[bellicon]

Anyone owning or planning to own an OLED TV surely appreciates their uniquely stunning black level performance, a must for noir genre movie fans. On a related topic, perhaps 55% or more of your favorites were probably shot in 1.85:1 aspect, so the horizontal bars you see shouldn’t be too thick on your standard 16:9 OLED. Some recent movies and some old classics like “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Sound of Music”, “Three Women”, “Ben Hur” and “Hud” were shot in 2.35: 1. Consequently, they will all have thicker horizontal bars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)

Everyone hates bars but it’s much worse for many cinephiles like me who also enjoy movies released prior to the mid-50s. Many of those, both “A” and “B” pictures, were filmed in 1.37:1 aspect, such as
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038559/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042039/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038355/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057207/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048261/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023245/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044314/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043131/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041954/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187684/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034587/technical?ref_=ttfc_sa_5

Ditto for decades of vintage TV shows from the early 60s (Perry Mason) to the mid-90s (X-Files).

Try watching any of it even on a 77” OLED. If you’re like me the vertical bars, which will be even thicker than horizontal bars when viewing most widescreen aspect content, will be unbearable. And stretching Perry Mason or cropping Gilda’s (or Scully’s) matador hat is unthinkable. Consequently, many of us are compelled to watch this “pillarboxed” 4:3 content on CRT TVs. Picture quality is not too bad and CRTs have excellent OLED-like contrast ratio. But except for a 40” direct view CRT which Sony once released about 17” years ago, virtually all CRTs are a painfully small 32”, less than half the area of 65” widescreen TVs. And the best of performing CRTs (flat CR tube. component video inputs) are becoming impossible to find, and to get serviced. The same for refrigerator sized rear projection CRTs, which while some had 50” screens picture quality couldn’t match that of direct view CRTs. And though direct view projectors can deliver high contrast ratios and large 4:3 images many of the better models cost at least $5,000. and may present placement problems for some users.

The obvious solution here to persuade select TV brands to market a 4:3 OLED TV, size ~ 40” to 50”. 
 
Unfortunately, as much of the CE industry is closely tied to Hollywood, it’s not surprising that cutthroat aspects of that business reflect indifference towards consumer opinions and expectations, at least among the major TV brands, all of whom no longer accept consumer feedback at their websites. Indeed, “apparent” demand might have grown substantially larger if cinephiles hadn’t given up in disgust with asking OLED brands to release 4:3 TVs. Again, except for perhaps Pioneer, most of the majors are deaf to consumer requests, save perhaps from what they glean from their own prognostications. And try finding their marketing VPs’ contact info to share new product ideas; good luck with that.


However, I am about to begin proposing this new product to several other approachable brands .

While demand for a 4:3 OLED may not be huge it is certainly vibrant and long lived. https://www.avsforum.com/forum/40-oled-technology-flat-panels-general/1852162-will-anybody-ever-make-4-3-oled-display-watching-old-tv-shows-stuff-4-3-a.html

Additionally, there still are communities at AVS and at other home theater forums devoted to long defunct direct view CRT TVs, of course which are almost exclusively 4;3. https://www.avsforum.com/forum/64-direct-view-single-tube-crt-displays/ And here only two months ago members are still calling to bring CRTs back into production, as they have for years. https://www.avsforum.com/forum/64-direct-view-single-tube-crt-displays/1423003-please-bring-back-crt-tv-s-into-production-line-again.html

It’s also well known among videophiles that CRTs, plasmas and OLEDs share very similar performance levels-unmatched by any existing display technology. But as Anthony1 from the first AVS link above suggested, many CRT fans would instantly embrace a space saving flat panel 40” or larger 4:3 OLED TV.
 
A good sized 4:3 OLED is the way to go-and ideally with a processor at least nearly as good as Sony’s to upscale DVD and BD content.
 
Analog Video Connectivity: A Must for the 4:3 OLED
 
Whatever the reasons for the CE industry’s imposed Analog Sunset, it unfairly deprives cinephiles of enjoying their feature packed Denon, Marantz, Pioneer and other high end DVD players. Sony includes one (1) composite input, though most inconveniently placed on the side of their A9G OLED (presumably just for camcorder playbacks)-but which is unsightly and would require longer cable runs from the TV to the DVD player.

But all high end DVD players have component video outputs. And as that connection yields the highest quality analog signal it likely will make it easier for the OLED’s processor to upscale the DVD video signal.

