I have a TV, a projector and a VR headset, which essentially are your options, so let me run through each of them giving you pros/cons for each.

VR headset was a cool solution that someone mentioned here. It is an interesting approach, and the cheapest way to feel at the movie theater by yourself, it also allows you to play VR games which can be very immersive and it’s an experience. However it’s the worst visual quality of the 3 and you can’t bring anyone over for movie night.

Projectors can be really bad, but since you have a good budget a little research should get you a relatively decent projector with at least 1080p native resolution. If you’re looking for screen size, or have limited space for a TV, this is the way. However, even great projectors will struggle with daylight, your room needs to be as dark as possible, which might mean blackout curtains completely closed if watching during daytime. Also audio can be relatively bad, especially because some projectors are somewhat loud, but you should be able to get a quiet decent one for that budget, but you might want to consider speakers or a sound bar.

TVs are cheap and give you the best visual quality per price. They’re a pain in the ass to move (but not as much as you might think), but they don’t have any of the drawbacks of any of the other forms, but they’re also not great, however for 1k you can get an excellent TV and a very good sound bar that will allow you to view content in 4K HDR during daytime.

TV’s are dirt cheap these days. Just sell and rebuy if you don’t want to move it

For audio, take to a local thrift store or Facebook marketplace or whatever platform is the most used locally and mix and match your own receiver + speaker set. A decent receiver can be found around €50, speakers can be even cheaper. Most modern speakers of some size are decent enough, bought some second hand Jamo tower speakers for 50 for the set(2) as well. Smaller bookcase speakers with minimum 4 inch (if you don’t go for a seperate subwoofer) speakers can be found for €20. You need some oomph in the lower end to get some extra cinema points. Stereo sets are fine, 5.1 is fun but I’d rather have amazing stereo then ok 5.1 , you know?

For beamers, I’d look for a secondhand beamer that was used in business setting.

A clean white wall is cheap en convenient beaming surface, but a good screen will help increase brightness which can often be the most tricky part about beaming at home. But harder to do secondhand.

Sidenote, I almost never save the boxes of stuff I buy, but the tv box gets special treatment in the attic, because in the box it’s very transportable, but without it, I agree, it’s a big hassle.

GL!

I have been using a cheap 1080p LCD projector with a pull down Projection Screen for a while now and it works great. I have blackout curtains so that it’s bright enough. If there’s too much natural light then it’s pretty dim. A decent set of speakers helps a lot. Total cost of everything is less than $500. Main downside is the light thing and the fact that you need to have the projector in the right position so that the image can be centered but it’s the cheapest way to get an 80in screen in your bedroom.

Out of left field idea: have you considered a laptop? Find a used one from a few years ago with a big-enough screen size, set it up on a table a metre or so away from you, maybe get some decent external speakers… it’d be like a TV with all the movie gubbins built in.

You use parentheses a lot 😉

How much do you really move? Moving is a pain as it is, and a modern (not CRT) TV isn’t really what makes it so. Projectors are a fun novelty, but if you don’t have that basement home theater room they’re honestly not that great, especially in daylight.

Honestly, I would just get a decent used TV and call it a day. If you really move a lot, like every year, get a new one and leave the box in a closet. Even a relatively small one will be a huge step up from a phone screen.

That’s said, speakers are treated as a mandatory afterthought on TVs these days. Rule of thumb I just made up: if it doesn’t have many ports, it’s expecting your step t receiver or similar to do the heavy lifting. Older TVs may actually be ok and generally have a lot of ports, but may not be full HD. Bottom line: be prepared to at least buy a sound bar or hell, even some computer speakers from a thrift store. Preferably something with a small subwoofer.

Movie theaters control sound reverberations. A simple sound bar worth a sub will improve audio quite a bit over any output but even a pair of Bluetooth speakers can help, if you want stereo look at the Anker Soundcore series with “TWS.” I use a pair of Soundcore Motion Boom’s for when I am doing stuff and they area amazing, I upgraded from a a pair of Soundcore 2’s that fell off the roof and few times and were not really holding a charge like they should.

To give you the sound you will want to make some sound deadening panels. Basically get some 1X2 furring strips and build some simple squares, cover them with fabric(something with a soft texture is best) , and insert some cheap convoluted foam then hang them around your viewing space. As time goes by you can add more if you feel the need. Also carpet the room, but at the very least get some throw rugs. You could also hang something like the rugs on the wall, it’s ghetto but as I said the experience is about controlling sound reverberations.

But being on a phone screen and needing portability honestly I would go buy a tablet (I suggest the Samsung A9+) and a pair of noise canceling earbuds I have a set of Soundcore Space A40’s that I use to listen to music while mowing, in a quieter environment like a store I hear next to nothing. My other half uses the A9+ and she had had no issues I suggest that over the super cheapo ones as they tend to only be decent for a year or two. We bought a pair of them in 2021 and both are nearly worthless for anything outside of a wall tablet for home assistant after 3 years and they are still barely working for that. My stepson’s was swapped for my even older Tab S4 which was an upgrade over the newer cheapo.

https://amzn.to/47zXmKL Space A40’s are running 45.00 right now https://amzn.to/4mmJ0SH A9+ is 210.00

That makes your setup a ton better for less than 300 and it will easily last you for a while.

You can get a quality 1080p projector for about $120 (or spend more to get a 4K)

A proper speaker setup for $211 (this bit can go up to crazy prices if you go overboard)

An Intel NUC for $150

And a white sheet for $10 (get the highest thread count you can find)

You can get them at your local retailers pretty easily.

Hey, this isn’t what you’re looking for, like, at all, but I just built the coziest movie set up by buying a $50 15in CRT, a $20 VCR player, and 50 VHS’ for $10. Put it all next to my bed with retro consoles to boot, and the best part is not only are all the ads nostalgic and crammed into the beginning of the movie, but no live service is going to make my tapes move to a new subscription service.

Just… Curl up in bed and put in a movie that you own. Oops, forgot to rewind. Lemme play a round of starfox while I wait.

VR headset and soundproof headphones.

Watch a movie on whatever setup you want. Shit, watch it at red rocks.

The Hook Up YouTube channel has a ton of awesome non sponsored reviews of tech that you might be interested in. Projectors, sound equipment, etc. I’ve honestly never seen better consumer review content.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2gyzKcHbYfqoXA5xbyGXtQ

Personally I don’t care for home theater so often I skip videos about projectors, but there’s a ton of stuff there that might help you make some decisions - at the very least you’ll walk away better educated about what makes a quality piece of kit.