Budget of somewhere near $1,000
Projector will be located in my basement in a light controlled room with basically zero ambient light.
Will be used for HD TV, Movies, NFL and quite a bit of video gaming.
Ceiling is just under 8 feet high. Using the HC1500 projector software calculator, I had a 110 inch diagonal screen which was 1 foot off the floor. (is that high enough?)
Room is 11 feet wide and 40 feet long (so long and narrow) and had calculated that I will be hanging the projector approximately 12-16 feet away from the projector wall.
I already have speakers and a receiver (Pioneer VSX-1016)


This will be my first projector so I don't know if I will be affected by "rainbows".

I was set on getting the Mits HC1500 after reading the positive reviews but then it was discontinued and there does not seem to be the same sentiment about the HC1600.


What projector would you recommend?
What projectors would you recommend I start comparing between?
Is it ok to have the bottom of the screen only have 1 foot of distance to the ground? What should be the minimum?

I am new to the projector arena. I too was looking for a 1k pj. I have had a 51" hitachi ultravision rp-crt tv for 5 years and am very happy with the pq. I am building a house with a finished basement so decided to go pj. The main issue (to me) is that it is hard to find showrooms that have proper pj setups. I saw a mits 1500 at a bb, it looked like crap!!! It was probably in need of a calibration. I wound up getting an optoma hd65. I am no expert but I like the pq of this pj. For now I just have it displayed on a painted wall and it looks very good. The drawback is that there is very limited lense shift but that aside I would highly recommend it.

i say go the SHARP DT-500.. relatively short throw.. and put it on your coffee table...

Where would one look for said Sharp DT-500 for under $1K?

I can't seem to locate one.

Where would one look for said Sharp DT-500 for under $1K?

I can't seem to locate one.

Try searching for Sharp DT-510.

i say go the SHARP DT-500.. relatively short throw.. and put it on your coffee table...

The throw distance is not an issue, and I would like to ceiling mount the projector.