think about screen size
Okay Guy's & Gal's
I have 2500-3000 to spend on a projector for my new Dedicated HT.
Here are all the details:
Room Size 25ft length by 17ft wide.
3 rows of seats 4 seats in each row.
100% light controlled room
Screen size I would like is 150"
Receiver Denon AVR-3808CI with 1080P switching
DVD Denon DVD-2930CI With 1080P output
Playstation 3 Blu-Ray
Plan on movies and Game play on occasion ONLY
What projector will give me that WOW effect.
Thanks in advance
David,
I have almost the exact room dimensions. I have a 25 x 20 room that is part of an entertainment area of 1300 sq feet and budget was not an issue for me so I chose my equipment for the best quality. I am able to make the room almost completely black or as well lit as I desire. I did a lot of research and am using some of the same equipment that you are. If you are budget oriented you might consider some alternatives that will give you a much better picture for a "wow" factor.
First, I went with a Panny 2000U. This is ideally located about 15 feet from the screen with viewing from 11 or 12 feet or more. At these distances it more that adequately "powers" the screen in the Cinema mode.
Initially, I wanted a large screen, but have scaled back. Bigger is not always better and if you are looking for that wow factor you aren't going to wow them with a large screen that will have poorer contrasts and not be bright enough. My initial impression was that bigger was better, but if you are getting this for gaming and/or movies bigger won't achieve that. Also, don't forget that viewing that large of a screen won't be pleasant. At first it may wow them, but the quality you will get will be better certainly with a 110 or 123 inch diagonal. You will have better contrast and quality with the "smaller" screen.
You will need to be sitting about 15 feet back for your first row with a 150 inch screen and your projector will be at around 20 feet. If you really want Cinema performance this isn't recommended. Light disipates with distance as we all know. You will probably need to run in "normal mode" (900 lumens) vs the Cinema (340 or so lumens) modes if you go with the large screen. Just something to think about as you will not get as high of a quality pic and will get a shift toward blue/green. Also, blacks will be grayer and details not as sharp. Remember you are putting the same pic over a large area.
Another consideration is price. If you go with a 150 inch screen you are going to spend a lot of dough on the screen itself unless you go with a cheaper brand, which kind of defeats the purpose of the wow factor. You will get a noticable difference between a cheapo screen and a better mid value one.
Think about a 110 or 123 screen, buy the Panny and get a white (1.3 or so contrast) screen from a reputable mfg without spending a fortune. Too much contrast and you will have hotspots. A Stewart screen will cost about $2,800 for the 123 inch size, so you might consider Da-Lite or Vu Tec or someone else like that. 123 from one of those mfgs will still set you back $1,500 or so.
Hope this helps. I tried to avoid too much technical info.
