[My situation]

The old:
Want to upgrade from my 4 yr old infocus x2

The new:
Want a widescreen hd projector for under $1.5k matched with a screen.

Brightness:
I'll moving into a new high rise condo with much ambient light. In fact, I have floor to ceiling windows all over the apartment. My woman complains that I have to bring my current apt to almost darkness to watch our projector. So clearly I want a pj that'll work relatively well with NO blinds, curtains, etc. What is the bare minimum lumen rating I should go for?

The content:
50% of what I watch is HD cable. The other 50% will be coming from an adjacent HTPC. So i'll need enough connections for hd dual tuner cable box and htpc (how will both these connect simultaneously to the pj of choice? dual DVI->HDMI converter/bridges?). I also have a HK receiver in my setup currently.

Throw distance:
Approx 12'; want around 90"-100"

Sound:
Quiet as possible

Mount:
I have a couch so I'll be celing mounting it. Are there inexpensive mounts available for the pj of choice? (ebay?)

Are there any other specs/desires I'm leaving out?

[My situation]

Brightness:
I'll moving into a new high rise condo with much ambient light. In fact, I have floor to ceiling windows all over the apartment. My woman complains that I have to bring my current apt to almost darkness to watch our projector. So clearly I want a pj that'll work relatively well with NO blinds, curtains, etc. What is the bare minimum lumen rating I should go for?


I'd shoot for nothing less than 8000 calibrated lumens.

Either that or get some blinds and curtains.

Here's a 6000 lumens projector. Probably not what you're looking for, but you can use it with the lights on: http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=23256


And here's a 7000 Lumens DLP projector. This one would probably work, but a bit over your budget - http://www.activelight.com/digitalprojectors/digitalprojectors_details.asp?chPartNumber=PTD7700U&MFR=Panasonic&X=

I'd recommend curtains.

I'd shoot for nothing less than 8000 calibrated lumens.

Either that or get some blinds and curtains.


Umm 8000...... I think that is MAJOR overkill.

I have a Optoma HD6800 (72) paired with a 120'' white screen. My apartment gets plenty of light & the projector is easily usable. In the middle of the day though, of course I need to close my blinds (no where near full light control) and later in the day I can pretty much leave them open with no problems at all.

"I want a pj that'll work relatively well with NO blinds, curtains, etc."

He won't have blinds to close. My point is I think that's an unreasonable expectation for any projector.

I'd shoot for nothing less than 8000 calibrated lumens.

Or a 42" plasma at about 2' viewing distance. :D

You need a panel TV. There are up to 60&70" LCD's & plasma's available. It is more expensive unless you get a smaller screen.
Projectors need light control. Even with fairly bright PJ's you can watch with some ambient but it would be unacceptable for serious programs.

under naturally lit bright conditions - the only answer is a direct view LCD or maybe JVC D-ILA technology, forget plasma and especially forget any type of front projection

Buy a Hitachi pjtx100 from Projector People.
Take what is left over and get a plasma or lcd tv for day to day watching.
Otherwise you will be running your projector on the brightest setting and shorten the bulb life.
good luck.
I bet you end up spending $1800-2000 total.

netjack -- As has been said, your requirements will not accommodate any type of PJ, without getting a special ($2000+ screen), and even then will be very marginal. Unless you can pull blinds or drapes, forget Front Projection completely. The recommendation of using a Flat Panel TV for "normal" daytime viewing is the best compromize anyway (that's what we do and it works out just great and we both prefer it). My other half doesn't like a dark room in the daytime either.

NOTE: I have around $3.5K+ invested in my current 2 displays and screen (spread out over 3 years) - and another $5K+ in my current audio system (spread out over 20 years). None of my AV equipment cost over $2000 for any single item (my PJ was, by far, the most expensive single purchase). I got my flat panel 32" LCD display for almost half of the PJ cost - I couldn't fit a larger one into the allocated space and it's small, but large enough for "normal" TV viewing. I would have preferred a 42" one, but it wouldn't fit and would take away more money from my budget for my next PJ upgrade (will be under $1500, probably a Sanyo Z5).

