What are the mounting distance versus viewing distance limitations?

P

Pete Dzwonkas

Audioholic Intern
I'm looking at my basement layout for the future HT and would like to place the projector on the ceiling at a natural break where the screen would be under about a 7.5 foot ceiling and then changes to about 8.5 feet at 9 feet out.

When I run the throw calculations for the Sony HS51, it gives me a 60" diagonal screen for that throw. I want to use a 100 to 110" diagonal screen, sit in 2 rows at 14 and 18 feet back. Can I just zoom out the projector with its zoom function and get a good picture?

This aesthetically appealing configuration lets me soffet around the sitting area for downlighting, but opens up the the area for ceiling effects that are tbd. I'll still have the projector sticking down and exposed to do its job, but if I back it up another 3 or more feet, it really blows my look I'm after.

What do you experts think?
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
It looks like that at 9' from the front of the lens, the largest screen size you can obtain is a 95" diagonal. This is based on the projection calculator at www.projectorcentral.com

Projectors at that price range definitely have some limitations, but there are several projectors with excellent specs around the same price (Panasonic, Sony, Sanyo). Don't forget the new Sharp XV-Z2000 will be out soon with a HD2+ chip in it for a reasonable price as well and should definitely be on your short list.

I checked out about 30 projectors before getting mine and feel now that I would have been about as happy with ANY of the competitors as well. There is a lot of really good stuff out there now, and it gets better all the time. So, if you don't go with Sony, you may get more of what you want in a projector at about the same price.

Just make sure the projector has full ventilation around it - that is THE most important thing in the life of not only projector bulbs, but of internal components as well.
 
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