Just finishing my home theater room & am looking for a 1080p projector. I have a light controlled room with with 3 rows of seating. First row of seating will be at 13 feet. I would like a 120" Screen. Projector will be ceiling mounted at any location. I would really appreciate any help with this matter. :)

Just finishing my home theater room & am looking for a 1080p projector. I have a light controlled room with with 3 rows of seating. First row of seating will be at 13 feet. I would like a 120" Screen. Projector will be ceiling mounted at any location. I would really appreciate any help with this matter. :)


I'm in a very similar situation. my seating will also be at about 13 feet. I've spent a LOT of time auditioning both the Pearl and the Epson 1080P's. To be honest, based on everything I've seen, and even sales reps and home theater installers that I have spoken to, the Pearl does NOT have the brightness for a 120" screen. It can barely manage a 110" unless the screen is VERY carefully matched for that purpose.

The Epson can easily handle a screen of the size you want with its substantial extra brightness. I've recent seen two extended demo's on a 123" screen that it handled easily.

That is the primary factor with why I plan to order en Epson within the next week or two. The Sony is an excellent projector, but it sacrifices too much brightness and sharpness to the Epson.


John

A friend of mine has the Pearl on a 119" screen and it's plenty bright, but he also has a Da-Lite High Power (as do I). The Da-Lite wouldn't work for you if you ceiling mount, but I liked it so much that I gave up my much-loved ceiling mount and brought the projector down close to eye level. If you find a way to do that, you can open up your options. The High Power works with seating that's not too far from the projection lens in any direction, so if your rows of seating aren't too wide, and you can bring the projector down, it deserves a look.

The Pearl and the High Power are a great duo.

A friend of mine has the Pearl on a 119" screen and it's plenty bright, but he also has a Da-Lite High Power (as do I). The Da-Lite wouldn't work for you if you ceiling mount, but I liked it so much that I gave up my much-loved ceiling mount and brought the projector down close to eye level. If you find a way to do that, you can open up your options. The High Power works with seating that's not too far from the projection lens in any direction, so if your rows of seating aren't too wide, and you can bring the projector down, it deserves a look.

The Pearl and the High Power are a great duo.


Joe,

Thanks for the correction/update. This is the first time I've seen, or heard of anyone manage to make the Pearl work on a screen that size. I had half a thought that if it was possible, the DaLite HP might be the one way to do it, but had never found anyone working with this screen size and that material in combination with this projector. You may have me rethinking things a bit for what I am about to buy. What distance is the projector from your friends screen?


John

If you want to "risk" the HD81, try Costco.
You have 90 days to return it.

I'd really wait a bit for the Optoma HD81LV it's going to set the world on fire. :)
After Infocom things will shake up a bit.

Joe,

Thanks for the correction/update. This is the first time I've seen, or heard of anyone manage to make the Pearl work on a screen that size. I had half a thought that if it was possible, the DaLite HP might be the one way to do it, but had never found anyone working with this screen size and that material in combination with this projector. You may have me rethinking things a bit for what I am about to buy. What distance is the projector from your friends screen?


John

I think it's about 15', but that's just from memory. He's using Alan Gouger's settings to turn the Pearl into a "light canon," and it seems to have worked well with the HP. The image is beautiful. He's also a little further away from the lens than I am with my Sharp 20k - he's about 3', I'm about 2' in my main seating areas. My screen is only 110", yet his seems just about as bright as mine.

Anyone have an opinion between the Epson 1080 and Pearl using a slightly brighter mode which would have better colors and black levels. All comparisons seem to be between either fully calibrated or "torch" modes. Wondering if I wanted to kick it up a little for daytime or lights on viewing which would be better.

I think it's about 15', but that's just from memory. He's using Alan Gouger's settings to turn the Pearl into a "light canon," and it seems to have worked well with the HP. The image is beautiful. He's also a little further away from the lens than I am with my Sharp 20k - he's about 3', I'm about 2' in my main seating areas. My screen is only 110", yet his seems just about as bright as mine.

Where are the "light canon" settings to be found?

Scott

I too would like the Pearl "light cannon" settings. I know Alan had such a tweek for the Ruby, but haven't seen any chat on a comparable mode for the Pearl. I have owned one for about 8 months and use a 106" Carada BW with a 1.4 gain, ceiling mounted at about 13'. Even with the lamp in "low" mode, it has very good brightness even with several room lights on. Remember that the Pearl is affected by the mounting distance. Some reported tests indicate that mounting it at the "short" end of its throw for a given screen size will increase brightness by more than 15% over mounting it at the "long" end, but at the expense of absolute black level. Also, I believe I have seen several recent reviews of the Epson that measured it as less bright than the Pearl or the JVC. I believe this was the "home" edition as opposed to the "pro" edition, but they appear to be essentially identical except for the extra bulb and longer warranty...oh and of course the price! Good hunting.

I was also under the impression that the TW1000 was no brighter than the the Pearl at best settings - which I assume most of us will be using most of the time.

The HD81 sounds nice and bright, but the offical thread has scared me away.

I personally dont like the idea of having to take my projector down repeatedly for servicing, so if it was me NO GAMBLING.

Having trouble finding those torch mode settings for the Pearl - doing some major computer upgrades. Try a search on alan gouger and sony pearl.

I loved my Optoma H79, until I started having failure after failure with it. I returned it or switched out the bulb 7 or 8 times. I had 4 or 5 different projectors and finally gave up. I have a Sharp 20k now and it's been trouble free. If you can get an H79 that works reliably, it's beautiful, but it wasn't worth the hassle for me. No more Optoma products for a long time. Tech support and response time were excellent, though. I can't fault Optoma on that at all. It was probably the best I've encountered with a company in terms of their responding to my issues. Just too many problems.