 'hidden' options but those are pricey.
Not saying our above chosen options were the best. Just our experience.
We went for a 78" fixed screen. Just HD rather than UHD as genuinely we aren't fussed about 4k (or not yet anyway).
One of the biggest head scratchers as said above was audio. I connected a mini amp via the 3.5mm audio out jack and installed ceiling speakers, with the amp hidden in the loft. The benefits are that aspects of the install were neater as the fixed screen obviously just mounts with no cables, plus with the projector mounted on the ceiling opposite again I could just feed the cables into the void above rather than chasing into walls.
The other slight faff was getting the throw distance right and getting my head around the calcs. Not a major issue- just another small complication.
Total costs were £460 for projector (we were quoted around a grand for a UHD option), £160 for mini amp, £110 for speakers and £220 for screen.
The experience with this I have to say even with our 1k setup is pretty epic. Even the wife who isn't the least bit interested in audio visual upgrades, is really chuffed with it and is glad we didn't go for a TV. It's a real feature of the room, and it's just nice to have something a bit different in the house to watch stuff on. We do have the option of sub and so again could upgrade with celing or wall mounted speaker, or potentially 'hidden' options but those are pricey.
Not saying our above chosen options were the best. Just our experience.
I've also done similar recently.. And a few thoughts.
A projector is much more of an event to watch. It's brilliant firing it up and watching a film. Sure, the picture quality might not match OLEDs etc when comparing same budget projector vs TV, but a well light controlled projector at 1080p is still a great picture.
Probably worth a thought, how well can you control the light in the room, darker the better for the projectors..
I started off projecting onto a wall, perfectly flat and white and then moved to a retracting screen. In some ways I liked the wall, as it is is totally hidden when off. The picture is better on the fixed screen, but it's not night and day. I'd happily go back to the wall if I have a dark enough room.
I went with a Benq, which was around £1k and I'm delighted with it. The problem I then faced, was a big picture needs big sound to justify it so you end up upgrading everything. The sonos set up, Beam, Sub and two Sonos 1s should be a great 5.1 type set up though.
A projector is much more of an event to watch. It's brilliant firing it up and watching a film. Sure, the picture quality might not match OLEDs etc when comparing same budget projector vs TV, but a well light controlled projector at 1080p is still a great picture.
Probably worth a thought, how well can you control the light in the room, darker the better for the projectors..
I started off projecting onto a wall, perfectly flat and white and then moved to a retracting screen. In some ways I liked the wall, as it is is totally hidden when off. The picture is better on the fixed screen, but it's not night and day. I'd happily go back to the wall if I have a dark enough room.
I went with a Benq, which was around £1k and I'm delighted with it. The problem I then faced, was a big picture needs big sound to justify it so you end up upgrading everything. The sonos set up, Beam, Sub and two Sonos 1s should be a great 5.1 type set up though.
Thank you Justin, that's also really helpful insight, thank you.
My plan is to go to Richer Sounds next Saturday for a test session. I have already found better prices for the Arc and Sub, which they will match as they have the same 6yr guarantee. That leaves me about £1500 to play with for a TV or perhaps projector, as after a few comments on here that is back in consideration :-)
My plan is to go to Richer Sounds next Saturday for a test session. I have already found better prices for the Arc and Sub, which they will match as they have the same 6yr guarantee. That leaves me about £1500 to play with for a TV or perhaps projector, as after a few comments on here that is back in consideration :-)
Richer sounds unfortunately is absolutely w
k for projector demos. I’ve been there for one and it was totally rubbish. You’d be better off going to someone who specialises in selling them as they’re crap unfortunately. There are other projector specialists about though.
Oh yeah and the guy saying you need to spend £300 on a 5m hdmi cable is talking bks as well. Amazon basics works fine. I have a 4k projector setup and use one and there is no reason to spend more other than to line the pockets of hdmi cable companies. If it works it works.
Having a projector is expensive as you really need to treat the room and big picture will make you want big sound too. But it’s very rewarding once you start down the road of doing it. Way better than a big telly once you’ve got everything in place.
k for projector demos. I’ve been there for one and it was totally rubbish. You’d be better off going to someone who specialises in selling them as they’re crap unfortunately. There are other projector specialists about though. Oh yeah and the guy saying you need to spend £300 on a 5m hdmi cable is talking b
ks as well. Amazon basics works fine. I have a 4k projector setup and use one and there is no reason to spend more other than to line the pockets of hdmi cable companies. If it works it works. Having a projector is expensive as you really need to treat the room and big picture will make you want big sound too. But it’s very rewarding once you start down the road of doing it. Way better than a big telly once you’ve got everything in place.
Thanks for the additional responses. The demonstration at RS is just for the Arc and Sub at the moment.
I am leaning towards TV as the Sonos bits will be added to the living room set up for daily use. I don't want to have to spend £1500 twice :-)
75" with Sonos x2 Play 1s, Arc and Sub and then bump the 55" to the den for more occasional use.
I am leaning towards TV as the Sonos bits will be added to the living room set up for daily use. I don't want to have to spend £1500 twice :-)
75" with Sonos x2 Play 1s, Arc and Sub and then bump the 55" to the den for more occasional use.
Update on mine and I've decided it's impossible to get the scale of this TV in a photo but it feels perfectly massive in this room 
75" with a Beam Gen 2 and 2x Play:1s at the back. I didn't think my room was wide enough to benefit from an Arc but I will definitely be adding a sub to get a proper 'cinema' feel ASAP.
I went TV over projector due to the multplie sources of light being a pain to fully black out and a much simpler cabling setup. Incredibly happy with it so far. Just need to tidy up a few cables
75" with a Beam Gen 2 and 2x Play:1s at the back. I didn't think my room was wide enough to benefit from an Arc but I will definitely be adding a sub to get a proper 'cinema' feel ASAP.I went TV over projector due to the multplie sources of light being a pain to fully black out and a much simpler cabling setup. Incredibly happy with it so far. Just need to tidy up a few cables
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