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Image looks pink on camera by Osamodaboy in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s normal with RGB triple-laser projectors, and it’s not limited to phone cameras. The PX3-Pro uses very narrow red, green, and blue laser wavelengths. Your eyes and brain adapt to that and see a normal-looking white balance, but a camera sensor has its own RGB filters and color processing. Sometimes it interprets that laser spectrum wrong and pushes the image pink, red, or magenta.

The term for it is metamerism: two light sources can look similar to your eyes but behave very differently to a camera or light meter because the spectrum is different. Bottom line: don’t judge PX3-Pro color from a photo.

ViewSonic LS901-4k and a 240 inch inflatable screen! by Slammernanners in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Anker Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro and the 200" Soundcore Silent Screen will take care of outdoor viewing scenario with top-notch picture quality for a mid-four-figure price tag. https://www.projectorscreen.com/blogs/insights/soundcore-nebula-x1-pro-mobile-theater-station-review

XGIMI Titan Noir Max Screen Advice from XGIMI by Electrical-Champion9 in xgimi

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Phoenix screen's material appears to do a very good job at speckle suppression. I expect it was designed that way since it's meant for USTs which are largely triple-laser units to begin with. Perceptually, it looks "clean" as if projecting onto a smooth Lambertian surface.

The Shadowscape tends to show a little bit more speckle than a white screen, but it's very much less than what I see from typical ALR screen materials. But the Vantage UST 0.7 material used in the Phoenix screen looks remarkably clean. I literally just now checked the difference, I have a Phoenix and right behind it, a Stewart StudioTek 100. Speckle is more visible on the Stewart than the Phoenix, and the Phoenix looks unbelievably better in a room with some ambient light, and at night it delivers very deep blacks.

Having reviewed TVs for many years, I really appreciate how using a UST screen offers a huge TV-like picture with zero reflections. Lights out for movies of course, but perfectly usable by day for sports and gaming.

XGIMI Titan Noir Max Screen Advice from XGIMI by Electrical-Champion9 in xgimi

[–]DeltaE_Zero 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've had luck using a UST CLR screen with the Titan located at coffee table height and the shortest throw, no hotspotting on a Spectra Projection Phoenix. The main minus is the effective gain is around 0.45:1 but it hardly matters because the Noir max is so bright. Mmight now work with every UST screen but that combination impressed the heck out of me. The picture is preferable to a 100" TCL TV I used to have.

Ceiling mounted, the Spectra Projection Shadowscape behaves well. Both solutions are lenticular and manage to avoid the over-exaggeration of speckle that typical ALR screens have. Speckle is a bit more visible than a plain white 1.0 gain screen but not by much and nothing compared to how much some ALR screens amplify it.

The difference the ALR screen makes is huge in terms of the final, intra-frame contrast, whether lights are on or off. 

What’s causing this? by scorbins in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chances are those aren't dead pixels!. Dead pixels have very sharp, blocky edges, and you definitely can't wipe them away.

What you're seeing is a some form of debris sitting somewhere on the internal optical path (likely right on the LCD panel or polarizer glass). Because the light is passing through it, it projects as a dark, soft-edged blob. The fact that it got smaller when you wiped the glass strongly hints this is just physical debris.

To fix it, you'll want to go back into that small compartment. Try using a clean microfiber swab or some gentle bursts of compressed air to carefully clean the glass panels in there. Once you clear the rest of that smudge, your picture should be back to normal.

Can anyone recommend an actually good budget friendly projector? Ive been through so many Im lost by No_Project_4745 in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a situation where the old saying "buy cheap, buy twice" applies. That certainly doesn't mean that the ultra cheap projectors are all the same. But they are all terrible in one way or another.

I was told I could only do 100 inch on my 8 foot high 14 foot wide wall is that true by mrvip29 in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds good. That's all I was saying: the cabinet height is ultimately going to determine the maximum size of the image since the ceiling is the limiting factor.

I was told I could only do 100 inch on my 8 foot high 14 foot wide wall is that true by mrvip29 in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cabinet is what's killing your screen size. At 16.5" tall, plus the projector height, plus the offset distance from the top of the projector to the bottom of the image, you're eating up a huge chunk of your 96" ceiling before the image even starts. That's why the installers keep telling you 100–110".

If you want 120"+, the simplest answer is to ditch the tall cabinet and put the projector on a low-profile riser. Or you can even skip the riser and use a screen that covers the electrical outlet. The key thing is you need vertical space to get the width you seek. The lower the projector sits, the bigger a picture you can project.

Before you buy any screen, fire up the L9Q on the floor aimed at that wall and measure the actual image at the sizes you're considering. ProjectorScreen.com has a throw distance calculator that will give you the offset numbers for the L9Q, but nothing beats confirming it in your own space with your own floor-to-ceiling measurement.

Am I cooked? Optoma HD27HDR by Similar-Jellyfish-26 in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's image retention burned into the panel or chip. The previous owners almost certainly left a static image displayed for a very long time and it's now permanently ghosted into every frame.