Furthermore, virtually no currently produced BD players have zoom control-a highly prized viewing tool among cinephiles. I was badly upset that my otherwise excellent Oppo BDP-95 has only partial zoom control; it doesn’t allow you to reposition and center a desired part of the zoomed image on the screen. My new Pioneer UDP-LX500 BD player and the discontinued Arcam 411p are about the only BD players which can. But virtually all DVD players have this advanced zoom control functionality, like my trusty JVC XV-NA70BK.
 
Cinephiles have long been victimized by the Blu-Ray Assn for mandating Oracle’s BD-J disc authoring-which by default or deliberately locks out zoom and sometimes also slow motion features-and forces compliance upon BD player brands. But all DVDs are free of these oppressive restrictions that rob consumers of the freedom to enjoy as they please the products they purchase. Advanced zoom and slow motion controls are invaluable viewing tools allowing cinephiles more intimate viewing and appreciation of select scenes. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=17681489#post17681489
 
Sadly, few if any DVD players have an HDMI output. Thus, all OLED TVs should include component video inputs-or at the very least a rear mounted composite and/or S-video input. Indeed, all OLED TV brands can be assured that adding this analog video connectivity to the proposed 4:3 OLED will further endear this long awaited niche product to the home theater enthusiast community.

Pixel Count and DVD/BD Upscaling
 
All currently produced OLED TVs have 4K resolution; the pixel count being roughly four times that of the LCD or LED panels used to build earlier 1080p displays. So unless the 4:3 OLED TV has a high quality on board upscaling processor-like the one in Sony’s A9G OLED-the 1080p BD or 480i DVD content displayed on 4K OLED panels may likely fill only a small part of the screen. Alternately, it’s worth considering that while these processors generally do a good job, since most users would only be watching 4:3 content on a this 4:3 display, if it was instead a 1080 rather 4K OLED, BDs would be shown in their native 1080p scale; only DVDs would need to be upscaled. Of course, there currently are no consumer OLED brands making 4:3 OLEDs, nor are there any 1080 widescreen OLEDs.

Ultimately, only each TV brand would know how the economics of OLED panels with 1080 vs. 4K pixel counts would impact their own production of 4:3 OLED TVs. But if they stay with 4K pixels, Pioneer or those brands below should aim to design the 40” to 50” 4K 4:3 TV’s OLED TV around the best upscaling processor within the niche market price point, perhaps ~$2200. or so. The high quality upscaling of 1080p BDs and DVDs (source formats still probably most common among collectors of vintage movies and TV shows) will allow viewers to sit at a comfortable distance

[bellicon]

Fortunately, as OLED technology has now matured the overall cost of making these TVs today has fallen substantially, thus volume sales risks versus tooling costs may be comfortably low-even when marketing lower volume 4K 4:3 OLED TVs with advanced upscaling, the same full featured remotes found in popular
16:9 widescreen OLEDs-and the added component video inputs.   
 
Regarding assembly parts, though LG is likely still the sole supplier of OLED panels this firm may be helpful in getting 4:3 TVs built as cheaply as possible.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Display_Corporation

And there are now numerous OLED panel fabricators. Perhaps these and others are supplying the Chinese OLED TV brands listed below-those which may already be selling OLED TVs in North America. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flat_panel_display_manufacturers#List_of_OLED_panel_manufacturers    https://www.oled-info.com/companies-list/oled-display-producers   

Again, regarding demand, even if there are conservatively just ~ 10,000 members among the most prominent home theater forums expressing interest in owning 4:3 OLEDs, the number of consumers actually wanting one could be well beyond 10 to 50 times as much. Demand could easily be tested with runs of 7,000 units or so.
And if Pioneer or Chinese brand OLEDs can perform nearly as good as Sony and LG models, and/or for a somewhat lower price, sales may grow even higher.
 
Finally, given the still extant global pandemic lockdown with so many people staying close to home, a 40” or larger 4:3 OLED will make big chunks of one’s vintage personal movie and TV collection look their best.

