The plans for finishing the basement are coming in. I am getting all equipment excited!!

My room will be 21x13 with 7.5 ceilings. Their will be no natural light. Not sure on screen size but with a 13' screen wall I am planning for 106'' screen. Primary use will be for DVD Movies and HD TV (mainly sports). The Budget is $1500, so that means a 720p PJ.

So far I have researched the Sanyo Z5, Sony AW15, and Optoma HD72. I am open though. Feel free to mention a decent screen too, but I know ,that is a different forum.

Later.

I'd buy the Mits. HC1500 before any of those.

All of the Pj's posted will have great looking pictures..............depending on you room layout.............it's vary close to my room 13.5x24..... I lean towards the DLP for it's lack of screen door(smaller pixel gap)

I looked at Sony LCD 2 1/2 years ago and it had a Razor sharp picture but the Screen Door effect had me sitting to far from the screen, at the farther distances on my 116" screen it just LOST the Big Screen movie impact.......is this not why we put large screen theaters in our homes.........

My seating distance are 10ft front row and a perfect 14ft second row. No screen door is visible on HD material in my HT. Hear is a couple of shots of my screen(painted on drywall)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/checklst/88050192.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/checklst/100_0104.jpg

Good luck keep us posted:)

wow. got a second quote on the basement and it is a lot less. this could give me more on the PJ budget. so, if you had the extra grand ($2200) would you go with a 1080 PJ like the Sanyo or Panny.

and checklst, while i have had a few beers, i dont see that you stated what PJ you had.

later.

Wait till the build is finished then the prices of a 1080p PJ will be in your budget. In my opinion you should always buy the projector last when building an HT. They drop in price like a rock.

Heck, for under a grand you could get the Sharp DT-500 and it would beat every projector you had on your list. lol. Don't fall for the 1080p hype. There is small difference, but the leap in price for the improvement is ridiculous and even then a 1080p LCD won't match the ANSI contrast of a DLP like the Sharp DT-500.

All of the Pj's posted will have great looking pictures..............depending on you room layout.............it's vary close to my room 13.5x24..... I lean towards the DLP for it's lack of screen door(smaller pixel gap)

I looked at Sony LCD 2 1/2 years ago and it had a Razor sharp picture but the Screen Door effect had me sitting to far from the screen, at the farther distances on my 116" screen it just LOST the Big Screen movie impact.......is this not why we put large screen theaters in our homes.........

My seating distance are 10ft front row and a perfect 14ft second row. No screen door is visible on HD material in my HT. Hear is a couple of shots of my screen(painted on drywall)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/checklst/88050192.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/checklst/100_0104.jpg

Good luck keep us posted:)

I can't comment on the 1500, but the Z5 and AW15 were also on my short list. I didn't have a chance to audition them both, but based on what I read I chose the Sony...and based on what I've subsequently read I'm glad I did (the AW15 seems to come out on top head-to-head).

The Sony really has what I consider to be a beautiful picture: good blacks (for an LCD), good contrast, good color, film-like image; even if the specs and measurements aren't all that impressive, the overall pq is really nice. However...SDE, imo, can be a real problem, so before I would whole-heartedly recommend this pj I would make sure you had the room to sit like 1.8x from your screen (I have heard others comment they lost SDE with the AW15 at 1.5, but I needed the extra space). Also, this pj is susceptible, like most LCDs, to some color uniformity issues, and it's not a light cannon (although in a light-controlled room, on high lamp, it's plenty bright).

But for 1k street, I've found it to be a good first pj choice, to enjoy while I figure out what I'll do differently for my 1080p choice.

CD

The plans for finishing the basement are coming in. I am getting all equipment excited!!

My room will be 21x13 with 7.5 ceilings. Their will be no natural light. Not sure on screen size but with a 13' screen wall I am planning for 106'' screen. Primary use will be for DVD Movies and HD TV (mainly sports). The Budget is $1500, so that means a 720p PJ.

So far I have researched the Sanyo Z5, Sony AW15, and Optoma HD72. I am open though. Feel free to mention a decent screen too, but I know ,that is a different forum.

Later.

You are getting warmer. All the so far mentioned PJs should fit nicely. Makes it tough, I know. The Mits and Sharp get my nod, however.

One main concern with any PJ I get is out of the box performance. I would prefer not to have to spend much time tweaking it. Sure some is expected, but I want to feel that initial feel good feeling when I fire up my first movie.

Oh, and the wife as vetoed dumping the extra cash into a 1080 PJ, so 720 it is.

Keep the tips coming. Thanks.

I have the Z5, 104 Carada BW Screen, sitting at 11 ft ft screen. No SDE for me. I was afraid that I would get the RBE with DLP. This my first PJ so it will be a time to learn what I like & don't like. You really need to find a place that can demo different format PJ's at your distance and decide from there. The Sanyo for me was a good price, 3 yr warranty and a decent picture from reviews.

Bottom line, I love it, wife loves it, kids love it.

There will always be A PJ in this house from now on.


Dave

thanks for the feedback dave. i was wondering what your rooom dimensions are and how far back is the projector mounted?

I have a pana AX-100U trowing a 154 inch diag image painted with plain white from DIY with the Proj suspended (upside down) 20 feet from the screen and I have to say that I couldn't be happier with the pict. The feed is from a Toshiba HD-A2 via HDMI (25 foot cable) for DVD and a 25 foot component feed for std def TV. The set-up of this projector was sooo simple with the lens shift and straight forward menu.
We watch everthing from the oldest and latest Pixar offerings to classics and the image is fantastic with everything I throw at it. Lord Of The Rings never looked so good. I couldn't be happier unless it was a 1080p but at this price and quality I may just wait for the "next" generation of resolution.

One main concern with any PJ I get is out of the box performance. I would prefer not to have to spend much time tweaking it. Sure some is expected, but I want to feel that initial feel good feeling when I fire up my first movie.

Oh, and the wife as vetoed dumping the extra cash into a 1080 PJ, so 720 it is.

Keep the tips coming. Thanks.

Infocus is legendary in that regard. Spend some time at projector central and projector review. They address your concerns.

The Panasonic ax200 is also well calibrated out of the box. What you haven't told us yet are the exact dimentions of your room, how far the lens will be from the screen, how big the screen will be and where seating will be?

The Panasonic ax200 is also well calibrated out of the box. What you haven't told us yet are the exact dimentions of your room, how far the lens will be from the screen, how big the screen will be and where seating will be?

It is mentioned in my first post:

My room will be 21x13 with 7.5 ceilings. Their will be no natural light. Not sure on screen size but with a 13' screen wall I am planning for 106'' screen. Primary use will be for DVD Movies and HD TV (mainly sports). The Budget is $1500, so that means a 720p PJ.

The room is a blank slate i.e. unfinished basement. PJ and seating placement are somewhat based on the PJ, so it is yet to be determined. I need to pick a PJ so I can then detemrine its mounting location and best screen size. Later.