I've figured out how much you need to spend on a projector for it to be better than the cinema – and it's a lot

[What Hi-Fi?]

If you want to get a projector that truly beats the cinema experience, then you might want to get saving.

I've figured out how much you need to spend on a projector for it to be better than the cinema – and it's a lot : Read more

 

[F8lee]

Well, for the Hollywood celebutard crowd for whom 15K is chump change, and who no doubt have dedicated projection rooms in their mansions, this equipment seems like a good fit.
However, given the ever lower quality of the puke that Hollywood et al put out each year, I cannot imagine investing that kind of money to "view it better" - a bad story plot or poor acting are not made better with blacker blacks and all that...

 

[jebo_4jc]

The logic of the article is faulty. It's correct that competing with an IMAX or Dolby cinema experience requires something like a high end JVC projector.

However, I have a very modest Epson at home. It cost me less than $2000 including the screen. I calibrated it myself using information found online. Since installing it, I have been regularly disappointed with the quality of "regular" cinema theaters. If you're not sticking with IMAX or Dolby specialty viewings, themselves which cost extra for the upgraded experience, a modest at home setup can be better than regular cinema.

 

[Fandango Andy]

I have never seen a £15k home projector so have no idea how good they are but have questions about how they compare to cinema projectors.

The main one is size. I have a local cinema with pretty disappointing size screens, but they are bigger than anything I have ever seen in a home setup. My goto cinema for about 20 years was in central Birmingham and has huge screens, even before they added IMAX. A few years ago I defected to a different chain, not quite as good as the old one but still better than most, but they also have iSense and Dolby which are not far off IMAX. Even if this fancy home projector can compete for quality, how does it compare for size, and does anyone really have space for a 50 foot wide screen?

Secondly, as I alluded to above, the quality of cinemas.is massive. To say a home projector is better than cinema conjures an image. It's like saying a car is faster than a racing car meaning it's faster than a 60s car from a classic race series, but when you say racing car the person you are telling pictures the car Max Verstappen takes for a spin on a Sunday.

While I'm sure it was fun for the person doing the test, I'm not sure it really has much merit in the real world. Cinema and home cinema are very different experiences.

 

[Ian AV]

The best cinema I have ever seen is at Microsoft's store in New York in their private levels, that me and my family were invited to. Full IMAX in a sound deadened room, no echos, no external sound, nothing unless intended. No commercial cinema is anywhere close. It needed two projectors to get the IMAX to work. Picture was out of this world, and we got a preview of the latest Starwars to be released at the time amongst others of our choice. I wanted one, but when I enquired once home £1m was just a shade too much! However, our sound system was better in my view, more dynamic and real, but it is were I spent a lot for music reproduction to obtain the dynamics of live music but with more finesse also keeping excitement, adding Atmos for movies. There's no substitute for power for unrestrained dynamic range and realism. At home we don't just watch movies, we are part of them. Gun shots dont sound like guns going off, they are guns going off. Skyfall has never been better, the Skyfall scene is like we are under siege ourselves.