I've always been a home theater nut, but my townhouse I previously lived in had very limited space. I had a 55" LCD tv w/ 5.1 speakers etc. I just purchased a new (MUCH larger) home that has a room I can dedicate to a home theater. I have two 42" plasmas elsewhere in the house, so this room will be SOLELY used for watching sporting events, movies, and playing on Xbox Live.

The room is 16x17 feet, has one window on the side wall which we will be getting some serious window coverings for. I already have a solid receiver, speakers, blue-ray player, etc, and want to go ahead and make a projector and screen purchase.

What would you all reccommend for a 1080p setup that's on the low end financially as a good starter home theater for me? I've never had a projector, so I won't know what I'm missing out on by going a less financially heavy route. I'm looking for a 1080p projector, and a 119" screen (fixed). I'm looking to keep it under $2,500 as I figure by the time I by the mounting hardware, cables/wiring and all that I'll closely be hitting $3,000.

ANY advice on proven setups with this budget in mind would be awesome. My biggest concerns are:

*brightness - I want the option of watching this with some mild lighting on - if it's going to require pitch black darkness, I'm not interested.

*bulb life - I'll ultimately be using this set quite a bit as I play xbox several nights a week for 3-4 hours (fiance works nights haha) so I need something with a healthy bulb life and a low-cost replacement bulb

*picture quality - 1080p obviously, but a screen that will work well based off my room dimensions is a must.


ANY setups you guys reccommend with links or suggestions on purchasing routes? I'd prefer an ability to finance it w/ no interest as I have a lot of other cash purchases to make for the new home.

I've been scanning the web for the Epson 6100 and Infocus x10 as of lately... Thoughts?
Thanks in advance for the help!

I was in the same situation as you in November. Wanted to do a theater but had to watch the $$$. I did not feel the need to do 1080 so I went with an optoma hd65. Got a good price on it and it produces a very good picture. It is bright enough for some ambient room light. Guess that doesn't help with a pj suggestion since you require a 1080. I wound up doing a 107" diy paint on screen. I am very happy with the results. It cost under $70.00 to build which is great when you are on a tight budget.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee316/speakerman_ht/screenshots049.jpg

A 119' screen is quite big. You may have some difficulty finding a projector bright enough, for you, with some ambient light, especially without going to an expensive retroflective screen, like a Stewart firehawk (think your whole budget and more for the screen).

Projector central has a screen size calculator (go to the projection calculator located under the picture of the projector) with each projector that tells you whether there can be ambient light or total darkness or that your screen is simply too big. This could at least give you an idea if projectors in your price range can do what you need.

You may wish to post in the front projector forum (under $3500) to see what folks in there have to suggest. This area tends to be more about general construction than projectors.

For the budget conscious, nothing beats a DIY screen as bartman notes above. Paint on a wall with a border will look really good. When I went from a DIY screen to a manufactured one, I kind of wondered why afterwords, as the difference was not that noticeable.

Greg