A Home Theater for $250? 

The flatness of the screen is rather important for short throw optics. And room colour becomes important to get decent contrast. Old gear is much better than no gear.

I had a big beast of a projector from the mid 90s about 10 years ago. It was a novelty, but the picture quality was pretty naff. I just cant see how a 4k projector is even possible, but then again I am finding myself increasingly suprised by new technology. May see about a demo.

I’ve been using a projector instead of TV for the past 18 years and always felt pretty smug about the bang I’m getting for my buck. Plus I love how movies look on the wall and hate the glossy look of LCD. Whenever I tried to watch a film on someone’s TV I felt as if I was watching the making of that film

LED light source projectors are becoming cheaper and cheaper. I have a ViewSonic LED light source projector (cost me $999). LED projectors are ridiculously bright, usable in daytime, only bettered by laser light sources.

Great segment! I've had projectors for years, and it really does rule! Movies, video games, sports - even had a few Superbowl parties with them. One of the easiest solutions for a custom screen is paint. There are special paints made for projectors that reflect light the way a high end screen will for less than $50 per can. If you don't want to spend that much, just get a high gloss white bathroom or kitchen paint and put that on your projector wall. When you move, you can just paint over it. Cheers!

You can get a soundbar over in america for $200. that would basically be a full wireless 5.1 setup.

Projectors seem more and more irrelevant especially now with oled hitting the main stream no?

I guess one could use a big enough screen to block the window🤔

Very useful and down-to-earth info but you didn't address the fan noise issue at all. From my experience, especially having a projector behid the sofa, relatively close to where I'm sitting is a no-go.

I bought a cheap (AUD135) and it is fine. The audio is another matter. But excellent result, as is your videos.

I've just recently achieved my dream of a home cinema, I spent a bit more, but have got a passive 3D system. But if I had gone 2D it was £300 for the projector (£3k in 2012), £50 for 7.1 reciever (£500 in 2012) and I paid another £50 for 2 centre speakers and 2 rears (I use the 2nd centre as a the back surround, as dont have many BD anyway). I did splash out £500 between the player (UB900) and front speakers (transmission line for extra bass). I got a 106" screen for £60. So for just over £1k I have an amazing cinema, but I could have got a quality projector, player and front speakers for £200 and had a very good system for £400 (~a cheap 60" TV). The extra £40 comes from the garage shelving/racking which I put my projectors, player, reciever and centre rear speaker on, with the 2 projectors, I didnt want to be putting lots of holes in the wall, but for renters who dont have the option of mounting, this is an ideal cheap (if not the most aesthetic) solution - projector is 1.8m up, its very sturdy and has shelves for the other equipment. As for the darkness issue, we have large windows, but were able to get blackout curtains on ebay for £40. The projector is 2000 lumens, but can still be seen OK with the light on (I wouldn't watch movies, but kids play games and watch stuff). I have a massive silver screen now for the passive 3D, so have the projector at max zoom and its about 115", slightly bigger than recommended, but as they have zoom you can adjust the size in a fairly big range for any given throw. Biggest tip is to make sure you focus it so you can see the pixels on a piece of white paper held on the screen (screen materials wont always show them up). If you have the room I highly recommend it, surround sound & sub is well worth it, plenty of choice of 5.1 recievers available (just make sure it has HDMI) for not much.

I love my portable projectors. With blacked out bedroom windows I find an average size room gets about a 7 foot to 8.5 foot viewable screen. Presently I use a AXXA M7 LED unit capable of 1200 lumen but running in Eco mode which is about half. With a old spare laptop for the video source that connects to a home NAS I store my favorte movies and shows on, and a USB audio processor I connect with 3.5mm connections to a couple portable bluetooth speakers I already had, its all pretty darn watchable. Even better is tearing it down and taking it all camping with my portable 7 foot Epson ES3000 screen. Since its all able to run from battery, I've done it in the woods 30+ miles from civilization and commercial power, and the nearby campers sure scratch their heads trying to figure things out when watching me set it all up and then their jaws drop when it gets dark and I open the screen and the shows come on :D

great vid, quick tip: many college/universities sell off their old gear, surplus, or units that have been replaced on a schedule. can find some great deals. bring some cookies to the A/V dept at your local and see what you can find out

I've been looking for a new projector for a while, but that is another story, but when it comes to cheap screens a white blackout roller blind mounted to the ceiling has always worked perfectly for me.

The problem is always that you need to get the room dark. Hasn't been a problem for me in the last 20 years, because I seldomly want to watch TV before dusk. But I can easily see why people would rather have a big TV that works well at all room brightness levels.

Careful! U start with a 100 dollar projector but within a few years you can easily shoot past the 100000 dollar mark! Its an addiction

Excellent advice regarding not taking on board Videophiles advice if you don't wish to spend a fortune. I have the Home gear 120" motorized screen, Epson TW650 projector ceiling mounted, LG sound bar with sub woofer and two small rear speakers. The projector has two HDMI inputs so one from my Virgin box and the other has Fire stick ( most streaming sticks connect audio via Bluetooth which is handy). Total cost having shopped around including cables, mounts and sundries ( trunking for neat cable runs etc) came to £800. I'll admit no labour cost as I fit the system myself, I'm a retired electronics technician so that helps. I absolutely agree with all your comments, my little set up provides a fantastic cinema experience for the price of a decent brand TV. As for following your favourite football team - well that is a whole new experience ! I sometimes find my self standing up and joining in with the corner shots and penalty kicks as you are so close to the action!

Would like to get a portable projector for outdoor movies.

Thank you for your insights

Nice video!

Big advantage of the projector over tv is that you don't have to pay tv licence.

Converting back and forth from USD and pound is so tedious. If only there were a universal unit we can all understand.

Awwww... you run out of ideas then?😢