I want to add a projector to my home theater. I am thinking 1080p but not sure due to my room situation what I should get. This room is our living room and it is not a bat cave. It has two windows on the wall the screen would go on. They are controlled by blinds and I don't think that light will be a problem. The wall across from where the screen is has blinds that keep the light out that comes from the living room through the French doors. The wall to the right of the screen has an opening into the kitchen plus a large entranceway into the kitchen. The French doors and windows there have blinds. There is not much of a way to control the light from the dining room and foyer as there are sheers on the windows, They are on the northeast side of the house so they pose a real problem only in the morning.

The room has a dark color on the windowless wall but the other walls are like an off yellow and ceiling is white. I am afraid of going with lower lumen projectors like the Sanyo and Sony ones. Am I correct in that fear? I was thinking I would need a brighter display. Then if I do should I get a gray screen or a white one for the room. I do live in northeast Ohio so we can go days without sun but however as I write this it is a bright cloudless day. I would normally just go look at the projectors but in my area thats a joke! I currently have Tosh 52 lxx television and light is no problem. ( I would not expect it to be with a lcd. I had a crt rear projection TV before and with blinds closed had little problem if that helps. I know in the evening and night I will be fine but am thinking other times of the day a well. I do not want to buy a projector and then find it not very usable in my light.

you will not be able to use your projector to any satisfaction during the day in the described environment.

Only way is to completely blackout the window and door(?) with double thermal curtains or those wood blinds. Night/evening as you said, will be ok.

Hi Palofex

You don't say in your description where the dining room uncontrolled light is in relation to the screen. If it's behind the screen, all bets are off for daytime viewing. If it's to the left or right, you might be able create a usable daytime enviornment.

We have a livingroom setup with 40 feet of floor to ceiling windows perpendicular to the screen. The key to designing such a setup is using a retro reflective screen and a bright projector that can be mounted near eye level. This means using a modern, bridght, LCD like the Panasonic AX200 or Epson 720. If you really want 1080p, then the new Epson 6100, to be released in Nov, is as bright as the Epson 720.

In our setup we have an older Epson 400 enclosed in an end table between the couch and some chairs. When operating, the lens is about 30" off the floor. When seated, eye level is about 36". We use a Daliite HiPower,2.8x gain 92" pull down. You could also mount the projector behind and above the seating area. This is what we used to do. The key is to minimize the angle of incidence between your eyes and the projector lens. Or, more simply the horizontal and vertical distance between your eyes and the projector lens.

We've found over the past several years that this setup works well for us for watching sports and tv. It DOES NOT work for movies that have a lot of dark scenes. The reason it works for sports /tv is that the nature of the material is that it mostly contains bright / contrasty scenes. The combination of a bright projector and retro reflective screen, in combination with sports type video, fools your eyes into believing whites are whites and blacks are black. This is why it doesn't work for mostly dark material like most movies.

We use this setup for all our TV and Gaming in the livingroom. I'm including a couple of pics shot recently to show the effect. They were shot mid-day on a very sunny day.

Of course, for critical movie watching wait till after sunset and turn the lights out. But in Ohio, like here in Ontario, that's most of the time!

Jonathan

I watch a lot of day time movies in dim light.

Fact is, ambient light of any kind has an effect on image quality from a projector. Less light the less noticable the effect.

Reflection of ambient light has a lot to do with how much effect the light will have. Example, our room ceiling is white but off white and non-reflective.

Non-reflective is a key here - nothing glossy. A white screen is very light reflective and increases effect of even light from the projector. We are very glad we chose a Da-lite gray screen - no apparent light re-reflection and also any horizontal top and bottom bars due to aspect ratio scaling hardly can be seen.

Now my personal prejudice is showing cause we also have a 56in HDTV in our viewing room and it is just a dinky tv compared to projected image on screen. NO consumer tv available today creates an emulation of a commercial theater which is what Home Theater means so just our experience/opinion and will due respect to you 52in tv it is just a little tv and you ain't enjoyed Home Theater in your Home yet.

You should be able to find creative ways to tone down light streams from other rooms even if you have to hang pull down window or doorway treatments and, take my word, it will be worth it to experience Home Theater.

The situation probabl is not as grim as one might think from my description. The dining room light enter the kitchen and there is no way it could reach the screen. I was just mentioning it and the foyer plus hall as that is a bit more light entering the kitchen. I can reduce the light from the two windows that are on the same wall. They have good light reducing blinds and I could get better. The living room has french doors that have blinds on them to reduce the light that enters the family room. This family room is never light enough to read in. I just want to be sure. Thanks for those that responded. I am sure i can get it to work just wondered if I should go with soething like the epsons or could I make the sanyo work? I am sure I can get it so watchable in the day and very nice at night. You do not have to convince me the projexctor is better its a bit my other half. :)

If you're set on 1080p, The new Panasonic AE3000 is rated at 1600 lumens, and Epson will be launching the sub $2,000 MSRP HC6100 rated at 1800 lumens in November. The Panasonic MSRP is about $3,500, but they usually are deeply discounted online. The Epsons usually sell for MSRP or just a bit less.

On the 720p side, the Panny AX200 and the Epson HC720 are also extremely bright and half the price.

Jonathan

If i had to do it all over again, i would just mount a 42" plasma, and install a pulldown screen in front of it. So during the day you use the plasma, and for movie and stuff at night use the projector.

With the insane price drop nowdays, this is a much more feasible option.

I wouldn't consider using a small 42" plasma as a better option when my setup is similar to yours and I am quite happy with my AX200U and ambient light situation. I'm projecting on the awesome DIY Black Widow screen. Black Widow DIY (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=994372)

I'm also projecting a 140" image from 18' away, seating area is 17'. On the window bank I have on the side, I just have up regular ol dark curtains. The main light that ended up affecting my situation was from our entrance door. I put up blackout cloth to block that light out. We watch movies/tv during the day all the time and are very satisfied. Sure, it's not as great as when watching at night, but better than watching on a tiny 60" RPTV we used to have!

You didn't mention how far you will be projecting, nor your seating area distance, nor what method of mounting you will be using.

I'll try and get some photo's up of my room and you can compare.