projector and screen suggestions

[W8N4AFREAK]

Looking for some suggestions on my Theater Room. Here is what I have so far.

Klipsch THX Ultra 2 http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/thx-ultra2.aspx
Denon 3808CI
Sony Blu-Ray player
Toshiba HD-DVD player
Panamax 5400-PM Power distributer
MX-3000 remote with a MRF-350


I need a 1080p projector and screen. The room will be setup in more of a family room. It will have sofas and a table not theater seating. It's going to be a hang room. The dimensions are about 15' wide by 20' deep with a 9' ceiling. All the front speakers and sub will be recessed. The surround speakers will be external. The equipment will be placed on the other-side of a wall and obtainable through a door from the Theater room.

As for lighting it can be dark but most of the time will be lit-up fairly well.


So the projector and screen will be mostly designated for mid to mid-high lights.

I'm looking at a screen to drop from the ceiling and 100" or more. It will also be a 16:9 format.

Let me know what you think is my best solution. Also if any additional equipment is needed or recommended. Like a Theater Series Separates or a additional amp.

I did look through the reviews and have some ideas but what to make a better decision.

If you could please while listing suggestions let me know if its just the best or bang for your buck or just use this since technology will change and its better to save a few buck on the projector since I'll be replacing it in a few years.

Thanks Jim

 

[BMXTRIX]

You didn't list the distance of the primary seating location. The width of your screen is really determined by this distance more than the size of the room. Figuring that you will have seating around 15' back, then about a 10' wide screen is appropriate - which is about 140" or so diagonal for the screen.

As for the screen itself, you can go with any of the major manufacturers tab-tensioned motorized models. These are NOT inexpensive, but are well worth the money as they will last forever and a day with top notch quality. Think Draper, DaLite, or Stewart.

The projector itself is not a given and should pretty much be decided upon at the last second. JVC has excellence with the RS1 model, but the Panny models are very good for a fair bit less money, and the new Sanyo is great - and less money still.

Yet, I would rule out the Sanyo due to it's brightness.

The Panasonic or JVC I would more readily recommend.

As for room lighting - you can't simply 'light' the room up. You MUST use directional lighting that keeps light from falling on the screen and you really should use dark paint, carpet, ceiling treatments to help maintain quality.

For a review of what lighting does to a projected image, and how much directional lighting can help within a room please look at:
http://www.avintegrated.com/lighting.html

The JVC is what I would consider top notch. You can spend a fair bit more and get zero improvement.

The Panny is a very small step down from the JVC, but a pretty significant savings.

I would be happy with either.

 

[Johnd]

I agree with most of BMXTRIX's suggestions. Obviously, the projector needs to be selected first based on your needs and desires and its' attributes, and a screen to match the projector and room environment. I'm currently running a 100" glass bead screen and love it. I have read that the new Sanyo does best with a 1.1 gain screen (under the correct conditions of course). I have further read that some of the high gain screens (1.8+) look like sandpaper.

I think it best to first treat the room correctly with darker colors and black out screens on doors and windows (which can be lined with pulled back drapes when not in use). You will otherwise never optimize the potential of your new pj. I am in the market as well, and am heavily leaning towards the Z2000 (price, low noise, excellent sd projection...I don't need the extra hdmi, 12v trigger, etc. that the Panny offers, although the side by side display would be very cool).

 

[W8N4AFREAK]

sugestion

Thanks for the input.

-As for seating it would be about 15'.
-The lighting will be kept to the sides except for behind the projector.
- The room has 0 windows and will be painted in dark colors.

?? Do you think the 3808ci is enough to power the Klipsch THX system?
?? As for the screen what would be best? White, Bright White, Gray.....

The reviews on the Epson pro cinima 1080P looked good also. It cost around $2,600.
The JVC RS1 is about $4,050.

I would like the screen to be between the 106" and 140" size.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thanks for the input.

-As for seating it would be about 15'.
-The lighting will be kept to the sides except for behind the projector.
- The room has 0 windows and will be painted in dark colors.

?? Do you think the 3808ci is enough to power the Klipsch THX system?
?? As for the screen what would be best? White, Bright White, Gray.....

The reviews on the Epson pro cinima 1080P looked good also. It cost around $2,600.
The JVC RS1 is about $4,050.

I would like the screen to be between the 106" and 140" size.

A couple of added consideration to make it harder:
Screen size will have an impact on the footLambert light on screen and the projection distance can also impact that. You probably want 16fL on screen as that is the movie standard. Also, as bulbs age, light output drops. Most projectors don't spec this when the projector is Calibrated to the appropriate standards, 6500K color temp, etc. So, you have to have a number of factors coming together.
Sony has a new projector out, the VW60, Black pearl that was reviewed by Wide Screen Review and may be published soon; the review is available on line subscription, I believe.

