Does anyone have experience with projectors on their HTPC

[krakatoa94]

Hey folks! I'm Sy and this is my first post. Just wanted to say this place is awesome! You guys are really generous with your time. I first heard about the site a few months ago while binge watching Linus's TeckQuickie series and have since been interested in customization and such. 

 

I'm going to be posting elsewhere soon to ask about a first build, but for now let's pretend I already have it. Let's assume I have an unlocked, overclocked i7, cpu cooler, decent gpu, and a relatively "future safe" mobo. I'm planning to be able to go full 4k, though im still JUST now learning about display stuff. 

 

I don't know if any of this is relevant to my question, but I was wondering if anyone has experience with using a projector as a primary display for their HTPC (or gaming, or whatever else)? 

 

And if so, what kind of projector (budget) should I look into? I'm mostly going to be using it for movies and tv. I won't be using my system for games at all, so im wondering if this means I can go extra cheap on the gpu? Im not sure how important the gpu is in HTPCs vs gaming PCs. For gaming PCs they sound pretty important. 

 

I really don't know anything about projection technology, save for watching videos and hearing a lot of wild terminology (IPS DLP etc), so I'm open to references for learning. Ultra short throw projectors look AMAZING but also seem to be... EXPENSIVE

 

Can't find any "projectors for dummies" type books either and the sites I have stumbled across are pretty scant on information. I looked on this site for a projector category but only found misc. unrelated posts.

[Arty]

this

http://www.electrified.com/p-9664-christie-digital-d4k2560-129-009100-01-projector-no-lens-included.aspx?CampaignID=Froogle&gclid=Cj0KEQjwiN6sBRDK2vOO_vaRs5cBEiQAfsnJCaEWZLH_KjbxFTEi87C5FHm8riAsN9P5djANGbSk6EUaAjKP8P8HAQ&

 

or 

https://www.techatrone.com/sony-vpl-gtz1-sxrd-projector-3d?language=en&currency=USD

 

 

jk

[Stagea]

Are you actually looking at 4K projectors? If so, then you'd have fewer options available.

For your PC, you don't need a high end build unless you plan to do a lot of post-processing (or playing back HEVC with no hardware decode).

[techguru]

this

http://www.electrified.com/p-9664-christie-digital-d4k2560-129-009100-01-projector-no-lens-included.aspx?CampaignID=Froogle&gclid=Cj0KEQjwiN6sBRDK2vOO_vaRs5cBEiQAfsnJCaEWZLH_KjbxFTEi87C5FHm8riAsN9P5djANGbSk6EUaAjKP8P8HAQ&

 

or 

https://www.techatrone.com/sony-vpl-gtz1-sxrd-projector-3d?language=en&currency=USD

 

 

jk

LMAO

[techguru]

a gtx 960 would be fine or the new 950 ti

[krakatoa94]

Are you actually looking at 4K projectors? If so, then you'd have fewer options available.

For your PC, you don't need a high end build unless you plan to do a lot of post-processing (or playing back HEVC with no hardware decode).

 

Can I play 4k quality videos (from youtube for example) without a 4k specific projector? I'm okay with losing quality from the computer to the projected image, I just dont want it to lag or freeze on me.

 

Whats the average price (USD) for an "average build"? I mean, not cheapo but not pricey. Does $1,000 sound doable for a decent HTPC?

 

Eventually I'd like to do video editing. I want to learn animation and CAD-type stuff but it sounds like i need a REALLY expensive build if I want to run that kind of software. 

[Stagea]

Can I play 4k quality videos (from youtube for example) without a 4k specific projector? I'm okay with losing quality from the computer to the projected image, I just dont want it to lag or freeze on me.

Whats the average price (USD) for an "average build"? I mean, not cheapo but not pricey. Does $1,000 sound doable for a decent HTPC?

Eventually I'd like to do video editing. I want to learn animation and CAD-type stuff but it sounds like i need a REALLY expensive build if I want to run that kind of software.

