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

[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/Opto...ulator-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.