What is it about a projected image that makes it so.. appealing?

kenshingintoki

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What is it about a projected image which makes it feel so nice?

I watched a few film trailers on the pj on a wall and there’s just something different about them. The motion is beautiful, no banding, no blooming.. everything just feels weirdly nice.

Is it because I’m conditioned from a young age via cinemas to think they’re nice?
 
I finally got that UHD300X producing an impressive 4K image today.

It was the first time I'd seen 4K.

And this was a 120" image, maybe bigger.

Cue gawping and the Astra SES demo loops, chin on floor, for hours.
 
I just watched the Frozen 2 trailer on my 902b with my home audio system 5.1.2... and it paled in comparison to the impact and excitement i had on my Hw40es in my bedroom connected by bluetooth to some edifier 2.0 speakers projected onto a wall.

there is something truly magical about projection which I've never witnessed and its likely going to cause me to end up putting a lot more cash than what i ponied up for the HW40Es into projection over the next year or so!
 
I agree, I love the projected image, most digital screens can be impressive from an analytical perspective but simply miss that 'painting' and analogue (seemless reality) feel you can achieve on a screen, even though is is every bit as digital. I suspect it's a combination of motion handling, the way the light and image project off the screen, the size difference, the cinema feel et
 
My theory is that looking at reflected light feels more natural than looking at generated light!

Our eyes are conditioned by evolution to see everything as reflected sunlight. It's just not quite right when what we're looking at is generating millions of points of light.
 
My theory is that looking at reflected light feels more natural than looking at generated light!

Our eyes are conditioned by evolution to see everything as reflected sunlight. It's just not quite right when what we're looking at is generating millions of points of light.

I love your theory, @Matheo and the comments above. @Matheo, I think you are correct as I have always felt this is a big part of the reason that makes a projected image so appealing. I do not speak from a scientific background and know not many factual details but I will say the following.

I often note the time when I tried going back to TVs circa 2016 and I still hated them. For me, it is also something about the image being trapped behind glass and something solid and tangible. It is more artificial feeling and looking. The projected image is, as you poignantly highlighted, light projected, onto a solid surface - from a single source, I assume? Thus, it looks and feels more natural for many reasons I do not know. Perhaps though, one is the way film grain is so beautifully exposed from projected light. And thus, perhaps a projected image closer in essence to it's source? Light. Perhaps, time is a factor, too? The distance at which light has to travel to the surface? Or perhaps, not? Since, I guess, from images online, that ultra short throw projectors still maintain the essential beauty of a regular throw projected image.

And as others have noted above, for me it is the size of the image; the sheer scale achievable with a projected image. And I will always take a weaker image that is larger (from a projector), over a smaller one that is stronger (from a TV). Also, the ability to fill one's peripheral vision, which is said to be unlimited on the horizontal plane, seems to me like maximising the potential of viewing images from a projector, compared to on a TV screen. You often see gamers achieving this by joining multiple monitors. One often has far more flexibility with a projected image too, being able to reduce or enlarge the size of it or place it in a specific place or on a specific surface.

Sound is also a major counterpart of most moving images, notably film, and what better way to view a film than on a massive projection, where the scale and majesty of sound, especially in a capable surround sound setup, matches the action on screen. Most of us will recall our fondest memories of image/ film from the cinema. We all know the deep-seated connection and sense of awe and wonder experienced and shared on the big screen at the cinema, and projection allows us to achieve this in our homes. To me, projection is a spectacle of the highest form, or in it's purest form.

My first experience of home projection was watching Escape from New York projected onto a bedroom wall at a friends house. It might have been a 4:3 projector. The feeling and memory stayed with me for a while before I purchased my first ever projector, a 720p Optoma. For me, the feeling and memory of a projected image is always a warmer one with more depth and detail both figuratively and literally speaking; in the experience, the feeling and the image, as it was in my above pivotal experience of Escape from New York. Or, I remember very vividly, not so long ago, the warm, orange candle light and flames burning in the lowly lit cabin, in the opening dinner scene of The Last of the Mohicans. It invokes an intimacy and feeling of warmth that connects me to the moment , the film and the characters on screen, more than a non-projected image would. So, there is an added depth I feel that is gained from a projected image. Part of this depth is the added detail gained, especially from 4K images, a large projected 4K image is far more spectacular to me in it's detail alone, over that of a smaller 4K screen. I am not sure how accurate they are, but you often see charts and measures and guides that specify the size at which 4K is optimal. I always felt it is from around the 100" when 4K starts to really shine. And I do not know of a 100" TV that exists, or if so, is affordable.

At it's core, for me, I guess then, that the nature of light has inherent beauty, and thus an image being formed directly from one source is immediately more appealing and astounding, compared to an image from a screen. But I regard all of the above components of light, form, depth, scale, flexibility and a projected image's marriage to sound, to add up to make it something so very appealing.

I love projectors.
 
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I just love watching movies projected onto my eight foot screen in my home cinema. Having recently upgraded the amp, front, centre and now two atmos ceiling speakers from B&W with my KEFs working the sides and back, it really is a totally immersive system. Sure I’ll still watch a film on the TV because like all of us I can be lazy and powering the cinema up is like the experience of playing my vinyl instead of playing digital from my phone to a Sonos speaker (as good as they both can be), it takes commitment! With vinyl, I have the sleeve to look at and I’m less likely to skip tracks (yes I bet you’ve all done it). Watching a projected film takes commitment - but boy is it worth it.
 
totally immersive system

I think these words carry a lot of meaning as to the appeal of a projected image.

Sure I’ll still watch a film on the TV because like all of us I can be lazy and powering the cinema up is like the experience of playing my vinyl instead of playing digital from my phone to a Sonos speaker (as good as they both can be), it takes commitment!

Ha, I am the opposite to you and most on here, as my projector is my main display for everything.

Watching a projected film takes commitment - but boy is it worth it.

I am committed, but in a different way since it is my main display and I love it! For me, it is only the flick of a switch and that for my subwoofer and PC, projector on with my remote and all is ready and projected. It is my normal and every day, hence it is ritualistic for me. I do want to get back to a traditional desktop setup for music production though.
 
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Do you guys find a projected image has that kind of flawless plasma look to it? It REALLY reminds me of a plasma TV set. Maybe its the motion too. Its like less is more.

LCD's and OLEDs go for the brightness and pop whilst plasma and projectors just seem to be a bit more effortless and precise in its use of colour and motion.
 

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