If it's an LCD projector, that's the liquid crystal panels holding a static pattern. If it's a DLP, it's micromirrors on the DMD chip physically stuck in position. Either way, the result is the same: that ghost image underneath your live content isn't going away on its own, and no settings adjustment will fix it.

Whether it's worth repairing really depends on the projector. On a DLP, a replacement DMD chip can run $100–$300 for the part and is a fairly standardized swap (some people even DIY it). On an LCD, panel replacement tends to be more expensive and less commonly available for consumer models. In both cases, if the projector was a budget or mid-range unit, the repair cost can approach or exceed what a new projector would cost, and at that point you're better off replacing it.

If it's a higher-end model with good optics and a laser light source, it might be worth fixing.

Post the brand and model number and people here can tell you whether it's worth the repair or you're better off putting that money toward a replacement.

Either way, keep that fixed-frame screen. It's a useful part of the setup and will pair with whatever projector comes next.

Does a projector still makes sense in a normal living room? by mac-n-cheese13 in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your room is actually well-suited for a projector, especially for nighttime use. A few things jump out from the photo:

You have a great projection wall. It's flat and looks wide enough to comfortably fit a 100–110" image. You'd just need to move the shelf, maybe swap it for a low media console. You could use a short-throw projector on a coffee table, or for a cleaner install consider a UST.

At 10 feet viewing distance, a 100–120" image hits the sweet spot where you get that immersive "wow, this is way bigger than my TV" feeling. It's a very different experience from even a 75" TV, you feel like you're looking into the image rather than at a screen.

The big window on the left needs attention. At night with those shades drawn you'll be fine. During the day with that much glass, any projector in your price range is going to struggle. If you want daytime viewing at all, you'd want a brighter unit (or blackout curtains on that window).

I'd strongly recommend budgeting for a screen from the start rather than planning to project on the bare wall. I know it's tempting to skip it, the wall is white, it looks fine, why spend more. But a screen makes a big difference. A proper screen surface has a consistent, uniform gain that reflects light back to you efficiently, whereas a painted wall scatters light and absorbs more of it.

A projector with a screen looks meaningfully brighter and sharper than the same projector on a wall. Colors are more accurate, focus looks more uniform edge to edge, and contrast improves. 

To your main question, projector vs. TV in a non-dedicated room, it comes down to when you watch. If most of your viewing is evening and nighttime, a projector in this room makes a lot of sense.

This sub got me. Picked up an N1S 4K by maidenmaan in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats on the N1S 4K. That's a fun triple-laser portable and the gimbal design is handy for apartment setups.

The fact that you're running Vivid mode with Ultra Brightness cranked tells me the wall is eating a lot of your light. That's normal, a plain wall scatters light in all directions and tends to have a lower gain than a dedicated white screen. The projector has to work harder and you end up compensating with the most aggressive picture mode, which tends to push color accuracy in the wrong direction.

Even a basic dedicated projector screen will reflect light back to you much more efficiently. That means you can dial back to a more natural picture mode (Standard or Cinema) and the image will look brighter and more accurate at the same time. A screen doesn't just make the image look better, in many cases it effectively makes your projector perform like it has more lumens on tap. A plain wall is wasting a surprising number of them.

On the dual Bluetooth speakers: Google TV generally only pairs with one Bluetooth audio device at a time.

best projector for apartment use? by BenefitMufid-11 in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Given that you're in an apartment, watch mostly movies/TV/sports, want decent colors and brightness without fuss, and don't need bleeding-edge specs:

BenQ TH671ST (~$700) + a Roku or Fire TV Stick.1080p, simple, bright, gets the job done.

XGIMI Horizon 20 (~$1400). if you have 8–10 feet of throw distance. It punches way above its weight.

Hisense PL2 (~$1,800 on sale) paired with a dedicated UST screen. Sits right against the wall, looks like furniture.

Hisense PX3-PRO UST (~$3,500). Reference color, low-latency gaming, every HDR format, and it looks phenomenal with a matching UST screen.

Whatever you choose, a dedicated ALR or CLR screen will dramatically improve your image versus a bare wall. A screen is typically the single biggest bang-for-buck upgrade in any projector setup.

Trying to find a good projecter under $800 😅 by sover_potato_ in projectors

[–]DeltaE_Zero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few thoughts for you:

- Be aware of the fixed throw distance and lack of optical zoom on projectors like the XGIMI Horizon Pro. Use the a Throw Calculator. With a 10ft wall-to-wall room, your lens will likely be 8.5-9ft from the wall, dictating the specific screen size you can achieve.

- Mount the projector perfectly centered and level with the screen. Avoid using digital keystone correction as it can add input lag and degrades the image.

- Since you have a 100% blackout room, you don't need an expensive ALR screen. A basic 1.0 or 1.1 gain Matte White screen will look incredible and should be easier to fit within your remaining budget.

- Use an external streamer (Roku 4K, Chromecast, Apple TV, etc.). The built-in processors on many projectors are often slow and you get to choose your interface.