Yeah, you're right about that. W/o a proper setup, a projected image doesn't look so hot. However, I don't know of any other way to get a huge display w/o spending a bazillion dollars on a wall-sized LED TV.

In looking at projectors, they're typically listed with their lumen output. I'm assuming that low-end projectors with low lumen output will only look remotely decent in a nearly dark room. In addition, I just learned about "short throw" projectors. The further the projector is from the wall it's projecting on, the more likely ambient light will interfere with the projected image... I would think.

My "pain cave" is in my basement which I typically don't have brightly lit and there aren't any big windows so I think I could make a projector work.