Clean and clear on 159" perf screen...

[Steepndeeput]

I have a client that really wants to go big with his home theater. His room is roughly 45' x 45' with 10' ceilings. He is looking at 159" perforated screen. He it thinking of using Panasonic's AE700 projector. It would definately need a scaler such as DVDO's product. What are your thoughts?

This will be his personal home after it is entered into the local Builder Home Show.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BMXTRIX]

The AE700 is an entry level projector which is fantastic for a basic 10x15 or 20 foot room. It is maybe good for screens up to 120"... maybe. But, I would say it is absolutely way to small and ineffective for that room setup.

I would BEGIN with the Sony Qualia, Sim2 HT500, or Vidikron Model 80 and go upward from there. The AE700 is not a projector I would think of putting in as a showcase projector under almost any situation. Not that the AE-700 is bad, but it most definitely is entry level home theater when people have a $12,000.00 or so budget for the entire room.

Not sure how serious the person wants to be with their theater, but I would be thinking that about $50,000.00+ may be a more appropriate number for a room that size if it is to be a dedicated theater, and that is A/V side only, not furnishings in the room.

 

[RLA]

Hi
First thing, it does not matter how big the room is it only matter how far
Back the seated viewing position is. General rule of thumb is 1.5-2.0 x the screen width for the money seat. Find out how far back the client is sitting then advise him on the screen size accordingly.

The next thing you must do is figure out viewing angles for the rest of the seats. Lower gain screens will have larger viewing angle's 30 -40 degrees
Higher gain screens and screens like Fire Hawk will have shallower viewing angles.

Next is material
This is based on customer preference, ambient light and the projector specifications, this will dictate the gain and type for the install

A word of caution some microperf screens are not good choices for fixed pixel
projectors they can create the moire effect and this can be a problem if you have a client that has eagle eye's

 

[Steepndeeput]

BMX,

Thanks for the reply. I completely agree with you about the differences in projectors. The Panasonic is a really nice piece but I can't imagine it being able to display DVD or HDTV at its best on such a large screen. He does have a larger budget but somehow has been swayed that this projector will work fine. I did happen to call a local retailer and he said that the Panasonic he has is on a 120" screen and it looks great. So I asked him if he had 159" screen in his home what projector would he install. His reply without hesitation was "a $30K projector". He wouldn't give me a straight answer. What I gathered is that some people would think it looked great because they hadn't compared it with something that was meant for such a larger format.

With a wow factor of 159" for a show home, I am not willing to put my name to something that isn't what it should be. Thousands of potential clients seeing that would be the worst form of advertising I could do.

 

[Steepndeeput]

Ray

I agree with you about the seating and money seat. I had planned on placing the seating after choosing a suitable projector. The tough part with this will be all the walk through people who will get much closer to the screen. Granted all projectors would have this same issue each with differing variables. The customer is determined on 159". And that is the why I am trying to find a projector that'll do the job for under 12K or so.

The viewing angles are another issue that a lower quality projector might have problems with. I had planned on setting the seating so the chairs towards the ends would angle in some...what are your thoughts? As far as the stepping of the seated areas...for a screen that big how much room do I have angle wise? What issues would I run into if I had the room narrow towards the screen? Good idea or bad?

As far as screen type...would you recommend a Dalite Cinema Contour Micro Perf with a felt wrapped frame? Or something different? Have you used Screen Research before?

The ambient light will be minimal. The projector...well still trying to narrow that down. Looking to spend less than $14K between the projector and screen.

I appreciate your input.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There are tons of great sub 12k projectors out there. The main reason I lean towards the 25k projectors is that you get the good chips - the 3 chip DLP or Lcos which offer you better contrast ratios for video, typically much better black levels. Plus, with 3 chips you don't have rainbow effects that you could possibly see in a single chip DLP which is definitely a 10k projector.

The biggie though is that many of the 25k projectors put out about twice as much light and still retain a high contrast ratio. On a larger screen my worry is not screen size/viewing distance, but actual lumen output which is cut significantly as screen size increases. At 159" I would expect that the room really needs to be pitch black for watching any movies.

Is that the law? Of course not, and I have a cheapie Panasonic and absolutely love it. But, I use it in my family room. I wouldn't put it in any dedicated theater if I was planning on spending thousands on making a room a theater then I would budget the projector for about half of my A/V spending and audio for the other half... Okay, maybe a little more on audio. How about 1/3 on the projector?

Anyway, I get irritated looking at projectors that really don't offer a lot of brightness for additional cash spent, until you spend a LOT of cash it seems. You might get contrast improvements, you definitely get scaler/processing improvements, a better lens, better control and more inputs. But, really, my old Panasonic looks marginally worse than projectors costing 10 grand more, while still being almost exactly the same brightness.

In which case, you might just want to go with an inexpensive DLP 1280x720 projector and have a pretty typical theater.

If you want to try something interesting, take a look at the Sanyo PLV-WF10 which is rated, and TESTED at 4K lumens. It is loud though which means the projector must be mounted outside the room. Multiple lenses are available, none are standard, so it is not hard to do this. Isolate the projector (and noise) into a different room and run things through it like a movie theater. Very trick and a good image. But, perhaps just above what is intended to be spent.

Not much else in the 10K arena for projectors really makes me think much about buying them. There are a ton of very similar projectors from Sim2, Sharp, Marantz, Runco (Runcos constantly break), BenQ (good price), and others. The new high contrast LCDs from Sanyo, Sony, and Panasonic are great for the money, but not the same quality as the competition.

As I said, it is a big screen, and ambient light will completely destroy the view unless a higher lumen projector is used. If not, then the Panasonic will be, at the very least, a decent place to get started, but I would be it is not the final place the customer will be satisfied with. Just present him (or her) with his options and let him know the potential downfalls and then encourage them to make a decision they feel comfortable with. They may just get the Panasonic, not like it, then immediately upgrade. A pain to install and switch, but more sales. I see that happen all the time.