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We're Projecting the Future...Right onto Your Wall

Admit it: You're tired of staring at that boring black rectangle hanging in your living room. And you suspect that as good as Game of Thrones looks at fifty inches, it'd be even better at 200. Here's how to cut one particular cord—your TV's—and take the projector plunge

Photo: Everett

Chances are there's a screen not too far away from you right now. In your pocket. On your desk. On the airline seat in front of you. Maybe even on your wrist. (You're not the first to crush on a shiny new Apple gadget.) So why does your living room, the most relaxing space in your home, need yet another screen staring you down?

It doesn't, not when you can ditch the flat-screen and upgrade to a projector. This isn't just about aesthetics, either. You know that utterly absorbed feeling you get from a movie theater? Imagine having that in your living room while watching Game of Thrones or Mad Men or, hell, Broad City. As TV shows become more cinematic—and movies easier to stream—give them the respect they deserve by binge-watching on a proper screen. Not sixty-five inches big. Your-entire-freaking-wall big.

From a tech-lust-versus-interior-design standpoint, making the move to a projector is a win-win. You get the biggest picture, with no glaring void as a centerpiece. And now that projectors are powerful enough to use in sunny rooms, you don't have to give up your Sunday game-day habit.

But this is the biggest benefit of living the projector life: It kills the idea of the television as background noise. Which makes it an antidote to the small-screen barrage. Because you're (mostly) in the dark and you have a cinema-size image glowing in front of you, you stop putzing around on Facebook and Snapchat and eBay. You can always use the screen that's sitting on your desk at work for that stuff.


1. Choose Your Beamer

You've got plenty of options at a slew of price points, from the budget InFocus IN126a for $570 to this $2,900 Epson Home Cinema 5030UBe (below), which comes with built-in wireless HDMI so you don't have to run wires everywhere.

2. Mount Up

You could set your projector on a shelf across the way. But if you want to get fancy, spring for a ceiling mount. TaskRabbit the installation if you're feeling lazy.

3. Bring the Noise

You can connect a cable box, but to really cut cords, grab the $69 Apple TV. It's the easiest way to get HBO Now, the company's just-launched streaming service, which doesn't require a cable subscription.