using a projector for gaming.

[Dethroy]

You're going to want around 3000 lumens minimum for a projector showing any important media like films or games.

Lumens are not that indicative of real world image brightness. First of all, the manufacturer's lumen specs only indicate white light output performance. It doesn't take account of color light output performance. Second, calibrated projetors put out less light than non-calibrated pjs. Good projectors need far less manual calibration, therefor retaining more of their original light output.
Footlamberts/screen-inch is where its at. Measuring in footlamberts also allows you to compare brightness to televisions.

Edit:
Black levels have improved big time in the last years. But you will ony be able to see true black in light controlled rooms. Ambient light rejection screens improve black levels in non-light controlled rooms big time (comparable to good TVs) - but you won't be able to achieve the deep black levels you get in fully light controlled rooms.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Black levels have improved big time in the last years. But you will ony be able to see true black in light controlled rooms. Ambient light rejection screens improve black levels in non-light controlled rooms big time (comparable to good TVs) - but you won't be able to achieve the deep black levels you get in fully light controlled rooms.

Use edit.

Seconds. I hate rejection screens, they screw white levels and are not that good at large sizes. There is a slight color shift introduced when not sitting in front of the screen. And they are useless in a dark room really. And the price for them does not justify their use. Ment for office day presentations only not home user.

Vague deep black on a PJ? Only over 2-3K$ Not worth it.

 

[Dethroy]

Use edit.

Done.

Seconds. I hate rejection screens, they screw white levels and are not that good at large sizes. There is a slight color shift introduced when not sitting in front of the screen.

They only screw white levels in completely dark rooms (obiously not made for this environment) and actually have better white levels under ambient light (made for this environment) than normal screens (yellowish white levels under ambient light).

And they are useless in a dark room really. And the price for them does not justify their use. Ment for office day presentations only not home user.

Again, this is not the intent of ambient light rejection screens.

Vague deep black on a PJ? Only over 2-3K$ Not worth it.

Deep black levels are only achievable in truely dark rooms, since contrast is dependent on ambient light. Current projectors have better contrast ratios than even the best plasma TVs out there. But every light source, even miniscule light reflected from the screen to the walls (if not taken care of), has a noticeable impact on contrast ratio.
Is immersion, size, (perceptively) better picture quality and less strain on the eyes worth such an investment? That's totally up to you - it clearly is to me. And such a setup is still much cheaper than buying a TV equal to/bigger than 90".

Edit: makes for a good read: contrast ratio or how every tv manufacturer lies to you

Some excerpts:
"As you can see, a display with a high native contrast is the way to go, if that's what you're going for. The night sky is black, but the streetlights pop out. The day sky is bright, but the dark jacket is dark. This is more like CRT, more like film, more like life.

The technology with the highest native contrast ratio is... LCOS. At the moment, JVC front projectors using their version of the technology (D-ILA) have the highest native contrast ratios I've measured. Sony's version (SXRD) comes in a rather distant second. Third is plasma, though some DLP projectors are close.

LCD has come a long way in the past decade, but still lags behind the other technologies."

 

[Disparia]

I borrowed a projector from work and used it for about 6 months. Big fan of gaming on it, though most of my game-time would be Fallout, Skyrim, GTA, RTS-type, and MMO-type games. Might have a different opinion if I was a competitive FPSer.

However, after returning it I didn't end up buying one. When it was free I didn't mind using it occasionally for a movie or game but when totaling up how much I'd spend on a good model + mounts and cables for a more permanent and out-of-the-way installation it wasn't worth it for me.

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

Plasma TVs still have better contrast ratios than projectors. With plasma, each cell is the source of the light. That means a black image is just that, a complete absence of light. The best that projectors can do with their LCD tech is block the backlight (some LED TVs are getting better where they can reduce the intensity / brightness of the backlight source). It's just inherently due to the tech in each instance. Plasma and CRT are still the kings of contrast.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Are you selling those things? Almost religious devotion? You are talking about high end... down to earth maybe? As I said... you have to be cuckoo to spend around 1000$ for a overglorified 100inch+ white screen... that's a overglorified TITAN price. You have to use a dark room for home PJ use. That's just a rule, otherwise get a TV and quit fooling around pretending to make a PJ working at day, they are not meant for daily use, but special cases. You how to build up a special place for it. So the reflection problem is solvable very easy... with attachable 10$ black curtains with buttons. Want a film clip them on the wall. Finished, take them off. Hail reasonable thinking.

