i currently own a pioneer 6070 and im planning a home theater room for my new home.

problem is i know nothing about proj's. the only proj's ive been around are at the pacific theater in town, so i have a couple of questions...

being that i have a somewhat high end plasma tv i want to know do the newer 1080p proj's compare in PQ? SD & HD?

and

are proj's practical for varied types of media? i.e. games (especially) and cable tv.

thanks for any input!

1) They compare very favourably actually. I would say that on everything except brightness, projectors come out top. The catch being that a projected image is much more susceptible to light pollution including reflected from walls.
In order to get plasma-like performance you need to have zero ambient light and dark, non-reflective surfaces.
However even with some light, the benefits of the huge screen can often outweigh the contrast and brightness limitations.

2) They are very good for games - single-chip DLP in particular sets the standard. SD TV can look great and can look messy depending on the individual projector, whether an external Video Processor is used (for noise reduction for example), and of course the quality of the original broadcast. I find that with my system some SD TV (shot on film like all the quality dramas) can look exceptionally good.
Some cheaply made shows on minority channels can be a bit soft, but still very acceptable. I have a forgiving projector, an external VP and noise reduction though.

Hope that helps
tt

BTW I have had a projector as the only display in my family home for the past 5 years with no regrets. TV gets used less during the day, but that's a good thing IMO.

BTW I have had a projector as the only display in my family home for the past 5 years with no regrets. TV gets used less during the day, but that's a good thing IMO.

haha indeed. i appreciate the input. may i ask what projector and processor you use?

also if i may ask another question.

is there a sweet spot for pq? determined by the distance from screen and total image size?

I use a CRT projector (Barco Graphics 808) currently and it was better than most digital projectors for about the first 3 years. But now there are definitely some mid price digitals I would rather have.
Some kind of VP is a necessity with a CRT projector and I use the Crystalio II which I love (before that Crystalio I and before that an HTPC).

Personally I like to be in front of a big screen - about 1.5 times the screen width away. Closer if it's a 2.35:1 screen.

If you are planning on a theatre room then projector is the way to go. I use the projector for gaming and the occasional DVD, the immersion of large screen is a completely different experience. I find gaming and watching various type of media on a projector is quite different. For instance I don't care about the screen height when watching movie but I prefer the screen to be lower when playing game. I gamed on an early generation DLP projector, although I did not suffer from Rainbow effect but I did occasional get headaches, since then I have been using LCD projectors. I do not believe I'll have any more problem with the latest generation of DLP projectors but the placement options of LCD projectors offer a worry free installation is a must have for me. In fact I passed over the excellent Sony vw60 for upgrade because of the lack of downward vertical shift.

The best way to figure out whether front projection works for you is to borrow a projector for a few days to try out, or at least spend a few hours at a friend who has a projection set up.

A big screen needs big sound to go with it. Since you are still at the planning stage you should plan at least a 7.1 audio set up ... 11.2 for future proof. Oh, also make sure to get a good screen and the rigth screen for the room condition which makes a huge difference.