Is my room(s) Big enough?

[A Legal Beagle]

Seriously considering a HC Projector for my house.

However, my initial concerns are that the two possible rooms are too small to have a projector and reasonable size screen.

The room sizes are approx as follows:

living Room:- 3.8m length
Bedroom:- 2.8m length

Having looked around ive seen the Benq W500 or the Optma HD65/70.

I have also looked and compared Throw and seating distances on www.projectorcentral.com. It appears the BenQ can handle shorter TD so that may be the more viable option. Ive also read that the distance should be no less than x1.5 the width of the screen.

Do you think that the rooms are big enough for a projectorand screen

The PJ will be at the back of the room to allow maximum distance from the screen.

Obviously i dont want to be in a position that when ive set it up Iam too close to the screen. and the PQ is naff

Thanks for any help in advance

[sbowler]

You should be fine, sitting at the back of the room, around 3mtrs away from the screen. Its the distance I sit from mine, I run a panasonic AE700e onto an 80inch screen and the pictures fine, even Freeview looks impressive. Place the pj directly above where your sitting, the fan noise doesnt come into it nowadays, anything with a fan noise of less then 25db is not noticable.

Here are some pics of my setup for you to see. The size is 5mtrs wide by 4mtrs and distance from seating to screen around 3.5mtrs.

http://www.freewebs.com/sbowler579/thecinemaroom.htm

[A Legal Beagle]

Originally Posted by sbowler

You should be fine, sitting at the back of the room, around 3mtrs away from the screen. Its the distance I sit from mine, I run a panasonic AE700e onto an 80inch screen and the pictures fine, even Freeview looks impressive. Place the pj directly above where your sitting, the fan noise doesnt come into it nowadays, anything with a fan noise of less then 25db is not noticable.

Here are some pics of my setup for you to see. The size is 5mtrs wide by 4mtrs and distance from seating to screen around 3.5mtrs.

http://www.freewebs.com/sbowler579/thecinemaroom.htm

Cheers, so my idea of having a PJ is not dead in the water.

I think it will be better in the living room because the room is bigger than the bedroom.

Nice setup by the way and how many films have you got i thought i had a few!

Oh and i like the brief video on your site and yes the pic on the last shot isnt great as you pointed out

Just got to decide now whether a DLP or LCD would be better given the Advan and Disadvatages of each....

[scotty78]

I have a hd65 in my bedroom, its about 2.7m from front of lens to the screen and it fills my 77" screen using the zoom function no problem... Great lying in bed watching films or playing ps3, no matter where you end up mounting it or what pj you choose your gonna love yr pj experience anyway!

Good Luck

[A Legal Beagle]

Originally Posted by scotty78

I have a hd65 in my bedroom, its about 2.7m from front of lens to the screen and it fills my 77" screen using the zoom function no problem... Great lying in bed watching films or playing ps3, no matter where you end up mounting it or what pj you choose your gonna love yr pj experience anyway!

Good Luck

Cheers Scotty

Only thing is, does the zoom function cause PQ to deteriate?

Got to work out which PJ what i need, what length the leads i need,cost etc

Cant wait to get started on my project even thinking what film should i watch first already!

[imjay]

3.8m is about same throw length as ours. If that is your entire room length then just put the pj on a wall shelf about 5 ft from the floor and you should have a great Home Theater experience.

Wide Screen format dvd image with an 80 inch wide screen will be at least 120inch diagonal which at your viewing distance is awesome. We're glad our screen is more square at 60in tall by 80in wide because we believe it give us more flexibility with both wide screen and old tv "square" or 4:3 images. Our screen is gray and fixed (doesn't roll up) so to us it looks like a big Cinema screen.

Before you get too far into the project be sure that you can darken your living room to a no light or very near no light environment for best projection result. Light is the enemy of projection. Dark and non-reflective walls, flooring and ceiling is helpful.

Before you buy a dlp pj be sure that you nor any member of your family are not subject to the RainBow Effect (RBE) which affects a very small number of viewers. Not to worry, both dlp and lcd technology has evolved such that both offer great home theater projection. Our Panasonic lcd pj puts us At The Movies every time we watch it.

Be sure to have a decent up converting dvd player so your collection of standard definition movies will look good on your screen - improvement of up conversion was significant with our projector.
goodluck

[A Legal Beagle]

Originally Posted by imjay

3.8m is about same throw length as ours. If that is your entire room length then just put the pj on a wall shelf about 5 ft from the floor and you should have a great Home Theater experience.

Wide Screen format dvd image with an 80 inch wide screen will be at least 120inch diagonal which at your viewing distance is awesome. We're glad our screen is more square at 60in tall by 80in wide because we believe it give us more flexibility with both wide screen and old tv "square" or 4:3 images. Our screen is gray and fixed (doesn't roll up) so to us it looks like a big Cinema screen.

Before you get too far into the project be sure that you can darken your living room to a no light or very near no light environment for best projection result. Light is the enemy of projection. Dark and non-reflective walls, flooring and ceiling is helpful.

Before you buy a dlp pj be sure that you nor any member of your family are not subject to the RainBow Effect (RBE) which affects a very small number of viewers. Not to worry, both dlp and lcd technology has evolved such that both offer great home theater projection. Our Panasonic lcd pj puts us At The Movies every time we watch it.

