Sometimes the answer is so simple

[Old Vantaa Man]

Why get a massive 50" TV?

Just move the sofa nearer the telly.

Sorted.

Now, if only I knew how to programme drums like the Chemical Brothers, life would be perfect.

[Timo]

I think if ever I wanted to get a large telly I'd probably look into projectors, and just keep a small telly for day to day use. Then when the world/euro footy comes on or you want to watch a nice film just pull the projector screen down from the ceiling/wall and project onto it.

I think big tellys are a bit chav-like if they take up half a room! Sometimes you want to chat and talk with people, which is a bit retarded if you have a huge imposing screen taking up half the space, let alone when the damn thing is switched on.

[AlexHall74]

A 42" LCD TV is $1500 now. They don't take up floor space, just wall space. Still, I never fucking watch TV, so I would get a projector like you mentioned Timo. It would also come in handy at DJ gigs as you could produce huge visuals for the crowd.

If you have a good laptop and a projector; you've basically got a great entertainment system that can transform a remote cabin at a ski resort into party central.

Hmmmmmm....

[Timo]

Think the only problem with projectors is brightness - or moreso ambient lighting dulling down the image a bit, so it'd probably be at its best either at night or with subdued lighting (by closing a curtain or two).

They also tend to have fixed native resolutions similar to PCs, so looks like attention would be needed when buying with regards to its intended use (DVDs, computer projection, etc.).

Can be a bit bulky too, and they do have a fan, although many are quoted to be whisper quiet at around 24dBs. The lamp lifes can be quoted from anything like 1000-4000hrs before they need replacing. The last time I looked into it the lamps were around £60 a pop. This was a few years ago, though.

So for a main TV I guess it'd be a less than ideal solution, but for special events and stuff with a bit of ambience it'd be wicked (especially with surround sound).

You can even project them up to stupid sizes, like 15' x 15' (feet) on the wall!

Noticed there was a pretty funky Sony one a few years ago that allowed you to place the projector off axis to the wall, literally anywhere in the room, and it would project the image as a parallelogram which you could then manually alter various settings to distort the parallelogram back into a nice rectangular image on the wall for viewing. Otherwise you'd probably have to nail your projector to your ceiling to keep it central to the screen and out of the way.

[theMusicMan]

Some projectors do have good resolutions though folks. I have used several in client sites at 1600*1200 resolution, but I guess it would be the resolution of TV and DVD formats that would cause loss of picture quality.

Also... another negative for OHP's is the cost of replacement lamps - they are very expensive.

[3o3]

I had an projector.. And Sony VCSP-40 (I think it was called!), It was _great_ to have it. I could get a picture that covered the most part of my livingroomwall; ~4 meters * 2.5 meters.

My and Ausa used to play Mario Kart 64 and Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance (and other games too of course) and just watching movies were great too!

Saving Private Ryan sure was better to watch in this way than on my 21" TV.

Unfornuate my dad gave away my projector! He met a girl that had a 8-year old son, and my dad borrowed the projector from me and.. Well, that was ~3-4 years ago and I've still haven't gotten it back and since my dad and his ex don't talk.

I'd love to have another projector but the problem is that you always gotta be able to darken the whole room, which during the summer is almost impossible if you don't modify the room to "cinema-room", and just because that you can buy an cheap projector doesn't mean that it's any good and my old projector almost sounded like an jetmotor.. It was loud!