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Forums - Movies & TV - Do you prefer your TV over a cinema screen?

 

I prefer...

Cinema 9 30.00%
 
Home TV 17 56.67%
 
Home projector 0 0%
 
Any screen, even my phone 1 3.33%
 
Imax 2 6.67%
 
4DX 1 3.33%
 
Total:30
Soundwave said:

People underestimate how much of a difference a 100 foot screen makes because they don't have a direct compartive when they sit down at the theater, as in if you put the best OLED display next to a good projector side by side, sure the OLED will have nicer picture quality, but I'd bet most people would prefer to watch the (way) larger image. It's far more cinematic.

I have a pretty high end projector in my home and it's set to 150 inches, but I'd much rather watch movies on that than my 65 inch OLED, the screen size difference is just massive even at 150 inches, you're not going to get a television that size for a reasonable price anytime probably even in a decade. And it makes the movie watching experience feel much more like what I assume the director intended. Movies are created for the big screen. 

Nah, not really. I'm 10 feet away from a 50 inch and I get that cinematic effect. It's really just a novel feeling you get in the cinema, if you got used to it it wears off. You can mimic the big screen experience in VR and basically have a cinema in your home but the novelty of it and having to turn your head and all that is worse than 10 feet from a 50 inch. 

I'd never go with a projector, waste of money when TV screens have gotten so good. You're only hurting your neck for some foe feeling of geanduer that doesn't last. 



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LegitHyperbole said:
Soundwave said:

People underestimate how much of a difference a 100 foot screen makes because they don't have a direct compartive when they sit down at the theater, as in if you put the best OLED display next to a good projector side by side, sure the OLED will have nicer picture quality, but I'd bet most people would prefer to watch the (way) larger image. It's far more cinematic.

I have a pretty high end projector in my home and it's set to 150 inches, but I'd much rather watch movies on that than my 65 inch OLED, the screen size difference is just massive even at 150 inches, you're not going to get a television that size for a reasonable price anytime probably even in a decade. And it makes the movie watching experience feel much more like what I assume the director intended. Movies are created for the big screen. 

Nah, not really. I'm 10 feet away from a 50 inch and I get that cinematic effect. It's really just a novel feeling you get in the cinema, if you got used to it it wears off. You can mimic the big screen experience in VR and basically have a cinema in your home but the novelty of it and having to turn your head and all that is worse than 10 feet from a 50 inch. 

I'd never go with a projector, waste of money when TV screens have gotten so good. You're only hurting your neck for some foe feeling of geanduer that doesn't last. 

You're wrong on this IMO. 

If you were to sit down in a good theater with a properly calibrated projector + sound system and were watching a movie and then half way through we paused that and wheeled in a tiny ass 75 inch OLED, even if you moved much closer to the OLED, sure the colors would "pop" a bit more, but in that case I doubt anyone would prefer that presentation over what they were watching for the first half of the movie. 

The comparison is only flattering because most people forget in the weeks/months it takes for certain movies to arrive on home video really what the theater experience was like. If you could put them side by side it would be a lot more jarring. 

I have both and can speak with experience on the pros/cons of both. I have a OLED upstairs and in my home theater downstairs I have a 150 inch projector with an ALR (ambient light rejecting) screen. After watching movies on both, for movies I much rather watch on the projector/150 inch screen. It's just dwarfs the 65 inch OLED, when I have friends over they pretty much agree too. It makes watching older movies great too, was just watching Ghostbusters (1984) and it feels like a new movie when you're watching it on a display that basically takes up an entire wall. 

Since I've gotten my projector set up I pretty watch zero movies on the OLED any more, it's basically just for TV/sports. 

Last edited by Soundwave - 2 days ago

Soundwave said:

People underestimate how much of a difference a 100 foot screen makes because they don't have a direct compartive when they sit down at the theater, as in if you put the best OLED display next to a good projector side by side, sure the OLED will have nicer picture quality, but I'd bet most people would prefer to watch the (way) larger image. It's far more cinematic.

I have a pretty high end projector in my home and it's set to 150 inches, but I'd much rather watch movies on that than my 65 inch OLED, the screen size difference is just massive even at 150 inches, you're not going to get a television that size for a reasonable price anytime probably even in a decade. And it makes the movie watching experience feel much more like what I assume the director intended. Movies are created for the big screen. 

