Projector vs. TV: Enhancing Big Screen Home Cinema and Gaming Experiences

The demand for higher resolution for content and better graphics in gaming made large screens a must. By the early 2020s, 4K ultra HD became the dominant resolution for TV shows and movies. At the same time, ever more powerful gaming consoles began to provide immersive, awe-inspiring visuals that required an equally impressive screen to properly enjoy. 

Big screen TVs and even bigger projector displays evolved into the two best choices for high end home entertainment. While you can watch and game on a small monitor, your phone, tablet, or laptop, those really are not the best ways to fully experience your content.

People have become used to carefully considering where they’ll put their next TV or projector at home, because it’s a sizable investment and affects the layout of your space. However, projectors are far more flexible when it comes to placement in a variety of room types and can be very easily moved after the fact. That’s a big difference compared to large screen TVs, which are quite a pain to move once installed. Even so, room dimensions, ambient light, and placement are essential factors that are just as important as the type of content you want to enjoy and the budget you have in mind. 

The advantages of projectors extend to the bedroom. It’s more than just a space to rest and can be a space for relaxation and entertainment. The bedroom often becomes a multi-functional space, and flexibility is crucial. While a TV might be an obvious choice, it’s an unsightly and stark rectangle when turned off, disrupting the room's tranquility. On the other hand, a projector can be discreetly positioned or stowed, and when in use, projects visuals onto a wall or ceiling, allowing for reclined viewing or gaming. Projectors do great when catering to your mood, be it a late night movie or an immersive gaming session while in bed.

For the dedicated gaming enthusiast, a space tailored to your gaming experience becomes a necessity. While large TVs provide decent experiences, they are still confined to their very limiting frame factors. A gaming projector, however, engulfs an entire wall, or even multiple walls, in high octane action. The feeling of being "inside" the game, with life sized characters and vast landscapes, is something only a projector offers. It’s not just about watching, it’s about experience the game in full.

The overlap between home cinema and gaming is another phenomenon worth mentioning. In many instances, enthusiasts want to use a TV or projector for both. Having friends and family come together to enjoy games and movies is a great thing, but that does require careful planning when choosing a display that can do both.

For sheer size, TVs can’t match projectors. Not only do projectors support variable display sizes, they easily reach dimensions that TVs are rarely available in. For example, a 120 screen is perfectly normal for projectors, but nearly unheard of for a TV. To get the most eye-popping experience with movies, TV shows, and games, the massive screen sizes available with projectors are a game changer. The wow factor of enjoying high quality content (and especially AAA games) on a cinema-class screen is palpable, and leaves TVs behind.

The best thing about projector screen sizes is their dramatically lower cost per inch. Even if you find a 120 TV, the asking price will be astronomical. For projectors, that screen size is a given even on budget home theater and gaming models. Projectors make massive home screens affordable, while TVs with similar displays are very hard to find and only affordable with a large budget. If it’s a big screen you want, projectors are the better value.

There are several areas where TVs have the advantage. Nearly every TV made today offers native 4K 3840 x 2160 with 8.3 million pixels. TVs have smaller screens, so pixel density is higher, and the end result is a sharper and clearer image. Internally-lit flat screen TVs also generate considerably more brightness than projectors, and are less susceptible to changes in ambient light. A good 4K TV in the 65”-85” range provides sharp and bright visuals that look great in both well-lit and dim environments.

Projectors also offer 4K, although 1080p is still popular on the bigger screens, unlike with TV where 1080p is all but gone. On a large enough screen, 4K pixel density begins to drop off, leading to a noticeably less sharp display when compared to a modern TV. Since projectors depict images via indirect illumination, much of their brightness is lost between lens and screen, and they rarely match the brute brightness of TVs. That makes projectors far more dependent on optimal room lighting conditions to get a good viewing experience. Typically, projectors only work at their best in dark rooms, which may not be to everyone’s liking.

However, recent advancements in projector technology, such as ultra short throw and 4LED, have brought the device category much closer to their TV competitors in many aspects. If you do a quick search online, you’ll encounter terms like laser TV and TV projector. These projectors are almost indistinguishable from TVs in many respects, because the projection distance is almost zero. You can place them against a wall or screen with nearly no spacing and then simply project upwards, like a TV, except much bigger.

