this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
1793 points (98.2% liked)
pics
19663 readers
1348 users here now
Rules:
1.. Please mark original photos with [OC] in the title if you're the photographer
2..Pictures containing a politician from any country or planet are prohibited, this is a community voted on rule.
3.. Image must be a photograph, no AI or digital art.
4.. No NSFW/Cosplay/Spam/Trolling images.
5.. Be civil. No racism or bigotry.
Photo of the Week Rule(s):
1.. On Fridays, the most upvoted original, marked [OC], photo posted between Friday and Thursday will be the next week's banner and featured photo.
2.. The weekly photos will be saved for an end of the year run off.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://mastodon.world/about
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Question for anyone reading.
I want to build a mancave downstairs, but I wouldn't watch enough things to warrant a TV. I was thinking of buying a projector. Projectors used to be expensive, very expensive. Good projectors still seem to be, however now there are a plethora of cheap projectors on sites like Ali, Temu, Amazon, etc. Is it worth buying a high quality projector? Will I notice the difference? Or can I get away with a $40 projector bought off one of those sites?
My plan would simply be to stream stuff off my phone. If a cheap projector is a bad idea, what is a good protector and how much would I need to pay? Also, anyone know what the best audio setup would be for this?
I bought an unknown brand on amazon for 250 maple syrup dollars and I'm pretty sure everything it says on the box is true. It's 1080p native and 450 lumens. I use it to watch movies outside. I have to wait until sunset but otherwise I'm really happy with the picture quality. This is the one I got. I think if you got anything less it would probably be okay for your needs, but you might regret not getting something better the first time.
If you're looking to keep costs super low I imagine you're better off going for a second hand projector over a cheap new one.
That is what I did, just make sure that you can get a spare bulb for reasonable money. Some old projectors have EXPENSIVE bulbs
I've seen friends all buy types of these thinking they will get some good one and be impressed, 1080p, 3000lumens etc, all the specs say yes but the experience... no.
Go for an entry level from a brand that does projectors, eg I got Optoma but there's Epson, even acer is fine. I got a 720p with 1080p source, or BluRay rips and it looks very legit.
Of course you can go higher, but sounds like you just wanted to start out... Optoma H183 I think is mine.
I think you are misunderstanding some assumptions.
This will be for a "Manc-Ave" (SO ref) that I will likely, get maybe, at most a movies worth of my own time... And I do intend to watch all the scary moves that my wife won't allow down there... so that's a plus, although thet get boring quick.
Never owned one, but I have a hard time believing that $40 pocket projectors are any good. LED projectors at that price range are going to be pretty dim, so you'll absolutely need a dark room and to buy a proper projection screen if you want to see what's going on. I think most of those are also 720p, maybe 1080p. The speakers on such a projector are going to be awful, tinny garbage.
For the price of $40 1080p projector, $50 screen, and $60 Bluetooth sound bar, you could get a 43" 4k tv that's on sale somewhere.
Check out "The Hook Up" on YouTube. He has tested pretty much every projector on Amazon at this point.
Here's his "under $100" video: https://youtu.be/2QOLL2TvpJ0
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/2QOLL2TvpJ0
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.