need advice

[Tanenger]

It occurred to my wife and I that we could create some very fun memories for our 3 children by having a Sat night movie night, I began my research and quickly became overwhelmed by all of the info and my lack of knowledge. My question is what kind of projector, and what brand of ceiling mounted screen should we purchase? we would like to keep the budget as close to 700.00 as we can. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I keep having this feeling that watching movies in this way is going to have a dramatic affect on our viewing experience and produce wonderful memories for the kids...

 

[adk highlander]

Hi Taneger and welcome to the forum. Movie night is one our favorite nights in our house.

To really help you move forward we need more info. Give use your room size, how far away the projector will be from the screen (throw distance) and how dark will you be able to make the room.

I will be honest $700 for a projector, screen and mount will be very tough to achieve. What sources do you have? (blu-ray, cable etc.) Do you have an existing surround setup to go with it?

 

[lsiberian]

A Favi 92 manual pull-down with an Espon 707 would work, but if you can delay gratification and save up for an Epson 8350 you could rear shelf mount it, have much better zoom flexibility, and higher picture quality.

This is what the Favi Screen looks like. I've had it over 2 years

 

[Tanenger]

Thanks for your time. The room is 18' across and 17' deep. After the sun goes down, the room can be quite dark. We only have a blue ray and we can stream through our Wi. We were looking at a Epson V11H584220 at $379.00 and the Elite screens seemed very affordable. We have no speakers at all. We are hoping to get up and running on less than a $1000.00, and upgrade in the future. We know that our budget is a challenge... Final thought, we're not sure if we are going to mount our 1st projector.

 

[lsiberian]

That projector requires a precise ceiling mount because it has zero lens shift. On your budget you simply can't afford a proper projection setup at this time. If you already have the TV why not add a nice theater setup. Get the Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers pair them with a decent receiver and you can add the projector when you have the money later on.

 

[BMXTRIX]

If you are serious about this then it becomes a question of 'how serious are you'? Front projection can be done on a budget and the Optoma HD66 is a very good 720p projector (1280x720 resolution). It is a proper 16:9 aspect ratio, and will deliver a good image on screen in a dark room. As is always the case, you can't have lights on, and light walls will hurt the image, but it is still a decent entry level home theater specific projector with good ratings and reviews.

It can be had for about $500 which is a fair and honest price for a projector.

The caveats with this: You don't get to put a projector wherever the heck you want. It has a limited range zoom lens and with a 110" diagonal, you MUST put the lens of the projector between 12'5" and 13'7" from the screen. It also should be 6" above the screen on a ceiling mount, or 6" below the screen on a low table.

That measurement is VERY specific and exclusive to that projector, but that's the one I would recommend at a very entry level price point.

Now, there are dozens of home theater projectors out there, but true 1080p front projection from a reputable company starts at about $900 right now. It has the same limitations on placement flexibility, but will provide a great experience.

Let's be clear on this - Home theater can pretty easily rival the movie going experience. You can get 'center of theater' feel with a 120"+ screen and a decent sound system which is properly calibrated for your space can often times blow away the actual movie theaters, which is great, but does take a bit of cash to do it all up nicely. Still, it is the first step that matters.

What I would do if I were you and had a $1,000 firm budget.

1. Get the Optoma HD66 ($500)
2. Get a cheap ceiling mount which is adjustable (important to have height adjustment!) - ($45) - Projector Ceiling Mount - NPL Series manufactured and sold by MountDirect.com. 100% all steel design, with roll,pitch and yaw adjustments. Work with Suspended ceiling, drop ceiling, or false ceiling with optional Suspended ceiling adapter
3. Get a long HDMI cable for your BD player and a long extension cord... Preferably spend some time wiring it in properly, but this isn't a requirement to begin with. - $75 - For only $50.18 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 40ft Ultra Slim Series High Performance HDMI® Cable w/ RedMere® Technology
4. Get a cheap (the cheapest!) manual roll up screen (if you must). ($150) - Focupix 16:9 Widescreen Professional Pull Down Projector Screen w/SlowMotion - 110"
5. If you CAN do a fixed frame screen, it is FAR better... ($290) - Focupix 16:9 Widescreen Fixed Frame Projector Screen - 115" White
6. Get a inexpensive home theater setup, even a home theater in a box kit with the money left. ($200ish)

Now, there are a million other things you can do to improve the experience, and if you like it and get into it, you may crave a great deal of what that experience has to offer. 1080p video playback, dark walls, ceiling, carpet, better (far better!) sound, great lighting, and good theater seats are just a few of the things that people put into their theater to really make it incredible.

But, at the root is a good sized, decent quality screen and a decent projector with some reasonable sound. It is hard to impress upon you how important good sound is to a quality home theater, but at the very least, decent sound is a good starting point.

There are some good primers for front projection setup at www.projectorcentral.com - But, ask your questions here as I hate answering in multiple places.

 

[Tanenger]

Thank you very much for all of your efforts! What you have advised is pretty much what we will do. And I do appreciate your emphasis on quality sound. In truth now that I have found the home theatre thing I have a feeling that I will become addicted to it and want to donate an entire room and a lot of money to it, but I am forced to start at the beginning and build a kind of pretend version of a home theatre. The kids will love it! Thanks again info and the links.