In my younger days, when we couldn’t find a new film to watch at the cinema over the weekends, renting movies from Blockbuster every Friday evening was a key tradition for us. Although nothing matched the experience of sitting in a dimly lit theater enjoying the newest flicks, snuggling up on the sofa came pretty darn close as an alternative. However, nowadays, this conflict between staying home to watch something versus heading out to catch a movie has grown even more intense.
The technology sector and industries related to it have advanced over time, making it crucial now more than ever to invest in an appropriate setup at home—especially for those who gather physical media. This ensures you have a place to view classics that may not even be offered through different streaming platforms. Even so,
huge action movie
like
Havoc
or
G20
will be released directly onto streaming platforms these days without ever making it to the big screen, and TV shows aim to achieve blockbuster-levels of production value, as seen in series like
Rings of Power
,
Game of Thrones
, and
The Last of Us
aiming to offer a cinematic experience within an hour-long timeframe.
I’ve consistently watched movies and TV shows from the comfort of my own home using conventional methods. My buddies frequently encouraged me to try the projector experience, claiming it could feel like being at an actual movie theater. However, I was skeptical—projectors made me think of my high school teachers having trouble connecting outdated laptops to those devices mounted on the ceiling, usually with unsatisfactory outcomes. But now, I might actually become a believer.
How The Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2 Transformed Me into a Part-Time Projection Enthusiast
It’s (Mostly) Easy To Use
At home, I frequently revisit two movies that have provided me with some of my most cherished cinema moments.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
and
Mad Max: Fury Road.
These two movies are often considered the finest action films of the 21st century, and I enjoy watching them for comfort regardless of—or perhaps due to—the rush of pure adrenaline they deliver. Nothing compares to the experience of revisiting these classics.
guitar-wielding Doof Warrior
enter the frame in
Fury Road
‘s initial major pursuit, or watching Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill engage in a brawl at a Pais nightclub restroom.
I knew that when I tried out this new projector, I would have to watch these two films on it. Still, I was skeptical. How could this match up to the theater experience, or even the one I was used to at home? As a first-time projector user, I was worried that this thing could prove difficult to operate or that it wouldn’t have the same depth of image that my OLED television does.
I was astonished; it surpassed what I had anticipated. Valerion supplied both the VisionMaster Pro 2 and a projector screen for me to test, and honestly, it really made a difference.
Ethan Hunt
and Max Rockatansky look much more vivid than on a regular television. Many of the experiences I’ve had with projectors have produced washed-out images that don’t feel alive, but this one was crystal clear, even in the daytime.
Still, the true test of any show or movie these days (and what you’re watching them on) is how its nighttime scenes appear. Too often, films are so shrouded in darkness that the worst thing about watching them at home with a poor setup can be the lack of visibility. With the VisionMaster, I did not experience that at all, and it made all the difference. It feels as close to the movies as you can get while watching from home.
Why It Matters How You Watch Movies At Home
VisionMaster Isn’t The Most Accessible
The VisionMaster is a serious piece of machinery, one that has a lot of bells and whistles that go even beyond my knowledge of at-home setups. While I was able to use the basic features to watch things at home, it took some time to learn all of its capabilities and really dive into the nitty-gritty of use, all of which is to say that this kind of investment is for those who take watching movies at home very seriously.
And in my opinion, you should. The film industry is in a constant state of change, but one thing is clear: streamers like Netflix aren’t going away and, increasingly, studios are putting their movies on VOD sooner and sooner, especially after the pandemic caused the theatrical exclusivity window to shrink exponentially.
No substitute can match the thrill of viewing a movie in a dimly lit theater among unfamiliar faces. These shared moments are crucial to my appreciation of cinema and vital for fostering a sense of community with other film enthusiasts. I’ll always cherish the time I spent watching
Inception
On opening night, we all collectively gasped when Christopher Nolan transitioned to darkness.
Cobb’s totem began to wobble
or waiting in the theater’s lobby during the break
The Brutalist
Last year, discussing excitedly with fellow cinema-goers about what we were experiencing.
Achieving that cinematic experience at home is what I aim to accomplish—when your passion for films runs deep, you naturally want to support cinema in every way possible. Occasionally, it’s challenging to face an industry that seems more interested in profits than artistic expression. This makes me reflect frequently on how we enjoy movies from the comfort of our homes, just like my friends and family do.
The options at our disposal may be limited since streaming platforms typically focus on recent releases, which makes movies made before the 1990s hard to come by and hinders access to much of cinematic history for mainstream viewers. Building a personal physical media library serves as an effective countermeasure against this scarcity and underscores the continued relevance of tangible formats.
It’s highly unlikely I’ll ever manage to squeeze a cinema-size screen into my living room (even though it’s fun to imagine). This is one downside of owning the VisionMaster. To fully utilize this device, you need enough space for its maximum projection capabilities. Nonetheless,
Valerion
aims to provide a cinematic experience with this projector, and it’s astounding how closely they achieve the quality of theater visuals, despite the occasional complexity during set-up.