Modern projectors are pretty great too, the image quality is very nice. 

I had the same mentality before HDR, even build a whole dedicated viewing room around my projector.

However the screen size doesn't matter, distance, preceived fov does. Simply moving the couch closer to the 4K HDR TV gives the same immersion of a bigger screen viewed from further away.

150 inches from 12 ft is the same as 65 inches from 5.2 ft. Except with true blacks and much better color/contrast/brightness.

I enjoyed cinema when it was still analog, actual film. Since it's all digital now, at home is simply better.



Soundwave said:

People underestimate how much of a difference a 100 foot screen makes because they don't have a direct compartive when they sit down at the theater, as in if you put the best OLED display next to a good projector side by side, sure the OLED will have nicer picture quality, but I'd bet most people would prefer to watch the (way) larger image. It's far more cinematic.

I have a pretty high end projector in my home and it's set to 150 inches, but I'd much rather watch movies on that than my 65 inch OLED, the screen size difference is just massive even at 150 inches, you're not going to get a television that size for a reasonable price anytime probably even in a decade. And it makes the movie watching experience feel much more like what I assume the director intended. Movies are created for the big screen. 

Modern projectors are pretty great too, the image quality is very nice. 

Have you seen laser projectors in action? Those things are amazing, and it looks so clean with the framing an all. I got a demo on one a couple of years back, at a high-end audio/video store - it was head & shoulders above any projector I ever saw before or after. We used to have a projector at work, their biggest drawback is the highly specific environment required to get the most of it, when it comes to walls, furniture, and ambient lighting. When it really works though, it's by far the most cinematic home-experience there is for movies, especially when paired with great a sound-setup!

As for OLED, they beat everything on contrast and black uniformity, but lack punch in the upper end of brightness, especially in rooms with more ambient lighting (such as my living-room). I saw a Bravia 8 and Bravia 9 side-by-side, and certain high peak-brightness scenes with Atmos HDR (I think it was the latest Mad-Max movie and Dune 1, both on 4K blu-ray) showed less shadow detail on the OLED due to simply lacking peak-brightness capacity. The Bravia 8 is an insane TV, but I found the 9 to suit my needs and use-case better, all in all.



SvennoJ said:
Soundwave said:

People underestimate how much of a difference a 100 foot screen makes because they don't have a direct compartive when they sit down at the theater, as in if you put the best OLED display next to a good projector side by side, sure the OLED will have nicer picture quality, but I'd bet most people would prefer to watch the (way) larger image. It's far more cinematic.

I have a pretty high end projector in my home and it's set to 150 inches, but I'd much rather watch movies on that than my 65 inch OLED, the screen size difference is just massive even at 150 inches, you're not going to get a television that size for a reasonable price anytime probably even in a decade. And it makes the movie watching experience feel much more like what I assume the director intended. Movies are created for the big screen. 

Modern projectors are pretty great too, the image quality is very nice. 

I had the same mentality before HDR, even build a whole dedicated viewing room around my projector.

However the screen size doesn't matter, distance, preceived fov does. Simply moving the couch closer to the 4K HDR TV gives the same immersion of a bigger screen viewed from further away.

150 inches from 12 ft is the same as 65 inches from 5.2 ft. Except with true blacks and much better color/contrast/brightness.

I enjoyed cinema when it was still analog, actual film. Since it's all digital now, at home is simply better.

I sit about 10 feet back from my 150 inch screen, the difference in size from that to even a 100 inch display (basically the max TV size you can get) is immediately noticeable. 

5 feet away is pretty comically close to a TV too, I dunno I haven't sat that close to a TV since probably the 90s when playing my Super NES. 

You throw things like IMAX into the mix and it's not even close. I would never want to watch something like Oppenheimer on any home television first over watching it on a massive screen at a good theater. The experience is just not going to be the same. 

Last edited by Soundwave - 2 days ago

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Hands down, TV. Nowadays movies on a decent, Dolby Vision capable 4k OLED TV and crucially, on 4K Blurays rather than on a streaming platforms [most people don't realise how much quality is lost through streaming], are a visual feast. Combined with my Dolby Atoms Yamaha sound system and if I don't mind waiting, I always skip cinema.



Home Dolby Atmos is largely bullshit marketing. You need speakers built into your ceiling and walls to get proper Dolby Atmos, I know people think their $1000 sound bar is the greatest thing ever, but if you put it next to a good theater's 50k+ real Atmos sound system, the difference will be night and day.

Sound bars don't even compare to proper home theater 5.1 systems in most cases, I had a 5.1 home setup like 20 years ago that's well beyond what pretty much any sound bar of today could do. But you have to commit to having large speakers, a large subwoofer, real rear speakers and get all that wired properly to a good main amp. 

Last edited by Soundwave - 2 days ago

Soundwave said:
LegitHyperbole said:

Nah, not really. I'm 10 feet away from a 50 inch and I get that cinematic effect. It's really just a novel feeling you get in the cinema, if you got used to it it wears off. You can mimic the big screen experience in VR and basically have a cinema in your home but the novelty of it and having to turn your head and all that is worse than 10 feet from a 50 inch. 

I'd never go with a projector, waste of money when TV screens have gotten so good. You're only hurting your neck for some foe feeling of geanduer that doesn't last. 

You're wrong on this IMO. 

If you were to sit down in a good theater with a properly calibrated projector + sound system and were watching a movie and then half way through we paused that and wheeled in a tiny ass 75 inch OLED, even if you moved much closer to the OLED, sure the colors would "pop" a bit more, but in that case I doubt anyone would prefer that presentation over what they were watching for the first half of the movie. 

The comparison is only flattering because most people forget in the weeks/months it takes for certain movies to arrive on home video really what the theater experience was like. If you could put them side by side it would be a lot more jarring. 

I have both and can speak with experience on the pros/cons of both. I have a OLED upstairs and in my home theater downstairs I have a 150 inch projector with an ALR (ambient light rejecting) screen. After watching movies on both, for movies I much rather watch on the projector/150 inch screen. It's just dwarfs the 65 inch OLED, when I have friends over they pretty much agree too. It makes watching older movies great too, was just watching Ghostbusters (1984) and it feels like a new movie when you're watching it on a display that basically takes up an entire wall. 

Since I've gotten my projector set up I pretty watch zero movies on the OLED any more, it's basically just for TV/sports. 

Yeah, but the black levels and colour contrast are atrocious. Tbf, I've never seen a really expensive projector so I'll take your word for it. There is something comfortable about the cinema screen though, I agree, like It's larger than life but that novelty wears off after you become immersed in the film. 



Soundwave said:

Home Dolby Atmos is largely bullshit marketing. You need speakers built into your ceiling and walls to get proper Dolby Atmos, I know people think their $1000 sound bar is the greatest thing ever, but if you put it next to a good theater's 50k+ real Atmos sound system, the difference will be night and day.

Sound bars don't even compare to proper home theater 5.1 systems in most cases, I had a 5.1 home setup like 20 years ago that's well beyond what pretty much any sound bar of today could do. But you have to commit to having large speakers, a large subwoofer, real rear speakers and get all that wired properly to a good main amp. 

Idk, I turn it on on my phone sometimes and I'm amazed by what such little speakers can do. It's not just marketing it actually works. When I do use it on TV, I generally don't cause you have to be perfectly positioned sitting upright it's like 3d audio from a VR headset, it's quite remarkable. 



LegitHyperbole said:
Soundwave said:

Home Dolby Atmos is largely bullshit marketing. You need speakers built into your ceiling and walls to get proper Dolby Atmos, I know people think their $1000 sound bar is the greatest thing ever, but if you put it next to a good theater's 50k+ real Atmos sound system, the difference will be night and day.

Sound bars don't even compare to proper home theater 5.1 systems in most cases, I had a 5.1 home setup like 20 years ago that's well beyond what pretty much any sound bar of today could do. But you have to commit to having large speakers, a large subwoofer, real rear speakers and get all that wired properly to a good main amp. 

Idk, I turn it on on my phone sometimes and I'm amazed by what such little speakers can do. It's not just marketing it actually works. When I do use it on TV, I generally don't cause you have to be perfectly positioned sitting upright it's like 3d audio from a VR headset, it's quite remarkable. 

Dolby Atmos is basically really for theaters, you're not getting true Atmos sound at home unless you invest a shit ton of money and have several speakers mounted into walls, ceilings, etc. 

The difference between a proper Atmos system in a movie theater and like some home theater in a box setup is going to be massive. 

Most people don't notice this stuff because they can't really compare it head to head, if you put these things side by side it would become immediately noticeable what a huge difference it is.