The usual Noob questions.......

M

Milker

Guest
Thanks for any and all help in advance.
I am loosing my mind with all the reveiws and specs / recommendations etc.. on the net :eek:
I have decided I can't make up my mind on a projector or screen/size.

We are building a house and I have a dedicated theater room in the basement. The room is 14' wide by 23' long. The ceilings are 9' high.

I am not rich so I can't go all out......
Here are my requirements:
I would like the screen to be atleast 100"
The projector I need to stay under $4,000 (U.S dollars) in order to keep my marriage :suicide:

I am big on DVD's as well as XBOX. Eye candy and good quality video is a must.

I was also thinking I would put a "drop wall" behind the screen to store all the equipment. This would make the room 20' long.

Please help, I am at wits end.
I have about 3 weeks to make this decision as well as many more. :lease:
 
Hi Milker, Welcome to the forum. :hiya:
Assuming your in the States you might get more relevant information from the AVS forum, also in the States.
However, In my opinion I'd consider the new Panasonic AE700 with a Dalite or Draper grey screen and a HDMI DVD player. That would keep to budget.
Please try to demo the equipment before buying, that may be difficult with the AE700 but if you can view an AE500 and imagine better black levels and contrast, that would get you started. Of course there's a few DLP projectors that fit your budget, but I can't personally recommend any as I see the damned rainbows !
Cheers, Rob :smashin:
 
The AVS forums. :)

Your room is quite large so you'll need a long throw lens, sadly those are not so common. I have a Sharp Z200E which is one such, a nice DLP with a long-throw but even that may not be long wnough for you .. it fills my 92" at 15' .. I don't know whether long-throw lenses are commonly available as extras but even if they are they'll not be cheap.
 
Actually once I put the drop wall in the room will only be 20 foot long and I plan on position the projector at about 15 feet from the screen.
 
I have recently bought a Sony HS20, in preference over the panasonic ae700 (vertical banding was noticeable) and Themescene H30 DLP (rainbows).
The picture quality on the sony sold it, and having used it primarily for DVDs and XBOX, I would recommend it to anyone who has enough space to accommodate a long throw PJ.

But take the earlier advice also and make sure you demo anything before you buy!

Whichever PJ you buy you will not regret the experience.

Cheers and good luck :beer:
 
Thanks guys.
Demoing is not really an option for where I live.
There is one major retailer "American T.V." and they only carry Optimus and Sony.
I liked the Optimus but it was way out of my price range.

How long of a throw does that Sony have and how big of a screen would you recommend for me?

I will probably end up buying my parts online since there is no other place within 50 miles :rolleyes:
 
Milker,

I have the sony 13ft from the screen, and get a 100" diagonal pic using the zoom function. As your room is bigger you will easily be able to get this without using any zoom.

If, for example, you were to put your projector at 20ft from the screen, you would be able to have a screen size anywhere between 131" and 157".

I have read on these forums that the optimum viewing distance is something like 1.5 to 2 times the width of the screen, but I think it is really individual preference.

To mess around with figures and throw distances use the projector calc on Projector central.com, it seems to be reliable, and is very easy to use.

With regards to DLP, I would never buy one unless you can demo it first. The wife and I had rainbow experiences that outruled DLPs completely....beware!

I am not an expert on projectors or AV, and there may be problems with the HS20 I haven't even thought about, but I couldn't be happier with the Sony.

Hope that is of some help to you :beer:
 

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