Yes, you can play UHD videos from Youtube on a lower resolution display. You obviously need an internet connection that's fast enough, and preferably hardware that can decode 4K VP9 fast enough (unless you will stick to H.264). For movie playback, hardware that can decode HEVC well would be key in supporting upcoming video formats (like UHD Bluray). The Geforce GTX 960 and 950 are options to look at.

$1000 is very doable for an HTPC and basic video editing (unless you're editing 4K videos). Having enough ram and a fast CPU should be your priority (together with fast and sufficient storage). An i7-5775C or i7-4790K build with 16GB of RAM should work for basic video editing/encoding.

For 3D animation, it is dependent on the complexity of work that you'd be doing (and the applications that you'd be using). I guess you can always buy additional equipment when you get to that point.

[FaZe Booce]

Corsair Bulldog anyone?

[techguru]

Can I play 4k quality videos (from youtube for example) without a 4k specific projector? I'm okay with losing quality from the computer to the projected image, I just dont want it to lag or freeze on me.

 

Whats the average price (USD) for an "average build"? I mean, not cheapo but not pricey. Does $1,000 sound doable for a decent HTPC?

 

Eventually I'd like to do video editing. I want to learn animation and CAD-type stuff but it sounds like i need a REALLY expensive build if I want to run that kind of software. 

1000$ is overkill

something like 500-600 would be fine for a higher end HTPC

[krakatoa94]

1000$ is overkill

something like 500-600 would be fine for a higher end HTPC

Well I'm hoping to eventually use it for more advanced software than media players. I don't know anything about scientific computing or CAD but I think having the capable hardware in front of me would be helpful once I start trying to learn. My experience so far has been reading the introductory chapter of a highly technical book and only remembering half the terminology and none of the program functions. 

 

I can't tell if the graphics card or CPU would be more important here; maybe both? I'm sure there are other things I can add to my mobo or a USB hub if I want to learn to program robots or wireless devices. I wanna make sure I have an advanced enough system for all of these things.

 

This forum seems to be focused a lot on using high end systems for gaming. Is there good reason to have an equally expensive system for the other things I described, or is gaming usually the only reason one would need like 3 graphics cards and tons of cooling? 

[techguru]

Well I'm hoping to eventually use it for more advanced software than media players. I don't know anything about scientific computing or CAD but I think having the capable hardware in front of me would be helpful once I start trying to learn. My experience so far has been reading the introductory chapter of a highly technical book and only remembering half the terminology and none of the program functions. 

 

I can't tell if the graphics card or CPU would be more important here; maybe both? I'm sure there are other things I can add to my mobo or a USB hub if I want to learn to program robots or wireless devices. I wanna make sure I have an advanced enough system for all of these things.

 

This forum seems to be focused a lot on using high end systems for gaming. Is there good reason to have an equally expensive system for the other things I described, or is gaming usually the only reason one would need like 3 graphics cards and tons of cooling? 

gaming ..and production work are the only reasons to have a majorly high end system

 

if the pc will be used for more then just a HTPC tho

then yea...maybe 1000$

[Stagea]

Well I'm hoping to eventually use it for more advanced software than media players. I don't know anything about scientific computing or CAD but I think having the capable hardware in front of me would be helpful once I start trying to learn. My experience so far has been reading the introductory chapter of a highly technical book and only remembering half the terminology and none of the program functions.

I can't tell if the graphics card or CPU would be more important here; maybe both? I'm sure there are other things I can add to my mobo or a USB hub if I want to learn to program robots or wireless devices. I wanna make sure I have an advanced enough system for all of these things.

This forum seems to be focused a lot on using high end systems for gaming. Is there good reason to have an equally expensive system for the other things I described, or is gaming usually the only reason one would need like 3 graphics cards and tons of cooling?

For 3D work, the GPU is definitely something that you'd want to look at. You can buy that GPU when you already have an understanding of what you want to do and with what software. A separate monitor is also an investment that you'd likely want to have for this work.

Get a reasonably good CPU, Storage and RAM for now. You can get the Monitor and GPU as add-ons. The R9 290x at $400 may work for a $1000 build, if you wanna have everything now (it does workstation graphics reasonably well).