Meta: the five twelves dream (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

No beating around the bush: I’m getting older. With that I’m looking to get off the upgrade carousel and looking to morph into my final form. At least in my cinema at least. I gave up on getting last year’s JVC projectors because I wasn’t convinced the price premium would match the hdr performance I can get from OLED panels. But a 97” OLED is $25k too. Not doable. So I’ve been thinking about this a lot:
What would my “end game” picture look like?

I have narrowed it down to what conceptually I’m calling the five twelves. Not really 12s but I think you will see what I mean. Maybe someone can think of a better name.

120” or bigger
120 hz refresh or faster
1200 nits or brighter
1.2 million : 1 contrast (ie OLED quality “infinite”) or better
$12,000 or less

Lots of room for compromise there. 100” would be acceptable. 1000 nits would be fine. $15k would be hard but doable.

And note resolution is not a factor. 1440p, 4k or 8k are viable if it has all the above. 1080p would be a bummer but could still work, tho doubtful any vendor would try for it at that size.

Until then I think I’m sticking with my 2017 era JVC DILA. It gets the job done and there is no sense upgrading from it until I can get closer to my dream set of specs.

Thoughts? If you are an PJ owner where would you be willing to compromise?

Assuming I live another 20 years (which given my obesity and brain tumor would be a great run), how long do you think I will have to defer the dream?

 

[DaveF]

120” or bigger
120 hz refresh or faster
1200 nits or brighter
1.2 million : 1 contrast (ie OLED quality “infinite”) or better
$12,000 or less

Lots of room for compromise there. 100” would be acceptable. 1000 nits would be fine. $15k would be hard but doable.

Doesn’t exist.

 

[DaveF]

2023, these are the options as I understand them:

• JVC NZ-series for 120" or bigger at $11,000+
  • 25,000:1 native contrast
  • 1,000,000:1 contrast with dynamic control and laser dimming
  • 100 nits (OOM) off screen
• 100" LCD
  • Get your size, brightness and price
  • Not OLED
• 80" OLED
  • OLED contrast and brightness
  • Don't get your price or size

I think you have to wait a few years or choose parameters to compromise.

 

[DaveF]

I think you're 3-5 years out from a 100" $15,000 OLED.

As a projector owner, I compromise brightness and true HDR. If there was a 120" OLED that could get to my basement, I'd look at compromising price and the audio quality to make it happen because projectors are a PITA But I'm not giving up a 120" screen and destroying my front-stage aesthetics for a 100" direct view. My next upgrade is as likely to be a used NZ7 or NZ8 in 1-3 years.

If I were you, I'd save for the 100" OLED. It's clearly what you want. It's the only purchase that will make you happy, based on your discussions the past three years. And direct-view prices will come down faster than performance will increase for projectors (which also have their price problems).

 

[Sam Posten]

Doesn’t exist.

Right. How long until it does?

 

[DaveF]

As for prognostication proficiency: In 2016, I bought an HD projector expecting 2019 would be when I could buy a 4K projector for $5000 (on sale for $4000) in 2019. Generously, I was off by three years. Pessimistically, seven years later and that projector is $7000+, and only getting more expensive every model year.

My guess is 120” direct views are 3 to 8 years away. Some think they’re never coming: 100” is max size we’ll see for consumer products.

The other real risk is inflation and continued post-pandemic tech turmoil will mean that prices don’t really come down. In three years there’s a 120” OLED and it’s $25k or more in 2026 dollars.

It would be interesting to collect size and price numbers for the past five years and do a regression to see what it predicts.

 

[Sam Posten]

What? 4k projectors have been at that price point for years. Maybe not too end ones but perfectly cromulent ones have

 

[DaveF]

Any 4K front projector under $5k circa 2019 was two-axis eShift.

 

[DaveF]

Regardless, what matters is what features you can compromise on to get a new display in the near future. You’ve got LG OLED and JVC Projectors in your budget. You know whether your prefer size or absolute HDR. Or if you can stretch your budget for enough to get a 100” OLED. Or if you prefer to wait and see what happens in the next year or five.

What are you thinking?

 

[Sam Posten]

CES 2026 will get me a 100" OLED at 9.999k and I will settle for that if I'm still kicking

 

[DaveF]

Side topic: What are meta five twelves?

 

[Sam Posten]

It’s a meta discussion about displays in general. The goal be achieving the five separate goals that each start at 12