I checked the surround speakers and are an very easy load. So, if the rest of the speakers are similar, yes, your receiver should drive it to reference levels, 105 dB at your seating position

 

[TVJon]

That BMXTRIX link to the lighting demonstration photos was really interesting.... thanks for sharing that! Good luck with your project Jim. I'm doing a 15x20 media room. Chose the Panny and will do a 110 inch screen, shadowboxed in some dark cabinets/book cases and a coved ceiling.

TVJon

 

[BMXTRIX]

As a follow up..

If you have a 15' seating distance than the proper (THX) screen size as you will find in commercial theaters, would be 120" WIDE. That's 138" diagonal. While that may sound 'huge' - it equates to what you will see in a properly designed movie theater if you sit in the CENTER seat in the theater. If you like sitting futher back, then go with a bit smaller, if you like sitting closer, then go a bit bigger - but really, if you aren't sure and you LIKE the center of the movie theater, then 138" diagonal is the proper and correct size for your room and setup, as it complies to THX standards and delivers the full benefit of 1080p resolution to your seating distance.

Now - a quick trip over to ProjectorCentral.com and we look for projectors that can give us about 16lm/ft at that size.

The AE2000 from Panasonic can do it... and is one of the ones that will be the most popular throughout the year. I'm not sure I would go with the Epson as it often doesn't score as well as similarly priced competitors for quality.

Understand: The current lineup of projectors will range from very good to excellent. There isn't one that is 'bad' or just 'mediocre'. They are all, at least, VERY good! So, you just have to pick and choose which of these very good projectors is the one you want.

For a screen - I will, as I always have, recommend the Carada Criterion series screens in their Bright White 1.4 gain material. The screen construction is phenomenal - and the screen itself is very typically compared to the Stewart screen of similar build quality that runs 3x the price (or more). The added gain will help with the size of the screen, and really allow images to retain punch for longer as the lamp fades.

The Optoma HD80 and the Panasonic really jump out at me as serious contendors for this setup.

DLP simply bests LCD in my experience when we are talking about serious black level and shadow detail performance, but it is a very marginal improvement. DLP is just a hair better across the board. Yet, rainbow effects can bug some. Also, the HD80 is VERY limited on setup options with a way to serious lens offset... which works fine if your ceiling height allows for it. My 9' ceiling would be fine if my motorized screen had more than 12" of drop from the ceiling - since it doesn't, I can't use a projector like that in my family room. So, you kind of get the idea that your room may somewhat force your hand a bit on the projectors available.

The Panasonic AE2000 has pretty much everything you would want, but may not deliver 100% of the picture quality that a RS1 or a VP60 could deliver. Yet, the added lumen output is a HUGE plus when going up in screen size and when you add a bit of ambient light to the room.

It is, in fact, THE projector I would recommend per your description of the setup, your desires, and the screen size that should be in use.

 

[imjay]

Smarter and more experienced posters here than I - all I can share is our personal and real life experience.

Our room is also multi-purpose and I'm not sure enough has been said here to express caution re ambient light. Our room also has sofas and chairs. The long view of our room has traditional entertainment center at one end with 56in HD flat panel so the projector is on side wall with throw of about 13 feet which is still ample for a 120in or larger diagonal image.

We have two front projectors - started with a Canon which is now the back up to our Panasonic AE-900U.

I don't think enough said here yet about ambient light and effect of room light on front projected image.

Both of our PJs will throw a visible and watchable image with some ambient room light but our humble opinion and experience is ANY light starts to wash out a bit of the picture quality and the more light the more degradation of the image.

Our room has dark paneled walls, dark carpet and non-reflective ceiling panels. I do a lot of movie watching during the day and my bride needs to move in and out of the space now and then so we have a bit of bleed in ambient light from the adjacent area and the movie image is still very, very good but darker the room the more of a theater experience you get.

So, if we have friends over or a group of family and need low to mid brightness lighting in the room I switch over the the 56in flat panel for THE BIG GAME or a HD movie or a Wii bowling tournament.

Our experience is for best emulation of the commercial theater in your home you need a commercial theater atmosphere which is dark with non-reflective and dark floor, walls and ceiling - many people can't achieve that perfectly but can darken ambient light and with front projection today there is just no way around it.

 

[Gudzon]

Denon 3808CI

 

[KevInCinci]

Since you mentioned that the room will be well-lit most of the time, you might be better served by a grey screen than one of the bright whites. The grey ones tend to be more forgiving of ambient light. For that reason, I got the DaLite High Contrast Cinema Vision material. We tend to have more parties in my theater area (since it shares space with the bar!) for sports and such, meaning that the lights are on a lot. We still get great visibility out the HCCV screen, especially considering we've got some light right above the screen. It works just fine with the lights off, too, for regular movie watching. Maybe it's not quite as intense as one of the high gain screens in that instance, but it more than makes up for it in viewability with the lights on. It helps that my Optoma projector is pretty bright anyway and is at the close end of the distance-to-screen envelope. Besides, most people get new projectors more often than screens and the projectors keep getting better in terms of light output, so the better gain isn't going to be as critical in future years. Just my 2 cents...

Cheers,

Kevin