I will first be approaching Pioneer, as I especially hope it will be they who agree to market this product. Though no longer making TVs, their UDP-LX500, which I purchased last week, is arguably the best full featured BD player in its price class.
https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/Blu-ray-Disc/Elite-Blu-ray-Disc-Players/UDP-LX500 

If Pioneer’s 4:3 OLEDs were to impress like their Kuro plasmas had for years they may literally corner the market. Depending on Pioneer’s interest will I decide on approaching several Chinese OLED TV brands which now or soon will be serving the US market. https://www.cnet.com/news/ces-2020-chinese-tv-giant-skyworth-goes-big-to-enter-us-market/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/konka-group-a-china-tv-technology-powerhouse-announces-brand-expansion-into-the-united-states-and-canada-300974574.html

Huawai’s website shows numerous offices throughout the US. Some even post the contact info of their marketing directors at their websites. And unlike the majors, these newcomers welcome consumer feedback.
https://www.sharptvusa.com/contact/ 
http://www.konka.com.hk/Contact/
https://skyworthusa.com/contact/   
https://e.huawei.com/us/how-to-buy/contact-us
https://www.hisense-usa.com/contact/
https://support.tclusa.com/contactus?contact_query=Please%20enter%20your%20question

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/AboutPioneer/Contact+Us
https://pioneerassets.com/contact
https://pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Press-Room/Pioneer+Electronics+(USA)+Inc.+Appoints+Naito+as+President+and+COO

Bottom Line: If you don’t ask you don’t get. So for those who have long awaited 4:3 OLEDs please express your requests at the feedback/contact pages of the above brands’ websites.

But for the reasons given, please begin with Pioneer.

And please be sure to also your interest for 4:3 OLEDs-and what you’re doing to make them happen-at bestbuy forum, tom’shardware.com, hometheaterforum.com, AVSforum.doc, CNET.com, AVforums.com, Blu-Rayforum.com, et al.

Please do it today!

DISCLAIMER: Though it would be nice to receive credit for helping to make 4:3 OLED TVs a reality, I am in no way seeking any kind of monetary compensation, nor am I employed by the CE industry. For me, it’s all about the joys of home theater.

[WGH]

What am I missing here?

The proposed 50" 4:3 OLED would have a screen height of 30"
A 77" 16:9 OLED would have a screen height of 37.8" with black bars on the side with 4:3 content

I would always go for the larger screen.

If the black bars are so bothersome commission a custom woodworker make a portable proscenium arch like in Kukla, Fran and Ollie. The facade will greatly enhance your viewing pleasure too by echoing the decade the old 4:3 films were first released.

[bellicon]

What am I missing here?

Actually, I shouldn’t have optioned 77” OLEDs, as I certainly couldn’t go bigger than 65” in my room. But as I pointed out, 4:3 content will be displayed with more annoyingly THICKER bars on a widescreen TV-and a comparatively smaller image-than the horizontal bars of content wider than 1.85:1 aspect. So please excuse me if I don’t find your joke amusing. Instead, I think even you would agree that a 50” 4:3 is a damn sight bigger than a 32”.

And while there would not be a LARGE market for 4:3 OLEDs, if you click on the links to those other forums you’ll see that there’s likely a potentially vibrant niche market for this product among widescreen owners, CRT owners and gamers. And as it is with audio, niche markets drive a very substantial percentage of the A/V hardware industry. One among countless perfect examples is Pioneer, who currently markets only one high end home theatre product, that LX500 BD player, clearly a niche market item.

[WGH]

I also share your love of old films, currently in my library waiting for the right time is:

A Man Escaped (1956)
Le Trou (The Hole) (1960)
Pépé le Moko (1937)

All the films have been restored, Pépé le Moko has 700 hours of frame-by-frame restoration and looks beautiful.

Sidebar: Spike Lee's latest film "Da 5 Bloods" is in filmed both 16:9 and 4:3, looks good and sounds good with Dolby Atmos.

I don't feel the need to take a restored digital file (DVD or Blu-ray), convert it to analog in the player, export component video (composite and/or S-video would degrade the signal so much it is not worth mentioning), import the analog signal to the TV, upscale and re-convert back to digital.

Like audio, I prefer to do as little processing to the signal as possible. In both audio and video I have eliminated the mechanical player. Audio is .flac files played with JRiver, video is .mkv played with VLC, my Oppo rarely gets used. New TV's can natively play .mkv files from a thumbdrive although the thumbdrive has to be formatted correctly, either exFAT or NTFS.

Video quality using my home made media computer is flawless on the 60" Panasonic plasma. Using a mechanical player is so 20th century and so are legacy outputs and inputs.