I guess I'm very lucky; my significant other likes the large (106") screen, and accepts that the room has to be darkened in order to watch it. We like our LCD flat panel display for daytime, and regular SDTV/HDTV, viewing. The PJ gets turned on in the evenings (and we do pull the curtains then - to keep prying eyes out). She also supplied her very good L/R channel speakers, so I can use my other speakers for an upgraded 7.1 channel audio system.

BTW, I have an "advertized" 1100 lumen PJ and a Da-Lite High Power screen (gain = 2.8). I have more than enough brightness to watch in the daytime (much reduced contrast ratio, of course), but I do have to pull the heavy drapes over our large set of windows (behind the pull-down screen) - still have daylight coming in through the one standard size (East facing) window and from the hallway in my house. The only time we do that is when there is a very special TV program on that we want to watch on the large screen, otherwise the PJ is only used at night (3 nights a week on the average).

We always have some ambient (bias) light turned on, except when we're watching a regular movie and want a full "movie theater" experience.

from some of your posts it appears that you guys have a flat screen tv AND a PJ setup in the same room. How do you pull that off? Do you have any pics?

thx

ps. I know for sure that I want a PJ in the living room. If it means I have to pull down some blinds, so be it. What is the brightest sub $1500 projector out there? I know a high lumens rating doesn't necessarily translate into brightness.

thx

First, if you want bright, you need a bright screen. The DaLite HiPower is a very affordable, super bright, 2.8 gain screen. Read the HiPower thread in the screens forum for more info. You need to be in a sweet spot to achieve full gain, but if you're in the sweet spot, the screen can make a huge difference.

As far as projectors go, both the panny ax100 and the epson 400 are very bright lcd projectors and both around that price range (after rebates for the panny).
I'm not sure which are the best bright DLP projectors.

But if you get a hipower and you can sit in the sweet spot, and you put some blinds/curtains up, almost any projector would work for you.

from some of your posts it appears that you guys have a flat screen tv AND a PJ setup in the same room. How do you pull that off? Do you have any pics?

thx

ps. I know for sure that I want a PJ in the living room. If it means I have to pull down some blinds, so be it. What is the brightest sub $1500 projector out there? I know a high lumens rating doesn't necessarily translate into brightness.

thx

Here is was/is before the PJ/Screen install:

http://www.mustangmods.com/ims/u/1038/8517/141121.jpg

A picture of the screen "folded" out of the way. It is completely away from the plasma, which still gets everday use:

http://www.mustangmods.com/ims/u/1038/8517/150208.jpg

It's not exactly Martha Stewart, but it works. :D

As far as a projector, much more goes into it than just lumens. Throw distance, seating distance, screen size, ambient lighting, ect. IMHO, get your room darkened first with blinds, and then look at where you are realistically with that. Once you have that done, it'll be a lot easier to pick a PJ based on the above criteria.

lmfao..that is a crazy setup, you must have a very loving and flexible wife...

HEE HEE


he said flexible wife... :D


my wife use to be..



alright i had my giggle back to AVS TALK.


cheers :)

ok, i think i'll wait for the move, take some pics and then come back for suggestions..no need to purchase before the move in!

thx for all the insight, "i'll be bak!"

lmfao..that is a crazy setup, you must have a very loving and flexible wife...


Or single.

lmfao..that is a crazy setup, you must have a very loving and flexible wife...

I do have a very understanding wife, but by the same token, she knows when I dig my heels in on something, I'm going to do it with or without her blessing. This is a temporary solution anyway. I start insulating the attic this weekend for my budget "man cave". :D

Or single.

Married 7 years, 2 sons. :)

You've apparantly got a great wife!

My wife would never allow that. However, when we were house shopping, I ruled out houses that didn't offer the space for a dedicated theater. The builder we finally chose had the dedicated space in every floorplan they offered.

You've apparantly got a great wife!

My wife would never allow that. However, when we were house shopping, I ruled out houses that didn't offer the space for a dedicated theater. The builder we finally chose had the dedicated space in every floorplan they offered.

Yes I do, she's my angel. Of course, explaining to her that an "ugly" DIY screen hanging from the ceiling costs under $100 and an electric tensioned one cost over $1,000 sure didn't hurt the cause. :D

She's already said that our next house must have a dedicated space, even if it is a finished basement, ect.