4K tv to replace digital projector?

My Epson digital projector was ruined in the Harvey floods. I am about 4-6 months from getting serious about what I might need in my house to view images with friends. I used to use my Epson projector with a good Da Lite screen. Now that both are gone,  can a modern/new  the tv also serve as a replacement for the projector and screen ? 

I read an article today in the Wall Street Journal on 4k tvs and that gave me the idea. I know that things are never that simple and would like the opinions of NSNers as to what has been their experience with tvs as an alternative to using a separate digital projector.

Size needed, what technology, resolutions, etc?

Any other advice?   


https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-geeks-gu ... ge=1&pos=1

http://www.techradar.com/news/televisio ... tv-1258884

Thanks,

Joe

I've been doing that for years with a simple 1080P TV. When I book a conference room for a presentation I just make sure it has one of those. The only time there is a need for a projector is in a larger space.

I had been looking for years for a large digital frame to view my digital images at home.  I could never find one that was large enough or in a price range that made sense.  Most digital frames were far too small for my liking.  This company seemed to make some of the biggest frames but they were "only" HD and they maxed out at 32 inches.  And they were relatively expensive.  

And then 4k TVs came along.  

I saw an ad for one about 1.5 years ago and it dawned on me that they were about 75-50% the cost of the digital frame, were bigger, and had much better resolution.  It seemed too good to be true.  I bought a 40 inch Samsung version and set it up in my house.  At the time the cost of the TV was roughly what I might spend for a couple large format metal prints.  Now I had a large format display that could show all my images!   I originally ran a slide show on the TV via a flash drive.  I now connect the TV  to my desktop over our wifi network and run the slide show that way (it is a smart TV and all you have to do is download the free app on your computer).  This is handy in that I can simply save my images in a folder on the hard drive and they appear on the TV.  No more running up and down the steps  to add new photos to the flash drive (my computer is in the basement).  

After prices dropped a bit more I purchased a second 40 inch 4k Samsung TV and installed it vertically.  This set up allows me to have one screen dedicated to landscape oriented photos, and another screen just for portrait oriented images.  This allows me to share all of my images in a way that maximizes the full screen of the TV.  The resolution of the 4k TVs is nothing short of stunning.  You can walk right to the screen and look at the image from an inch away -- with the right image, with enough resolution, it looks AMAZING.  

And finally, our ten year old 50 inch plasma TV finally died a few weeks ago.  We took the plunge and bought a 75 inch HD TV.  I can show images on this TV also, and it is mind blowing. 

As you can probably gather, I am a big fan.  I think 4k TVs are a wonderful way to showcase your images with relatively little hassle.

Michael, thanks for this reply. I will definitely check out the tvs you and EJ have mentioned. I doubt if I will be able to get my wife to approve of two of them on one wall for verticals and horizontals, but who knows?

Joe

BestBuy has been having some really good sales on them recently. Especially the Samsung’s:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/promo/4k-tvs-sale

The 55” is $550 and the 65” is $800.

Joe

For the Holidays my wife and I bought an LG 55" OLED 4K TV and love it.  It does a fine job of presenting our digital images and videos. It is a lot easier to set up than a projector and screen. Of course, I still remember setting up my old Kodak Carousel projector and screen, darkening the room and having to speak loudly over the projector fan. The computer/4K TV set up is wonderful, but the "good old days" bring back some fine memories.