Have you heard of Marion Stokes? She recorded American television 24 hours a day for over 30 years resulting in 70,000 VHS tapes. Now there are very few VHS machines left to play the tapes, so far only 100 have been digitized. Blu-ray disks will have the same fate and be tossed into the same cardboard box holding Betamax tapes, 3.5" floppy disks, 5.25" floppy disks, and cassette tapes.
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/recorder-the-marion-stokes-project/

Trying to bring back 4:3 TV's with legacy inputs would be like convincing manufacturers to bring back vinyl and make new record players.

What? That's happening, never mind.

[bellicon]

I also share your love of old films..........

Sidebar: Spike Lee's latest film "Da 5 Bloods" is in filmed both 16:9 and 4:3........

I don't feel the need to......degrade [by reconverting] back to digital. Like audio, I prefer to do as little processing to the signal as possible.........Video quality using my home made media computer is flawless on the 60" Panasonic plasma. Using a mechanical player is so 20th century and so are legacy outputs and inputs.

Have you heard of Marion Stokes?.......Trying to bring back 4:3 TV's with legacy inputs would be like convincing manufacturers to bring back vinyl and make new record players.

WTF? Back in the day-BEFORE widescreen TVs were commonly available-movies and TV shows were understandably filmed in 4:3. And 1.85:1 movies made for cinema viewings but to which were later aired on TV were first either panned and scanned (by the director or some editor with a wit of artistic sensibility)- or one or both ends were just carelessly loped off. Why would Lee be presenting anything in 4:3 today? Either way he’s cutting out content.

I don’t plan on subscribing to any streaming service (except Kanopy which is free via the public library). And I have next to no movies or other video that I would care attempting any kind of restoration. Off hand, I’d only want to seamlessly delete some ugly scenes from a tiny number of titles in my DVD/BD collection. At this hour, “Fox” (1968) is all that comes to mind.

Indeed, though it’s a year or so away, my plan is to build a 5.1 surround sound system for BD and DVD playback. At that point, JRiver will play the disc on my desktop, output video via HDMI to my widescreen (not the 4:3) OLED, and send decoded DTS MA to something like this multichannel DAC.
https://www.exasound.com/Blog/tabid/74/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/179/Configuring-JRiver-Media-Center-for-Windows-for-Bitperfect-ASIO-Playback-with-exaSound-DACs.aspx

Seamless DIRAC room correction is also available.
https://www.exasound.com/Blog/tabid/74/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1241/Multichannel-DAC--ExaSound-E38--by-Frans-Keylard-Hi-Res-Digital-Audio-Discovery-Group.aspx

JRiver is truly superb and continually improved by its developers and users. Members here confirmed that it can do every slow motion AND zoom function I can only get now from a tiny number of hardware players. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php It’s even usable with interfaces like http://www.usbuirt.com/ to achieve fully functional remote control.

But for now standalone players will will have to do, and I would rather sacrifice some video quality than do without advanced zoom control. I explained it's lots of fun to use zoom.

Like many video artists of her time, Marion Stokes had to use technologies  available and affordable to her; very sad but true. I’m hardly a fan of needless digital conversion; that’s just plain stupid. At the same time I just despise A/V brands and “standards” groups who rob me of the same playback features with BDs which I’ve always enjoyed with DVDs. Similarly, they force me to settle for watching vintage 4:3 content sandwiched between thick pillars because they refuse to manufacture ANY kind of 4:3 flat panels of appreciable size-even now when making short runs of such OLEDs would not be costly, and actually in considerable niche market demand. And these are facts, not opinions or preferences.
 
Again, I’m not exactly alone in this view. While there would not be a LARGE market for 4:3 OLEDs, click on the links I cited showing a potentially vibrant niche market for this product among widescreen owners, CRT owners and gamers. And as it is with audio, niche markets drive a very substantial percentage of the A/V hardware industry. One among countless perfect examples is Pioneer, who currently markets only one high end home theater product, that LX500 BD player, clearly a niche market item.

OLED technology has also matured so much that in addition to the major OLED brands, there are at least five Chinese brands, all of which, unlike Sony, LG and the rest, welcome consumer feedback-some post the contact info of their marketing staff. Clearly, they are interested in any and all product ideas, perhaps even those which don’t necessarily sell in high volume, though perhaps higher than you may think.   

[WGH]

Why would Lee be presenting anything in 4:3 today?

If you don't stream then you will miss an excellent film, Spike has upped his game. I purposely didn't read any reviews and the direction the film took completely surprised me.

