We are thinking of having a cast screening at a small, local theatre. I am looking to buy either the Viewsonic Pro 8100 or the Optoma HD20. Would either be okay for a small theatre screening?
The throw distance is about 30 ft approximately onto a 160" 4:3 screen. Do you think either projector would be sufficient? The Pro is only 200 bucks more here in Canada than the HD20.

Oh yes, hopefully we are going to make a Blue Ray of our film too if that helps.

With that long of a throw and screen you need a very bright projector. I am not sure if a home theater projector will work well for your trying to do. Maybe the Epson 6100 in dymanic mode might work but the colors won't be the best. You can calibrate it to look much better but you will lose some of the brightness by doing that. Most business projectors are designed for 4:3 and are much brighter. Of course they don't have the best black levels or resolution but they might work better for what your trying to do.

I'd go with the Pro8100 personally.

The Viewsonic pro was rated at 750 in the brightest mode, while the hd20 was rated at 954 at brightest mode. Since you are going for size and throw distance you will want to go with the brightest projector you can get. I would go with the hd20 if you have to pick from the two.

Well, I'd cross off the HD20 for the reason that at least someone is going to suffer from RBE. You need an LCD pj, IMO, but I don't think the Pro8100 is going to give the lumens you need.

Well, I'd cross off the HD20 for the reason that at least someone is going to suffer from RBE. You need an LCD pj, IMO, but I don't think the Pro8100 is going to give the lumens you need.

To write off all DLP projectors simply because someone might notice the rainbow effects is a pretty weak reason. Usually, you get more bang for your buck with DLP projectors. The HD20 is an excellent choice and brighter than the Pro8100.

To write off all DLP projectors simply because someone might notice the rainbow effects is a pretty weak reason. Usually, you get more bang for your buck with DLP projectors. The HD20 is an excellent choice and brighter than the Pro8100.

I'm not anti DLP by any means, but 15 min in front of an HD65 and I had to lie down from nausea. With an HD20 it was tolerable but enough to distract me from the movie. They mentioned a cast screening...that means a lot more than five or six people in a home theatre room. Chances are a few are going to be RBE sensitive, maybe even a couple will suffer headaches and/or nausea. Why take that chance?

I would go with the Epson 8100 as well, cause to be honest its contrast is a lot higher than the Optoma, and it's only a few hundred bucks more. It's also apparently brighter than the HD20.

It really depends how much you're willing to spend. If you're only looking at these 2 items, then yeah just stick with the 8100, it is most likely a better choice.

I looked at the projection calculators and the hd20, 8100 will not work at 30ft, you need around 3000 lumens , the optoma tx1080 will work fine and if you do some looking on projector central, you should be able to find some other models which will work to.

The Viewsonic pro was rated at 750 in the brightest mode, while the hd20 was rated at 954 at brightest mode. Since you are going for size and throw distance you will want to go with the brightest projector you can get. I would go with the hd20 if you have to pick from the two.


The number you're pulling for the Pro8100 is from best mode (as calibrated by Projector Central). It appears the confusion is coming from an error with the projector calculator, which several have reported as not reliable for this projector. Art measured the Pro8100 at 1281 lumens in brightest mode (see snippet below):

Brightest mode: Cinema Mode, with Color Temp set to Normal, after adjustment for best contrast, brightness and color - with the idea that some sacrifice in these areas, is necessary to get the brightest image, and be able to deal with some ambient light. With the zoom lens, again, in middle position, we measured 1281 lumens.

While the Pro8100 still comes up significantly short of the couple of "light cannons" out there (Optoma HD81-LV, and InFocus IN82), its best mode performance still makes it one of the brightest 1080p projectors around.

The Pro8100 will give you a brighter picture than the HD20, but I doubt it will be able to give you the type of image you're after at that projection distance... even with a very high gain screen. However, if you can move the projector up in front of your seating area, it should be able to give you something very usable! You may have trouble finding one now though, as they are getting scarce. The Pro8100 is by far the best deal going right now in low cost 1080p fp.

Though I prefer DLP myself I wouldn't want to take the chance with a large venue that someone may have problems with RBE. You may want to look into some older high end 720p models. Some of them are real light cannons and can produce a great image at that distance.

What you want to do is go to Projector Central and do a "feature search" based on your criteria. After that, check for reviews of the models. Once you get down to a small enough number you can start searching for the best price.

Here's a search I've started for you for 720p models.

Projector Central feature search (http://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm?g=1&hide=0&st=1&mfg=&p=&w=&r=8&br=2000-3000&ll=&t=&db=&dt=&c=&ar=&dvi=&td=&i=d&is=&sort=%24)

Though I prefer DLP myself I wouldn't want to take the chance with a large venue that someone may have problems with RBE. You may want to look into some older high end 720p models. Some of them are real light cannons and can produce a great image at that distance.

What you want to do is go to Projector Central and do a "feature search" based on your criteria. After that, check for reviews of the models. Once you get down to a small enough number you can start searching for the best price.

Here's a search I've started for you for 720p models.

Projector Central feature search (http://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm?g=1&hide=0&st=1&mfg=&p=&w=&r=8&br=2000-3000&ll=&t=&db=&dt=&c=&ar=&dvi=&td=&i=d&is=&sort=%24)


That's true, I forgot about that. For large venues you should consider people who will be sensitive to the Rainbow effect. DLP may not be the choice you should go with...