Well the 55inch Sony in the living room that is currently my HT viewing pleasure will soon be "demoted" to casual viewing.

I am going to begin to finish my basement this fall and will be moving the HT equipment downstairs. I will be taking a look at projectors and screens.

Right now I'm not into the HD/BluRay Craze... The HT will be used for HDTV sporting events and DVD viewing. I have a sony DVD player that upscales very well on my Sony RPLCD...so I'm thinking it will do a pretty good job on a projector.

With that said I think I'll be targeting a 720P Projector...(here is where you guys can help). Do I want to look at DLP or LCD? I know the DLP projectors have a 6 or 7 color wheel....is 7 always better? I'd like to keep the costs down, but then again I don't want a piece of junk....I do want something that will knock my socks off with HDTV....and look VERY VERY good with my DVD collection.

So what would you have me looking at?


Also....my viewing distance isn't going to be MASSIVE......from front wall to back wall I'm at 12.5 feet. Which means when I get a couch or some chairs down there the actual viewing distance is going to be closer to 10.5-11ft. I was thinking an 80inch screen.....but would you go bigger considering my content will only include HDTV and Upscaled DVDs? (NO standard 480i signals). I do want the "movie theater experience", but I don't want to get a headache after watching a 3 hour football game or a 3 hour movie...


Thanks in advance :)

Any 720p projector at even 92" diagonaly for a screen would look great at 11' viewing distance.

The more I read, the more I see that from the distance I'm talking about a 92inch screen is probably not overkill.... I only have a ceiling that is about 6'9" downstairs (older home with low ceiling).....will that cause me a problem.??

I would like to ceiling mount this....probably right over where the seats will be...



Now...what projectors.....and screens for that matter...

First off, I would recommend the PJ I am using (Marantz VP4001) since I am so impressed with it and it would appear to work with your low ceiling and throw distance.

I think you will be able to go to a larger screen without worries. Take a look at the projectorcentral.com Pro calculator. I would not worry about the headaches unless you know for certain you do get them. I know I got them from very bright PJs in the past. Newer ones have irises to help cut down on the brightness and improve contrast, yet able to watch sports with ambient light.

Regarding screens, I will be building a DIY screen from Wilsonart Designer White laminate. If you don't want to build, the Carada screens are said to be great. There are also pull down and other electric screens around including Elite screens which are more cost effective and people have had good experiences with.

First off, I would recommend the PJ I am using (Marantz VP4001) since I am so impressed with it and it would appear to work with your low ceiling and throw distance.

I think you will be able to go to a larger screen without worries. Take a look at the projectorcentral.com Pro calculator. I would not worry about the headaches unless you know for certain you do get them. I know I got them from very bright PJs in the past. Newer ones have irises to help cut down on the brightness and improve contrast, yet able to watch sports with ambient light.

Regarding screens, I will be building a DIY screen from Wilsonart Designer White laminate. If you don't want to build, the Carada screens are said to be great. There are also pull down and other electric screens around including Elite screens which are more cost effective and people have had good experiences with.


Looks like a great one but maybe a little over the budget I wanted to spend....I was looking somewhere in the $800-$1000-$1200 MAX range....

(I want to buy a 2nd subwoofer too)

There may be a number of LCD with lens shift that will work with your ceiling height. You may also want to check out the Samsung 710AE. It is supposed to have lens shift and is a DLP, however it has some reliability issues so read the thread about it.