Smart projector or TV? An honest comparison at three price tiers

Projector marketing tends to imply you can replace your television. Television marketing tends to imply projectors are a toy. Both are selling something.

Here is the straight version, with regular Canadian pricing and specifications taken from each manufacturer's own published sheets. We have grouped it by budget, because a $700 projector and a $5,500 television are not competitors — but a $700 projector and a $650 television absolutely are, and so are a $2,400 projector and a $5,500 television.

Start here: they are not the same product

A television is a bright, fixed, always-ready screen of a fixed size. A projector is a variable-size image that trades brightness for scale and mobility. If you want one screen in one room that works at any hour, a TV will make you happier. If you want a very large image, or an image that can move, or an image that disappears when you are done, a projector does something no TV can.

Most disappointed projector owners bought one expecting a television.

The case for a smart projector

Screen size per dollar. A 100-inch image costs a few hundred dollars from a projector and several thousand from a television.

It goes away. A projector can live in a cupboard and come out on Friday. A 98-inch television is a permanent architectural decision — and at 63.5 kg for the 100-inch Hisense, a two-person job with reinforced mounting.

It moves. Bedroom, living room, backyard, a friend's place, a rental. Both projectors here tilt through more than 90°, so they can throw an image onto a wall or straight up at the ceiling.

Rooms where a TV cannot go. Rentals where you cannot drill. Fireplace or window walls. Anywhere the obvious wall is unavailable.

The case against a smart projector

Ambient light is the enemy. Televisions emit their own light. Projectors reflect off a wall, and lose the argument in a bright room — see the brightness section below, which explains why the specification numbers do not compare the way people assume.

You need a surface. A smooth white or light grey wall, or a screen. Textured, coloured or patterned walls visibly degrade the image.

Sound. The N3 Max has 2 × 6 W; the MP1 Max has 2 × 12 W. The televisions run from 20 W to 60 W, and the large ones include a subwoofer.

Friction. A TV turns on. A projector usually wants the room dark first. Small, but it decides how often the thing gets used.

Why you cannot compare lumens to nits

This trips up almost every projector-versus-TV comparison online, including ones written by people who should know better.

Projectors are rated in lumens — total light leaving the machine. Our N3 Max is 1,000 ISO lumens; the MP1 Max is 3,100.

Televisions are rated in nits — luminance, meaning light per unit of screen area. The 55-inch Hisense reaches up to 600 nits; the 100-inch Hisense up to 3,000.

These measure different things, and 3,100 lumens is emphatically not "brighter than 3,000 nits."

The reason matters: a projector's lumens are spread across whatever size you project. The same projector throwing 60 inches is dramatically brighter per square inch than at 150 inches, because the light is the same and the area is much larger. A television's panel produces its rated luminance at its fixed size, always.

In practice, any of these televisions will out-brighten either projector in a lit room, by a wide margin. What lumens tell you is how large an image a projector can fill before it starts looking washed out — which is why the 1,000-lumen N3 Max wants a dark room and the 3,100-lumen MP1 Max tolerates ambient light.

Tier 1: around $1,000 — small and bright, or big and dim?

This is the real decision for most households: a 55-inch image you can watch at any hour, or a 100-inch image you can watch after dark.

Our honest read. At $649.99 the Hisense M7SG is the clear value winner, and it beats the Samsung on more than price: Dolby Vision where the Samsung has none, four HDMI 2.1 ports against three, VRR that the Samsung lacks, and Google TV. Both have 60 Hz native panels and 20 W of audio. The Samsung's case rests on Q-Symphony if you own a Samsung soundbar, Pantone-validated colour, and the Gaming Hub — $450 of ecosystem.

Note where that leaves our projector: the Hisense costs less than the N3 Max and is 4K rather than 1080p, with a self-lit panel. In a room with daylight in it, the television wins on every axis including price.

The N3 Max's case in this tier is narrow and specific: it throws up to 150 inches where the televisions give you 55, it weighs 3.6 kg, it fits in a cupboard, and it tilts to project on the ceiling. It also has native AirPlay 2 and Apple Home, and a VIDAA Kids space with parental controls, screen-time limits and bedtime settings — genuinely useful if children are the main audience.

