TV vs projector: Which big screen tech should you choose?

I’m a big fan of projectors. For nearly 15 years, I’ve used a projector as my primary and only “TV.” It’s difficult to go back to a 65-inch TV that’s the size of a postage stamp once you’ve seen a wall-size image. For years, I’ve argued that a projector is preferable to a huge TV, not only because of the lower cost, but also because of the far larger image that can be displayed when compared to the largest TV displays.

However, both prices and technology have changed dramatically in recent years. Is a projector still the way to go in 2021 if you’re thinking about upgrading to a really big screen? Let’s have a look at it in more detail.

Compare: Price vs performance

The TV and PJ landscapes were very different nine years ago when I first wrote the words “Don’t buy a giant LCD TV, get a projector.” Ultra-large televisions were prohibitively expensive. You could acquire a projector and a screen with four times the screen real estate for the same price as a 50-inch TV. Watching anything on a 100-inch TV is an event. The better projectors also had significantly greater contrast ratios and, as a result, image clarity than most televisions at the time.

Life moves at a breakneck pace. Even more so in the age of technology. You can acquire a 75-inch CNET Editors’ Choice TV for about $1,400 these days, or a 77-inch OLED (OLED!) for approximately $3,000. These aren’t quite 100 inches, but they’re nonetheless impressively large, brilliant, and capable of HDR and wide color gamut, unlike many similar projectors. In higher screen sizes, Ultra HD resolution is fantastic, but many 4K projectors have their own challenges.

Simply told, the price of large TVs has dropped dramatically while their performance has grown tremendously, both at much quicker rates than projectors. Although inexpensive and brilliant projectors are available, their total picture quality pales in contrast to that of most televisions.

Contrast: TVs win for HDR

For projectors, HDR, or high dynamic range, is a challenge. While many projectors can play HDR video, practically all of them have trouble displaying it. There are two aspects to the issue. The first is that even the brightest home projectors aren’t quite as bright as the average television. The second issue is that less expensive PJs lack the contrast ratio required to display HDR at its best. Many models are incapable of displaying a large color spectrum.

Higher-end projectors can now do WCG and do a decent job with HDR, but they cost a lot more than a big TV. Even the most powerful and brightest projectors can’t match the brightness of a midrange television. Brightness isn’t everything (though contrast ratio may be), but when it comes to HDR, light output is far more important.

Is it possible for a projector to look excellent without HDR? Yes, but there is still another piece of the PJ puzzle that is missing.

A little thing called light

Forget about 4K and HDR; the most pressing issue with projector image quality is ambient light. A projector projects light onto a screen, but any other light in the room is reflected onto the screen as well. The brightest sections of the image aren’t altered as much as the darker ones are. That is, if you are watching sports or something that is bright in general, you will be OK. It’ll be difficult to see if you’re viewing a dark movie or playing a dark video game.

Yes, there are displays that reject ambient light, but they’re pricey. Physics is physics, after all. Even if a fancier screen does a better job of suppressing the impact of ambient light, it will still look worse than the identical screen in a dark environment. You’ll need a lot of curtains if you want to view your projector during the day in a room with plenty of windows (like the one at the top of this post) and get the optimum image quality.

A TV will provide a considerably brighter image than a projector, which will hold up better in bright environments. Obviously, this hasn’t persuaded me to convert to a TV, but full disclosure: my TV room includes black-out curtains. Most people are unlikely to be willing to make such a sacrifice.