Be sure to have a decent up converting dvd player so your collection of standard definition movies will look good on your screen - improvement of up conversion was significant with our projector.
goodluck

Cheers, you comments and help are noted

Ive just invested in an ep35 which upscales DVD's, I believe it does a pretty good job as well

Due to living arrangements at the mo, (long story)in all likelhood I will have to use the bedroom which as ive previously stated is 2.8m full length, would this be to small? if so, i might just have to keep hassling the mother to invade the living room

[scotty78]

Originally Posted by Waoolis

Cheers Scotty

Only thing is, does the zoom function cause PQ to deteriate?

Got to work out which PJ what i need, what length the leads i need,cost etc

Cant wait to get started on my project even thinking what film should i watch first already!

I use mine for blu ray, ps3 games and sd dvds ive been more than impressed. Like you I was also worried about using the maximum zoom and loosing pic quality, when I ordered mine I asked the guy in the projector shop if I would be better going for a 70" screen just to be on the safe side, his advice was that using the zoom function would only give noticible reductions in quality when using a screen far bigger than mine, such as screens 100"+. Check www.optoma.co.uk for the distance calculator for the hd65, for some reason the .co.uk shows slight differences in the required minimum distance than it does on the optoma.com website. From memory I think it said for the size I wanted 77" diag you had to have a minimum of 2.56m from front of lens to screen and the american site said I required 2.64m, I know thats only a 8cm difference but when your cutting it to the bone you want it to be spot on My advice would be to go slightly above the required minimum just so your perfectly safe, id imagine like me with such a limited throw distance you want the biggest picture possible. What I like about the HD65 is its such a small unit, I have mine mounted as far back in my bedroom as possible with the hdmi cable and power lead coming down just where my rooms coving starts. I have never seen the Benq w500 so ive no idea of the physical size of the unit but as I said before no matter which one you go for I am sure you will be impressed. I cant even imagine watching a movie on my plasma now, it just pales in to insignificance

[KpjComp]

I think one of the real advantages of PJ's is that they are perfect for small rooms. Where say a 50" plasma would just look out of place, a PJ can be installed very discretely, eg. there are a lot of people who have them in there living rooms, a nice idea is that they use say a small LCD for watching normal TV, and then have pull down screen that they can get out for movies. Also you can get ultra short throw PJ's that can project images from just a couple of feet away if your really stuck for space.

[A Legal Beagle]

Originally Posted by KpjComp

I think one of the real advantages of PJ's is that they are perfect for small rooms. Where say a 50" plasma would just look out of place, a PJ can be installed very discretely, eg. there are a lot of people who have them in there living rooms, a nice idea is that they use say a small LCD for watching normal TV, and then have pull down screen that they can get out for movies. Also you can get ultra short throw PJ's that can project images from just a couple of feet away if your really stuck for space.

Thanks.

Any suggestions/recomendations of a projector with short TD?

Thats whay i looked at the BenQ as opposed to the HD65 as it appeared to have a shorter TD.

[A Legal Beagle]

Originally Posted by scotty78

I use mine for blu ray, ps3 games and sd dvds ive been more than impressed. Like you I was also worried about using the maximum zoom and loosing pic quality, when I ordered mine I asked the guy in the projector shop if I would be better going for a 70" screen just to be on the safe side, his advice was that using the zoom function would only give noticible reductions in quality when using a screen far bigger than mine, such as screens 100"+. Check www.optoma.co.uk for the distance calculator for the hd65, for some reason the .co.uk shows slight differences in the required minimum distance than it does on the optoma.com website. From memory I think it said for the size I wanted 77" diag you had to have a minimum of 2.56m from front of lens to screen and the american site said I required 2.64m, I know thats only a 8cm difference but when your cutting it to the bone you want it to be spot on My advice would be to go slightly above the required minimum just so your perfectly safe, id imagine like me with such a limited throw distance you want the biggest picture possible. What I like about the HD65 is its such a small unit, I have mine mounted as far back in my bedroom as possible with the hdmi cable and power lead coming down just where my rooms coving starts. I have never seen the Benq w500 so ive no idea of the physical size of the unit but as I said before no matter which one you go for I am sure you will be impressed. I cant even imagine watching a movie on my plasma now, it just pales in to insignificance

Yeah i can imagine it does! Watched a HD DVD film with a friend last on on my 32" LCD and Surround sound. He was blown away by it. I Thought just imagine watching it on a screen over twice the size of it:grin

Never thought of looking at Optma's Website, the throw distance is perfect for the size of the room persuaded by this then

Does the Rainbow effect, affect you in anyway? thats a slight concern.

Only thing thats holding me back is having to sort and empty the spare room....so much stuff in there its untrue

Then what colour do i paint the Walls? where do i buy the pj and screen from?

So much to think about arghhh

[sdb123]

Originally Posted by Waoolis

Does the Rainbow effect, affect you in anyway? thats a slight concern.

Only you will be able to determine this. Some people see it and others don't . Those that do see RBE will either learn to live with it or cannot bear to watch it.

Unfortunately I fall into the latter category.

[KpjComp]

Originally Posted by Waoolis

Does the Rainbow effect, affect you in anyway? thats a slight concern.

From what I can gather the HD65 is not bad when it comes RBE. I only see it when bright white on black, but even then its very slight and seems to be getting less every time I use the PJ, and then its only while trying to look for it why I wobble my head.

[lip sync]

i have just found that i am one of those who suffers from the RBE, but i have already got a dlp i viewed a dlp in81 and did not spot this. i now have a in82 and have a bat cave to view this in, dark brown viewing wall and so-so dark side walls. the picture is fantastic, untill there is motion!

i too must look at an alternative.