Whelp, I don't know a lot about projectors yet - I've been absorbing here a bit. Here's the situation: We're moving and the main TV room is setup fairly poorly. The only real place is over the fireplace, which I'm not thrilled about. (We currently have a 50" Pioneer plasma.) My thought was to have a screen come out of the ceiling and put up a projector. This helps my wife (doesn't have a bit TV on the wall all the time) and helps me (bigger screen. :>). Here's the general setup:

- 10' ceilings
- 14' wide
- 25' long (but this is past the dinner table and to the kitchen.)
- about 9' to the couch.

Based on that viewing distance, I can't imagine I would go 100" - maybe something more in the 70" range? So, this wouldn't be a huge screen. In terms of the throw distance, I would have to mount it on the ceiling so I'd imagine it is fairly flexible. Here's my hopes and dreams:

1) Up PQ over my 50" 720p Pioneer
2) Still be able to watch some TV during the day without completely blocking out light. I know the PQ wouldn't be perfect but something acceptable.
3) One cool thing would be the ability to up the picture size when having a party. (This isn't a big deal.)

Any advice?

Thanks,
Chris

I would say you will want to stick to an 82"ish diagonal 16:9...maybe a tad bigger if you like a big screen.

At that size, most anything now will light it up pretty well. What is your budget for the setup?

Depending on your budget, you might look at the JVC RS10/20 as they have the very useful control of an internal iris which allows you to tame excess brightness that you may get with a smaller screen. The side effect being that with the iris 'stopped down' you get the best contrast ratio from this model. When the lamp ages it will dim and you'll be able to open the iris up to compensate, rather than having to buy a new lamp before it is due.

I've just ordered a JVC HD350 myself (a slightly pared down version of the RS10 from what I understand, I'm sure Jason will correct me on this if neccesary :) ), but there are other alternatives, especially if this is more than you intended to spend. :)

The epson 6500ub has dropped in price and puts out some serious light. They seem to underrate their lumens. Projectorreviews got almost 2200 lumens in brightest mode. I can watch mine in the daytime even with dark movies.

I wouldn't get a screen until you get a pj because at first for me a 92 was huge, but after a few weeks, it seemed really small and I wahnted to go bigger. We've got a 135 inch now and we love it. At 9ft thats too big in my opinion, but I don't think 92 ionch is out of the question. We sit 10ft and 13ft from our screen, so depending on your own comfort level, yo may want something bigger than 70. I suggest you get the pj set it up on a sheet or some budget blackout material form jo ann fabric (16 bucks for 110 inch screen size) and play with different sizes for a few weeks to determine what you'll want. It would be a bum deal to get a screen and want to go to a different size after a month.

First, thank you all for the replies. Right after this, we did the actual moving and I'm just getting back to this issue. My apologies for the delay with the thank yous.

Just to pick up on this, after giving it some thought and speaking with my wife, there are some small changes. I also wanted to give you some more information on the room. I need to make some decisions sooner rather then later. In terms of my budget, it is fairly flexible. OBviouly, I know I am in the $3k+ area. I certainly need to keep it under $10k and of course lower is better, but it's about the marginal value.

After living here for a bit, I think the placement of a projector would be on a table instead of in the ceiling. The actual size of projectors I saw when I went out were bigger than I excepted so I think on a table would cause the least amount of disruption in the look my wife is going for.

I think the biggest concern is the ambient light during the day. Before I go farther on this issue, watch most of our TV in the evening and at night. However, we of course need it to be viewable during the day, but understand darker is better. The room has 4 windows and a sliding door. The curtains over the door are pretty dark and block out the light well. The other windows have semi-opaque shades on them, which during help block out a LOT of the light, but don't make the room dark. None of the windows shine where the screen goes. In fact, that would be the darkest part of the room.

OK, so here's the list of questions after all of that:

1) How much horizontal/vertical lens adjustment do you usually have? The projector would probably be off-center.

2) On a smaller screen (again, the couch is about 8 or 9 feet from the screen so it can't be huge), will I be able to get enough brightness during the day to have a decent picture? Of course, I can always have day/night settings if need be.

3) Does the RS10 still sound like a good option?

Thanks much again,
Chris

To make this easier, I've attached a pic of the room at maximum ambient. Again, I know this is bright. :) The screen would go about where the fireplace is and the project would be about 8 feet from the screen. Again, looking at a screen size between 65-80".

This picture was calibrated on my photograph monitor, which is set to about 110 cd, so it may look REALLY bright on your screen. I should also note the two windows next to the fireplace aren't as bright as they look here.They are similar to brightness to the window against the left wall.

Anyway to make this work so it's at least 'viewable' during the day?

Thanks,
Chris

Having done the coffee table and ceiling, ceiling hands down. Lighting control is part of the deal. Control it or wait till dark. During the day would depend on your projector choice. Like Jason asked, the "budget"? BTY, projector is tops. Good audio and you're on top of the world.

Having done the coffee table and ceiling, ceiling hands down. Lighting control is part of the deal. Control it or wait till dark. During the day would depend on your projector choice. Like Jason asked, the "budget"? BTY, projector is tops. Good audio and you're on top of the world.

Thanks for the reply! Could you expand on why the ceiling is better than the coffee table? I'm assuming it's easier to keep things out of the way of the projection, but is there imagine quality and other concerns?

I completely understand with the light control. This is a WAF problem and I'm trying to find the minimum amount of light control necessary to see a usable picture during the day.

Budget? Let's say $6k or less for the projector itself.

Thanks,
Chris

6k or less you will be able to find a SERIOUS projector. From what I've been researching maybe something like the Epson 6500UB would fit your needs. Then You'll probably have about 3 grand left over for something like....um...hmmm, maybe one for me????

Ps-i like the look of the room! Looks like a nice place ;)

You should look at the Black Diamond screen for that much ambiant light.
It would be much better during the day.
Get on of the brighter Epsons or other brighter projector and it should work.

Scott

You should look at the Black Diamond screen for that much ambiant light.
It would be much better during the day.
Get on of the brighter Epsons or other brighter projector and it should work.

Scott

Thanks for the reply. The Epson sdmfer recommended looks pretty good. Seems the IQ is just a tick lower than the JVC but it also is brighter which would be good during the day. The one concern I have is the 24 fps material. Is the 24 -> 120hz issue still a problem?

http://www.projectorreviews.com/epson/home-cinema-6500ub/index.php

Also, can you have two difference presets for settings? i.e. one for the day and one for night?

In terms of the screen, that's what I need to think about next. We have 10 foot ceilings. It seems most screens start at 72" or 80" wide, which is about as big as I want to go on this thing. However, at 16x9, a 72" screen is going to be about 62" wide x 35" H. (it's late so I apologize if my math is wrong there.) I'm not exactly sure how high this would start off the ground, but if let's say it's 30", then I need about 55" of dead space at the top if I'm doing my math right. (or basically a 72"W x 90"H screen). I was also thinking about a manual in-ceiling screen as that would have maximum WAF.

I really appreciate everyone's help here!
Chris

With your narrow viewing cone a Dalite High Power screen should work well. That would give you the ability to view in higher ambient lighting conditions.

From that distance a 92" screen would not be too big. I view a 9' wide screen from 10 feet away. :)

Good luck!

Art