hi guys,

what are projectors like in a light filled room? i know cheap models wont be much use but how about more expensive models?

i have a room that is approx 6m wide and 12m long (see attachment)and want to reconfigure it totally. all furniture and electronics is gone. Have bought a red leather lounge to get things started looking at 50in wall mounted fujitsu plasma or a ceiling mounted projector. Also want to fit in a fluted gas fireplace.

Note that at foreground of pic is wall to wall glass doors that lead out to a courtyard.

Understand that this is not a dedicated room and that generally the room is not used during the day to watch tv.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Julie

[beecee]

you forgot to add the pic!

oops,

here is the attachment.

julie

[beecee]

that is one BIG and very bright room..(about the size of my ground floor!.)

it may be just too bright for a PJ in the summer months, unless you can block the light from your glass doors. i take it your screen would be placed roughtly where the tv is in the pic just now? if so you will probably need to mount the PJ on a shelve as it would be a long ceiling mound bracket.

maybe if possible try and get a home demo of a couple of projectors to check if its the right option for you.

[Gary Lightfoot]

You will need a high lumen projector to combat the ambient light, and a grey screen with gain - something like a Stewart Firehawk. The Firehawk isn't cheap, but it's the best screen for a room with ambient light in my opinion.

Projector wise, you'll need something that is in excess of 2000 lumens at least - the more the better. The much brighter ones generaly aren't optomised for video, so you may need an external scaler to ensure image quality, though that in itself will be compromised by any daylight in the room.

You may be better off with a larger plasma or rear projection for daytime viewing, and a normal projector for evening/night time viewing. You'll save money by not needing the Stewart screen and scaler so can spend a little less on the projector with less light output.

Infocus tend to make brighter ptojectors for home cinema, so if you still need something brighter than most at a reasonable cost, you could start by having a look at them.

Gary.

[Joe Fernand]

alpina

Loads of options - normally if we sling a white gauze 'ceiling' into say a Marquee we also have an area of black gauze (above the white gauze) over the projection screen and a bit in front of it; that way you can usually shelter the screen from the worst of the overhead light.

Great room looking for a great 'solution' I'd say - a budget plus your preferred seating plan and a bit of time with the etch-a-sketch is what's required now!!!

Best regards

Joe

thanks for all the feedback guys.

beecee - yes, i was planning on putting the screen/plasma where the existing tv is.

room is a little complicated by the fact that my gas outlet is behind the sofa you see. this means i can either put a gas fluted fireplace there (for effect) or go with a portable unit. problem here is that potentially the heater and tv will be on opposite walls. Alternatives are of course to put the tv on opposite wall or move the gas outlet to other side. what do you guys think will be the best option?

the new sofa i got is one of those super versatile ones that can be configured many ways. I will change the configuration around every 2 months to give the room a different feel.

floor is polished concrete and walls are masonary with a gyprock front (should be good for running wires).

this room is really the showpiece of the house so we want a killer system that doesnt take up a lot of space and adds to the whole contemporary feel of our tastes.

initial thoughts were to wall mount a 50in plasma, chase all cables behind wall and place an entertainment unit to house components next to cupboards (rear of right hand side on pic).

comments please

thanks

julie

[Gary Lightfoot]

If you want to allow the light into the room and not block it out, the plasma will be the best soloution, though you can achieve a better image with a projector IMHO provided the room is blacked out. If light does not spill directly onto the wall you intend to put the screen on, a grey screen (Firehawk) will work reasonably well I would think. Joe's idea sounds like a good one to partialy block the light in the room when viewing.

A projector would need cables running to it either for a table, wall or ceiling mount (depending where you want it to go), and that may not be as easy to do as for running them to a plasma.

As for the heater, it might not be a good idea to have a plasma mounted directly above it due to heat (Joe?), but you also don't want to have the image too high due to the possiblity of neck strain - idealy you want the bottom of the screen to have a third of it's height below eye level for comfortable viewing.

A big screen is more impressive than a smaller one, but it all depends on the practicalities of the installation. A plasma will probably work best overall but Joe has more experience in this regard so I'd be intereted in his opinion.

Gary.

[Joe Fernand]

Hello aplina

If your going to be rearranging the furniture you could go for a 'non installed' installation and keep the kit mobile too - its difficult rearranging furniture if the main focal point(s) are fixed.

A couple of HiTech (or stealth) cabinets could house all the kit and there's a few options for the loudspeakers you could consider.

Whilst a Plasma can work in quite high ambient light you want to ensure its not looking down the room towards a big light source - otherwise you'll get horrid reflections on your screen.

Again lots of options - your first decision is some idea of a budget!!!

Best regards

Joe

[cyberheater]

I'm going to be honest here.

Even moderate light when using a PJ really kills the picture quality big time. I know you might have seen PJ used in exhibition halls and banks etc.. that display an image during the day but if you really look at the image is really does look bad. Okay for presentation material but utter rubbish for quality movie watching.

If you can install blinds/shutters then your good to go otherwise you really should be looking at Plasma otherwise you'll end up spending serious money on a horrible washed out image.

Kill the light and your golden.