Which points at the honest conclusion: at this price, it is probably not either/or

If a projector at this level struggles to beat a television as your one main screen, the useful question changes. It is not projector or TV. It is whether a projector alongside a TV is worth having.

Together, the Hisense M7SG at $649.99 and the N3 Max at $699.99 come to $1,349.98 — about $250 more than the Samsung costs on its own. For that you get a proper 4K mini-LED television for everyday watching, and a very large image for the nights you want one.

That is where a sub-$700 projector genuinely earns its place:

• Movie night on a scale a television cannot reach. 100 inches or more in a darkened room, then back in the cupboard.
• The game, outside. A projector on the patio once the sun goes down turns a playoff game into an event. No television does this.
• Split-screen games night. Four-player split-screen on a 55-inch TV gives everyone a 27.5-inch corner. On a 100-inch image it gives everyone 50 inches. Mario Kart is a different game at that size.
• Kids' sleepovers and birthdays. A film on the ceiling from a projector tilted back is a party trick with a very high hit rate — and the VIDAA Kids space is built for exactly this audience.
• Camping, cottages and travel. 3.6 kg, with the power supply built in rather than a separate brick.
• Rooms that never get a TV. The spare bedroom, the basement, the garage.

None of that competes with your main television. It does things your main television cannot do at any price, which is a much better reason to own one than saving money on a screen.

So: buy the Hisense as your television. Then decide separately whether a hundred inches on the back wall in summer is worth $699.99 to your household.

Tier 2: the 100-inch question — is a big TV worth $3,100 more?

Once you want a 100-inch image, a television stops being cheap. This is where a projector makes its strongest case, and where the brighter MP1 Max is the fair comparison.

Our honest read. The U7SG is the better display, and it is not close on several counts. A native 4K panel beats a projector reaching 3,840 × 2,160 by pixel shifting from a 0.47-inch DMD. It has Dolby Vision and IMAX Enhanced, which the MP1 Max does not. Its 165 Hz panel with VRR from 48 to 165 Hz and FreeSync Premium Pro is in a different league for gaming. Its 60 W 2.1.2 system with a built-in subwoofer, tuned by Devialet, embarrasses 24 W of projector sound. And 3,000 nits across 2,304 dimming zones works at noon.

The MP1 Max's answer is $3,100.

For that difference you get an image you can set anywhere from 40 to 300 inches, published colour figures the television does not quote, a device that weighs 5.6 kg instead of 63.5, draws 190 W instead of 500, and needs no wall reinforcement or delivery appointment.

If you want the best 100-inch picture available and the money is there, buy the Hisense. If you want a very large, bright, accurate image and would rather keep $3,100, the projector is a serious answer rather than a compromise.

If you are weighing projectors against each other rather than against a television, we have compared the MP1 Max with the Hisense C2 Ultra and the Epson Lifestudio Flex Plus separately.

Tier 3: the ceiling

The Samsung 98" QN90F at $19,999.99 is not cross-shopped with either projector by anyone. We include it to show what the top of the fixed-panel market costs.

Quantum Mini LED Pro controlled by Quantum Matrix Technology Plus, an NQ4 AI Gen3 processor running 128 neural networks, Neo Quantum HDR+, and Glare Free anti-reflection — which by the weight of owner comment is the feature people actually notice. A 120 Hz panel running to 165 Hz through Motion Xcelerator, with VRR, FreeSync Premium Pro and 4K 165 Hz on all four HDMI ports. And 60 W of 4.2.2-channel audio with Object Tracking Sound+, which is a genuine speaker array rather than a stereo pair — the only television here with height channels built in.

Two things worth noting even at this price. It has no Dolby Vision — both Hisense sets here do. And it draws 455 W at maximum and weighs 70.6 kg, so it is a delivery, an installer and a reinforced wall.

It costs more than eight MP1 Max projectors.

What a big image actually costs

This is not the whole story. An inch of 1080p projection in a dark room is not the same product as an inch of 600-nit mini-LED. The table shows what scale costs, not what quality costs.