And once again... FOR GAMING. We do no have limited color space here. Contrast is NOT constantly tied to dark detail reproduction levels, but a hardware limitation. Good D-ILA costs over 2K... taking it for the lulz doesn't seem right for most of us. Cheap DLP's are fine unless you see rainbows. TV's are crappy TV's and their colour space. PC screen is a PC screen and our master race content needs over 60FPS. So all rubbish 4K PJ's goes to dumpter with their 24Hz, I don't even wan't to know about the input lag on them. Seconds all these techs have their problems, like smearing, ghosting, loss of detail and the input lag. Each product must be analyzed on its own, just like every screen panel.

@Beertintedgoggles
D-ILA is laser based, it comes to Plasma territory indeed. Albeit the older models are not really meant for fast content. They smear the image. Despite being so costy, they have their drawbacks too.

 

[Dethroy]

Of course I am talking about high end. I never said I didn't, did I?
But you are still talking about much less money than buying a TV of comparable size.

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

I'll have to do some reading on the D-ILA tech

 

[xorbe]

Eventually I'm going to have a projector + steering wheel setup for some driving game, one day ...

 

[alucasa]

Eventually I'm going to have a projector + steering wheel setup for some driving game, one day ...

And then get drunk and ram into the projector screen with your steering wheel

 

[sweatpants]

You're going to want around 3000 lumens minimum for a projector showing any important media like films or games. Casio's new line of LED bulb less ore projectors are pretty amazing. They cost a lot more, but last for tens of thousands of hours. A typical bulb from AV parts master will cost around £100 and needs to be replaced every 4000 hours. The key thing with using a projector for gaming or movies is to buy a special projector screen backdrop. It can reduce glare and ensure you get a crisp image.

I set up a lot of projectors for my job, and really you'd need to be spending some big money to get a proper job done. I'd take a look at Casio or BenQ units.

Those are way out of my budget but maybe one day haha. I don't need anything too fancy yet. I agree with Dethroy projectors are much easier on the eyes which is one of the things I really like about them.

 

[HossHuge]

You can't just look at it as a purchase for gaming (I game with mine about 50/50 with my monitor). Of course you will use it for movies and it's great for entertaining (KTV for example). I've had a projector for about the last ten years and love it.

 

[OneMoar]

projectors are terrible for gaming I am speaking from experience here
they are laggy and offer limited options

 

[Steevo]

Hmmm...I feel an impulse buy coming up haha. What size did you make the image? Did you find a happy medium for the best size and brightness?

I found the projector in the video on Amazon. Do you think this is a good deal?
Its called the AAXA ST200...looks pretty small and but the 150 lumen looks ok to play on.

Somewhere around 90 inches was about perfect, remember that you want to be 2-2.5 times the width of the screen away from it and not be able to see pixels. I could see pixels on clearly defined edges, but I didn't really care.


The brighter the better, until you start to give up contrast, where black becomes greyish, and or deep purples.


Go to a store and look before you buy at the brightness levels.

 

[HossHuge]

It's funny how many people here have posted that projectors are "terrible for gaming" like they have tried every projector. Are all projectors the same?

 

[magibeg]

I have a feeling a lot of people here have been using cheap projectors, or in the least the wrong projectors/setups for gaming. I'm confident a grey screen with a .8 gain and a sony hw40es would blow peoples minds. The grey screen helps with black levels and the hw40es has very low input lag. Such a system would be in the $3K range to do properly.

 

[Mussels]

i've got a very expensive, high quality VGA only 800x600 projector. quality is craptastic, you guys would love it.

 

[Techmaner]

I've actually become really interested in buying one for my gaming (for Halo and Battlefield etc).

What I understand from what you guys are saying, is that it can work really nice, but it all depends on how good the projector is for gaming. And it's not possible to see which ones are good based on specs like "lumens" etc, because good projectors work well without that much lumens. So then my question is, which are the best projectors for gaming? I've googled around quite a bit and I'm not finding that much on the topic. Here's one that I found http://www.consumertop.com/best-projector-for-gaming/ Do you guys agree that "Optoma GT1080" is good or what would you recommend? Another one that I read may be good for gaming specifically is this one: http://www.viewsonic.com/us/pjd5134.html What do you guys think about it?

Lastly, do you think I'll be able to play with it in a regular living room in the middle of the day, or do you think it's better to install it in my basement? How important is the darkness with a projector like this?