As a home theater purist, I wouldn’t get LG’s cinema-sized new micro-LED TV – here’s why a projector is a better choice
LG Electronics has launched the LG Magnit Active Micro LED, a 136-inch display (about 3 meters wide and 1.7 meters high) designed to compete with Samsung and other brands in the home micro-LED video wall market.
LG’s new gargantuan micro-LED TV uses active matrix technology. This allows individual pixels on the screen to generate their own light, which provides an advantage over passive dot-matrix displays that control pixels by addressing rows and columns, according to LG.
Another benefit of LG’s Active Micro LED is a proprietary surface treatment that deepens black levels while minimizing glare, resulting in accurate colors and powerful contrast (the company specifies a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1). The screen itself is modular, with precise alignment between individual panels to minimize gaps and create a seamless surface.
LG’s Active Micro LED is currently available in Korea, and availability will soon expand to North America and other markets.
the micro-LED is a marvel, but the projection is better for now
LG’s new video wall is an impressive technological statement, but for my money, traditional projection technology remains the superior home theater option.
The main reason: money. LG’s press release for the Magnit Active Micro LED doesn’t mention pricing, and that’s because if you have to ask for it, you can’t afford it. Video walls like this one, which use micro-LED technology, cost more than $200,000, and there’s no sign that prices will drop in the near future.
Projectors, on the other hand, are a relatively affordable home theater display option. The best projectors, like the JVC DLA-NZ800, cost less than $20,000. The NZ800 can’t compete with micro-LED displays like the LG Magnit when it comes to image brightness, but it offers powerful contrast (JVC specifies the NZ800’s native contrast at 100,000:1), as well as advanced HDR processing, 8K display and upscaling. I’ve seen the NZ800 in action on several occasions and am continually stunned by its stunning image quality.
The JVC DLA-NZ800, which can output images up to 150 inches diagonal, may require a dark room to deliver its highest level of performance, but isn’t a dark room the essence of home theater? Movie theaters are dark and no one seems to have a problem watching movies in a setting where the lights are off.
A micro-LED video wall like the LG Magnit makes the most sense for viewing in bright rooms, where the screen’s high brightness and contrast, along with the Magnit’s wide viewing angle, are a perfect combination for sports viewing. And with a screen measuring 3 meters wide and 1.7 meters high, you can watch multiple games on screen at once using a display splitter, and the Magnit’s high refresh rate would help ensure that movements during games look sharp.
A new generation of ultra-bright projectors, like the Epson QL7000, are also a great option for watching sporting events. At $32,999, the QL7000 is at the high end of the projector price range, but its specified brightness of 10,000 lumens is sufficient for daytime viewing in a bright room, and it can output images up to 300 inches.
Ultimately, projection technology wins this race by providing a significantly cheaper large-screen home theater display option than micro-LED. I look forward to the day when micro-LED pricing becomes more commonplace, but I’m not holding my breath for that to happen anytime soon.
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