I own a Projector too so here is my thoughts.
If you can control the room light with drapes or whatever and dont have to watch in a bright room (family, kids playing, maybe your wife likes to read in same room and so on) but if you dont need more than a 40 or 60w bulb or 2 on at any given time then your all set for a Projector, look for a Lumen value of atleast 1000 and likey you will want closer to 2000 so you can have a bright image and keep it in "economy mode" for both bulb life and fan noise as when bulb burns its brightest in Dynamic modes the fan needs to crank up aswell. Contrast is key too, the ratio is the black level and anything under say 3000 is going to not give very good blacks, my current model does 6000.1 and its good, not great but good
If you also dont need to turn the thing on and off several or many times daily the I say go Projector all the way, you cant shut these down for 30min to eat and fire them back up day after day, with a Projector its better to just leave it run for an hour or two if you need to do something over turning it off and on a bunch of times (think 1 hour between power up minimum to be on safe side).
But you can get on the budget side a 720p unit and a screen for well under $1000 and even get some great 1080P model that are both budget and totally up to date (Epson 6100) comes to mind for s street price of under $2000, screens can be as low as $85.00 for a manual pull down, you can get a powered remote control unit for a couple hundred budget minded, paint the wall white and frame its are for looks or simply just beam it on wall period. Then screens are like this hobby, thet can get insane in price.
Also remember bulbs cost $3-$600 and expect to buy 1 every year or two depending ofcourse on use, the Projector will tell you its hours on bulb life and many units are good for 2000-3000 hrs in budget mode. The Epson I mentioned earlier is great as its reviewed very well, offers 1800 Lumens (these numbers are not to be trusted but its bright) and has also the added benefit of a 4000 hour bulb...its 1080P and has more adjustments and memory than most any "budget" unit and more than some costing much more. This unit also offers 18000.1 contrast....awesome for under $2000!!!!
Dont forget in the end about where you want to mount it, if its going on ceiling your great but if you want it on a shelf or such you need to get a unit with "Lense shift" to compensate for various setup short comings. DLP Projectors dont offer the Lense Shift that budget LCD units do (Epson 6100 IS LCD)
Blacks are many times better on DLP but they suffer from "Rainbow affect", you can research more on this via google or Projectorcentral, AVSFORUM and others, LCD is what I prefer.
I dont know it all but I know alot so feel free to PM me if you ever want to talk, there is nothing like a movie, sports or concert on a Projector, its also great for audio as its not in the way of speakers image and such. Also its price is insane these days, Plasmas and quality LCD units while more useable in daytime and such are very expensive for a comparatively postage stamp sized image.
In close 1 idea is get a small budget LCD from Wallmart or such for daytime crap TV and news, mount it on wall and get a screen that comes down for Projector use, best of both worlds and cheap units are well under $1000 for a wall mount unit...anyway, cheers
If you can control the room light with drapes or whatever and dont have to watch in a bright room (family, kids playing, maybe your wife likes to read in same room and so on) but if you dont need more than a 40 or 60w bulb or 2 on at any given time then your all set for a Projector, look for a Lumen value of atleast 1000 and likey you will want closer to 2000 so you can have a bright image and keep it in "economy mode" for both bulb life and fan noise as when bulb burns its brightest in Dynamic modes the fan needs to crank up aswell. Contrast is key too, the ratio is the black level and anything under say 3000 is going to not give very good blacks, my current model does 6000.1 and its good, not great but good
If you also dont need to turn the thing on and off several or many times daily the I say go Projector all the way, you cant shut these down for 30min to eat and fire them back up day after day, with a Projector its better to just leave it run for an hour or two if you need to do something over turning it off and on a bunch of times (think 1 hour between power up minimum to be on safe side).
But you can get on the budget side a 720p unit and a screen for well under $1000 and even get some great 1080P model that are both budget and totally up to date (Epson 6100) comes to mind for s street price of under $2000, screens can be as low as $85.00 for a manual pull down, you can get a powered remote control unit for a couple hundred budget minded, paint the wall white and frame its are for looks or simply just beam it on wall period. Then screens are like this hobby, thet can get insane in price.
Also remember bulbs cost $3-$600 and expect to buy 1 every year or two depending ofcourse on use, the Projector will tell you its hours on bulb life and many units are good for 2000-3000 hrs in budget mode. The Epson I mentioned earlier is great as its reviewed very well, offers 1800 Lumens (these numbers are not to be trusted but its bright) and has also the added benefit of a 4000 hour bulb...its 1080P and has more adjustments and memory than most any "budget" unit and more than some costing much more. This unit also offers 18000.1 contrast....awesome for under $2000!!!!
Dont forget in the end about where you want to mount it, if its going on ceiling your great but if you want it on a shelf or such you need to get a unit with "Lense shift" to compensate for various setup short comings. DLP Projectors dont offer the Lense Shift that budget LCD units do (Epson 6100 IS LCD)
Blacks are many times better on DLP but they suffer from "Rainbow affect", you can research more on this via google or Projectorcentral, AVSFORUM and others, LCD is what I prefer.
I dont know it all but I know alot so feel free to PM me if you ever want to talk, there is nothing like a movie, sports or concert on a Projector, its also great for audio as its not in the way of speakers image and such. Also its price is insane these days, Plasmas and quality LCD units while more useable in daytime and such are very expensive for a comparatively postage stamp sized image.
In close 1 idea is get a small budget LCD from Wallmart or such for daytime crap TV and news, mount it on wall and get a screen that comes down for Projector use, best of both worlds and cheap units are well under $1000 for a wall mount unit...anyway, cheers