Starting my theater project - 4k vs Faux-K (1 Viewer)

[Eddie O. L.]

Good day all. Glad to have found a forum to interact with as I start this journey. The basics of which are this. I have a rec room upstairs above my garage (12'x19'x8'). We moved in 10 yrs ago and now i think its time to change it to a theater room. Im not looking for a high end $100K room remodel or anything. Mostly want to convert it with as little disruption to the room as possible. My next steps will be to find an electrician to do the low and high volt wiring. In the meantime Im starting to look at the equipment and have a question regarding projectors. Im trying to find out from those that have seen both if there is a big difference between native 4K and the tech using Faux-K (Specifically the Epson's with eShift technology)

With everything quarantined its gong to be hard finding a place to go in and see them for myself so I thought i would start here. Has anyone tried both and noticed a big difference? And did it matter what you were watching (sports, vs gaming vs BluRay)? Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I don't think the number of pixels makes a huge difference. Its the HDR support and overall brightness that will make the biggest difference when comparing models.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yup, but as noted in a similar thread: Exactly. But let's also be clear: in 2020 bulb based Projector HDR does not hold a candle to the best (OLED, FALD) panel HDR. It simply doesn't. Is there an HDR effect? Yes. But if you truly appreciate what HDR can do you will be as frustrated as the rest of us in these shortcomings. Is Laser up to the task? Maybe. But you still have the black end of the picture that doesn't match OLED.

 

[Eddie O. L.]

Thanks Adam and Sam. But assuming I have an OLED in another room we use and this is my theater room I want a 110" screen in, a projector is the way to go, right? If so should I be most focused on native 4k over faux k? HDR? Lumens? Whats gets me the best bang (picture quality/theater experience) for my buck figuring I dont want to spend over $6K on a projector? But anything saved on that will go toward a better screen/receiver/speakers, etc?

 

[technohobby]

I'm fully prepared for the flak. I saw what I saw and I don't dispute other folk's experiences. My experience extends from BENQ's earlier 1080 DLP, JVC's faux 4K, and now Sony's lower-priced, true 4k.
Nothing competed with JVC's blacks, but ultimately I never got a satisfying overall image brightness. (3 years old, entry level).
The BENQ's are always a great deal and I wouldn't discourage anyone from those nice projectors. They simply get out-pointed on every parameter that matters to me: overall blacks, minimal digital noise, and natural looking picture.
Sony's seem to cheat on a few parameters, and yet the final image is very satisfying. Sharp, bright, decent (not perfect) blacks, wonderful color saturation and always a natural looking cinema picture.
If you notice, I never referred to image resolution. I'm not sure I was ever as aware of resolution as I was of these other image parameters. The JVC was just as satisfying re: resolution, and even the BenQ didn't disappoint. Other image considerations influenced our enjoyment more.
Calibration goes a ways to getting the best out of all of these. It's an expensive requirement that shouldn't be necessary.

 

[Geordon]

When I upgraded to 4K last year, it was right before JVC announced their affordable 4K native PJs, so unbeknownst to me, I bought their last eShift line. However, my thought was even though I buy Ultra 4K Blurays, most of my viewing is still only 1080p Blurays, so I would simply leave the PJ in 1080 mode unless the source was 4K, thus expecting a better overall no-scaled image for most material. That may be a flawed thought process, but is what I will have for years to come.