Monitor replacement – using a projector for a home office setup
28 points by plun9 5 hours ago | 10 comments
  • xnx 2 hours ago |
    (2021)

    I'm generally interested in alternatives (televisions, HMDs, etc.) to traditional monitors, but I don't see many benefits to the setup described in his post. It would be more interesting if the image were projected onto the ceiling since that can result in a more relaxed posture and is an orientation very difficult to achieve with a monitor.

    > Main plus points: Larger viewing surface;

    This seems entirely dependent on angular distance. An average desktop monitor would be similar to the setup here.

    > Indirect, reflected light is easier on the eyes than a direct, projected one.

    Is this true? I'd guess that it is more a matter of overall brightness. I don't think the eye can distinguish between an emitted and reflected photon.

    • 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2 hours ago |
      I feel like a projector in a dark room is harder on the eyes than a monitor in a well-lit room, in fact.

      Plus less tripping when I stand up

  • theden 2 hours ago |
    Honestly this would be good for infra diagrams, miro boards, wireframes etc. — sometimes a laptop screen can feel claustrophobic
  • maddynator 2 hours ago |
    Why not buy an 85” tv? They are dirt cheap and you can place them far. For webcam, I have used my dslr in the past but any webcam works as now Google meet autozooms in on the face
  • tempcommenttt an hour ago |
    I’d consider energy use. I use a projector for home cinema and it draws more power (over 200W) than I would want to pay for to run for a whole working day.
    • WorkerBee28474 an hour ago |
      0.2 kW * 8 hours/day * 5 days/week * 50 weeks/year * $0.25/kWh = $100/year

      It's less than you'd think.

      • lurking_swe 15 minutes ago |
        the projector they purchased was $800 and the 90” screen was $200. That’s $1k. I can buy an 85” 4K QLED tv for $650 (BestBuy). New TV’s of that size use about 0.1kwh, which is $50 per year instead of $100.

        So she’s paying $350 more up front just for set up, and then $50 more per year just to use it. How is that “not that bad”? Seems wasteful, especially if the person in the blog claimed that $1k was “crazy expensive” for them.

        $1k is pocket change for a lot of people on this forum, including myself, but if $1k is a lot to you then this seems like a strange purchase.

        criticism aside, this is a cool project and i enjoyed the blog post.

  • romulobribeiro an hour ago |
    I've considered using my cheap projector as a second monitor, however its fan is so noise I don't think I would endure much time, and even though the resolution is not bad I still feel it adds unnecessary strain focusing to read/write
  • evanjrowley an hour ago |
    I've been using a pair of RayNeo Air 2 "XR" glasses for the past week. "Xtended Reality" is not really true VR, but instead, simply provides a huge 1080p screen in the middle of your field of vision. They're flawed in a handful of ways, especially with blur/visibility around the edges. I need to increase the font size to read with them. Despite those flaws, it's extremely liberating to be able to position myself in any way I want and still be able to see the main focus of my work. I think I'll just keep investing in glasses like these and never buy another monitor ever again.
    • asabla 16 minutes ago |
      I've been eye balling a pair of those for a while now.

      Any other quirks you're willing to share? Such as: how's the input latency (from key press to seeing it)? early signs of tear? do I need to invest in spare parts?