Projectors offer the most immersive and compelling gaming experiences. Regardless of the different genres of games you like, you benefit from the size of the screen. If it’s a sports game, like NBA2K or the EA Sports FC series, then players are nearly life sized. If you want to do split screen couch co-op, you don’t have to squint, because each player’s portion of the screen is the size of the average TV. First person shooters have the same benefits. Every detail appears bigger and more impactful, which is extremely beneficial for online multiplayer. If it’s AAA open world titles you enjoy, you’ll see the difference in exploration on a truly big screen.

It's important to remember that AAA titles have development cycles and budgets similar to the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. As such, they’re meant to be enjoyed best on big screens, where you can fully appreciate every nuance, texture, detail, and location. Additionally, if you want to invite people over for gaming, there’s no comparing having to huddle around a 65” TV to luxuriously kicking back and playing together on a screen twice as big.

Contrary to our discussion on image quality, in gaming terms, projectors have achieved equality with TVs, making them ideal for PlayStation and Xbox consoles. They offer low input latency, often surpassing many gaming TVs, ensuring immediate on-screen response to every command. Unlike the past where projectors were deemed suitable only for casual party games, they now facilitate intense gaming sessions on screens much larger than a typical TV, significantly enhancing the gaming thrill.

The large screen size, when combined with tailored game mode settings, accurate color reproduction, immersive sound, and swift response times, creates an engaging and expansive gaming environment. While resolution and refresh rates are often highlighted in gaming discussions, it's the synergy of color, game mode settings, and sound that truly elevates the gaming experience across different genres.

In Role-Playing Games (RPGs), the storytelling experience is enhanced with rich colors displaying the narrative and deep bass intensifying the drama of the gameplay.

In Sports Games (SPGs), the authentic colors and clear vocals escalate the excitement of every score, making each moment a vivid celebration.

In First-Person Shooter (FPS) games, accurate color settings are key to identifying hidden threats in dark scenes, while crisp audio keeps you synced with the battlefield's dynamics.

In Racing Games (RCGs), the realistic motion coupled with vibrant colors makes every race visually exhilarating, while the distinct roar of engines and road sounds amplifies the excitement.

This exploration across genres highlights the adeptness of a good gaming projector in creating an environment where colors, sounds, and game modes to offer an immersive and responsive gaming experience, showcasing that the essence of great gaming extends beyond resolution and refresh rates.

Traditional, internally lit devices like TVs, smartphones, laptops, and monitors generate eye strain when used for prolonged periods of time. They’re very bright in order to deliver good HDR (high dynamic range) performance, exacerbating eye fatigue issues. These displays also emit a lot of blue light, a known eye irritant and culprit in a variety of visual fatigue symptoms.

Because projectors deliver visuals to viewers using external illumination and light reflected from screen surfaces, their effect on the human eye is much gentler than that of TVs. Even the brightest projectors don’t have the harsh illumination of high luminance TVs, and blue light is almost a non-issue when viewing content using a projector. When used in dark rooms, projector screens don’t stand out as much as a TV and are far less likely to cause eye fatigue and headaches due to the harsh contrast between a dark room and a bright screen.

TVs and projectors for home theaters and gaming setups feature built-in speakers and expansion ports for a surround sound system. Internal speakers on TVs tend to be much better than those on projectors, and the potential for expansion as part of a high end home audio system is similar. However, when considering the immersive image size provided by speakers, an investment in an equally impressive sound setup makes much more sense. With a TV, a really good sound system may seem disproportionate compared to the limited scope of a television screen.

Regardless, if you want the complete experience you really should consider investing an a 5.1 or 7.1-channel surround system, whether using a TV or a projector. With a projector, a sound system aids in recreating the movie theater experience at home very closely, something TVs can’t do. 

Projectors offer a superior experience and value. Cost per screen inch is lower for projectors while you’re getting a screen several times larger than the average TV. If you take a relatively big 86” TV, the price tag is formidable, while a projector at least 40% cheaper will give you a screen up to 120”, resulting in more immersion for less money. Relative to the rich and cinematic audiovisual experiences they generate, projectors represent an excellent value and save you money.

However, TVs are more of an all in one solution. To get the full measure of a projector experience, you most likely need to purchase a good quality screen, sound system, and possibly invest in professional installation. These all cost money. Having said that, in terms of pure screen to cost ratios, projectors beat TVs.

For most people, TVs are a safer option, and a familiar one at that. However, most people don’t know just how impressive and immersive projectors are for home theater and gaming because they’ve never experienced the impact of a theater-style screen first hand. Once you do, going back to a TV is very difficult, especially in gaming.

If you’re looking to buy a new display for home theater and gaming and crave something bigger and different, then go with a projector. The next TV you buy will be more of the same. A projector will be a whole new experience.