10/10would not recommend. Screens that are too hard to set up are frustrating, and youre going to want to play around with the orientation of it before youre satisfied. The projector's 4K enhancement technology refines and demystifies images so you can fully experience all the vivid detail of a nature show, and the excellent native contrast ratio ensures that you see all the stunning bright light and parse out the more dimly lit space scenes of something like 2001: A Space Odyssey. What services offer professional consultation? This BenQ projector is one of the few we've found at a reasonable price that is easy to set up and has solid image quality. Here's Why You Should Also. You wont find options for VGA, MHL, or wireless streaming on all projectors, though, so make sure you check for that feature if you need it. Few homes have many completely blank, white walls the size youll want for a projector screen. Make sure you have everything you need purchased and ready to be assembled before you start. It was the best method for the specific layout of our living room. If the projectors location is fixed because of the constraints of your space, you could alternatively wait to permanently mount the screen, changing its placement to adjust the image size. The only reason to spend more is if you want extra features, like a high-contrast screen or the option of behind-screen speakers. For most homes, a 1080p resolution projector in the $500-$1,000 range should suit your needs nicely. Here is a great ceiling mount that will work with almost all projectors. A projector-based home theater system is the best way to get a large-screen experience in your own home. For some living room layouts, installing the projector in a good location and running the cables could be extremely difficult. I'm Jonah. All rights reserved. One of the reasons movie theaters are so exciting is the enormous wall of sound you get from the surround sound speakers throughout the auditorium. If you want something thatll pair with the Beam while youre watching TV, but that you can take with you throughout your apartment, or outside when thats a thing again, the companys portable Move speaker might be a great option. Youll notice the effect immediately after plugging one in. While TV manufacturers have gotten extremely good at making good picture quality more affordable, even expensive TVs can sound tinny and washed out. Some of them require more installation than others and some are just for the design and overall look. If you want to get really immersed in your favorite show, youll want to make your room as dark as possible, says Crockett. Finally, dont forget about peripheral accessories like ceiling mounts and cables. There are a few different options for positioning a projector in a living room. All products featured on GQ are independently selected by our editors. [Spoiler: Yes, they do]. Shades from SelectBlinds are made custom to fit your window opening and are a bit more elegant. Unlike both the BenQ projectors above, the Anker Nebula Mars II is portableit has a battery and built-in streaming apps (which, yes, means you need to connect to it through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth). Thank you for supporting this site by using it as a resource to find the best products. The Sonos Beam has everything youd want in a high-end soundbar. Over the years I slowly increased the quality of my man cave. I'm Nikhil Singh, and I love my home theater and gaming set up. Ill break it down in the simplest of terms for you. That's the dream. The HT3550 is on the cheaper end of 4K home theater projectors, which can be up to four times as expensive, but still manages to produce sharp and dynamic images. Even most mounting systems are simple enough to be accomplished by someone with minimal home repair and electronics experience. I never wanted to go back to viewing movies and playing video games on a TV again. It has clear audio quality and decent-enough bass response, plus a watching-at-night feature that boosts on-screen voices while slightly muting crazy loud moments, so you don't tick off a sleeping partner. If done correctly, I believe this could be a really interesting way to integrate a projector into your living room. Having a dedicated home theater room of any scale is so fulfilling once you get the fundamentals right. For just over $500, you can build out a genuinely impressive system. Finding and fixing any problems rights away is a lot less frustrating than finding out about them as youre sitting down to watch your favorite show. Before you consider purchasing any new AV equipment, survey the space where you currently screen films (or, y'know, stream 'Too Hot to Handle.' Weve hosted multiple parties and gatherings of friends/family. In a pinch, you can project the image from a projector directly onto a wall, or hang a white bedsheet. You dont always see people online using to monitor set ups for gaming. The key is to buy a projector thats compatible with how you want to watch shows and movies. As we said, its not hard to set up a home theater with a projector. Don't think your couch, ficus, and flatscreen setup deserves to be called a home theater? Let's fix that. Beautifully stained wooden floors that ricochet sound waves? If yours doesnt, youll need to make sure the lens is directed head-on toward the screen. It only takes a bit more thought to create one thats truly your own. If reducing the ambient light proves more difficult than thought, then a projector with a much higher lumen count may be needed. They might be overkill for most peopleif you have the space, Crockett suggests simply moving your home theater setup as far away from a window as possible. It also wears down your wall from its weight. How To Hang A Projector Screen From Ceiling? Unless your living room has one large, windowless, art-free, pock-free, perfectly