I am having a media room built that should be done in 4 weeks. I plan on having a 150" to 161" screen with the first row of seating to be at 10.5" from the screen. I would like to know recommendations for projectors at this screen size and viewing distance. I like the Sony LCoS for no pixel issues but the Lumens is way too low. I like the Epson Powerlite Pro Cinema 1080 UB for Lumens but don't know how it will look that big and close up. I'm looking for last year models as they will be discounted about now. I am looking at 4K+ MSRP.

Try the 'Ultra Hi-End HT Gear ($20,000+)' section of the forum.

He said he wanted the price starting at 4000+.

Strange that you find the lumens way too low on the Sony. If the room is dark, it should be plenty lumens. I have a 125" wide screen that I used a Barco CRT projector with and it was plenty bright. The gain is 1.4. Maybe you just need a higher gain screen?

It's gonna be tough to find a projector to light that screen real well.

Is your $4000 for projector price, as the projectors uou mention are about one third that price now?

Scott

I have a screen about that big, 12' wide and sit about 12' from the screen and use the Infocus IN83 which is bright enough and you can't make out pixel structure at 10'.

You need to have good light control and I would recommend dark walls and ceiling as well due to the fact that all projectors dim quite a bit in the first 500-600 hours. If you will have this type of scenario like me then I would recommend you consider the JVC HD15, I may move to that projector in the next year or so. The IN83 is a nice projector but the fixed offset is horrible and I have to use keystone adjustment to make it work with my 8' ceiling and It also has pretty bad brightness uniformity. So average brightness for the IN83 is close to the HD15; however, if you were going to measure the center brightness it is quite a bit brighter. Of course the black levels on the HD15 should be dramatically better. I will probably goto the new JVC HD25 I think but that is over your $4K budget.

Good luck and don't let people scare you away from a big screen as they are great and can be done well within your budget.

I would think it would be tiring to sit in the first row. I hate to sit that close in the movie theater.

I would think it would be tiring to sit in the first row. I hate to sit that close in the movie theater.
This was my very thought too. Even at a 1.2X viewing distance ratio (our front row seating) it is hard to watch any full-screen fast moving action and requires too much head and eye movement to keep up... it is tiring. None of the adults like to sit in the first row of our home theater because of these issues... rather everyone fights over the seats in the back row which is at a far more comfortable 2X viewing distance ratio. What's being proposed here is like a .85X viewing distance ratio, wow! I'd think that would definitely be physically tiring to watch anything for very long... that's like watching a 46" (diag) TV from less than 3 feet away! (2 feet 10 inches actually)... I'd suggest you try this with your TV first before committing big bucks to permanently assemble your theater to this viewing ratio... and remember this is with your eyes disproportionately further apart (as you cannot actually shrink your head size) and so even that example will still not be nearly as tiring as what you are proposing. Anyway, its just a suggestion borne from my own experiences...

BTW, the only reason I haven't moved the front row seating further back is because of the room's acoustics... I'm using the rule of thirds to avoid nasty nulls in the bass region and pushing the front seating a couple feet back would place them in the center of the room.

Hey guys, let's stick to the question posted by the author. Although I agree that the first row of seating is a bit close I don't agree that 1.2 times is too close and we don't know the configuration of the rest of the theater.

Anyway let's comment on projector choices which is what he is asking about. I am also always interested in the discussion of sub $6k projectors for big screens as I am in the same boat and my current projector is not ideal for my situation and I often get the upgrade bug....

What is your planned throw distance and ceiling height? Both will obviously have an impact on your pj choice as well.

I just picked up a Viewsonic Pro8100, which is a steal of a bargain right now at roughly $1200. It's MSRP when it came out last year was $5K, even if it never truly sold for that. Realistically, it was a mid $3k projector. If you have 15'+ projection throw distance, it could very well fit the bill. I'm projecting on a 120" primed wall from 16'6", and have gone as big as 144" before I run into problems with my low ceiling height. Despite what the projector calculator says (obviously flawed for this pj) the lumen output is certainly there at that size, as is the clarity/detail, even with some ambient light!

you can have a look at the Da-Lite Tensioned Advantage Deluxe Electrol - Projection screen (motorized) - 150 in - 4:3 - High Contrast Cinema Vision (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002936VO?ie=UTF8&tag=shopguid0b-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0002936VO).

It has the same great features as the Advantage Deluxe Electrol except screen is tensioned for an extra flat surface of optimum image quality when using video or data projection.

The list Price for it is $5,983.00, now you can get it with a sale price :$3,563.95..