General / Off-Topic Does anyone use projectors for gaming?

insanephoton · Feb 9, 2020

I'm currently in the process of moving house. Assuming that everything goes to plan, my new place will have a spare room which I am thinking of turning into a gaming room. I have also inherited a projector screen. That got me thinking about the possibility of getting a projector to use as a big screen.

Does anyone here have experience of using projectors as gaming displays? What are the pros and cons? I would be most grateful to hear of others experiences.

Stealthie · Feb 9, 2020

I have done, but only when I was (supposedly) working night-shift in an office that happened to have a projector available.

The resolution isn't great on a lot of affordable projectors.
They might say they're 1080p (or whatever) but that's usually just the input resolution.
They'll actually display at a resolution of something dire like 800x600 or something.
Proper high-res projectors are still expensive.

The biggest problem (IMO) is the lack of contrast, though.
You're going to need to have an almost completely dark room for a projector to really look impressive - and allow you to see the level of detail you're going to need to play a game effectively.
Even if you have a full-on "sim-pit", it's going to be kind of clunky if you can only play in a darkened room.

Manticore · Feb 9, 2020

Con:

Replacing projector lamps. The things aren't cheap.

I haven't got one but I played on friend's for years. PS3, PS4 gaming. The scale could be impressive fun at times with shooters and driving games but if the unit gets any technical problems..... friend ended up swapping his out for a monster-sized t.v. that has a screen almost as big as the projected image he used to have.

Vasco Sapien · Feb 9, 2020

Manticore said:
Con:

Replacing projector lamps. The things aren't cheap.

I haven't got one but I played on friend's for years. PS3, PS4 gaming. The scale could be impressive fun at times with shooters and driving games but if the unit gets any technical problems..... friend ended up swapping his out for a monster-sized t.v. that has a screen almost as big as the projected image he used to have.

This is it... the cost of lamp replacement especially on the higher end models which themselves are not cheap makes it comparatively obsolete to a 4k TV.

insanephoton · Feb 10, 2020

Thanks for all the feedback. It was only a vague idea and after some research probably not an avenue I'm that keen on pursuing. The price of the high end kit is in a similar range to very large 4k smart tv (65"+). I hadn't even considered the replacement bulb cost. |Getting sufficient darkness could very well be an issue because one of the main attraction of the place I'm trying to buy is that it's light and airy. Another issue that was mentioned in some articles was fan noise.

Morbad · Feb 10, 2020

There are LED and laser projectors, so lamp replacement isn't as much of an issue as it once was. Halogen bulbs are good for 1k-3k hours. LEDs are usually speced for at least twenty times that. Lasers last effectively forever.

Both LED and laser projectors can also be brighter without requiring noisy cooling, so contrast vs. noise ratios have improved as well. Again, lasers are generally the higher-end option here, and a good laser projector will give a good picture in full daylight.

avow555 · Feb 10, 2020

I use a projector for my spare machine and it's pretty average for PC use.

Shinji Ikari · Feb 14, 2020

insanephoton said:
I'm currently in the process of moving house. Assuming that everything goes to plan, my new place will have a spare room which I am thinking of turning into a gaming room. I have also inherited a projector screen. That got me thinking about the possibility of getting a projector to use as a big screen.

Does anyone here have experience of using projectors as gaming displays? What are the pros and cons? I would be most grateful to hear of others experiences.

Lets see, poor resolution, poor refresh rates, poor color acc, needs a dark environment. The only pro I can think of is the size of the image.

Shinji Ikari · Feb 14, 2020

Also, I bet they have awful input lag.

znôrt · Feb 14, 2020

they are fairly good now, i got to test one and was surprised at the contrast and quality even in a lit room. those were nintendo style games, though, ymmv with something like elite. of course you can dim out the lights a bit or even go full dark ... which is not so unexpected a thing to do in a game room. congrats, btw!

it seems it comes with its own hassles though. you basically have a toaster in the room and the lamps wear off, which shouldn't be a problem depending on the length and frequency of the sessions. this is indeed a thing, worth having a peek if you get the opportunity.

Shinji Ikari · Feb 14, 2020

znôrt said:
they are fairly good now, i got to test one and was surprised at the contrast and quality even in a lit room. those were nintendo style games, though, ymmv with something like elite. of course you can dim out the lights a bit or even go full dark ... which is not so unexpected a thing to do in a game room. congrats, btw!

How much did it cost? The ones with good resolution(4K) and brightness (HDR actually) cost upwards of 50,000 USD.

Edit: The projector I had in mind was 50k at launch but is now at 5k USD.

znôrt · Feb 14, 2020

yeah, they have gotten better and cheaper. that one i reckon was a good one but still consumer grade.