Plasma or Projector setup?

[Chris]

Hey guys - the wife and I are considering diving into the home theater realm. The picture will be first. We'd like to take advantage of the wall just above our fireplace - which means there's only two choices. Flat screen or projector (don't worry, it's a deep double-sided fireplace, with very little chance of heat or soot affecting anything).

We'd like a plasma, but they're expensive. However, projectors can be expensive as well - and from what I've seen, projectors are very succeptible to lighting and glare problems. The spot we have open is about 48" square. Any suggestions or recommendations either way? We'd like to stay below $4k.

[TinHere]

Hey guys - the wife and I are considering diving into the home theater realm. The picture will be first. We'd like to take advantage of the wall just above our fireplace - which means there's only two choices. Flat screen or projector (don't worry, it's a deep double-sided fireplace, with very little chance of heat or soot affecting anything).

We'd like a plasma, but they're expensive. However, projectors can be expensive as well - and from what I've seen, projectors are very succeptible to lighting and glare problems. The spot we have open is about 48" square. Any suggestions or recommendations either way? We'd like to stay below $4k.

How about a retractable ceiling screen if you have some control over the lighting? Here's one I found on a quick search. Hmmm what kind of speakers can those be?

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/tbos/damowcsrmawa1.html

And here's a pic in a real room.

[Chris]

How about a retractable ceiling screen if you have some control over the lighting? Here's one I found on a quick search. Hmmm what kind of speakers can those be?

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/tbos/damowcsrmawa1.html

And here's a pic in a real room.

Well, that's the thing, I won't have total control over the lighting. That's why I'm wondering if lighting is critical for all projection setups. I don't think having the room in darkness just to watch TV will be ideal for us. Does this mean Plasma is the better choice between the two then?

[magictooth]

Hi!

Well, you're going to want to consider a couple things. If you've got a lot of ambient light, a front projector is probably not the way to go. If you can control the light a bit, that'll make the picture look a lot better. A PJ with a high lumen output (ie brightness) is going to be better in this case. Considering the relatively small size of the screen - I think a 48" screen is about 1/4 the benchmark 100" projector screen, you might be OK with a 1000 lumen PJ, although I don't know exactly how much light you're going to have.

The other thing to consider is the throw distance. If your fireplace is like mine, it might be difficult to set up the PJ at the right distance. For a short throw lens, you may even have to set the PJ as close as 5 ft. For a medium throw, 6-7 is the max distance that you can have.

Dave