The 16mm flashback scenes were filmed in either 1.37:1 or 4:3, I was watching not measuring. The 16mm film matches perfectly with the newsreel format of the archival footage interspersed in the film.

https://www.insider.com/spike-lee-da-5-bloods-netflix-16mm-flashbacks-2020-6



"[Netflix] was initially concerned about having the movie's flashback scenes of the main characters fighting in Vietnam shot on grainy 16mm film."

"The DP said because 16mm film, specifically the kind of stock Lee wanted to use that gave the picture a chrome look, is so rarely used these days it would be hard to come by. And with the movie being shot in Vietnam and Thailand, the 16mm footage would have to be flown back to the US to be processed at a specific lab."

"All of this would lead to a heavy price tag for Netflix to pull off. But Spike was pretty adamant"

[Tyson]

bellicon - so you want a 4:3 TV for shows shot in 4:3 so you don't have black bars on the side like you would with a 1.85:1 TV. 

But what about 1.85:1 material?  That will have black bars at the top and bottom of a 4:3 tv. 

[sts9fan]

one of the odder topics for sure.

Off hand, I’d only want to seamlessly delete some ugly scenes from a tiny number of titles in my DVD/BD collection.

Can you expand on this?

[WGH]

I used an InFocus X1 800 x 600 projector for many years before I moved. I was sad to sell the X1 but the open floor plan in my new house didn't work out with a projector. The picture quality was amazing on a portable 65" screen, very film like and a just small step below my 60" plasma TV. The InFocus had all the legacy video connections on your wish list, I ran long component cables (RGB from Monoprice) from the DVD player with excellent results.

A 800 x 600 projector is designed for 4:3 video. I think the picture quality would equal any modern OLED TV when showing 1950's 4:3 content, conceivably better because it would be on a screen, exactly the same as when your films were first shown in the theater 70 years ago.

There are InFocus X1 projectors on eBay for less than $20 if you want to take a risk, check if new lamps are still available first. The 1,100 ANSI lumens of lamp brightness was perfect. New 800 x 600 projectors are cheap but look out for light blasters designed for powerpoint slides in a bright room.

[Digi-G]

Black bars don't bother me.  I've realized that I only notice them for the first minute or two of a show, after that I get engrossed and don't see them anymore.  TV's that had grey bars used to make me scratch my head, not to mention some of the even weirder options.  More bothersome to me are the people who stretch the 4:3 picture so it fills the screen - they want their money's worth from the widescreen TV.  Arrrg!

My advice is this:  don't watch the black bars and think of what you're missing; watch the program and enjoy it for what it is (or was).

Personally I can't imagine buying a 'new' 4:3 screen just to watch old shows on.

[bellicon]

If you don't stream then you will miss an excellent film, I purposely didn't read any reviews and the direction the film took completely surprised me. The 16mm flashback scenes were filmed in either 1.37:1 or 4:3, I was watching not measuring. The 16mm film matches perfectly with the newsreel format of the archival footage interspersed in the film. "The DP said because 16mm film, specifically the kind of stock Lee wanted to use that gave the picture a chrome look.

Some of Spike Lee’s films are super; “jungle fever”, “do the right thing” are among my favs. There might be some appealing aspects (e.g. cast, locations, DP shooting styles and formats) about this movie, but war dramas and lots of graphic killing are huge turn offs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_5_Bloods#Plot Recall, that my only interest in editing any visual content is to excise really brutal killings and similar nasty junk from otherwise enjoyable crime, sci-fi and other. 

With all due respect, I realize that America prides itself on being a warrior culture, but please let there be more inspired writers who get to produce movies with unique and intriguing stories and/or with sub plots which don’t involve so much blood and other grotesque behavior. At point in human history, it’s all so tired, ugly and stupid.

[WGH]

At point in human history, it’s all so tired, ugly and stupid.

Exactly, that was Lee's point. My impression is Spike has been influenced by the films by Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino.

[bellicon]

Can you expand on this?

I thought I was clear but see my last post too.

[bellicon]

bellicon - so you want a 4:3 TV for shows shot in 4:3 so you don't have black bars on the side like you would with a 1.85:1 TV. 

But what about 1.85:1 material?  That will have black bars at the top and bottom of a 4:3 tv.

First, I dare say that besides myself there are many, even some younger than 50, who have collections with lots of 4:3 content, so at least for us owning a 4:3 OLED TV would be quite cost effective on that score alone.

