Bob, I don't know if you realize this but your bedroom walls are...................................green.
Monoprice's in wall speakers are 10% off right now. They are awesome speakers especially considering the price. I've got 7 of them in my living room and I think they sound great. www.monoprice.com discount code IWS10
For anyone wanting a top notch HD (& 3D capable) projector: Portable InFocus HD Home Theatre Projector Available to U.S. Movie and Gaming Enthusiasts for First Time PORTLAND, Ore. – November 21, 2013 — Building on its recent impressive reception in Europe and Asia, and just in time for the Holiday season, global digital display technologies manufacturer InFocus Corp. (www.infocus.com) will make its high definition IN8606HD home media projector available in North America.
Just watched our first movie with the new Benq 2050 projector on a 135 inch 16:9 screen. Pardon my blurry selfie camera pics as I broke the good camera on my phone a few months ago. Just had the front 2 speakers and sub hooked up for the first show, the wife rented The Good Dinosaur which was actually pretty good and perfect for the color this DLP projector shows. Wow, I've been missing out.
We have the Samsung JS9500 which has an amazing picture. The upscaling is awesome, too. It's incredibly bright as well. The downside is the software crashes routinely. I have to unplug the TV and plug it back in again maybe once a week. The apps (Netflix, etc.) crash a lot, too. In short: great technology, crap software. We also have two Sony TVs that I recommend. The 850c is a decent TV for the price. The selling point for me was not only picture quality but 3D support. There is almost as much 3D content out there as there is 4K content, and I really like seeing movies in 3D. The 810c has a superb picture for 4K and HD content. It's shockingly good for a UHD TV under $1,000 (55" model). The picture is definitely better than the 850c, but it lacks 3D. The Sony pictures are far less bright than the JS9500 and lacks HDR and local dimming. However, they are back lit vs. edge lit and the picture is still of super quality. For a fraction of the cost of the JS9500, a 65" 810c is perfectly fine for watching TV and UHD. You won't be disappointed. I have a rant about UHD, HD, and bit rate that I'll post later.
Probably not going to buy another tv for years now that I have watched my new projector. It's an inexpensive one. I have 1100 bucks in the projector and the screen. I wouldn't mind seeing an expensive setup to see how much better it is. I figure this projector will do well until 4k stuff is dialed in.
So... Bit rate. Compression technology has basically doubled twice in capability over the past 20 years or so. It wasn't long ago that mpeg 2 was the state of the art. Then mpeg 4, which compresses 2x better than mpeg 2. Now we have HEVC which is 2x better than mpeg 4. The higher the bit rate and the better the compression, the better the picture quality. For the longest time, DirecTV had the best picture quality. A bit rate of 8-10 mbits and mpeg 4. The bit rate varies tho, depending on what channel you are watching. A satellite transponder has a max bandwidth of 35-45 mbits, and as DirecTV has added channels, especially HD ones, they have chosen to sacrifice bit rate/quality of the lesser popular channels. That is, they are cramming 6 channels per transponder, ESPN for example at 10 mbits and c-span at 4 mbits. This was fine until the new 4K tvs came out. All the newish models have HEVC built in. DirecTV doesn't take advantage of it, but streaming services like Netflix do. So an 8mbit HEVC Netflix stream is effectively 2x the picture quality of an 8mbit DirecTV one. Simply because HEVC is 2x better than mpeg 4. Not only does Netflix have 2x the picture quality quality, a 4K tv will upscale the picture to near 4K quality. The tv will have 10 bit color depth , nano crystals, 4x the pixels on screen, and assorted other picture enhancement technologies. Netflix is what I call IP tv. You select a stream and a server streams the video bits to the tv, which renders it on screen. Compared to cable or satellite which is multicast and you basically tune in to the same stream as anyone else watching (or recording to DVR). IP TV is the future. Once you choose a stream to watch, the remote server is not limited by cable or satellite transponder bandwidth. Eventually, a fast enough internet connection will allow 125mbit UHD streaming, which would only be possible on DirecTV if they dedicated 4+ transponders to the stream and replaced every set top no they have out in people's homes. Google Fiber, XFinity, Verizon FIOS, and Time Warner MAXX are all IP TV. I'm not sure if they support HEVC yet, but it will be inexpensive to provide that capability. I expect by the time they address UHD in general they'll be supporting HEVC. For little cost, they can double picture quality without any additional bandwidth cost. I absolutely recommend UHD TVs at this time. Everything you watch benefits from the upscaling and enhanced picture technology.