The two rows in the middle are the ones to sit with. The Samsung QN70H works out at $20.00 per inch and the MP1 Max at $24.00 — roughly the same neighbourhood. For a similar rate per inch, one gives you a bright native-4K panel at 55 inches, and the other gives you nearly double the diagonal, at a lower standard, in a box you can carry.

Note also how differently scale prices on each side. Going from 55 to 100 inches costs $4,850 as a Hisense television and $1,700 as a Dangbei projector.

So which should you buy?

• One screen, normal living room, used at all hours → Hisense 55" M7SG, $649.99. Best value here, and cheaper than either projector.
• Same, but you want Samsung's ecosystem → Samsung 55" QN70H, $1,099.99
• A very large image, in a room you can darken, at the lowest cost → Dangbei N3 Max, $699.99
• A large, bright, accurate image you can also move and adjust → Dangbei MP1 Max, $2,399.99
• The best 100-inch picture, money available → Hisense 100" U7SG, $5,499.99
• The best fixed image here, budget no object → Samsung 98" QN90F, $19,999.99
• You want both → the Hisense 55" plus the N3 Max is $1,349.98, roughly a quarter of the 100-inch television, and gives you a daily screen and an occasional very large one. A lot of people land here, and it is a better answer than either device alone.

Browse the full range in our projector collection.

Frequently asked questions

Can a projector replace a TV?

For most households, not entirely. A 1,000-lumen projector needs a darkened room; a 3,100-lumen projector copes with ambient light but still will not match a mini-LED panel in a sunlit room. Projectors replace televisions well in dark rooms and bedrooms. In a bright open-plan living room used all day, a TV is the better primary screen — which is why many people buy an affordable projector alongside a television rather than instead of one.

Is the Dangbei N3 Max 4K?

No. It is native 1080p and accepts 4K input, which it downscales. The MP1 Max outputs 3,840 × 2,160.

Is the MP1 Max a native 4K projector?

It outputs 3,840 × 2,160 from a 0.47-inch DMD using pixel shifting, which is how most compact projectors in this class reach a 4K image. A native 4K television panel is a different and sharper thing at the same size.

Is 3,100 lumens brighter than 3,000 nits?

No — the two units measure different things. Lumens are total light output; nits are light per unit of screen area. A projector spreads its lumens across whatever size you project, so its on-screen luminance falls as the image grows. Every television here is brighter in a lit room than either projector.

How many lumens do I actually need?

Roughly: 1,000 lumens is a dark-room product. 2,000 works with the blinds drawn. 3,000 and up holds a large image with ambient daylight in the room. Brightness matters more than any other projector specification, so be honest about your room before buying.

Which is better for gaming?

It depends entirely on what kind.

For competitive play, the big televisions. The Hisense U7SG runs a native 165 Hz panel with VRR from 48 to 165 Hz and FreeSync Premium Pro. Note, though, that both 55-inch sets here are 60 Hz native panels — the same refresh ceiling as the N3 Max — so at Tier 1 the television advantage is VRR and ALLM rather than raw refresh rate.

For couch multiplayer, the projector is more fun, and split-screen is the reason. Four-player split-screen on a 55-inch television gives each person a 27.5-inch diagonal. The same split on a 100-inch projected image gives each person 50 inches. That is close to double, and it is the difference between squinting at your corner and seeing the track ahead of you.

So a projector is the worse gaming display and often the better games night. If your household plays more Mario Kart than Counter-Strike, weight it accordingly.

Do I need a projector screen?

Not necessarily. A smooth, flat, white or light grey wall works. Textured or coloured walls degrade the image, and a proper screen improves contrast — but it is an extra cost that belongs in your budget.

What about running costs?

Modern LED and laser projectors have no replaceable lamp. There is also a meaningful power difference at the top end: the MP1 Max draws 190 W against 500 W for the 100-inch Hisense.

All prices are regular manufacturer's suggested retail, not promotional pricing — several of these products were discounted at the time of writing, and comparing sale prices against regular ones would misrepresent the gap. Specifications are taken from Dangbei, Hisense Canada and Samsung Canada published specification sheets, September 2026. Where a specification is not published, this article says so rather than estimating. Prices and specifications are subject to change.