When people start building their home theater experience, bigger is usually better but of course, bigger is usually a lot more expensive. Getting a monitor larger than 32” to 37” diagonally runs the price well over $1,000. But there are alternatives to the bigger monitor that are well worth considering when putting together your home theater experience.
Digital projectors are getting smaller and more affordable and this week, Dell is releasing the M409WX. Priced from $999, it has a small footprint while offering true widescreen perspective with a high enough resolution to support high-definition images.
So what are the pros and cons of using a projector as the center of your home theater system?
The first big advantage to using a projector is obviously size. In most houses, a projector the size of the M409WX is plenty powerful to project as large an image as space allows. I watched this year’s Final Four with my prototype at about eight-feet wide in the living room connected to my high-definition cable box and the results were spectacular!
Another advantage is the flexibility to project any video mode. While the M409WX’s specs show a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800, that’s when connected to a computer. Connected to other video sources, it goes to 1600 x 1200 which easily accommodates 1080p high definition video. The projector has HDMI inputs as well as VGA, S-Video and composite.
Finally, the atmosphere you create is another reason why projectors work for home theater. A darkened room with projected images from behind actually helps re-create the ambience of a movie theater. For those who have designed viewing rooms to enhance this atmosphere, a projector really fits the whole scheme.
On the negative side, the biggest concern is naturally the life expectancy of the projector lamp. The M409WX is expected to last 3,000 hours but you can extend this to 5,000 hours by running the projector in Eco mode. Eco mode trades brightness for extended bulb life and lower energy use — and in most households, is still bright enough to enjoy your favorite DVDs or sports programs.
Some projector types can create problems with color accuracy and contrast. Dell projectors use DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology that tends to have some of the best color accuracy in video, but sometimes there can still be barely discernible differences between projected video and a monitor display.
Space can also be a consideration since cabling to the projector and the heat it generates definitely affect your home theater layout. But there are a number of creative solutions for those issues, depending on your room. The M409WX can be configured for front or rear projection and also for inverted mounting on a ceiling. So most of the architectural problems can be overcome with a little ingenuity.
There is a fairly thorough article on using projectors for home theater at About.com and it is obvious from the way projectors are being marketed on home theater enthusiast Web sites that they aren’t just for the corporate conference room any more.
June 12th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I almost bought a projector for my living room as I wanted the largest viewing area possible. Unfortunately being in florida My house has an open living area. There is an 18 foot sliding glass door near the TV area, a dormer that is also a skylight across from that and another slider and 3 windows in the nook area that flood the room with light. Now if I were to build my house over I would do things differently but unfortunatly projection is not in my near future.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Light control is definitely the biggest limitation on whether this is the solution for you. My living room has windows on two sides, but they all have blinds so it is possible to get fairly dark conditions during daylight hours and of course, night use is not an issue. I know folks who have windowless interior rooms specifically designed with cabling and speakers for home theater. That would be a wonderful, but expensive solution.