Dang Denny, you are a fountain of tech knowledge. I wish I needed to know something to ask you. But it is hard for me to find something on TV I want to watch, let alone worry about the presentation quality. I did get into it back in the day when we first began receiving images of the planets back in the day of the Voyager. It took days to process the image streams. Rather amusing looking back on what we had. Now what ever schlep process is good enough for the drivel I receive from my satellite receiver. My biggest bitch is, I get so damn few Blazer games, even with piss poor quality.
Netflix is a bargain. Surely you will find something worth it. Also, don't neglect the audio. A $400 Onkyo 5.1 home theater system is worth every penny. I saw a 4K digital movie at the theater. Then I went home and watched my Sony TV, and my home system is clearly superior to the theater. Note that 4K at the theater is higher resolution than UHD. It's true 4096 width, while UHD is 3840 (2x 1920).
Yeah, the wife has something from Netflix going regularly. Her system is much better than mine, she uses a high quality head set for her sound. I watch one with her maybe once every two years. Then she complains about the sound when she has to give up the headset system for the speakers. I am with you on the sound, I have a pretty good sound system here on this computer and in the boat for listening to music. Come to think of it, a dang good sound system in the boat. Good enough to do high speed digital encoded message traffic,via computer controlled High Frequency radio in the Ham Bands. I use three different audio systems installed on that computer. Also can pull down weatherfax and weather satellite imaging directly into the computer using digital sound decoding.
Until 90 inch OLED tvs are cheap I'm sticking with my new projector. I watched Avatar on BluRay when it came out and didn't like it. I read you needed to see it in the theater to enjoy it. Well, the wife and I just watched it on our new setup and I think I said WOW every 5-10 minutes. BenQ 2050 799.99 135 inch Silver Ticket 16:9 4k ready fixed screen 335 or 340 on Amazon Onkyo Tx-sr 444 300 on sale at best buy ATMOS ready if I ever care. 10 year old JBL mains and leftover Klipsch center channel with 2 Polk audio leftovers for the front surrounds and some no name chinese bookshelf speakers for rear surrounds with another leftover Polk sub that isn't very good and it fucking rocks. I still have to aim the projector a little better, mostly need to move the screen over by about and inch or two which is something of a bitch. still....... I've got a decent 65 inch Samsung 4k tv in the living room but we sit 15 feet away so the 4k isn't that great. 135 inch 1080p from 14 feet kicks it's ass all day. Here is another blurry pic, need to paint the walls and ceiling but if I never do it is still awesome.
I actually just bought this TV today. Now I just need to stop being a lazy ass and set it up. The stand looks a little funky and I'm horrible at assembling shit. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_15865X...13225&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=79574986945&awdv=c
I watched the Superbowl on a 75 inch 1080 Sony that was recently on sale at bestbuy for 2200. I almost bought it I was so jealous. Not now... But, I'm sure that tv will be fabulous.
I have one of those. The picture isn't super bright, but it is still an amazing picture. I think you bought an excellent TV. Stream netflix on it using the built in app.
If I remember right this thread got me thinking about a projector, but my old house wasn't really setup the best for it. Fast forward to today and it is getting some fine tuning but unless I change speakers it is pretty much done. I've got about 1150 into the projector and the screen, I added a new receiver and sub that weren't mandatory as my old Harmon Kardon from 2007 sounded great still. I just wanted HDMI and Atmos for shits and grins. BenQ 2050 $799.99 Silver Ticket fixed frame 16:9 135inch screen $335 or so on Amazon Pioneer VSX-90 $400 Best Buy clearance Klipsch Sub12hg $187 Fry's promo code sale Giant Klipsch Center channel I bought a few years ago, don't remember the number The rest is leftover JBL towers laid on their side, some polk surround sound kit leftovers for the left and right surround and some no name bookshelf speakers for the rear surrounds. Not counting the old gear I bought years ago I still have less money in this thing than the 65 inch 4k Samsung I have mounted in the living room. We sit about 12-13 feet from the 135 inch screen and 15 from the 65, the 4k is about worthless at that distance and it doesn't have HDR or anything special. The picture is blurry because my main camera on my phone is broken, hard to use selfie cam backwards. I'm thinking of painting the ceiling the darkest flat grey I can get away with, don't want to paint it black or tack velvet to it.
I see I posted some of this already, took the onkyo back because I heard a relay or the power supply click at random. Great thing about the new house is the insulation. The sub will shake your ass and make the walls rattle and I can BARELY hear it outside if I listen carefully, downstairs you can only hear the bass when it really blasts. I was reading about subs on AVSforum and there are people in apartments buying waaayyyy better subs. I'd be so pissed if some asshole in the apartment above me liked to shake the foundation.