white wall positioned directly across from your couch, you'll need to get a pull-down screen to get the most out of your new projector. If you already know what lighting you will use, then feel free to skip this section. Beat the Heat Deals - $200 off Dyson cordless vacuums, Save as much as 50% on Tnuck Sport collection at Tuckernuck, Redeem Moda Operandi coupon code to save 15% off your first Trunkshow purchase, Get 15% off for Boscov's credit card purchase with a coupon, SiriusXM coupon: pay $1 only on your first subscription, Up to 80% off select perfumes at FragranceX, 2022 Cond Nast. Knowing what to expect going in, both in terms of cost and labor, will keep your home theater project from becoming overwhelming. The highest impact thing you can do to improve your existing home entertainment setup is to make sure you have the right speaker setup. Grey color screens are perfectly fine too. All in all, like its predecessor, this soundbar is designed to be easy to use, with excellent surround sound performance and streaming capabilities. The speakers on most televisions are powerful enough to provide decent sound to the average living room. Many projector screens are also specifically designed to heighten contrast or otherwise improve image quality, which can be a big help in rooms with lots of ambient light or other constraints. Some movies youll want to slightly adjust these settings so you can hear the audio better. You can find decent sets for as little as $50. This is a picture of my room with LED lights running all across the top of the room. You might be able to tuck the cable into the corners of the carpet and walls if there is enough room. Plus, it comes loaded with software from Roku, so even if you dont purchase the Roku soundbar, your home theater will be as easy to use as a streaming stick. Head-to-head, youd choose the buttery-smooth accuracy of the Sony X950G every time. Remember that not all living rooms are suited for a mounted projector or even sitting it on a shelf. Both TVs have HDR support and full-array local dimming. Ceiling-mounting is the most secure option for long-term installations, but you can also make smart use of tall shelves and other furniture. At the very least, youll need the projector and the screen. Home Theater DIY is where I can share my findings and experience about home theaters and home electronics. The second major difference is that youre not locked into a single image size. The projector will likely be the bulk of your expense. Finally, dont forget to think about where youll sit. One downside of OLED technology is that these TVs dont get as bright as conventional LED modelsplan on drawing the curtains (some suggestions on that below) if you're doing an all-day Scorsese marathon. Speakers for your small room home theater are usually personal preference. My family actually did this for a while when we were testing out how well a projector would work in my room. There are small formfactor projectors thatcan provide plentyoflight for anopen style living room. The key is to put a bit of thought into your project before you start buying all of your equipment so you know the best places to spend your budget and how to make your space the best home theater it can be. If there is a small amount of ambient light then the projector will need fewer lumens to properly light the screen. Also, here are some great ideas for positioning and hiding a projector in a living room. We receive a commission rate percentage of all transactions made from directing you to the source. But if you're just looking to affordably upgrade your current setup, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised by how much you can do to improve your home theater hardwareand your home theater spacewithout spending a lot of money. If youre not mounting the projector, youll have no problem doing it yourself. The cost of your sound system is really at your discretion. These are a great option if youre really going for that authentic, home theater look. This is probably one of the most popular methods for using a projector in a living room because its so simple. The kind of adjustments you can make to the image vary from projector to projector, and can include zoom, alignment, and inversion options. Sometimes connecting things in a certain order can help make sure they all work correctly once you power on your system. If its pitch black in the room and there are 3500 lumens blasting onto your projector screen, its going to feel a little blinding. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[728,90],'entertainmentden_com-box-4','ezslot_4',138,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-entertainmentden_com-box-4-0')}; if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[728,90],'entertainmentden_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_3',140,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-entertainmentden_com-large-leaderboard-2-0')}; Theres too much information online about what the perfect screen is for a home theater. If youre willing to spend the money to get a projector capable of resolutions as good as todays TVs, consider ones of the more premium models from BenQ. The light beam from the projector needs to be able to reach the screen unobstructed. Youve probably experienced this if youve ever been in a restaurant or bar designed in the last 10 years, filled with smooth wood and concrete surfaces that bounce sound around like Flubber (which is a good movie to add to your streaming queue, by the way). The BenQ HT2050A is one of the few projectors under $1000 that manages to produce an image almost as clear and dynamic as the ones on our favorite TVs, and it's a very popular model for that exact reason. You will likely need to do some image alignment and adjustment to get the image from your projector to the right size and perfectly centered on the screen.