The way it’s done is simply to have TWO TVs, your widescreen OLED in one room and this 4:3 OLED in another room. Again, it’s not really any different than what lots of audiophiles do who enjoy listening to different kinds of speakers; they may have one pair of hybrid horn speakers driven by a 300B SET amp in one room and pair of Quad electrostats or Pure Audio Project open baffles set up in another room. Indeed, many do this because they find that some recordings sound better on different speakers for  many reasons. Likewise, when you want to watch TV episodes from the 50s thru the early 90s or one those movie titles I listed from imdb.com, then you watch it on the 4:3 OLED. At other times, if you want to see a recent TV show or just about any movie made after 1960, then you head for the 16:9 OLED TV room. This way all bars will be minimized or even eliminated no matter what you choose to watch.

Furthermore, by using these two different OLEDs you will be minimizing both pixel aging differentials-due to and overall aging of pixels, along with the rest of the TVs electronics in both TVs. That is, the owners manuals from Sony, LG and all OLED TV brands literally warn you not to watch 4:3 content at all, because the thicker the bars the more pixels inside them will be turned off, versus those turned on between the bars. Thus, over time the pixels between the bars will age and grow dimmer faster then those within the vertical bars-which may become more evident when watching widescreen content. And among all aspect ratios that will have the thicker bars, 4:3 content is the most common.

Thus, the best solution is for users to purchase a 4:3 OLED. Viewing 4:3 and 16:9 movies and TV shows on their 4:3 and widescreen OLED TVs, respectively, will minimize differential pixel aging, and also minimize overall burn-in risks, while viewers enjoy smaller horizontal and no vertical bars on all content.

[bellicon]

I used an InFocus X1 800 x 600 projector for many years before I moved. I was sad to sell the X1 but the open floor plan in my new house didn't work out with a projector. The picture quality was amazing on a portable 65" screen, very film like and a just small step below my 60" plasma TV. The InFocus had all the legacy video connections on your wish list, I ran long component cables (RGB from Monoprice) from the DVD player with excellent results.

A 800 x 600 projector is designed for 4:3 video. I think the picture quality would equal any modern OLED TV when showing 1950's 4:3 content, conceivably better because it would be on a screen, exactly the same as when your films were first shown in the theater 70 years ago.

There are InFocus X1 projectors on eBay for less than $20 if you want to take a risk, check if new lamps are still available first. The 1,100 ANSI lumens of lamp brightness was perfect. New 800 x 600 projectors are cheap but look out for light blasters designed for powerpoint slides in a bright room.

Thanks for this very plausible “Plan B”. One or two others have thoughtfully suggested using direct view projectors. And they certainly have their advantages, which I had strongly considered long ago. But among other concerns, I would only risk going that way if an affordable model and 50 to 60” 4:3 screen truly delivered OLED quality black levels. And it would need to have HDMI and at least one analog video (ideally component) inputs.

However, my floor plan for the next few years would likely make installation impossible, if not quite inconvenient. With my widescreen OLED and surround system in the master bedroom, the 4:3 projector would be set up in the adjoining 10 x 12’ room. But room size alone probably makes attempted use a projector a silly idea. In any case, as installing ceiling brackets are not an option that I wish to pursue, the only alternative would be setting the projector atop a 13” deep x ~ 4 foot plastic covered metal grille shelf mounted along the wall of a closet with no doors. I would be seated ~ 3.5’ in front of and down from the projector. The screen would be in the opposite corner flanked by a pair of floor standing speakers and amplifier on the floor.

Problems: With the projector placed as such, keystoning would be necessary, and according to experts will result in reduce resolution and/or contrast-how much I’d have to know beforehand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_effect#Correction

Alternately, the projector might be placed upon a table in the closet. That might eliminate most of the need for keystoning, but being only  ~ 3.5 feet behind my head its fan might well be too noisy. That would also have to be confirmed.

Connectivity & Remote Control. It’s not practical to run HDMI, much less analog video cables, from the projector across to the screen where my players would be. Ditto for running unbalanced line level audio cables from the players’ audio outputs to the amplifier, if the players were instead place near the projector. Of course, moving the amplifier near the projector and players would solve any cable lengths concerns. But that would mean lots of hardware clustered around the projector very close to where I’d be sitting in this very small room.

And I use my living room exclusively for music, so no TVs there.

I’ve been down this road before but it’s always looked like a very rocky one for a projector to take me where I want to go. Ergo, a ~ 50” 4:3 OLED TV is what I need. But if over the next several weeks I fail trying to interest Pioneer and the above mentioned Chinese OLED brands to market them then I will very strongly reconsider your solution. Thanks again!