Slaphammer
Novice Member
Seven years ago I was setting up my basement theater and did a bunch of projector research and ended up with a ceiling mount (BenQ). Since then, I haven't really paid much attention to the options except briefly when I upgraded to 4K (Optoma).
We're going to be building a new house so whenever that's done (a year or so) I'll have to set up another room. I'm thinking it would be a lot more convenient to have an ultra short throw projector which sits on a table under the screen along with other A/V components. But really I know nothing about short throw so wondering if there are downsides I'm unaware of. Here's some of the factors that have me thinking short throw:
EDIT: It just occurred to me that my current 4K projector does not have to be a ceiling mount. I could set it on a table or something, but that table might need to be back with the seating or else further behind. It could possibly be on a table just in front of seating, since we will have more space to move the seats around than we do now. And then all the A/V gear would still be behind us in order to avoid long runs of cable. So that might be a very economical choice, but maybe not the most convenient in use.
We're going to be building a new house so whenever that's done (a year or so) I'll have to set up another room. I'm thinking it would be a lot more convenient to have an ultra short throw projector which sits on a table under the screen along with other A/V components. But really I know nothing about short throw so wondering if there are downsides I'm unaware of. Here's some of the factors that have me thinking short throw:
- The new room will have 10-foot ceilings, so not as convenient to get up there in the first place. In my current room, I can reach the projector while standing on the floor.
- The current projector is right over our heads, so we can hear fan noise. I think it's minor because it is usually drowned out by the movie, but my wife's not a fan.
- I would have to run cables to a ceiling projector: In the current house, this isn't bad because the table of A/V stuff is behind us, and the back wall isn't far behind us, so it's a short run along the ceiling and down the wall. But still a bit unsightly. I know it could be run inside the ceiling/wall but that's another level of complexity I'd rather avoid. Seems like it would be a lot easier just to have everything sitting under the screen so no cables running long distances (except for speakers--might look into going wireless but that's a different topic). Easier, and also more clean since no cables running around the room.
- Related to the above, in the new house the ceiling projector would be right in the middle of the room so would need a much longer cable to reach the A/V gear assuming that gear is under the screen (we really want to move the gear to be in front of us--having it behind is conveninent for our current space but awkward when you have to aim a remote control backward to make something happen).
EDIT: It just occurred to me that my current 4K projector does not have to be a ceiling mount. I could set it on a table or something, but that table might need to be back with the seating or else further behind. It could possibly be on a table just in front of seating, since we will have more space to move the seats around than we do now. And then all the A/V gear would still be behind us in order to avoid long runs of cable. So that might be a very economical choice, but maybe not the most convenient in use.
Last edited: