How can I simulate the biggest TV?

The biggest TVs that are available to today's consumers are very expensive units which quickly lose value. Thanks to advances in manufacturing techniques, the price of flat screen TVs are constantly dropping which means that today's top of the line products will lose more than half of their value in the first year alone. In this article, we'll look at how you can simulate the biggest TV without spending a lot of money.

What really matters in picture quality?

If you are a student or live in rented accommodation, then it is likely that you will often move home, having extra possessions to transport is a huge disadvantage. Due to this, many people consider the best televisions to be modern portable laptop devices or tablet computers. What actually matters when watching a moving image is the resolution of the image and the ratio of picture size to distance from the screen. To take an extreme example, a fifty inch LCD screen at the end of a sports hall would seem rather small. An iPad held inches from your face almost fills your entire field of vision. Due to these factors, the best TV for you, may not be a TV at all. Modern laptops and tablets boast higher resolutions and contrast ratios than the most expensive televisions and when combined with a quality hi-fi, they match these top TV brands for sound quality too. Holding a device as you watch isn't however to everyone's taste and anyone wishing to share the viewing experience with more than one person will find that small but near screen viewing is not going to work.

Projection

Like televisions, the cost of modern digital projectors has also fallen dramatically in the past few years. Advances in technology also make buying a projector a much more realistic option. These devices can produce a much larger image and better quality picture than the biggest TVs. The barrier to most people has not been the price of the projector but the price of the bulbs and the noise of the fans. Typically, the cost of replacing a bulb compares with the price of a new unit, so old projectors that use traditional bulbs are not an option for most people. LED projectors are now available and whilst they are not as bright (cheaper units will need to be operated with the curtains closed), the bulb life will outlast the life of the other components. LEDs are extremely small and efficient, so loud fans and large cooling systems are not needed. The result is that so called "pico projectors" can produce a full wall image from a device that fits in your pocket.