Hi Guy's,

New guy here from Toronto, Canada. I've been lurking for a while, but now it's time to start my theater build. I've got a odd size space left in my finished basement (after my wife's home gym takes up the rest!). My screen wall is 10' wide and I intend to use a AT screen positioned as close to the ceiling as possible (I have a storage room behind my screen wall I can cut into for speakers etc.)

Here are my room dimensions;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/drennan/BasementHTLayout.jpg

My question, what projector will allow me to hang it at a reasonable height and still project a 110" - 120" image as high as possible on my screen wall. I was eying the Optoma HD20 at the $1000 price point?

Go to projector central site...use their calculator to determine screen size, monting height, distance, etc. Very helpful. Based on your diagram your screen wall is only 80 inches wide. A 92 diagonal is 80 in wide...that barely fits your screen wall...you want some space on the side so as to not get reflection from side walls. If the wall is 6ft 8in then you are going to need a screen in the 80's in size...maybe an 84inch diagonal. In that case a hd20 will be mounted anywhere from 9-11 ft from screen or split the difference at 10ft mount. sitting at 9 ft or so would be fine for this setup. If the wall for screen is 10feet wide then a 92 or 100 inch would be great. Any wider puts you close to side walls which I don't recommend due to reflection and the way it looks...cramped. The offset for hd20 is minimal compared at 6+ inches from lens to top of image.

Thanks mnnc,

My fault. My drawing is unclear... my screen wall is 10' wide. My height is 6' 8". the ducting in my ceiling is what I am attempting to get past. My feeling is that it will interfere with the projected image?

So the screen wall is 6'8"...hhmmmm. Remember the image offset is 6.6 inches from lens so quick math says that from your mounted area of 7.5 ft...drop down a bit for mount length...offset 6 more inches...puts you just under the 6'8". Should work...not by much but it should. A typical mount puts your pj lens about 5-8 inches below ceiling...drop another 6 in for offset and...yea...should work. Check my math, what you think?

Projector Central tells me the center of the lens should be 10.2" from the ceiling. If the image is projected straight? ( I have no idea if this is the case?) I would need it to be at least 13" from the ceiling to clear my ducting? What would the effect of droping the projector down to about 15" from the ceiling?

Thanks!