Fellas,

I am building a 145" DW screen 2:40. I will be sitting 17' feet away. The theater is in my basement with total light control. During some parties we will have very little ambient light, ( not in the theater, but towards the rear bar 20' feet back). I want a 1080p PJ in the $ 2000 to 2500 range. Which models would be able to fill up/light up that screen?

Thanks in advance

The Panasonic AE3000 seems to be the best fit. It's relatively bright, and it has a long zoom. In addition, since you're going with a 2.4:1 screen, the Panny will allow you to use the zoom to do a Constant Image Height picture. The AE3000 is the only projector I know of that has memories that will allow you to do this automatically (without using an expensive anamorphic lens).

A review:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/panasonic_ae3000_projector_review.htm

The Panasonic AE3000 seems to be the best fit. It's relatively bright, and it has a long zoom. In addition, since you're going with a 2.4:1 screen, the Panny will allow you to use the zoom to do a Constant Image Height picture. The AE3000 is the only projector I know of that has memories that will allow you to do this automatically (without using an expensive anamorphic lens).

A review:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/panasonic_ae3000_projector_review.htm

Thanks BuffaloJim,

I have the panny on my short list, I will read the review.

Thank you

The new Epson Home Cinema HC6100 is 1800 lumens, even brighter than the AE3000 and $500-$6000 cheaper. But you would need a scaler and an anamorphic lens, that would be a nice system though. AFAIK there are no reviews out yet on the Epson , its a brand new design. I'm looking at its big bro Epson 6500UB but that would slightly out of you price range, not by much though.

The new Epson Home Cinema HC6100 is 1800 lumens, even brighter than the AE3000 and $500-$6000 cheaper. But you would need a scaler and an anamorphic lens, that would be a nice system though. AFAIK there are no reviews out yet on the Epson , its a brand new design. I'm looking at its big bro Epson 6500UB but that would slightly out of you price range, not by much though.

Thanks,

But those anamorphic lens are very expensive. With the 2:35.1 screen I am building, the panny can memorize that format as well as 16:9. Which I think is very impressive for a sub $ 3,000.00 PJ. I agree with you that I need all the light I can get to fill up that screen.