Hello PJ people!

I am looking at replacing my 5 year old 60" pan scan TV with a front projection system. I have had a hard time finding dealers in my city (Calgary, Canada) with any clue of what front projection is all about. I finally found what seems like a pretty good vendor here in town, but all they sell is Runco. Now don't get me wrong, the projectors look incredible, however I am on a bit of a budget and was hoping to keep the price of the projector itself under 10,000, and on the Runco side that leaves me with the 420 and the 610. Because I have a horrible vaulted ceiling in my bonus room and the room is 20' long, I am pretty much forced into a 610 long throw since I don't want a 6' high pole in the middle of the ceiling with a projector hanging off the end. The Runco would be great (although pricey) except that it's a effectively a movie only projector, and I wanted something that could do double duty with a HTPC of mine too, and the vendor said that a Runco may not be the best choice if I am looking for a really sharp image like I'd want on a PC. With the long throw we were looking at a 119" screen as I need room beside the screen for my speakers. Also, a table mount is not a good idea for me since I have a family and I don't want to find chocolate inside my projector...

I know that no projector can be the best of everything. This projector would be only for movies - for TV I have a large LCD in another room. I have moderate to good light control in this room so I am thinking that brightness *should* not be a major issue.

Just thought of this to add: My walls are light brown and the ceiling is rough textured white, so I am a bit worried about reflected light. Is this a valid concern?

For a screen the vendor recommended the Da-lite cinema contour frame with high contrast cinema backing as my seating requires a pretty narrow viewing angle.

So, with all of that out of the way, does anyone have suggestions on a good quality projector that would be under 10K CDN that would be bright enough for a medium light controlled environment that is also going to have the throw range that I need in order to have it on the back wall? I was kind of hoping to be able to get 1080P capability, but with Runco that means an 1100 ultra which is quite a bit out of my price range (Reg 1100 can't throw far enough to a screen this size).

Any suggestions are welcome. I have been searching on the forums for quite a while, but my room seems to be somewhat different than many others, but I am willing to spend all the pennies I can in order to do this properly.

Thanks for any input

Michael

Even though I am a Runco dealer, I would probably recommend something like the 1080p JVC RS-1 or HD-1 (basically same thing) for your application due to its throw distance flexibility and price level.

The Runco 610LT will not have any sharpness limitations for PC use compared with most any other 720p PJ, but it may not be the most flexible for your situation. It is a very good 720p single chip DLP projector, however.

There are a ton of options to choose from. Many of which are much less expensive. The RS1 is a good option, but not shipping yet and there is a big national backlog on them. Other options are the Sony Pearl, Mitsubishi HC5000, etc... Just to name a couple.