As this forum is strictly a film forum, i cant really start a review of Blu-ray/DVDs thread so i thought i would ask, how many of you have a digital projector on a shelf below/above your cine film projectors? As time goes on and the new electronic projectors become cheaper and better, there must be a vast number of collectors who use both side by side.
It is something i will look into in 2022. At present time we only have an older Epson which, although puts up a good image, is clearly not one made specifically for film projection.
Looking at how cheap blu-rays are these days we do have to get real.
The new film releases are great for the hobby, or as a good friend called them, new projector food,(I did laugh when i first read that fraise, great it is too), but again, you have to be realistic, if you bought one of all the releases you will are going to be spending an awful lot of money and what you end up with is a cut down, very good ones, but the hobby is too expensive to sustain it over and over again. For the price of a single 600ft new release i have bought three full length, top quality 16mm feature films.
Looking at BR projection, for the same price as one new release i can buy 40 full length BR films all with added extras and no fade/lines or splices.
What i am saying is nothing new, everyone already knows this, but for some reason we seem to shy away from it where as i am going to incorporate it onto our cine collection.
I have now seen a proper demo here in Plymouth via Richer Sounds and while it isn't real film, you simply can no longer knock it.
Spielberg said, "digital imitates film", it hasn't got there yet, but it will and soon.
The magic of projecting my cine films will never ever leave us, i will continue to add titles to our collections as we sell off older titles, but there's so many films out there on BR that are not on 8mm and probably no longer around on 16mm so there is no other option, however, modern day digital projectors bring us a very cheap way to enjoy to BR films on a huge screen like never before.

We also need to get real in what we have spent on films in the past few years, i have sold to buy, and it works really well, however, once what we have to sell is gone, that's it for new cine films, (unless i win the lottery) as there are far more important things to spend hard earned cash on. I consider myself very very lucky to have been able to buy 16mm prints that have been in very good condition thanks to collector friends and a few dealers, all be it 80% have come from collectors rather than dealers. It is 16mm that has really revived our film collections in recent years.
The thing a lot of collectors forget is that our projectors are no longer the only format to see a movie in your home as it was in the 60s and 70s, it is now a hobby and realistically, unless you want to wear your projectors out, they probably need a rest from time to time.
Therefore, in 2022 cine will very much live on for us, but the time has come to add an affordable BR/DVD projector,
any recommendations?

I have a VP but very rarely use it, the image is great, sound great, does the job fantastic in fact but with a 50 inch TV it isn't used, I'm more than happy to just watch a bluray on the TV, when you had the smaller screens I think a VP would be impressive even the non HD ones but not now, it's a lot less hassle and the image is superb on the telly,Mark

To be honest i never thought about a larger TV, we are due for an upgrade. It would certainly be easier and in our home it woud be ideal. The modern tellys with no frames around the screens look quite smart and obviously dont take up half the living room like they use to.

Tom,

I agree that it is quite reasonable to consider adding the high res projector for viewing Blu-Ray's---in addition to continued use of our wonderful film projectors for Super 8 and 16mm. Since so few movies are even being shot on film these days, there simply is no other option to view new productions other than on Blu Ray or via streaming.

I will be looking into adding a high resolution projector to the lower level film room this spring. The goal would be to be able to watch Super 8, 16 or whatever else (streaming or Blu Ray) in an area specifically set up for a good film/movie experience.

Although I like what a larger TV could provide, part of me still considers the super large TV's as excessive and kind of an intrusion into the main living room where it then seems to take over the entire room due to the very large size...but that is just me being old and set in my ways.

I've been looking at the new TVs, the prices are so good now for a decent telly i think i will go down that route with a good sound system, this way it makes the 8 and 16mm films something more special. Where i live, my cine has a dedicated room, i think if i put a digital projector in there as well the temptation is then to start viewing more Blu-ray in the film room than cine due to the amount on offer.
I would prefer to keep it a room for real film only. In the states i think you guys do have much bigger living spaces so a very large screen TV really does have to be very large and then it becomes a bit of an elephant in the room.
We will be more choosey this year with cine as the costs are really beginning to get silly and with Blu-rays now so cheap it will be inevitable that this be a good second choice for us. £500 will buy a decent TV and sound bar set up, 800 will buy something really nice and then you obviously go from there, back to the 500 (and i have seen it working and it is excellent), that is less than the price of two new 600ft release with a running time of one hour!!
Or, the price of two or three 16mm projectors to be serviced/repaired. Theres no getting away from the modern way of viewing films,(even in the cinema) and these days, there's no need to. Maybe later in the future we will go with a decent digital projector but i do want to keep it separate to the film room where we can view films from a few minutes to a full feature and everything in between.