Finally going for a projector! Now need expert help :)

[N. Abstentia]

Finally getting the green light for my theater room (in the form of a payoff check for my plant shutting down!) and I'm going to finally go with a projector which I've wanted to do for over 10 years. I'll finally have a place to install one!

So now I need expert opinions on the projector and screen. The biggest thing of course is budget. Most of my money is going towards the room construction itself so the projector will have to be 'on the cheap' but I'd still rather buy a $1200 projector over a $2500 65" rear projection.

Right now (just from reading) it looks like the InFocus 4805 is the projector to beat for the price. At $1000, it seems it's going to take a $3000 for a maginal improvement. Any thoughts?

How important is lumens? I see the InFocus is around 750 max. As a reference, where I used to work (the place that SHUT DOWN) I installed a ViewSonic 551 in our main conference room that was 1500 lumens. I was quite pleased with it's performance and it was just showing on an off white wall with a good bit of ambient light coming in. However it was not DLP like the InFocus. Should I be concerned with low lumens?

Lastly..for now...the screen. I like the idea of screen paint but it's more expensive than I thought. Just looking around quickly looks like about $300 for screen paint, which I've seen actual screens at that price point. Which is better, keeping in mind that it will be permanently mounted?

I'll think of more later :)

[ericl]

Heya

I've been looking at "inexpensive" projectors too.. trying to decide between that and an LCD TV. Also take a look at Optoma's H31:

http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/OptomaH31DLPProjectorReview1.php

I think you can get both the Infocus and the Optoma as well as screens at Costco, which has a lifetime return policy (although I don't see infocus on their site):

http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?whse=BC&topnav=&cat=2342&hierPath=79*&Browse=

-Eric

[Geoffcin]

Finally getting the green light for my theater room (in the form of a payoff check for my plant shutting down!) and I'm going to finally go with a projector which I've wanted to do for over 10 years. I'll finally have a place to install one!
:)

I was seriously considering a projector for my HT, but as I don't have total light control in the HT room, I canceled the idea. A fully light controlled room is a must, any light leakage will seriously degrade the image.

My first choice would be the Panasonic PT-AE700u. With it's 2x zoom, and lens shift, plus forward exaust, it easily mounts on a back wall.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/panasonic_ae700.htm

There's a lot of good info at projectorcentral.com.

Good luck!

[N. Abstentia]

Thanks guys, I've got some reading to do. I do like that Optoma, I'll have to check into it. I've never run across them before. The Panasonic might be out of my price range, and mounting on a rear wall is not a concern. My room will be 18'x30' so I actually have the luxury of it maybe being too big :)

I also need to do some figuring out to see where the best placement will be. Throw distance may become a factor.

Generally, would I want the projector as close as possible to the sceen to maximize picture quality? With a 30' room length, that could put the projector in front of the seating position...is that distracting?

[popolz]

If your image is big and you`re close you`ll see some "screen door effect". If you`re sitting a little far it wont be a problem.

I have a 106" 16:9 image and I'm sitting @11' from the screen... I see some screen door but it's not too bad.

My BenQ PB 6110 does leak some light through the fans and it would be annoying if it was in front of me. I don't know if the optoma will do the same... maybe with a ceiling mount it wouldn't be too bad.

[Geoffcin]

Generally, would I want the projector as close as possible to the sceen to maximize picture quality? With a 30' room length, that could put the projector in front of the seating position...is that distracting?


This type of mounting has some other considerations too, but you really dont want to be tripping over wiring which can happen with a table mount .

The Optima H31 is a "giant killer" but it's main fault is that it doesn't do full 720p HD, something that your going to want, especially with all the new HD software that will be coming online in the next year or so. Optima makes some of the best HT projectors in the business, if I had my way this would be the one I get;

http://www.projectorcentral.com/optoma_h79.htm

[N. Abstentia]

Jeez I forgot to mention, this will definitely be a ceiling mounted projector.

I've been using this caluclator here a lot lately:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-H31-projection-calculator-pro.htm

It's cool to see the what the actual screen size would be and how far the projector should be mounted.

I think I'm going to be good. I'm laying out my 2 channel sound first which is actually priority, and it looks like I'll be sitting about 14' from the screen, so for example mounting that Optima projector 17' from the screen will optimize at a 117" 16:9 screen. That calulator is kewwl :)

[N. Abstentia]

Geoffcin, what do you mean about the projector not doing 720p? Explain it to me like I'm stupid, as I'm still stuck in 4:3 world. I mean I know it's 720 lines of progressive resolution, but what do you mean when you say it doesn't fully do it? I need to know because all I'm looking at is the spec sheet which says:

Compatibility: HDTV:
1080i, 720p, 576p
576i

Which I would take to mean it does do 720p, so what should I be looking for?

[bjornb17]

i am too considering a projector. Not for the time being, but a couple years down the road, so i thought i'd do my homework on it now.

My dvd player outputs a resolution of 480p.

is that the standard dvd resolution?

also, how does HD broadcasting work over a projector?

[Geoffcin]

Geoffcin, what do you mean about the projector not doing 720p? Explain it to me like I'm stupid, as I'm still stuck in 4:3 world. I mean I know it's 720 lines of progressive resolution, but what do you mean when you say it doesn't fully do it? I need to know because all I'm looking at is the spec sheet which says:

Compatibility: HDTV:
1080i, 720p, 576p
576i

Which I would take to mean it does do 720p, so what should I be looking for?

Has a native resolution of 854x480 Pixels, so it can not produce a true 1280x720 resolution. Even if it claims compatability, it can only approximate the 720p resolution.

It will do the DVD standard 480p quite well, as that is it's native resolution.

