What's new

RPTV vs FPTV (1 Viewer)

Greg Bax

Grip
Joined
Jul 7, 2003
Messages
15
I would like opinions on which viewing would be better for my situation. I am in the process of building a HT room and my approximate room dimensions are 14'W x 21'L x 7.5'H. These dimensions are somewhat flexible. I don't know what my viewing distance will be at this time. I plan to watch mostly DVD's but would like to watch HDTV and well as SDTV up converted via a DBS tuner. One more question, what is screen door affect?
 

ChrisWiggles

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2002
Messages
4,791
Do you have light-control in your room? This is probably the biggest thing. You want to be able to get a dark room with a FP setup.

Screen door effect is on digital displays, whether it be digital-projector based RPTV, or a FP digital projector. The pixels form a big grid on the screen, which seems like you're looking through a screen-door. A CRT projector, either in an RPTV, or FP setup will not have SDE.
 

Greg Bax

Grip
Joined
Jul 7, 2003
Messages
15
Thank you for the info on SDE.

Yes, there are no windows and I will have control over the lighting. But are you saying that a Super Bowl Party would not be an option with FP due to the lighting? I guess, how much light is too much?
 

Neil Joseph

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 16, 1998
Messages
8,332
Real Name
Neil Joseph
Obviously, some projectors will suffer from sde while other won't but generally, the greater the resolution, the lesser the chance of seeing the pixel structure from a few feet away. In my setup, I cannot see the pixels from 9ft away. The screen is 96". I have seen a great many threads on RPTV vs FPTV over the years and (light control issue aside) the practically always lean in favour of FPTV. A perperly set up one will blow your socks off with dvd, hdtv etc.
 

Greg Bax

Grip
Joined
Jul 7, 2003
Messages
15
Do most people use FPTV for day to day viewing or for mostly DVD's and HDTV? I guess my concern is the bulb life in the FPTV.
 

PhilBoy

Second Unit
Joined
Sep 30, 2003
Messages
427
At 20 cents per hour... who cares.:)

I wonder which costs more over time... the bulb or the hydro to run a FP ???
 

Dan Hitchman

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 11, 1999
Messages
2,712
Front projection is mainly for special events like watching movies on DVD and HD, your favorite TV show in HD, or a big sporting event on HDTV, etc. Watching the news, and other non-critical viewing should be done on a regular set in order to save bulb life.

Basically, you want two sets (FPTV and RPTV or tube). Probably not in the same room, unless you have a lot of space.

Put most of your money into a high quality high definition, widescreen FPTV, and only a little on your secondary set. If you already have a decent TV, then put all your TV resources into the FPTV.

What kind of budget outlay are you looking at? The cheapest new, fully HD compatible widescreen FPTV is the Sony HS20 LCD currently (the panel resolution is slightly higher than 720p, and it will accept 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p signals and convert to its native resolution). The HS20 runs about $2,800 to full retail at $3,500 depending on where you look. It includes inputs for encrypted digital HD video signals (as that's where the industry is moving), in addition to analog component, S-Video, and composite RCA.

1920 x 1080p FPTV's will be slowly trickling into the market soon, but at hefty prices. It'll probably take 2-3 years to get these high resolution projectors down to more reasonable, consumer-friendly levels.


Dan
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,710
Messages
5,121,087
Members
144,145
Latest member
treed99
Recent bookmarks
0
Top