OK, so I spent a a great deal of time researching before I bought and I finally bit the bullet and purchased the HC4900. Now for all of the questions:

This will be ceiling mounted 16 feet away from the screen, hopefully fairly flush. The ceiling height is around 8ft. That being said, what size screen do you recommend? Also, I am an avid sports watcher, and I hope to get a screen that is great for movies and great for sports. I would like a screen that can handle small amounts of ambient light while watching sports.

So, to round this up: What size screen do you think is ideal for my room size (height)? Any particular recommendations? I have read a lot about the Elite Silver Frame screens, but not quite sure which material to get to meet my expectations.

elitescreens.com/product_silver

Any and all help is very welcomed!

OK, so I spent a a great deal of time researching before I bought and I finally bit the bullet and purchased the HC4900. Now for all of the questions:

This will be ceiling mounted 16 feet away from the screen, hopefully fairly flush. The ceiling height is around 8ft. That being said, what size screen do you recommend? Also, I am an avid sports watcher, and I hope to get a screen that is great for movies and great for sports. I would like a screen that can handle small amounts of ambient light while watching sports.

So, to round this up: What size screen do you think is ideal for my room size (height)? Any particular recommendations? I have read a lot about the Elite Silver Frame screens, but not quite sure which material to get to meet my expectations.

elitescreens.com/product_silver

Any and all help is very welcomed!

At 16' away it looks like you will need at least a 100" screen. I would recommend going as big as possible, but we also need to know how far away you sit from the screen. As for screens, if you have some ambient light coming in you may want to consider matte white. I have a matte white screen with a 1.1 gain, and it handles ambient some normal ambient light just fine.

This calculator should help:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Mitsubishi-HC4900-projection-calculator-pro.htm

I haven't finalized the furniture layout yet, but it looks like we will be sitting about 12-16 feet from the screen.

My main concern is the ceiling height and the ability to have a large screen. On teh Mits site it says that the screen heigh needs to be 50% of the wall height, so 25% above and 25% below. That means, with an 8 foot ceiling, the maximum height of the screen can only be 48 inches.

Do you guys think that is correct, or with all of the zoom options, do you think I will be fine if I don't stick to their guidelines 100%?

I made some graphics to help choose the size of the screen, see the link:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1004723

Peter

Head on over to the screen forums on this site and post your question.

You'll get a zillion responses and it's up to you to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Thanks for the screen forum advice...I skipped right over that! I have spent so much time in this forum, I never bothered looking at what else was available!

Maybe you guys can help me with the question of screen placement in terms of the 7.5-8ft ceiling in teh basement. I am really concerned I will be beaming the ceiling instead of the screen.

Thanks for the screen forum advice...I skipped right over that! I have spent so much time in this forum, I never bothered looking at what else was available!

Maybe you guys can help me with the question of screen placement in terms of the 7.5-8ft ceiling in teh basement. I am really concerned I will be beaming the ceiling instead of the screen.

I don't think it will be a problem with the motorized lens shift on the 4900. You said that you are going to ceiling mount. How much play will you have with the PJ mount (ie how much extension)?

One more thing. If you buy the PJ from a place like Projector People you will get 4 hours on the lamp to test the PJ. If you are not satisfied you can ship it back and get 100% of your money back (you will just be out the cost of shipping it back).

I won't have too much play with the ceiling height being only 7.5 to 8 feet. I wouldn't want to lower it oo much in the event someone gets a little excited over the game and knocks the projector.

I have read that it is very flexible as far as mounting, but I really would like to flush mount if possible to avoid any potential of the proj being hit.

I won't have too much play with the ceiling height being only 7.5 to 8 feet. I wouldn't want to lower it oo much in the event someone gets a little excited over the game and knocks the projector.

I have read that it is very flexible as far as mounting, but I really would like to flush mount if possible to avoid any potential of the proj being hit.

Here is where my 4900 is mounted:

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh91/ack_bak/IMG_0206.jpg

And here is how I have my screen mounted and have to shoot (notice the duct work):

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh91/ack_bak/IMG_0117.jpg

Another shot with the screen down:

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh91/ack_bak/IMG_0118.jpg

I really don't think you will have any issues. The 4900 is very flexible. The motorized lens shift is a huge plus.. As you can see, I have no issues with my throw (about 15.5 ft) with the duct work and the screen (100" diagonal).

I have my 4900 mounted about 17ft from the screen on my ceiling with an almost flush ceiling mount from mountdirect on an 8ft ceiling. My screen is a DaLite 119in DaMat white surface with a 1.0 gain. The top of the screen is less than a foot from the ceiling and I sit about 15ft from the screen. This setup works very well for me.