I'm just about done finishing my basement, and am planning to use a projector, but I've never done this before and have a couple of questions.

First, I've been looking at three models;
Panasonic PT-AE3000
Sanyo PLV-Z3000
Sony VPL-HW10
Even though it's a bit more, I'm leaning towards the Sony due to the SXRD tech and I've heard really good things about it. The room only has one light opening, which is a door to the outside. However, my mother-in-law is making us some heavy curtains to block the light. So we shouldn't have an issue getting it pretty dark.

I'm shooting for a 120" screen, and the small app on projectorcentral.com seems to say it'll be alright. The room I'm setting up is 11-12ft wide, and about 30' long, but the room is split up and the projector can be located anywhere back to about 17'

About mounting. When hanging it from the ceiling, does it have to be inverted? I was considering making a nice wood shelf myself, but I don't know if it the geometry of the display would work correctly. I mean can it throw the image downward like that? Isn't it designed to be aimed at an upward angle?

I mostly like to watch movies (DVD and some HD) and will be piping HD OTA signals to the projector for occasional TV watching. The wife wants the standard-def DirecTV hooked up to it, but we'll see how she feels when she sees SD blown up from 32" to 120". :D

What do you guys think? Is there anything else I need to consider/plan for?

Thanks!

What you want is the Epson 6500 UB. SXRD isn't always better. You need to judge by projector. Otherwise, I like the Panasonic.

That way you can try test and exchange. Frys has a good selection and I think they even do special orders.

To answer your question , if it is mounted to the ceiling, yes it must be upside down. The projected image does not come out in line with the projector body. If you look at the specs of the projection calculators, you'll see a figure called "Offset" which is the distance from the lens centerline to the edge of the image.

Wow, I hadn't even heard about that Epson. And it looks to be about the same price as the Sony. I guess I've got a new front runner.

I'll look around to see if it's available locally.

Thanks!