[N. Abstentia]

Okay, so what's the best native resolution to look for? Will a projector with a native resolution of 1280x720 produce a picture at 854x480 as good as a projector with a native resolution of 854x480?

Or would one just want a projector with the 'most common' resoution and live with a little bit of loss on the other resolutions?

[Geoffcin]

Okay, so what's the best native resolution to look for? Will a projector with a native resolution of 1280x720 produce a picture at 854x480 as good as a projector with a native resolution of 854x480?

Or would one just want a projector with the 'most common' resoution and live with a little bit of loss on the other resolutions?

A projector with a 1280x720 native resolution will project a 720p image without any scaling. A projector with a 854x480 resolution can't. It can only downscale the image to 480p. That being said, ALL DVD's are 480p resolution, and a projector with a 480 line resolution can be just as good as a 720 line unit that has to scale to display the image. The only advantage a 720 line projector would have in this case would be less visable pixelation. This would only be a factor if you were sitting too close, but with your sized room I don't see this as a problem.

[HAVIC]

N. Abstentia, I don't think anyone has answered the lumens question. A lot of the guys have mentioned www.projectorcentral.com which is a great source of information. If you read most of their reviews on any projector it will mention that the actuall lumen output is usually a lot less than the specs say. So lumens becomes very important. Answering a few questions will help me determine approx lumens needed.

1. Is this a dedicated home theater room, meaning always dark, basement, or easily can control the amount of light in the room.

2. Is this room going to be just to watch movies or will this be an everyday tv/home theater room?

My friend has a 2100 lumen mitsubishi xd300 projector that he uses as an everyday tv/ht room and is very happy with the lumens during the day however my other friend has infocus x1 at 1000 lumens and you cannot view it well during the day because of the windows. needs to get black out material or image becomes washed out.

Also a far a resolution goes a native 1280x720p projector is considered a true HD projector while anything with lower resolution is on simulated HD. It will still look good but not great. I would go with a minimum of 1024x768 projector (still not true HD) but it seems that your budget will not support a 1280x720p projector

read this on the resolution http://www.projectorcentral.com/choosing_resolution.htm

HTH,
Greg

[N. Abstentia]

This is a dedicated theater/music room (it's ALL MINE!) but I will be installing a sliding glass door which will go out to a deck. Hey, you got the big projector, you gotta have a super bowl party which will spill out onto the deck :)

But I will do everything possible to black out the door including thick blinds and probably 2 layers of curtains. I figure some light will get in but it's okay, most movies will be watched at night anyway.

And yeah, it looks like 1024x768 is my max, which is like the View Sonic projector I mentioned before. If that Viewsonic was a 16:9 I would probalby already have it :)

[HAVIC]

Actually I think with a front projector 4x3 is the way to go if you will watch tv on it as well. My friend got the mits xd300 after I did some research for him but was a little apprehensive because it was 4x3, but after dealing with having to always stretch the image on my 16x9 rptv which makes it look wierd (i also have to worry about burn in) he still gets a bigger image then my 55" rptv in 16x9 mode. the only negative is you see a little extra screen during bright scenes. thought it may help with your decision.

Also even though you will have black out curtains and will try to minimize try to get the most amount of lumens you can get. if it is a choice between a native 16x9 with less lumens or a natice 4x3 with more lumens, I personally would go with the 4x3. Also if you go with a 4x3 but only watch 16x9 content you can still get a 16x9 screen.

[N. Abstentia]

Wouldn't a 4x3 generally produce a poor quality HD signal though? Because it's not native to the projector?

[kingdaddykeith]

There are some good package deals going on with the Panasonic AE700 right now, just look around. 720P is the best price point for LCD right now, I wouldn’t bother with anything less. Once you see a good HD signal on a good 720P projector you will understand.

I have the Panny AE700 and would buy it over again if I were in the market, great HD picture, very bright and no screen door effect. Funny thing about price on a projectors is that as soon as you buy one you start thinking about upgrading, so I wouldn’t balk in spending a little over budget, it will save you money in the long run.

[N. Abstentia]

I was able to check out the Optoma H31 in person today. Despite the dealers cluelessness, I was somewhat impressed. It was very 'screen door' looking, but was only 8' from the screen at the most. I definitely won't be buying from this guy, but I will put it at the top of my list of under $1500 projectors (even though he wanted $2500 for it). He first showed me some $15,000 projector and I told him not to even turn it on because I there was no way I could buy it. When I told him I was looking at $1500 projectors he turned on that Optoma and never said another word to me. His loss. I had cash in hand.

[Geoffcin]

I was able to check out the Optoma H31 in person today. Despite the dealers cluelessness, I was somewhat impressed. It was very 'screen door' looking, but was only 8' from the screen at the most. I definitely won't be buying from this guy, but I will put it at the top of my list of under $1500 projectors (even though he wanted $2500 for it). He first showed me some $15,000 projector and I told him not to even turn it on because I there was no way I could buy it. When I told him I was looking at $1500 projectors he turned on that Optoma and never said another word to me. His loss. I had cash in hand.

Some sales guys are destined for the scap heap in short order. This guy sounds like one.
At least you got to see the unit in action, although why it was set up with seating 8ft from the screen is beyond me.

[N. Abstentia]

No no..the seating was not 8' from the screen..the PROJECTOR was 8' from the screen. The seating was more like 6' from the screen.

Sound Advice in Columbia, SC has no idea how much business they lost this morning because the guy would not get his ass out of his lounge chair to answer any of my questions. Even after I mentioned that I would be buying a second Paradigm Servo 15 he never even bothered to quote me a price or offer me a Paradigm brochure or give me a business card or even LOOK at me. Idiot.