That makes sense. Don't think we will downsize. Daughter just got out of school and ended up getting a job where we live. Figure grand kids soon.
I've had a similar conclusion. I have a dual setup and pull the TV two ft off the wall to get a sub 9' viewing distance on a 77" OLED.Asking this question in this thread is like asking a bunch of vegans what their favorite steakhouse is. A good front projection setup can be pretty involved both financially and with respect to room treatments/requirements. Once someone has made that kind of commitment, its kinda hard to get that same person to say, "yeah, but I'd be just as happy with a big TV." So with that in mind, I can offer my experience and why I didn't throw my spare change at another PJ and instead went with a "big OLED".
My room is in a finished basement that is 26'x13'. My viewing area is about half that though at 13x13 light controlled and matte black walls - so every thing I say is with respect to my smaller space. I originally I had a 120" 16x9 screen paired with a (trigger warning) 1080p Benq PJ. Like many I also had a 65" OLED in the living room that was rarely used even though I preferred the image on it. When looking to upgrade I almost pulled the trigger on an NX7 and slightly smaller 110" screen, but then realized I could move my couch forward 2 feet reducing my viewing distance from 11' to 9' and get a ~35 fov with a 77" OLED. I expected the reduction in size to hurt... a lot. Thankfully I had the exact opposite experience. The panel itself feels huge in my room, and when I turned it on and watched Alita: Battle Angle in Dolby Vision I was blown away. I had been missing so much (4k and HDR) and wow, a 77" panel is much much larger than a 65". I have a hypothesis that the "big screen" effect is achieved by having an immersive fov for your preferred viewing distance, because that's what it feels like in my room. How can I move from a 120" screen to a 77" and it still feel big - and I've even had friends come over and literally say "woah, it's like IMAX," the sameone ones that had seen my projector setup. Now I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes at this point. Here's the thing, my panel is in a completely light controlled batcave with matte black walls. When the lights are off, the panel feels bigger than with the lights slightly dimmed and I think this is because any peripheral ques for image size are reduced. Anyhow, it wasn't long ago that you'd be viewing rear projection units that were "MASSIVE" 75" and 85" and that it was the ultimate home theater display haha. Now we have 77" and 83" OLEDS...OLEDS! I'm plenty happy with moving to my panel and watching Movies, TV, and playing games is incredible. I will be sticking with direct-view displays as I think for my space they're plenty big (and getting bigger) and I also personally believe self-emissive displays are the future of cinema.
Notes:
- I still rarely watch my 65" OLED in my living room
- Projectors are super cool and yeah I'd love to have 100" OLED but for my space the panels have gotten big enough. Just like 110" might be big enough for someone but too small for another. It's all relative.
- You can't go wrong with either option for most smaller (1-6 people) sized spaces. We're truly spoiled in 2021... that is until VR and augmented reality kick in. Maybe that's when panel and pj enthusiasts come together finally to fight a common enemy
- please don't post that tired argument as a rebuttal about FOV and moving your view distance to 6" from your iphone. There's a balance, size matters, and I like to watch content with others in the room thank you. For me it's 9'. For you it may be 18'. Or maybe you enjoy an incredibly large fov and sit 6' from 110".
- the average family in the US sits 9-10' away from their TV. 75-85" panels are now (by THX standards) within cinematic fov territory.
TLDR; Projectors are rad, and so are big OLED panels. Can't go wrong.
